Episode 32

Episode 32

Nailah watched as Sierra stirred in the bed, it was getting late, or rather getting early.

“You’re still here?” Donna asked as she came in to check the patient’s vital signs.

“Yea, I need to get home. Justice will be up soon and I still have some studying to do.”

Donna nodded, “Go home. We’ll call you if anything changes.”

Nailah nodded and waved goodbye, “Thanks.”

Donna nodded and turned back to Sierra, checking the vital signs. She was about to leave when she heard the sheets rustle.

“What happened?” Sierra moaned climbing out of the bed.

“I would stay in bed if I were you, most patients feel a bit woozy after having their stomachs pumped.” Donna spit out.

Sierra shirked.

“What were you thinking!” Donna continued, “those pills could have killed you!”

“They were harmless-“

Donna laughed. “Harmless, your heart rhythm was off, you experienced cardiac arrest and we almost lost you twice on the way to the hospital. Harmless!”

Sierra stared at the floor. “Sorry.”

“Sorry…” Donna shook her head, “Sorry doesn’t cut it.”

Nailah rushed into the clinic where Donna met her. She had received the page from the nurses station and told them to send the child to her. Donna took Justice from her mother and commanded a nurse to begin taking vital signs.

“What happened?”

“She had a fever when I got home, so I gave her some toddler medicine, then she starting shaking and turning blue. I -“ Nailah stopped choking back a sob.

Donna nodded, the nurses had filled her in about the child losing consciousness twice. Donna pushed Nailah out the room as she saw the grim looks of the nurses and the entrance of the life support machine.

“How is she?” Nailah asked as Donna entered the waiting area hours later. Her eyes were swollen from crying and her nails were raw from biting them.

Donna tried not to think about the past couple of hours. The toddler had stopped breathing and her heart rate had lowered to dangerous levels. The nurses and team of doctors had to bring her back from the other side numerous times.

“Not as well as she could be.” Donna hedged. “She’s still in critical condition and right now we have her on life support.”

Donna tried to close her ears against the sobs that echoed across the room as Nailah sobbed her sorrows into her hands.

“Can I see her?”

“For a little while,” Donna agreed leading the mother into the brightly colored room littered with machines and the tiny helpless body of her child.

“O, Justice…” Nailah moaned as she leaned over the crib.

“What’s on your mind, Erika? You’ve been…quiet.” Lani asked handing her friend a drink from the fountain.

Erika played with her soda, thinking. “I have a lot on my mind.”

“You want to share?”

“Well…you know Willis?”

“Yes…”

“And Kevin?”

“Yes…what’s wrong? Having second doubts about double lovers?”

Erika laughed, “Hardly! I don’t feel guilty or anything…they both know that we’re not serious…it’s just…”

“What?”

“Well…if they were one man, I’d marry him in a heartbeat.”

“Even after-“

“Yea, even after…you know.”

“Wow…”

“It’s just…Willis showers me with so many gifts and dinners and anything I want that his bank account can buy, it’s mine. But he doesn’t have the time for me-not that I’m complaining, he’s a bore.”

“Ok…”

“Then Kevin showers me with…I guess… love. He always cooks for me, anything he gives me I know that he spent the time looking and finding the perfect thing instead of grabbing the most expensive thing in the store.”

“I’m failing to see the problem if you’re ok dating both. Are you ok dating both?”

“I don’t know… part of me wants more. I don’t know what this feeling is… I… I haven’t felt this way since… well, you know.”

Lani nodded. “Well, I always say, take the chance on love. The payoff is better.”

Erika nodded, rolling the words over in her mind.

Opal flopped onto the bench, today’s practice was brutal, but her body felt good after the summer spent slacking.

Her teammates chatted away until the coach stepped in the locker room, commanding a respectful huss.

“Well done with practice today ladies.” She started, “I know you all are ready to get dressed and head back to the dorms, but with the start of a new season new changes occur.”

The team nodded, anxious to hear the announcement.

“Ok, the team captian this season is Opal.” The coach said without fanfare, but the team politely applauded.

Opal grinned and jumped up. “Thanks and this year, we’re going to nationals and taking that trophy from the smug Laloha University!”

The team cheered and Opal happily tossed her towel over her shoulder as she headed to the showers. She was captain and determined to make her senior year the best one ever!

“I think it looks more like a rabbit jamming on the keyboard,” Kevin said as he laid on his back.

Erika chuckled, “Why can’t you see a simple car instead of rabbits forming a band.”

“That’s just how I am babe.” He said grinning at her.

She smiled and snuggled closer, enjoying a rare moment away from the office, away from the fickle clients and using the sun as a clock instead of her PDA.

“Happy?” Kevin asked

“Very much, this was a great idea, just what I needed.”

“I love you.”

