Pay Day Read online

  “Then, I just got greedy,” she admitted. “I’m such a horrible person.” She paused as if a thought had just occurred to her. “Maybe I could use some of my winnings to pay him off.”

  “You’re right,” I said, snapping my fingers. “You’re rich now. Having to pay back two hundred thousand dollars is not as tough when you are a millionaire.”

  We talked some more and I managed to cheer her up just enough for her to grin. “Go give Mr. Perry that money and move on with your life,” I told her.

  Raquelle looked hopeful as she raised her wine glass. “To new futures,” she said.

  “To better futures,” I said.

  Janine and I stayed with Raquelle a little longer, discussing how we’d tell Terrance tomorrow, then how we’d spend our money. Finally, around three a.m., we said our goodbyes.

  “You girls are the best.” Raquelle hugged us both, and when we got into my car, she closed the front door.

  I leaned back against the seat, a smile across my face. My to-do list was ridiculous. I’d have to call the doctor first thing in the morning to book the one thing I wanted most in the world – my weight loss surgery. Then, I’d have to go to work and pretend like everything was normal. (I didn’t know how long that would last). Then I needed to find an attorney, because the three of us had already decided there’d be none of that publicly claiming our money at a press conference. But we’d set up a trust to claim the money. Of course, Terrance hadn’t given his input, but we were sure he’d go along with us.

  “What are you over there thinking about?” Janine asked me as I navigated the abandoned streets.

  “How lucky we are,” I replied.

  “Honey, this ain’t luck. We’re blessed! I might just have to go back to church and tithe.” She laughed.

  “I know I am, even though I hadn’t been since Easter of last year.” We joked around some more until I pulled up in front of her house.

  “Go try to get some sleep,” I told her.

  “Girl, I can’t sleep. I need to know if anyone else won. Is the whole $62 million ours? So many questions…”

  “And we’ll get our answers in due time.” I motioned toward her sleeping son. “You need some help getting him inside? He’s getting so big.”

  “Nah, I got him,” she said, lifting William up like he was a toddler. She planted a kiss on his head. “I’ve been so excited about everything, I didn’t tell you about Tony. But that’s a story for another day. For now, I’m focusing on the positive and the life I’m about to build with my son.”

  I smiled at my friend. “See you tomorrow, I’m going home to wait for Marcus to get off work so I can tell him how our lives are about to change.”

  I was excited about all that was in store. I just had no idea how much things were actually about to change.

  Chapter 7

  Terrance

  Thank God for different shifts. Sheray was still asleep when I ducked out this morning to head to work. She worked the 11-7 shift at Clearcast, but she always liked to get up and fix me breakfast before I left. But I didn’t want breakfast. I wanted a break. I felt like I was being smothered. This sudden adjustment from bachelor to husband wasn’t easy.

  Sheray was always at my place, but she had officially moved in with me as soon as we got back from Vegas. She’d stopped at the post office and filled out a change of address on our way home from the airport. My bachelor pad became our home. I could tell already that working with Sheray as my wife wasn’t going to be as fun and fulfilling as it was when we were dating. At first, I’d felt some kind of way about her transferring to my division, but I got over it. When we were dating, we’d take our lunch breaks together just to go to one of our places for a quickie. Sometimes we wouldn’t make it past the car, and we didn’t care. Sheray did anything for me when we were dating. After we said I do, she started giving me her list of don’ts. By the time we’d landed back in Houston, I felt like I had a checklist of things “that had to change.”

  Some of the expectations she had for me as a husband were impossible for me to meet. From the putting the toilet seat down every time to being home before ten p.m., Sheray had one requirement after another. I hadn’t been married a week and Sheray had already turned into my mother, part two.

  When we got home from Cyclone Anaya’s, my wife proceeded to go in on me about how embarrassed she was when she walked up to me flirting with Veronica. And she didn’t just say Veronica’s name regularly, she rolled her neck and sang it with attitude. After listening to her ranting for thirty minutes straight, I grabbed a pillow and a blanket, then marched to the couch. This morning, my sore neck and shoulders were constant reminders that I didn’t sleep on my Posturepedic mattress. But a sore neck and tense shoulders were more tolerable than a nagging woman.

