Out of Control

“No, Nick, things stay just the way they are now,” Bobby said to him. “You still run the show and Rain is still your hammer. You just need to talk to me everyday.”

“I’m good with that,” Nick said.

Rain smiled. “Me too.”

Black got up and took a seat on the couch. Bobby went and sat down behind the desk. “Go get the rest of them, Rain.”

“Yes, sir.” Rain left the office and once everybody was in, Bobby told them how things were gonna be and after what they had been through, everybody was good with it. When everybody left, it was just Black and Bobby in the office.

“What you gonna do now, Bobby?”

“I didn’t have anything planned. Why?”

“Give me the keys,” Black said and stood up. Bobby threw him the keys. “Come ride with me.”

Bobby got up. “Where are we going?”

Black looked at his watch. “We’re goin’ to keep a promise I made,” he said and drove Bobby downtown and parked in front of a building.

“What we doin’ here?”

“This is where Carmen works,” Black said. “I promised you that you’d get to see her so here we are.”

“And you didn’t want to see her?”

“That’s not the point, Bobby.”

“Yeah, right.”

A half-hour later, Carmen Taylor walked out of the building with her cameraman. She was an investigative reporter and was on her way to cover a story.

“There she goes now,” Black said when he saw her.

“She looks good. Like she hadn’t aged a day in seventeen years,” Bobby said and opened the door. “You coming?”

“Yeah, I’m coming.”

Bobby walked up to Carmen, with Black close behind. “Hello, Carmen.”

Carmen turned around quickly at the sound of a familiar voice. When she saw it was Bobby, she threw her arms around his neck. “How are you Bobby?”

“I’m fine, Carmen. You look great.”

“So do you,” Carmen smiled and patted his stomach. “Put on a little weight, but you look good.”

“Hello, Carmen,” Black said and she turned to him.

“Hello, Mike. Five months. This your idea of soon?”

“Let me use your phone, Mike. I left mine in the office.”

Black reached in his pocket and handed Bobby the phone. It rang as soon as he handed it to Bobby. “Want me to answer it?” Bobby asked as he walked away from Black and Carmen.

“Yeah, go ahead,” Black said and looked at Carmen. She was standing with her hands on her hips.

“You didn’t answer my question. I haven’t seen or heard from you in five months. Last time I saw you, you stood right in front of this building and you said you would see me soon. So tell me, Mike, is this your idea of soon?”

Before he could answer, Bobby walked up. “Excuse me, Mike, but I think you need to take this call. Give me the keys. I’ll get the car.”