Those words…Erika had hoped that she wouldn’t hear them, but there they were… and they didn’t give her the anticipated sense of dread. That only meant one thing.

“I love you too.”

Episode 31

Episode 31

 

Missy looked as Carli breathed slowly on the hospital bed and blinked back the tears.

“This is all my fault,” she moaned.

Randy shook his head, “don’t blame yourself. You couldn’t have stopped this from happening.”

 

“But I let her drive without supervision one time. I shouldn’t have done that, maybe she wouldn’t be here.”

Randy caressed Missy’s shoulder’s. “We both know that Carli would have driven anyway, don’t blame yourself it isn’t healthy.”

Before he could continue the doctor walked in and they both swung their heads to her.

 

“Is she ok? What’s going on?” Randy asked desperately.

Donna sighed, “Carli needs blood. She lost a lot of it in the accident. But her blood type is rare, so we’ll have to run some tests before we transplant the blood, is that ok?”

Randy nodded. “Yes, of course, you’ll need my blood right?”

 

“That’s possible. Since you’re her father, your blood will be the best match, let me get a sample now and start the tests.”

“I can’t find it!” Roxy yelled as she rummaged through the cabinet.

“It’s under the blue box in the back.”

Roxy saw the box and pulled it out, along with a ticket stub.

“What’s this?” she looked at the plane ticket in Jamal’s name. “This was last weekend…he said he was busy with work…why did he go to the mainland?”

“Jamal?”

“Yea”

“What’s this?”

“What?”

“This plane ticket for the mainland. You said you were working this weekend, why did you go to the mainland.”

“Uh…I didn’t.”

“But the ticket-“

“I never…uh…used the ticket. I got busy with work.”

“This is a return ticket slip, Jamal! It’s for you coming from the mainland to Pahala! Why are you lying!”

“I’m…I’m not!!! I was busy with…with work!”

“Save it Jamal! I’m out of here. Call me when you decide to stop lying!” She shouted running out the door and ignoring his cries. Why would he lie? She wondered.Why not just say the truth…unless…Roxy gulped back tears. He’s having an affair!

Lani leaned over to see the item Meka was referring to in the accountating book.

“You mean, by switching to lower wattage lights, we could save on the electricity bill?”

Meka nodded enjoying the smell of Lani’s perfume as it tickled his nose. He enjoyed these late night meetings.

The diner door opened and Meka frowned. Russel walked in.

“Hey baby.” Lani cooed as she hopped up and embraced him.

“How’s it going?”

“Fine, we’re almost done for the night.”

“Great, I wanted to make sure you got home safely, it’s after midnight.”

Lani nodded. “Understand, let me grab my things from the back.”

Russel watched as she disappeared before turning his attention to the scowling Meka,

“What? You don’t trust your girlfriend?”

“I don’t trust you.”

“I’m the least of your worries. Lani still loves me, your time is ticking.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“Just watch out, I will prove that she still loves me and once again you will be in second place-getting my leftovers.”

“You watch out, Lani and I have the real thing and you can’t mess with that.”

Meka laughed, “The real thing? If that’s so, why does she willing stay away from you every night until you have to run to the diner to get her away from me? Ha! The real thing!”

Donna stared at the microscope, the cells were clearly sickled. She sighed and called down an order to the nurse’s station to put the teen on the appropriate medicines to help with her condition. She then placed a call to her parents and left a message that they needed to meet with her to go over some test results. She knew from the file that Carli’s mother tested negative for carrying the sickle cell trait, so she slid Randy’s blood sample underneath the microscope. No tell-tale sickles. She placed some of the sample in a vial and ran the tests-negative.

“What? How is that possible? He should be positive…unless.”

Donna quickly put Carli’s and Randy’s blood samples in vials and ran some quick DNA tests.

“Oh, F-“

Randy nervously held Missy’s hand. What on earth could the doctor want to speak with them about. He watched as she approached grimly and took a seat.

“I have a lot of news for you two, so let’s start slowly.” Donna announced.

Randy and Missy nodded numbly.

“First, Carli has sickle-cell anemia. It’s a genetic disease that causes her blood cells to sickle. She’s on the appropriate medicines now and I’ve set up a referral appointment for you and your family to talk to a specialist about the disease.”

Randy nodded.

“Next, from Carli’s file it was noted that her mother tested negative for the trait. I’m not sure why they ran those tests on her and didn’t inform you of Carli’s disease, but they did. I then ran your blood sample to test for the trait. The sample came back negative.”

Randy nodded-then stopped. “Wow, what’s the possibility that two parents that test negative for the trait would have a child with the disease.”

Donna sighed, “It’s impossible.”

“But-“

“That’s why I ran a DNA test on your samples.”

Randy’s face paled and Missy felt her tongue go dry.

“You are not Carli’s biological father.”

