The Chase



Nick paced back and forth, confused, angry, upset, and frankly unsure of how he was going to make things up to Rianna. It was already bad enough that he had neglected her. He had been paying less and less attention to her everyday. Then she saw him having sex with Ginger with her own eyes.

He had promised never to hurt her so many times. But he had broken his marriage vows. He still couldn’t believe what he had done. Rianna is his wife. His wife! His partner in everything for the rest of his days. He loved her, he really did. So why? Why did he have to stoop so low as to cheat on her.

“What the fuck is wrong with me?” He asked himself. Over and over again. Still, he couldn’t find the answer. What he did was inexcusable. And Rianna had every right to walk out on him.

Ginger saw that the sliding back door was open. So she climbed the stairs to the deck and went in. Nick heard the door slide and looked up quickly. Hoping to see his wife, but knowing she would never come back so soon. It was only Ginger. And even though he knew it wasn’t her fault that he cheated, he wished she never moved next door.

“I really don’t wanna see you right now.” Nick mumbled, putting his head back in his hands. He kept his eyes glued to the floor. He literally didn’t want to look at her. Not from fear of wanting her sexually again. But just because the sight of her disgusted him now.

“Here. I brought you a little something to drink.” Nick looked up slightly, just far enough to see what was in her hands. Why on earth would she bring him liquor? So she could get him drunk and sleep with him again? What was this woman’s deal? He smacked the bottle out of her hands and it flew across the room, the glass shattering on the hardwood floor.

“Nick, you have to get a hold of yourself. You can’t let this get you down.” She reasoned, placing her tainted hand on his back and rubbing his bare skin.

“Are you crazy? How can I not let this get me down? My wife just left me! She’s the only person in this entire world who I could trust with my life. She was the only woman who truly loved me, no questions asked. I’ve come home from clubs late at night, drunk as shit! Throwing up everywhere! Do you know what she did? She held me, cleaned me up, made me look and feel as good as new by the next day. There were times I just wanted to quit the business. Give it all up. But she helped me through it. Kept me grounded. You know, Rianna would give her life to save mine. I know that. And still, I fucked things up with her. And with you! And you expect me not to be down? Hell, you’re lucky I don’t just shoot myself!” Tears welded up in the corners of his eyes. He pushed his hair back with both hands and started pacing again.

“Personally, I think she overreacted. It’s not like this has been an on-going thing. All we did was fuck. Those people are always taking things too seriously.” Ginger crossed her legs and sat back on the sofa, allowing herself to get comfortable. Nick stopped pacing and looked at her with eyes filled with hate. They’d have turned red if it were physically possible. There was nothing he hated more than someone who was racist. Especially against Rianna who had gone through so much shit about her race already.

“Those people?” He said calmly, wanting to make sure he heard her right before he exploded.

“Yeah. You know her kind.” She raised her hands and started snapping her fingers in what she considered a Spanish fashion. “Viva la Mexico. Olé, olé.” She found her little joke pretty funny and started giggling casually.

“I’ll tell you what Rianna is. She is 50% African American and 50% Puerto Rican. And do you know what that makes her? 100% beautiful. 100% kind. And 100% more of a woman than you will every be, you prejudice bitch! Get the hell out of my house!” Ginger uncrossed her legs and got up from the sofa. She looked Nick dead in the eye before turning away and said...

“You two deserve each other.”

Meanwhile, Rianna had parked in AJ and Marcy’s driveway. That was the only place she could think to go. She didn’t want to stay in a hotel because she knew she would feel much better with people who love her and could give her some advice.

AJ heard the doorbell ring so he turned the television off and went to answer it. Upon opened the door, he saw his sister-in-law holding his sleeping niece. She was crying and said nothing. He invited her in without haste and closed the door behind them.

“What’s going on?” He asked in a whisper, not wanting to wake Marcy who was sick and resting.

“I want to put her down before I tell you, AJ.” He took Selena from her arms and carried her up the stairs to Angelina’s room. Angelina had a bunk bed that was already made for visits from her cousin. So there was no problem in getting Selena to bed comfortably.

When he came back down the stairs, Rianna was standing by the sink drinking a large glass of water. He saw a bottle of Tylenol in her other hand and figured she must have had a serious headache or something.

“Now will you tell me why you drove all the way here this late at night, crying no less?” AJ crossed his arms over his chest and waited for Rianna to finish her water. When she did, she wiped her mouth and looked away. Feeling the tears building. AJ watched as she broke down again and gave her a hug.

“He cheated on me. I saw him, AJ. He... he cheated on me.” She turned away and banged her fist on the counter top.

“Nick cheated on you? Rianna, are you sure? Nick would never do that. He loves you so much...”

