Not His Type (27 page)

Done with the workday, Anna and Cathy busied themselves in the kitchen. Anna chopped vegetables while Cathy
butterflied chicken breasts.

“You did what?” Anna was still laughing.
“You heard me. I chased her.”
“The mental picture I’m getting is a hoot!”
“Mom was acting like she was playing dodge ball with

the shopping cart. I thought she was losing her mind until
she said we were being followed. All I could think was,
‘What the hell is this about?’ ”

“I was an angry black woman with an attitude. Hell, I’d
be scared, and it was me.”
“I just think it’s amazing that after that kind of scene,
you had lunch with the stalker.”
“Isn’t that strange? We actually had a nice lunch and she
gave me some valuable information about Cybil George.”
“Really? What did she tell you?”
“She told me things I knew, like how long they went
out. But she also told me the newslink brief we saw last
night was bull.”
“What?”
“Not on Marcus’s part but on Cybil’s. She’s shooting a
film in Baltimore but the film’s shooting in the same area
where
The Wire
films.”
“That’s nowhere near Camden Yards,” Anna said.
“Right.”
“So she’s putting herself in his face on purpose.”
“She wants him back.”
“What are you gonna do?”
“What am I going to do? What should I do? Slap her
with my glove and challenge her to a duel at sunrise?’
“You could go to Baltimore.”
“Why? We’ll be in Tampa Friday afternoon. I can’t live
my life running after a man in the hopes of keeping another
woman from him. That’s not a life.”
“You’re right. I wouldn’t do it either.”
“I will tell you that your mother was in rare form
today.”
Anna rolled her eyes. “When isn’t she? Did she ask you
anything about my wedding plans?”
Cathy secretly wished she could say yes. Anna’s first
husband had been one selfish son of a gun, an overly critical, demanding liar. Somehow, Elizabeth had managed to
remake his image as something better than what he actually
was. Roger was the polar opposite: supportive, patient and
unselfish. What more could a mother want? At least that
was the way it was supposed to be.
“No. She did tell me she didn’t approve of our
conduct.”
“Approve? She used the word
approve
?”
“Yep. Be happy you don’t have children. Then you’d be
flaunting your sex life in their faces.”
“Cathy, your kids aren’t babies, they’re eighteen. It’s
ridiculous.”
“Of course it is but we can’t change her. I had a conversation about it with her today. Mom isn’t getting mellow
with age; she’s getting more and more rigid.”
“You talked to her about it?” Anna was shocked.
“Wonder of wonders, I know.” Cathy threw her hands
up. “It didn’t change anything. There is no talking to her.”
“Well, technically she’s not supposed to talk to us. After
all, we are demons.”
“Oh, that’s true.”
“Why can’t she just be our mother? That’s what she was
before ‘the truth’ entered our lives. Why is it so hard?” Anna
had a hint of longing in her voice.
Cathy shrugged it off. “Anna, I don’t think she knows
how anymore.” Cathy pounded the chicken breast harder.
“Cathy, are you trying to thin out the chicken breast or
pulverize it?” Anna pointed to the chicken, which looked as
if it had been through the food processor.
Cathy laughed. “I guess I’m more uptight about this
subject than I thought.” She paused. “Coming out of that
religion was like getting off the space shuttle.”
Anna shook her head. “It’s a shame but it’s true. We
might as well have been from outer space it was such a
shock.”
Cathy butterflied another breast. “That’s why I got out
when I did.”
Anna laughed. “But it still took you like four years
before you’d put up a Christmas tree.”
Cathy snickered. “I know. Wasn’t that too much? I was
celebrating Christmas but I was actually scared to put up a
tree.”
“Afraid you’d be struck down by lightning.” Anna
chuckled.
“Something like that, but I’m still standing.”
“Mom thinks we don’t believe in God anymore.” Anna
sighed.
“That’s just silly. We didn’t throw out the baby
with
the
bathwater. We still believe in God. I just don’t go to a
building to prove it.”
“That’s why I’m so lucky to have found Roger. He really
understood and he didn’t pressure me about anything,
including religion.”
