“Two fried chicken dinners, sweetheart. Fully loaded.” I said, holding Natasha’s hand.
“Coming right up.” Betty Jean scribbled down the order and walked quickly to the other end of the counter to slap it into the silver wheel for the cook and banged the bell. “Order!”
All the men watched her as she walked back and forth filling up their coffee cups, bending to get a bag of sugar from underneath the counter and climbed a stepstool to pull down a box of napkins. She had a full figure and that moved like the ocean. But as of yet she had not said yes to any marriage proposals. Cletus Riverton was the most persistent and I think that was because deep down Betty Jean loved him, too. For her he had quit drinking over eight years ago. Stayed away from the electric slots they had at the restaurant across town for just as long. And last I heard he was even starting to attend church on a regular basis.
I figured once Betty Jean got him trained exactly the way she wanted him then she might consider going on one date with him.
“What are we doing here?” Natasha asked, looking around a little surprised.
“Well, I told you I was taking you to get one of the best meals you’ve ever tasted. Why?”
Her eyes filled with tears and she couldn’t control herself.
“Uhm, uh, Betty Jean we’re going to take that booth over there if you don’t mind.” I said, quickly.
“Suit yourself, honey.” She said, looking concerned.
Once we sat down Natasha pulled her hands away from mine and spilled her guts.
“Please believe me that I didn’t know you guys were brothers at first. I am single an
d well, there are no rules saying I can’t go out with two guys or four guys or whoever until I find the one that I like the best, right?”
I couldn’t tell her that my heart had hit the floor. Then I remembered Denise had tried to tell me not to get too attached to Natasha.
“She does a great job, Marty. Maybe too good of a job.” But that was all she had said. She must have seen it in the papers as well. But Denise was professional to a fault. She’d never overstep that boundary and risk her job just to tell me her opinion about a secretary.
There was nothing that I could say or that she could do to alter the awkwardness we were both feeling.
“Natasha, I’m not mad.” Not at her. My brother, on the other hand I believe had had some scheme in mind all along. This was some twisted game on his part that I was caught up in.
When we were children he was the same way. Anyone he could manipulate was fair game and they often learned their lesson far too late only after Joshua had obtained some embarrassing piece of information or gotten them to humiliate themselves without realizing it until it was too late.
That was the reason he had a different last name. He wanted to hurt our parents who had done nothing but give him the same upbringing they gave me. But nope. Being a Reid was not good enough. He was embarrassed he said of the questionable labor practices, the land obtained overseas, just a lot of nonsense to make our mother cry. So he became Joshua Hewitt except on his credit cards and birth certificate and driver’s license that all still read Joshua Reid. He wasn’t forfeiting the family fortune. Just the chains that he imagined came with the name.
When I found that out I hunted him down at his apartment.
“Open the door, Josh.” I said, waving the elevator hop to get back inside and go back to the first floor. Joshua had acquired the penthouse at a nice, new building our father had bought. Staying close to the city was important to my little brother because so many of his associates lived under the rocks and in the shadows of the city.
“Well, this is a nice surprise.” He said through the door as I heard the locks click open. He answered wearing a pair of silk pajama bottoms. His muscular chest was bare.
“Hey big brother…”
I punched him square in the face.
“Do you know what you’ve done to your mother, Josh? Do you have any idea?”
“Put your hands on me again you son of a bitch and…”
Another blow to the side of the head. While he was dazed I wrapped him in a head-lock and was determined to squeeze and squeeze until the monster blacked out. But I didn’t. I couldn’t. I let him go and pushed him to the floor.
“You change your name in certain circles but you keep it the same to cash Daddy’s allowance checks. Do you see how pathetic that is?”
“I’m not as pathetic as a golden boy who can’t wipe his own ass without checking with his father first! At least I’m my own man!”
I started to laugh. I think that was what infuriated him the most. He stood there gasping, his hand at his throat just trembling with rage. In his eyes I didn’t see my brother. Truth be told there never was much behind his blue eyes but now they had gone to glass. Dead. When he stared at me I’ll admit I was sure he might kill me right then. But, nope. He still had a fear of his big brother and for that I was glad.
“If you come anywhere near me again I’ll have you arrested and thrown in jail.”