Chapter 10
It had been a month since the separation and Simi was doing just fine, well . . . considering all the weirdness at the job. Looking in the mirror, he smoothed back his hair and straightened his new tie. It had cost him a mint replacing all his clothes. He’d not had to buy so many things in over twenty years. Glenda was gonna flip when she got that bill. But then, “Glenda and her crazy ass, cutting up my clothes like that. What got into her? Minx, no doubt! I hate her,” he lied. He actually always liked Minx. She was an exciting woman, much like he wished Glenda was. He had always hoped being friends, that Minx would have rubbed off on Glenda. “Maybe it has . . . but it’s like, really bad timing.”
He had a date with Candy tonight. She’d been hard to catch up with since her little promotion. She had been given half his territory to work. It was strange, but according to the grapevine the presentation she used to show the big dogs why they needed another salesperson in his region sounded a lot like one of his, one he was planning to use for his next step up the corporate ladder. It wasn’t time for an assistant or partner. He needed to be the big dog running the show alone a little longer—proving his worth for a minute or two more before then showing his ability to delegate. It was all in the plan. But now Candy had rushed it.
“No big deal,” he first thought.
“Man, Candy took your idea, though. You just gonna take that layin’ on your back?” his colleague, who had seen Candy’s presentation, asked after the e-mail had gone out announcing Candy’s promotion.
“What idea?” he asked, trying not to get overly excited at just the mere sound of her name. Still no one knew about their affair. It had gotten around about his separation but not his affair with Candy. She was still very insistent on keeping that private. And considering she’d not given him any in over two weeks, it hadn’t been hard to do.
“I think she’s after your job, man . . . not just part of it—the whole thing.”
“Please, nobody is after my job and especially not a sweet girl like Candy.”
“Sweet? Don’t let those blue eyes fool you; she’s a snake in a miniskirt.”
“Not Candy. And besides, from what I hear it’s just a lateral move, nothing to get all excited about. I’ve still got my position secured and retirement set. I’m still going to be her superior.”
“Well, I’d watch my back if I were you . . . might find yourself sitting in the unemployment line—superiorly.”
“No biggie, I’ll just work on another proposal,” he told the reflection. Candy deserved this little advance and besides, it wasn’t as if she wouldn’t ask him to come along with her on her out-of-town trips, turnabout was fair play, right? It wasn’t as if she knew the ropes. She was green and needed supervision . . . and that would be him, right? Also, Simi had to figure that he was next in line for a promotion, “Yeah, maybe now I’m not going to be just the West Coast sales division head but, instead, head of the whole West Coast region.”
Gathering up his keys and jacket, he noticed his mail on the bed. Simi had not opened his check stub yet. He knew what it would say but out of curiosity he opened it now. The shock wave cut through him. With the cut in his division also came a cut in commission pay and a short letter of explanation.
“They can’t do this!” he yelled, grabbing his phone. “Friday night. Nobody is there, Simi,” he gasped.
What had gone into his account was barely enough to cover his expenses incurred while staying in the fancy executive hotel suite he had rented. “My money!!” he groaned, grabbing his head.
He called the bank to verify that yes, the automatic deposit had gone in and no, it wasn’t enough to cover the checks he’d written.
“Overdrawn? No way, I’ve got plenty of money,” he said, laughing nearly hysterically now. The IRAs, the savings he and Glenda had stashed away over the years....
“Talk about a rainy day,” he said aloud, smoothing his hair back. Sure Glenda had stopped the little credit card he was using, but that was a small drop in the bucket. “And she was just being evil when she did that.”
Come Monday, he would simply need to go to the bank and pull out a few thousand to hold him over until he got his mess straightened out with his boss. Sure, Candy could have half his region but no way was she having half his money. “We’re not married yet.” Even then, he’d been very careful with money matters over the years with Glenda, just in case. There was no way he was just going to hand over his life’s savings to this kid—Candy. It wasn’t as if he’d asked for Glenda’s forgiveness but still, it wouldn’t be right to allow Candy to have what he and Glenda had worked so hard for. He and Glenda had money stashed everywhere. Yeah, he would just go to the bank on Monday and get some.
