On Time (Persaud Girl) Read online

  On Time

  A Persaud Girl Novel

  Also by Teisha Mott

  Persaud Girl 1 - The Bet

  Persaud Girl 2 - Just Perfect!

  On Time

  Teisha Mott

  On Time. Copyright © 2012 by Teisha Mott.

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

  ISBN: 147817093X

  ISBN-13: 978-147-817-0938

  To the beautiful women of the clubhouse – Andrea, Kerri-Ann, Nicole, Saudia and Shevonne … BFFs and always.

  T.

  “Someday, someone will walk into your life and make you realise why it never worked out with anyone else”

  Anonymous.

  On Time

  chapter one

  Kingston. June 2008

  “I’m not late, am I?” Klao Persaud whipped her rectangular Roberto Cavalli sunglasses from her face and stuck it into her beige and gold Kate Spade tote, as she hurriedly sat next to her cousin at their reserved table at Gauchos Grill.

  “Yes, you are, but its fine, because Sam isn’t here yet either!” Bianca Persaud smiled at her cousin. “I am feeling your bag. Is it new?”

  Klao nodded smugly. “Just a little something I picked up last week. Thought I would show it off today. I knew you’d be green with envy!”

  “Well, green is my best colour!” Bianca joked. “Too bad you know where I live! I can’t even steal it from you.”

  Klao smiled and glanced at her other cousin, Andie, who was intensely studying the menu. Her brows were furrowed, and she was chewing on the end of her hair, as if deciding what to eat and making the perfect selection would be the most important thing that she would do in her entire life. It amused Klao that Andie always did that. They had been meeting the third Wednesday of each month at Gauchos Grill, a trendy New Kingston restaurant, to gossip and “catch up” for three years. Andie, by now, should know every item on the menu, and the cost.

  “It’s not an exam, Andie!” Klao chuckled, referring to the menu. “You don’t have to study it so hard!”

  “Save your wit for the courtroom, Klao!” Andie commented sarcastically, and Klao rolled her eyes.

  “Are you in a bad mood?” She asked her cousin. “Because I am not in the mood to entertain your bad mood.”

  “I’m not in a bad mood,” Andie clarified. “I’m sorry. I’m just really tired.”

  “Ooh!” Bianca gave her a cheeky wink. “Are you up playing ‘the newlywed game’ late at night with your fabulous husband?”

  “Can I tell you…” Andie began, and Klao knew exactly where the story was going.

  Andie and Nathan her boyfriend of seven years, had finally got married a month before. Years of waiting and wondering were finally over, and Andie, much to Klao’s dismay, used every opportunity to launch into never ending epistles, describing in detail the most intimate aspects of her marriage.

  “No, please don’t tell us!” Klao begged. “What goes on in the privacy of your bedroom is between you and your husband, and should stay there!”

  Andie ignored her. “Let me tell the two of you something,” she advised. “It is not easy being married! For the past four weeks, I have not had a full night’s sleep. I don’t know if I can keep up with this conjugal duties thing every single night! He’s just on me constantly, and I cannot get a moment of peace.”

  “While Nathan gets ‘a piece’ moment by moment!” Bianca tittered.

  Klao gave her a dirty look. “You are so gauche!”

  “And you are so immature!” Bianca returned, rolling her almost black eyes. “Do you think that they sleep like brother and sister every night? Especially since poor Nathan waited on her for seven whole years? They are newlyweds, man! They are just getting the hang of each other!”

  “Be that as it may,” Klao pointed out, “I just don’t think we should be talking about this kind of thing. I don’t think that Nathan would appreciate us discussing his ‘preferences’ at Gauchos in the middle of the day. And he certainly wouldn’t appreciate Andie’s complaints!”

  “I’m not complaining!” Andie interjected quickly. “I love Nate, and I’m glad we’re married, and I wouldn’t un-marry him for the world. And I do enjoy fulfilling my ‘wifely duties’, or at least learning how to do it. I’m just saying it is the weirdest thing in the world to be doing it after all these years, and to wake up in the middle of the night and see him there – sleeping on my pillow. It is the weirdest thing in the morning to wake up and find him strutting around the house in various stages of undress. And he expects the same from me! No wonder I’m tired. Being a wife is so different from being a girlfriend. It’s much more stressful.”

