The Company We Keep (13 page)

W
hile Harrison and Mia were practically dry fucking on the dance floor, Teri was in the same room where Carla had read for Nicole. She was crying softly, wiping her tears with a napkin.

“It’s your mother and father. They weren’t around long enough for you to get to know them,” Carla said, holding Teri’s hand across the desk. She reached for a tissue from a box next to the speakerphone on the corner of her desk and handed it to Teri. “That’s what’s bothering you. They are on your mind all the time.” Carla dipped her head and gave Teri an encouraging look.

Carla sucked in her breath and sat up straight as soon as Teri started to talk. “They died in an automobile accident when I was eight. I’ve been with my grandparents ever since,” Teri stated.

“I know,” Carla said with a nod and a sigh. “I knew it long before you ever told me.”

Teri snorted, rubbed her nose, and let out a sharp laugh. “Of course you already knew! Why do I even bother telling you anything? You know just about everything there is to know about me anyway.” She blew her nose into the tissue and started to wipe her eyes with it when she realized it was soaked and about to tear. Carla handed her another tissue and Teri wiped her eyes until
they ached. They stung when she looked at Carla, who was looking at her with an annoyed expression on her face.

“Listen, I know that some of my methods are unconventional, but I am serious and compassionate when I tell you that I already know something about you, Teri. Please don’t take it lightly.”

“I’m sorry, Carla,” Teri said with her head bowed submissively.

Carla stifled a yawn and continued. “Just know that I know the kind of pain you feel when you think about your parents and what happened to them.”

Teri pressed her lips together and gave Carla a guarded look. The last thing she wanted was for Carla to think that she didn’t respect her abilities. “Carla, I believe everything you tell me and I really do appreciate it. And just to let you know, I’ve experienced other things that were
unconventional
.”

“Such as?”

“Something I experienced a long time ago that was really weird.” Teri wrapped her arms around her chest and shivered, even though the room was too warm, if anything.

“Do you want to talk about it? I’d love to hear about it, if you don’t mind.”

Teri blew her nose and slumped in her seat. “My grandmother is the only other person who knows what I’m about to tell you. I haven’t even told Nicole, or anybody else.” Teri’s eyes darkened and she blew her nose again before she continued. She was taking her time and that irritated Carla.

“Well, are you going to tell me what it is
this week
?” Carla asked, not even trying to hide her impatience. She leaned forward and rested her chin in her hands.

“The day my parents died, we’d been at the park having a picnic. It was just them and me, and my dog Snoopy. A pit bull, if you can believe it. He was so docile our cat used to chase him around. Anyway, a tractor broadsided our car on the way home. Snoopy and I managed to crawl out the back window with just a few scratches before the car exploded. One of the few things that survived the explosion was the camera that we’d taken a lot of pictures with that day. About a month after the funerals, my grandmother got the film in the camera developed. Out of twenty-four shots, only one came out fully developed. All the others were blank, totally
blank. It was a picture of Snoopy and me walking away from the wrecked car.” Teri shivered every time she recalled the strange incident. Carla gasped and felt a sudden chill.

“Holy shit…” Carla said, blinking so hard she saw two of everything. She rose and rubbed her eyes, mumbling under her breath. She gave Teri a hard look before she returned to her seat. “I’m sure…I…that’s one of the most haunting stories I’ve ever heard,” she admitted. “And I’ve heard some doozies! I am baffled,” she said, shaking her head and wringing her hands. She narrowed her eyes and looked at Teri as if she was still seeing double. “Maybe…maybe one of your parents took the picture…”

“Carla, like I said, the picture showed me walking away from the crash that my parents had
died
in. Just me and my dog.”

Carla was so stunned she was speechless. All she could do for the next few moments was sit there with her hands on top of her desk, staring at Teri.

“Don’t ask me who, or
what,
took that picture. All I know is that it was not something normal. My grandmother made me promise I’d never tell my grandfather or anybody else in the family about it. To this day…well, you’re the only other person who knows about it. So you don’t have to worry about me not taking you seriously when you tell me something from an unconventional point of view.”

“You’ve been holding this inside you.”

“I have, and if you don’t mind I don’t ever want to talk about this again. It’s enough for me to deal with the loss of my parents.”

“I see. Well, you don’t have to worry about me bringing it up again. You, um, you’re still angry with your parents for leaving you?” Carla couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt so uneasy.

“No, I am not angry,” Teri insisted, shaking her head. “I’m just…so alone. I love my grandparents to death and I’ve got some great friends, but sometimes my life feels so…empty.”

