9781618853158SpecialKindofWomanBergman (15 page)

At first Regina didn’t
know what she wanted to do, but then she said, “I want you to take me home, I
need to go and find out about Linda. I’m going to take off from work for a
while.”

While Maxine went to
get her things, Regina told Patrick about her needing some time off. He didn’t
ask why, the look on her face was obviously enough to let him know what was
going on and he let her do just that.

The ride to Regina’s
apartments was as silent as library before it opened. No words except for the
breathing between the two. It wasn’t until they got to her apartment when
Maxine asked, “Do you want me to stay with you?”

“No, you go on back to
work, I’ll be fine. But come over after you get off, all right? I know word has
already gotten around about what happened today.”

“I’ll call you all right.”
Regina waved goodbye to her friend and took a deep breath. She made her way
inside to drop off her bags before getting into her car and heading over to
Linda’s house. She had plenty to talk with her about once she got there.

Chapter Eight

“Who is it?”

“It’s Regina.”

“Hey girl, come on in.”
As Linda opened up the door, she sneezed into her tissue and stepped aside,
letting Regina walk in.

The apartment was in
disarray with used tissues everywhere in sight along with empty tissue boxes. Linda
sniffled and coughed away while she went over to the loveseat and curled up in
a ball on it. She wrapped her shivering body up in floral print comforter.
Looking over toward the kitchen, Regina saw a tea kettle on the stove and a
coffee mug on the counter next to it.

“My goodness, you look
just like how I feel right now,” Regina told her with a small smile as she
walked in and sat down on the couch.

“Girl I don’t know how
the hell I got this cold but I feel and probably look like shit, don’t I? What
do you have in the bag?”

“Well I have some things
for your cold, some chamomile tea, cough drops for your throat, something for
your sinuses and head, a box of tissues and oh yeah, some hand sanitizer,”
Regina said as Linda grabbed the box of tissues and suddenly sneezed once more
into her tissue.

“You are a godsend. I
couldn’t even make it out of the apartment to run to the store.” She tilted her
head with frown. “What’s wrong, you look so sad?”

Regina didn’t know how
to tell her about the party and she was trying her best not to cry anymore but
she ended up doing just that. Linda ended up giving her the tissue box. “So you
found out huh?”

“How could I have been
so stupid? I thought he was falling in love with me, Linda.” Blowing her nose,
Regina heard the kettle whistle and went into the kitchen. Pouring her some hot
water, she brought Linda the cup along with the sugar bowl. “How long have you
known?”

“I’ve always known
about the parties, I thought that you knew about them as well.” Linda started
putting sugar into her cup as Regina stared at her in surprise.

“What do you mean you
knew? I didn’t know anything about the parties. For Christ’s sake, I just got
here. I haven’t been around long enough to know about the goings on at that
place. How long have you been doing this pig party crap?”

“Oh, for about five
years now give or take. I know what you’re thinking, how could I go through all
of that? The first time I honestly didn’t know what to think, but by the second
time I realized what was up. Plus the guy I was with, he was nice enough to
actually tell me all about it even though he wasn’t supposed to. He told me
that it would weigh too much on him not to let me know what was going on. I
went with him twice because he was so sweet to me and we dated for a couple of
months afterward. But I honestly didn’t know that you didn’t know about the
party, I’m so sorry Regina. How did you find out?” Linda asked her while taking
a sip of her tea.

“A jealous ex-lover of
Collin’s, she thought it would be funny to make the fat girl feel bad. So she
told me all about it and I confronted Collin. The entire office is probably talking
about it. I’m not going back there Linda.”

“You’re what! But you
have to go back to work, what are you going to do about money for bills and
things?”

“I have some money from
a fund my parents left me, it’s just enough to help me out with my bills for a
while. I just can’t be in the same building as he is. I’ve got to get away for
a while and clear my head and figure out what I’m going to be doing next,”
Regina told her before she blew her nose once more.

“Can I ask you a
question?”

“Sure.”

“When he told you the
truth about everything, did you look into his eyes when he tried to apologize
to you?”

“Yeah I did and he was
just as upset as I was at that moment.” She remembered how he was trying to
tell her about it and how his eyes were welling up with tears, just like her
own as she cried.

He
was just as hurt as I was.

* * * *

“Collin man, say something,
you’ve been sitting there for the past couple of minutes now saying nothing at
all,” John said standing at his desk.

Collin was in no mood
to talk. He honestly didn’t know why John was hanging around in the first place
the main show was over. His head was throbbing behind his eyes from guilt and
cowardice…and maybe the few tears that escaped. He had lost probably the best
thing that had come into his life in a long time over a stupid bet. Clicking on
the button to get Nancy, he heard her say, “Yes Collin, what can I get you?”

“I need an aspirin,
make it three if you got them and some water.” He looked over at his friend,
who was obviously worried about him. “Bet you never thought you would see the
day Collin Noonan cried, huh?”

“I never thought I
would see Collin Noonan fall in love,” Nancy said setting the cup down and handing
him the pills. “What you did was wrong, you knew that when you began this
nonsense—even before you got in too deep with Regina. I’ve known her since she
first started here and she is probably the nicest girl I’ve ever met. Sure she
was shy and didn’t wear the best clothes, but she is something a lot of the
women you’ve dealt with are not, she’s pure and wholesome and true. You fell in
love with Regina because you’re not used to a woman like her and you screwed it
up big time,” Nancy said before leaving the two men alone once more.