  Needless to say, my Thursday morning ride to work was nothing short of a much-needed respite.

  Right before I turned into the parking lot, my cell phone rang. When I glanced at it and saw that it was Angelique for the fourth time since last night, I figured I should answer.

  “What’s up?”

  “Hey, I just went by your cubicle. Where are you?”

  “I’m pulling in now. What’s goin’ on?” I heard urgency in her voice. Now, I was nervous as I thought about the three missed calls last night from Janine as well. I hadn’t answered any of the calls because I didn’t want to give Sheray anything else to gripe about.

  “Just meet me in the break room. I’ll tell you everything once you get here,” Angelique said.

  Before I could press the End button, she added, “And hurry up.”

  I parked my car and gathered my ID badge, lunch, and work keys. When I arrived to the break room, Angelique and Janine were seated at the table where we normally ate lunch.

  “Close the door,” Angelique whispered.

  I did as she said, then turned to both of them. “Okay, what’s with this Top Secret stuff? Who died?”

  They exchanged glances and the excitement in their eyes was the only thing that eased the jitters in my stomach. The way they were all lit up, meant no one we cared about had gone to the other side of the soil, as my mama used to say.

  Angelique spoke first, a gigantic grin across her face. “You. Will. Never. Believe what we are about to tell you.”

  I slid into the seat across from them. “I wish you would stop playing games and just tell me. You’re acting like you won the lott…” My words trailed off as Angelique slid two pieces of paper in front of me. One was a photocopy of a lottery ticket. The other was just a printout that said ‘Tonight’s Winning Numbers’ at the top.

  I wasn’t comprehending the message my eyes were trying to send to my brain. “Does this mean what I think it means?” I asked.

  “We won the lottery,” Angelique said.

  “Yep. We won. We are rich,” Janine added, clapping her hands.

  “Is this a joke?” I knew Janine could play around sometimes, but this was out of character for Angelique to play with my emotions like this.

  “Boy, it’s too early in the morning to be playing games,” Janine said.

  “And how long have you known me?” Angelique added. “You know I wouldn’t play around with something like this.”

  My hands were trembling as I picked up both pieces of paper and compared the numbers. They were definitely a match. I even checked the dates to make sure they matched.

  “Now from my understanding we have to contact the Texas Lottery Commission Headquarters in Austin,” Angelique said. “Then, we have to set up an appointment to go there and claim our money.”

  “This is real?” I asked one more time just to be sure.

  “As real as your marriage,” Janine said with a grin.

  My marriage. I was about to be a rich newlywed. I would’ve much rather been a rich bachelor.

  “Okay, let’s go,” I said, standing up and grabbing my stuff.

  “Go where?” Angelique asked.

  I frowned. “Austin.” That w
as a no brainer. In fact, they should’ve met me in the parking lot with this news so we could’ve hit I-10 immediately.

  “Slow your roll,” Angelique said, chuckling. “I want my money just like you, but financial rule 101 – we have to meet with a financial advisor first. I put in a couple of calls this morning and we have an advisor and an attorney that can meet with us after work.”

  “I don’t need anyone to advise me of anything except which way to the lotto office,” I replied.

  “Do you want your name all out in the public?” Janine said.

  “For real, you just gonna walk out with a check and go start spending?” Angelique added.

  “Ummm, yeah,” I said.

  Angelique waved me off. “Boy, we have to be smart and strategic about this. That’s the quickest way to end up broke.”

  I knew they were right, but I sighed anyway. “Fine, but are we all going to go talk to Evelyn together? Or did y’all want me to go first?” I looked at Janine and Angelique as I moved toward the break room door. Neither of them moved.

  Angelique spoke before I exited. “Down, boy. I told you, we need to be smart about this. We don’t know how many other people have tickets. For all we know, we could have to split this thirty ways, so let’s not go telling Evelyn to screw herself just yet.”