“And it’s because of that emptiness that you are fighting with yourself,” Carla suggested. She closed her eyes and mumbled what sounded like gibberish to Teri. What Teri didn’t know was that Carla was doing everything she could to divert her attention away from the eerie secret Teri had just shared with her.

Carla slowly opened her eyes, feeling somewhat more at ease now. For a brief moment, she seemed so much older than her actual age. Her eyes looked heavy and tired. She seemed to hold so many secrets and knowledge about other people that she never asked for in the first place. That had to be a burden on some level, Teri decided. She didn’t know why, but she suddenly felt sorry for a woman in Carla’s position.

“What do you have to prove to others? Trying too hard pushes you further away from what you want.” Carla paused and then muttered more gibberish. “You need to reacquaint yourself with love, Teri. And you need to share that love. Don’t run away from the man who wants to share that love with you.”

“What the—what do you mean by that? Who is he?” Teri asked, her eyes shifting from side to side as if she expected the man in question to crawl through one of the windows.

“I know, and I know you know,” Carla said with a harmless smirk. “Don’t play games with me, Teri. We’ve been friends too long for that.”

“What brought this on? I was really interested in hearing more about my future.”

“You just did,” Carla said, rolling her eyes.

“T
he future I meant was my job.”

“Your job?” Carla lifted her chin and gave Teri a critical look. “Teri, it’s a sin and a shame if you feel that the only important thing in your future is your job.”

“I didn’t say that. I’ve never said that…” “You didn’t have to,” Carla exclaimed, giving Teri an incredulous look.

“You’re talking about Harrison Starr, aren’t you?” Teri asked in a gentle voice, looking at her fingers. When she looked up, Carla was sitting with her hands folded on the desktop, looking like a sphinx.

“It doesn’t take a psychic to know that. Stevie Wonder could see that that man is crazy about you.”

“We tried to have a serious relationship last year but it didn’t work out. I really don’t know if it’s worth another shot…”

“So what? If I had a dime for every woman who gave up on the man she loved because ‘it didn’t work out the first time’ I’d be on the cover of
Fortune
magazine. You’re different, Teri. You usually know what you want and you don’t stop until you get it. You’ve proved that with your job.”

“So you’re saying I should use the same approach with Harrison?”

“Why not? I would, and I am sure half the women in this house would, too. I know I am older than you, but you are still old enough to know that good men are getting harder and harder to come by.”

“I do care about the man…Harrison. He makes me nervous and he knows it. Like tonight. Every time I bump into him I want to run out the door. It’s just that sometimes I get so afraid.”

“Afraid of what? What is there for you to be afraid of? The man is not a snake so he’s not going to bite you. The man’s a man!”

“Carla, in my case, relationships can cause just as much pain as pleasure. You know how hurt I was when Dwight and I broke up.”

“Harrison and Dwight are from two different planets. You shouldn’t even be mentioning those two men in the same breath. Dwight is a hound dog.”

“Some women feel that all men are dogs,” Teri offered with a casual shrug. “My grandmother even says that.”

“That’s true. Men are dogs. Some are pit bulls.” Carla paused and nodded toward a picture on the wall of her and Reuben. It was the first picture they’d posed for at their wedding so many years ago. “Some dogs are faithful, obedient, and dependable. I wouldn’t trade that mutt of mine for Prince Charles.”

Teri gave Carla a stunned look. Carla had never spoken so openly about her own relationship before. “Just be patient with Harrison, but don’t let him get away. What you are feeling is normal, Teri, so you shouldn’t be afraid.”

“I really don’t know where all this is coming from or where it’s going,” Teri said. There was a hint of a smile on her face, and despite the fact that she was confused, she was curious.

“Wild women, they don’t wear no blues. Now that’s coming from my old granny, may she rest in peace until I get there,” Carla said with a heavy sigh. “That’s what you have to do.”

Wild women don’t wear no blues? Now what in the hell did that mean? Teri wondered. She was even more confused now, but not enough to ask for clarification. All she wanted was for this reading to be over so she could return to the party and possibly reconnect with Harrison. Just in case…

“Carla, you know I always appreciate these, uh, sessions. And to be honest with you, it’s the unplanned ones like this that I enjoy
the most. I know it’s not what I pay you for, professionally, and it is something extra, but it means a lot to me. You and Reuben are like family to me. Especially now…”

“I know all that.” Carla laughed. “And when we talk like this, it’s on the house. I enjoy doing this, especially with subjects as complex and interesting as you.”

