Love Is Overdue (45 page)

“
Me?” I shouted back. “I have done nothing but leave you the
hell alone – that’s what you wanted right – and now here I am,
minding my own fucking business and this guy –
this..this…
her
boyfriend…he told me everything Ben!
Everything!”

“
What are you talking
about?” He just kept repeating the same shit over and over again, I
wanted to strangle him…

I racked my brain. “Miguel!” I shouted
back at him. “Miguel – her fucking boyfriend, Ben! The mother of
his son!”

Ben was silent. For far longer than
necessary. “Miguel?” For some strange reason his tone fell then –
like something was finally making sense. “Where are you, Gabby?
Tell me what happened.”

“
I’m at
Buena
Comida
– on the Drive…this
guy…this guy named Miguel, he…”

“
What does he look like?”
Ben cut me off then.

“
What?” I was getting the
worst head ache. “I don’t know – Spanish guy, dark hair, kinda
short, clean-cut…”

“
Oh fuck, Gabby…” I heard
Ben groan. “Is he still there? Where are you – who you
with?”

“
No one!” I shouted. “I’m
by myself and yes he’s still here, he’s in the bar – who the fuck
is he, Ben?”

“
Shit.” Ben was quiet for a
moment. “What did he say to you?”

“
I just fucking told you! I
can’t do this anymore – I’m going home. You’re just talking in
circles anyway. And he’s out there fucking waiting for me
too…”

“
No…Gabby wait, don’t hang
up. Where are you right now? In the bar?” I didn’t understand why
he was suddenly so goddamn concerned…

“
I’m in the ladies
room.”

“
Okay, don’t leave –
y’understand me? Stay right where you are, I’m a call you back in
exactly two minutes.”

“
What? Why?”

“
Just stay there, okay? Two
minutes.”

I let my breath out. I couldn’t argue
anymore. And so I just stared blankly at the display screen on my
phone until exactly one minute and 54 seconds later when his number
popped back up on my phone.

“
What?” I picked up
quickly.

“
I’m sendin’ someone to
come pick you up.”

“
What?” I was beyond
confused now. Nothing was making any sense anymore. “What do you
mean, pick me up? I just live up the street, Ben, and I’m going
home!”

“
No.” Ben’s tone was steady
and firm. “You’re not leaving, Gabby, it’s not safe.”

“
Safe?” I
repeated.

“
I’ll explain when I see
you, okay, I promise – just don’t leave.” His tone had softened,
the anger replaced with worry, stress, concern…

“
Well, why don’t you just
come?” I wanted to know.

“
Because I’m an hour away,”
he said simply.

I was so goddamn confused. “So then
who’s coming to pick me up?”

Ben sighed. “My brother.”

I was shocked. “Ivan?”

“
Yeah, Ivan. So just stay
right where you are. He’ll call you – I gave him your
number.”

Chapter
Twenty-One

I stepped out of the bathroom stall
and stared at my reflection in the vanity mirror. I looked
tired…drained… I washed my hands, and dug through my bag for some
hand lotion and my lipstick. My eyeliner was a little smudged, and
as I was dabbing at it with a damp paper towel I heard my phone
ringing yet again. Private number. But I already knew who it
was.

“
Fuck, Gabriela…” I
muttered to myself as I brought my phone to my ear.
“Hello?”

“
Hey…it’s Ivan…I understand
you needin’ a ride.” He was short and to the point. He sounded just
like his brother.

“
Apparently so,” I
answered. “I’m really sorry about all this…”

“
It’s no problem.” He
dismissed it. “So where you at?”

“
Ben didn’t tell
you?”

“
Yeah, he told me – I’ll be
there in five minutes, just thinkin’ it probably be best if you
could slip out the back and I’ll grab you in the alley…”

His wording made me laugh softly, the
ridiculousness of the entire situation still baffling me. “Yeah,
I’ll see what I can do.”

There was a slight pause on Ivan’s
end. “You okay, though, right?”

“
Yeah…I’m fine,” I assured
him.