  “Well, guess what?” Bianca reminded her. “You pledged him your troth – now he’s claiming it! Get over it”

  “What is a ‘troth’?” Klao asked.

  “I think it is your body in his bed every night,” Bianca suggested.

  “No,” Andie shook her head. “Pledging my troth means that I am going to be a faithful wife.”

  “Same thing!” Bianca took a sip of her water.

  “I pledge thee my troth!” Klao repeated. “That’s so droll. Did you actually say that Andie?”

  “I don’t remember!” Andie wrinkled her nose. “Honestly, the whole day was a blur!”

  “Well, even if you didn’t, it’s implied!” Bianca pointed out. “When you said I do, you said I do to his spit on your pillow, and his stuff in your bathroom, and his shoes being left out for you to trip over, and his toothbrush getting mixed up with yours, and to his naked behind parading around the house. And yes, Mrs Hansen, you said “I do” to no sleep and sweaty, moany, groany sex every night, until the novelty wears off.”

  “I know!” Andie said, beaming happily. “Isn’t it wonderful?”

  Klao shook her head as she looked at her cousins. Their habit of over-sharing aside, she loved them. They were her best friends. They had all been born just months apart, and had grown up together, and had only become closer as the years progressed. Klao had been afraid that time would have torn them apart, but Samantha, Andie’s big sister, had come up with the brilliant idea of monthly lunches, where they would share and catch up. This was their first lunch since Andie’s honeymoon.

  Klao ordered a bottle of Pellegrino, and thought about how she and her cousins had morphed, in what seemed like very little time, from babies playing ‘dolly’ house together, to grown women with lives, and careers. Samantha, the eldest, was a Treasury Risk Specialist at Persaud Financials, and happily married to Jeremy Malcolm, her former nemesis. Samantha even had a baby – a precocious four-year-old called Caitlin. Bianca was a doctor at the University Hospital, halfway through the Paediatrics programme. She was not married, but was good as. She had been dating her boyfriend, Tevin, since they were 15 years old, and actually planned to celebrate their tenth anniversary in a few days’ time. Then there was Andie, the youngest of the bunch. She was seventeen months younger than her sister, Samantha, six months younger than Klao, and a month younger than Bianca. She too was employed to Persaud Financials and worked alongside Jeremy in Investments. She and Nathan would be moving that weekend into their brand new apartment, a wedding present from Grandpa and Grandma Persaud, and at the rate at which they were going, Klao thought, in no time they would be having a baby of their own!

  Klao felt a bit insignificant and unaccomplished when she was with her cousins. Yes, she had an apartment that her parents had bought for her when she left Law School. She had not joined the Persaud Enterprises legal team right away as everyone thought she would, but had settled into a small l
aw firm in downtown Kingston, Jamaica, which specialised in litigation. Klao spent her days settling personal injury matters, sorting out family dramas, and divorcing people. She loved her job, and although she promised her Aunt Julie, Bianca’s stepmother, and head council for Persaud Enterprises Jamaica, that she would join in two years, she was not looking forward to it. She loved putting on her robe and going to court. She loved doing her research and studying case law. She loved arguing with opposing council, and pushing the limit set by the judges. It was almost sadistic, but when she was being glared at by the sternest of judges, including Peter Malcolm, Samantha’s father-in- law, she felt strong, and in change. She did not feel like the child of Doctors Michael Persaud and Kimberly DeLisser; grandchild of Ravi and Sylvia Persaud; baby sister of Doctors Dylan and Darrin. She felt like her own woman, and that was a wonderful feeling. She enjoyed being an Associate at Reyes, Green and Associates, which was run by Betty-Ann Reyes and Jeanette Green, two of Jamaica’s top litigators. There was only one other associate, apart from herself – her best friend (outside of her cousins), Marlene Smith-Stewart, who had graduated from law school a year before her. Many people Klao knew, her cousins included, sometimes complained about their jobs, but Klao had nothing to complain about. The work was hard, she had lost clear-cut cases on occasion, and sometimes, Mrs Reyes, Klao’s partner, was a pain in her behind. In the grand scheme of things, however, she was lucky where bosses were concerned. After all, not many partners in law firms would allow their associates to disappear for the entire afternoon one Wednesday every month. Klao had no intention of returning to the office after lunch with her cousins. She never did, and it was not a problem with her boss.