Teri blew out a loud breath. “I’m going to have to be careful about what I do in the bedroom if I don’t want to be embarrassed. With the right man, I might do things I don’t want you to know…”

“You already have.” Carla laughed again, rising. “Now let’s get out of here before I tell you something you don’t want to hear.”

The party was finally coming to a close around midnight. Small groups of guests walked, some staggered, to their cars. Teri attempted to locate Harrison and invite him to have a cup of coffee with her, or something. She had given a lot of thought to what Carla had said in their session. If things didn’t work out between them the second time around, she’d move on to someone else. But she could at least say that she tried.

“Did Harrison leave already?” she asked Carla.

Carla had already started to clean up the mess in the living room.

She gave Teri a sorrowful glance and then she looked toward the door. “They just walked out the door,” she said, nodding toward the exit.

“They?” Teri was confused. “Oh.” She looked at the floor, then at the door. “I’ll call you tomorrow,” she said, leaving. Nicole was right behind her.

They got outside just in time to see Harrison and Mia walking toward his car holding hands. Holding hands! What the hell? And Harrison was the man that Carla told her she needed to pursue. Mia? Harrison and Mia? He was not just a run-of-the-mill dog. He was a hound from hell! Well, if he wanted her, he had to come after her and she was not going to make it that easy for him now.

“Well, look who is taking Miss Black Saigon home with him,” Nicole said as they strode toward Teri’s car.

“Better her than me,” Teri huffed, her eyes burning with red hot anger. She was horrified when she saw Harrison haul off and kiss Mia. And if that wasn’t bad enough, that half-breed cow was in the driver’s seat of his car! He was going to let her drive! The nerve of that motherfucker! How the hell did he expect to make amends with her by acting like a dog in heat with another woman? And in public at that, Teri wondered.

“I heard that,” Nicole said, climbing into the passenger seat of Teri’s BMW. She flipped on the radio.

“Spend your early morning hours with me right here at 98.6 on your FM dial. L.A.’s best…” Harrison’s recorded promotional plug was the last thing she or Teri expected, or wanted, to hear. Especially since they could still see him and Mia
still kissing
! “…from six
A.M
. to one
P.M
., Monday through Friday, start your day with me, the Morning Starr.”

“Correction—falling star is more like it,” Teri said nastily.

Nicole sucked on her teeth and mumbled profanities under her breath. Teri got dead silent and was breathing through her mouth, thoroughly horrified. Watching the man she was supposed to be trying to resume and establish a relationship with kissing on another woman was excruciating.

She turned off the radio so fast she broke a nail. She cursed, shook her hand, sucked on the damaged nail, and then she started her car. She almost sideswiped Harrison’s Jaguar as she shot out into the street. But Harrison was so busy with Mia, he didn’t even notice.

H
arrison was in the studio sipping coffee and murmuring into the microphone. It had been a struggle for him to roll out of bed, shower, get dressed, and make it to work on time.

He regretted spending so much time at Carla Andrews’s party the night before. But more than that, he regretted hooking up with Mia. “Damn,” he muttered, rubbing the inside of his thigh where she had bitten him. She had bitten him in a few other places, too. How in the world had she managed to bite one of his big toes and he not remember it? he wondered.

He didn’t understand women like Mia. First of all, she had manipulated her way into his condo, claiming that she couldn’t take him to her place because she had houseguests. That was one thing. That couldn’t be helped. After Teri Stewart had turned him on like a light switch, he wanted some so bad he would have fucked a stump—and he didn’t care where he got it.

But as soon as Mia got her scheming ass inside his place, she immediately started talking all kinds of shit about how good she could be to him, what a striking couple they made, how much more class he had than Dwight, and how proud her folks would be of her for reeling in such a big fish. Like he would have been fool enough to start a long-term relationship with her in the first place! While he was in the bathroom, she even had the nerve to
take her skanky ass into his kitchen and put on a pot of coffee. Naked at that.

Staring at her bare ass in his kitchen with his dick so hard he could hardly walk, his plan was to hit it as quickly and thoroughly as he could and drive her home. Then she had to say the wrong thing: “I can’t wait to see that uppity Teri’s face when she finds out about us,” she’d said, cackling like the witch she was.

His erection had gone south so fast it made his head spin. Without giving it much thought, he immediately asked her to leave.

“What’s wrong with you, man? What did I do?” she wanted to know, scrambling around his living room for her clothes. When he couldn’t offer an explanation for his sudden change of heart that satisfied her, she bombarded him with such labels as “fag-ass punk” and “cheesy-ass motherfucker.” Mia was so angry she refused his offer to drive her home. And when he escorted her to the cab he had called, she viciously slammed the cab door shut on his arm on purpose as he helped her in. Now he was sitting here with a throbbing shin, too. And he was still horny!

