Relapse: A Novel (11 page)

“What is?”

“Being on the phone with someone, hell anyone, this long. It seems like I just picked up the phone ten minutes ago.”

Lootchee continued, “I want to see you in person. Make the reservations and hop on the plane to Dallas. I’ll take care of all the expenses.”

That caught her off guard. She had to admit that she was enjoying the conversation and was looking forward to meeting him maybe one day soon—but not this soon. “That sounds very thoughtful and sweet of you, but—”

“No buts,” he cut in. “Be spontaneous and just do it.”

She said, “I have to be honest with you, Lootchee.”

“Please do.”

“I’m uncomfortable getting on an aircraft to go see a strange man in a strange city.”

“Ain’t nothing strange about me, girl, but this lil bit of change I got?”

She laughed at his cockiness.

“I do feel like I know you well already. People I have known for years ain’t ever got this much time from me over the horn.”

“Talking on the phone and talking about coming to Texas are two completely different things,” Beijing reasoned. “But the feeling is mutual.”

“I’ll let it go for now, but I got one question.” He asked, “how in the hell you manage to get better tickets than me at the fight?”

“Darling, I have connections in high places,” she said in a very provocative way. She knew she had captivated him when he chuckled a bit before speaking to her.

“I believe you.” Then he came back with, “It takes one to know one.”

“That’s for sure.”

“But for real, your man was one of the boxers or something?” He drew his conclusion but she knew by the way he said it that he wanted her to explain how and where she’d gotten the tickets. “Because besides the press you had the best seats in the house. You can tell me who that someone in a real high place is who admires you.”

Is he trying to figure out if I have a man?
“If I told you I’d have to kill you.”

“Okay, I like your style.”

And I like yours too
. “All right, all right, all right, I got the tickets through work.”

“Where the hell do you work? For the boxing commissioner or something? I’m curious to know what you do for a living.”

“I’m the best concierge you’ll ever meet.”

“The average concierge doesn’t get tickets like that.”

“You better bet that I’m not your average concierge,” she said with great confidence. “Some call me a concierge-at-large, while others call me a VIP hotel host. I work at the Tabby and I make a lot of things happen for a lot of ‘important’ people, with no questions asked and no explanations needed.”

“My kind of girl,” he assured her. She didn’t need any assurance; she knew that she was the best at what she did. “Well, in my parts they’d call you a whale wrangler, bringing all the big money whales into the hotel, making sure they come back time and time again.”

She laughed at how Lootchee defined her job.

“I gotcha and I like a resourceful woman.”

Beijing smiled. She knew the combination of her playful wit and seductive tone of voice demanded his utmost attention.

They continued to talk through that night, and the next. They talked about where they wanted to go with their lives and all the things that they had in common and all the things that they didn’t have in common.

“Who’s the closest person to you?” he asked that second night.

“My cousin Seville hands-down is my very best friend. She’s in Germany right now and won’t be back for another eight months. We talk all the time, but it just isn’t the same.” She sighed.

“Maybe you can go and see her,” he suggested.

“I would love to, but I work too much,” she admitted. “But even if I could get a couple of days off, who flies to Germany for a two-day visit? I’m actually counting down the days until she comes back.”

“Well, when she returns be sure to introduce us.”

“I will,” she agreed.

“What about the rest of your family and friends?” he questioned.

“You don’t want to know about my dysfunctional family.”

“Aren’t they all?”

“Some more than others,” she said, sighing again.

“Tell me more. I want to know who my future in-laws may be,” he joked.

Beijing obliged. “Well, my father and stepmother, Greta,
raised me. My father, God bless him, is a workaholic, but he loves me. He has been everything I could have wanted or needed in a father.” Beijing said.

“Okay.”

“Greta and I are really close, and though my daddy loves me, she was the one who really raised me, who really took the time out.”

“Where’s your real momma?” he asked.

“She’s around, trying to make it, but she sometimes has a hard time. She gets sick on and off.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

“But for the most part, she’s alive and kicking it, and yup, a mess, but most of the time in a good way.” She decided to change the subject. Lord knows she didn’t want to have to tell him that her mother was mentally ill, among other things, and have him come to the conclusion that the fruit maybe didn’t fall far from the tree. “What about your parents?”

A few beats went by before he gave a deep sigh. “I don’t really like to talk about it. They are no longer with me anymore.”

“Both of them?” she asked.

“Both of them,” he echoed. The tone in his voice told her it was an extremely touchy subject and to move on.

The next night Beijing realized that during all of their hours of conversation, she never asked him an important question, so she called him.

“Hey you.” They had last spoken less than an hour ago.

“Hey baby.”

“Real quick, I have a question.”

“Shoot,” he said, “I don’t have anything to hide.”

“When’s your birthday?”

“Funny you should ask.” She could hear him smiling. “It’s today!”

“Then give me your address. Birthdays are important to me.”

“No need to send me anything. I have all the creature comforts a man could want. Maybe even enough for ten men, baby, so don’t spend your hard-earned money on me.”

“I have to get you something for your birthday and I don’t mind spending my hard-earned money on something worthy of it,” Beijing insisted.

“Well if you must insist … I’m having a big birthday party on Friday night. I would love for you to be my date.”

“I’m there,” she said a little too fast.
What the hell am I thinking?
she asked herself. She took her foot out of her mouth then asked, “What’s the dress code?”

“I just need you to make motherfuckers and they two-bit bitches envy me when they lay eyes on you.”

“And I can do that.”

