Chapter 33
33
Anais
I stand on the front stoop, building up the courage to ring the doorbell. I gave myself a pep talk the entire drive here, and called Bishop a couple of times to beg him to let me turn the car around.
I take one last deep breath in and out, then ring the bell. I take a step back, putting a little more space between myself and whomever answers, and wait. The locks click and the door swings open to reveal Phoenix standing in front of me, looking like he hasn’t slept in weeks.
“Hey Peanut,” he greets and reaches out to hug me.
I stick my hand out in front, stopping him before he can even touch me, and harden my stare.
“Phoenix,” I reply coldly, not bothering to address him as Uncle.
His smile drops and he steps aside. “Come on in. Viv made some dinner for us.”
I cross the threshold and keep moving past him and straight into the kitchen where I don’t plan to eat. I’m here to ‘talk’ as he said, and nothing more.
“Hi Ana,” Vivian calls with a smile, really working on her happy housewife routine. “I’m glad you could come. Are you thirsty? I have tea and lemonade and so–”
“No, thank you. I'm fine.” I have a seat at their kitchen table and fold my hands and rest them on top. “What is it you wanted to talk about?”
I keep my tone flat and cold but it isn’t that hard since that’s all I feel for them at the moment.
For the last week, Cami, Vaughan, Hayes and Cat have called or texted Bishop and I daily to check in on us. If CeCe and Vivian have texted him, I wouldn’t know, and they surely haven’t bothered with me. Even Dagen has phoned her Uncle Bishop, worrying about him.
But Phoenix…not one. Damn. Word.
“How are you doing?” He asks me as if he didn’t just beat the shit out of his best friend.
“Good.” I glance at his knuckles that are scabbed and still bruised, then shoot daggers back at him.
“So, um, I want to apologize for how I spoke to you. I was angry and let that get the best of me.” He pauses waiting for me to accept his half-assed apology, but he should look elsewhere because he won’t get it from me. “Right. Well, how is school? You like your classes and everything?”
“They’re going well. I’m preparing for finals right after Thanksgiving. Is this what you called me all the way over here for? To ask me about school and give me a shitty apology? Because honestly, you could’ve done that over a text and saved me the time away from helping Francine with things around the house.”
Phoenix’s eyes burn red and his jaw hardens to stone. “Are you staying at his house?”
“ He has a name and yes, I have been staying there. In case you didn’t know, since you and your fiancée don’t seem to care much, he needs assistance with some things. His eye was swollen shut, Phoenix. Sore ribs, fractured cheekbone, broken nose, cuts and bruises. It was more than a fat lip,” I hiss at him with equal fire.
“Alright. I’m just going to come out and say it. I’d like for you to transfer to LSU. I’ve already spoken with a few people I still have connections with, and with your grades and current status with Ric e, I think they would offer you a full scholarship. You’d be closer to home, and I really think–”
“Are you fucking kidding me right now? You want me to transfer to LSU? Why?” I wait to hear the words that I know are on the tip of his tongue, but they don’t fall. “Say it! Why?”
“Because I want you away from here and away from Bishop! He’s no good for you and you’ll see that once you’re away from him.”
I slam my hands on the table and stand, my chair falling to the floor with a loud crash. “You hate your best friend of almost fifteen years so much that you’d take away his happiness? My happiness? What is wrong with you? And you,” I say, directing my anger at Vivian. “You and CeCe talk about nothing but how you want Bishop to find someone to love and have a future with. Yet, when he finds it with me, it’s not good enough. Vivian, I thought I was being accepted by all of you. The women I have come to admire and look at as a group that I could hope to be a part of one day. I’ve dreamed of having friends like you. But now I understand you see me as nothing more than a child, relinquished to the kiddie table with Day.”
I reach down and yank my purse from where it lays tangled with the chair. I tug at it a few times before it comes free, then fling it over my shoulder and turn my back on people I thought were family. Tears sting my eyes, but I won’t dare let them see how much this is affecting me.
A strong hand squeezes my arm and spins me around. “You’re not going anywhere, Ana. Sit down, eat and listen to me. You’ll see that moving back to Louisiana is what’s best for your future.”
