Gloria Sinatra stood at the curb outside of Valstrom’s Clothing boutique as Nikki drove up and parked.  Gloria smiled as Nikki stepped out.

“Whose car?” she asked.  “It’s gorgeous!  I didn’t know Teddy had an Aston-Martin!”

“Hey,” Nikki said as she made her way around the car.

It was only then did Gloria realize the obvious.  “That’s your car?” she asked.

It was still unbelievable to Nikki too.  “It’s mine, yep.  Thanks to your brother.”

“Oh, man!”  Gloria smiled greatly.  “Teddy bought you a car?  A car?  He’s never, and I mean never, bought any of his ladies anything before!  Not even a pair of shoes!  He’s bought me a car before, but that’s because I’m his kid sister.”  She looked at Nikki.  “He must really love you.”

Love?  That was a four-letter word neither Nikki nor Teddy had ever used to each other.  They didn’t play a word like that cheap.  They cared about each other, no question.  And Nikki, if she were to be true to herself, had deeper feelings than that for Teddy that she wasn’t about to share with his kid sister.  But did Teddy have those level of feelings for her?  He went and got her from L.A.  He was allowing her to stay in his home.  He just hired her as his P.A.  He even bought her a car!  His actions seemed to suggest there was more to his feelings beyond merely caring about her.  But he hadn’t let her in on his feelings yet.  And until then, Nikki was going to be super-cautious too.

“He hired me as his assistant,” she said.  “He needs me to look the part.  That’s all that car is about.”

Gloria knew Teddy well enough to know it was more than that, but she played along.  “Which brings you to me,” she said.

“Right,” said Nikki.

“Then leave it to me,” Gloria said, placed Nikki’s arm on her arm, and began escorting her toward the store’s entrance.  “It’ll be so good to have a sister.  Somebody at least reasonably near my age.  And don’t get me wrong.  Teddy and I are best friends too.  But he doesn’t like to go shopping with me or to the club with me or any of the things I like to do.  I tell him all the time: he’s in his thirties, but he acts like a man in his fifties or something.  Ancient, in other words.”

Nikki laughed.  Fifty was hardly ancient.  But she understood Glo’s point.

“Let’s get in this store and transform Nikki Tarver into Teddy’s girl!”

Nikki laughed at that too.  “Let’s transform Nikki Tarver into Nikki Tarver,” she said.  And they entered the store.

 

But it was a colossal waste of time.  Nikki saw it almost immediately.  From one rack to the next, all of the clothes were for women significantly smaller than she was.  And Gloria, being the thin woman that she was, had no clue.

“This is nice,” Gloria said as she took a pretty blouse from the rack and showed it to Nikki.

Nikki, however, did what Gloria rarely had to do: she checked the size.  “Too small,” she said.

“Oh.  Okay!  We’ll keep looking.”

“They’re all too small actually,” Nikki said, who had already looked.

Gloria was surprised to hear it.  “What do you mean?” she asked.  “You aren’t fat.”

“But I have curves, Glo.  And ass.  And big-ass breasts.  They have to go inside those clothes too.  All of this,” Nikki said, waving her open hand along the length of her body, “won’t fit into any of those.”

Gloria looked as if she had failed some test.  Nikki was ready to assure her it wasn’t like that.  Why were these Sinatras, she wondered, so intense about getting somebody’s approval?  Was it a daddy thing?

But before she could reassure Gloria, a few salesladies came over, and offered to help.

 

She made it back to Teddy’s house just after seven that night.  She didn’t see the Corvette in the driveway, but it could have been in the garage.  But when she got inside the house, and still didn’t see him, she became a little concerned.  He said he had a meeting earlier.  But that was hours and hours ago.  Why hadn’t he phoned, she wondered?

But Nikki was resourceful if she was anything.  She wasn’t about to sit around upset because he hadn’t phoned her.  She cooked dinner, a pot of spaghetti, just in case he hadn’t eaten when he arrived home.  And then, after cooking, she got in the tub and took herself a long, hot bath.  While she was relaxing in the tub, her cell phone rang.

She looked at the Caller ID.  When she saw it was Jan, one of her neighbors who lived in her apartment complex in L.A., her heart began to hammer.  And she answered quickly.  “Jan, hey,” she said as if she didn’t have a care in this world.  “How are you, girl?”

