Destination D (33 page)

Rough Landing

P
am wore a smile that was almost too big for her face as she retrieved the mail. She began whistling Bobby McFerrin's late 80's tune, “Don't Worry Be Happy,” as she walked back to Dee's room and placed her mail on her dresser. Several days had passed and Dee was still avoiding her. Well, it wouldn't be long. She was taking the job in New York, and she decided to stay at Marc's place. She would need some time to clean out her office at SMS. As for Dee, she would tell her today. That was if she would talk to her.

When she was ready to leave Dee's room, she heard the phone ring. “That's odd,” she said as she looked at the Caller ID screen. “Marco Grimaldi? Why is he calling Dee?” Pam picked up the phone.

“Hello?”

“Hello, Ms. Bridge?”

Rebecca didn't give Pam a chance to answer back. “Dr. Grimaldi asked me to give you a call. He really wants to talk with you about canceling all of your appointments with him. He asked that you please reconsider and that he will be calling you personally later today to speak with you.”

Pam's jaw dropped. “All right, thank you,” she managed to whisper.

“All right, Ms. Bridge, I'll let him know.”

“Goodbye.”

Rickey bought a pair of faded jeans, a blue denim shirt, and a pair of work boots from the local Target. He had no intention of ever wearing any of them again after today. He had taken a bold move earlier that morning and drove down to Melvin's company to inquire about the location of his next job. He pretended to be a developer wanting to speak with him regarding a planned community that was being designed around an underdeveloped area outside Atlanta. Clad in a hard hat and rolled-up faux architect plans, he convinced a newly hired intern that he needed to speak with Melvin immediately. Rickey was headed toward the address that the young man wrote down.

Rickey left the hat and the plans in the back of his cranberry Jaguar XK Convertible. There was no need to pretend now. Melvin knew him for who he was, or at least Melvin thought he did.

“Hey, man, what's up?” The dark-haired man nodded as he walked past him carrying a two-by-four. “I'm looking for Melvin Landers.”

“He's up on top.” He pointed to the tall scaffold that seemed to line the sky.

Rickey took a deep breath, gripped the scaffold, and climbed up each rung. He dared not look down—fearing he would never be able to complete what he had set out to do. Melvin heard the sound of upcoming footsteps and slowly turned around.

“What the…?”

Rickey was standing eye to eye with him before he could finish his sentence. “Melvin?”

“You are a bold son-of-a-bitch,” he said clenching his fists.

“Hold on, Melvin, man, you don't want to do this, do you?” Melvin looked down at his men below circling around the scaffold.

“Hey, boss! Everything okay up there?” one of the workers asked.

Melvin thought about where he was and how it was important for him to not show his anger in front of his crew. The last thing he needed was to set a poor example. “Yeah, it's cool,” he said, waving his hand for them to continue working.

“Talk fast!” Melvin mumbled as his anger resurfaced.

Rickey closed his eyes for a minute to adjust them to the glaring sunlight, and then cleared his throat before speaking. “I came here today to talk with you about Amanda and Tracey.”

“You got exactly one minute and then I'm gonna give you a short cut to get back down there,” he said, pointing with his eyes to the hard surface below.

“All right, I can do that. I made a mistake with Amanda years ago. I loved her then, and it's true, it took me some years to realize that I still do, but she has made it perfectly clear that I have come in too late and she has moved on to be with you.”

Melvin's eyes softened some, but he still looked as if he wanted to toss Rickey to the ground below. “Thirty seconds left,” he said looking at his watch.

Rickey threw both his hands up. “Aight, aight…listen, I don't want us to be enemies. I've made a lot of mistakes in my life. The biggest one was not being a man and owning up to my responsibilities and letting someone else handle them for me. Did Amanda tell you I tried to contact her when Tracey was born?”

Melvin's eyes squinted with malice. “No!”

“I see. Did she tell you that my mother was the one who was returning all of her letters back to her and blocking mine from going out to her without me knowing about it?”

“No!” Melvin said trying to keep the bombshell that Rickey had just dropped on him from exploding. Amanda had never breathed a word to him, but then again, he hadn't given her a chance since he'd walked out on her.

“We'll, it's true.” Rickey continued, unable to read Melvin's reaction one way or the other. Rickey's hands began to sweat. He looked around to see if there was anything he could grab in case Melvin decided to lose his mind again and come after him like he did before. The closest thing near to him was a metal beam. Unless he was Thor, he couldn't lift it to protect himself. Rickey paused for a moment, and prayed silently, then decided to continue. “But even though my mother had a big hand in this, I should have dug deeper to find out what was going on with my girl and my baby back then.”

