Joseph, page 3
“I am going to need a number to call and arrange the time.”
“Oh, of course.” She dug into her over-sized pocketbook and came out with a card. “Call me anytime.” With a wave of one hand, she wound her way through the chairs and headed out into the street. He stood there watching her without being aware of it, barely noticing that the waitress had sidled up to the table. “Is there anything I can get you?”
His head snapped around and he frowned at her. “Pardon?”
“I noticed your cup is empty.” She murmured.
“That it is. I am leaving by the way.” He handed her his credit card and watched as she peered at it impressed.
“Do you need anything else?” Her suggestive smile hinted at what the ‘anything else’ was and he felt the distaste churning inside his stomach.
“Just payment for the services, and my card back. Thank you.” He told her coolly.
“Oh yes, right!”
*****
“Dad you are going to have to take it easy.”
“If I take it any easier, I might as well be dead.” He muttered as he eased into the chair that was on the porch. They had just gotten back from the doctor’s and she had stopped at the pharmacy to pick up his prescription. “If I don’t get to putter around in my garden, I have nothing else to keep me occupied.”
“You need rest.” Delores insisted as she went inside to get him something to drink. “And don’t think I have not noticed how many beer bottles are in the recycle. You know you are not supposed to be drinking.”
“Two beers a day….” He caught her skeptical look as she handed him the glass of lemonade and sat next to him. “Okay, make it four. The rest of the bottles were from a visit from some of the guys who came over on the weekend to shoot the breeze.” He took a sip and stared out into the yard, his expression pensive. He did the weeding and the replanting himself since his wife died and every time he was out there doing it, he was reminded of his beloved Jasmine. He had been foolish and had almost lost both her and his daughter and had spent his time making up for what he had done. But the time had been so little and before he could even make up for it properly, she had been taken from him. Sometimes he wondered if it had been his punishment.
“Dad…?”
“Yes,” he turned his head to look at the girl who reminded him so much of her.
“What’s wrong?”
“I was thinking of your mother.” He said with a whimsical smile. “She loved her flowers.”
“She had a very good hand with them.” Delores said with a smile as she sipped her juice. “I met someone today.”
“Oh?” His expression sharpened.
She laughed. “It’s just someone who was at the gallery last night and I saw him again at the cafe”
“What is he like?”
“He is British.” She watched as a wary look came over his face.
“I see.”
“Dad!”
“It’s nothing honey.”
“It brings back memories you keep buried.”
“Something like that…. What is he like?”
“Tall, dark and extremely handsome. There is something aristocratic about him. I think he would make an interesting subject.”
“You want to take pictures of him?”
She nodded. “He has this look about him. He invited me out to dinner.”
“And you are going?”
She shrugged. “I figured that there would be no harm. It’s just dinner.”
“How long is he here for?”
“I have no clue. We did not get that far.” She hesitated a moment before she ventured the question. “Were you in love with her?”
He did not insult her by asking her about the ‘who’ she was referring to. “I was dazzled by her. You could not help but be. She was beautiful, startlingly so and when she paid attention to me, I was flattered.” There was a painful look on his face. “I never had any intention of hurting you or your mother. Please believe me when I say that I regret what I did.”
“I know you did Dad.” She said softly.
“Do you keep in touch with her?”
“No.” He shook his head. “But as a result of our actions, she lost her husband and was not able to see her son.”
“That’s dreadful.”
He nodded bleakly. “What we did was terrible and there were consequences. I almost lost the woman I love. She was not that fortunate, and I still feel terrible about it.”
“Wasn’t the husband some sort of royalty?” she queried.
“Something like that.” He said with a grimace. “I think he had some sort of minor title that he never used. He was closely related to royalty.”
“Way to pick them Dad.” Delores said wryly. She had heard the story when she was a teen and had been horrified and angry that the man she had looked up to had done something so horrible. She had been so angry that she had not spoken to him for a couple of weeks until her mother had sat her down and spoken to her.
“It has nothing to do with you and I will not have you in this house, disrespecting your dad.” She had said firmly.
“But he hurt you.”
