Page 40 of Platinum Pressure

“I know that ain’t who I think it is,” Miss Nette commented. She looked at me with squinted eyes as she took in my appearance at her front door.

“Hey, my girl. How have you been?” I asked with a smile. I pulled her into a tight hug and nearly sobbed as she rocked from side to side in my arms.

When we finally pulled out of the embrace, she said, “Let me get a good look at you, child.”

“I’m the same as I was.”

“Naw. It’s something different about you. You’ve got a glow to you.”

“Must be the face cream I been using,” I replied.

“Hmm. I’ll figure it out eventually. Where did you go? They had this new girl coming ’round here, and she was awful, chile. She let me half-ass all my little workouts and barely checked on me like you do. Don’t you ever leave me again, you hear me?”

“Yes, ma’am. I promise I won’t leave you anymore. I missed you too. I looked at your chart and saw you regressing. I had to pull up immediately and get my girl right.”

“Oh, wait a minute. Ease me back into it.”

“Sit down and let me check your vitals. I’ll decide after I see your blood pressure and heart rate what we’ll do today.”

“I can get with that.”

We sat down at her dining room table. I pulled out the iPad and logged back in. It had been a week since I packed my things and left Platinum’s home. I realized what I felt was not only dangerous to my career, but my heart as well. When Platinum returned to the field with hunger in his soul for another Super Bowl win, I would be a figment of his past and only a small factor to his recovery.

A delusional part of me felt hurt because he didn’t contact me the following morning, but it also confirmed just how replaceable I was in his life. The other part of me understood I did the right thing and everything would go back to normal soon.

Today was my first day back on my old schedule. I visited a couple of old clients, met with a few new ones, and would finish my day with Miss Nette. Throughout the day, all my clients basically said the same thing: The people who replaced me did not treat them even a fraction of the care I did. It honestly broke my heart to know they did not give my clients the best care in my absence.

One thing I was sure about after meeting with them all today was that I needed to really look into starting a practice of my own as soon as possible. It would just take a lot longer now that I was starting from scratch. A part of me regretted giving Platinum back all his money, but I didn’t want any ties to him. I didn’t want any reminders of the roller-coaster experience I had with him.

“Now, baby. This machine done beeped four times. What’s got you so distracted?” Miss Nette’s voice brought me out of my thoughts.

“I’m sorry,” I replied. With quick hands, I read the monitor and removed the blood pressure cuff from her arm. I listened to her heart and checked her blood sugar too.

“It’s okay. I can tell whatever’s bothering you is something important.”

“I’ve been thinking about opening a practice of my own. I want to create a new standard for home health services. I don’t want to keep seeing people mistreated or ignored, you know?”

“All I can tell you is to trust God will make a way. As long as you’re walking in your purpose with pure intentions, God will provide what you need to bring your dream to fruition.”

It was almost like God needed to cosign Miss Nette’s words because my phone chimed on the table. When I saw my bank icon in the notification bar, I picked up the phone and nearly choked on air when I saw what the message said:

31005: LARGE DEPOSIT TO CHKG*169

CREDIT $2,000,000

AVAIL BAL: $2,003,145.24

Platinum was behind this. No one else other than HQ had access to my banking information. I returned the money we agreed to at the start of our contract and everything he’d sent me since, and he sent it back with interest . . . a lot of damn interest. If he wanted my attention, he got it. Unfortunately, it put me in a hard spot. I didn’t want to accept his money because I didn’t want to communicate with him, but if I sent the money back a second time, I might blatantly go against everything God had in store for me. My head spun with contemplation. My heart pounded like I’d just ran a marathon.

Platinum fucking Porter highjacked my entire being with one simple action.

I couldn’t dwell right now. I couldn’t give him the power to distract me from my favorite patient. I needed to give Miss Nette my full attention until after our session ended.

“Miss Nette, you’re doing great. Take a beat to catch your breath, hydrate, and prepare for the next set when you’re ready.”

She huffed and sat back down in her seat. She picked up her water cup and took a generous sip. “It’s been so long since this part of my arm burned from a therapy session.”

“I wish I would have known you’d been slacking off. I won’t let you fall back on your progress again, though.”