The Winter Reunion

by Rhonda McKnight

  I grimaced. “You’re kidding, right?”

  His eyes became intensely serious. “I prayed you would come. You’re here. I didn’t mean to offend you by thanking Him with a scripture.”

  I crossed my arms over my chest. “You play the Bible like you do football.”

  “I don’t play the Bible, but I’d have to show you rather than tell you.” He paused under my heated glare. “We need to talk. I have things to say to you, Tamar. Things I’ve been wanting to say for a long time.”

  I shook my head. “I hate this. I don’t want to hear what you have to say.” I turned and headed back to my car. So much for not letting them see me sweat. Pamela and the group she was yapping with had a show, as did the few other people who’d entered the parking lot.

  I should have played pro-ball. I was faster than the all-star running back behind me. But like Stephen Pierce always did on the field, he gained yardage and caught up. When I reached the vehicle, his hand was on mine. What made him think he had the right?

  “Don’t touch me!” I growled through clenched teeth.

  “Tamar, please. Please, don’t leave. I promise to respect your space. If you can just give me ten minutes.”

  I opened the car door and got in.

  “Tay, be reasonable. You’re here. Help with the toys…”

  I slammed the door on his words.

  I was grateful for keyless starters. My hands were shaking so badly that I wouldn’t have been able to insert a key.

  Forget the toys. Forget Stephen. Forget Eva. No one was going to make me do this. I started the engine, put the car in reverse and slammed on the accelerator. The car swerved and with a loud crash, it plowed into the oak tree.

  Chapter 6

  Tamar wasn’t hurt. She clenched the steering wheel and closed her eyes. Her lips were moving. From the looks of it, she was beating herself up pretty bad.

  I thought about the comments on social media from my followers. If I was posting right now, I’d say, “Well, Tweethearts and Instafolk – she hasn’t gotten fat or ugly or any of that.” Tamar Johnson was still as breathtaking as ever. She was unpretentious in a wool peacoat, jeans and Ugg boots. No makeup, but none was required. She was wearing her hair natural now. It was a huge mass of thick curls that puffed out from her small face and nearly buried it. But not those eyes. Those intensely beautiful, dark brown eyes that burrowed into my soul could not be overshadowed by anything. Not when they were open.

  She was everything I had hoped she would be. She was also still angry, which I was hoping somewhere in my subconscious that she wasn’t. Not because I didn’t deserve it. She didn’t deserve it. She didn’t deserve the pain that unforgiveness caused. I knew well what ugly emotions did to your soul. I’d been carrying guilt and shame around like a double-weighted set of shoulder pads.

  It wasn’t right to be happy that she wrecked the car.

  Everyone surveyed the damage. It was banged up pretty good. Temper made for good acceleration. I pulled the door open. Tamar got out. Bottom lip clamped between her teeth, she inspected the car. Resigned to the mess she’d made, she walked back to the door and removed her handbag. “This day is going from bad to worse.”

  “A writer using a cliché.” The words slipped from my lips before I realized it.

  She frowned. I wasn’t sure why, but she looked surprised.

  My heart answered the question in her eyes. I remember everything you ever said.

  She’d been writing since first grade and she said clichés were other people’s words. Real writers didn’t use them. They were akin to plagiarism and definitely weren’t creative.

  “But it’s dialogue,” she offered tightly.

  “True.” I finished her statement. “Writers can use them in dialogue because that’s how people talk.”

  I thought I saw her relax under the icy stare she’d given me a moment ago. If talking about writing was some kind of deicer, I would talk about it all afternoon.

  “I’ll leave you alone for the next two days if you want, but please don’t leave.” I didn’t wait for her to reply. I squeezed into the small car. After adjusting the seat, I pulled the car off the tree and into the parking space she’d recklessly abandoned. I removed the rental contract from the glove compartment.

  Pamela and a few others gathered around, being nosy and checking on the situation. I placed a call to report the damage to the rental car company.

