by Shana Burton
“Speaking of which, have you met with that cancer patient yet?”
“Theresa McNair? No. I’m meeting with her tomorrow.” Angel picked up a grapefruit and inspected it. “I get a really strange vibe about her.”
“How come?”
“For one, she claims she found us through our Web site, but the site’s not up and running yet, so she has to be lying.”
Kina looked up. “The woman is dying, Angel. Does it really matter how she found us as long as we’re able to help her?”
Angel exhaled and let it go. “I guess you’re right. She has a small child, so I’m sure she needs all the help she can get.” Angel paused a moment. “You know, if my baby had lived, she would be celebrating her eighth birthday next month.”
Kina looked on with sympathy. “It still bothers you, doesn’t it?”
“I try not to think about it most of the time, but I was thrown back into it when Theresa’s daughter answered the phone. Hearing that little girl’s voice brought up a lot of hurt that I thought was buried.”
“You still miss him, don’t you?” Kina asked softly.
“Who, Duke?”
Kina nodded.
“Staying busy keeps my mind from going there too much, but every once in a while, I’ll have a moment like I did today.” Angel exhaled. “I loved him so much, Kina. What kind of man just wakes up one day and decides to turn his back on his family?”
“Despite what happened, I think he really did love you. He just got caught up.”
Angel shook her head. “You don’t do what he did to someone you love. He had me fooled for a long time, though. I’ll give him credit for that.”
“You’ll meet the right man one day, Angel. I’m praying for it. Then you’ll fall in love all over again and can put all that heartache behind you once and for all.”
“Even if I do remarry, I’ll never give my heart to another man like that again. It’s too hard to mend once it’s been broken.”
Chapter 11
“You can’t keep treating me like this, E’Bell.”
—Kina Battle
“Good morning,” said Kina as she set a plate of scrambled egg whites and turkey bacon down on the table in front of E’Bell.
He grunted and picked up the bacon. “What’s this?”
“Breakfast,” she replied. “It’s turkey bacon. I think it’s time we started eating healthier.” She passed a plate to Kenny.
“Since when did I start telling you to think?” fired E’Bell.
Kina sat down. “Angel says that my cholesterol is really high and that I’m at risk for all kinds of problems like heart disease and diabetes. I have to change my diet, and you know you’re always telling me that I need to lose some weight.”
E’Bell leaned back in his chair. “You wanna lose some weight, huh? First, you stay gone all times of the night, now all of a sudden you want to lose some weight. You think I’m stupid, Kina?”
She shook her head. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Oh, you don’t? You’re just gonna sit there and play the innocent role, huh? I know why you’re doing this. I bet there’s some lame cat up at the job you trying to impress,” alleged E’Bell.
“E’Bell, I haven’t met any men, honest.”
He flung back his chair and stood over her. “Then what’s with the new hairdo, huh?” He flicked a lock of her hair. “Why are you trying to lose weight? Who you trying to look good for? Where are you getting the money for all this? Is this fool giving you money too?”
At that moment, Kina’s primary concern was getting her son out of the room before things turned ugly. “Kenny, baby, go to your room and finish getting ready. Your bus will be here in a second.”
“Answer me, Kina!”
She waited for Kenny to exit before responding. “This isn’t a new hairdo, E’Bell. All I did is wash it. There is no other man.”
“You think I’m stupid, don’t you?” he repeated. “You laying up with this dude? You done had him in my house? Huh?” He backhanded her across the face, leaving a red splotch on her fair skin. “Answer me!”
Kina pressed her hand against her bruised cheek in a futile attempt to ease the sting. “I would never do anything like that, E’Bell. I swear.”
He grabbed her by the throat. “If I ever find out that you had a man in here or that you’ve been sneaking around behind my back, I’ll kill you; you understand?”
She tried but couldn’t speak. All she could do was gasp for air. E’Bell released his grip on her neck. “And don’t be making me this mess for breakfast no more. You cook what I tell you to cook.” He sat back down at the table.
Kina heaved, trying to fill her lungs with the air that she’d been denied. “You can’t keep treating me like this, E’Bell,” she whimpered.
“I don’t do nothing to you that you ain’t done to me. Look at how you disrespect me. Look at how you go out your way to try to hurt me.”
Tears fell from her cheeks into her lap. “When did I hurt you?” she wailed. “When have I ever laid a hand on you?”
“You took my dreams away from me. Don’t nothing hit harder than that.”
Kina sniffed and wiped her eyes. “You act like you ain’t even sorry. If I hurt you, at least you know it wasn’t my intention.”
“Whether you tried to or not, that’s what happened. You expect me to feel sorry for you? You want me to make things easy for you? When did anybody ever feel sorry for me? Who ever cut me a break?”
Kina cried, “All I’ve ever tried to do is love you, E’Bell!”
“Is that why you’re sneaking behind my back—to show how much you love me?”
“There is no other man, baby. Who would even want me?”
“Better not be. I swear, Kina, if I ever caught another man in this house—”
“You won’t,” she vowed to him. “I love you, I just want to be with you. All I want is for you to stop fighting with me.”
