LOVING THE HEAD MAN (4 page)

       “It’s bad, baby girl.  It’s bad.” 

       Her mother began crying.  Bree folded one arm and closed her eyes.  What she would give to have this monkey of responsibility off her back.  Her mother, who ran the streets worst than a teenager did, always out partying with Ricky and his friends, getting drunk, smoking weed, sleeping around with every Tom, Dick, and Harry even while Bree’s father was on his dying bed.  And Bree’s five younger siblings, the oldest fifteen, the youngest eight, were the ones who would suffer in the end.  “Just tell me what he’s done this time,” she tried to say patiently, although her bitterness shone through.

       “They say he jumped on Keisha, his baby mama.  But you know Ricky wouldn’t jump on
no
girl.  She just lying because he wouldn’t let her dump them kids on him so she can party with her friends and hang out with her new man.  So now she
wanna
claim he beat her.”

       “Okay, well, you weren’t there and neither
was
I,” Bree said, “so we can’t say what he did or didn’t do.”

       “I can say it!” her mother shot back, causing her voice to ring out even louder over the speaker.  “Don’t you dare tell me what I can’t
say.
  That’s my child and
them
racist police ain’t taking him away from me again. Not again!”  And the crying started up again.

       “Ma, I gotta go,” Bree said, long ready to end this painful call.  “There’s nothing I can do about it, anyway.  Ricky gets himself into these stupid
situations,
he’s the one who has to get himself out of them.  There’s nothing I can do.”

       “Ain’t nothing you can do?” her mother yelled.  “There’s plenty you can do!”

       Bree frowned.  “Like what?”

       “You a lawyer, ain’t you?  You just graduated law school, didn’t you?  Get your ass back here to Mississippi and help your brother!”

       “Ma, you know I can’t leave right now.  I just got here.”

      
“So when you coming home?”

       “The program ends by Memorial Day--”

      
“
Memorial Day
?
  You done lost your mind!  That ain’t ‘till the end of May!  He’ll be rotting in prison by Memorial Day!”

       “Well that’s the only time I won’t have to be here and I’m not about to lose this opportunity over Ricky’s foolishness.” 
If I haven’t lost it already
, Bree thought.

       “Yeah, I told him you didn’t give a damn,” her mother declared.  “I told him I would be wasting my time calling you. 
Because it’s always all about you.
  Forget your family.  Forget your big brother.  Forget the promise you made to your poor old daddy.”

       This hurt Bree to her core, as she was certain her mother knew it would.  “I’m keeping my promise to Daddy.  That’s why I’m here.  If I can make it, then I can help y’all.”

       “
Ain’t
stuttin’ us,” her mother went on.  “Just living it up in the big city, in
Chicago
,
like
you the big time girl now.  When poor Ricky sittin’ in that filthy jail cell–”

       “Ma, I have to go,” Bree said.  “I’ll call you later.” 

       And she clicked off her cell.  She hated doing that to her mother, and she hated that her brother was in trouble again, but what did they expect her to do about it?  Leave everything behind and come running to help a brother who was always in and out of jail? 

       She shook her head as if she could shake away the thought of it.  She was determined to be the one selected to work at Colgate, despite Alan DeFrame, despite her fierce competition, despite her mother’s badgering to make sure her time away from home wasn’t about to be carefree. 
As if she’d ever had a carefree day in her entire life.
 

       “Aren’t you cold?” a male’s voice said from behind her and Bree, startled, turned to the sound. 

       And that was when she realized that she was not alone.  To the right of the roof’s door, seated relaxed at a table, was a man she immediately recognized as Robert Colgate, the owner of the firm she was desperately trying to become a member of, and one of the most renowned criminal defense attorneys in the country.  She could hardly believe her eyes.

       She was caught so off guard, in fact, that her first reaction wasn’t just amazement over the fact that Robert Colgate had just spoken to her, but shock that he may have overheard the extremely personal,
bare
conversation she had just had with her mother.

       “Am I . . . cold?” she found herself asking.

       Robert lifted his eyebrows, his very pronounced, perfect eyebrows, Bree noticed.  He was seated beside a small, oval table, legs crossed, drinking coffee and smoking a cigarette.  “I believe that was my question, yes,” he said. 

       She looked younger than her video, more vibrant, but Robert still saw that sweetness in her, that
something special
 that made him order Alan DeFrame to reshuffle the committee selections, and include her.

       When Bree still seemed at a loss for words, he smiled.  “Come here,” he said.

       Bree moved over without hesitation.  She knew who he was and just to be able to speak with him made her excited beyond words.  Should she joke off the phone call she had just had, noting that her mother was always “kidding around?”  Should she tell him what had just transpired with Alan DeFrame?  Was he the kind of man who wouldn’t tolerate such behavior?  Or was he just as bad?  Bree had so many questions, so many concerns, that she didn’t know where to begin.

