Business of Love by Hodges Cheris

Author:Hodges, Cheris
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-58571-532-9
Publisher: Genesis Press, Inc.
Published: 2010-02-01T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirteen

Two days after the city was blanketed by ice and the temperature barely rose above freezing, temperatures peaked in the mid 60s, melted the ice and brought Atlantans out in droves. Even though the sun was shining, Darren wasn’t in the mood to celebrate. He hadn’t heard from Jill since she bolted out of the Sunrise Café.

What’s her problem? he wondered. I don’t understand women and I guess I never will.

“Hey, Captain, your brother’s here,” one of the firefighters said from the doorway of Darren’s office.

“I’ll be out in a minute,” Darren growled.

The young fireman threw his hands up and backed out of the office as if avoiding a minefield. Darren had been giving attitude to everyone in the station all day. No one wanted to talk to him, look at him or breathe near him for fear of an angry outburst.

That was just fine with Darren because he wanted to be left alone. And he certainly didn’t want to see Cleveland. Why wasn’t that man at home resting his back? The sooner he got better the sooner he could return to active duty. But Darren knew why his brother was there. Someone had probably called him, given him every detail of Darren’s rampage and asked Cleveland to help them.

Seconds later, Cleveland was sitting across the desk from Darren, who hadn’t acknowledged his presence in the office.

“Man, what’s wrong with you?”

“Nothing. I’m working. Is there something you want?”

“Damn,” Cleveland said. “Did somebody steal your box of corn flakes this morning and replace it with haterade?”

“Don’t you have something that you can be doing? Physical therapy, perhaps?”

“The last time I saw you like this was…Where’s Jill?”

“Working, since that’s her priority.”

Cleveland nodded knowingly. “I see.”

“What do you mean, ‘I see’?”

“You and Jill had your first argument, huh?”

“Whatever.”

“Oh well, big bro, guess she wasn’t perfect after all,” he said sarcastically. “Still on that never-ending quest for perfection, aren’t you?”

Darren rolled his eyes. “Can’t you see I’m working? I don’t need you to pretend you’re a psychologist and try to analyze my life. And I don’t want to talk about Jill.”

“What did she do?”

“Are you deaf?”

“Nope, I hear everything you’re not saying. What are you two fighting about?”

“It’s stupid, really.” Darren threw his pen on the desk. “She thinks I have a problem with her focusing on her career.”

“And you don’t?”

Darren rolled his eyes and picked up his pen and twirled it between his fingers. “You know, women kill me. One minute we’re shiftless and tired because we don’t take care of them and the next minute they’re beating us over the head with how independent they are.”

Cleveland leaned back in his seat and folded his fingers under his chin like a psychologist. “So, Jill doesn’t want you to take care of her and you feel unneeded.”

“Shut the hell up!”

“Didn’t you spend the night with her in the ice storm?”

“And?”

“Just asking, damn.”

“Why don’t you mind your business? Where’s Ma?”

“On her way home. The doctors said I don’t need supervision anymore. I might be back to work in a few weeks.

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