After Beijing accepted Lootchee’s invitation to fly out to Texas for his party, she spent the rest of the week making sure that her appearance would be perfect. She consumed not only her life but the lives of Seville and Rayna with all the particulars of what she was going to wear.

Though it was only 1
PM
in Charlotte, it was already 7
PM
in Germany when Beijing called her cousin for help. “Girl, you need to virtually help me out!” Beijing told Seville. Beijing was standing in front of her closet with her open suitcases on the bed, feeling like she would never be ready.

“Don’t tell me I got to be the hoochie for another queer celebrity,” Seville said. “’Course that was a nice tip Mr. Wiz gave me. Takes a gay man to know that diamonds really are a girl’s best friend.”

“No, I need you to help me get fabulous, gorgeous, and beautiful
for a trip to Texas. Rayna’s going to meet me at the mall. I really don’t have anything to wear.”

“First of all, you are already beautiful, and next, you can’t fool me, you have plenty to wear. You just want something new.”

“You gonna have to stay up and help me get it together.”

“You know I got your back. You just have to really describe everything with detail so I can try to picture it.”

“I’m going to have you on the phone the entire time and I will have Rayna take pics of stuff and send them over the phone.”

“Okay, but you better keep Rayna away from the chocolate store!”

“Girl, that cold Germany weather got you being cold as ice.”

Beijing and Rayna were like the Barbarians descending on Rome when they went through that mall. They hit Neiman Marcus, Macy’s, and Saks as well as all the specialty shops.

“Do you really need six more pairs of shoes?” Rayna asked as Beijing sent the salesgirl back for another pair of stilettos.

“A woman needs sixty pairs of shoes at least,” Seville said. “You just jealous ’cause that no’-count man of yours ain’t flying you to Texas. By the way, how come we’ve never met him? What’s his name? Tray? Troy?” Beijing laughed it off, but didn’t repeat that comment to Rayna—she had been playing mockingbird.

“Should I get these shoes?” Beijing described the shoes to Seville over the phone.

“No,” Rayna said.

“Yes, definitely,” Seville contradicted.

“You two are no help at all. Aren’t you excited for me?”

“Oh baby, we are so excited for you.” Rayna hugged Beijing.

“Yes, we are. Come on, get those shoes and get back to the room so we can get you packed. I got a feeling I’m going to be up all night.”

Beijing laughed. She felt so lucky. She may not have a sister she could count on, considering Paris, but Seville and Rayna were better than sisters. And now she was going to see this delicious,
sexy man. Rayna carried her bags for her like she was a princess as they headed out of the store and off to grab a bite to eat.

They all planned out every detail of every single outfit from the time she walked off the big bird until the time she would leave Texas. Neither of them minded at all; in fact they were excited that their friend was moving on to a new chapter in her life.

After the wardrobe was mapped out, Beijing turned her attention to her hair, her nails, and all the beautification one person could do including some new makeup, a manicure, and a pedicure.

Home Sweet Home
. She entered her suite after another long day of shopping, carrying packages in both hands. Beijing’s suite looked like a fashionista’s heaven. Shopping bags from her numerous trips to the mall occupied every available space.
Damn, this shit is like a job in itself
, she thought to herself, exhausted but satisfied that when everything came together she would be hotter than a July picnic in Alabama.

Before packing she decided to take a nice long soak in a tub full of sweet-smelling bubbles.
Ooooh, that feels so nice
, she thought as she slid into the warm water. She loved a good bath and the way the bath oil made her skin feel silky and smooth.
There is nothing in the world that Calgon can’t fix
, she thought as she relaxed.

Which was of course the precise moment her cell phone went off.

I am not getting out of this tub
, she thought, letting the phone sing away in the other room. She lifted some bubbles to her face and blew. Then across the room the cell phone started singing again.

Can’t I get any peace? At all? Leave me alone
.

But there was something about that cell phone ringing that got under her skin and caused a bad feeling to come over Beijing. She raised her tired naked body from the tub, beads of water and suds racing down her smooth skin. Not bothering to grab a towel, she padded into the bedroom, leaving a water trail behind. She realized
who it was and shook her head because she knew it was gonna be bad news. It was her mother, Willabee.

“What is it, Momma?” Beijing asked.

“Don’t you ‘What is it, Momma,’ me,” Willabee said. “I am calling about yo’ niece.” She went on, “The person you say you love so much. The little girl who you claim you bust your ass for so she can go to college and have a life better than your life, even though yo’ life don’t seem so bad to me. But that’s not what I’m calling about to discuss this go-’round.”

“Yes, Momma, what about Chyna?” Beijing asked, alarmed.

“She’s over at Paris’s place and I’m worried to death about her. They ain’t answering the phone, it just—”

“You did what, Momma?” Beijing interrupted her mother in disbelief.

Willabee ignored the question and kept talking. “The phone over there is going straight to voice mail and nobody is picking up.”

“How long you been calling?”

“About three hours. Plus Paris started getting in that shit again,” Willabee said.

“What? Momma, I don’t know why you would let Chyna go with Paris. The courts gave you custody of that girl. You aren’t supposed to let her go over there and be around that druggie-ass bitch, and God knows what else she might be doing over there.”

“Don’t talk about yo’ sister like that, baby. Paris was clean and had been for months. She was doing real good, then Chyna begged me to let her go over her mother’s house. So I’ve been letting her go over there on weekends. You know firsthand I can’t keep a little girl from her rightful momma.”

Beijing knew that her mother was right. The more Sterling tried to keep her from Willabee, the more she yearned to be with her mother, but she knew her sister wasn’t fit to have any little girl in her care.