“Maybe I should let Glenda know what’s happened,” he asked the reflection and then frowned up his face.
There was no way he was going to tell Glenda anything. She was so selfish and into herself. He’d seen her over the last couple of weekends at the track with Glen, Minx and that other kid. “. . . must be some friend of Glen’s.”
Simi thought about last weekend seeing her there. He remembered thinking about how fat she was getting. He figured it was because he was gone she was letting herself go. He always knew he was the motivator in her life. Without him she didn’t have a life worth living. “No imagination.” He smirked. I need to call her tomorrow, he thought. Maybe even stop in and see how she’s doing. “Give the girl a thrill,” he said out loud, grinning at the thought of Glenda’s face and how it used to light up when he came home late at night and crept into bed. How willing she would be to give herself to him freely no matter the time. She loved him unconditionally, unlike Candy who now all but required an appointment.
Sucking in a chest full of air he gave his expensive executive suite a once-over to make sure nothing was forgotten and headed out to meet Candy.
Reaching the restaurant, Simi found Candy waiting at the table. She was looking at her watch as if short on time.
“Hey baby,” he said, leaning to kiss her cheek. She reared back, causing him to miss the mark.
“Please don’t do that in public, Simi,” she whispered.
“We are colleagues and I would hate someone to get the wrong idea.”
“Excuse me? We are a little more than colleagues, deary,” he corrected.
“And I wanted to talk to you about that too, I think we should cool the umm . . .” she gulped her ice water. “Sleeping together thing,” she said quickly, again looking at her watch.
“Are you breaking up with me?” he asked, sounding naive.
“There is nothing to break up, actually. I’m just saying that the more I thought about how you’ve been taking advantage of me over the last few months . . .”
“Taking advantage of you?”
“Well yes . . . I mean, you’ve all but made me feel like without sex I would lose my job.”
Simi rubbed his forehead. “You are insane,” he finally managed to say. She had ordered wine before he arrived and when the waiter opened it, he had him fill his glass without the customary approval sip.
“I constantly think of all the money I could have been making if I hadn’t felt so held back by you and your nonverbal threats.”
“Threats?” he said, nearly choking on the wine.
“My attorney said . . .”
“Candy . . . come on; if you want to end this thing just end it.”
“No, ending it isn’t the issue.” Her voice turned cool and austere. “I want the whole region,” she said.
“Then what will I do?”
“How about retire?” she asked coolly, sitting back in her seat, folding her arms over her chest. Simi burst into sardonic laughter. He couldn’t help but think of his friend’s words—snake in a miniskirt.
Just then a young black man joined the table kissing her lightly on the lips. He then looked over at Simi and outstretched his hand.
“Hello, you must be Mr. Dixon.
Candy has told me so much about you. It’s really nice to meet you. I’m Stan Givins, Candy’s fiancé.”
“What did she tell you about me?” Simi asked, trying to quickly gather the facts of the situation unfolding in front of him.
“How wonderful you’ve been training her to replace you. Must be nice taking an early retirement . . . where are you and the missus gonna go to celebrate?”
“By the way, is she joining us tonight?” Candy asked, still holding onto the man’s arm, urging him to settle into the seat next to her. Simi felt sick . . . fat, old, ugly, and sick.
He’d been played. It was crystal clear.
Just then, the waitress came over to the table with the black book to collect payment for the wine. Simi looked at the total. “A hundred dollars for one bottle of wine?” he gasped. Candy and her young man just stared at him, letting him know that they had no intention of paying the hefty bill.
Reaching in his pocket, he pulled out his wallet, emptied it into the black book, and stood. “Actually, what I was going to tell you, Candy, was that my wife can’t make it tonight. She’s under the weather and so I just wanted to meet your friend here, and then I was going to have to take off.”