When E’Bell glimpsed at her battered face, he felt remorseful. “I don’t like hurting you, but you push my buttons and that sets me off. Then I can’t stop.”
“But everything I do makes you mad. It seems like I can’t do anything right in your eyes.”
“That’s because you don’t try, Kina.”
“I am trying, but I don’t know what else I can do to make you happy.”
E’Bell stared into the wall. “You just don’t know what it’s like for me. Didn’t nothing turn out for me the way I planned.” He looked like he was going to cry.
Kina got up and put her arm around his shoulder. “The two of us can come up with a new plan. Don’t you remember how much fun we used to have? Even in high school, everyone could see how perfect we were for each other.”
E’Bell nodded. “I remember. I had everything then—my girl, my team, fans, scholarship offers.” He swatted her arm off of him. “I could’ve played for any school in the country. NFL agents were already looking at me. Then it was all taken away.”
Kina knew that any sympathy she had garnered from him had vanished the moment he mentioned football. “What do you want from me, E’Bell? I can’t apologize for having our son.”
“What about for trapping me? Can you apologize for that? You knew I was gon’ make it big one day, so you made sure that you had your little insurance policy on my money.”
“That’s not true!” she protested. “Kenny was never my meal ticket. I had plans to go to college, too, you know. I had to realize maybe that wasn’t God’s plan for me, just like football might not have been His plan for you.”
“There you go, Kina, always putting God in it when you want to worm your way out of something. People in the streets said you got pregnant on purpose. Even my mama told me that. Well, you still want half of what I got, Kina? Fine. Do the math and figure out what’s half of nothing, ’cause that’s all I got now.”
“You’ve got me,” she replied meekly, “and you’ve got our son.”
He looke
d at her and sucked his teeth. “Like I said, I ain’t got nothing.”
Chapter 12
“You know me, okay? Biblically!”
—Lawson Kerry
“Miss Kerry!” called Mark from the school’s parking lot. She saw him in her peripheral vision but pretended not to hear. She picked up her pace.
“Lawson!” Mark’s footsteps were rapidly approaching her, making it impossible to go on ignoring him.
Lawson turned around. “Hey, I didn’t see you.”
He took a second to catch his breath. “You wanna tell me what’s going on?”
Lawson feigned innocence. “You know, first day of school and all . . .”
“This seems to be a little more than first day jitters.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she replied, walking away from him.
Mark grabbed her arm. “I think you’re avoiding me, and I want to know why.”
Lawson eased out of his grip. “What makes you think I’m avoiding you?”
“For starters, I know you got my e-mail about the new teachers’ luncheon yesterday that you didn’t bother to show up for, nor have you returned any of my phone calls. In fact, you haven’t said two words to me since Monday when you nearly passed out in my classroom. Tell me what’s up.”
“Nothing. I’ve been busy. I haven’t had time for social calls.”
He narrowed his eyes. “I believe there’s more to it than that. I hope you’re not embarrassed by what happened.”
“No. Why would I be?”
“Well, some people get a little embarrassed when someone else sees them in a vulnerable position. You shouldn’t feel bad about it, though. Starting a new job can be overwhelming, and the pressure and stress took a toll on you.”
She shook her head. “You don’t know me as well as you seem to think you do, Mr. Vinson. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a job to do.”
Mark crossed his arms in front of him. “Miss Kerry, I’m not letting you set foot into that school until you tell me what’s bothering you.”
Lawson’s voice filled with anxiety. “Just let it go, all right?”
“I’ll let it go as soon as you decide to be honest with me.”
“Are you calling me a liar?”
Mark held up his hands. “Hold on. Nobody’s doing any name-calling or making accusations. I’m just trying to find out what’s going on with one of my teachers.”
Lawson rolled her eyes. “I’m not your teacher. I’m not your anything!”
Mark was taken aback. “The last time I checked, you were still my mentee.”
She huffed and blurted out, “Therein lies the problem! I want a new mentor.”
Mark looked surprised and a little hurt. “Why?”
“I don’t feel comfortable around you.”
“Really? If I’ve done anything to make you feel this way, you have my sincerest apology. If you’d talk to me, I’m sure we could get to the bottom of this.”
“I don’t need your apology. I just need another mentor,” snapped Lawson.
“Lawson, I know that I can come on a little strong sometimes. I don’t mean anything by it, it’s just the way that I am. I can take it down a notch if you need me to.”
“Your personality isn’t the issue.”
“Then tell me what is. I’m positive that it’s all some big misunderstanding.”
“There’s no misunderstanding.” She hesitated before going on. “Working with you would just be too weird for me.”
“Why?”
She stepped in front of him. “Look closely. Don’t I look the least bit familiar?”
Mark narrowed his eyes, examining her face. “No, not really.”
“You know me, okay? Biblically!” Lawson leaned close to him and whispered, “We slept together.”
He recoiled. “We did?”
“Yes, in high school, Manny’s graduation party.”
“Manny . . . Are you talking about Emanuel Young?”
Lawson nodded.
Mark thought back and smiled. “La-La?”
“Now you remember?”
