Healing Inc. Read online

  She smiled as thoughts of her best friend, Nita, came to mind. To date she had never met anyone, male or female, who could rival the poise and mannerisms needed to survive as a lawyer in the corporate world only to turn around and let the most outrageous things come out of her mouth when amongst friends and family. Nita had tried like heck to coax her into accompanying her back home to Chicago for the weekend to visit with family.

  Evy could sense Nita’s concern for her. The growing years that bonded them together every since Nita had come and gotten her from Chicago had increased Evy’s perception of her friend’s emotions. Nita must have remembered that today was not only her birthday; it marked twenty years to the day since she had met David Johnson.

  Nita must have noticed the slight change in her behavior after the memorial service last March and was probably worried that old habits would resurface. Evy hadn’t informed her that the nightmares were back. If she had disclosed this information to Nita she would have never gotten rid of her. After tolerating weeks of Nita’s pleading, Evy was finally able to convince her that she would behave while she was gone. “Okay, I’ll leave you alone, Evy, but the moment you start to feel morose you call me!” she had stipulated in her ‘that’s not up for debate’ voice. Evy had agreed to the terms knowing that she didn’t want to burden her friend, and had actually looked forward to the time alone.

  Mozart kept her company, playing softly in the background, while she worked tirelessly in the consignment shop bearing the same name as the night club. It was located on the back side of the building with its own entrance and signage. The shop seemed to take in more donations than items for consignment, especially during long weekends when people had time to de-clutter their closets, attics and such. What she found most interesting was that those giving donations came in all shades of color and spoke a variety of languages. Diversity truly made it a community as far as she was concerned. She enjoyed meeting the people who came to give just as much as those who came to receive.

  As she sorted through the abundance of clothing, separating them into different bins, she started to reminisce about her past life in Chicago and the night she met David. She and Nita had become friends in the first grade. They both always got straight A’s in school, even though Nita had a bit of an edge to her and a mouth that didn’t quite fit her angelic face. Evy was the opposite, more of an observer who would assess the situation before commenting on it. Some would even go as far as to call her shy. The two of them managed to keep each other out of trouble most of the time. The few times trouble called Nita’s older brothers would step in and save them. Because their protectors were notorious in the neighborhood, there weren’t too many foes willing to take them on.

  Although Anita came from a large family, the two of them had always been more like sisters than friends, even spending most of their time at each other’s houses. Perhaps it was due to Evy being an only child and Nita being the youngest and the only girl out of seven siblings.

  No one was a greater fan of hers than Nita. She was always trying to get Evy to join a band, believing her voice to be that good. “You should be making records chica, instead of wasting your time in front of that stupid mirror!” she would say, praising her every time she opened her mouth to sing.

  On her sixteenth birthday, Nita had planned what she felt was the ultimate surprise for her. She convinced her that it was time to stop being shy and audition to be in a band. That day, she presented Evy with fake IDs for each of them.

  Evy could still feel how nervous she had been when she handed hers to the huge Latino man guarding the clubs entrance. He was really tall, built like a linebacker. He had slightly darker skin than other Latinos and could easily be mistaken for black. His eyes mimicked those of a hawk, piercing right through her. As she drew closer to him, she realized that her nerves had kept her from recognizing Nita’s oldest brother, Miguel. How could she not have recognized him after all the time he spent at her house? Growing up she always suspected that Miguel had a crush on her mom. This added to her surprise when knowing they weren’t old enough he let them enter the club instead of telling them to go home. Knowing Nita, she was probably blackmailing him.

  Entering the club, her eyes were drawn to the huge sign on the stage that read ‘Singing Contest’. Immediately her stomach had begun to do flip flops. She had turned to Nita, who stood behind her with a sinister smile on her face as her eyebrows rose and fell. Evy decided that she had nothing to lose. She stood on stage waiting for her cue, her stomach mirroring the competition between her mind wanting to flee and her heart telling her this was where she was supposed to be.

  When she got started she without a doubt came out of her shell. She tore up the stage with Whitney Houston’s Queen of the Night. The crowd danced and energetically cheered her on during her performance. Not one person remained seated upon the conclusion of the song. She left the stage, running right into Nita’s arms. They spun around together until Nita pushed her back to say, “Chica, you got every mutha in here wanting to be Kevin Costner and shit!” They high fived and hugged each other tightly.

  Enter David Johnson. In response to his tap on her shoulder she turned around to be greeted by the most beautiful man she had ever seen. Frozen, she stared dumbfounded up into his handsome face from her five foot, ten inch height. It was evident right then and there that she would never stand a chance against him. His eyes were an unusual light green with brown speckles, surrounded by flawless chocolate brown skin. He had to be well over six four. He looked at her like no one ever had before. She instantly felt warm, beautiful, as this twenty-five year old gave her the type of attention every young girl lives for.

