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“Mr. Perez, I believe that’s our time for today. Please make an appointment on your way out.”
She stood dismissively and walked to her desk. I stood and nodded.
“First, answer my question.”
She inhaled and held it before she slowly released it. If I weren’t mistaken, I would have said that she was anxious.
“It’s my job.”
Her voice was cold and matter-of-fact, but her eyes held passion in them that she could not hide. She was throwing up a wall, and I respected that, for now.
“I’m sorry, Giselle. I didn’t mean to rile you up. I was just curious, that’s all. You need someone to worry about you too.”
She pressed her lips together in a tight smile and gave a perfunctory nod. I stepped out of her office, not wanting to push further than I already had. I knew that what I had done was wrong, but that hadn’t stopped me. I wanted to know those things. But even more than that, I wanted to be on her mind.
When I left the office, I hopped in my car on my way to my next appointment.
“Jude.”
“Hey?” My best friend’s voice boomed through the speakers loudly. I turned the volume on my speakers down just a little.
“My appointment ended earlier than I planned. I wanted to see if you were free to meet up with me now.”
“Yeah. Actually, I’m just finishing up with another client in the same building that I wanted to show you. Roll through. I honestly think this place might be your new home.”
“A’ight, bet. I’m only ten minutes out.”
“Cool. I’ll see you when you get here.”
I ended the call, turned the music up, and let down the top of my convertible Jaguar F-type. This car was the only thing that I had splurged on when I came into real money. The midnight blue car with its black interior was my dream car, and I took care of it in a way that I cared for little else in this life.
The appointment that I had scheduled with my best friend, Jude, was going to be the second thing that I splurged on, but I felt that it was worth it. I navigated the streets of Cherokee Springs’ largest medical complex until I made my way into Blossom Springs.
It was an upscale community in Cherokee Springs, but not quite as upscale as the area I currently lived in with my wife. Cherokee Falls was for the uber-rich. Although I enjoyed a certain lifestyle, I did not enjoy the obnoxious comments, snide looks, and suspicion that accompanied the greetings of anyone in my community who did not know me. Nor did I care for theassumptions people made that I finagled my way into the lives of Cherokee Falls’ wealthiest family when they learned that I was “thee Casimir Perez,” a man most people assumed was either white or Hispanic but definitely not black.
It didn’t matter that my father was Dominican. Thanks to his and my mother’s dark skin, I had inherited a beautiful chocolate coloring. I looked like any other black man, although I often received comments that my eye coloring and my thick, curly hair signified that I was something more than just black.
Blossom Springs was more my speed. It was an upscale community in Cherokee Springs, but it was mostly comprised of people who looked like me. People who didn’t judge or make presumptions because they were too busy working their asses off to maintain what they had in store for future generations. They had no time to worry about what the fuck Mr. and Mrs. Jones were doing next door or across the street. They weren’t consumed with pretentious behaviors or the next country club outing. Not that they didn’t have one, but it didn’t dominate whether you were acceptable in that community based on whether you had a membership or not.
I pulled up to the building underneath the porte cochère, jumped out, and handed the valet my keys.
Jude stepped out of the building as soon as he saw me.
“Waddup, doe,” he greeted heartily and dapped me up.
“Shit, just stacking my paper, man.”
“Aye, boss man. You really finna do this shit?” he asked before he pulled the doors open again to the luxury building.
I glanced around and took in the elegant furnishings that comprised several seating areas and the oversized contemporary gas fireplace.
“Yeah, man.”
“All right, let’s do it. Here in the lobby, the reception desk is staffed all day and night. So, there’s always someone here to assist you whenever you need or to announce guests.”
“That’s what’s up. It’s time for a lifestyle change,” I declared as I looked around at the beautiful African American art installations.
“Hope this one doesn’t mean you’re about to cut me out of your life the way you did the homies.”