“What!?!? That’s…that’s…” Randy started before grasping his head in his hands and sobbing.

Donna quietly left the room so the couple could digest the news.

“Randy,” Missy said caressing his shoulders.

“She-She’s not mine!”

“She is yours. Blood isn’t important, that means nothing. Carli is your daughter-“

“But how-how could-how could she do that to me!”

“I don’t know sweetie, we won’t ever know.”

“Gosh today was a long day,” Lani said tumbling on the sofa.

“Well, you could come home after closing the diner. You don’t have to stay every night and go over the books with Meka,”

“Oh no,” Lani said shaking her head. “I don’t mind. He’s showing me all sorts of interesting things-“

“I bet he is.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“Can’t you see that he’s manipulating you? He doesn’t need all that time with you.”

“Here we go again. Can we not talk about this? I’m tired of this argument.”

“Fire him and we won’t discuss it anymore.”

“What!?”

“Fire him.”

“Never! Meka is great at what he does and the diner benefits from him. You need to deal with your jealously issues!”

“I’m trying to, but you don’t make it easy when you see more of him then you do me!”

“Listen, I’m not listening to this anymore-you need to deal with your insecurity! I’m with you, not Meka, but I’m not firing good help!”

Episode 56

“Here are the notes from Dr. Jiu’s class.” Sierra said, passing the stack of papers to her friend, Roxy.

“Thanks.”

“Do you know when you’ll return to classes?” Nailah asked twirling with her curls, then fidgeting with the silver ring on her thumb. It was a gift from Stephan and she found herself mindlessly touching it.

Roxy shrugged. “Soon, maybe next week. I’m still a little shaken.”

“You should be!” Missy blurted. “That sim could have killed you!”

“Thank goodness Richard was there, otherwise…”

“Yes,” Roxy said with a faint smile. “He saved my life.”

“Where is he?”

“In the corner by the door.”

The women turned and gave the bodyguard a wave before continuing their conversation.

“How long is he going to be protecting you?”

“Until they are completely sure that all threats have been eliminated.”

“When will that be?”

“Who knows.” Roxy shrugged. “I like what you’re doing with your hair, Nailah.”

“Thanks. I enjoy the short cut right now, it’s so hot. I notice that you’re growing your hair out.”

“Yea, it’s been a while since I’ve had it longer. How’s the business plan going, Sierra?”

“It’s going fine.” The woman said picking at her shirt. “Donna and I went to get the coin appraised and it’s worth a lot of simoleans, about fifteen thousand. With the no interest loan that Nailah is giving me and the money that I have, not to mention the money that Donna was able to find to invest in business, I hope I have enough for the down payment on the load. I have another meeting with the loan officer, which I need to leave for now, so wish me luck.”

“I need to go as well, I have an interview with a law school admission panel and then Stephen’s taking me out for dinner.”

“Stay safe, Roxy.”

“I will, I have Richard.” She said smiling at the approaching man.

--------------------------------------------

Kimora silently watched as her coworker drooled over the client. Jamal had been to them before for work and she was used to the singer, but it was still funny to see others fall over themselves trying to please him.

“I really like how you packaged this.” Jamal said going through the proofs for the new ad campaign.

Kimora smiled, that’s one thing she liked about the singer, he went through his own campaigns, not some agent of his.

“Yes,” Kimora’s boss spoke up. “Simon has been hard at work on the campaign.”

“Simon?” Kimora and Jamal asked.

“Uh…”

“Simon didn’t-“ Kimora started.

“Yes, Simon and Kimora worked nights on the campaign. I’m glad it’s to your approval.”

Kimora could feel her blood boiling. Simon did absolutely nothing. She worked on that campaign. She spent hours working until the sun went down, forgoing happy hours and dinners to get the campaign done. She narrowed her eyes, but saw Jamal slightly shake his head.

He knew the truth as they spent hours on the phone discussing the campaign and making changes to it.

“So, Simon, tell me, why didn’t you use lyrics from my hit single for the campaign?” Jamal asked.
“Well…uh, Kimora and I thought, well, Kimora, perhaps you should explain.”

No way, no deal. “Go ahead Simon, you explain it much better than I do.”

Kimora could see her boss get annoyed, but she was over it. If he wanted to give the credit for this campaign at the most to this bumbling idiot and at the least make it appear that she shared duties with him, then let his beloved Simon talk about the campaign.

“Kimora, perhaps you should explain.” Her boss tensely said.

Kimora pursed her lips in defiance, how dare he want her to help that idiot make his way out of the hole that he dug. Take that back, that her boss had dug for him.

Before she could speak up, Jamal’s phone beeped. “Excuse me,” he said leaving the room to check the message.

“Kimora,” her boss turned to her. “Why are you sabotaging this campaign?”

“What?”

“Our client asked a question and you better answer it.”

