Cherié

Chapter 15

It took two days of quiet bliss for my dad to finally come knocking at my door. He looked pissed and I didn’t want to deal with him in that state. “Dad come in.”

“D’Angelo.”-

“Charles.” He didn’t like that I corrected him.

“Son, you know Donatella just came home.”

I groaned because why was he even trying to push this issue. He knows she broke me, and is part of the reason our relationship soured. “I have unfortunately found out about that yes.”

“She’d like to have a dinner with the two families and discuss reconciliation.”

“Unless that means I never have to see or hear about her again. I’m not interested. And you can let her know that if she shows up at my job, again, I’ll take out a restraining order on her crazy ass.”

My dad went to start his rebuttal however he started to cough. The dry winter air often did that to him. “You want a glass of water,” I asked him.

“Tea please. Honey,” he coughed out.

I searched the kitchen pantry for the honey not sure why it wasn’t there. Then I remember Cher moved it to the spice cabinet. I made his tea just how he liked it. By the time I arrived with it his coughing fit was over. We decided to agree to disagree once more before he left my home.

********

Cherié was having a small dinner with Alma and Bobby and I decided not to highjack their “girl” time. Bobby assured me they had got weed and wanted to smoke and watch movies, on the couch in Cher’s renovated basement, but I insisted they use the small theater I turned the back sunroom into. She was going to be living here once that tiny shack sold, they should get used to being here.

On the other hand, I couldn’t picture Cher high but Alma was always blitzed. It was hard to think of a time I’d seen her and her eyes weren’t hazed.

Since the ladies were in the middle of their movie, I was tasked with getting us drinks and dinner. I was on my way back home. I knew Cher would be there and that delighted me. Soon I’d get to go home to her every night of the week.

I got her a great relator-me. Bobby took great pictures of the place and I was able to get Cher a lot of buzz and her house picked up traction. Cher had some magic when she showed a house, we’d always get a bid. I was able to start a bid war and will see how quickly we get a sale.

She had immediately started looking for a new project. Once she reached the last leg of this endeavor. I looked for things that would challenge her creative mind and filled her desires to create a home out of art. I loved how she talked about her work.

I opened the theater door and I watched Cher as she laughed uncontrollably with her friends. They all sounded horsed as they tried to acknowledge me. “The food is ready.”

The trio walked to the kitchen in a straight line. They giggled and snickered through dinner. They were having an incoherent conversation about the wine and I realized I was the only one in the house not plastered.

I left them with dessert and went to prepare rooms for Bobby and Alma. There was no way they’d be leaving here on their own tonight. I went to “Cher’s room” her closet was where I kept the spear linens and had yet to fix that. I had at least a month before she’d be staying here full time though most of her stuff was here.

When I pulled the comforter down a book hit my head. I bent to pick it up and saw a shoe box under her bed. It seemed to me like these things were intended to stay hidden and I needed to know why. I opened the book. It was a sketch pad. Inside were the detailed plans for the student center lounge. Everything was drawn with such detail and precision she was gifted. Her signature was featured on each new design.

I took a picture of a few. I sent them to Elio and told him she would be a great pick to make the design plan for a joint venture between my family and the Zizzi family. I hoped it would ease the tension between Donna and I.

I opened the box next and in side was a shredded blue print of the student lounge. Under that were other blueprints she marked stolen. At the bottom of the box was a newspaper clipping. The article was cut off by an ad so I flipped it around. “Franklin University Senior Accused of Plagiarism is Dismissed from the Architecture Department,” I couldn’t believe what I read.

It looked like her professor accused her of stealing several of her ideas and the department head dismissed her because of it. The design in question was the student lounge which students and faculty were allowed to submit ideas for. A rage grew in me. There was no way Cher stole someone’s work.

Then I remembered vaguely hearing about this scandal in the teacher’s lounge, but there seemed to be some love triangle going on. That couldn’t be this…

“What the hell are you doing,” my heart sped when I heard her voice. I royally f****d myself.

“I’m not going to lie.” She held her hand up and silenced me.

“You saw something hidden under my bed and opened it. What other explanation would there be?”

“Valid, but I am sorry that I invaded your privacy.”

She gathered the things in the box and quickly got rid of them once again. This time she added the sketch book. I could see it pained her to let them go. I attempted to comfort her. She pushed me away.

We sat on her bed for moment as she collected herself. “I was in over my head in that program anyway. It was for the best.”

I rolled my eyes. That was utter bullshit. I studied her and she was really trying to convince herself she had done something wrong. Let alone wasn’t good enough. “I know you and there is no way you’d take the credit for someone else’s work. Tell me what really happened.” My demand brought more tears to her eyes.