“Oh, I’m sorry about that,” the young man said, standing to be polite. “Well, perhaps at your retirement party, we’ll get to meet her.” Out of the corner of his eye, Simi caught Candy’s wink. He was more than confused now.
Chapter 11
From the first time Glenda walked into that clinic, she knew she was going to like Stephanie.
At first, she had to admit, she was a little nervous about the whole doula thing. Especially since her doctor had immediately referred her to a perinatologist as a high-risk pregnancy. Just the term high risk scared her to death so needless to say anything that didn’t involve standard by-the-book activities made her nervous. When Glenda first found the address, she was a little put off. Thinking Tim worked in a true clinic, finding the old Victorian in the middle of the Haight-Ashbury district made her hesitate.
Walking in, the bell on the door jingled when she entered. Joni Mitchell was playing on the stereo. The smell of sea salts filled the air and pillows lay all around.
“Hello.” Stephanie grinned broadly. She had on wide-rimmed glasses and a polka-dot dress. She was an earthy white girl who dressed as if she was from 1969 instead of being a member of the Generation Xers.
“I’m looking for Tim Hannon.”
“Oh he’s in the back with a mother meditating. It’ll be a minute,” she said, grinning again. “So is this your first?” she asked, no doubt seeing her pregnancy in her eyes as Tim had the day they met.
“Yes.”
“You waited?” Stephanie asked and nodded all at once.
“No. I slipped up,” Glenda answered flatly, not meaning to sound so unfriendly. Stephanie’s frown covered her face as she stepped from in back of the counter. She touched Glenda’s belly.
“No little guy, she’s not speaking to you. It’s all good in your hood,” she said, directing her words to Glenda’s belly.
“Why are you doing that? I’m the only one who’s hearing you.”
“No, you’re not. Your baby hears all you hear and feels all you feel, Mama. That’s the first thing you have to realize, okay. If you decide to walk out of here and never come back, just remember the learning has already begun.”
“But the book says . . .”
Stephanie shook her head, “No Mama, despite what you’ve read, life started the minute you and Daddy planted that seed.” She smiled broadly.
“There is no daddy. I’m in this alone,” Glenda confessed. Stephanie smiled again.
“No worries. No judgment. This time is for you and the life inside . . . no time for stress, hate . . . or even bitterness. Just you and baby,” she said, touching Glenda’s stomach lightly.
“You guys touch a lot here.”
“Our hands are our tools. Look around. Check us out. Tim will be out in a minute. He’s awesome.”
Glenda could tell Stephanie admired Tim and had probably learned a lot from him. She had his demeanor and groovy air about her. Glenda liked that about him and now she realized she liked Stephanie too.
About that time, a very pregnant woman came from the back room with Tim on her heels. Both their faces were calm and filled with peace . . . it was a calm and a peace that Glenda immediately saw and wanted.
When she had thought about going, she told Minx but then again, Minx wasn’t one who really thought things all the way out when it came to men.
“Hell, I’d let that little Negro massage me in a heartbeat. He is too fine!” Minx admitted. Glenda giggled.
“It’s not that kind of massage,” Glenda told her between chuckles.
“Look at you blushing,” Minx noticed.
“Stop it. I’m not,” she lied.
“You should go. I’ll go with you if you want.”
“There is no way I want you there embarrassing me. It’s bad enough you and Glen are all up in the doctor’s office with me.”
“Please, girl, ain’t nothing I haven’t seen before,” Minx guffawed. “Beside, I need to see my little dude as much as I can now, because once you have him and that fool Simi starts coming around . . .”
“I told you. Simi is having no parts of my baby.”
“Glenda, don’t say that. It’s not good to exclude him this way. I can’t believe you still haven’t told him. This is gonna tear him apart.”
“Please. He’ll live,” Glenda said.
“This is too not like you. You’ve changed.”
