CHAPTER 38
I pull up to The Astor Hotel, one of Columbia’s upscale hotels. It’s a beautiful place. In my line of work, I have a great appreciation for well-maintained properties. I knew Zimyra would only choose the best for this prom she’s throwing for her tenants. She designed the invitations. I was pleasantly surprised with her skills in doing that as well. Everything she touches turns to gold. That’s how I know this event will be a success for her. She’s a winner. I need her on my team, and I have her. She’s my girl, my woman, my wife. My purpose here today is to remind her of that. I’m letting her know out the gate that I’m not going anywhere. Not anymore. I gave her a week. Now, I’m back to claim what’s mine.
I have yet to spot her anywhere in this ballroom, making me question if she’s arrived. My search is interrupted by her brother, Zander, who appears to be making a beeline straight for me. I know he’s not too fond of me, but there is nothing he can say or do that will keep me away from his sister. If we have to throw hands about it, then we’re throwing hands about it.
“Axel,” he says, approaching me. “I’m glad I ran into you. I think it’s time for us to have a talk.”
“What about?” I ask, my guard already up because I don’t have time for any of this today – not with the way I’ve been feeling. I’m missing my girl. All I want to do today is talk to her and come clean about my motives for moving here. I wasn’t trying to run into her brothers – especially Zander.
“Let’s step into the lobby.”
Reluctantly, I head that way with him and as soon as we’re standing in an isolated corner away from guests and registration, he asks, “What’s going on between you and my sister?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, she’s taken a liking to you and I want to know what your goal is where she is concerned.”
This is like déjà vu. I’ve already communicated what my intentions were with Zavier. Now, his twin is in my face seeking the same answers. It’s like I’m telling the same person twice.
I say, “I love your sister.”
He frowns. “You love my sister?”
“Yes, I do.”
“How do you know that?”
“Man, what makes you think I owe you an explanation? The only reason I’m talking to you now is out of courtesy. I came here to talk to Zimyra.”
“So did I,” he says. “My sister hasn’t been herself this past week?”
“How so?” I ask, my heart beating rapidly.
Zander says, “I usually hear from her at least once a week. Last week—crickets. So, if you love my sister like you say , what have you done to make her go into a shell and ignore her family?”
“What makes you think I’ve done anything?”
“Because you’re the only person she’s invited into her life recently. She’s cool with everybody else. It’s always the new person that starts trouble, so let’s hear it, maintenance man. What trouble have you started?”
Zander crosses his arms over his chest, looking like he’s ready to throw hands. I can’t help but admire his love for his sister. The truth is, something is wrong with Zimyra and it’s all my fault. The weight of that realization consumes me. Something I’ve done has hurt her, and that’s not okay.
“I’m just going to be real with you,” I tell him.
“I wouldn’t expect anything less.”
I release a sigh and say, “Zimyra feels like I lied to her.”
“Did you?”
“In a way, yes, I did.”
“How’s that?”
“Look—you were right to be suspicious of me. I don’t even fault you for that, and I’m glad that Zimyra has someone like you in her corner. With that being said, the only reason I came down here to get a job at Atlantic Properties was to find out why the place was doing so well since she’d taken over as property manager.”
“Why would you be interested in how well the place was running?”
“My father owns the company that owns Atlantic. I’m the chief operating officer. When I came down here, I had to be in a position where I could watch her work all the time, so I could see the day-to-day operations. So, I paid off the old maintenance crew and applied for the position. I then hired someone to work with me because I knew nothing about maintenance. Everything was a ruse. The way I feel about her is not. I didn’t come down here expecting to meet someone like her, and I definitely didn’t come down here to fall in love, but that’s what I’ve done. And Zimyra loves me. Well—at least she used to before she found out all of this.”
“How did you tell her? Did you explain yourself to her like you’re explaining all of this to me?”
“No. I haven’t had a chance to explain myself to her yet.”
“Then how did she find out about it?”
“She found one of my business cards in my luggage the weekend we were in Hilton Head together.”
He raises a brow. “You spent a weekend alone with my sister in Hilton Head?”
“I did, and don’t give me that big brother act, man. It’s admirable, but Zimyra is a grown woman who makes grown woman decisions. She for sure made this one,” I tell him, holding up my left hand.
“Is that what I think it is?”
“It is. She’s my wife, and I’m not going to let her go without a fight. I don’t care if that’s you, your cousins—whoever. I’m here to get my girl back.”
He grins and says, “Ain’t nobody trying to fight you, man. Besides, you’ll have enough of a fight with her. Everybody in the family thinks I’m the stubborn one. My sister has a mean, stubborn streak that’ll make you tap out, and you know what? You deserve every bit of it.” He walks away from me, leaving me to my thoughts.
I drop my head because I know he’s right. I’ve witnessed that stubborn streak of hers firsthand, but she hasn’t really witnessed the determined man that I am. She knows the somewhat well-mannered maintenance man. She has yet to meet the tenacious, determined businessman. This evening, she will.
I head to the bathroom in the lobby and pace the floor. While I know what I have to do, it’s still nerve-racking to present to her my true identity – who I really am as a person. She probably won’t like that person. Most people don’t.
I return to the ballroom. I see Mauricio with a woman, who I assume is his girlfriend or wife. I see other people I know from the complex – Mr. Alton, Mrs. Phillips and Ms. Hernandez. I see others I recognize, but don’t necessarily know their names.
“Hey, Axel.”
I turn around and see Nykendy.
“Hey.”