“I’m good.  How are you, is the question?”

“I’m fantastic!  Just chilling in the tub right now.”  She wanted to ask what was going on, but she decided against it.  Go where the conversation took her, was how she was going to play it.

“How’s Mr. Boyfriend?” Jan asked.

“He’s good.  Thanks for asking.  How’s everybody in L.A.?”

“Everybody’s fine, girl.  Except for Louie.”

Be careful, Nikki said to herself.  She had to talk as if he was still alive and kicking.  “Is Louie ever alright?” she asked.  “We can be two minutes late with that rent, and he’s on our trail.”

Then both of them said in unison: “Like a hound dog!”  And they both laughed.  It was an inside joke the residents often told.

But Jan’s laughter quickly faded.  “But not anymore,” she said.

Here we go, Nikki thought.  “What do you mean not anymore?  You mean to tell me the owners fired him?”

“They didn’t fire him, Nikki.  He’s dead.”

Even though Nikki already knew the man’s fate, it still sounded surprising.  “Dead?” she asked.  “Louie’s dead?  What happened?  Did the man have a heart attack?  Did he eat too many pork chops?”

“I wish,” Jan said.  “Somebody killed him, girl!”

Nikki knew she had to be shocked. They always got those crooks on The First 48 because they weren’t shocked enough, or they didn’t ask the right questions.  “What?” she asked.  “He was murdered?  When?  How?”

“Somebody shot his fat butt,” Jan said, “and they shot him in his own apartment.  Right here in our complex!  The cops said it was like an execution.”

“Wow.”

“But you know he loved to gamble.”

Gamble?  Nikki didn’t know.  “I didn’t know Louie was a gambler.”

“Oh, yeah.  Owed a lot of debts to a lot of people too.  A lot of shady people.  The cops believe some of those people might have took him out.”

That was convenient, Nikki thought.  “Looks like somebody would have heard something,” she decided to ask.  Just to see if Jan knew something more.

“Somebody said they thought they heard a gunshot or something, but they weren’t sure.  The cops had the nerve to say they should have reported it.  We told those cops if we reported every time we heard a gunshot around here, all we’d do was call the cops.”

“I’m sayin’,” Nikki said.

“Anyway, girl, I was just checking on you.  Making sure you were okay with that dude.  When will you be back?”

“I don’t know,” Nikki said.  “I actually got myself a job offer.”

“Already?  Dang!  That’s great, Nick!  What kind of job?”

“Personal assistant.”

“Whoa.  That sounds like a real job.  A career kind of job.”

“Yeah, it is.”

“You’re gonna take it?”

Nikki decided to keep it uncertain.  “I don’t know yet,” she said.

“Sounds like a good thing.  I’m happy for you, girl.  At least one of us can make it out of here.  But keep me posted.”

“I will, Jan.  And thanks for calling and checking on me.”

“No problem.  What else I got to do?”  She laughed.  “Talk to you later.”

And they ended the conversation.  Nikki exhaled.  Teddy’s plan was working like a charm!

 

When she got out of the tub, she put on a pair of shorts and a jersey from her own clothes collection.

As she made herself a glass of wine, and sat on the sofa, she took stock in her collection.  No joke: she had to get more upscale clothes.  Especially if she expected to be Teddy’s assistant.  It hurt a little, what happened at that boutique.  Although the salespeople were nice, and Gloria was super-nice, she felt like some woman straight out of My 600-Pound Life in that store!  Women like her, those with hips and ass and big breasts, need not go anywhere near a store like that!  It reminded her of L.A., when men would run over her to get to the thin one.  Nikki wasn’t thin.  She was healthy and she liked her curves.  But still!

Then she dismissed all of that, said fuck it, and phoned Teddy.  Her call went to his Voice Mail.  She didn’t leave a message.

 

She had fallen asleep by the time Teddy made it home.  She was in bed, lying on her back, when he entered the home and made his way upstairs.  Nikki grabbed her cell phone off of the nightstand and looked at the time.  Seven minutes after three.  It was seven after three a.m. 

He entered the bedroom with his hands in the pockets of his pants.  He didn’t walk in, the way he usually did, but lumbered in as if he was in some contemplative state.