“To quote Martha, that’s a good thing.”
“His pastor is performing the ceremony.”
“I guess that means Mom will be in the reception area
until after the ceremony.”
“You really think she’ll do that? We’re not getting
married in a church.”
Cathy put the knife down. “She stayed in the car for
Alicia’s ceremony and it was summertime in Baltimore. So
you know she’d rather get heatstroke than sit for 20
minutes.”
Anna sucked her teeth. “You’re right.”
“Don’t worry, you’ll still have a beautiful wedding and
your marriage will be blessed.” She paused to rinse the
chicken. “By the way, I saw Aunt Peg today.”
“Oh yeah? I didn’t realize she was back from London.”
“Neither did I. I saw her at Barnes and Noble this afternoon after lunch.”
“How is she doing?”
“Really well. She looked good but she always looks
good.”
“That’s true.”
“She asked about your wedding plans and she wants
you to call her.”
“You didn’t tell her the date, did you?”
“I resisted. She’s excited for you, though.”
“At least she’s excited, which is more than we can say for
Mom.”
“You can’t worry about it. She’s not going to change.
Sure, she’ll put on a great show at the wedding but until
then you know how she’s going to be.”
“I know Aunt Peg will put her in her place.”
“They don’t call her Peg for nothing. She’s been known
to knock quite a number of people down a few pegs.”
“I used to wonder why they called her Peg when her
given name is Yvette.”
“Now you know.”
The phone rang. Cathy washed her hands and picked
up.
“Hello?”
“Hey, Cathy. What’s shaking?”
“Hey, Jim. How are you?”
“I’m great. I called to tell you about a gift I received
today.”
“A gift?” Cathy asked.
“Yeah, I got a box of premium cigars and Johnny
Walker Blue.”
“Really? Johnny Walker Blue.”
Anna shook her hand. “Fancy.”
“It came with a thank you card from Marcus Fox.”
“Now wasn’t that nice of Marcus?”
“What is he thanking me for?”
“You remember when you cancelled lunch the other
day?”
“Yeah. We still have a rain check for that, right?”
“Yes. Anyway, I met Marcus that day. So if you hadn’t
cancelled the lunch we wouldn’t have met.”
“Oh. So you guys are dating?”
“It’s so refreshing to talk to someone who hasn’t read the
gossip page.”
“I never read that garbage.”
“Then to answer your question, we are dating.”
“Hey, I guess I can add accidental matchmaker to my
curriculum vitae.”
Cathy chuckled. “I guess you can.”
“Well, I’m happy for you, Cathy.”
“Thanks. Oh yeah, before I forget, I’m going away for
a long weekend starting Friday.”
“Good for you. When’s the last time you took some real
time off?”
“I have no idea. Still, better late than never.”
“Right you are. Please tell Mr. Fox I said thank you.”
“Will do.”
“You have a good time, Cathy.”
“Thanks, Jim. I will. Talk to you later.”
Cathy hung the phone up. “Johnny Walker Blue and
cigars. I know Jim is in hog heaven.”
As she continued pounding the chicken, the phone
rang again.
“Anna, would you get the phone please? I have chicken
hands again.”
Anna picked up.
“Hello? Hey, Madison. Are you dropping by for
dinner?” Anna’s tone suddenly changed from casual to
distressed. “What? Where are you?”
Cathy saw concern on Anna’s face.
“Okay we’ll be right over.” She hung up.
“What’s going on?”
“Something happened at his apartment. Let’s just go.”
Cathy washed her hands and put everything away.
Anna drove.
When they pulled up to Madison’s place, there were a
couple police cars there.
“What in the world?” Cathy was stunned.
They jumped out of the car. Madison was pacing on the
front lawn.
“Madison! Are you all right?”
“I’m fine, Anna.”
“What’s going on? Why are the police here?”
“He cut my phone line, which disabled my security
system, allowing him to get in and destroy my place.”
Cathy noticed he was smoking a cigarette after quitting
over a year ago.
“It was that guy, wasn’t it?”
“Yes. The guy’s completely unhinged.”