I tug on my arm, but his grip is iron clad. “Don’t touch me!” I screech and continue to try and free myself.
“Ana, please just listen to your Uncle. He knows what’s best,” Vivian rushes to our side just as I break away.
“Fuck you, Vivian. I don’t have an Uncle anymore.” She pulls back like I’ve hit her and I see her lip quiver.
“Hey! Don’t you–”
“Don’t what? Treat the person you love with such disrespect? Guess it runs in the family. Except, you’re no family of mine. I hate you, Phoenix West, and I will never forgive you. You may be able to order your little ‘Peaches’ around, but I’m not under your spell. Shame on both of you for treating Bishop this way. You’re no friends, you’re evil in disguise and you’ve broken his heart. Why don’t you go ahead and write me off the way you did to him because your treatment is harsher than any punch you could hit me with. I’ll have someone follow me over here one day to leave your car for you.”
“Ana, that is yours. I bought it as a gift.”
“And I want nothing from you! Not your gifts, not your apologies, and not your love. I’m finished with all of you. Bishop and I have one another and if that’s all we have, then I’ll live happy knowing someone loves and cherishes me without bounds.”
I quickly barge through the house and out to where my tainted car is parked.
“Ana. Please wait.” I unlock my door just as Vivian comes running out the front door. “Just wait. I’m sorry. We were only doing what we thought was best for you. Let me talk to him, okay. I’ll get him to come around. Maybe one day he’ll forgive Bishop but for now, I think you two should give the relationship a break.”
“Maybe one day Phoenix will forgive Bishop? You’re seriously delusional. You have it all wrong. Maybe one day Bishop will forgive the two of you for betraying him. You make me sick. Treating someone you’ve called family for decades like a perverse predator. Join your fiancée and forget you know me.”
I yank the door open and start up my car. I throw it in reverse and squeal out of the driveway without a second look back.
We don’t need them. We don’t need anyone. We’ve got each other and we’ll do this life together.
“Mama, I know you really want me to turn the other cheek and have this happy family Thanksgiving, but it’s just not going to happen. I have studying to do, and Bishop is just now starting to feel like himself. There’s no way I’m going to ask him to sit squished on a plane when his ribs are finally healed, only to ask him to sit in my car for six and a half hours back.”
It’s the Sunday before Thanksgiving and my mom just isn’t pleased that I’m not going home to celebrate with them. My hope was that she would come to Houston and drive my car so that I can have a vehicle.
A week after my blow-up with Phoenix and Vivian, Keyara came with me for one last drive in my cute little Audi before dropping it on their doorstep. I parked right in the middle of their driveway and tucked the keys under their doormat. I texted to let them know the car was there, then blocked both Vivian and Phoenix from contacting me.
It was childish, I know, but Phoenix broke my heart thinking he could ship me off and I’d just forget about Bishop. It was a cut so deep, the scar will never fully heal. I’ll live with the reminder every day.
“Anais, this is ridiculous. You and your Uncle are more than just that. You two have always shared a bond that I’ve never been able to penetrate. This cannot be the thing that tears you apart. And before you ‘but mom’ me, I know he messed up. I’m upset with him, too. But he loves you and was only doing what he thought was best. That’s what people do for the ones they love.”
“And I’m doing what I need to do for the one I love. I’m standing by Bishop’s side. His friends have all gone silent. Only Vaughan and Cami bother to check on him, but it’s just not the same. I don ’t know that things ever will be again. I can’t abandon him after he’s sacrificed so much for me. I won’t be another person who leaves him.” Mama grows silent, thinking about my words.
I can only hope they’re powerful enough to get her to understand that this isn’t some fickle relationship that will be over in a year. This is the real thing. The kind of love people search their whole lives for. I won’t let it slip between my fingers, and I won’t leave Bishop standing alone.
With a sigh she finally says, “Fine. Gramma and I will fly down there. Just like you won’t ask Bishop to sit in a car for six hours, I won’t do the same to her. You’ll have to figure out something when it comes to a vehicle. I’m sorry. And you know your grandmother is going to want to see Phoenix.”