“The emphasis is on me.” She had pointed to herself. “It is between the two of us honey and has nothing to do with you. We will sort it out as a couple, but you are a child and you need to apologize to him for your behavior.”
“I am mad at him.” She had said mutinously.
“I understand all that, but he is still your father and will always be your father and on top of that, he loves you.”
So she had apologized, and the relationship had improved from then on.
She reached over and patted his hand. “You have suffered enough.”
“Have I?” he murmured.
*****
“I thought I would check on you.”
“There is no need for that.” Joseph stood in the kitchen and wondered what he should eat. He had come from the outdoors after walking the park and stopping in a nearby store to pick up some things and was now back inside the flat – apartment. He kept making the mistake of calling it that.
“I am your mother.”
“And I am a thirty-one-year-old who has been on his own for years.” He took out a yogurt and some cheese. He had never learned how to cook. He had been brought up in a mansion with an army of servants and had never needed to pick up after himself. “I am fine.”
“What is the real reason you are in the States darling?”
“I told you that I am here on vacation.” He sat around the counter and popped the yogurt open. He intended to call Delores and suggest that they go out on that date on Friday.
“You hate the States.” She pointed out.
“It is starting to grow on me, and you do remember that I spent a very enlightening summer here. I can still hear the theme park music in my head.”
“I wanted to expose you to a normal life.”
“You did that and some Mother.” He scooped out the creamy filling and put it into his mouth.
“You usually vacation in exotic places like Venice or even the Caribbean.”
“I am bored with those places. Why all of a sudden are you interrogating me, Mother?”
“I cannot help but recall that you were very upset about what happened in the past.”
“Can you blame me?” he asked her mildly. “You ruined our family.”
“And I have tried to make up for it for years.”
“There is no need for that now. All water under the bridge.”
“Is it darling?”
“It is Mother and if you don’t mind terribly, I would really like to get off the subject.”
“Have you called that insipid woman you are involved with?”
His mouth tightened at the insult. “I called her the morning after I arrived, and I do not appreciate you calling her that. She is the woman I am going to marry after all.”
“Is she?”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“You are in the States now darling and there are lots of beautiful and passionate women there. You never know what might happen.”
“Nothing will happen.”
“You went on a vacation without the woman you claim to be marrying. Did she not questioned that or is she the type not to ask questions at all?”
“We respect each other….” He broke off as she pealed into laughter, a sound that reminded him of a certain woman he was planning to use in his nefarious plan.
“Darling it sounds as if you are talking about some stranger or an acquaintance. Do you even have sex with this woman?”
His shoulders went rigid and he pushed away the half-eaten yogurt “That is a completely inappropriate subject and I refuse to grace it with a response.”
“You need someone with passion and fire darling. Someone who is going to make you loosen up and fall in love. And forget yourself. I hope you find that someone in the supposed vacation you have gone on.”
“Is that your wish for me Mother?” He asked her coolly. “That I let myself go and get involved the way you did with that – that man? I assure you that I have more control than that and hold myself in the highest esteem.”
“Careful darling…. Don’t forget that you are half American.” She told him dryly.
“Something I try very hard to forget.” His tone was unnecessarily cruel.
“That was uncalled for.” She told him quietly. “But if it takes the rest of my life, I am going to try and make you forgive me. It happened a long time ago Joseph and you need to let it go.” She hung up the phone and he sat there with the dial tone in his ear.
Chapter 3
“How is this?” He asked as he spread his hands away from his sides. “You said casual and I searched through my closet and came up with this. I hope I have not disappointed you.”
She studied the crisp denims that looked very new and the emerald green shirt that brought out the hazel of his eyes.
“You just bought the jeans didn’t you?”
“What gave it away?”
“I think I see a tag somewhere.”
“Where…?” He turned his head to look at the side.
“I am just messing with you but you answered my question.”
“I am not a denim person.” He admitted. She had told him where to meet her – in the parking lot of a nearby hotel. His eyes wandered over the faded denims and turquoise blouse she was wearing. She was also wearing a denim jacket and her hair was loose around her small face. He felt the pull again and ignored it. He would have to have sex with her to carry off his plan, but he would be able to walk away when the time comes. A couple of weeks at the most and he would be done with it. He could not wait to look at her father’s face when he found out that he had done to his daughter what had been done to his family.
