Lovers and Takers (25 page)

“Just give him space,” Roni said.
 
“He’ll come around.”

“He’d better,” Kara said.
 
“If he knows what’s good for him.
 
I’m not like you.
 
I’m not going to let some man do me any kind of way.”

Roni was about to give that cousin of hers a piece of her mind, but then Griff came out of the law center, and appeared to be hurrying over.

“Oh brother,” Kara said.
 
“Here comes Fairy Dust.”

“That’s enough, Kara.”

Griff made his way to the two cousins with all deliberate speed.
 
Roni knew something was up just by the urgency in his walk.

“What is it now, Griff?” she asked as he approached.

“Amcrow is pulling funding.”

Roni couldn’t believe it.
 
“Oh, no!” she said.
 
Amcrow was the absolute last sponsor she expected to lose.
 
They often bragged about their assistance to the law center.
 
“But why?”

“Why?” Griff asked.
 
“The same reason all the rest of them are pulling out.
 
Our success rate is laughable, Roni, why do you think?
 
They can’t justify giving us those kind of dollars anymore.
 
Not in this economy.”

“I told them it wouldn’t be easy.
 
I told them the rate of success would be minuscule.”

“Yeah, but you told them ten percent would be out lowest outlay.”

“Well what is the outlay if it’s not ten percent?” Kara asked.
 

“We have a one percent success rate,” Griff said.

“Damn,” Kara said.
 
“That
is
low.
 
That’s almost nothing.”

“Thank-you,” Griff said.

But Kara was offended.
 
“What you thinking me for?”

“What I’m saying, Roni,” Griff said, rolling his eyes at that silly-ass Kara.
 
“Ninety-nine percent of our efforts fail.
 
Ninety-nine percent.
 
That means ninety-nine percent of their money is going down what turns out to be a black hole.
 
And you have the nerve to ask why they’re pulling funding?”

Roni rubbed her forehead.
 
“Call Cary---”

“Roni!”

“Call Cary, Griff, and schedule a meeting.”

“But it’s final.
 
They didn’t call and tell me they were thinking about pulling funding.
 
They said they were pulling funding.”

“Just do what I said, Griff.
 
I still want a meeting.”

Griff threw up his hands.
 
“You’re the boss,” he said.

“That’s right,” Kara said derisively.
 
“She’s the boss.
 
And don’t you forget that!”
 
Then she looked pass Griff.
 
“And here comes
my
boss,” she added.
 
“At least my boss’s boss.”

They all looked across the street and saw Jake’s Audi drive up and park behind Kara’s car.

“Look who just arrived at the candy store,” Griff said.

“Wonder what he wants?” Roni asked in a voice of concern.

“What you think?”
 
Kara asked.
 
Then she and Griff looked at each other.
 
“
More candy
,” they sang in unison.

“Oh, will you two stop,” Roni said dismissively.
 
She, instead, looked at Jake.
 
When he stepped out of his car, the wind causing his hair to puff up and then gather around his forehead, highlighting his boyish good looks, she smiled.

Kara shook her head.
 
“Damn, that man is fine,” she admitted.
 
“If he was younger, and if he wasn’t Aubrey’s father, and if he couldn’t fire me if I didn’t please him right, then I’d be all over him.
 
Yes, I would.”

“That’s a lot of
ifs
,” Griff said, admiring Jake’s form also.
 
“I would have no quantifiers for a man that fine.
 
All I’ll need is for him to be fired up and ready to go.
 
All he’ll have to be is available.”

But he’s not available
, Roni wanted to say.

“Over here!” Griff called out when it was clear that Jake didn’t see them in the park and, instead, began making his way to the front entrance of the law center.
 

Jake turned to the sound of Griff’s voice.
 
When he saw that Roni was among those looking his way, he checked for traffic and then made his way across the street.
 
His double-breasted suit was unbuttoned and flapping wide, revealing that flat, six-pack stomach Roni was beginning to know so well.
 
He did have swag big time, she thought proudly, as he made his way toward her.

“There goes a very rich man right there,” Griff said.
 
“A very rich man, by the by,” he added, now looking at Roni, “who could solve our cash flow problems with one nice big check.”

“That’s what I say, too, Griff,” Kara joined in.
 
“Because from what I’ve seen of those women he dated in the past, they don’t last long with him.
 
You have to hit him while you have his attention.”

“Amen,” Griff agreed.

But Roni ignored both of them and continued to look at Jake.
 
They were out of their natural minds if they thought she’d ask that man for a dime.
 
She didn’t care how much money he had.
 
She wasn’t going to exploit their budding relationship that easily.
 
Not this relationship.
 
Not when she was just beginning to feel, for the first time in a very long time, that he may be worth the risk.
 

Besides, she reasoned, that man was probably so accustomed to women trying to get next to him for personal gain that he could smell a gold digger a mile away.
 
She wasn’t about to give him a reason to think of her as somebody like that.

“Damn, he’s attractive,” Griff said as Jake grew nearer.

“Yes, he is,” Kara agreed.
 
“I’ll give him that.
 