“Our client asked Simon a question. A very simple question that if Simon had done any work on the campaign he could answer, but since he didn’t he can’t!”

“Kimora, this isn’t about little u’s and big i’s , this is about the health of the company.”

“Why is it healthy to lie and say that we worked together on the campaign when we didn’t?”

“Kimora-“

“Sorry folks,” Jamal said sticking his head into the room. “I have to run. I’ll keep looking over the campaign and we can meet about it later, ok?”

“Of, course.”

Kimora narrowed her eyes at her boss. She thought that he always looked out for her, but now it seemed like things were different and he was only interested in promoting his little Simon. “I’m taking lunch now.” She said, leaving the room.

---------------

Sierra sat in front of the loan officer again. She had did everything he asked, found a partner and garnered a sizable down payment.

“Hmmm…”

Sierra gritted her teeth, she hated that sound. Why couldn’t he just give her a straight answer. To distract herself she thought about teaching her first class in her studio. Watching the students morph their bodies into the various yoga positions, discussing the importance of mind-body connections and how to successfully lead a healthy life.

“Well, there’s been some changes since I last saw you.”

“Yes,” Sierra nodded. “I found a business partner and got the down payment like you asked.”

“Yes, well, very well done on those issues.”

Sierra bit her lip, she hated being talked down to as if she were a child. “So, when can I sign the papers on the loan?”

“That’s one of the things that changed. “

“Excuse me?”

“With the various issues coming up in the loan industry, the banks are forced to change a lot of their practices. These changes have been difficult for our customers to accept and sometimes make favorable loans appear unfavorable.”

“What are you trying to say?”

“Your loan application has been denied.”

“How? I got the down payment! I have the business partner! What is it? Do they want more money? A bigger down payment?”

“I’m afraid not. Your application was deemed too high risk for the loan.”

“What in the world does that mean?!?”

“It means they won’t loan you the money.”

“I know that, but why? Why was my application deemed high risk?”

“Your history. You have very little credit history and that spells danger.”

“So because I like to spend cash and not use credit cards, I can’t get a loan?”

“That’s about right.”

“That makes so little sense! It’s idiotic!”

“I’m sorry.”

“Yea, well, thanks anyway.” She said leaving the bank.

------

Donna walked slowly along the boardwalk enjoying the warm breeze and smell of the ocean and…dog fur?

“Would you consider donating to the Society for Pets?” a friendly face asked.

Donna smiled. “What does the society do?”

“We minimize the number of stray pets by maximizing the number of happy pet owners. Right now we’re trying to find homes for a few of our cute little puppies, such as the ones you see here.”

Donna glanced down at the tiny pups, one in particular caught her eye and she bent down for a closer look. She regarded the animal with open eyes and it did likewise, cocking it’s head to the side before placing its paws on the glass. Donna placed her fingers on the glass as well and they shared a friendly glass to glass moment.

“He’s a cutie, isn’t he?”

“He is.”

“He’s available for adoption today. He’s just waiting for the perfect pet owner to come along and adopt him.”

“What’s his name?”

“What do you think his name is?”

“Huh?”

“If you can guess his name, I’ll give you a lollipop.”

“A lollipop, huh?”

“No sim has been able to guess his name.”

Donna regarded the pup. “Can I take him out of the glass cage?”

“Of course.”

She squatted down to meet the puppy face-to-face and he licked her hand before circling her and sniffing her clothing.

“Lucky.”

“What?”

“His name is Lucky.”

“Whoa! Did he tell you that?”

“No, why?”

“That’s his name. Congratulations, let me get your lollipop.”

“Forget about the lollipop, how can I take Lucky home?”

-----

“Hey, beautiful.”

“Hi, Stephan.” Nailah said smiling.

“How was the interview?”

“I think it went well.”

“Here, Sierra said this was waiting for you.” He said handing her a thin envelope.

Nailah’s heart went in her throat, it was from the University of Supreme Law, her first choice school. She nervously opened the envelope.

We regret to inform you that your application has been denied. We would-

Nailah wiped away a tear.

“You ok?”

“Yea, my first rejection letter.” She said waving the letter at him.

He took the letter and read it, his face hardened and he slowly folded the paper and replaced it in the envelope.

“It’s not that bad, Stephan. I appreciate you trying to sympathize with me.” Nailah joked.

“Why didn’t you tell me that you were applying to schools outside of Pahala?”

“What? Why should that matter?”

“How are we going to have a relationship if you’re eighteen hours away!”

“What relationship! We’re supposed to be friends!”

“Nailah, how can you continue to deny this?” He painfully asked, his voice cracking. “We’re good together.” He continued taking her hand.

“I know, but…it’s still too much.”

“Don’t push me away…please…” He said grabbing her other hand.

“I can’t promise anything.”