Addicted to an Addict Page 13

  “Hey, honey bunny! How are you?” She pulled her baby girl onto her lap.

  “I’m fine. I drew a picture of you and me and Daddy and Gem at school. It’s so pretty. Miss Gladys taped it on the ’frigerator. Miss Hernandez, my teacher, gave me a gold star ’cause I knew all my sight words. I said the Solomon Grundy poem without messing up and . . .”

  Treasure’s endless chatter was more soothing to Mink’s ears and heart than any love song, but it was muted by the cold look that she saw in Gem’s eyes. The child stood at the entrance of the den staring at her mother and little sister, seemingly emotionless. Mink’s heart shredded into a billion pieces. Her firstborn was clearly unhappy to see her. And it was her fault.

  “Go on, Gem. Go and hug your mother,” Josiah coaxed, pushing the child farther into the room.

  Rigid and in slow motion, Gem crossed the den and stopped in front of Mink.

  “It’s so good to see you, sugar.” Mink reached out and enfolded the child in her arms. She gave her a peck on the cheek. Staring into her cold eyes up close, she asked. “How are you, Gem Ariana?”

  “I’m fine.”

  “How is school?”

  “School is fine.”

  “Are you and Bella still BFFs?”

  “No.”

  Mink decided to give Gem some emotional space. The mother-daughter bond they’d once shared had been broken by time and absence, which was a result of her drug addiction. It would be impossible to repair it in five minutes, so she wouldn’t even try.

  Mink returned her attention to the child she still had a bond with. “Who is your best friend, Treasure?”

  “Leilani, Zion, and Karrington are my best friends. We play together, we eat lunch together, and we’re all going to be just like Beyoncé and Michelle Obama when we grow up.”

  “Wow! That’s a combination of two great women.”

  Josiah cleared his throat. Mink looked at him. He tapped his watch with his finger.

  “Well, girls, it’s getting late. Gypsie is upstairs waiting to help you with your baths.”

  “I want you to give me a bath, Mommy,” Treasure whined.

  “But Gypsie has been waiting all this time, so it’s only fair that she help you.” Mink placed her baby girl on her feet and stood. She gathered both of her daughters in a group hug and kissed each on the cheek as she fought back the tears with a vengeance. “Mommy loves her babies so much.”

  “I love you too, Mommy.”

  A lone tear fell when Gem failed to tell Mink she loved her, but she quickly wiped it away.

  “Come on, princesses. Uncle J is waiting for you in the kitchen. He’s going to take you upstairs to Miss Gypsie.”

  Mink broke down in a full-fledged sob as soon as Josiah and the girls left the room.

  * * *

  “Miss Gypsie, our mommy came back home. She’s downstairs with Daddy.”

  Gypsie pulled the nightgown over Treasure’s head and slid it down her body. “Yes, I know she’s home, darling. I saw her.”

  It was true. Gypsie had seen Mrs. Bishop downstairs—in Josiah’s arms kissing him passionately and declaring her love for him. And his reaction to her affection and the words he responded were heartfelt.

  “I love you so much, JoJo.”

  “I love you too, Mink.”

  Gypsie swallowed the marble-size lump in her throat when the words resounded in her ears, and the vision replayed in her memory. The kiss Josiah and his wife had shared was hot and urgent. Gypsie regretted that she had witnessed it. But she’d accidentally stumbled upon the reunion when she went downstairs to check on Gem and Treasure after they didn’t immediately come upstairs to greet her. She hadn’t expected to find Josiah making out with the wife who had been out on the streets using drugs over the past several weeks. Gypsie was shocked that he wasn’t angry with her for putting him in a position to be blackmailed and publically humiliated earlier today. But love was a powerful thing. It made strange things happen. That’s exactly why Mrs. Bishop was back at home with her husband and daughters despite all of the pain she had caused them.

  “Thank you for never giving up on me when most men would have. And thanks for letting me come back home, baby.”

  “Miss Gypsie!” Gem shrieked.

  “Huh?”

  “I just asked you which shoes you want me to wear tomorrow. Didn’t you hear me?”