       Robert looked at her white, sleeveless blouse, a blouse that had a low-cut, looped down collar, with his expression unreadable to Bree.  “What I was trying to say is that it’s rather cool to be standing out here in a sleeveless blouse.”  He looked down at her sizeable breasts. 
“No matter how attractive the view.”

       Bree felt her face flush when he looked back up at her.  His eyes were a soft, violet blue, but had an intensity within them that unnerved her.  “I’m fine,” she said, rubbing her bare arm, realizing for the first time that she had left her jacket in Alan’s office.  “I never really get cold.”

       “That’s because you’re still very young.  Keep living.  You’ll cover up.”  Then he stood to his feet.  “Come here,” he said.

       He began taking off his suit coat as she walked up to him, that earnest, wide-eyed look he remembered from her video piercing her face now.   When he first walked into that board room and saw her on that screen, and looked into those big, sincere eyes of hers that dominated that screen, a strong, almost paternalistic sensation came over him.  He shielded his feelings, years of courtroom experience had made him a master at that, but he had never experienced such a reaction like that before. 

       The selection process required that each applicant send a video explaining their overall legal philosophy.  And there was Bree, sitting on a stool and simply telling what she thought.  She was so naïve, Robert had thought as he had watched
her,
she had no clue how impractical her philosophy would be to live by.  But that innocence, that sweetness, showed through like a burst of blinding light.  And he felt seared by it.  He felt as if he was seeing something so beautiful, so special, that he almost became emotional.   And days later, when Alan DeFrame presented the list of the ten finalists to him for his ultimate approval, he told him to reconfigure, and include Brianna.

       Now as she stood before him, he wrapped his expensive suit coat around her small body.   He loved that sweet, fresh, scent of her, loved the way her braids bounced in the wind, loved the way her bright brown eyes looked up at him, as if she was anticipating something great to come from him, as if she admired him. 

       “That better?” he asked her in a soft tone, unable to stop pulling the coat lapels together, effective holding her by the catch of those lapels, unable to release her from his grasp.

       “Yes, sir, it’s much better. 
Thank-you.”

       He continued to stare into her eyes.  Bree felt strange this close to him, almost heady.  “You’re okay?” he asked her.

       “Yes,” she said in an almost breathless tone.  This was too close.  She was uncomfortable this close.

       Robert saw her discomfort and felt embarrassed, almost angry that he was behaving so oddly toward her, that a woman he didn’t even know could have such a pull on his emotions.  He released her, but couldn’t let her leave just yet.  “Have a seat,” he said.

       Bree sat down, gladly.  She didn’t feel as uneasiness when she sat down, especially if she considered the scene.  Here she was, a poor girl from Mississippi, sitting with one of the richest, most famous attorneys in America.  And even with that fact in mind she hadn’t turned into some babbling idiot.  She was pleased with herself. 

       Robert sat down too.  It was a turn-on for him to see his suit coat wrapped around her
voluptuous
ly appealing body.  “What brings you up here, Brianna?” he asked her. 

       She was surprised that he knew her name.  Thought about mentioning Alan’s boorish behavior, then thought again.  Although it wasn’t fair, she knew that any wrong word could send her packing.  “I needed to take a break.  Monty Ross said this was a great hideaway.”

       “It is.  That’s why I’m up here.”  Robert said this with a smile.  Bree loved the way those lines of age and experience appeared on the side of his eyes.  “But this is your first day.  What could you possibly be hiding away from so soon?”

       Bree decided to test him.  He seemed reasonable when she used to watch him on TV, where he often appeared as a legal analyst on CNN, MSNBC, and sometimes Fox.  “We had our meet and greet with Mr. DeFrame this morning.”  She said this and then looked intensely at Robert, to gauge his reaction.

       “Ah,” he said with a knowing nod, as if he understood, and Bree waited for more.  But he had nothing more to say.

       She decided to leave it alone.  This moment was too rare.  She had an audience with the head of the firm, the undisputed boss.  She wanted to stay focused.  Besides, his coat felt so warm against her skin, and smelled so cologne-fresh and clean that she found herself snuggling further into it.  She wasn’t messing up this wonderful moment. “I’m surprised you recognize me as one of the finalist,” she said with a smile, remembering how Alan had said that Robert Colgate hand-picked her, hoping to get further insight as to why.

       “Nothing surprising about it,” Robert said.  “I make it my business to be aware of all of the people interested in working for me.”

       She decided to go there.  “But it’ll be Alan DeFrame who makes the final decision on who gets that one position. 
Right?”

       Bree was looking at Robert so
forlorn
ly that he felt the need to reassure her.  “Alan recommends,” he said, “but I make the final decision.” 

       “So you’ll decide who gets the position?”  She said this too excitedly.