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I finally dropped into sleep sometime later only to dream of him. The way his arms felt, the way I wanted to just sink into him and let him take over. I woke not feeling any better, the prospect of working for him losing some of its luster as I dreaded what such close proximity to him for an extended period of time would do to me.
I dragged myself out of bed and went to check on my mother. I wanted to be the one to break the news to her, and that went pretty much the way I expected. More tears, more woe is me, and back under the covers. I need to do something about her but had no time right now because I was too busy trying to keep us off the damn streets. No point in blaming her for being who she is, who she’s always been.
The doorbell rang as I made my way downstairs and my heart went into overdrive thinking it was him. It was Simone. “Which one of those fucking pariahs did you tell about the website?”
“Well good morning to you too.” She took my coffee from my hand and marched into the house ahead of me.
“Who did you talk to?” She was in bitch mode. In fact she seemed more upset than I. “No one, I don’t think…Cindy was here the day before, but we didn’t talk about that.”
“Did you leave her alone in your room at any time, did she have access to your phone or laptop?”
“Well I did go check on mother but I was gone less than ten minutes.”
“You know how much damage a bitch like that can do in ten minutes?”
“I’m not really worried about that now, I have more pressing things on my mind.” I followed her to the kitchen where I noticed the bag she carried for the first time. It was from my favorite bagel shop and I marveled once more at her thoughtfulness. In truth, of all my friends and acquaintances, Simone is the last one I’d have expected to come through.
Her family is Uber-rich, like they could buy mine ten times over and that’s when daddy was doing well. They’re also very reserved and as far as I know tend to stay as far away from anything resembling scandal as they can. Her parents have always been over protective and I recall a time or two when she’d been forbidden to associate with certain people. Although I count her among my friends, there were others I believed myself closer to. Now look!
“Oh you mean that thing about your dad?” She waved it off like it was nothing. “That’s not your fault and has fuck all to do with you. I’m gonna rip her fucking brainless head off and shit down her neck.”
“Oh damn, you been watching Sicario again? You always go all gangsta when you watch that shit.”
“As a matter of fact, but that’s not the point. What if you’d thought I’d sold you out? You didn’t think that did you?” I was pleased with myself at the fact that I could give her an honest answer. “Nope, never crossed my mind. You’re more straightforward than that.” I took the everything bagel slathered with chive cream cheese that she passed me and hopped up on a stool at the marble island.
“Good, shows you have some sense. Now, how to deal with that viper. You know she did it to embarrass you, but how did she know about your dad?” I shrugged my shoulders, as I had no idea. “I didn’t even know about his business dealings, but, I did know about the other.” I looked at her ashamed. I never wanted anyone to know that my dad had taken his own life, didn’t want to live under that stigma the rest of my life.
Simone came around to my side and put her arms around me. “There’s nothing for you to be ashamed of. Whatever your dad did was his own doing. You knew him better than I, but from what I saw, he loved you and your mom. Maybe he lost his way a little, and thought he had to do all those things to keep his family in the lifestyle they’re accustomed to, who knows. But whatever his reasons, he’s not here now, and you’re not to answer for what he did.”
“Sounds good, but we both know that’s not how this works. We’ve both been witness to many a life being destroyed for much less.”
“This will die down by end of day and they’ll be onto something else you watch. This fucking town!” She shook her head and climbed up on the stool next to mine.
