Noting a well-disguised hint of anxiety behind his words, Carmella became a bit anxious herself. “You want to talk to me? Lord, what have I done now? Did that Marshall family complain about me? I told them that their mother hit her own arm in the shower. I didn’ put that bruise on her! No sirree! She did that all by herself!”
Seeing that Carmella was already a bit defensive, Gabriel quickly sought to diffuse the situation. “Heavens no, Ms. Brown. Actually, I wasn’t even aware of any bruise on Cora Lee’s arm.” Then with a twinkle in his eye, he added, “But since you brought it up, perhaps I should look into it!”
Carmella’s heart sank to her toes. “Oh Lord, Mr. Gabe. I went and done it again. When’ll I eva learn just to keep my big mouth shut? It was just an accident…you don’t need to go investigatin’ that or nothin’. Why don’t you just sit down here and have yourself a plate of this fine roast beef an’ salad we’re servin’ tonight? That’d tide you over till you git home an’ see what the missus got whipped up fo’ yo’ dinnah! Come on now, honey, you sit here in this empty spot and Carmella will take good care of you!” With the skills of a seasoned actress, Carmella suddenly exuded all the charm of a woman many years her senior—a talent duly noted by Gabriel and one that reminded him of precisely why he was here.
“Now Ms. Brown, that’s awfully kind of you, but I do have some business to attend to,” he replied, with Sam’s description of “canine and yard weeds” still lingering in his memory. “Do you think you could stop by my office for a few minutes when it’s time for your dinner break? I’m going to be here for a while, working on some accounting, and as I mentioned a few moments ago, I do have something I would like to talk to you about. And please relax…you’re not in any sort of trouble!”
“Well, Mr. Gabe, I eat my dinnah about 6:30, after the residents are finished and the dinin’ room’s cleaned up. I guess I could come by ’round then.”
“Great! Thank you, Ms. Brown. I’ll see you at 6:30, then,” Gabriel replied, seemingly quite relieved by her response. Obviously, he had something to discuss with her that was apparently of some concern to him.
As Mr. Franklin walked off toward his office, Carmella couldn’t help but wonder what he wanted with her. He had said she wasn’t in any trouble, so that was a relief. But whatever could he want? Although he had been administrator there for some time, she hadn’t really had much contact with him for the most part, other than occasionally seeing him around in the halls. He was a handsome man, at least to her. She guessed he was in his mid-thirties, and she recalled him mentioning that he had graduated from the University of North Texas with a master’s degree in Healthcare Administration prior to joining Shadyside. As young and pleasant as he was, she suspected that this was his first administrative position, but she wasn’t sure of that. He knew that she was studying to be an RN, because he had asked her about her career plans when they had first met. Maybe the nursing home had come up with some sort of financial assistance program he wanted to discuss with her—that would be nice! She was tired of struggling to make ends meet. Oh well, guess I’ll find out soon enough, she thought to herself as she continued helping the residents with their dinner.
*****
It was 6:40 when Carmella next looked down at her watch. She hadn’t stopped since Gabriel had left, and was just now finishing with the dining room cleanup. “Oh no!” she shrieked as she realized the time. “If I wadn’t in trouble before, I prob’ly am now,” she mumbled, grabbing her purse and quickly touching up her hair and makeup. Gotta look my best, at least, she thought as she headed down the hall to his office.
Gabriel had been nervously fidgeting and pacing in his office since his conversation with Carmella, now an hour and a half ago. This is probably a really bad idea, he thought to himself. But…Carmella is so cute and smart, and who knows what I might end up with otherwise! She could use the money, too, I’m sure. I don’t know…this is really risky. I don’t have any better options, though. I’ll at least talk with her about it. Ummm, maybe not. What if she tells someone? I’d be out on my ear for sure. Maybe I shouldn’t. It’s 6:40 already…where is she?
Just then, his vicissitudes were interrupted by a gentle knock on the door. “Mr. Gabe, you in there? Sorry I’m late!” came Carmella’s voice from the hallway.
Looking a little nonplused as he opened the door, Gabriel quietly ushered her in, quickly closing the door behind her. “Thanks for coming, Carmella. I was hoping that you would.”
“Why Mr. Gabe, when you tell Carmella to come, you know she gonna be here. Sorry I’m a little late…just got busy in the dinin’ room there for a while. What is it you want to talk to me ’bout?” Carmella was dying with curiosity at this point, and needed some resolution to the uncertainty that he had created earlier that afternoon.
“Well, Carmella, this is extremely difficult for me to discuss. Can you promise me that you will keep this conversation to yourself and no one else? I could lose my job in a heartbeat if this were to get out. Can you help me out here, or would you rather not?”
Carmella was really puzzled at this point. “Mr. Gabe, I don’t much know what you goin’ to say to me, but ’less it would cause harm to someone, I’m sure I could keep a secret. You ain’t gonna ask me to blow up the president or nothin’ like that, are you?” she queried with a smile and a hint of a tease.
“Oh no, nothing like that! Just something very personal that I wouldn’t want to go beyond you and me.” There, he had given her a hint. Now he would watch her response carefully to determine if he should proceed or abort the mission.
Carmella mulled that over for a moment, then smiled coyly and asked, “You wantin’ to have sex with me or somethin’ like that, Mr. Gabe?”
If his skin wasn’t brown, Gabriel would have turned an embarrassing shade of red with her unexpected directness. He quickly stammered back, “Oh no, Ms. Brown, at least not in the way you’re thinking, I mean.”
Now it was Carmella’s turn for pause. This was just too bizarre. “Not in the way I’m thinkin’? I didn’ know there was but one way to have sex. Wait a minute…you not wantin’ to put it somewhere it don’t belong, now are you, Mr. Gabe?” Carmella replied, eyes widening. If HER skin wasn’t brown, she would have paled considerably with that remark. “I’m really gonna have to go if that’s what’s on yo’ mind!”
Oh my god, Gabriel thought, this has gone from bad to worse! Embarrassing to humiliating! “Absolutely not, Ms. Brown. Please just take a minute to hear me out. We have gotten way offtrack here. Let me back up and start again!”
As long as you stay away from my backside, I guess that’s fine, Carmella thought, keeping her back to the door and contemplating a quick escape should the need arise.
“You see, Ms. Brown, this is very personal and difficult for me to talk about. It might be easier if I gave you a little history regarding my predicament. As you probably know, my wife’s name is Tamika, and we have been married for seven years now. All that time I have wanted to have a family, and so has she, but try as we might, nothing seemed to be happening—no pregnancies, no babies. Finally, about a year ago, we went to an infertility specialist, who checked us both out and discovered that Tamika has some sort of scar tissue that I can’t remember the name of right now that was affecting a part of her reproductive tract. Anyway, I checked out fine, but at least according to that doctor, Tamika would never be able to have any children. Well, as you can imagine, we were both devastated by that news. Tamika has been depressed about it ever since, and now has gotten to where she doesn’t even want to have sex anymore. My eldest and only brother was a missionary, but died a couple of years ago in some sort of uprising in Somalia where he was working. Neither of my sisters are interested in having children, so it’s kind of up to me to carry on the Franklin family heritage. So you can imagine how disappointed I was to learn of my wife’s inability to have children. We have talked some about adopting, but that