Tropical Storm (7 page)

“Come sit down. I was told these are you favorite Jamaican dishes: jerk chicken, rice and peas, steamed fish stuffed with okra, potato salad and fried plantain.”

The way his mouth watered, Cairo hated to refuse, but refuse he would. He had no intention of accepting anything from Storm.

“You obviously went to a lot of trouble, but I can’t stay.” He turned to leave but Storm grasped him by the shoulder and pushed him into a chair.

“Sorry Mr. Kane,” she said forcefully. “But you sir, aren’t going anywhere.”

Cairo shook his head. “I have a hotel to run; I can’t stay and play house with you.”

In response to this, Storm sat down on his lap. “Don’t worry about the hotel, I left Tyrone in charge.”

“You did what!” Cairo yelled, not quite sure he’d heard her correctly.

Unfazed
Storm arched a delicate brow. “I said I left Tyrone in charge. I had a letter delivered to him apprising him of your whereabouts. Anything that needs to be done in your absence, Tyrone will take care of it.”

“You had no right!” Cairo objected.

“True.” Storm said smiling. “But when has that stopped me? Now stop bickering and eat. You know you want to.”

Cairo did. He really did. But accepting even the smallest morsel from her would be consenting to a lot more. Storm never did things by half measures.

Cairo watched the food for an agonized moment before Storm took the decision out of his hands.

“Here taste this.” She popped a piece of fried plantain
into his mouth.

Cairo had no choice but to chew and when he did, he was lost. He could never refuse a delicious meal. Storm knew this. She plied him with tempting morsels until he was full. When he was replete from food, she then proceeded to make a tempting meal out of herself.

Leaning over him, she rested his head against her heart. “I can see why you love it here Cairo.” She said softly. “There isn’t a more beautiful island in the world.”

Nuzzled up against her body, all Cairo could do was nod.

“New York City can hardly compare to this island paradise, can it, Cairo?”

He forced his head away from the valley between her breasts.

“There is nothing left in New York that I want, Jessica. Jamaica has it all. I need nothing else.”

“I beg to differ,” Storm said jumping up from his lap. “In New York you left behind
something very special.”

“What?” Cairo asked perplexed. “I took everything of value with me.”

Storm pulled him from his chair and held him in her arms. “You didn’t take me.”

Cairo started to pull away but Storm wouldn’t let him go.

“Dance with me.” She said looking up into his eyes.

Cairo wanted to refuse; good sense said that he should. But his body was a traitor to him. Before he could halt the memory, he was reminded of
how good she had once felt and how good she had once tasted. In that moment, he
forgot why he should be fighting his attraction to Storm. He forgot everything.

“One dance,” He heard himself saying. “And then I have to go.”

They swayed to the music and danced with each other to melodious sounds floating on the night air. Their bodies melded together like long lost lovers. Storm held him tight.

“I have to go.” Cairo said abruptly disentangling himself as he felt his body warming to her touch.

Storm started to argue but he interrupted her. “This was nice but wasted on me. I know what you’re doing Jessica and it won’t work, not this time. If I was easy to manipulate in the past, I
’
m certainly not now. It was a well-planned, professionally executed and brilliantly thought out seduction. But there is something you’ve forgotten: I don’t want to get involved with you. If you were bad for me then, you’re even worse now. I like my life the way it is, Jessica. Please stay out of it.”

He didn’t wait to see how she would take his news. He turned and walked away, while he was still able.

Later that night, Cairo kicked the covers off his body and twisted in his bed. Sweat dotted his forehead, formed beads of perspiration on his muscled chest and dripped from his body in rivulets to soak the sheets. Restless, he flopped onto his stomach but the movement didn’t rouse him from the dream that still held him in its grip.

He burst into his apartment and headed straight for his room. He immediately started breaking things. He ripped down, shattered and destroyed every picture, memento and gift Storm had ever given him. He destroyed every sign of her until nothing of their short-lived romance remained.

