17. Nala
Zaire took me to 54thirty Rooftop where there was a rooftop bar and lounge. It was too cold to enjoy the rooftop for long even with the fire pits scattered around plush chairs and wrought iron tables, but with the sun setting right at this moment, there was no way either of us wanted to miss seeing the sunset in the west.
It gave me almost as much pleasure as passing by Alicia and her sour expression as we exited the lobby filled with some of the participants in the “Try the weed out” experiment. All I will say is the restaurant off to the left of check-in was packed. People were hungry and silly acting. I was tempted to tell ol’ girl to take an edible and chill out but that would have been childish and very unprofessional.
I gazed over at him admiring his strong jawline. He was so handsome.
“It is absolutely beautiful out here.”
There seemed to be nothing but mountains and sky in Denver. Not like all the trees that obscured good views in Pittsburgh.
“It is. This is my third time at this conference and each time, I take a little time to explore the area.”
“I had no idea. The psych hospital sent you before?”
“Them? Oh nah. I had to sign up on my own and fund the trips, but it was worth it.”
“You’re great at this thing, Zaire.”
“What’s that?”
“You aren’t just about the patients although it’s mostly that, but I see how you are with everyone. You are an advocate for the field. You really could be Dr. Patton one day if you wanted it.”
He looked embarrassed by my assessment but didn’t let on.
“Thank you, Nala. I love this work and I love what we are doing for the people.”
“Me too.”
“I can see that. Maybe soon, you’ll see how a little weed, especially the medicinal kind, never hurt nobody.”
“Slow your roll! I’m getting there.”
He smiled and led me back inside where we sat on a couch as we waited for our table to be ready.
Something he said before about doing sightseeing while here made me curious. “Do you meet up with others when you come here?”
He gave me a knowing smile. He knew I was asking about women.
“Yeah, last year, my boy MJ met up with me and we got into a few things.”
Something about his sly expression gave me a clue about what things they got into and as recently as two weeks ago, that would have turned me sour and I would have shut down but now, I realized he was a man with experiences who I was getting to know. I couldn’t, shouldn’t judge him on those experiences without knowing how much he evolved from them.
“Tell me how you met MJ?”
He hesitated. “It’s a long story.”
“Where are we going?”
“Fine but you have to promise not to judge me.”
“Why would I do that?”
He rolled his eyes. “That’s all you do, Dr. Jackson.”
“Not true. I do other things you like.”
“Don’t try to distract me, woman.”
I smiled.
“Uh-huh.” He sighed and looked off.
“Back in undergrad, I used to sleep around a lot. I was pretty terrible—so terrible you might have heard about me.”
I didn’t confirm I had because I needed to hear more. I was so surprised he was even addressing any of this with me, to be honest, so I listened as he explained that he ended up messing around with some girl that lived off campus, and one night when he was pulling up, some dude was leaving out and they stared each other up and down. Come find out it was MJ and he was leaving Ms. Hot Pants’ house.
“Damn.”
“Yeah. I didn’t even want to go in there after that. Not when she double-booked us. Wasn’t no way I’d want to go in there after him.”
This story was crazy but the nosy person inside of me wanted to know more.
“So what happened next?”
“He pulled out a blunt and offered me some,” he told me with a shrug. Our smiles held before he continued. “After a few hits, he asked me if I knew any place he could get into some dice games. He was only in town for a quick minute to see her and meet with a connect that would help him jump-start his weed business even though that was back before everything was on the up and up. I took the blunt and told him he could follow me to the spot I knew where they wouldn’t shoot you when they lost. We’ve been friends since then.”
“So you smoke weed?”
“Not really. Not anymore but mostly because I don’t have time and I don’t need it. My patients do, which is why they’re allowed to light up before and during a session.”
I hadn’t been speaking on it, but I still felt a tinge of anxiety related to the garage incident and maybe a puff would have helped me. All I knew was Zaire held me in my sleep even when I jerked out of it a few times a night.
“I guess I need to get with the program.”
“I admire you,” he surprised me by saying.
“You do?”
“Hell yeah. We don’t all have to do things the same way. There are different methods for a reason. You just need to be willing to try whatever it takes, within reason, to help your patients. If that’s weed, then so be it. How is it any different than aspirin or Xanax?”
“I guess it’s not.”
He remained silent.
“When’s the last time you saw, MJ?”
“He was in the Burgh just last month and we hooked up then, went to our same dice spot, and had a little fun. We’ve been playing dice around the country for years.”
“You’re kidding me.”
He laughed. “Nah, dead serious. Whenever I travel, I try to see what he’s up to. He has a club in Las Vegas, called Blunt Minded Joint, that I’ve played at.”
I looked at him with wonder. There were so many layers to him. How could I fit in the life of a man who lived so many lives, I wondered.
“When you think about it, that’s pretty dope that some chick you were both messing with brought you together.”
I knew if it had been the other way around, I would not be cool with no chick leaving my man’s house.
“It is. We get a laugh out of it all the time.”
That night at dinner we grew closer than ever, and I thought about Dr. Daniel’s advice. Getting to know him through him turned out to be the best thing I could do.