  It was his broad smile that had sealed her fate. One upward twist of those thick brown lips had instantly turned her naïve ass into putty. Adding to the lure was his masculinity. Before she knew it he had possessed her. She found herself singing in his band and lying in his bed. Thus began their tumultuous life together.

  She paused from her busy work, reaching up to touch the smile that had come across her face. Before she could stop them, the dark memories of their last night together started sneaking in. ‘Thought your fucking pussy was made of gold, huh…you ain’t shit! Don’t fucking look at me bitch!’

  Bang! Bang! Bang!

  Evy jumped, stifling the scream that rose in her throat. Pulling herself back to the present, she became aware that someone was knocking on the shop door. Placing her hand over her heart to slow it, she managed to put her smile back in place and made her way to the front of the shop. Through the glass door she could she a tall white man with a large box in his arms. Being at the shop alone, she was hesitant to let him in. The place was well monitored; however, her martial arts instructors had drilled in her head to avoid a bad situation whenever possible and to always opt for the path of least resistance. With that in mind, she started her communication with him through the safety barrier between them.

  “Hi,” she said, still taken aback by the surprise visitor. “Can I help you with something?”

  “Oh, hi there,” he responded jovially, adjusting the box to get a better view of her through the glass. “I just wanted to drop off some old clothes that I had lying around the house. I know you’re probably closed today but this is really the only time I have to do it.” Tyler gave her the most sincere look that he could muster.

  Evy again contemplated whether she should open the door or not. For some reason he looked familiar to her but at the moment she could not place where she had seen him before. Giving in to her gut, which didn’t cry “danger” she decided to let him in.

  Unlocking and opening the door, she stepped back granting him entry into the small space. He took in the simple design of the store with an L-shaped counter housing a cash register directly to the front and multiple racks of clothing off to the side and back. A door in the back of the store was closed tight, while the one to the left behind the shorter part of the L shaped counter stood ajar.

  “You can brin
g that right over here,” she said, leading him to the intake area. Tyler set the box on the counter that she had escorted him to.

  “Do you need a receipt for this?” she asked while grabbing the shop’s registry book from beneath the counter.

  “Oh, ummm...I...guess…so,” he responded, with a nervous laugh. “I’ve never done anything like this before. These actually belong to my daughter.”

  “Oh, taking the opportunity to remove the forbidden attire from her closet, eh?” she joked, making them both laugh.

  “Well, actually she just left for England to attend college. I guess she got busy and forgot to bring this over. Of course she figured I’d find the time to take care of it for her.”

  “How sweet of you to do that for her.” Evy cast him a sincere smile. “Most dads would have let it sit around until she came back or let the wife take care of it. Are you sure you don’t want to keep any of this for yourself?”

  Tyler rolled his eyes. “Yeah right. No chance of that hap… What, whoa, wait! Did you just ask me if I wanted to keep some for myself?” The look on his face from the realization of what she said and the manner in which he responded sent both of them into hysterics.

  “I’m sorry. I couldn’t help it. I hope you weren’t offended?” she inquired, coming down from her mirth.

  “Not at all,” he replied, still grinning from the tease. Other than his daughter and a few friends no one really ever did that to him. Oddly enough, he found it refreshing.

  “Well, I won’t keep you. Let me get you a receipt just in case she decides to claim it on her taxes.”

  When she turned her back to him, Tyler found himself checking her out. She wasn’t much shorter than his height of six-four. Her naturally textured hair was parted into two French braids which came together in a small bun at the nape of her neck. Her glasses seemed just a tad too big for her large brown almond shaped eyes and high cheek bones but he could still tell that she was striking. She wore no makeup. Her attire consisted of lose fitting, olive green cargo pants with a matching t-shirt, which did nothing for her milk chocolate complexion. A beige boyfriend cardigan sweater had been thrown on top of the whole ensemble, further degrading it. Who the hell dressed this woman, he pondered.

  A thought occurred to him causing him to look at her feet to be sure of what he was thinking. Yep, short hair sensible shoes… Lesbo. In spite of his speculation and her poor choice of dress, he could clearly see that she was a very attractive woman. Even the baggy clothes couldn’t hide her fabulous figure.

  Evy turned to give him the receipt, oblivious to the scrutiny that had just taken place. “Here you go, sir. Enjoy the rest of your weekend.” She smiled widely as she handed the receipt to him, causing his heart to leap in his chest.

  As he took the receipt from her it occurred to him that this might be the end of their time together, that he may never see this woman again. Truth be told, the box had been sitting in the trunk of his personal car all summer. After rising early that morning to do his five mile run and weight routine, he found himself restless. He tried curbing some of this pent up energy by having a go at his punching bag but it hadn’t helped. He had gotten in the car to take a ride just to get out of his big empty house with no idea of where he was going, and without any inclination that anyone would be at the shop that his daughter had in fact intended to take the box to. When he drove up to the building, he had noticed the late model gray Ford Escape outside and had taken his chances. Now that he was in the shop and communicating with someone he truly liked, he was in no hurry to leave.

