Authors: Suzetta Perkins
D
onna pulled the car to the curb and jumped out, retrieving her camera equipment before placing her car keys in Ari’s hand. She looked back at Angelica, who seemed to be taking her time getting out of the car, and then disappeared through the door to the building.
Ari extended his hand and helped Angelica from the car. He got an eyeful as he let his gaze travel the length of her body. Angelica squeezed his hand, and she felt his fingers pulsate.
“This might be the last time I see you,” Angelica offered.
“Already tired of the penthouse?” Ari asked.
“Things are not right up there. Weird things,” Angelica replied.
Ari began to laugh. “Yes, Miss Donna has a lot of strange visitors to her house. Don’t tell her I said it. I thought you were another one of her lesbian friends. They have some wild parties up there. I’ve been to a few and had a great time.”
Angelica crinkled her nose. “No, I’m not like that, Ari. Donna is my ex-husband’s cousin, and she was supposed to be hiring me for a modeling job. Imagine my surprise when I got to the set this morning—women kissing women and posing in lewd positions.”
“Oh, you’re talking about that gay magazine Donna is shooting.”
“You know about that, Ari?”
“Yeah, Donna and I are tight. Like I said, I’ve been to some of her wild, girl parties. It’s not a place for the timid or weak of heart.”
“It sounds disgusting.”
“For some it might be. I kept the party going and was there to dance with the ladies if they wanted to. No one was intimidated by my presence, and I certainly posed no threat.”
“Well, since I can’t play the game, I’ve been given twenty-four hours to gather my things and remove myself from the premises,” Angelica said with a sigh. “If Donna had given me a week, I would have been very appreciative. I guess she wants me out of her sight.”
“Tell you what,” Ari said, “let me park the car and meet me downstairs in fifteen minutes. I may have a temporary solution to your problem.”
“Thanks, Ari. I’ll see you in a few.”
There was no sign of Donna when Angelica entered the condo. She went to the room she had called hers for the last few days and began pulling clothes out of closets and drawers, folding them and placing them in a pile. She looked around the room and then focused on the black and white pictures that adorned the walls. All were of women, beautiful women, Donna’s women, but Angelica would not be one of them.
Angelica turned to find Donna standing in the crack of the door that was slightly ajar. At first there was a battle of the eyes, each one daring the other to speak. Then it was their body language—Donna’s stance was defiant, saying
I have the upper hand; don’t mess with me,
while Angelica’s stance was more agile and said,
So you played me; I’ve got nine lives and you will see me again.
“You will not last a day in this city,” Donna began. “This is not a place for losers. I don’t know what you expected when you arrived here, but I was doing you a favor, doing my family a favor by offering you a job in the first place.”
Angelica clapped sarcastically. “Nice speech, cousin Donna. I didn’t ask for your help, and if I had known what I was getting into, I wouldn’t have agreed to come to New York. You sold me a bill of goods. Couldn’t be honest and upfront with me. So, because I had an attitude today and refused to subject myself to what I felt to be repulsive, you have exercised your right to dismiss me from not only a job that I had already dismissed myself from but also the refuge you promised while I’m in New York. You didn’t even have the decency to allow me a few days to at least find a new job and pay for my stay.”
“Mighty fine speech yourself, but listen up, sister, you won’t be able to find a job in this city that will pay you enough money to afford the room you are staying in. You may need to call your brothers to see if they can help you because your eviction notice still stands.”
Angelica looked at her watch. Twenty minutes had passed. She told Ari that she would be there in fifteen. “I’ve got to get some air,” Angelica said.
“You have less than twenty-three hours and counting.” Donna left the room, leaving Angelica to ponder her predicament for a moment.
Angelica looked at her watch again and headed for the door. Once in the elevator, she breathed a sigh of relief. The confrontation with Donna was not as bad as she had expected, and she hoped Ari would have some good news.
Exiting the elevator, Angelica looked around but didn’t see Ari. She walked outside and, after not seeing him, walked back into the lobby and paced. She was anxious again, and Donna’s words,
You have less than twenty-three hours and counting,
haunted her.
She paced for five minutes more and decided to go back up to Donna’s.
“Hey, Miss Angelica, I wondered where you were.”
“Ari, I’ve been waiting over five minutes for you.”