“No! He did! He doesn’t love me anymore! He hasn’t even talked to me in weeks! He stopped sleeping in our bed. He stopped holding me! He stopped everything. And just when I was beginning to think that maybe he just needed some time to himself because of the stress from work, I find him in bed with that whore! He won’t even look me in the eye, but he can sleep with her! No AJ, Nick does not love me anymore.” AJ held her again, comforting her. She just cried on his shoulder and he listened patiently as she released all of her anger.

“I just need to stay here for tonight. Tomorrow I’m taking Selena and going away. I don’t know where yet, but I need to get away. I know he’ll just track me down and try to talk his way out of this. And I can’t deal with that right now.” She covered her mouth and started to cry again.

“We have plenty of room, you know that. You can stay here as long as you need to. I’m just worried about how Marcy’s gonna take this. She’s still coming out of the flu. This’ll make her lose it.” They both went up the stairs and AJ walked her to her room. Mostly to make sure she was alright. Then he checked on the girls and went to bed.

The very next morning, after informing Marcy on all that happened, Rianna prepared to fly to New York. She had a good friend who lived there and would help set her up with a temporary place to stay. Even though she had more than enough friends to stay with in Florida, she wanted to get as far from Nick as she could.

By the time Nick got to AJ’s house, she was gone. He used his key to AJ’s home to open the front door and let himself in. He looked around and saw no one.

“Rianna! Rianna, are you here?” He called out. But there was no answer. He was just about to go up the stairs when Marcy showed up at the top. Her nose was bright red and her eyes were puffy.

“She’s not here. AJ took her and Selena to the airport.” She said in a very nasal and congested voice.

“Airport? Where did she go?” He asked.

“Away from you. She doesn’t want you going after her either, so don’t think I’m gonna tell you.” Marcy’s face suddenly scrunched up. She sneezed loudly, then wiped her nose with a tissue from the box of Kleenex she carried with her at all times.

“Forget it, I’ll find out myself.” He rushed out of the house and back to his truck. He had to get to the airport as quickly as possible if he was gonna try and stop Rianna from leaving him. He didn’t care that she her plane had probably already taken off. He would feel terrible if he didn’t at least go and see.

By the time Nick got to the airport, he went from terminal to terminal, checking for Rianna and Selena. When he couldn’t find them by looking, he asked a desk clerk if he could track her down.

“I need you to page someone for me, it’s important. Her name’s Rianna Carter.” He said to her, out of breath.

“Alright, sir.” She pressed a button on the microphone on the desk in front of her. Then she spoke into it. “Rianna Carter, please come to the customer service desk. Rianna Carter, please come to the customer service desk.” She removed her finger from the button and smiled at Nick. He waited until she turned away to grab the microphone.

“Rianna... it’s Nick... if you can hear this baby, please don’t leave.” She snatched the microphone from him and put it back. A security guard was just about to take him away but AJ showed up.

“Whoa, hey, he’s cool. He’s just distressed and obviously not thinking straight. But I have him now.” AJ reasoned. The guard let Nick go and AJ pulled him away from the desk and into a more secluded corner.

“Are you insane, man?” He asked, but Nick didn’t answer, still looking over the crowd for his wife.

“Where is she? I have to talk to her.” He asked AJ. AJ just rolled his eyes and sighed.

“Dude... she’s gone. Where did you expect her to be? She was boarding the plane when you paged her. And if you’re smart, you’ll let her go.” Nick stopped looking over AJ and looked directly at him.

“If I’m smart, I’ll let her go?”

“Yeah. She needs some time away from you. She told me everything, and if I were her, I wouldn’t want to see you right now either. But believe me, she still loves you and she’ll want to work things out once she cools down. So back off, give the girl some time.” AJ had his hand on Nick’s shoulder. Nick pushed it off and walked away. He went to another desk and waited in line.

Once he got in front, he asked, “Can you possibly tell me where the last plane that took off was going?” The man looked at him strangely, but did what he was told.

“Ok, there was an eight o’clock flight to Chicago. There was an eight o’clock flight to New York. There was an 8:05 flight to Puerto Rico. And lastly, an 8:05 flight to Cancun, Mexico. It’s 8:20 right now. So...” Nick smacked his hand against the counter.

“Dammit!” He shouted, then he rushed off. He knew that Rianna had family in Puerto Rico. But she also had friends in New York and Chicago. He started to go tot he pay phone and call her parents. They would know if she were on her way there. But he also knew that if she didn’t want to talk to him, they wouldn’t tell him she was there. He went with his first impulse and bought a ticket to Puerto Rico.

It took almost 7 hours until his plane took off. And once he arrived in Puerto Rico, he rented a car and made his way to Rianna’s parents’ house from memory. It took him almost an house to do this.

