chef, but I don’t see why that would be an issue.” He nodded and handed over his menu. “Oh, and I’d like a glass of white wine to go with my meal and please get the lady a glass of red to go with hers. House is fine for both.”
The waitress gave a friendly nod, let them know she’d bring the beverages out right away, and sauntered off.
He didn’t even ask me if I drink. I could be a recovering alcoholic. I might not even like wine… And how would he know that I want the house wine? Maybe I wanted something else. I’d actually like a damn beer, but tonight I guess I won’t make any waves. Aries is a trip. She shook her head and smirked. She couldn’t help but find him a bit amusing, too. Definitely a take-control kind of guy…
He began to slowly stroke his beard – long, tattooed fingers running gently through the thick, dark strands of hair. She wished she could reach across the table and stroke it, too.
“Lauren, I wanna get down to business.”
She cleared her throat and adjusted her position on her seat.
“All right. What’s on your mind?”
He kept casually stroking that beard of his as he looked about. Procrastinating, no doubt. He said he wanted to discuss things but deep down, he dreaded this.
“So, without repeating the entire story, you are aware I didn’t know my father. I explained that.”
“Yes.” She took another sip of her water.
“You said you’d had some conversations with him over the years and knew him a fair amount of time. In fact, you gave me the impression that you and he were associates, possibly even friends.” She nodded. “Benjamin didn’t seem to talk much about his life with many people. I’ve been hitting dead ends over and over again. I mean, he discussed business matters with most folks, but that’s about it. I have made so many damn phone calls that have been revolving doors. I was inside his home just the other day and turned it practically upside down tryna find things that told me something about him as a man – his company aside.
“I didn’t find anything out of the ordinary. That within itself isn’t ordinary at all, if ya ask me.” He exhaled a breath. “Nothin’ that would lead me to anything personal about him, minus an old Playboy magazine from the 1980s.”
She offered a tilted smile. “I mean, shit, most of us, if a stranger went into our house, they’d probably find some personal items that told them about who we are as a person, things we like to do… Not my father though. No collections of anything, no old letters, no photo albums. Just strange. I have searched online, too – nothing. There are court cases where he sued a number of companies, evictions he filed, things of that nature, but that led me nowhere. Those were just business deals gone wrong. I have contacted people via email, folks who seemed to know him a hell of a long time, some of the people even at that big funeral of his, and the ones who’d bother to reply told me the same thing his lawyer told me: that my father didn’t really get into all of that.
“Lauren, how in the hell can someone call a guy a friend and know nothin’ about them?” She shook her head, determined to keep quiet for a while longer, giving him the floor. She knew he didn’t really want a response right then anyway. The man was venting. Though his voice wasn’t raised, it was obvious he was frustrated with his own frustration. “I find that especially weird. I don’t like what’s going on here. Not one bit. And now, I’m mad. I’m angry because he has me jumpin’ through hoops like some lion in a circus, trying to tie up his business before I can get my hands on the money he left me in the will. I resent it with every fiber of my being, and a part of me just wants to say, ‘The hell with this,’ and walk away. I ain’t gotta be rich, Lauren. It would be nice, but I’m not gonna sell my soul and act like a whore for the cash. I make a decent livin’, have a nice home. I’m not worried about being tossed out on my ass, and my boy has what he needs and then some. Not worried about where my next meal is