Melvin was silent as though his mind was spinning like a whirlpool. Why was he telling him all of this? Did he want Amanda back? Did she want him back? And where did he fall into the triangle?

“What about you and her now?” Melvin said, looking down below still trying to resist the urge to see him free falling into midair. “I…I heard her tell you over the phone that she still loves you.”

Rickey smiled a bit, feeling his heart sinking low in his chest. Somewhere beneath the surface, his pride was trying to find its way to the top, but it too, like the look on Melvin's face, was in limbo. Rickey looked up at him more serious than he'd ever thought possible. “Yeah, she does love me, man, but not enough to leave you.” Rickey sighed heavily and looked down below at his potential fate. The words he was about to say would either be his last, or Melvin would take it like a man and forgive Amanda.

“It was a seventeen-year disconnect that we made up for just that one night. I don't regret it, but she does.” Melvin lunged toward him. “Because she loves you, man!” Rickey yelled before Melvin could seal his fate. “You are the one she wants to spend the rest of her life with—not me!”

Rickey's eyes pleaded for Melvin's pardon. “Listen, man, I let you get away with hitting me the other day. I felt like I deserved it, and I didn't want to create any more of a scene in front of Amanda. You were only looking out for Amanda and Tracey's best interests, and I can appreciate that. That's what real men do, that's what real fathers do. But today, I gotta say, you are looking at me more and more like you want to kill me. And I ain't interested in going out like that. I'll fight you, Melvin, if that's what you want. But I gotta say that I'd like to go down the same way I came up here, if that's all right with you.”

Melvin gave him a cold stare and watched him back down the scaffold like a tortoise in high heels.
That man sho'got a lot of balls,
he thought as he shook his head and looked down at his crew staring up at him protectively.

“C'mon, now, let's get back to work! Show's over!”

Please Return to the Upright and Locked Position

W
hen Pam heard the key jingle inside the lock, she ran from Dee's room to meet her. “Dee, we need to talk,” she said, rushing toward Dee as she walked in.

Dee had lost the confidence she'd gained from speaking with Sedrick and could not bring herself to look at Pam, let alone have a conversation with her.

“I'm beat. I had to unexpectedly run back out to the airport after already leaving because I forgot my wallet. So not right now, okay? I'm going to bed.” The truth was that after leaving Sedrick's, she'd been driving around all night in hopes that Pam would be gone by the time she got home.

“Yes, now!” Pam insisted as she grabbed her arm.

Dee jerked away. “I'm not able to talk right now.”

Pam's words spewed out like foam from a fire extinguisher. “Well, I can understand why, especially since you've found out that I've been in a relationship with your psychiatrist!” Dee looked at her with shock and resentment. “I didn't mean for it to come out like that,” Pam said remorsefully.

“But, how'd you…I don't understand…”

“I was in your room to put your mail away and answered your phone. I thought it odd that Marc's number was coming up on your Caller ID, so I answered it and his assistant assumed I was you.”

“Well, did you tell her you weren't me?”

“No, I didn't get a chance to.”

Dee felt her head pounding and began massaging her temples. “Well, do I need to call her and get the message or do you have that also?”

“Marc will be calling you. It seems that you have canceled all of your appointments with him.” Pam's voice sounded concerned and Dee's head was pounding even more.

Dee flopped down on the couch, opened her purse, and popped two aspirin into her mouth. She walked to the kitchen and rinsed them down with a glass of water. She knew this was going to be a long, drawn-out discussion with Pam. “I have,” she said as she sat down at the kitchen table.

“So you were at the restaurant,” Pam said walking toward her.

“Yes, when I got there, I saw the two of you there together in a lip-lock and, well, I just couldn't believe it…”

Pam sat down next to her. “Dee, why didn't you tell me you were seeing a psychiatrist?”

“Why would I tell you that?”

“Because I'm your best friend, that's why! Or at least I thought I was.”

“I didn't tell you because I didn't want you to know.”

“But why? What is going on with you where you feel like you need a psychiatrist? How long have you been seeing him?”

Dee's tears brimmed as she shook her head in frustration. “It's just too much to have to relive, Pam. I just don't have the energy to go into it with you.” She felt the pressure in her head subside. “I've been working with him for about six months. How long have you been seeing him?”

“I've known him for about that long, I guess. But we really haven't been dating until recently.”

“Recently, as in Vegas?”

Pam paused. “This is just too fucking bizarre,” she mumbled.

Dee rolled her eyes. “No kidding.”

“Does Marc even know?”

“No. Like I said, I have canceled all of my appointments so I haven't spoken with him.”

They were both silent and Dee had the worst sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach.

Pam went to pick up the phone. “Well, I think we both need to sit down and talk with him.”