  I stared at her. Leave it to Angelique to bust my planned triumphant revenge for that uptight Grinch, Evelyn. I had been promoted to a training coordinator, but she still treated me like I worked in janitorial services. I couldn’t wait to tell her where to go. “Do you always have to be such a thinker?” I asked Angelique.

  She shrugged. “Sorry, T. That’s just the way I am.” Then she joined Janine in a good laugh at my expense.

  When the laughter died down, Angelique said, “You should have seen your face when you turned around. What were you going to do? Jump around yelling ‘I quit’ like they do on TV?”

  I chuckled but didn’t tell her that I’d planned to do the Cabbage Patch, the Running Man, and the Dougie on my way out the door. “Well, I guess it’s no secret that when we do claim our money, I’ll be quitting,” I said.

  Janine turned her lips up as she stood. “It’s a good thing you didn’t stick to the budget Sheray was hassling you about. Because if you would have, you would have been sick if we had won and you didn’t. Shoot, you know Owen is gonna be pissed,” Janine said.

  “Too bad, so sad,” Angelique replied.

  “You guys don’t think we should give Owen a cut?” Janine asked. “He did play with us a lot.”

  “But he didn’t play this time,” Terrance replied. “You can give him a cut of your portion since that’s your boy, but he gets nothing from me!”

  Owen and I used to be cool, but we’d been clashing lately, mainly because I’d gotten the promotion he’d wanted.

  “Yeah, Janine,” Angelique added. “We all agreed on the rules. You don’t play, you don’t win.”

  They could have this discussion all they wanted. I couldn’t be worried about Owen. I was thinking about Sheray. Janine was right, if I had listened to my wife, I wouldn’t have been able to even consider quitting my job. That thought led to another. Could I get my marriage annulled before we got the money? The thought that I’d have to give her fifty percent wasn’t setting right with me. The way I saw it, if she didn’t want to contribute to the pool, she shouldn’t receive half of my winnings.

  I decided that as soon as I got home, I would log on to my laptop and find out how to end my marriage.

  “All right, ladies. Since y’all won’t let me quit yet, I’d better get to work. I’ll see you all later.” I walked out of the door and had just turned the corner when I bumped right into Sheray.

  “Good morning, Hubby.” She bounced up and kissed me on the cheek like we hadn’t slept apart last night. “I just love how that sounds.”

  Choosing to ignore her last comment, I said, “Why are you here so early?”

  “I came to talk to Evelyn about moving my shift. It really doesn’t make sense that we work two different shifts. If we work the same time, then we can come to work together.”

  It took everything inside me to suppress my groan. I probably should’ve told her about the wonderful news I’d just received, but if she was acting like this now, I could only imagine how she’d act once she found out I was rich.

  “Well, I gotta go ahead and get to work. Have a great day.” I kissed her forehead, only because she was going for my lips, then found my way to the elevator. I drew in a deep breath and shook my head knowing that I had to find an escape from her or I was going to smother from her overbearing love.

  Chapter 8

  Raquelle

  It had been less than twenty-four hours since my life got turned upside down. I couldn’t even muster up enough joy to be excited about the winning lottery ticket because I envisioned myself locked up in a cell, wishing I could spend the money.

  I rocked in my recliner as I sipped my morning cup of coffee. Tiana and Shaun had left for school and to my surprise, neither of them asked why I was still in my robe when they left. There were many mornings I’d get up for work and wish I could stay in my robe and relax all day. That’s why you have to be careful what you wish for.

  Winning the lottery was great, but I didn’t have a clue as to how long it would take before I could get my hands on the money. Right now, though, my focus was on staying out of jail.

  The first order of business was for me to consult an attorney, and a very good one. I wanted to call Mr. Perry and tell him I really could pay the money back… with interest. But, after searching the Internet, I learned that it wasn’t as easy as that. Still, I didn’t think it would hurt to try, but I wanted to do so under the advice of an attorney. I didn’t need bribery being added to the charges already being pressed against me.