“
Awright, cool. I’ll call
you as soon as I pull up.”

Ω

Ivan was
driving a silver VW Jetta – I saw it idling right outside the back
door as soon as I’d managed to find the exit. I waited in the
ladies room until he called me back, not wanting to risk running
into Miguel again. I didn’t want to hear anything else he had to
say – although the information Ben had provided me with wasn’t
doing much to make me feel any better either.

I noticed Ivan reach across the front
seat to open the passenger door for me and I climbed in next to
him, feeling a rush of relief wash over me as soon as I did. He was
dressed super casually in a pair of baggy sweat pants and a
t-shirt.

“
Hey…” I let my breath out.
“Thanks again, Ivan.”

“
It’s all good… So…” He
gestured with his eyes back at the restaurant, as he backed his car
up into the alley. “Everything awright in there?”

I nodded. “Yeah, I didn’t see him
again. I’m surprised Ben called you for help.”

He glanced at me out of the corner of
his eye. “I live two blocks from here.”

I nodded slowly, understanding. “Ivan,
do you know what’s going on because Ben isn’t telling me anything
and it’s really starting to piss me off.”

Ivan sighed, not saying anything right
away. “Well, I don’t know much but I got a pretty good
idea…”

“
Oh! Hold on, Ivan, you should have turned right, I’m at
16
^th
– sorry I didn’t tell you.” I
interrupted him suddenly. “I’m not thinking straight right
now…”

Ivan hesitated slightly. “My brother
doesn’t want me taking you home – sorry.”

I stared back at him in shock. “What?
Why not?”

“
I don’t know, but he
sounded pretty serious, so…”

“
I don’t fucking get this.”
I was shaking my head again. This was so fucking ridiculous… “So
where are you taking me?”

“
To my place.”

“
Oh.”

“
Ben just wants you to wait
for him there – you don’t haffe look so terrified, girl…relax.”
Ivan eyed me again briefly.

“
I’m fine.” I tried my best
to calm down. Then my head started turning again. “Wait – you said
you know what’s going on?” I looked over at him then.

“
Well, not really, but like
I said, I got an idea,” Ivan explained slowly. “Miguel is Maria’s
boyfriend – y’know, Sophie’s mom.”

My jaw dropped. “Maria?” My mind was
spinning.

Ivan nodded, pulling the car to a stop
in front of a duplex on Adanac. “Yeah…so am thinkin’ somethin’
musta gone down with Maria, and Ben must have taken
Sophie.”

“
What?” I stared back at
him, as confused as ever. “Why would he take Sophie?”

Ivan cut the engine and turned to me.
“Like I said, I don’t know, but there’s no way my brother gonna ask
me to go pick you up in a public place to get you away from a guy
that his own daughter gonna be sleepin’ in the same house with
later tonight. Don’t make sense, Gabriela.”

No, it didn’t make sense. And yet I
still had a thousand questions.

Ivan looked distracted for a moment
and then I saw him reach into his pocket and pull out his phone,
which was buzzing. He glanced at the screen and then pulled it to
his ear. “Yo…yeah, man, it’s all good…” I saw Ivan glance over at
me then. “Safe and sound…awright, cool…”

“
Hold up, let me talk to
him,” I cut in suddenly.

“
She wanna talk to you,”
Ivan relayed the message. “Awright, hold up…”

I took Ivan’s phone and pulled it to
my ear. “Hey, where are you?”

“
I’m just heading into the
city.” I could hear the sound of the highway. He sounded
tired.

“
You’re coming here?” I
wanted to know.

“
Yes.” He was quiet for a
moment. “Are you okay?”

“
Yes.” I paused.
“Are
you?”

There was silence again
for another good moment and I waited. I could hear the open road in
the background, which was strange. Ben never drove in
silence.

“
No I’m not,”
he answered finally.