Aubrey came from some good looking stock. Hey, Mr. Varnadore,” Kara said cheerfully when he arrived.

“Hello, Kara,” Jake said.
 
“How are you?”

“Good.”

“Not at work?”

Kara almost wanted to cuss him out.
 
I don’t see you at work, either
, she wanted to say.
 
“No, sir.
 
Aubrey’s letting me take a late lunch,” she lied instead.

Jake nodded.
 
Then Griff extended his hand.
 
“Griffin Armstrong, Mr. Varnadore,” he said as they shook.
 
“I’m Roni’s law partner.
 
Very nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you, too,” Jake replied.

Kara grabbed her Dior bag.
 
“Well,” she said, standing up, “I’d better get back to work.”

“Same here,” Griff said.

“Call Cary,” Roni said to Griff.

“I still say it’s a bad idea, Roni.
 
We don’t want the word getting around that we hound sponsors who decide to pull their funding.
 
We should just thank them and move on.”

“Call Cary,” Roni said again, “and schedule a meeting.”

Griff shook his head.
 
“You’re the boss,” he said as he began leaving.

“Yes, she is,” Kara reminded him once more as she followed him.
 
“And don’t you forget it.”
 

Roni smiled and looked at Jake.
 
He looked distressed, she thought.
 
He leaned down, kissed her on the lips, and then sat on the bench beside her.

“How’s Pam?” she asked.

“Good, actually.
 
She just gets under the weather occasionally.”

“Did your family physician have a look at her, too?”

“Yes, he did.
 
He’s ordered more tests, to Pam’s dismay, but he says it’s only precautionary.
 
He doesn’t expect any of them to turn up any problems.”

Roni nodded.
 
“Good.
 
That’s good.”

“Yes, I thank God Almighty that she’s able to manage with her disease.”

“Yes,” Roni said.
 
“Thank God.”

And then there was a lag where nothing else was spoken.
 
Roni wondered why he came at all, in the middle of this work day, after they’d just said goodbye to each other this morning.
 
It was a sensual goodbye, to be sure, but she was surprised to see him here now.
 
And although she should have been ecstatic to know that he thought about her, she didn’t feel joyous.
 
Mainly because this little visit of his seemed to be more about something else, than about seeing her again.

Jake couldn’t say definitively, either, why he had left his office, in the middle of all that he needed to be doing, and drove over here to see Roni.
 
But that was what he did.
 
Just to be near her at a time that had him feeling a little off-balance.
 
He knew, deep down, that seeing Dena again was the reason.
 
And just thinking about her caused him to let out such a sharp exhale, it caused Roni to look at him.

“What’s the matter?” she asked him.

He looked at her, and saw the concern in her pretty eyes.
 
He placed his arm around her.
 
“Everything and nothing,” he said.

“Okay,” Roni said, not sure how to take that.
 
“Why did you come?” she asked him, instead.

“I just wanted to see your pretty face again,” he said.
 
“Isn’t that enough?”

It would have to be, Roni thought, as she leaned closer against him.
 
But after only a few moments later, Jake explained.

“I saw my ex-wife yesterday.”

Roni didn’t know what to say to that.
 
So she said nothing.
 
Just waited.
 
When he didn’t continue, she did.

“She’s Aubrey and Pam’s mother?”

“That’s right.
 
Pam phoned her yesterday morning.
 
She happened to be in town, although she didn’t bother to let her children know that, but she went over to the house to see Pam.”

“Well, that’s good.”

“Yeah.
 
Pam tries to stay in touch with her mother.”

“But not Aubrey?”

Jake shook his head.
 
“Aubrey can’t,” he said, but didn’t explain.
 
But as the surrounding sounds of cars driving past and pigeons cooing and rustling wind filled up the void, he sighed again, and ran his hand through his hair.

“The crazy thing for me, Roni,” he said, “was the way she looked.”
 

Roni looked at him.
 
He was staring forward, seemingly at the past.
 
“She was so well put together.
 
And I mean with perfection, just the way she used to be.
 
And it felt as if all of that devastation she had caused me and my children didn’t affect her at all.
 
That angered me.
 
And I know it’s been a long time, I know you go on with your life.
 
But the pain is still there.
 
And for her to just show up looking so gorgeous, while me and my children . . .” He couldn’t continue.
 
He just exhaled.
 

And for nearly half an hour they just sat there, the two of them, with Jake’s arm still around Roni, and no words were spoken.
 
Until Jake exhaled again.
 
And removed his arm.

“I’d better get back to the office,” he said, “before they put out an APB.”

Roni smiled weakly.
 
He moved to the edge of the bench, but he didn’t stand up yet.
 
He looked back at her.

“Thanks,” he said, his eyes still distressed.

Normally Roni would ask what exactly was he thanking her for.
 
This time, however, she merely smiled.
 

And he leaned over, kissed her again, and then stood up.
 

He looked around.
 
“Is it safe out here?” he asked.

“It’s safe.”

He nodded.
 
“Still,” he said, “I don’t want you staying out here too long.
 
Not by yourself.”

His concern touched her.
 
“I won’t,” she said.