Papa Joseph sat in his chair in their tiny apartment and watched his outburst with sorrow and sympathy in his eyes. The look went straight through him and cut through all his defenses. Cairo walked over to his grandfather and fell to his knees in front of him. Laying his head on his lap, he cried. Cried like when he heard that his parents were dead, cried like his life was at an end, for in every way that counted, it was. She was gone. It was over.

“There, there child,” Papa Joseph said gently stroking his head. “Tell your
granddad what is wrong, you hear.” The command was soft with the musical lilt of the Caribbean singing through his words.

Cairo cried so hard that his body shook; he released the tears that he’d been holding in from the minute Storm’s parents had walked into the motel room and ruined his life. After what seemed like hours, Cairo raised his head and wiped the tears from his eyes with the back of his hand.

“What’s wrong, son?” The old man persisted. “Tell me what possessed you to leave your wife alone on your wedding night. Whatever it is, I’m sure it can’t be that bad.”

Again, Cairo didn’t speak; instead his jaw hardened into steel. He lifted his left hand and slowly removed the gold wedding band from his finger. He placed the ring onto his grandfather’s lap and with a voice that belied his twenty years, he said, “Hold that for me, granddad. I don’t need it after all.” Cairo got to his feet. “Remember when my parents died and you took me to Jamaica so I could see where you were from. On the trip, you told me that my parents made you my guardian because they knew you loved me as much as they did. You told me then that despite the differences in our races we were more than family and if I ever asked you for anything you would see that it got done. Well I am asking now. I’m leaving New York. I’m going to Jamaica as soon as I can get a flight. I want you to come with me. You’re too old to be working in that factory. We’ll go to your little house in the country and make ourselves a new life.”

“What about that sweet girl of yours?” His grandfather asked his eyes penetrating.

“Her parents took her back. She’s no longer mine.” Cairo turned away from the look in his grandfather’s eyes.

“But . . . ”

He turned back. “I don’t want to talk about her. Not now, not ever. She’s a liar and she can’t be trusted. Let’s just leave it at that.”

His grandfather caught his hand. “You can’t run away from love, Cairo. You can’t run away from life. Whatever your problems, they won’t end when you leave the country. They’ll follow you wherever you go. Now tell me about Storm. Tell me what happened that makes you want to run away to Jamaica?”

Cairo stood looking down into the face of the only person on earth that he now loved. “Papa Joseph, I’m leaving with or without you but I really want you to come. Storm is dead to me. I don’t ever want to hear her name mentioned in my presence again.”

Papa Joseph didn’t ask any more questions. Instead, he studied Cairo carefully, his gaze sneaking into the hidden corners of his heart before he stood and slowly made his way to his room.

“Where are you going, granddad?” Fear and the threat of tears roughened his voice. He’d lost Storm; he couldn’t lose Papa Joseph too.

His grandfather looked back. “I’m going to pack.”

Cairo ran behind the old man and hugged him, lifting him clear off his feet. “I love you, granddad. You’ll never know how much this means to me. I’ll build you a grand house on the hills. You’ll be proud of me. You just wait and see.”

The dream shifted and changed. Tears wet the corners of Cairo’s eyes as he slept.

“One, two, three, yeah, that’s it Papa Joseph. Keep on breathing. You can do it. I know you can.” Cairo coached as he sat silently holding his grandfather’s hand in the hospital room. The other hand rested lightly
on the old man’s now sunken chest. He’d been there for twenty-four hours already, tirelessly counting each and every beat of the old man’s heart.

Somewhere in the back of his mind he felt that if he kept track of his grandfather’s erratic heartbeat that he could defy the things that were conspiring against him to steal the life of the only person on earth that he loved. But if God was ready for his grandfather, he had to wait in line, because Cairo wasn’t letting him go. So throughout the long night, he kept vigil at his grandfather’s bed and when Papa Joseph’s heart beat, his heart beat as well. He didn’t move, but sat in the chair and watched over the man who’d been more than a parent to him. He had taught him everything he knew, he had saved his life more than once and now Cairo was determined to return the favor. The man in front of him was the only thing that he lived for. He couldn’t die now. He wouldn’t let him.