“I figured you both would. You’re more than welcome to stay with them and even spend part of Thanksgiving with them and come see me afterwards, but I won’t be sharing a meal with that man.”
She mumbles under her breath and I think it’s something like, “Jesus Christ, help me.”
“It’s short notice so we’ll be there Wednesday. Now I need to go buy flights that will cost a fortune at the last minute.”
I smile. “Thank you, mommy. You might want to ask your brother to pick you up from the airport since, you know, I don’t have a vehicle.”
“You are a pain in my ass.”
“I know, but you love me anyway. Bye mama.”
We say our goodbyes and hang up. I walk back into the kitchen where Bishop sits at the table, eating breakfast.
“Sweetheart, come eat. I made a ton of food.” Francine sets a plate down with biscuits and gravy and sausage and eggs.
“Francine, you didn’t have to do that. I feel guilty that you’re always cooking for me.” I sit down and take a deep whiff of the delicious smelling food.
“Oh hush. I love cooking for my baby again. And since you’re now part of this family, you’re my baby too.”
The fork freezes on its way to my mouth and I look up at her. “Part of your family?” I ask.
She takes a seat across from me and reaches out, placing her hand on mine. “Of course you are. The way you have taken care of my son, the way you love him, that’s family, dear. For as long as you love him, you’re part of this one.”
Tears build in my eyes and the fork clatters to my plate. I cover my face with my trembling hands and cry into them. A big arm wraps me up, and I bury my soggy face in his shoulder. I hear the screeching of a chair across the tiled floor and feel a softer embrace from behind me.
“Don’t cry, baby girl,” Bishop whispers and kisses the top of my head.
“I-I guess I didn't realize how much I nee-needed this. Just everything with Phoenix, and now I feel like I’m tearing my family apart,” my words get caught in my throat as I sob.
“Oh sweetheart. I imagine this has all been so difficult for you. Do you think you’d feel better if you just accepted his apology and get some peace in your family?” Francine asks.
I shake my head as best as I can. “No. I’ll never forgive him. What he did to Bishop is unforgivable. If Bishop can’t forgive him, neither can I.”
“I never said I couldn’t,” Bishop adds and I’m shocked.
“What? You can’t be serious?”
“Yeah. I am. He’s been a brother to me for fourteen years, and despite what he did, I can’t hate him.”
I can’t believe my ears. After the beating he endured at the hands of Phoenix, Bishop is still willing to be his friend? I just don’t understand.
I’m speechless as I stare at him when the trill of a phone breaks the silence.
“I think that’s mine.” Bishop pulls himself from my arms and walks over to the counter where it sits. “Hello…Hey Cami. How’s it going?”
He listens, adding a ‘mhm’ or ‘I understand’ here and there. The look on his face is crestfallen. Like a boy who has found out his hero is really a villain. He swallows down a hard lump and nods his head.
“Yeah. Okay. Talk soon. Bye.” He pulls the phone from his ear and presses end.
He places it back down on the counter and rests his palms flat against it. His shoulders sag and his head falls.
“What? What’s wrong?” I jump from my seat and rush over.
“She, uh, she thinks it’s best if I don’t come to the Friends-giving on Friday. Vivian said she and Phoenix will be there and I guess after the fight you three had, she said it would be uncomfortable for everyone.”
I throw my hands up in the air and grip, “So she just automatically picks Vivian over you? You’re disposable and that’s just it?” Hot breaths pump from my nose. “They’ve all turned their backs on you, Bishop. Phoenix is the one in the wrong yet he’s the one they welcome in. How is that fair? Still don’t hate him?”
I spin on my heel and stomp my way upstairs where I walk into the room and slam the door behind me. Rage courses through my veins. How could they do this to him? They’re all heartless jerks. When he needs them most, they’ve left him standing alone, his poor heart in his hands.
I guess there is only one solution to this turmoil. Leave and never see Bishop again and he gets his family back. But me? I lose everything. I lose family and friends and Bishop. And without him, what is left of me?