  The crowd thinned as they went into the building.

  “I could have done that myself,” Tamar said. “I would have preferred to do it myself.”

  I stepped out and push the door shut. “It’s done. They said they’d have a tow and a car here by five.”

  She frowned. “Five. That’s more than three hours from now.”

  “I don’t know what big city you live in, but you know how things happen here.”

  She released a long breath. “I guess I’m stuck.”

  I didn’t say what came to mind because it had been the trigger that sent her reeling the first time, but I thought: God intended it for good.

  Chapter 7

  Ten minutes into the gift wrapping, I set the alarm on my phone to ring in two hours to remind me to call the car rental place to make sure they were on their way. Standing in this room with Stephen was like purgatory. I didn’t want to endure it for a second more than I had to.

  He supervised the event like a pro. I learned from a woman in a class a few years ahead of me that Stephen had been donating all the toys and wrappings for this event for the past five years. And every year he came to supervise. Not only did he do this, but he sponsored events at Easter and during back-to-school time, too. He ran a summer camp and a football camp and during the off season, he went to all the local elementary schools in Philadelphia and read to the children to promote his “Read with Stephen” literacy campaign. He was busier off the field than he was on. I could tell by the endless amount of patience he had with everyone asking questions and coming up with fake reasons to need him to stop by their tables that he loved serving.

  But still I had no grace for him because he wasn’t the only person in the room that knew me. There were hushed conversations and even some pointing. I know I overheard someone say, “Video Virgin.” I could read lips, too. Video and virgin were obvious words, especially when you were looking for them. There weren’t even that many people from my class here, but everyone knew who I was and I hated it.

  My phone rang. It was Eva. I wanted to ignore it, but she’d only keep calling. I stole a glance at Stephen before answering and cut my eyes at his back. He was more guilty of my being here than Eva. He was being selfish. She was doing her job. I answered.

  “Have you seen Pierce?”

  I glanced in his direction again. Just at the moment that he looked up at me. Warm eyes over a hesitant smile met mine. I turned my back and walked out of the room. The Christmas music playing in the lobby was loud, so I decided to step outside on the porch. A sharp gust of freezing wind ripped through my body. What had I been thinking coming out here coatless? This was not Atlanta.

  The snow that had been light sprinkles was coming down heavier. I looked at the wrecked car. Most of the damage was concealed by a blanket of fresh snow.

  “Anne, Tamar, whatever your name is…are you there?” Eva’s voice was loud in the quiet of the outside.

  “I’m here. I had to leave the building. It’s noisy and I don’t have a great signal,” I replied. “I’ve seen Stephen. I’m with him now.”

  Eva gasped. “Oh gosh, did I interrupt you?”

  I shook my head. “No, we’re doing this gift wrap thing.”

  “But you have talked to him.”

  “Yes, Eva, I have and I have your questions. I’ll work it out.”

  She hesitated before her next question. “Is there a lot of tension between you two?”

  Like you care. I pursed my lips. “I can do my job.”

  “Good.
I want a great interview. I’ve already reached out to his publicist about booking a photo shoot.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Uh, huh.”

  The door creaked behind me and I turned. Stephen was there with my coat in his hand.

  “Eva, I have to go.” I pushed the end button and shoved the phone into my pocket. I reached for the coat, but he held it open instead for me to slip my arms in. I didn’t know when a man had done that for me, but I wasn’t ready to receive it from Stephen. I tugged at the tail of it. He cocked his head and held it firm.

  “When did you become so chivalrous?” I asked, backing into the coat and sliding my arms in.

  “I always tried to respect you as a woman, Ta – mar.” He was careful to finish my name.

  I guffawed. “If recording me losing my virginity and then posting it on YouTube is respecting me, I wonder what you’d do if you didn’t have respect.”

  I walked around him. I tried to get to the door, but he caught me by the hand. My heart betrayed me again. I was still stunned by his touch.

