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CHAPTER 87
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JUST LOVERS CHAPTER 88
CARL.Yes, I made sure Olivia was okay.No, I didn't use the gun. There wasn't even time to touch it behind my back.Yes, I was fine.No, Ray wasn't. Neither was Juan. By the time my brain alone asked those questions, I was thinking about his father, and mother, and how they would be handling the news.Something kept my sanity linear and strengthened yet. It was nothing more than being able to hear the phrase, fluttering in my consciousness: he's alive, he's alive, Ray is alive.I was in the hospital. We had been there for more than four hours. Neither Olivia nor I wanted to move until we understood that the man who was taking care of us, especially her, was okay. Ray's wife was in tears, but she looked strong and handled everything much better than her brother, who was trying to hide his nerves.She thanked Olivia and me for acting fast and told us something very important (looking us straight in the eye): not to feel guilty about anything.Juan was a mess. Seriously, a mess. Even-te
JUST LOVERS CHAPTER 89
CARL.Ray was discharged three days later. Doctors said he could recover at home. Police tracked down the gunman. His face and demeanor were not out of the ordinary; there were no surprises. He could well have been a neighbor or a co-worker. The subject could have gone unnoticed by anyone. That put us all partially at ease. I talked it over with Finol, Olivia, and even Nancy, and we had to take a break from the escorts.I was not worried about the money, I believe security and welfare should be well-paid and remunerated. It was just a matter of understanding that the enemy was no longer lurking in the streets. Tony was a fugitive, Vasallo was lost almost like the previous one, and worse. And most likely also out of the country, what did I know? The guy in the blue car behind bars was singing all the stories about the most damaging Urdaneta, as far as we knew, which gave him a good amount of time in prison. We were safe at last, nothing could happen to us, and nobody was still chasing
JUST LOVERS CHAPTER 90
CARL.On my way home, at the end of November, on a Friday afternoon after knowing that we could not have dinner out at the beginning of the weekend, that is, we could not organize our furtive meeting that week thanks to work and commitments, I was contacted by one of my former clients, who was beginning to invest in another business field (not so far from what he has always been dedicated to). He wanted immediate advice in the accounting area and seeing his insistence, asked me to please visit him as soon as possible at one of his offices, I thought I would do it the next day, but it was urgent, so I turned around and went back on the road, heading to one of the most important avenues in the city.Delicias, that immense avenue, crosses another one, also of great importance for the road structure of Maracaibo City, as is the famous 5 de Julio Avenue, the same one where the restaurant La Napolitana was located, the bank where my cousin is Manager, near Olivia's Insurance and my office.
JUST LOVERS CHAPTER 91
OLIVIA.I like the idea of meeting people who belong to Carl'ss life. Besides, getting out of the house is always fun.He wasn't home yet. The appointment was at 19:00hrs. Dinner could be at 21:00 or 22 o'clock, since Mr. Fito Graterol liked to chat before eating, showing his new bottles always brought from outside, adding the fact of wanting to know me better; data that my boyfriend launched the same day he announcedto me that outing.I asked Carl to bring something. Even though the host usually collects liquor, it came to my mind to bring a wine from a Spanish vineyard I saw in a store near work, which came with a promotion if you bought the dessert of the day, something great, since the cakes they made there are truly exquisite.Carl thought it was an excellent idea and went to buy it, so while he was doing that errand, I put music connected to the audio system, programmed with an iPod and from one moment to another, the different melodies began to spread throughout the apartment.
JUST LOVERS CHAPTER 92
CARL.Graterol poured a whiskey on the rocks and then poured another for me, handing it to me as we sat around his desk."I thought Darwing would be here," I mentioned, taking a sip of my drink."Yes, it would have been nice, but he has to travel tomorrow. And I prefer it that way, let him take care of that travel pressure, I'm not good for it anymore.""You don't like to travel anymore?" I asked with a hint of amusement, I knew his all life was business and travel."I'm getting too old... but well, let's talk about what's important." He opened a drawer on his side of the desk and took out a black folder with several documents inside. "Are you still working alone, or do you already have an assistant? I need someone to organize these statements for me."I shook my head in disbelief at the mess he had inside the folder and sighed, taking the folder from his hands."I can't believe that in this day and age, there are still these kinds of printouts. Fito, there is such a thing as a comput
JUST LOVERS CHAPTER 93
OLIVIA.Mrs. Violet Graterol reminded me of my mother and her friends when they got together to chat.She was a tall, elegant woman, with shoulder-length auburn hair, with an incredible complexion that I wish I had at her age. Milky white skin, wearing subdued makeup, combining copper and beige shades. She was wearing that night a nightgown and pants set of thick, luxurious fabric, loose-fitting garments, of a similar shade to her hair.When we arrived at the beautiful, spacious kitchen of that apartment, I sat down at her invitation in one of the lovely high chairs that lined the marble countertop.There I realized that in that house they liked to talk while having a drink or two since Mrs. Violet served me a different drink than the one we were sharing in the living room. I gladly accepted, why not? The same glass, another wine. This time, some white wine for a change.She asked me about my work and believed from the beginning when I told her what I did for a living, that Carl and I
JUST LOVERS CHAPTER 94
CARL.We went out several times, we went back to our games, and it seemed that we could not stop dreaming, living invented experiences, all based on those encounters, as if we were still strangers, just lovers, but strangely because in that way we got to know each other even more. Rather than boring us, the opposite happened.From the twentieth dinner we shared with the Graterol family, we visited other places, we escaped here and there and without further ado, we stumbled into December, passing by the fairs of La Chinita, as they are usually called in Maracaibo City. Incredibly, we did not celebrate the patron saint festivities precisely on the day we were supposed to.Nancy, incorporated in her role as administrator again, invited us to the anniversary of one of her restaurants, of course, the famous Napolitana (this time Olivia and I, in this month, would not make the mistake of not knowing what the heck was going on in that place, arriving without a reservation and not even with a
JUST LOVERS CHAPTER 95
CARL.I bought a building with some sheds next to it. The structure was in gray and not only did I need a loan at the bank for the acquisition of the real estate (since the sheds come with the building), but also my cousin wanted to invest in the project, looking for the best credit that would benefit us through her bank: a credit that we would pay in half with benefits coming from her and her position.To achieve all this, she traveled to Caracas first and met with a great friend of hers (and boss, by the way) to invite him not only to grant the credit without so much paperwork, bureaucracy, or protocol but also to manage the installation of a bank headquarters in one of the commercial spaces. Nothing grandiose, Caracas has, of course, the original headquarters. It was simply a matter of a ticket office with a minimum of staff to speed up procedures in the area, which lacked the presence of that same bank branch.At first, it seemed a bit exaggerated and unnecessary for her to travel
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