“You didn’t come down when we discussed, and when you didn’t show up, I had to park one of the residents’ cars.”
“I’m sorry, Ari. My nerves are on edge. I don’t know what to do.”
“Look,” Ari said. “Why don’t you stay with me until you get on your feet? My place is not fancy, but it will offer a roof over your head. And it’s near the subway.”
“I…I couldn’t. I shouldn’t. I…
“What other choice do you have? No strings attached.”
Angelica walked to Ari and placed a quick kiss on his cheek. “Thank you for being my savior.”
“I’m off in another thirty minutes. If you get your things down here by then, you can leave tonight.”
“I won’t be late, Ari.”
“All right. It’s been a long day,” Ari said.
The elevator closed. Angelica thanked God out loud for the miracle. She was only a half hour away from being distanced from the hell she had brought upon herself by accepting Donna’s invitation. Yes, she knew it was hell because the pain was worse than any menstrual cramps she had suffered growing up, and they had been awful.
Angelica moved swiftly inside the condo and retrieved her belongings. She placed the key Donna had given her on the coffee table and headed toward the door with her two suitcases in tow.
“So, is Ari rescuing you from the evil cousin?” Donna asked.
Angelica turned around and faced Donna, who stood at a diagonal on the dining room door—her right elbow touching the top part of the doorframe and her feet placed on the floor in the middle of the door opening. Donna seemed to have a thing for
standing in doorways; in fact, she looked like one of the portraits that hung in the den that she had so beautifully captured with her camera lens.
“You said it yourself, I had less than twenty-three hours to remove myself, and I’m doing just that,” Angelica replied.
“Well, for someone who doesn’t know anyone in New York, you move mighty fast.” Donna smiled. “I’m surprised. You have twenty-two hours and thirty minutes.”
“Why, Donna? I would not have treated you this way.”
“Do I have to answer that, Angelica? You cost me a lot of money today, and I don’t take kindly to losing money. You’re a little old for my taste, but I wanted to help you. Adele Macy said you were feisty and would give the magazine debut the extra
umph
it needed.”
Angelica dropped her bags to the floor and stared at Donna, who did not move from her position.
“Ms. Macy?”
“Yeah, Ms. Adele Macy from the North Carolina Correctional Institution for Women.” Donna smirked. “We’re home girls. Twenty-two hours and twenty-eight minutes.”
“So, Ms. Macy is spying on me. Why? I don’t understand any of this and I don’t want to. I thought you brought me here as a courtesy for being Hamilton’s ex-wife…because you were doing a favor for your family.”
“Hamilton may be my cousin, but there is no love lost. He’s getting what he deserves.”
Angelica picked up her bags. “Thanks for the memories.”
“Anyway, Adele contacted my mother looking for my phone number. She told Mommy about you getting out of prison.”
A puzzled look crossed Angelica’s face. “Why would she call you?
Why would she call your mother to tell her about me? What’s going on here?”
Donna moved from her position and quickly reached the door to the condo before Angelica.
“You can run, but you can’t hide. You’re going to have to pay for your sins. At every corner, every train depot, at every fork in the road, there will be someone observing you. You won’t get away.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Donna, but I’m glad to be getting up out of here.”
“Twenty-two hours and twenty-five minutes,” Donna sang and slammed the door just as Angelica cleared it.
Donna’s taunting disturbed Angelica. What did it all mean? How was Ms. Macy involved? She had done her time and paid for the crime she had committed—stupidity. While in jail, her betrayal of Hamilton and Jefferson had haunted her day and night. She had gotten what she deserved, but now Angelica wanted to be a productive citizen and possibly right some of her wrongs. So far, she had done a lousy job of it.
Angelica looked at her watch. She had less than a minute to get downstairs. Donna’s words still ate at her. Was Ari one of the corners she had to tread? Right now she needed a place to stay, and Ari’s offer was a blessing in her time of need. Or was it? She couldn’t think about that now. Finding a job so that she could become independent would be her chore, and Angelica vowed she’d do it.
The doors to the elevator opened and Ari was waiting like the perfect gentleman. He took her bags and told her to wait while
he brought his car around. Ten minutes later there was a honk, and Angelica went outside. A Jaguar sat out front, and Ari was at the wheel.