  “I have told you over and over again, I did not make that video.”

  I fought cussing him out. “We were in your bedroom. It was your webcam and your computer. No one lived in the house except you and your parents and they were in Philly.”

  “I know all that, but I didn’t,” he insisted. “Why can’t you believe me? Even now, after all these years, you think I wouldn’t admit it? What do I have to gain by lying to you now?”

  “I don’t know, but I know if you don’t leave me alone, you have some stuff to lose.”

  He frowned and released my hand. “What do you mean by that?”

  I crossed my arms over my chest. “Maybe the story I should tell in my interview is about the real Stephen Pierce. The one I know. About how he slept with me, made a video, put it on the Internet and then denied it was him for twelve years. I bet the media would love that story.” I sneered. “The Real Stephen Pierce. That’s a ridiculous Instagram handle you have. You’re not real. You’re not some super Christian.”

  Hurt reflected in his eyes, but he recovered with a shrug. “I never said I was a super Christian.”

  “The world thinks you are.”

  Stephen stuck his hands in his pockets and licked his lips, like he was considering his next words. “Look, Tamar, I’m sorry I hurt you. I’m sorry that something that was so beautiful got turned into something so ugly, but more than anything, I’m sorry you’re still hurt about it.”

  I felt my eyes getting wet. I wanted to be nasty, not hurt. I looked down at my shoes to avoid his eyes. They weakened me even more than the coaxing tenor of his voice.

  “I tried to get to you through your father. I wanted to talk it out, but you disappeared. Now, you’re here and—”

  The door opened. Joe, the jovial man who operated the front desk of the shelter poked his head out. “Stephen, we’re ready to take the pictures for the paper.”

  Stephen nodded. “Give me a few minutes, Joe.”

  “No need.” I pulled the door all the way open. Sensing my energy, Joe yanked his head inside. I threw words over my shoulder. “It wasn’t ten minutes, but we’re finished.”

  Chapter 8

  The crowd disappeared. We were done wrapping. Anticipating the arrival of my car, I stood at the window like a dog waiting for his master. I’d tried calling the rental desk at the airport, but they kept me on hold forever and then cut me off. The snow was coming down in thick chunks now and I wondered how long it would be before the new rental arrived. There were only a few cars in the parking lot. My train wreck, a massive SUV with New Jersey plates that obviously belonged to the fifteen-million-dollar man I’d left in the other room, and two old pickup trucks that likely belonged to the shelter employees.

  I caught the glint of headlights weaving through the trees. I pulled on my coat and pushed the door open. Disappointment flooded me when I realized it wasn’t my new rental or the tow truck. It was a small van that pulled right up to the front steps. The side door opened and a few men and women climbed out. It was clear they were residents of the shelter.

  Joe came out of the front door, greeted the driver and the people. As they were passing me, I recognized one of them.

  “Pete?”

  He turned. Pete Pierce. Stephen’s first cousin.

  “Tamar,” he said. He was a mess. Linty locs, stained teeth and body odor met me. “Girl, I ain’t seen you in over ten years.”

  I nodded. “Yeah, well I haven’t been home in a while.”

  “Since graduation.” Pete looked out at the parking lot and the smile he wore dropped from his face. I followed his line of sight to Stephen’s SUV. “Stephen in there?”

  I nodded.

  “You with him again?” There was a relief and excitement in his eyes that was genuine, but way more than natural.

  I shook my head. “No. I uh – I’m here for the reunion. I didn’t know Stephen would be here.” I lied. I wasn’t sure why. I guess I didn’t want Pete thinking I was still interested in his cousin.

  “Stephen’s always at the reunion. He looks for you every year. He must be really glad.”

  I sighed and raised a hand to rub his arm. “It’s good to see you, Pete.”

  He shook his head. “Not like this, but I’m going to get myself together.”

  “It’s okay. We all have hard times.”

  He frowned and reached into his pocket for a pack of cigarettes. “I gotta go through the back. I don’t want Stephen to see me. Don’t tell him you saw me.”