  “No, darling, I didn’t hear you. I’m sorry, Gem. My mind was somewhere else. Wear your white Nikes.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  Gypsie finished helping the girls dress for bed as she listened to them chat about everything under the sun. She noticed how happy Treasure was to have her mother back home. That’s all the child kept talking about. Gem, on the other hand, made no comments about Mrs. Bishop’s return. It seemed like a nonfactor to her. Treasure readily thanked God during her prayers for bringing her mommy home, but her sister didn’t.

  “Gem, aren’t you glad that your mom came home?” Gypsie asked as she tucked her in.

  “I don’t know.”

  “Your mom loves you and Treasure very much, darling. She’s just suffering from a very bad disease, and it’s hard for her sometimes. She doesn’t mean to go away and make you sad. Her addiction causes her to do that. Just pray for her every night so she’ll get better.”

  “Why can’t Mommy get well like the people on the TV commercial?”

  “What are you talking about, my brightest Gem?”

  “I see the commercial all the time. It says if you are suffering from addiction, you should call this number. Every time it comes on I run to find a pencil and a piece of paper so I can write down the phone number, but I keep missing it because I’m too slow. Can you help me find the number, Miss Gypsie?”

  “I’ll sure try.”

  “The people on the commercial said they went to the special doctor at the special hospital and got treatment to help with addiction. Now they feel better. If we find the number, we can give it to Mommy so she can call the special doctor and go to his special hospital so he can make her addiction go away too. Then she won’t leave us again.”

  Gypsie kissed Gem’s forehead. “We’ll find that telephone number for your mommy, darling.”

  * * *

  Josiah couldn’t relax on the ride to the airport because his rushed decision to get Mink into the rehabilitation facility in Montana hadn’t allowed him any time to speak with Gypsie. Jeremiah had promised that he would explain everything to her before he left her and the girls for the night. Josiah appreciated his brother having his back on some things, but he would’ve much rather preferred speaking to Gypsie about this particular situation himself. So he decided that he would call her once he and Mink arrived at their terminal. All he needed to do was come up with an excuse to step away to make the call without looking suspicious.

  “JoJo, you’re walking too fast,” Mink said softly. “I’m not in good shape anymore. I haven’t been eating healthy or exercising.”

  Josiah slowed his pace, reached back, and laced his fingers through Mink’s to pull her along. Even at this time of night, Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport was popping. There were globs of people rushing in all directions, making their way to wherever they needed to be in the world’s busiest airport. Josiah was sporting a fancy fedora, reading glasses, and casual attire, which included jeans and a sweatshirt. He was confident that his identity was undetectable to most. After a train ride, bypassing two concords, he and Mink arrived at their terminal and sat down.

  “We have about twenty minutes before first-class passengers will start boarding the plane. I’m going to go and grab a magazine to read on the flight. Do you need anything, Mink?”

  “Bring me a bottle of water please.”

  “Okay.”

  Josiah pulled out his cell phone and dialed Gypsie’s number. He looked over his shoulder to make sure he had privacy. Mink was still sitting where he had left her. The phone rang several times without an answer before t
he call rolled over to voicemail. The matter was too important to be summarized in a message, so Josiah hung up and dialed the number again with the same results. This time he decided to leave a short message.

  “Gypsie, this is Josiah. I need to talk to you. It’s very important.” He couldn’t think of anything else to say, so he hung up and walked over to a magazine stand.

  * * *

  Gem burst into the guest room with Treasure right behind her carrying her baby doll. “Miss Gypsie! Miss Gypsie, wake up! You’ve got to get us ready for school. What are we going to eat for breakfast?”

  Gypsie sat up slowly with her head pounding like a bass drum. It was the result of her taking a cheap over-the-counter sleep aid the night before. She was going to choke Susan, Josiah’s internal affairs director, for giving her the two capsules and highly recommending that she take them whenever she had trouble falling asleep.

  “Where are your mommy and daddy?”

  “We don’t know,” Treasure whined. “We can’t find them.”