“That much is pretty obvious. Come on, hop in.”
“I am not taking my vehicle?”
“Nope….!” She went around to her side. “Don’t tell me you are the sexist type?”
“Whatever do you mean?”
“You don’t allow a woman to take the wheel while you are in the vehicle.”
He got in and closed the door, securing his seat belt “Nothing of the sort!”
“Good!” She pressed the start button and backed out of the parking space. “Seat belt on?”
“Of course.”
She secured hers. “Hang on.”
“What…. Bloody hell!” He grabbed the handle of the car as she plunged through traffic, barely missing a pedestrian. “What are you doing?”
“What does it look like?” She spared him a brief look before stamping on the brake at the stop light.
“Are we in some sort of a hurry?”
She glanced at her watch. “We have time to spare.”
“Then why are you driving….” He braced back as she pressed gas as soon as the lights changed and shot through traffic. He jumped when she pressed her palm on her horn and did not breathe easy until she swerved and pulled into a parking lot and shut the engine off. He swore that ten years had been shaved off his life! The tremors decreased and were replaced by fury as he turned to stare at her. “Are you out of your goddamned mind? Where did you procure your license? You could have killed someone back there or killed us!”
“I happen to be a very good driver. I used to drive delivery trucks for Amazon.” She told him loftily as she unhooked her seat belt and reached for her over-sized pocketbook around the back. “Come on, let’s go.”
Joseph stared after her, his heart beating in fury. He had always been a very responsible driver, making sure that consideration for the rest of the people using the road was exercised. She had shown nothing like that. Taking a deep breath, he unhooked his seat belt and wondered if he had taken on more than he can chew.
“Are you fully recovered?” she asked him archly as they made their way towards the weathered stone building.
“I am driving back.” He told her firmly.
“Nobody drives my wheels.”
“I will take a cab back.”
“You are chicken.” She taunted him.
“I value my life.”
“Okay fine. I will tone down the driving.”
“Why should I believe you?”
“I give you my word.” She told him with a grin.
He was about to tell her that her word did not mean anything when he noticed his surroundings. The place was a little more than a shack with tables and chairs placed outside. The yellow tablecloths looked shabby and had seen many wash cycles and the chairs looked like they would not hold his weight. “The Seafood Shack?” He looked around dubiously.
“They have the best lobster and shrimp here.”
“You could not find anywhere better than this?” There was a derisive look on his handsome face that caused her to laugh. Taking his hand, she dragged him over to a table and turned to the obviously besotted waiter who came forward. To his surprise, the giant black man in the incongruous apron took her into a bear hug and kissed her on the lips. “Girl, where have you been hiding yourself?”
“I have been busy. Jonah, this is Joseph and I would like you to impress him with the best seafood platter you have. He is visiting from the UK.”
Jonah looked him over for a few minutes. “A Brit, huh? How is your stomach lining?”
“Pardon?” Joseph was still reeling from the ride, the surroundings and the kiss he had seen, as well as the strange feeling in pit of his stomach.
“He wants to know about your tolerance for spicy food.”
“I don’t exactly have zero tolerance.”
“Uppity fellow…ain’t he!” Jonah turned to Delores and gave her a squeeze. “One seafood platter coming up.” He moved away from the table and went to greet some people coming in.
“That waiter seems to be very familiar with you.”
“He is not a waiter but actually the owner of the place. And we have been friends for years.”
“Lovers?”
She laughed. “Jonah is very gay.”
“Oh,” he turned to look at the man who was clapping someone on the back. “He does not look- “
“Gay?” She finished in amusement. “What does a gay person looks like?”
He shrugged. “A penchant for the flair and always fashionably dressed.”
“You mean like you?”
He peered at her and smiled slowly. “You got me there.”
She nodded and picking up her water, took a swallow before putting it down. “I met him when I was just starting out in my career. I was taking pictures over there,” she gestured towards the wooded area. “I was so intent on what I was doing that I did not notice the two guys who had followed me there, but Jonah had seen them and realized that they were up to no good.”