“Are the cops looking for him?” Cathy asked.
“They didn’t have to. He was still in there when I got
home.”
“Oh my God.”
Just then two policemen brought him out in handcuffs.
“I have to go to the station to press charges.”
“We’re going with you,” Anna said.
“Thanks.”
“Why don’t you grab a few things from the house and
stay with us.”
“Thanks, Cathy. I’ll bring my suitcase. I can use this
weekend getaway more than ever now.”
“I’ll bet.”
The three of them walked back into Madison’s apartment. The destruction was unreal. The walls had holes and
the furniture was spray-painted. Cathy stopped short of the
bedroom; she didn’t want to see any more. Madison went
in, threw some things into the suitcase and they made a
quick exit.
Madison, who normally talked a mile a minute, was
quiet on the way to the station. He was shell-shocked.
Fortunately, it wasn’t a long car ride and they were soon
sitting in the waiting area of the station. A detective called
Madison to take his statement.
Cathy and Anna stayed in the waiting room for nearly
an hour before Madison walked out. Raymond’s ex-wife
and center of the storm, Mary Gianni, ran into the station
just as Madison came out of the squad room. She ran over
and hugged him.
“Madison. I am so sorry. This is my fault.” She was
visibly shaken.
“It’s not your fault. He did this. You’re not responsible
for his actions.”
“But if I hadn’t pressed him about the money…”
“Don’t say that. You were married for 18 years and you
have four children to think about. You only wanted your
fair share.”
“I thought you’d be angry with me.”
“Not at all.”
“Can I at least drive you home or to your cousins’
place?”
“That’s very sweet of you but my cousins are in the
waiting room.” He turned to toward Cathy and Anna.
“That’s Catherine on the left and Anna on the right.”
They waved.
“You have a great cousin.”
“We know,” Anna said.
“Now you should go home to your kids,” Madison told
Mary.
She gave him a peck on the cheek.
Cathy and Anna stood up.
“All done?” Anna asked.
“Yeah. What time is it?”
Cathy looked at her watch. “It’s eight-thirty.”
“It’s that late already?” Anna was surprised.
“I know I interrupted your dinner stuff so how about
we head over to Pete’s?”
“Don’t worry about the dinner stuff,” Cathy answered.
“We’ll just cook tomorrow.”
Anna agreed. “Right. Let’s go to the diner.”

Only a few people were scattered around the diner,
having quiet conversations, reading books or working on
their laptops. After they were seated they quickly ordered.
The eggshell silence continued.

“I certainly feel privileged this evening,” Madison
sighed.
Anna and Cathy looked at each other as if he was nuts.
“Cathy is actually missing a Yankee game.”
They broke up laughing.
“Thank God you broke the ice. It was getting to me,”
Anna said. “We’re not used to being this quiet.”
“I know. That’s why I figured I would say something to
get it over with.”
“Good. But I am missing my Mr. Fox’s game.”
“I didn’t think you cared,” Madison clowned.
“Of course I care. However, I can also catch the rebroadcast tomorrow morning,” she joked.
“I should have figured that.”
The waitress brought the soup over.
“So are you feeling better?” Cathy asked, then blew on
the hot soup.
“A little. I’m just glad this night will be over soon.
Tomorrow is another day.”
“True,” Anna said.
“What happens next for you?”
“He gets arraigned and I wait for the D.A. to contact
me about either a trial date or a plea bargain.”
“So they might get in touch with you relatively soon?”
Anna asked.
“Most likely.”
“Good, the sooner you get this resolved, the better.”
“Yeah.” Madison looked distant. “I don’t want to talk
about it anymore. Let’s talk about other things, happy
things.”
“Like our upcoming weekend.” Anna smiled.
“Right. Have you booked the hotel yet, Cathy?”
“As a matter of fact, Marcus reserved three rooms for us
at the Hilton.”
“The Yankees stay in which hotel?”
“To be honest, Madison, I don’t know.”
“I guess we can assume it’s the same one he booked us
in.”
“We’ll find out soon enough.”
The waitress brought their food to the table and they
fell on it. Apparently spending time at the police station
had increased the hunger factor for the three of them.
