“I still kind of love him. And when he’s not drunk, he’s nice and he promises to do better. He’ll stop drinking for a day or two. Maybe even a week. Most of the time I think it’s ’cause he’s broke. One time last year, he stopped drinking for a month. I was shocked. Started looking in the paper on Sunday and whatnot. But he never would see anything he felt like going for. It had to be the right opportunity, he’d say, and it’s not to be taken lightly.”
“So what happened to your eye?”
“Oh yeah, well, after a while I stopped fussing and went to bed, he gets in bed and starts rubbing on me. I say stop, ’cause I really don’t feel like being bothered with his drunk ass. But he keeps on, trying to force himself on me. So I get out of bed; I was going to sleep in the other room.”
“That’s when he hit you.”
“He didn’t hit me,” she said, but I could tell by the look in hers eyes that she w
as lying. “He gets out of bed and starts following me, but he’s so drunk that he tripped and he pulled me into the door.”
“That’s what happened?” I looked at her in a way that showed my disbelief. “You ran into a door? That’s it?”
“That my story and I’m sticking to it.”
The waitress brought us our food and we ate in silence for a few minutes. I thought about pushing the issue, but I knew CJ wasn’t going to back off her story. I never knew what CJ saw in Manny. She could do much better than that.
Me for instance.
I wanted to scream at the top of my lungs that she should leave him. I never really liked Manny, even before he and CJ started dating. It wasn’t my fault that Manny was loud, country, and drank too much. Or that he was lazy and was probably beating her. That wouldn’t be interfering, I thought. I would just be pointing out what she should already know. But I promised myself that I would never be the cause of their marriage breaking up.
CJ, on the other hand, was perfectly content to let it die right there. I figured she’d appreciate me not pushing it, so I let it go. The truth was that I knew that Manny hit her and it wasn’t the first time. CJ still felt something for Manny and she wanted to help him to get through this. She thought she should be there for him. Be supportive of him, not run out on him because he was going through a bad time. But Manny isn’t even trying to do better. Be supportive, not support him, and that’s what was happening.
“Hey, you.” CJ looked at me and smiled. “Thanks for not pushing it.”
“Yeah, right,” I spit out, but quickly changed my attitude. “You’ll tell me when you’re ready and I’ll be here to listen. That’s what friends are for, right?”
“Right.” CJ smiled. “But there is something I do wanna talk to you about.”
“What’s that?”
“You were gonna to pay me five thousand dollars for training, and another five to be retainer for a year.”
“That’s what you agreed on.”
“Well, I have a counter offer. I have been thinking about this for a long time. Even before this came up. I don’t wanna be on retainer. I’ve got five thousand dollars I saved. I was gonna let you invest it for me, but I changed my mind. I wanna take that money plus the five thousand you’re paying me for training. With that fifteen, I wanna buy into your business. For us to be partners. I have a lot of skills to offer and you know we can work together.” CJ looked at me, waiting for me to say something. “Well, say something. What do you think?”
“You talking about quitting your job?”
“No. Not for at least another year. There’s a lot of training available for me. I’ve been going over the brochures and there are classes I want to take that are being offered through next July. I figure I’ll be ready financially by then. By then, we should be generating enough business to carry me.”
“What does Manny think about this?”
“I haven’t told him about it yet.”
“Don’t you think you should? I mean, this is a big step you’re talking about. Quitting your job and investing y’all’s savings. Not to mention working with me.”
“Let me explain something to you. This is my money. Manny hasn’t saved a nickel since we got married. He doesn’t know I got it and has no say in what I do with it. I’m not going to let him get in the way of an excellent opportunity. And this is such a good opportunity for me, for us, to build a strong business. We have so much talent between the two of us. With the influx of capital, you can expand what you have. And with the two of us seeking new business, we can do this. And if he don’t like it, he can get the fuck on.”
“CJ, your language,” I said, shaking my finger. I couldn’t believe I heard her say it. From the look on her face, she probably couldn’t believe it either.
“I’m serious, Chris. I wanna be with you. I mean, I wanna be your partner.”
“I know what you meant, CJ.” But it felt good to hear it anyway. “Give me some time to think about it.” I took another bite of my food, finished my drink and motioned for our waitress. “You want another drink?”
“No.”
I could tell she was disappointed that I didn’t seem to share her enthusiasm for our partnership. Actually, I was jumping for joy inside, but I couldn’t let her know that.