It was around 10:00 at night when he found their house. He got out and ran up to the front door, ringing the bell. Marie answered the door, half asleep, in her night gown and robe.

“Nick? Is that you? What are you doing here?” She yawned and opened the door wider so that he could come in. But he stayed outside.

“Is she here? Is Rianna here?” He asked, hastily.

“No. She called us this morning and said something about going to New York for a while. She never did tell us why. Do you know why?” Marie obviously wasn’t informed of what happened. And Nick definitely didn’t want to go into detail.

“Let’s just say I was an ass, and now I have to find her and make it up to her.” He gave his mother-in-law a kiss on the cheek, then he ran back to his car. He wasn’t sure how he was going to find her in New York without going back home first and checking her address book.

He returned to the airport. There weren’t many people there and he was able to buy another ticket home as soon as he got to the counter. The plane back to the US wouldn’t take off for another 12 hours. So he had to check into a nearby hotel. He didn’t want to go back to Marie and Vincent’s house. They would be sure to pressure him about why he flew all the way to Puerto Rico in search of his wife, and why she left him in the first place. So checking into the hotel was the smartest thing to do.

It was well into the night of the next day before Nick returned home. He checked his messages and there was no word from Rianna. Then he went straight to their bedroom and into her night stand drawer. Inside was her address and phone number book. He flipped through the pages looking for the names of every friend she had in New York. He came up with three.

“Sarah Bosley, Denise Jordan, and Aimee Malinowsky.” All three lived in New York City. All in the same area code as well. He figured this trip wouldn’t be a bad as the others. Even though Nick was tired and needed rest, he packed more clothes and called the airport to book himself a seat on the next flight to New York.

He knew that his luck had ended when he was told the next flight to New York was cancelled due to the snow storms up north. There were blizzards in Maryland, New Jersey, New York, and every other state in that area. He would have to wait until further notice to catch a flight. Still, he had to get to New York.

He decided to just spend the night at home and sleep. Sleep as much as he could. For come the next day, he was going to drive all the way to New York City. He had no earthly idea how he was going to pull it off, but he knew he had to do something to get Rianna back home.

In New York, Rianna was sitting with her friend drinking coffee and discussing her current problem.

“I really don’t know what I’m gonna do. I love Nick, but he really hurt me. He had been ignoring me for weeks. I tried so hard to put the love back into our marriage. But he never gave me a second look. Only five years into a marriage and we’re already falling apart. I know him, and he’s probably looking for me right now.” She said, sighing then drinking more of her coffee.

“And what will you do if he finds you? Will you go back?” Aimee asked. Rianna shrugged and then looked over at her daughter who was sleeping on the sofa, her book still in her hand.

“I don’t know, maybe I should. Even though I can’t bare to look at him right now, Selena needs him. She really loves her father and I don’t want to keep her from him for too long. The only reason I brought her is because I knew how Nick would react to my leaving, and I didn’t want her seeing her father break down.” She got up to carry Selena to bed, and when she returned, Aimee was cleaning up the kitchen.

It had been almost a week since she left Nick. She was almost beginning to miss him. She was tempted to pick up the phone and call him. Just because she was worried about how he was holding up. She decided against calling, and her decision was a good one. Because he wouldn’t have answered. Nick was but a few blocks away at Sarah’s house looking for Rianna.

“Hi, I’m Nick, Rianna’s husband. I was wondering if you’ve seen her. It’s really important that I find her.” He had sadness in his eyes and Sarah couldn’t resist telling him. Even though Rianna had advised her not to, knowing Nick would come looking.

“I know who you are. I was at the wedding, remember? Anyway, she’s not here. But I do know where she is. I shouldn’t tell you because she doesn’t want to see you. But I think it would be better for you both to talk. So I will tell you. She’s staying at Aimee’s place. Just a few blocks from here. You obviously have the address, so go on, get your wife.” Nick had never felt so much thankfulness in his life. He gave Sarah a huge hug and left. He looked at the address and started running down the street. Turning a corner and running even faster, occasionally slipping on the ice on the sidewalk. He stopped abruptly in front of Aimee’s apartment building and ran up the stairs, skipping 2, 3, and 4 steps at a time.

Rianna heard a knock on the door and she went to open it. She never expected to find Nick on the other side. His nose and ears were red from the cold whether outside. And when he saw Rianna’s warm face, he didn’t know whether to smile, cry, or just hold her. He did all three. Then he fell to his knees.

“Baby, I am sorry! I am so sorry! Please believe me! I never, ever wanted to hurt you. And I’ve taken for granted what a gift you are to me. It’s been hell without you. I can’t think of anything or anyone else but you. Rianna, please say you’ll come home! I’ll make this up to you, I swear, baby!” She got tears in her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest.