“What are you doing?”

“I'm going to call him and ask him to come to Atlanta so we can tell him what is going on.”

“Oh, no you're not!” Dee demanded.

“Dee, you're being ridiculous!” Pam quickly picked up the phone and began dialing.

Dee raced toward Pam and placed her hand over the phone. “Listen, Pam. He's my doctor, okay. And believe me you don't want to do that!”

Pam put the phone down and stared at Dee. “Now I get it. You don't want me to talk to him with you, because I'm part of the reason why you've been seeing him.”

Dee couldn't look at her. This was exactly why she didn't want to get into this with Pam.

“Well, are you going to say something?”

“Okay. You're right. Now, are you satisfied?”

“No! What exactly did you tell him about me?”

Dee turned her head away from Pam. Her reaction said it all.

“Dee, you didn't…how could you discuss my personal issues with him?”

“Listen, Pam. What I said to him was confidential, okay? I even flew to Utah every week just to keep things as private as possible.”

“I know, but I'm dating him.”

“Well, how was I supposed to know that? I never see you. You go to work early and come back late. You've kept your personal life a secret since Greg.”

“I know, Dee. I had too. You know why. But what I don't understand is what that has to do with you talking to Marc about me.”

“Everything! I never even really knew how it all added up. But after my first few months of therapy, I've realized that deep down inside I've been miserable about who I am. I look at you every day and see that you've accomplished all the things that I was supposed to.”

“What? Where is all of this coming from? I never knew. I mean I had plans for all three of us opening up our own law firm together. All of us were supposed to take the bar, but—”

Dee interrupted before Pam could get her thoughts together. “Pam! Just shut up! It's not about you, and it's not about Amanda, okay! For once, it's about me!”

Pam was shocked and hurt by Dee's outburst.

“I'm sorry,” Dee said. “I don't mean to go off on you like this, really. But I've been fooling myself and others for a long time, and I need to let you know how I'm feeling. Some of the stuff I've done…well, you just wouldn't believe it,” she said, as her voice trailed off. “Doc, I mean, Dr. Grimaldi, has been helping me work through this. Sometimes I wonder if I'm ever going to get better. And now, I find out that the one person that I've been sharing all of my intimate thoughts with is dating one of the people closest to me. It's a hard pill to swallow and I need some time to digest it.”

Pam was still reeling from the large blow that had struck her and was now putting a deep wedge between them. Now, to make matters worse, Marc knew something about her that she should have been the one to tell him—not Dee.

“You know, Dee, you're right.”

“Right? About what?”

“This is about you. And I think you need some time to work things out without me being around you.”

“What's that supposed to mean?”

“I was wondering how I was going to tell you this, but now it seems as good a time as any. I've accepted a job offer to become a partner at Richmond and Lieberman in New York.”

Dee looked at her with eyes opened wide. “Well, congratulations,” she said dryly. “So this is what it comes to, huh? You find out you're dating my psychiatrist, I won't go into the specifics of why I'm seeing him, and now you plan on just leaving me high and dry?”

“No, that wasn't my plan at all,” Pam answered coolly.

“Pam, you haven't grown since your breakup. You are still running away from your problems.”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean? I'm taking a better job!”

“What? They wouldn't cave in to you at SMS, so instead of working out your problems, you bail and then just go to another firm?”

“Dee, you wouldn't understand—even if I tried to tell you.”

“No, you're right. I don't understand you at all!”

Pam fumed at her insinuations. She knew what Dee was trying to say, but she didn't like how she was saying it. “Well, now you don't have to worry about trying to understand me, right? Especially since I seem to be the root of your problems! I'll talk to Marc on my own time,” she said as she took her purse off of the kitchen table. “Here,” she said, pulling out her checkbook and scribbling on the front of the check. So you won't think I'm leaving you high and dry, I'm giving you my four months' rent. This should give you more than enough time to work things out, find another roommate, and work out your personal problems without me getting in the way!” She handed her the check and headed back to her room.

Once Pam got to her room, she sat on the bed and opened up her nightstand to look for some aspirin—Dee had just given her a headache. “Okay, I know I have some in here, somewhere,” she said, as she continued to rummage through the drawer. She suddenly stopped as her fingers ran across something that she had long forgotten. “Oh no, this couldn't be!” She looked at the faded cloth that sat underneath her pillbox and removed it slowly from the drawer—the cloth that had covered a long forgotten keepsake. She sat the cloth on the bed and stared at the memento as tears slowly traveled down her face and her headache disappeared. She thoughtfully wrapped it back up again and solemnly shook her head. Things were so simple back then. She wished they were that easy now. She lay down and placed the memento close to her heart and drifted off to sleep.