  “Oh, pardon me but I was under the impression I could help out today. Nita told me a while ago that I could.” It wasn’t a complete lie and he hoped that she was nice enough to pretend not to see through it.

  For the first time since his arrival, Evy had reason to pause. “Hmmm… I don’t recall her mentioning it. But, if this is one of the only days you have available I guess it will have to do.” She decided that it must be safe to trust him, because only those she wanted to knew Anita as Nita. In her best British accent she asked, “Might I inquire your name, good sir?” as she prepared to write it in the volunteer ledger she had retrieved.

  Tyler was hesitant. His name often caused people to treat him differently, like he didn’t belong in their world. He could do without that today. “It’s Tyler… Tyler Moriatti.”

  Evy stiffened. Slowly she raised her braided head up until her eyes met his. Tyler watched as her large almond eyes studied his features with hers unreadable. Her head bobbed a little as recognition set in.

  “Okay,” she started with a grin slowly coming to her face. “I thought you looked familiar. The casual clothing threw me. Hi,” she said, extending her hand, “I’m Evy”.

  Tyler was caught off guard by her introduction. True, he had only seen her for a brief period and that had been at quite a distance, but to not recognize the woman who had controlled him like a siren? He felt a bit of shame redden his cheeks as he recalled the power she had held over him. For the life of him he couldn’t figure out how she, a lowly worker, was still so calm after realizing who he was.

  Little did he know, Nita worked for her, not the other way around. Therefore, she knew all the dealings of Healing Inc. For her, this was going to be a good day. How often does one get the chance to boss a high profile millionaire around?

  “Are you alright, Tyler? You seem a little lost in thought.”

  “Oh yeah, I’m fine.” He was pleased that she had chosen to call him Tyler, not Mr. Moriatti.

  “Well, I’m glad you dressed in jeans and a t-shirt. I hope you don’t mind getting that white shirt a little dirty, not to mention these.” She held up her hands. She couldn’t help but razz him a little bit knowing he usually dressed in the most expensive clothing and sported a beat up manicure to boot. In reality, she was trying to make the sheltered man comfortable, knowing that was one of the very reasons she kept her status in Healing Inc. a secret.

  “Not a problem. Where do we start?”

  ***

  A few hours later, Evy lay sideways on the two chairs that she had pulled out for them to sit on, barely able to keep from urinating on herself.

  “Oh, hon-ey pa-leasse tell me! tell me! this is not my co-lor!” Tyler stated with an exaggerated lisp while holding a multicolored floral dress over his person. He then twirled around, batting his long dark eyelashes and striking different poses. “Oh, girrrl! I should die my hair harlot red to match this that would set it off in he-yah!!” He made a big circle in front of himself and completed the gesture with a snap of his fingers. This put Evy over the edge. She fell off the chairs onto the floor roaring with laughter.

  “Wah so fun-ny now? Don’t be waving your jealous eye a-round me, girlfriend!” he stated with a roll of his head and more attitude than necessary.

  That did it for Evy. She sprang from the floor, running for the bathroom. Tyler saw what she was doing and chased her, catching her just before she made it into the small restroom. He started tickling her, ignoring the tingling sensation that shot through him everywhere his skin touched hers.

  “Aaaaaggg!” she screamed in between fits of laughter. “Pleas…pleas...PLEAASSSE!” Was all she could get out.

  He was laughing so hard himself that he finally had to let her go so that he could rub the tears from his own eyes and tend to the cramps in his sides. She seized the opportunity to rush in and take care of business before it was all over the both of them.

  While she was in the bathroom, Tyler reflected back on the past few hours. He couldn’t believe the way he was acting let alone with someone he hardly knew. For whatever reason, he felt comfortable with this woman, bringing him no shame in what he was doing. After all, she had started it by holding up some of the clothes that they were supposed to be separating and asking him, “Does this make my butt look big?” The thought of her earlier actions made him chuckle.

  “Are you hungry?” she asked coming out of the bathroom, still wiping away tears. />
  They managed to restrain themselves long enough to share the sub and iced tea that she had packed that morning for lunch. They sat side by side on the two chairs, slowly eating in comfortable silence. Just then, he noticed her text books.

  “You’re a student?” he asked, silently re-evaluating how old he thought she was based on her looks.

  “I have my MBA but I like to take a class now and then. It gives me something to do and I think it makes me a better person.”

  “Were you really going to spend the entire weekend studying?” He found it hard to believe that someone as good looking as her didn’t have better things to do with her time.

  “That and this,” she answered as she waved her arms over the now shrunken pile of clothing that sat before them.

  “How much hot water are you going to be in for not getting this work done?” he asked, worried that she would have to pay for their diversion from the task.