A look of surprise registered on Angelica’s face. Ari opened the door to the Jag like he would if he were on duty and shut it once Angelica was inside. Angelica silently mouthed,
Eat your heart out, Donna.
They rode in silence away from Manhattan. After a few moments, Ari turned on the radio and light jazz hit the airwaves. It took another few minutes before Angelica relaxed; Donna’s words about someone watching her still resounded in her ears. Angelica looked over at Ari, who seemed to be enjoying the music.
“I guess you think I’m some kind of bimbo,” Angelica said to Ari while looking straight ahead.
“Why would I think that?” Ari responded. “You’re a beautiful woman who’s in a dilemma. I’ve seen it many times. Now, I don’t go opening my doors to everyone who falls prey to Ms. Donna Barnes Reardon, but your need seemed urgent enough that I had to help.”
“Thank you, Ari. I really appreciate it. I don’t go off with people I don’t know, but, as you put it so eloquently, I was desperate.”
Angelica began to laugh and so did Ari. “You should have seen your face,” Ari said. “You reminded me of the Statue of Liberty, waving her torch for someone to stop.” They laughed again, and Angelica really relaxed.
“So tell me about yourself, Ari,” Angelica prodded.
Ari looked at Angelica. “What do you want to know?”
“Whatever you are willing to share.”
“I was a poor immigrant’s son. Our family came from Greece back in the 1950’s. My family owned a little restaurant in Queens,
and I worked there until I finished high school. Broke my Papa’s heart. He thought I would take over the business one day, but I didn’t see it in my future. I had a sister who took over the business after my parents died. Still owns it.”
“So what did you do after high school?”
“I wanted to act. Took some acting classes in town. Actually did some Broadway. I was never in a leading role, but it was a good living because I seemed to always have a job. If I had gotten that break everybody pursues, I might have been a Cary Grant or a Clark Gable. I liked show biz, and it’s still a big part of me. Maybe we can catch a show on my day off.”
Angelica smiled. “I’d like that.”
“What about you, Angelica? What was life like for you before the penthouse?”
Angelica fidgeted in her seat. She hadn’t planned on Ari throwing the question back at her. It was uncomfortable, and Angelica had no planned speech for such an occasion. What could she say?
“Life was full for you, huh?” Ari asked. “Don’t know where to start?”
“Life hasn’t exactly been good for me, Ari. I’ve done a lot of things I’m not proud of and the stench of it still seems to follow me.”
“Couldn’t be that bad. A beautiful woman such as yourself probably has had the world eating out of your hand.”
“I wish. Nothing as great at that, although I will say that I had everything I wanted, but it came at a cost. In fact, I paid a high price for a delusion of grandeur.
“I was married to a prominent police officer in Fayetteville, North Carolina, where I come from. He was so handsome. Hamilton is his name. He was the kind of handsome your girlfriends would say you have to watch out for because he was too fine to
have as a husband and it wouldn’t be long before he’d be stepping out on you. I didn’t listen because I had to have him.” Angelica purposely left out how she met Hamilton in a strip club. “True to everyone’s belief, Hamilton not only had affairs with other women, he was an abuser—mental and physical.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Ari said.
“We divorced years later. However, Hamilton was involved in some illegal mess. I became indirectly involved…” Angelica stopped, not sure how much of the awful details of her life she wanted to share.
“You don’t have to say any more, if you don’t want to.”
“Ari,” Angelica looked at him, “I want to be honest with you. You seem like an honest individual. As I said earlier, I did some horrible things that include sleeping with my best friend’s husband, and I compromised her husband and my ex-husband, Hamilton.”
Ari squirmed in his seat.
“I embezzled funds from my girlfriend’s husbands’ accounts—he owned a financial securities firm—for the head of an underground organization. I’m ashamed to say that I was the girlfriend of this underground figure, although Hamilton and Jefferson—my girlfriend’s husband—did not know it. Fast-forwarding, this underground figure put a hit out on Hamilton and Jefferson and I tried to warn them. I was with Jefferson when he was hit and, much to my chagrin, his wife, who was once my best friend, found out. More than that,” Angelica hesitated, then sighed, “I was sent to prison for my part. I was released a few weeks ago. Yes, I’m an ex-convict, released early for good conduct, but I’m a good person, Ari. I’ll understand if you want to drop me and my bags off at the side of the road.”