  Still, although she enjoyed her life, there was something missing. She was not usually a covetous person, but her cousins had something that she did not have. They all had a ‘special someone’ in their lives. Samantha had Jeremy. Andie had Nathan. Bianca had Tevin. Klao had no one. Not even a hint of someone.

  She could not recall the last time she had gone on a date. She could not recall when a guy had asked her for her number. Scratch that. She could remember. She was coming from court, still wearing her collar and pulling her bag containing her court documents, when a homeless man on King Street had propositioned her. Klao recalled how mortified she had been; and how Sam, Bianca and Andie had laughed when she lamented the pathetic tale to them. Then, there was the seventy-odd year old retired judge – a friend of Grandpa Ravi no less, who, with a leer had asked her if he could take her out for drinks, and whatever followed. Klao had been so repulsed, thinking of his bad teeth, his loose skin, his potbelly, and his old man’s breath, that she had not been able to eat dinner that night. He was not even a distinguished elderly gentleman like her grandpa. He was a lascivious old geezer, looking for a thrill, and Klao could not help wondering if he could even still get it up without aid from the little blue pill. So, she did have her admirers: indigents and horny old men whose best friend was undoubtedly Viagra.

  Klao could not tell what was wrong with her. She was Klao Persaud, for goodness sake! She was the granddaughter of the wealthiest man in Jamaica, and according to Forbes Magazine, one of the top 500 wealthiest in the world. She was a damn good attorney. She was witty and smart and funny. She was not hard to look at – by no means the prettiest Persaud child – Bianca and Margaux, their cousin who designed for Izzy Fashions, a division of Persaud Enterprises, had that corner covered – but she was not a dog either. She had smooth olive skin, a head of thick, long, curly black hair, big black eyes, and a perfect toothpaste smile. Yes, she stood at only five-six – shorter than Bianca and Samantha, but definitely taller than Andie and Margaux. And she struggled a bit to keep her weight under 120 lbs, which she felt, was acceptable for someone of her height, but she was pretty enough. It was unfathomable why no one wanted her. Why her cousins had managed to snag their man before they were 22, and there she was, 26 years old, without ever having a real boyfriend.

  Bianca often joked that it was retribution for not keeping herself ‘circumspect’.

  “Julie always says that men do not like used cars, and you, my friend, are a used car!” She would joke.

  Klao did not like that joke. Bianca was making reference to the biggest mistake Klao ever made in her life – a Guyanese boy called Vishal Chadeesingh who had been in her law class in Barbados. She was nineteen years old, and in second year at law school. Three weeks into the semester, Vishal began to show interest. He was young and hot – the typical ‘white liver coolie bwoy’, and the guy all the girls wanted to notice them, but he only had eyes for Klao. Klao was beyond flattered. By this time, Bianca and Tevin had been going four years strong, Andie and Nathan were blossoming beautifully, and even Samantha, who had declared time and time again that she was not going to be dating before age 25, was making big eyes at a guy in her class called Micah Elliott. Klao thought it was providence. She thought God had sent Vishal for her so she, too, would have a boyfriend. They dated steadily for that semester and were practically inseparable.

  They would spend long nights in Klao’s apartment under the guise of studying, but instead, they would be making out. The night before she left Barbados to come home for Christmas holidays, she allowed him to coax her into bed. It had been the most mind-blowing experience of Klao’s life. She swore to herself that she saw the sun, the moon, and stars that night. Given the fact that she and the girls had taken a vow of chastity until they got married, she decided she would not tell anyone – not even Bianca. It was a delicious secret that she kept totally to herself. It was a tender love story that ran over and over every night in her head before she fell asleep. Vishal Chadeesingh was her one. She had finally found him, and they would be together forever. They were going to get married, and Vishal would have to move to Jamaica. After all, who would purposely live in Guyana? She would be Klao Chadeesingh – no hyphenated last name for her. She wanted to be Vishal’s solely and completely, just as she was on that last night before leaving Barbados for Christmas holidays.

