Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 64704 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 324(@200wpm)___ 259(@250wpm)___ 216(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 64704 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 324(@200wpm)___ 259(@250wpm)___ 216(@300wpm)
Mr. Langston had told me that his grandfather was an alcoholic. I’d been dying to know more, but didn’t know how to ask. “Suzie,” I asked softly. “Has Mr. Langston ever been married? I tried to look it up online, but there’s very little about his personal life that wasn’t just tabloid speculation or pictures.”
“No. No wife. Not even a steady girlfriend.” Her knife stopped in mid-air as she paused. “Girl, you’re not getting any fanciful ideas in that head of yours, are you? Brick is not the kind of man that you fall in love with.”
My eyes widened in alarm, and I grabbed the counter to steady myself. The word lingered in my head. Love. “No. Lord, no. That’s not what I’m getting at. I just don’t know much about Mr. Langston. Or anything, really. I was just curious about why he is the way that he is.”
“Do you care to be more specific?”
“No,” I said hastily. “I’m just speaking generally.” The last thing that I wanted to discuss was Brick’s sexual proclivities. Especially with a woman who saw herself as his mother figure.
“Brick doesn’t discuss his personal life with me. I shouldn’t even be discussing his history with you. What are your plans after this month is up?” Suzie said, changing the subject.
Shifting back and forth on the balls of my feet, I thought it over. “Well, the plan was originally take the money so Ralph could get a nicer apartment here in Manhattan. We live in the Bronx, and he says that it’s not good enough to make an impression. I was going to move in with him.”
“Was?” Suzie echoed as she gathered the chopped veggies and placed them on a baking pan. She began rubbing oil and seasoning on them. “You’ve changed your mind?”
“No,” I said slowly, but knew that things were different. After only a few days of being here, I felt different. What would Ralph think when he laid eyes on me? Would he know all of the things that Mr. Langston had done to me? Would he be disgusted if I told him that I’d liked it? “I just have some thinking to do, that’s all.”
“Do you love him?”
“Ralph?” For some reason, the idea of loving Ralph was completely foreign to me, and I blinked at her.
“Yes. Your boyfriend. The one who’s getting all the good stuff out of this. Do you love him? I figured you must if you were willing to sleep with another man just so he could get a better condo.”
“It’s not like that,” I corrected quickly. “I mean, it’s kind of like that, but it’s not as cold and impersonal as your tone suggests.”
“So you do love him?” Suzie prompted as she glanced at the clock. Leaving the veggies to smoke, she opened the oven to peer on the rack of lamb. Needing to do something with my hands, I grabbed the spoon and stirred the pot of mashed potatoes warming on the stove.
“We’re comfortable together,” I said finally. “Love doesn’t always need to come first and immediately, does it? Sometimes it can just blossom over time, right?”
“You didn’t strike me as a romantic,” Suzie grumbled.
Laughing, I put the spoon down. “I’m not. Not really. I’ve always read books and seen movies and thought that relationships always started by this exploding passion. Even my parents were that way, but with them, I could see what happens when the book ends and the credits rolls. The passion turns sour. That’s why I think a relationship that starts with mutual respect and even friendship is better. You don’t make as many mistakes that way. Maybe that’s sort of the opposite of romantic though.”
She chuckled. “And the opposite of what you have with Brick.”
I clutched on to that observation like a lifeline. “Exactly. So there’s no reason to worry about getting attached to him.”
“What happened to your parents?”
Hopping up on the counter, I wrapped my arms around myself. “They were unhappy. My mother died a year ago.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Suzie said sympathetically. “That couldn’t have been easy.”
“In a way, I think it was a blessing. She was so unhappy. Sometimes I wonder if she didn’t overdose on purpose.”
“Unhappy? With you around? You’re like this annoying little ray of sunshine that never goes away. Even your damn name is irritating.”
Suzie had a way of making me feel better, and I was grateful for it. “We had an interesting relationship. She loved me, but I think she also resented me a little. I was the reason that she didn’t leave when she wanted to. She was never really my mother though. I was more her lifeline, but even that wasn’t enough, I guess.”
“And your father?”
“He’s still alive. Found someone else,” I said shortly and shrugged.
“Why were you a virgin, Daisy? And don’t give me that crap that you just never got around to losing it. That kind of life drives women to seek comfort in others. To want to forget. You don’t drink. You don’t do drugs. You didn’t fuck around, and I don’t think it’s because you wanted to be a good person. Why?”