I wanted to find out if there was any availability at Valley View Assisted Living for Carolyn. Fortunately, I knew the director and I stopped by unannounced, knowing Ma would be in her aerobics class in a different wing. Luckily, there were vacancies. I had tried to convince Ma to get a one-bedroom, but she had said, “I spent my whole life going from room to room. I don’t want to walk anywhere but the bathroom.” I knew how much Ma’s studio cost, and because Carolyn would have to wait at least a year before her Medicaid would take effect in California, I didn’t mind paying for her to have a one-bedroom until then. I was just glad I could afford it. Also, considering who Carolyn was, it seemed fitting. And when Jalecia finished her treatment, if she needed help finding a place, I’d do the same for her. Anything to stop her from going back to live with Peggy. If she wants to stay with me until she feels strong enough to live on her own, she can have a key.
Although Kwame had sent me Carolyn’s medical records, the director advised me that a California doctor would have to verify them, give her another medical assessment, then provide that one to Valley View. She could move in as soon as the director received them. I was pretty sure Carolyn would be comfortable living here, especially the access to physical therapy and prepared meals, not to mention being around other people, not all of whom were on their deathbeds.
* * *
—
I had let the housekeepers go after Carl passed because I needed something to keep me busy. But I hardly ever cleaned the other two bedrooms, and since I wasn’t sure how long Kwame or his mother might need to stay, I called the housekeepers and they were kind enough to help me out on short notice.
The next day, I left the key under the mat and a check for more than what I used to pay them. I also asked if they would like to start coming again on a regular basis and Consuela sent me a text and said of course, that her team of three had missed me and B. B. King.
I spent most of the day at the shop because the painters were almost finished and the new color-stained concrete floors were in; and as soon as I got back from the cruise the new makeup stations and the product stations would be installed. I rehired the two young ladies who had worked at the Los Angeles store, Tanisha and Koi, who were excited when they saw the changes I was making in this new House.
“This place is going to rock!”
“Too bad you couldn’t have blown it up like this in L.A.”
I’m also going to hire someone to handle the day-to-day operations because I just can’t supervise everything anymore. It’s not just because I’m too old to do so much, but because I don’t want to. This time around I want to have more fun and be more personable. I’m excited about watching how the new House will flourish and the new clientele we’re bound to attract. I hired a smart website designer and once we’ve got everything in its place, I’m hopeful we’ll be able to attract more folks who want to be pampered.
I have three interested buyers for the L.A. store and I’ve explained to all of them that I am in the process of opening a new store, and if they’d be willing to give me another month, we could meet then.
They agreed.
* * *
—
I saw the Uber lights pull in to the driveway and B. B. King almost knocked me down when I opened the front door and headed down the steps. Kwame looked like he’d grown. And when he walked around the black Explorer and held out his hand, his mother gracefully held hers out and Kwame gently pulled her out of the car to a standing position. I could not believe how tiny she looked next to him—a little more than five feet, give or take an inch or two. Her hair was braided in thick tendrils and stopped at her shoulders. From behind her silver-framed glasses I could tell she had been through a lot, but I could still see her beauty. Her blue jeans were a little baggy and so was the floral top under her white denim jacket. We would just try to help keep her spirits high.
After Kwame handed her a cane, she waved at me like I was leaving.
“Hi there, Loretha!” she yelled. “We made it!”
Kwame walked her over to me, bent down, and gave me a big hug. “Hello, Mama-Lo,” he said. “This is my mom, Carolyn.”
B. B. King edged his way between us.
“Hey, B.B. Looks like you missed me, huh, fella? I missed you, too!”
I walked over to Carolyn and gave her a hug. She must’ve felt my sincerity because she squeezed me as tight as she could with one arm.
“Welcome to California, Carolyn. Can I help you inside?”
“Oh, no, sweetheart. I can manage with this,” and she held up her cane.
As Kwame pulled four or five suitcases from the back of the SUV, I put my arm through Carolyn’s and we tiptoed up the stairs.
“Thank you,” she said. “Going down is a lot easier. What a beautiful neighborhood you live in. This feels like a dream, you know.”
I pushed the front door open and she gasped. I thought maybe she’d seen a mouse or something.
“Is something wrong?”
“No, your home is just beautiful, Loretha. Kwame told me it was, and he said you have a pool in the backyard, too.”
“Everybody has pools in Pasadena,” I said to make her feel like this was standard. I wanted to say, Wait until you see San Marino or Valley View, where you’re going to be living—they’re not so shabby either.
“Are you hungry? Tired? You want to see where your room is?”
She pressed her hand against her chest.
“My room,” she said softly. “I can’t believe I’m even here. In California. Thank you, Loretha. I would like to unpack my overnight bag, brush my teeth, and put some drops in my eyes. Just show me where.”
And I did.
I gave her the blue bedroom, even though Kwame used to sleep in there, because it was bigger. I had left a lamp on and she just sat down on the bed as if to catch her breath.
“Thank you,” she said again. “For everything.”
“You’re quite welcome.”