“You still here, boy? You need to go home and get some sleep.” Papa Joseph chided weakly, opening pain-filled eyes to focus on the top of his grandson’s bent head.

When Cairo’s brown eyes blearily focused on his, Joseph patted his hand gently. “Go home, Cairo.” He instructed softly. “There is nothing more you can do here.”

Cairo lifted his head from the bed and stood up. In an effort to make his grandfather comfortable, he started shifting the pillows behind him. “I’m not leaving.” He declared stubbornly before tucking the covers up to the old man’s chin. “So you better get used to seeing me. I’m officially a part of the furniture.”

“Leave that now,” Papa Joseph protested feebly
swatting Cairo’s hand. “Sit down; I want to talk to you.”

Cairo sat obediently and ran a tired hand through his dark curls.

“I’m dying Cairo and there is nothing that you or I can do about that.” He said bluntly.

“No! Don’t say that.” Cairo protested jumping to his feet.

Papa Joseph sighed and motioned him back down into his chair. “I’m old, Cairo. It’s my time to go, but I won’t be able to go peacefully until I know that you’ll be okay. You’re the only reason I’ve held on this long. Let me go.” He urged.

“I can’t.” Cairo cried tears forming in his dark eyes. “Don’t leave me Papa Joseph; you’re all that I have left.”

Papa Joseph sighed again and touched Cairo’s hand. “So much pain for one so young. I really didn’t want to add my name to all the things that you’ve had to learn to endure, but it’s my time, Cairo. I need you to understand that.”

Crying in earnest now, tears were falling like rain down Cairo’s cheeks. “I don’t understand anything and if you die and leave me here alone, I will never forgive you. I need you here. I can’t make it on my own.”

“Ah Cairo,” Papa
Joseph said weakly. “Who made you believe such a thing? You’re the strongest person I know. You’ll make it through this like you have made it through everything else. I believe in you, Cairo. Now no more tears.” He commanded,
sounding for a moment like
his former self. “Tell your granddad goodbye and wish him well on his journey.”

Stubbornly, Cairo shook his head, sat back down in his chair and fiercely
grasped the old man’s hand. “You’re not dying, I won’t let you. You have to help me finish building my newest hotel and then we will finish construction on that house on the hill that I promised you. Now no more talking, close your eyes and get some sleep.”

Papa Joseph shook his head in exasperation and smiled. “I love you, Cairo. From the moment you came into my life, you’ve brought me so much
joy.”

“I feel exactly the same way.” Cairo replied softly, lovingly smoothing down the old man’s hair. “Now get some sleep. Tomorrow you have a big day ahead of you.”

Papa Joseph smiled and patted Cairo’s hand. “I’ll get some sleep if you will.” He negotiated.

Cairo nodded and closed his eyes a minute after his grandfather closed his. Ten minutes later they were both sleeping soundly, but only one of them woke up in the morning.

Cairo woke with a start. His heart was beating wildly and a familiar feeling of despair weighed heavily on him. Looking around the dark room, he was disoriented until he recognized where he was. When he realized he was neither in his old apartment in the projects or in a hospital room, he wearily put his head in his hands and found his face wet with tears. He wiped away the proof of his sorrow, amazed that the mere memory of his grandfather still had the power to reduce him to tears. He was regressing. Suddenly all the things that had caused him pain in his life were resurfacing in his dreams. He had these dreams before, but never with so much frequency. He only had them when he was under stress. He knew the reason they had resurfaced was because of
Storm. She was disrupting his equilibrium. If he wanted to return to a normal life, he had to get her off his island and fast.

Unable to go back to sleep and not due at the hotel until the afternoon, Cairo got up early, swam in the
turquoise blue sea to clear his head and then headed for the summit. His feet nearly flew over the terrain in his haste to get there. He had a lot of thinking to do and he couldn’t think of a better place to do it; as it was, he had been gone too long. He was smiling by the time he was near the top of the summit. When he got there the smile abruptly left his face.

“What the hell are you doing here?” The words came out one-decibel shy of a roar.