Chapter 4

He said flatly. Ruth knew then that he never felt anything for her. He had used her and never valued her. She hated her life and how she had always been the one used and dumped and as she threw the resignation letter in his face and ran to her car, crying, she swore to remain single. There was not going to be Marriage for her as long as she was concerned and she was definitely not letting herself fall in love with any man. Not ever again. Her vision was blurred by the tears that clung to them and she had to pull over and cry her heart full. Alicia caller her layer that day and tried to cheer her up all to no avail.

Now as she pulled into the waffle house that she as supposed to meet Alicia, she told herself that she would be fine. She had applied for a few jobs out of the country and she hoped to get one of the jobs soon.

Alicia was fidgety. She sat tapping nervously on the table and Ruth could not but notice the look of relief that spread across her face as she reached her.

"Hey, Ruth..I wanted to meet you here now because I have a shift to work at Ford's in the next one hour "

Alicia said. Ruth nodded and pulled a chair for herself. She looked a mess. The lines and the shadows under her eyes caused by insomnia was one she could not conceal, no matter the amount of cosmetic on her face. Good for her it was almost totally dark.

" Okay.. why are you so fidgety?"

Ruth asked. She could not pretend not to have seen that her friend was restless.

" I didn't want to talk about this over the phone and so I decided to meet you here. I will be evicted from my apartment in the next five days because I have not been able to raise my rent and, I spoke with my boss, Ford but he told me he is teetering on the brinks of bankruptcy and doesn't have anything to spare at the moment. He wants to get a loan himself. I want the rent from you and I will pay back as soon as I can get the money. "

She explained. Ruth looked ready to burst into tears. Her lips trembled.

" What is wrong, Ruth? Are you okay?"

Alicia asked. Alicia thought perhaps, Ruth was still drunk with grief from having been heartbroken by her boss, Mark.

" I do not have money to give you. I have spent my savings and i am now looking for a good job, Alicia. You can move in with me until you can raise money for another apartment".

She offered. The mist had begun to form in her eyes and she swiped at her eyes every now and then.

" Don't worry, I'll figure out a way out of this. I can not come and put up with you, Alicia. I have my siblings with me".

" I know. We could all manage for some time and then we figure out a way to get you another apartment".

" Getting an apartment in these parts of New York is about the hardest thing and for that reason, I don't want to be evicted from my apartment. I'll figure out a way. Thanks for your concern".

Alicia said. She stood up.

" I have to be at Ford's in the next few minutes. See you some other time".

Ruth nodded. Ever since Alicia started working at Ford's, she stopped using her truck. Tony used the truck more often for fruitless adventures and she had not thought to get her keys from him only to give him when it was necessary until she saw Ruth walk to her truck. Their directions where different and so she took a taxi and left. Soon, she was at Ford's.

MARCONI SERGEYEVICH and ANTONIA FLEMMING

Mac was getting weary of having to fly into America every few weeks to see Antonia Flemming. Only few days back, he had been in france to see to his business and now, he was in America to see the spoilt brat whom he had been match made with. Few things about his parents annoyed him and their constant desire to pick what they thought was best for him was one of those things. He had drummed it into their ears countless times and had even sat them down to explain to them that he was a grown man that will do whatever he pleased but all he ever did to make them stop bothering him was to no avail.

Mac had been born into a rich home. His father was an international olive oil exporter based in greece even though he was an Italian. They had had the best schooling, his sister, Olives and him and they had had the best tours around the world until she had been married off to some Noble English man about three years ago. He on the other hand had done exceedingly well with the family business and they now made thrice what they made from exporting and planting olive oil.. his father had retired the previous year, leaving him to run the business all alone and he was doing good and making the man proud until he had been match made with one of his father's allie's daughter. The lady, Antonia had been uninterested as he had been and she had ceased every opportunity she had to tell him that she would not marry him for any reason in the world. He too, he liked nothing about her_ or so he thought_ . Not her artificial lashes nor her artificial, yet extremely long finger nails and definitely not her brazenness and open flirtations with all the beautiful men she met.

She was the spoilt arrogant brat that he would never have anything to do with..she was mean and .... witty. How he hated her wit.

The first time he had been forced by his parents to attend a party with her, he had had to deal with her abusive intake of alcohol and her glee for a smoke. She smoked and blew the puffs in his face and he hated her for it. He had told his parents angrily that he was never meeting Antonia Flemming for any reason whatsoever and his mother had cried him a bucketful of tears for reasons he did not know.

Now he was sitting opposite her in a fancy restaurant, as was the ritual whenever they met. They ate and drank and hardly spoke to each other. The most important reason was that they met. He was supposed to be courting her. Soon, they would get married..he knew he could back out at anytime and still not lose anything but for some reason, he wanted to see how it would turn out with Antonia. Maybe it was curiousity. By he wanted to stay and please his parents. Yes. That was what he was doing. He was pleasing his parents even though he knew their displeasure would cost him nothing.

He did not realize he had been staring at her for too long until she lifted her head from the phone which was her good companion and looked at him

"You are staring at me!"

She said through gritted teeth. He shook his head..

"There is nothing about you to stare, miss, I had my mind elsewhere and was totally ignorant of my eyes resting on you on its own volition".

He said. She opened her mouth to speak but soon decided against it. She forced a tight smile. He had said the words to spite her and lawd, did he spite her!

"Do well to keep your itinerant eyes from me. You can mess with your phone if you are as bored as I am".

She said. He sighed.

Reynolds was sure Jenna would be happy to meet his father. Sincerely, he had promised himself that the next time his father ever made mention of his sexual life _ which was not suffering_ and marriage, that he would Introduce Jenna to him. It sounded too good even to him then when he had introduced her only few days after he was in town. She had flown in from france and had made a show of demanding certain French dishes at dinner which unfortunately, Imelda had not made available. When she had eventually met his father, she had been all fussy and excited to be meeting the man and Reynolds had agreed within him that he would ask her hand that same night. He needed not be on his knees. He would ask her and she would agree.

The thought had propelled him to knock on her door that night while she had just stepped out of the tub. She had opened the door to him, still on her towel. He was torn between asking her outright to marry him and having her body moulded firmly against him while he smelled her hair. He did the latter. She looked up at him and giggled lovingly.

"What now?".

She asked him playfully.

He ignored the question and toom her lips in his own. For a while, they both stood in the middle of the vast room, the night lights streaming into it, the freshly cut flowers that had been left earlier in the vase still smelled good. The fragrance hung deeply in the air and he knew he would not find the energy to leave the room is Without taking her. No sooner had he reached one hand to loosen her towel did her hand shoot out to hold his.

He lifted his head and looked down at her. Of course he was way taller than she was. He was taller than most ladies he had met and in a room of fifty people, he could easily be spotted as the tallest in the room.