  Gypsie checked the time on her cell phone and realized that she had overslept by thirty minutes. Usually, she would be up and halfway dressed by now and on her way down the hall to wake the girls. Although she’d had no intention to sleep past six o’clock, she had an excuse. But why were Josiah and wifey still locked up in their love nest when they knew their daughters needed to be dressed, fed, and taken to school?

  Gypsie dragged herself out of bed and slid her signature caftan over her nightgown. She was groggy and had a bad case of the cotton mouth. How in the world could anyone get used to waking up to a hangover day after day?

  “Look, Miss Gypsie.” Gem bent down and picked up something from the floor. “You’ve got mail.” She held up a white envelope.

  “Thank you.” Gypsie took the envelope and immediately saw her name scribbled on the front of it. She ripped it open and pulled out the single sheet of paper.

  Gypsie,

  I just knocked on your door, but you didn’t answer. I guess you were snoring too loud to hear me. Josiah is on a flight to Montana, as I write this, on some personal business. That’s why I needed to talk to you. He asked me to update you on what’s going on. Things are a little screwed up right now. I warned you that it was coming. I’ll run down the whole situation for you when you get to the office in the morning. Until then, take care of my nieces and tell them Uncle J loves them.

  Jeremiah

  Gypsie crumpled the note in her hand as she fought to maintain her composure in the presence of Gem and Treasure. Her feelings were crushed. How dare Josiah fly off to Montana with his wife on some marriage reunion retreat and leave her there to care for their children? Who the hell did they think she was? . . . The help? Gypsie never saw it coming, but the painful reality stabbed her in the heart like a sharp knife. Yes, I’m the help, Mink is Josiah’s wife, and Gem and Treasure are their children. There’s no place for me in their world.

  Chapter Twenty-two

  “We’re ready to start the staff meeting, but we don’t have the agenda.”

  Jeremiah looked up from his desktop screen. “Get it from Gypsie,” he snapped, slightly annoyed.

  “She’s not here. Rebecca said she’s out sick.”

  “Sick? Are you sure, Connor? Gypsie has never missed a day at work since she was hired. If anything, she’s at this damn place more than she should be.”

  “Well, according to Rebecca, she came in briefly this morning and said she was going to take a few days off because she wasn’t feeling well and needed to go to the doctor. Then she went into the mayor’s office to put something important on his desk. She left the keys to her office and file cabinet with Rebecca before she left.”

  Jeremiah didn’t like the sound of what he’d just heard, but he had to play it cool with Connor because he was such an aggravating drama king. “Have Rebecca send out a memo postponing the staff meeting until tomorrow morning at ten.”

  “What about the parks and recreation situation?”

  “It can wait, damn it! What’s going to happen in twenty-four hours, Connor? The Olympics?”

  “I’ll tell her right away,” he mumbled, backing out of the office.

  Jeremiah picked up the phone and dialed Gypsie’s cell phone number. They spoke so often on a daily basis that he knew the number by heart. He was surprised when the call went directly to voicemail. He hung up and dialed the land line at Josiah’s house. Jeremiah’s gut told him that something was off, but he had no idea what it was. He had slipped the note under Gypsie’s bedroom door telling her that he needed to talk to her. He hoped she’d seen it. If not, Josiah was going to go off! He hung up the phone when he heard his brother’s voice asking him to leave a message after the beep.

  “What’s going on with you, Gypsie?” Jeremiah asked out loud. “This is so unlike you.”

  He left his office and headed straight to Josiah’s corporate suite. He rushed inside, flipped on the light, and spotted an envelope lying on top of a neat pile of papers. As he got closer, he noticed Gypsie’s elegant penmanship covering it. He didn’t hesitate to open the letter. It was what Josiah would want him to do. There were no secrets between them. It had been that way since the womb. Jeremiah read the letter quickly before he doubled back for a slow and thorough read.

  “Ah, shit!”

  * * *

  “I have one more question, Dr. Poindexter. When will my daughters and I be able to visit Mink?”

  “If your wife completes the thirty-day detox program successfully and without incident, she will be rewarded with a family weekend pass.”

  “What’s that?” Mink asked.