  Klao would sit for hours imagining the beautiful little Indian children she and Vishal were going to have. They would have to get Indian names, she thought; like Raj, Kamal, Babita and Asha. Klao could not wait to get back to Barbados to be with Vishal, but she knew she could get by with just hearing the sound of his voice. She sat by the phone as the Christmas break progressed, hoping that her boyfriend-turned-lover would call. He never called. The New Year came and passed, and her euphoria turned to impatience, and then panic. Every day, she grew more and more miserable, until finally, she broke down and in tears, told Bianca what had happened. Bianca did not judge, but promised her that she would hear from Vishal soon. That did not happen, and Klao was inconsolable. She tried calling him a few times. Once he answered, he spoke to her for a full five seconds, before declaring that he was in the middle of something, and would have to call her back. He didn’t. And he never answered when Klao called him again, and again, and again. He did not respond to her e-mails either.

  But she had once written down the password to his hotmail address, when he had asked her to check his e-mail when his own internet service was down. Klao remembered it, and in a move totally outside her character, went snooping into his e-mail to see whether he had received her messages. Sure enough, he had, but they had all been moved directly into his delete box without being read. In despondent self pity, Klao continued sending him e-mails, begging him to talk to her; reminding him of their last night together. She would check his e-mail to see if he’d finally broken down, grown a heart, and read one. Not a chance. On one occasion, she was surprised to see that her e-mail had not gotten into his mailbox. She checked his junk mail. It was not there either. With her heart racing, Klao checked his ‘blocked addresses list’.

  She was the one who taught Vishal how to block messages he did not want to see. Her email address was in the block list: [email protected]. She finally got it. Vishal wanted nothing more to do with her. Klao was de
vastated. Bianca did not know what to say to her. Her brothers, Dylan and Darrin, as was their specialty, offered to go to Guyana, find Vishal Chadeesingh, and “operate” on him, removing his intestines and making him wear them as a hat. It was the worst period of Klao’s life. She finally understood what the word ‘disconsolate’ meant. Shewas disconsolate. The only thing left for her to do was turn her face to the wall like Hezekiah in the Bible.

  Finally, holidays were over, and it was time to return to school. She dreaded having to return to Barbados and face that miscreant, who had robbed her of her virtue, and ignored her like yesterday’s news. It was a whole new level of torture, sitting behind him in class, looking at his shiny black hair, his olive skin, and his handsome profile. Tears welled up in her eyes whenever she heard his melodic accent as he answered questions in class. She hoped that he would, one day, offer some sort of explanation why he treated her the way he did. Even if it were a “mamby pamby” excuse, she would accept it. It would prove that he was human, and that she had meant something to him. But Vishal never said a word to her. He would look at her with his demonic black eyes, but never say anything. When he started dating Nicola Berry, Klao secretly began to hope that he would die – not from AIDS though, and she got tested every six months for two years to make sure she was safe. She hoped he would contract some horrible flesh eating disease, or that he would drown in the university’s pool, or that he would eat something poisonous and his belly would swell and finally burst, or that a truck would hit him off his scooter and crack his head open. She wanted his death to be as painful as possible. She wanted him to suffer as he was making her suffer.

  Klao was not sure if she had ever truly got over Vishal Chadeesingh. She thought of him sometimes, and those thoughts always made her sad. Bianca said the best way to get over an old love is for her to find herself a new love. That was easier said than done. None of the boys she had an interest in showed any interest in her. The ones who she would not even consider were the ones who would ask her for her number. Her mother jokingly told her that if she did not find her ‘person’ before she left university, it would be unlikely that she would find anyone at all. That idea totally freaked Klao out, and she set out with new fervour to find a boyfriend. But lo and behold, she left Barbados and Norman Manley Law School still single. To top it off, that cretin, Vishal, had gotten married to Nicola, and had settled down in Guyana, quite healthy and alive. Klao was absolutely mortified. Bianca, who was only good at helping a suicidal man off a forty storey roof, insisted that her single state was punishment for breaking her vow of chastity.