“Nick, get up. Come in and get warm.” She held the door open for him. Nick got up on his feet and came in. Aimee, who was still in the kitchen, waved and went back to her dishwashing. Rianna took Nick’s almost frozen hands and led him to the bedroom she was staying in.

“We really do need to talk about this, Nick. Because I am seriously upset with you. And this resentment isn’t going to just disappear because you say that you’re sorry.” He held his head low.

“I know. I don’t know why I did what I did. She meant nothing to me then, and means nothing to me now. And...”

“That’s just it! She meant nothing to you. Yet you showed her more affection than you did to me. And I’m your wife!” He took her hand and held it up against his heart.

“Rianna, I can’t explain why I slept with her. Because I honestly don’t understand why I would do something so stupid. But baby, my heart belongs to you and only you. My body is yours. My soul is yours. And I swear to you I will never make you share me with someone else again.” She took her hand away and got up from the bed. She stood at the window and looked out at the snow falling.

“You made these same promises before. And here we are. Nick, you fail to understand how much you hurt me! It would be different if I had done something horrible to you to force you into her arms. But I didn’t do anything but love you.” She began to cry. “All I did was love you. And this... this was the thanks I got. I can’t just forget it happened and run back to you. It doesn’t work that way.”

“But what about me, huh? You made vows too. And you vowed to stay by me, no matter what, til death. But you left without even thinking twice. How is that supposed to make me feel? I’m trying to make things right, Rianna. I want our marriage to work and last forever.”

“YOU BROKE MY HEART!” She screamed, to the top of her lungs. In the kitchen, Aimee dropped a plate. Selena woke up, scared, never having heard her mother scream out in such pain.

“You broke my heart.” She said again, calmer. “And that is something you promised me that you’d never do. I gave you my heart, Nick. I gave you all of myself. And I trusted you with it. But you through it all away. You betrayed me. You betrayed our marriage, and our family. You broke my heart, Nick. And it doesn’t glue back together because you’re sorry and you want to make things right. It just doesn’t. You knew my past. You knew how hard it was for me to trust a man, let alone love a man. And....” She stopped in the middle of her sentence to cry. “And you cheated on me. And I’m sorry, but I can never look at you the same way again. I can never love you the same way again. What we had, it’s all gone now. It’s gone! It’s over, Nick. We are over.” She threw up her hands, and it was finished. The conversation was finished. There was nothing more to say.

Nick got up from the bed slowly. He left the room closing the door behind him. As he stood in the long hallway, he could see his daughter in the doorway of another room. He knelt down to her level and stroked her long hair.

“Hey baby.” He said softly to her. She saw the tears in his eyes and gave him her teddy bear.

“Take Friendly. He’s a happy bear. He makes you feel better when you’re sad.” Nick held the bear and kissed Selena on the cheek.

“Thanks, sweetie. Daddy could use a happiness right now.” He picked her up and held her.

“I’m gonna go back home. But you know how to call me when you need me, ok?” She nodded, resting her little head on his.

“Ok little one. Go back to bed. And behave for your mother.” He put her down and she went back to bed. He had to stay strong for her, even though he felt like he was going to go insane.

Nick stayed in hotel for two days while the storm passed. Then he caught a plane back home. As he walked into his empty home, he could already feel her absence setting in. There was silence where there once was her laughter and soft voice. He was used to seeing her dancing in the room she made into a studio. Now it was cold and vacant. As he lie in bed, he wanted to reach over and touch her. Make love to her. Hold her and kiss her. But she wasn’t there. And she wasn’t coming back anytime soon.

He looked over and saw a blinking light on his telephone/answering machine. He pressed the button to hear them, then sat back and listened.

“Yo Nick, it’s AJ. Where are you man? I’m worried. Hit me back.” There was a beep.

“Nick, come on, pick up the phone! We haven’t heard from you in days. Are you ok?” Brian said. There was a beep.

“Nicky, it’s Mom. AJ told Brian who told me, just today, that you and Rianna are having marital problems. I’m just concerned sweetie, and I want you to know that you can call and talk to me at any time if you need me.” Jane said. There was a beep.

“Nick...” He sat up. It was Rianna. “I... I want a divorce.” She finished. Nick picked the phone up and called Aimee. She answered the phone.

“Hello?”

“Aimee, I need to speak to Rianna.” He said, heart pounding, hands shaking.

“I’m sorry, Nick. She won’t talk to anyone right now. But I’ll tell her you called.” Nick hung the phone up and literally felt like he was going to die. This couldn’t be happening. He had been so miserable without love while on the road. And when he met Rianna, his heart felt so full. She was everything to him. The goddess of his idolatry. And now... now it was coming to an end. And end that he thought he’d never meet.


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