“Hey there!” Kwame said. “So you really started my car up every now and then, Mama-Lo?”
“I told you I had,” even though I wasn’t telling the complete truth. When I put Jalecia’s car in the garage, I had to move his over to make room but it wouldn’t start. So I called AAA, and they gave his a jump and I let it run for hours. But after that, I took to starting it up and letting it run for ten to twenty minutes, which AAA had told me was long enough.
“Thank you,” he said.
“Do you need to go somewhere?”
“I do. But just for a few hours. Do you remember my friend Parker?”
“Of course I do.”
“I’m going to give him a shout.”
I wanted to say I bet you’ll both be doing more than shouting, but I just said, “You young folks have more energy than the Energizer Bunny.”
He walked over and bent down and gave his mother a kiss, and then me. “This used to be my room, I’ll have you know, woman!”
“Be safe,” Carolyn said, and then leaned over and whispered in my ear. “He told me about Parker. I don’t mind him liking boys, but I just wish he could find a black one.”
“Kwame!” I shouted. “Just remember that you and your mother have a doctor’s appointment tomorrow afternoon and then I want to take her to see the gorgeous place she will hopefully be living in. It’s much nicer than here.”
“I have to see that to believe it. How far is it from here, Loretha?”
“Fourteen minutes.”
She looked relieved.
“I’ll be back before daylight,” he said, and we heard the door slam.
“I’m sure you’re exhausted, Carolyn, so just make yourself at home. If you’re hungry I bought some snacks to tide you over until morning, but I admit, I don’t have a whole lot of sweets.”
“I don’t eat anything with sugar,” sh
e said to my surprise. “I’m diabetic.”
“Me, too!” I said like we had just seen the same movie or something. “Kwame didn’t tell me you were diabetic.”
“He didn’t know until he came home.”
“Was it hard?”
“Yes, but I have learned what I can live without.”
I squeezed her hand, and she squeezed mine back.
“I also want to thank you for everything you’ve done for my son, and now me.”
“You’re quite welcome, Carolyn. He’s Carl’s son, which makes him my son, too. It’s sad to me that Carl never got to know him.”
“Wait a minute. Hold on now. What makes you think Carl is Kwame’s daddy?”
My stomach dropped.
“Because Kwame told me he was.”
“No no no no no! I never told him that. Carl’s brother Earl is Kwame’s daddy.”
“Earl, who died in a car accident twelve years ago?”
“That’s him. Back in the day I had a thing going on the side with Earl. I admit after a hard night of partying I woke up one morning and didn’t know how Carl had got in my bed, but I was already pregnant. I was pretty low back then, so maybe somebody did see me and Carl that night and just assumed, or maybe I did tell somebody Carl was his daddy. Anything to keep Earl’s wife from suspecting, you know what I mean? But I never in a million years thought Carl was going to die and the whole damn family would come out here thinking they was just telling Kwame the truth. I’m sorry.”
“Damn.”
She couldn’t possibly have made this shit up. I felt sorry for her and for Kwame, but when I thought about it, did it really matter that Carl wasn’t his real father? No, it did not.
I put my arms around her and we walked to the kitchen. I found some microwave popcorn and grabbed two bottles of sparkling water from the refrigerator, and we sat on the couch until it was all gone.
I was at Nordstrom Rack in the dressing room trying on the first of six one-piece bathing suits with the hope of finding two or three that might not make me look like a bear, even though I had no intention of getting in the pool. I was pairing them with solid-color wraps when I felt my phone shiver in my purse. I pulled it out and couldn’t believe it when I saw a text from JALECIA DRUMMOND, and underneath it the first line said: Hi Mom. Please check your email.
As I opened it, my heart was pounding so hard I had to press my palm against it. I sat down on the bench in the bathing suit, took a deep breath, and read the first line twice:
Hi Mom. I just want you to know this is one of the smartest things I’ve ever done in my life. I am learning so much about myself and about depression and coping techniques. They even have a music class and I’ve been singing and playing the piano even though I can’t sing anymore! Anyway, I’m also sending you this email to let you know I have decided to do another twenty-eight-day session because I am sure by then I’ll be ready to greet the world with a whole new set of skills. I love you, and will see you in a month. Love, Jalecia. P.S. If I had known these kinds of places existed, I would’ve done this years ago. I hope you are taking your diabetes medication and exercising (which we do a lot of here!). Tell B. B. King and all my aunties I said hi. I already reached out to Cinnamon and can’t wait to see my grandbabies. I feel so lucky, and for the first time in years I’m happy to be alive. Love you. Jalecia
I grabbed a wrap, tied it around me, and ran as fast as I could to the ladies’ room where I opened a stall and sat down on the toilet and dropped my head into both palms and started crying like a baby until someone said, “Are you all right in there?”
I pulled off too much toilet paper and wiped my eyes and said, “Yes, I’m fine. These are tears of joy and thank you very much for asking.”
She tapped on the door three more times as if to say, Right on!