  “Your husband and your little girls will be allowed to visit you here on the compound, but you won’t be able to leave. We will assign you one of our very comfortable cabins for lodging and meals. You must report to your normal meetings and appointments at the hospital throughout the day, and you will be tested for drugs each evening. The good thing is that all of your leisure time will be spent in the cabin or somewhere on our beautiful property with your family.”

  Josiah reached over and placed his hand on top of Mink’s and squeezed. She looked at him and gave him a half smile with tears in her eyes. She reminded him of a frightened child, but he refused to fall prey to his emotions. The choice he had made to bring her to the facility had been made in love. Josiah would never do anything to hurt Mink intentionally.

  “Promise me that you’ll come and bring my babies, JoJo.”

  “Today is September the twenty-second. Gem, Treasure, and I will see you on October the twenty-second. That’s two weeks before the election, but I’m willing to make the sacrifice.”

  * * *

  “Whew!” Gypsie dropped the box of shoes in the middle of the living room and ran back to close the front door.

  She was officially back home and unfortunately, unemployed. Her resignation wasn’t official yet, but it would be in exactly two weeks. Hopefully, city hall’s human resources department, under Josiah’s scrutiny, would find someone efficient to replace her. Gypsie was sure that there were thousands of qualified candidates in Metro Atlanta and beyond that would jump at the opportunity to serve the mayor. It was a great job with good benefits. It had given her the experience she needed to shoot for a higher-ranking position in other government offices. Gypsie’s dream was to become the chief of staff or chief advisor to a governor or a member of congress. Hell, she felt confident enough to lead the staff of the president of the United States. But for now, a girl was going to chill, update her résumé, and live off of the vacation time she had accrued while working at city hall. It had been a smart move to maintain perfect attendance on the job for an entire fiscal year.

  * * *

  Josiah slid on the backseat of the limo, happy to be back in the Peach State. His twenty-four-hour turnaround trip to Montana had taken its toll on him. Visions of him taking a hot shower and slipping under the cool, crisp sheets on his bed filled his weary eyes. But first, he needed to kis
s his daughters even though they were sleeping. He just needed to see them, and then his heart would be content.

  After leaving a very tearful Mink at the Serenity Springs Rehabilitation and Mental Health Center, Josiah became emotionally drained. They’d only had a few hours to sleep in their separate rooms at the fancy bread and breakfast inn that the center’s staff had recommended before it was time for them to rise and start their day. An official tour of the city by a local councilman after Mink’s official admission had proven to be a great idea. Montana was beautiful and spacious. Its mountains and wide open ranges under a crystal blue sky made a man feel closer to God. By late afternoon, Josiah’s faith in God had been renewed. Mink would make a full recovery, their marriage would be restored, and his political career would flourish beyond his childhood dreams.

  * * *

  “JoJo, I’ve been calling you forever. Why the hell didn’t you pick up?”

  “J, I’m tired, horny, and depressed. My phone was on silent because I was rolling with the president of White Sulphur Spring’s city council all day. And you know I couldn’t have my phone on in flight. I forgot to turn it on until just now. Is something wrong? What’s up?”

  “What’s up? You no longer have an AA or childcare provider because Gypsie resigned from both jobs. And the parks and recreation director—”

  “Whoooa! Whoooa! Whoooa! I need you to rewind. Who’s looking after Gem and Treasure?”

  “Miss Gladys is there tonight and tomorrow, but Gypsie isn’t coming back, JoJo. I’ll give the girl credit, though. She did make arrangements for your kids before she took off.”

  “What the hell happened, J? I haven’t been gone a full twenty-four hours yet, but I’m returning home to an incomplete staff at the office and on the home front? I thought you were holding me down.”

  “I am on my belly for you, JoJo! But I ain’t responsible for your fuckups, man! You’re in love with your heroin-queen wife, but while she was out bingeing for the fucking trillionth time, you caught feelings for your cute little AA. And, naturally, she’s crushing on you too because she was running your crib and taking care of your daughters like she was Mrs. Bishop. If I were to lock you and Gypsie up in a room and throw away the key, y’all would fuck each other’s brains out like a couple of dogs in heat. I swear!”