Glenda didn’t want to answer the phone, seeing that it was Simi. He was probably calling about money. He was so on the late freight with that mess. It took a while but finally she had locked all the joint funds and cut off all of Simi’s access to her money. She’d transferred more funds and she felt like a money launderer. All the money he insisted she hid so that his pride would not be touched by the fact that for most of their marriage she made more money than he did. He insisted that she put the money away so that by the time her check actually came home it was little to nothing compared to his. And now, he was trying to blow it. “What was he thinking, taking an expensive suite in a hotel when he could have very simply just gotten a studio apartment for a quarter of the cost?” All Glenda could figure was he had moved in with that woman, and there was no way she was going to pay for that mess.
The thought made her laugh aloud. She’d been doing that a lot more lately and it felt good to give into the joy she was feeling in her heart instead of the bitterness, which Simi was trying to force in there each day with his actions. She never realized how oppressed she felt all these years trying to make Simi feel better about himself. And for what? For him to just walk out without so much as even an attempt at reconciliation. And this call tonight, it wasn’t to make up . . . it was for money. She was sure of it. But she wasn’t about to give in to what Simi was trying to make her feel. She was learning a lot from her sessions with Tim at his clinic. She was learning to take control of her emotions in a whole new way and it felt wonderful.
In just the last few weeks, watching Gerri run that office, Glenda was more than happy about her decision in that area too. Dave, on the other hand, was becoming a problem.
“He’s like a ticking bomb,” Glenda told Stephanie.
“Ticking doesn’t sound cool at all,” Stephanie said, working her shoulders in a deep massage. Tim wasn’t there this evening. He was at the hospital.
“It’s not cool and I’m worried that he’s gonna go off.”
“Fire his ass then. I mean, seriously. Send him walkin’ . . . poison air is what he’s got,” Stephanie said bluntly. Glenda changed positions so that Stephanie would work her belly a little bit so as to stimulate the baby into movement. As if waiting for this, the baby began to move.
“I’m shocked you said that. I thought you would suggest I take him some tea or something.”
“Please, I’m into bab
ies, not jerks with ’tudes,” she explained, measuring Glenda’s tummy. She was good at what she did. For a young woman she knew a lot about babies. “Like Tim, no matter how much I love this job. If he was a jerk, I’d be soooo far south of here he’d need a map to find me.”
“So you and Tim seeing each other?” Glenda asked, finally getting out the question that had been burning a hole in her brain for weeks. She just wanted to know. There was nothing behind the question . . . okay, so that was a lie; she was fighting jealousy every time she saw them together. The way they laughed and hugged. The comfort level between them was enviable. Surely, they’d slept together. Glenda just wanted to satisfy her curiosity.
“Seeing each other? Oh, you mean sleeping together?” Stephanie asked bluntly. “Oh no, I have a partner and he and I are like sooo faithful and rich in our relationship. He’s like, my soul mate . . . of course I hate him today. He’s being like . . .” Stephanie fanned her hands wildly. “. . . such a boy.” She went on, sounding more and more like Gerri every minute. That’s when Glenda realized that most relationships truly did have ups and downs. Maybe that was her and Simi’s problem, it was no longer up and down, it had flatlined years ago.
“Besides, Tim has a crush on someone. He’s keeping it a big fat secret but I know him and he’s in love with someone, and he’s got it bad too,” Stephanie said, grinning slyly.
“Really?” Glenda asked.
“Oh yeah, he’s always writing love letters and then tearing them up all fast . . . he’s so cute. He needs to just come out and tell her.”
“Yes, he does,” Glenda said.
Her curiosity was beyond piqued now.
Chapter 12
Glenda had left the perinatal clinic. It was part of the main hospital where she had planned to deliver her baby. Stepping from the elevator onto the seventh floor, she had again decided against a tour of labor and delivery and veered in the opposite direction. She could almost hear the women screaming bloody murder.