Chapter 32
Thursday, mid-afternoon, the week after they went to the African club, Becky walked out of the courtroom along with the others. She was there as a witness on behalf of the Open Arms Foundation for one of the domestic violence cases they were helping some women with.
The defendant, Dorothy, and her older brother walked with Becky to where she parked her car.
Their lawyer, Mrs. Stevenson, was with them too. They spoke for a few minutes before Dorothy and her brother entered their car and drove off.Published by Nôv'elD/rama.Org.
“Thanks so much,” Becky turned to the lawyer.
“It’s nothing,” Mrs. Stevenson said with a smile. “I have to go back in there,” she pointed toward the courtroom. “I still have one more case today.”
“Sure,” Becky nodded.
“I will call you if any other thing comes up before the next hearing,” Mrs. Stevenson said and before she quickly rushed away.
She brought her phone out of her bag to call Evelyn when she got into her car to give her the feedback on the court proceedings.
“Good.” Evelyn said after she told her all that had happened in court. “We can finally relax now that everything is going smoothly as it should be.”
“Yeah,” Becky agreed. “It’s a tremendous relief. You can say that again.”
A corrupt police officer had wanted to dance to the tune of the accused; Dorothy’s estranged husband was in the initial stage of the case. But Mrs. Stevenson had helped to trash that out with the police authority.
“When are you leaving tomorrow?” Her boss asked. Becky and Colin were leaving for their getaway the following day. Her official holiday would start the following day.
“It should be late in the afternoon,” she replied. “Colin has two meetings scheduled for tomorrow.”
“That’s alright, enjoy yourself.” Evelyn said.
“Sure, I will,” Becky said and giggled before they ended the call. She drove out of the premises to meet up with her sister, who was already waiting for her at Madison avenue. Becky wanted to get herself some super sexy lingerie for her trip.
When they got home after their shopping, Becky made some salmon sandwich along with tomato avocado salad for dinner.
Their maid was not coming back. Her father had terminal sickness, so she stayed over to take care of him. The family had decided that they didn’t need any maid again. They only had a cleaning woman who worked two days a week now.
Becky opened the panini grill and used a spatula to remove the last four sandwiches, which she placed along with the others on a large ceramic serving tray. She tore off a long sheet of foil paper to cover the sandwiches up.
While rinsing off the utensils she used, Donald, the youngest sibling who came home from campus the day before, entered the kitchen and asked, “Can I have my food now?”
“Set the table,” she told him. “Remember, this is not your dorm room. We eat together at the table at the same time.” She gave him a fond smile.
“Okay, sis,” Donald said and started setting the table. Soon, they all sat down to eat dinner.
After dinner, Becky went to her bedroom to have a bath. She was getting into the bathtub, which she’d already added some bath salts into when her sister walked into the room.
“Tony called me this afternoon.” Betty said from the bathroom doorway where she stood. “To ask if we could go to the movies tonight.”
“What did you tell him?” Becky rested her head on the headrest. She planned to spend a long time in the tub.
“I told him I won’t be able to go out,” she gave a hollow smile. “That I have to study.”
“Good,” Becky said. “If he calls you another time, just let him know why you can’t be his friend. Period.”
“Sure, that’s…” she hadn’t finished her sentence when they heard a knock on the door and Donald called out that Betty had a call.
“Okay Donald,” she said and left the room to take her call downstairs.
Becky grimaced as her mind went back to what happened last night.
“Look,” she had said excitedly and pointed her wineglass towards Tony and Betty, who were talking animatedly with Tony a few meters away from her and Colin. “It seems something is cooking over there.”
They were at a cocktail party organized by Young Professionals Network, a professional and social platform for executives under the age of forty. Betty was free, so she tagged along with her sister.
“I think so too,” Colin sipped on his drink. “And I don’t like it.”
“What?” Becky gave him a pointed look. “Why is Tony not a good man?”
“Nah…” he shook his head and turned around. She turned around, too.
Tony was Colin’s colleague, one of their senior managers.
“Tell me about him,” Becky said as they wandered farther away from where Betty and Tony were.
“Tony is a playboy,” Colin put his empty champagne glass on the tray placed by the sideway. “And he hides it so well with his natural charm. So we have to discourage Betty from getting close to him.”
“Really?” Becky was surprised. She had spoken with Tony on a few occasions and took him to be a decent guy.
“I have always thought he’s a decent guy.”
“Not at all,” Colin gave a crisp smile. “Professionally, he’s a great guy. He’s very good at what he does. But his private life is worrisome.”
“I see.” She frowned, seeing that her sister already liked Tony, with the way she was chatting away with him.
Colin collected Becky’s empty glass from her hand and put it on a tray a waiter was holding on the walkway.
“He has a chain of baby mamas scattered around town.”
“You don’t mean it!” She put her hand over her mouth. “He’s that bad!”
“I kid you not,” he chuckled and took her hand. “Come, there is someone I want you to meet.”
“Who?” She smiled into his eyes.
“One of my mentors,” he said. “He’s been on my neck that I should get married. I want to introduce you to him and his wife.
Becky was so happy to hear that,” she beamed. “Let’s go.”