“How are you this evening?” she asks.
“I’m good.”
“You look good. I like that suit. That’s pretty sharp. You clean up nice.”
“Thanks.” I check my watch. “Hey, have you seen Zimyra?”
“Yeah. She just stepped outside for a minute…said she needed some air.”
“Okay. Thanks.”
I scan the place for the exits and see one across the room. I head that way, hoping this is the door she exited out of and when I open the door, I’m grateful to see that it is. She’s standing there, staring off into the distance. Her hair is free and full of spiral curls. She has on a black sequin dress that contours to her curves. She’s breathtaking, but when she turns to look at me, she actually does take my breath away. I have to force myself to breathe. I want so badly to walk up to her, touch her, kiss her lips, and tell her how sorry I am for what I did. Instead, I take a breath and say, “Good evening.”
Her eyes sweep over me from my head to my shoes. She’s never seen me in a suit. This is new for her – a new, upgraded version of the one she knew.
I say, “I owe you an apology, so I want to get that out of the way first.”
“ Get it out of the way, like it’s going to be that easy. You’re so full of yourself.”
She turns back around so that her back is to me. The gown is backless, and again, I want to touch her glistening, moisturized skin. I want to caress her, pull her into my arms, and make this right…make her forgive me.
I say, “I didn’t come here to argue with you, Zimyra.”
“Then you may as well go back inside because I have nothing, and I mean absolutely nothing, inside of me that won’t come out as an argument.”
“I’m not going back inside, and I’m going to do what I came here to do.”
“What’s that? Lie some more? You’re pretty good at it. Had me fooled.”
“That wasn’t my intention.”
“Sure it was. You were being deceitful from the moment you walked into my office and asked for a job application, were you not? You’re the chief operating officer of a multi-million dollar organization and you come down here to Columbia asking for a job application to be a maintenance worker.”
“Okay—I wasn’t truthful with you, Zimyra—”
“ Wasn’t truthful …is that your way of trying to soften the fact that you lied to my face?”
“I never lied to you.”
“But you did! Even what you said just now is a lie! You just can’t stop, can you?”
I don’t respond. She has yet to turn to face me again, so if she wants to talk, I’ll just let her get it all out.
She says, “You came down here pretending to be someone you’re not. I don’t care how you try to dress it up—that was an outright lie.”
“Zimyra—”
“Why were you here, anyway? Why did you lie and lower yourself from your mighty throne to pretend to be someone that you’re not?”
“To watch you work.”
“Why did you need to watch me work?”
“Because you were doing your job so well, the company wanted to know what you were doing to lower the move-out rate at Atlantic Properties. So, I came down and got a job in maintenance so I could monitor your moves.”
“Were you the reason my last maintenance staff up and quit on me?”
I sigh heavily and respond, “Yes. I paid them off.”
“And the bonus, the online maintenance app…that all came from you?”
“Yes.”
“And you don’t think that’s deceptive?”
“Listen—I know you’re hurt—”
“You don’t know anything!”
She turns to face me. Her face has darkened a shade. Her eyes are dark. Her beautiful face shows a side of her I’ve never seen. She says, “You lied, and I feel stupid for trusting you. For falling for you. Jokes on me, right?”
“The only joke is you thinking this is the end of us. Don’t get it twisted, Zimyra. There is no universe where you and I don’t exist. You are my wife. You’re mine . That’s forever. I don’t care how long it takes for you to forgive me—I’ll always be here, and I’m not going anywhere.”
“I don’t care where you are. I refuse to be with a man I don’t trust.”
“Well, that’s too bad, Sunflower.”
“Is it?”
“Yeah, it is.”
“Why? Why is that too bad ? Because the big, bad lying executive always gets what he wants?”
I flash a smile and slide my hands into my pocket, answering her question without having to say a word.
She says, “Not this time you don’t. You can go lie to somebody else, Axel—if that’s even your real name.”
She walks past me, stops abruptly and says, “And another thing—I’ve been planning this party for my tenants for a while. I don’t need you coming here disturbing me because everything is about you and your timing. Have a little respect for someone other than yourself.”
She goes back inside and slams the door so hard, I’m surprised the glass didn’t shatter.
I enter behind her, watching as she weaves her way through the crowd and disappears through the lobby exit. I imagine she’s heading to the restroom, but I don’t follow her there. I don’t want to disturb her party more than I already have.
For the rest of the evening, I steer clear of her but watch every move she makes. She dances in the middle of the floor with the tenants. Nykendy and Alyssa are right there with her. The twins are standing off to the side observing me. I don’t know if they know I’m aware that they’re doing so or they just don’t care.
I take a sip of champagne as Ms. Zayda approaches me, saying, “I hardly recognized you, Axel. How are you doing?”
“I’m okay. What about you?”
“I’m ‘bout to go out there and show these people how to get down. Are you not dancing?”
“I’m not really in a dancing mood tonight.”
“I tell you what—you better go on over there and dance with my daughter before one of them old men thinks they have a chance.”
I grin and say, “I’ll consider it.”
I stand back and continue watching Zimyra. I know she didn’t have a prom date back when she went. She told me her brother had gone with her. This one was supposed to be special. It was supposed to be me and her dancing under the disco ball. It should’ve been our announcement to the family that we were officially a couple. That we were married.
I messed that all up. I can’t blame Zimyra for any of it. I also can’t stand by and watch this any longer. I suppose I’ll try to get into her good graces when she can’t stand the sight of me without getting angry.