Harrison loved his job. In some ways it was more like an interesting hobby. He had some great coworkers, the pay was good, and he loved his hours. This was the advantage to working for a small independent black-owned radio station that operated by its own rules. And a popular station at that. In addition to nailing down a huge portion of L.A.’s black audience, a lot of white folks and Asians tuned in. Not only did they play all the latest hits, everything from hip-hop to reggae, they often interviewed black authors, recording artists, and a few people in other areas of the entertainment industry.

Last week he had interviewed a thirty-two-year-old former porn star who had offered a lot of sound advice to discourage young people, especially females, from contemplating a career in the adult industry. Harrison had been so impressed with the reformed actress that he invited her to lunch afterward. Over iced tea and ham-and-cheese sandwiches on rye, he learned that the woman had contracted HIV while engaging in unprotected sex in front of a camera. It made him profoundly sad to know that a
woman his age would have a shortened life. And all because of her foolish choices and reckless behavior.

It never ceased to amaze Harrison what some people would do to get attention. Even though he had already agreed to “spend some time” with Mia the night before, she’d still offered to give him a blow job in his car that would “blow his mind” before they even left the Andrewses’ property. He had been tempted. However, he was now proud of the fact that he had turned down her offer. He decided that he was not such a dog after all. Either that or he was lame as hell, like Mia had laughingly called him after the blow job rejection.

What impressed Harrison was when people like the former porn star admitted their mistakes and bad choices. He had made a lot of bad choices of his own.

Teri had no idea that she was on Harrison’s mind that morning as she sat in her own office preparing for another painful staff meeting. Harrison was on her mind, too. But not in a pleasant way. She still could not believe that he had left Carla’s party with Mia and that he didn’t even try to hide it. Had he given up on ever resuming his relationship with her? It seemed that way. Well, it was his loss. Now all he was to her was Mia’s leftovers. And some sloppy leftovers at that. She rose from her desk with a lump in her throat. Her eyes were still slightly red from the crying she had done in Carla’s office last night. She kept telling herself that her tears were for the parents she never got a chance to know, not Harrison and her lackluster love life.

“I feel the way you look,” Nicole said, peeking into Teri’s office. “This is not going to be a pleasant meeting.”

Teri cleared her throat before speaking. “Is it ever?” she asked. “The numbers for that new album we just released are not good.”

Victor was his usual cantankerous self, grunting and growling under his breath like a wolf as he lumbered into the conference room. He just waved his gnarled hand when Teri spoke to him
and he didn’t even bother to look at her. When he did look up from the report that he had asked Miguel to prepare, it was just long enough to fire Miguel
again
.

Miguel didn’t even wait for Victor to dismiss him from the meeting. While Victor was doling out wolf tickets about how he was thinking about selling or closing the business and moving to the Bahamas, Miguel let out a few grunts himself. Then he collected his copy of the report that had Victor in such a tizzy and stood up to leave the room.

Victor stared at him in slack-jawed amazement. “Excuse me, Miguel. This meeting is not over,” he yelled, spit flying out both sides of his mouth.

“It is for me,” Miguel announced with a casual shrug. There was no anger or sadness displayed on his face. He looked at Teri and gave her a wink. Nicole and Teri both gave Miguel a conspiratorial “thumbs-up” smile as he quietly left the room.

The meeting went even more downhill from there. While Teri was giving her report, which was well prepared as usual, Victor abruptly ended the meeting and rushed out so fast he left his BlackBerry behind.

Teri and Nicole were the last to leave the room. Nicole went quietly to her workstation to plow through a ton of e-mail and Teri headed for hers, instructing Nicole to hold her calls. As soon as Teri shut the door to her office, Nicole noticed that her line lit up and a few seconds later Victor’s did, too. Less than two minutes later both lights went out.

“Do you have Miguel’s cell number?” Teri asked, walking in Nicole’s direction with her hands on her hips. She had that triumphant look on her face that had become so familiar to Nicole over the years.

Nicole gave her a puzzled look. “Yeah…what’s up?”

“Get him back here. Get him back here right now,” Teri ordered with a heavy sigh and fingers snapping. “And…tell him I need that Wilson piece for
Can Do Magazine
on my desk ASAP.” She paused and massaged the back of her neck. “One of these days, girl…one of these days.” Nicole didn’t ask any more questions. She promptly looked up Miguel’s cell number and called him.