WAS IT HIS MONEY OR HER LOOKS? CUPID STILL CALLING...

 Its somewhat said, some ladies' hearts can be changed by the sums of money in places or people, while some men's desire can be changed by the appeal of beauty on a lady, but somewhere in the middle, the whispers of cupid's arrow try to find their direction. I was still trying to find out if it was true, holding my head, on the car door window, seeing my reflection on the side mirror, when we cruised the highway, and looked out seeing the market vendors, at bus stops, put up their solar charged lights, as we got closer to the venue. The crickets chirped in the shin-high grass we drove through, slowly into the open field, under the beaming yellow street lights, on the edges of the pavement. Car doors closed and the warmth of the recently rumbling engine radiated on my jeans through the cold of the air of the night, as I went to sit on the front of the car "What do you think I should do?" I said. Calvin, yawned out, shuffling through the grass, scratching his head "Unnngh, eh bro... Okay, where do you start? Mhh, how long has it been?" Calvin asked. "I'm just from rehab bro..Uhm actually, uhm, okay, I think like three months" I said. "You think seeing them would be cool? Calvin said. "I... Eh.. It's..." I said. I stood in some silence, gazing into the horizon of the brightly lit flats and small residence. "...Please get help, yours truly, your son's mother, Audrey" I remembered the ending of the letter, before I was dragged into rehab from the bar. "I still didn't get a visit" I said. "Oh..wow, still have more to tell? But tell you what Cathy might be there" Calvin asked. "Hah! It's been years, funny she'd keep in touch." I said. "Stop playing! You know she gets you, plus, she's kept her looks over the years bro, seen her around" Calvin said.

"Hey there! I know this might be waaay late and awkward but heard you'd be coming to the dinner tonight? If so text me back soon. Ciao, but hope to see you soon" A text from Cathy popped up on my phone. "Dude! Did you text her? I asked. "Ey, nope! Nope! I'm the driver today, besides, I need to go there and meet my girl, Vanessa, and pick my colleague, Frank. So we going?" Calvin asked. "I'm not walking home from here, so rumble that engine" I said.  The breaks of the car were pressed before the entry gate of the compound, and the chatter of the crowd muffled out the radio in the car. Calvin, pressed the accelerator, holding the steering with one hand, and looked across the horizon of the small hill leading towards the house. "Ahhh bro! Check it ouuut! Cathy is here dude!" Calvin said. Cathy stood in the midst of the crowd with her silky smooth hair, which had a glisten from the house lights. Her smile with dimples still looked the same as when we usually met on our drinking sprees. 

From the side of my eye, I noticed, a lady with a child, as I grabbed my jacket from my car and made my way into the dinner past the guards. "Daddy!" A child called out. My jeans were tugged, and so were the strings on my heart. "Gabriel! Come here you jumpy child" The lady called. The voice sounded familiar. "Audrey?" I asked. "Oh, hi James..uhm nice to see you here, uhm... yeah" Audrey said. "It's been a while crazy but can we..." I said. "Mommy, Daddy! Daddy!" Gabriel called out. "Haha yeah Gabriel, Daddy is here, haha yeah ahem he is here, how did you get here?." Audrey said. "I..." I said. I was interrupted by my phone ringing, and it was Cathy. She waved to me from a distance, behind Audrey. "Somewhere you have to be? Don't worry I do to" Audrey said. Before I could put on my jacket, arms trapped me as I was to cover my body, and only had my sleeves. "Hiiiiii! It's been soo long!!!" Cathy said.

"Unnngh, haha ey still got that athletic strength I see!" I said. "Pfft! You know I have to! It's still my lifestyle! Can't you tell!" She said. Her figure still slender and fit, from the days as she swirled around in joy and showing off. Despite it all, I admired her balance. We drank like it was a competition back in the day but she still was disciplined to keep her greatest skills on the track and field athletics. No wonder she kept looking good through each season of her life. It almost felt like lock and key with her. "Uhh, I'm sure you have a lot to tell, let's go get a table and some food." Cathy suggested. We made our way to the dinning hall. It was some minutes into the being able to interact with Cathy when a man in a clean suit and a some bodyguards surrounding him walked in. He walked towards a reserved table.

I squinted my eye to properly see the change of attention in the dinning hall and I saw Audrey with Gabriel at the table."Heeeey there bud! Surprised? That's Donnell, billionaire mogul, recently came around to make investments in the city" Cathy said. "Huh?! Oh haha wow! Wow! Okay, that's impressive alright!" I said. "You've been so lost. What's been up?" Cathy asked. "Uhm, wow, I don't even know where to start, there's been so much rehab, and you remember, Audrey and I right?" I said. "Ooooh yeaaah, wow, are you okay now?" Cathy asked. "Yeah but I don't know if Audrey and I, plus my son are." I said. "Oh my, why haven't you told me all about this, you know we could always talk?" Cathy asked. Calvin was right,  Cathy does get me. I was a wreck in some way but she never saw me for my flaws, but mostly the human being I was, unlike Audrey who'd hound me for every flaw I was, especially with a child between us and micromanaging me as a father.

The winds blew briskly, making the dead fallen orange and yellow leaves rustle along the pavement, as we made our way past the lights in front the garden bushes of the parking lot. I couldn't stop staring at her curly and glistening hair. "Uhm, is there something on my hair?" She asked. "Ah, uhm no, no, it's just... It looks very pretty" I said. "Aww thank you! I've really been working on it" She said. "Ahh you know, it's the least I could do" I said. We finally reached a wooden bench, covered with some leaves that we swept away. "Ahem, talk to me, seems a lot has been happening" Cathy said. "Well, you know my drinking thing, yeah? So you know, I try to keep my cash coming in, but with Audrey and the child, sometimes, I just get low on cash, things got hard, no therapy and I kept myself in the bar, rehab, you know the rest, well kinda" I said."So right now, youuu're...." She said. "Not exactly trying to get back but it's my child you know?" I said.

Cathy straightened her sitting position a bit more, fixing her lavender sweater and patting her hair, and got a bit closer to listen. "How are you feeling about it though? Are you happy, overwhelmed, stressed, angry? Are you still holding on to things?" She asked. "There's not much room to speak, about stuff as men in society, therapy is expensive and the bottles don't do too much good to me, so I kinda guess... You kinda do get it right?" I said. "In a way, my father also suffered through similar things, so I don't really discredit your humanity. How are you going home?" She asked. "That's rare, and I kind of thank you for always seeing me that way, uhm oh yeah, I'm going with my friend Calvin, let me ring him up to confirm" I said. The phone rang for a while, and just before it cut. "Wooooooooooh! Duuuuuuude! What is going oooon!! Is Cathy with you? Surely hope so, because Donnell and Audrey are getting tons of press and paparazzi, at the dinning hall as the new rich couple in town!" Calvin said. "They what?" I asked.

"Don't believe me, you can show up right now at the dining hall and find out" Calvin said. I cut the phone, as I looked at the screen dim it's light, and place the phone in my jacket pocket. I stayed silent, without speaking for a few minutes and I sighed. "James? James? What is it?" Cathy asked. "Are you going home now?" I asked. "Uhm depends, are you?"Cathy asked. "Let's go, I guess there's a lot more on my chest than realized" I said.