  I nodded. “Okay, Pete, but you and Stephen used to be really close.”

  He shrugged, shoved the cigarette in his mouth, and lit it. “You and Stephen used to be close, too.”

  He turned to walk down the steps. I wasn’t sure what it was, but I heard something in his tone. Had Stephen betrayed him in some way, too? I wanted to ask, but he was moving through the snow around the back of the building like a bullet.

  The sun was setting. The van crawled back through the woods and I saw headlights again. It had to be my car. I pulled the hood of my coat over my head and flew down the steps. It was the tow truck.

  “I was wondering if you’d make it before nightfall,” I said as he stepped out of his truck.

  “You wrecked this pretty good.”

  “I know.” I examined the damage again. “Let me get my stuff.” I went to the trunk, removed my suitcase and laptop bag.

  The driver proceeded to hook the car up to the truck.

  “Do you know if my car will be here soon?”

  He shook his head. “I don’t know nothing about a car, lady. I just take the wrecked ones.”

  I nodded and bit my lip. Of course. The logo on his truck indicated he was a private contractor.

  “Do you need me to sign anything?” My teeth chattered on every word. The coat I had wasn’t sufficient for this weather and snow was seeping into my Uggs. I’d have to go out in the morning and buy snow boots and gloves.

  The driver handed me a clipboard. I hopped around as I reviewed the details and then scribbled my name.

  “Go inside, Tamar.” Stephen took my luggage. “Joe has a hot drink for you.”

  He didn’t get an argument from me this time. I was too cold to bother. I did a penguin dance back up to the building and slipped inside. Joe met me at the door with a cup of hot cocoa. I thanked him and returned to my favorite spot in the building – the window.

  Stephen opened his trunk and shoved my bags inside. I didn’t understand why he was doing that. He should have brought them inside. I pulled on the door to call to him, but my cell rang. The unknown 800-number had to be about the car, so I answered it.

  The caller greeted me.

  “Is this about my car?”

  “Yes, ma’am, we’re calling to inform you that we won’t be able to get a replacement car to you this evening.”

  I didn’t think I was hearing her correctly and
I said so. “That’s impossible for me to accept. I am stranded on the outskirts of a town where I don’t know anyone.”

  I heard the door open and close behind me. Stephen. I could feel him.

  “We apologize for the inconvenience. You can submit a receipt for your hotel bill and we’ll reimburse you for the night. We can have a car to you by eight a.m. tomorrow. You’ll need to call us to let us know your address.”

  “No!” I yelled. “I don’t have a way to even get to a hotel. I’m stuck. I’m in the middle of nowhere. If you had called me earlier, I could have gotten a ride with someone, but now everyone is gone because I waited for you.”

  “I apologize. Perhaps you can enlist the assistance of the local emergency services.”

  I pressed the end button. I closed my eyes. I wanted to cry. I wanted to cry because I had no car, because I was in Pennsylvania and because the only person that could help me was Stephen. I didn’t want his help. I wanted to be home in Atlanta where I could continue to hide, lie about my name and live under the radar like I had been for years.

  I turned to Stephen. I was embarrassed that I was being so emotional in front of him.

  “You ready to go?” He looked like he felt sorry for me.

  I nodded. The tears I’d been fighting since I laid eyes on him finally fell.

  Chapter 9

  Silence filled the car as we exited the parking lot and then for the first two miles of the slow trip down the slick highway.

  “I guess you’re staying with your dad.”

  “The Mulberry,” Tamar replied, referencing the only hotel in Pine. She had no idea I owned the Mulberry. Pine was in a bad financial state. The only way to save some of the storefronts was for me to buy them and invest in them. I loved our hometown and the people. I couldn’t let it disappear.

  She pulled tissues from her handbag and swiped under her eyes.

  “Does your father know you’re in town?”

  “That’s none of your business.”

  “I’m just asking.”