“Anyway, Madison, I didn’t have the chance to tell you
that Cathy had quite an eventful day.”
“Really now?”
“Oh yes. She and a freelance reporter made quite a
splash at Stop-n-Shop.”
“What?”
“I’ll let Anna fill you in. If you’ll excuse me I need to go
to the ladies’ room.”
Cathy could hear the game in the background, so she
slowly walked to the ladies room so she could listen to the
game on the way. She ducked into the hallway so Anna and
Madison wouldn’t see her as she lingered to hear the score.
The Yankees were leading 7-1 heading to the top of the
seventh inning. “Yes!” she whispered before she went into
the ladies’ room. Just to make sure they were still in the
lead, she stopped again before going back to the table. The
Yankees were up at bat with their lead still intact.
She sat back down at the table, confident of a Yankee
victory.
“Cathy, I would have paid money to see you chase this
woman in supermarket.”
“It was rather comical but it broke the ice. We had
lunch here this afternoon.”
“Lunch with the enemy?”
“It wasn’t as bad as all that, Madison. We talked and I
got to know her a little. She’s an Ivy Leaguer like us.”
“Get out of here. What school?”
“She has a degree in journalism from Columbia
University.” Cathy twirled her fork.
“Wow, and she works freelance for gossip tabloids?”
Anna asked.
“Hey, that’s where the money is.” Cathy shrugged.
“Can’t knock the hustle,” Madison said between sips of
coffee.
“Not to mention she gave Cathy the scoop on Cybil.”
“What did she say?”
“She told me Cybil is shooting a movie in Baltimore.
However, her shoot isn’t near Camden Yards. It’s in another
part of the city.”
“So she made a special trip to Camden Yards to be near
Marcus.”
“So it appears.”
“I wouldn’t sweat it. We’ll be in Tampa in two days.”
“And so will Marcus.”
“I know, guys. You don’t have to try to make me feel
better. I’m not worried about it.”
“Good. So how about we order dessert then get the hell
out of Dodge?” Madison said.
Cathy had avoided relationships for nearly three years
for this very reason: They made her vulnerable. In this case,
it also made her fodder for the gossip columns and entertainment news shows. Anna and Marcus knew better than
to believe her.
After dessert they paid the check and went home. The
evening’s events had made Madison more tired than he
thought so he went straight to bed. Anna had some
numbers to crunch on her laptop for a little while before
turning in.
As for Cathy, she had the Yankee post game report on.
The final score was 9-3 in favor of the men in pinstripes,
which made her very happy. The only thing that would
have made her happier was a call from Marcus, especially in
light of the information she had learned about Cybil over
lunch. Knowing that she was in town and was making it
her business to see Marcus drove Cathy nuts. So to take her
mind off things she committed a cardinal bedroom sin: She
grabbed a
Publisher’s Weekly
from her office to read.
Just then the phone rang and in her rush to get it she
slammed her toe on the desk. “Hello?”
“Hey, sweetie. Are you okay?”
Cathy sucked up the pain. “I’m fine, honey.” Cathy was
relieved to hear Marcus’s voice. “So you guys won?”
`“Yeah. You didn’t see the game?”
“I have to catch the re-broadcast tomorrow morning.
We had a little family situation.”
“Are the boys all right?” He was concerned.
Cathy was touched by his tone. “The boys are good.
My cousin Madison had something happen and Anna and
I were with him for the evening.”
“Oh, it sounds serious.”
“It was. You know he’s a divorce attorney, right?”
“Yeah.”
“He had some trouble with a client’s ex-husband. The
guy was trying to hide money and property from the wife
and Madison found it.”
“I bet that didn’t go over too well with the ex.”
“Not at all. The guy went ballistic and tonight was the
last straw. He broke into Madison’s apartment and was still
there when Madison got home.”
“Oh my God. Was your cousin hurt?”
“No, thank God. He knew something was awry and
called the police before going inside.”
“Good. So they arrested the guy?”
“Yeah. We spent most of the evening at the police
station. Then we stopped at the diner to get something to
eat. It was too late to cook.”