I went back to the dressing room and was shocked that everything was just where I’d left it, including my purse. I bought three bathing suits and two cover-ups and thought I looked good in them.
In fact, it felt like I’d lost ten pounds.
Probably because I had.
* * *
—
“What did you buy from my favorite store?” I heard my sister’s voice say from behind me. I was tossing my shopping bag on the back seat. She looked pretty and sounded perky for a change.
“Hi, Odessa,” I said. “Bathing suits.”
“Really? For your pool?”
“No, I’m going on a cruise.”
“Where to?”
“Mexico.”
She laughed.
“Have you ever been on a cruise?”
“Of course not, Loretha.”
“Would you like to go on one?”
“You’re not actually asking me, are you?”
“Yes,” I heard myself say.
“Are you serious?”
“Yes.”
“How many days?”
“Three.”
“When?”
“Four days from now.”
“Really? How much will it cost?”
“It’s free. Except for drinks.”
“You know I don’t drink.”
“Nobody would be forcing you to.”
She waved her palm forward and then downward.
“Well, I might have a glass of wine.”
I thought I was going to pass out on the hot asphalt.
“Well, a little wine never hurt.”
“Will I have my own cabin?”
“No, you’ll have to share it with me.”
“Are you serious, Loretha?”
“Yes.”
“We haven’t slept in the same room since we were ten.”
“Eleven,” I said.
“What made you ask me?”
“Because you’re my sister. Isn’t that a good enough reason?”
“But you don’t like me.”
“I love you. Liking you is difficult.”
If I wasn’t mistaken, it looked like her eyes were tearing up. I couldn’t believe I had just asked my sister to go on a cruise with me. I hadn’t really thought who I would invite because I’d been so busy with Kwame’s mother, the new shop, exercising, reading about diabetes, and learning how to cook and eat. So running into my sister in the parking lot of one of her favorite stores was a happy coincidence. In light of everything that’s happened this year, it’s about time Odessa and I started treating each other like sisters instead of adversaries. It felt like this was probably the reason Poochie had given me my extra ticket.
“So, do you want to come or not?”
“Was I your last choice?”
“Come on, Odessa. No. You’re the only one I’ve asked. We need to stop this thing between us. Can we, please?”
She looked down at the asphalt and then back at me.
“I’ve forgotten how to be nice, Loretha.”
“Well, it’s not hard. So, is that a yes?”
“And all of your girlfriends are going to be on it, too?”
“Yes, including Poochie.”
“But I thought she passed away.”
“She did, but what’s left of her is coming and we’re going to officially say goodbye to her. She bought my extra ticket and I believe she’d be happy knowing I was bringing you.”
And then Odessa hugged me. I couldn’t remember the last time I wanted to hug her.
Until now.
So I did.
* * *
—
We had agreed to meet at the cruise ship, which looked like the Titanic to me, but it appeared that I was the first one to arrive. After waiting twenty minutes I decided to go on through security and as soon as I walked out to what was the main deck there was a band greeting me and about forty other folks. When I heard my nam
e being yelled out I saw these wild broads waving at me like they were on a float in a parade. Including Odessa.
I waved back and made my way through the crowd to greet them.
“You’re late,” Sadie said. She was standing next to a tall blond woman who was nothing to write home about. But Sadie sure did look happy. The woman had her long arm around Sadie’s shoulders and walked over to me, shook my hand too hard, and said, “Hi, I’m Callie. So nice to finally meet you.”
“Nice to meet you, too, Callie. Welcome to the family!”
Joe walked over and gave me a kiss on the cheek and a thumbs-up, and Lucky smacked him upside the head. Just like old times. There was even less of her than last time I saw her, and she was starting to look younger.
Korynthia then walked toward me holding a man’s hand. I knew who this was. “Well, Henry, please meet my other BFF. Loretha, this is Henry.”
“Hello, I’ve heard a lot about you.”
Korynthia was right. Henry was handsome and those lips were luscious. His cheekbones looked chiseled and he was tall even though he was a few inches shorter than Ko. He looked like he spent quite a bit of time in the gym, too. His hair was the prettiest silver I’d seen on a man since Carl.
“Stop flirting,” Ko said to me, with a deep yes-I’m-in-love smile. She looked like she was in love. And she was dressed like it in a long, flowing floral skirt and sleeveless orange top with a sash that wrapped around her small waist about ten times.
I didn’t know falling in love was even possible at our age. But between Ko’s glow, the look on Sadie’s face, and the way Lucky was flirting with her husband like this was their restart, I guessed it was. I was happy for everybody. And with Odessa here, I was just glad to finally feel some love from my sister.
“Okay,” Korynthia said. “Well, since we’re all here now, Henry has an announcement. Take it away, Henry!”
Henry rubbed his chin.
“Well, when we stop in Ensenada tomorrow, Korynthia and I would really love it if you all would join us for our wedding. It will only take fifteen minutes to make our love official, which will give you all plenty of time to buy us expensive wedding gifts ashore before our big dinner. Will that work for everybody?”
It's Not All Downhill From Here Page 27