  I picked up my cell phone and dialed the number of a lawyer I’d found on the Internet.

  I left a message for the attorney to call me, throwing in that I’d won the lottery so he’d call me back quicker. Just as I placed my phone back on the kitchen counter, it rang again. I recognized it was the number to Shaun’s Nephrologist’s office.

  “Hello?”

  I was met with a chipper voice. “Good morning, Mrs. Vargas, this is Tami, the nurse, from Dr. Newsome’s office. How are you?”

  “Oh hi, Tami. I’m good. How about yourself?” It always had amazed me that no matter what was going on in a person’s life, when they’re asked how they’re doing, most people replied that they are doing well.

  “I’m well. I think you’re going to be even better once I give you some information regarding Shaun’s transplant.”

  “I’m sure I will. Anything positive about this will ease my mind.” Watching my son go through this was the most difficult thing of my life. Anything that could alleviate that pain was welcomed news.

  “We have a donor! They can’t do it until April because of some type of religious reason, but isn’t that awesome news?”

  Before I knew it, I blurted out, “April? Are you kidding me? April? It’s only February. My baby needs a new kidney and the best they can give me is two months?” I knew that I should be grateful that he had a donor, but the mother in me didn’t want my son suffering one day longer than he had to.

  “Well, Mrs. Vargas, Shaun is a very blessed little boy. The person that is donating their kidney is doing so because of the post they saw on Facebook asking people for donations to a fund for Shaun. There are over 100,000 people in the United States that have been waiting for an organ for years. Shaun is getting his in two months.” Then, she paused. “I know this is a difficult time for you and your family. I was hoping to make your day a little brighter by giving you the news, but it seems as though I did just the opposite.”

  I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. “No, it’s not your fault. I am grateful. I just want my son to get better. Thanks for calling. Let me know what I need to do from here.”

  “I can only imagine what y
ou’re going through. No parent ever wants to see their child hurt, especially when there’s nothing we can do to make them better. When Shaun comes in for his next appointment, Dr. Newsome will explain everything you need to know regarding the procedure and things you can do to prepare for it.”

  She gave me the info for his follow up appointment. “Thanks, Tami. Have a great day.”

  “You too, Mrs. Vargas.”

  When we hung up, I rested my head in my recliner and rocked back and forth. In one day, so many things had changed in my life: I’d lost my job, was on the verge of getting arrested, won the lottery, and my son got a kidney donor. The latter two things should cancel out everything else. That thought made me smile for the first time in days.

  Chapter 9

  Janine

  I should have known that trying to stay at work after I found out we won the lottery was going to be difficult. When we first started doing the office pool, me, Owen and Terrance used to imagine the different ways we would quit. So having to wait was killing me.

  We had found out yesterday that we were the sole winners and would be taking home thirty-five million after taxes since Angelique had opted for the cash payout. Divided four ways, that was almost eight million each once the attorney and financial advisor Angelique had hired got their cut. We’d met with them last night for almost four hours. Raquelle wasn’t as happy as the rest of us, because they said she’d need a criminal attorney for her case, so she was distracted all evening. But me, Angelique and Terrance were floating high. Eight mil was a nice little come up. I couldn’t retire indefinitely, but I sure could relax a while, maybe even go to Cosmetology school and open my own salon, a dream I had long ago given up.

  We’d worked out all the logistics and the JART Trust would claim our winnings on Monday. It was only a couple of days, but I knew that waiting until Monday was going to be pure hell for me. The minutes leading up to me getting that money in my hands couldn’t have ticked away any slower.

  The first thing I planned on doing was getting a new home for me and William because the mere thought of staying in the same home that Tony and I shared made me nauseous. I hadn’t slept well since he made his announcement that our life together was really over. I came home from the meeting last night and everything that belonged to him was gone. Not a trace of him was left except for our family photos. That bastard wasted no time in cleaning house.