Collin quickly took the
pills and gulped down the water, then ran his fingers through his hair.

“You know she’s
absolutely right.” John sat in the chair in front of his desk. “You really
fucked it up this time and now you’ve got to buck the fuck up, admit your
mistakes and find her before she’s gone completely out of your life. “

Looking over at his
friend while he rubbed his forehead to try and get rid of the headache, Collin
knew he had to find some way to set things right with Regina.

* * * *

When Regina got home
from Linda’s, she decided to take a shower. Afterward she took an aspirin to
calm the pain in her head from all the turmoil she went through that day. The
phone rang and when she looked at the caller I.D., she saw Collin’s number come
up. She let the answering machine pick it up instead. “Hi, you’ve reached
Regina’s phone. If you’re getting this message, then you know I’m not here, but
leave your name and number and I’ll get back to you.”

“Regina, it’s me Collin.
Listen, I know you’re not in the mood to talk and I don’t blame you. I will
call back in about a week, even though I honestly don’t think I can wait that
long. I want to talk with you right now but we are both too emotional. But I
want you to know that I never wanted to hurt you Gina baby, I wanted to love
you and let you love me as well. The days we were together, you made me the
happiest in my life to have someone like you in it. I don’t want to lose that
and I don’t want to lose you either sweetheart. I’ll let you go for now, but in
one week, we have to talk. Just let me know when and what time and we can meet.”
And then it got quiet for a moment as she heard him trying to say something. Finally,
he was able to say it. “I love you Regina, goodbye.”

Her heart and head felt
so light when she heard him say he loved her. But she had to get out of town
for a while, to clear her head. Getting up, she went to get her purse and got
out his mother’s number. She was the closet example to a mother Regina could
trust and she needed some motherly advice. Mrs. Ramona was another option, but
a trip to the park held too many memories. Grabbing the phone, she went over to
the couch again and sat down before she decided to dial. Taking a deep breath,
she waited while the phone rang. After the third ring a male voice answered the
phone. “Hello?”

“Yes, is Alannah there
please?”

“May I ask whose
calling?”

“It’s me, Regina.”

“Why hello there
Regina, it’s me Mackenzie, let me give her the phone, all right.” There was a
pause and then she could hear him saying it was her on the phone and soon
Alannah’s voice came on the line. “Why hello my dearie, I didn’t think you was
going to be calling on me so soon but I’m glad that you did. How are you doing
Gina me darling girl and how’s my darling boy?”

Trying to keep herself composed,
Regina took a deep breath but before she could say a word, she let out a
harrowing cry and started sobbing heavily.

“Child what’s wrong,
has anything happened to Collin?”

“No ma’am, nothing has
happened to Collin. Alannah, I don’t know what to do but I’ve got to get out of
this town for a while and get away from him. I found out he basically used me
for some stupid office bet. I don’t know if he has tried to call you or not but
don’t tell him I called you please,” Regina pleaded while she tried to control
her crying.

“Now darling, I want
you to dry your eyes and listen to me. Once you’ve gotten yourself a good
sleep, I want you to come back here and stay with us for a while. I know that
you might think you don’t have a place to go, but you do dearie. Even though my
son may be an arse right now, you need some family around you to help support
you and I won’t take no for an answer, I want you here tomorrow. Do you
remember the way to get here, if not I can give you the address?”

She had to laugh a
little as she wiped her eyes for this virtual stranger was offering the
motherly love that she was missing from her own mother, something that she had
really needed now. “As much as I appreciate the offer, I have to decline. I
must get away from this place and him and anything associated with him. If I
was to come there, being around you all, it would be just like being there with
him. I just wanted to let you know of my plans and that I will keep in touch
with you,” Regina assured her as she heard the doorbell ring. “I’ve got to go,
I have some company coming over, take care Alannah. I promise you I will call
once I get to where I’m going.”

“All right dearie, I
understand completely, but please call me when you can. Goodbye.”

When Regina opened the
door, Maxine was waiting there with submarine sandwiches and a smile.

“You read my mind and
I’m starving.” Walking over to the couch, Maxine handed her a sandwich. She started
to take the paper off before taking a bite. “So, was everybody talking about
what happened today?”

Maxine looked at her
and rolled her eyes. “Yeah, word got around pretty quick. Word is Collin stayed
in his office for the rest of the day and no one went in there except for his
secretary and John. And when he did come out, they said he looked like he had
been crying.”

“Do you know Linda told
me that she’s known about the party for years and has gone to them anyway? She said
she thought I knew about the parties. I was so completely floored with her I
didn’t know what to do.”

Maxine shook her head
in disgust. “That’s insane, I can’t believe she would participate in something
like that and think that you would know about it. She should’ve warned you
about the entire thing when Collin started sniffing around you. So what are you
going to do now?”

“I’ve got to find some
place to go for a while. I called Mrs. Noonan and talked with her just now. She
told me that I was coming over there to stay for a while but I told her no I
couldn’t do that. I’m not going back to work. I don’t think I can handle being
in the same building as he is right now. I just need to regroup and think about
what I plan on doing next. You know he called me, told me he wanted to talk
with me in about a week. I’m just hoping that by then I’ll figure something
out. I’ll keep in touch with you of course, but please don’t tell anybody where
I’m at, especially him.”

Maxine nodded. “Oh you
know I won’t say a word to anybody about where you are.”

Smiling a bit, she gave
her friend a hug. “Thanks Max.”