“Sounds like you had an eventful evening.”
“Pretty much.” She sighed. “I am really looking forward
to Friday.”
“Me, too. I miss you so much.”
“I miss you, too.”
“So you’ll be touching down in Tampa around one or
two?”
“Something like that. Oh, that reminds me, I’d better
set up a car rental.”
“I can take care of that for you. You want me to put it
under your name?”
“Sure.”
“Is Avis okay?”
“Perfect.” She smiled even though she knew he couldn’t
see her. “So how did you do tonight?”
“I went 2 for 4, not exactly a stellar performance.”
“I’m sure you performed quite well, you always do.”
“Are we still talking about baseball?” Marcus said coyly.
Cathy laughed. “Mr. Fox!”
“Well, are we?” he playfully insisted.
“That was the case a few minutes ago. Now I’m not so
sure.”
“It’s not easy to concentrate on the topic at hand for
me. I think about you all the time. After the game I can’t
wait to call so I can hear that sexy voice I love so much.”
He paused. “God, I miss you.”
“I think about you all the time, too. And I love hearing
your voice. It’s so deep and sexy.”
“So, Ms. Chambers, should we talk about it now or
later?”
“Talk about what?” She wasn’t sure what ‘it’ he was
referring to.
“Us. We’ve talked nearly every night since I’ve been on
the road but we have been avoiding a certain ‘L’ word and
I don’t mean the show.”
“Thank God.” Cathy breathed a sigh of relief. “I
thought you meant phone sex.”
He laughed. “Have you ever even had phone sex?”
“No,” she quietly answered.
“You’re kidding me. With your voice?” He was flabbergasted.
Unlike most people who explain why they had phone
sex, Cathy had to explain why she hadn’t. “I know. I have
the voice of a 900-telephone sex operator. However, in my
own defense, I was celibate for such a long time that I
decided I preferred the real thing.”
“When you put it that way, I get it.”
“Good. So now I don’t feel like too much of an odd
ball. Anyway, honey, we’re off the subject you wanted to
talk about.”
“Oh yes, the ‘L’ word.”
“Frankly I’m really surprised you brought it up.”
“Why?”
“In my experience, albeit limited, men don’t bring up
this topic much. Or at least that’s what most women’s
magazines say.”
“It’s time to get rid of the elephant in the room. We
both said ‘I love you’ Sunday morning. Granted, it was said
in the throes of passion, but nonetheless we said it.”
“I know.”
“It’s been on my mind ever since and I didn’t want you
to think it’s something I take lightly or even say easily.”
“I didn’t want to bring it up just in case it fell under the
category of spontaneous orgasmic utterances.”
“Was it a spontaneous utterance for you?”
“No.”
“It wasn’t for me, either. I love you, Cathy. I’m in love
with you.”
She felt a tear roll down her cheek. “I’m in love with
you, too, Marcus.”
“Sure you can’t change your flight to Thursday?”
“I wish I could but I’ve already booked the flight and I
have a ton of things to do to get ready for the weekend.”
“I guess I have to take another cold shower and go 3 for
4 at bat.”
She laughed. “I’m making cinnamon rolls tomorrow
morning.”
“We both have energy to re-direct.”
“Oh yeah.”
“Game time is 7:00
P
.
M
. on Friday and you’re getting in
around one or so.”
“Right.”
“I’d love to see you before the game.”
“I’d love to see you, but don’t you have to get to the
stadium for the warm-up and pre-game?”
“Let me worry about that.”
“Okay. How about we play it by ear then?”
“Fine, I’m cool with that. We’ll play it by ear.”
“Good. Well, it’s almost the witching hour and you
have an afternoon game to wrap up the series.”
“Right.”
“I’ll be watching.”
“I’ll call you after the game. I love you.”
“I love you. Talk to you tomorrow.”
“Okay, babe.”
Tonight was a first for Cathy; she cried happy tears over
a man. Marcus Fox had said he loved her. His simple
confession of love wiped away a lifetime of heartache.
Maybe God isn’t punishing me after all,
Cathy thought.