Ω

I followed
Ivan up the porch steps and waited as he unlocked the front door.
“Sorry ‘bout the mess…my kids was here after school today,” he
apologized, as he led me into the front landing, which opened up to
an L-shaped open-concept living room, dining room and kitchen.
There were books and papers strewn across the dining room table but
the living room looked more than decent by my standards – sleekly
furnished with a brown suede sectional, colourful accent pillows, a
massive mahogany wall-unit displaying an impressive amount of books
and some strategically placed framed photos and some funky
art-work. It was obvious this home had a female touch…

“
Nice place…” I
complimented him as I kept looking around, spotting a few of Ben’s
mother’s framed photographs on the walls as well.

Angela appeared then from around the
corner, coming from the kitchen. It was somewhat refreshing to see
her barefoot, in a pair of calf-length tights and an over-sized
t-shirt, her pretty red hair pulled up into a messy pony-tail and
not a lick of make-up on. I wished she always looked like
that…

“
Hi Gabriela,” she
addressed me casually, if not somewhat awkwardly. “Everything
okay?” She glanced over at Ivan then. I figured she had already
been given a brief run-down of what had happened.

Ivan tossed his keys on the table in
the landing. “Yeah, baby, it’s all good,” he assured her easily and
then gave her a little kiss on the forehead as he moved past her,
heading toward the kitchen. “What you drinkin’, Gabriela?” He
called back at me, beckoning the two of us into the kitchen with
him.

I followed nervously behind Angela
into the kitchen. “I’m fine, Ivan, thanks,” I assured him. “I feel
pretty ridiculous imposing you guys like this…” It was nearly 11 pm
by then. They may have already been in bed for all I
knew.

Ivan just sucked his teeth at that,
giving me a little look. “Come on now – you ain’t imposing, I
promise you…so what were you knockin’ back at the bar?” He was
pulling open the pantry above the refrigerator, which appeared to
be a heavily stocked liquor cabinet. “Margaritas? Sangria? Beer?
…What’s your poison?”

I couldn’t help a little laugh.
“Tequila.”

“
Ohhh...wow…it’s ya lucky
day…” He reached further into the stack of bottles and pulled out a
half empty bottle of Don Weber.

Angela had stepped over to the
counter, removing a few dirty dishes and placing them into the
sink, but glanced over at Ivan then. “Whoa…seriously?” She gave him
a disapproving glance. She looked even more uncomfortable than I
felt…

“
Relax, Angie,” Ivan
dismissed her with a little affectionate smile, and then turned
back to me. “Have a seat, Gabriela. If you want, I’ll do one with
you.” He set the bottle on the kitchen table and headed back to the
cabinet for some glasses. “You toss ‘em back straight,
right?”

“
Ahhh…I guess. On
occasion.” I pulled out a chair. “But I think…I mean…” I glanced
back over at Angela then. “Considering the awkwardness of this
whole situation, it would probably be a good idea if we all did
one…or three,” I added.

And with that, I saw a little flicker
of a smile cross Angela’s lips. “Cool. I’m in.” She sank down on a
chair across the table from me.

Ω

Along with
the three shot glasses, Ivan joined us at the table with a lime, a
sharp knife and the salt shaker, deciding we ought to do it right.
We all swung back the first round with little trouble, but after
tossing back the second, Angela shook her head in discomfort and
choked a bit on her wedge of lime.

“
Okay. I’m out.”

Ivan laughed. “Aww c’mon, Angie,” he
teased her. “You said that before we even started.”

“
No, for real, Ivan…” She
insisted, still recovering from the tequila. “What’s Ben gonna
think when he shows up here and we’re all sittin’ around the table
gettin’ tanked?”

It was a good question, I had to admit
it myself. I was beginning to feel quite tipsy myself, after the
shots I’d already done back at the bar.

But Ivan just sucked his teeth.
“Fuck.” He grabbed the bottle and refilled all three glasses. “He
can join us…it probably do him some good.”

“
Miguel told me Ben was
still sleeping with Maria.” I just blurted it out casually as I
grabbed a new wedge of lime, rubbed it against the back of my hand
and grabbed the salt shaker.