He stood at the edge of the bed and stared at her.  Nikki felt as if she was on display not unlike she felt in that boutique, and she wanted to find a place to hide.  Or at least to run.  But then Teddy spoke.

“Hey,” he said.

“Hey.”

She expected him to ask if she was okay, she would have said no, and then an explanation would have been forthcoming.  But no such conversation took place.  Instead, Teddy sat on his side of the bed and began removing his shoes.  Nikki didn’t just lay there, she sprang into action.  She knew what he liked: Teddy was a tub man.  So, she walked into the bathroom and filled the tub with water.

Teddy, who was now naked, seemed surprised by the gesture, but didn’t say so.  “Thanks,” he said instead, and headed for the bathroom.

“Have you eaten?” Nikki called after him.

“No,” he said.

“I cooked some spaghetti earlier.  Do you want me to fix you a plate?”

Teddy was actually starved, and still too amped up to feel the least big sleepy.  “That would be great, thanks,” he said.  And got into the tub.

Nikki made her way downstairs.  She felt a little angry, a little relieved, and a little confused.  Why was she torturing herself like this?  He said himself that the coast was clear in L.A., and that he had it on good authority that the cops didn’t suspect her at all.  Her conversation with Jan proved that too.  Why didn’t she just go back home and try to pick up the pieces of her life in L.A.?

Her main reason, she knew, was because Teddy wasn’t in L.A., he was in Philly.  And she had already, physically and even more emotionally, hitched her wagon to him.

By the time he made it downstairs, the spaghetti for both of them was heated and on the dining room table.  Nikki’s plate was small, but she gave Teddy a robust portion. And when he arrived downstairs, in jeans and a pullover shirt, he sat at that table and ate vigorously.  But he didn’t say a word to her.

“How was your day?” Nikki decided to ask him.

“It was okay,” said Teddy.  “How was yours?”

“Okay.”

“You hooked up with Gloria?”

“Yeah.  We . . . hooked up.  I was surprised you called and told her to take me shopping.”

“She didn’t mind.  She likes that shit.”

“But, I mean, you didn’t mention it to me.”

Teddy glanced at her when she said that, but he didn’t respond to it.

But Nikki had never been timid.  She decided to speak what was on her mind.  “Where were you?” she asked him.

Teddy continued eating.  “Out,” he said.

“Out where?” Nikki asked.

Teddy looked at her.  “What difference does it make?”

“It’s three in the morning.  You didn’t call to let me know anything.  I think it makes a difference if you were out working, or out fucking.”

“Sometimes I have to be to myself, alright?  Is that a good enough answer for you?”

Nikki could detect the bass in his voice.  She attempted to ignore it.  “It’s not about a good answer,” she said.  “It’s about mutual respect.  If you’re going to be later than you said you were, then call me.  That’s all I’m asking.  You can’t pick up a phone and tell me you prefer to be by yourself tonight?”

“What do you want from me?” Teddy asked.  “Everywhere I turn, some fucker wants something from me!”

Nikki frowned.  “What?  What are you talking about?”

“This shit is new to me, too, you know.  I’m not used to this any more than you are!  And you’re complaining?  What the fuck you got to complain about?  I brought you here.  I let you stay in my house.  I bought you a car.  Is that what you’re complaining about?”

Now Nikki was hot too.  “I’m not complaining about shit,” she said.  “I’m just telling you a fact.  You could have phoned and told me you were going to be late.  And yes, you helped me out.  I’ll be forever grateful for how you helped me out.  But that doesn’t mean I’m going to take your shit, Teddy.  Forget that shit!  That doesn’t mean that at all!”

“So, what do you want from me?  You want to leave?  You want to go back to Los Angeles?  Then take your ass back!”  Teddy jumped up from his chair, and he was angrily pointing at Nikki.  “I’m telling you I’m getting tired of this shit.  I’m getting tired of all of this shit!”

And then he threw his napkin onto the table, grabbed the cell phone that sat beside his plate, and walked out of the house.  When he slammed the door behind him, Nikki jumped.  Within seconds she heard the high rev of his car’s motor, and then she heard him speed away.

Nikki was, at first, in a kind of shock.  Where did that come from?  Just because she asked a question he would treat her like that?

She got up and threw her napkin on the table too.  But unlike Teddy, tears were in her eyes as she left the table.

She couldn’t get up those stairs fast enough.