“Wow,” he said in awe. “You look so different, not that it’s a bad thing, of course! You’re just . . . wow.” He shook his head, amused by the revelation. “Why didn’t you say anything sooner?”
“It’s embarrassing enough that you didn’t remember.”
“Shoot, that had to have been, what, fourteen years ago?” He chuckled. “So you’re having my baby,” he sang in his best Jodeci impression. “You remember that?”
“I couldn’t forget it if I wanted to,” Lawson thought aloud.
“Yeah, that night was crazy! Girl . . . well, come here.” Mark pulled Lawson into a bear hug before releasing her. “I hate we didn’t keep in touch.”
“Not half as much as I do,” she mumbled. “At least then you’d know that nobody’s called me La-La in years.”
“So, that’s why you’ve been acting so strange,” he concluded.
“It’s not every day that I end up working alongside the guy I lost my virginity to.”
“You know, they say that you never forget your first,” he added smugly. They began walking again. “If it means anything, I’m sorry I didn’t call like I should’ve. I was young and couldn’t see past football and college. I should’ve handled things better.”
“When you know better, you do better, as my mother used to say. We were teenagers. Who doesn’t make mistakes at that age?”
“Thanks for being so cool about it,” said Mark as they made their way through the throngs of teenagers swarming the hallway. “Now that we’ve cleared the air, I hope that you’ll change your mind about our working together. In light of everything, I really want to get to know you again. Just because we’ve seen each other naked doesn’t mean that things have to be weird between us.”
“Actually, it wasn’t really weird until you said that.”
He laughed a little. “You know what I mean. We’re both adults. I’m sure we can handle it; assuming, of course, you’ll still let me be your mentor.”
Lawson relented. “I suppose we can try and see how it goes.”
“Fair enough. I meant what I said about getting to know each other. By the end of the semester, I want to know everything about you from your favorite food to what student you want to throw over a bridge.”
Getting to know the intimate details of each other’s life was the last thing Lawson was hoping for. “You’ll soon find out that I’m a very private person, Mark.”
“That’s what you say right now. Give me a few weeks, though,” he dared her. “I’ll have you spilling your deepest, darkest secrets out. You’ll see.”
Nothing frightened Lawson more than the possibility of him succeeding in doing so.
Chapter 13
“I think it’s indelibly marked on my brain now.”
—Sullivan Webb
Sullivan half listened as Charles chatted with her on the phone that morning, reminding her to pray for one of the deacons at the church who was having surgery that afternoon. Deacon Wade and his heart problems were the furthest things from Sullivan’s mind. She was too busy trying to stop her thoughts from wandering to the wonderfully and fearfully made Vaughn Lovett.
“And don’t forget to schedule a rehearsal for the children’s choir this week,” added Charles. “Next Sunday is fifth Sunday, you know.”
“I still don’t know why I have to do it,” whined Sullivan as she sipped on her Morning Sunrise, a potent combination she created, consisting of grapefruit juice blended with ice, yogurt, and vodka. “You know I don’t mix well with children.”
“And you know that it’s customary for the First Lady to direct the children’s choir on fifth Sundays. It’s only a few Sundays out of the year. Surely that’s not asking too much.”
“Would it matter if it was?” she fired back. Another call came through before Charles could answer her. “That’s my phone. I have to take this call.” She hung up with
out another word to her husband and clicked over to the other line. “Hello?”
“May I speak to Sullivan Webb please?”
She was caught off guard by the velvety voice on the other end of the phone. “Yes. Who’s this?”
“It’s Vaughn from Supreme Auto on Sexton. I fixed your BMW the other day.”
A grin snaked across Sullivan’s lips. “How could I forget? Hello, Mr. Lovett.”
“You remembered my name this time.” Sullivan smiled into the phone. “I think it’s indelibly marked on my brain now. Now, to what do I owe the pleasure of this phone call?”
“Huh?”
She giggled. “Why are you calling me?”
“I just wanted to make sure the car’s running okay. I’m the new guy, so Mike likes for me to do follow-up calls to make sure everything’s all right after the first day or so. You haven’t had any problems, have you?”
“Nope. You took very good care of me, if I do say so myself.”
“Just doin’ my job. Glad I could help.” Silence passed between them as Sullivan scrambled for something to say to prolong their conversation. “Well, it was nice meeting you, Mrs. Webb. If you have any problems, just holler at me. You know the number.”
The thought that this could be their last time speaking was sobering for Sullivan. Their brief connection may not have amounted to much, but his presence was a welcomed break from the monotony of her routine life. “So, this is it, huh?”
“I hope so,” replied Vaughn. “It’s not too good for business if your car is breaking down every week.”
She scrawled his name with her finger. “Well, we’ll always have Auto World.”
“I’m sure we’ll see each other around,” he assured her. “Hey, a customer just walked in. I’ll check you later.”
The easiest and smartest thing to do at that moment would’ve been to hang up, but Sullivan wasn’t always prone to doing things the easy or the smart way. “Vaughn, wait!”
“’Sup?” She heard Vaughn tell the customer he’d be right with him.
