The Johnson Sisters

by Tresser Henderson

  “Still, you should have hurt him. He tried to stab you with a steak knife.”

  “As long as no one was hurt, I’m good. He’s in a better place now.”

  “I plan on pressing charges and getting a restraining order against that fool,” I said.

  “I hope so. I hope you know after today you can come to me about anything,” Grayson offered.

  “So you are not firing me?” I asked.

  “No,” he said, frowning like he couldn’t believe I’d said that. “You tried to resolve the issue. You couldn’t help that it escalated like it did. Your ex has been banned from this establishment for good, but just in case he manages to get back in here and approaches you, come find me. Yell, even. You have to take care of yourself regardless of your setting, especially with someone as unstable as he is.”

  I smiled and told him, “Thank you, Grayson. I appreciate this.”

  “You are so welcome.”

  “I’m going to have to make you dinner or something as a thank-you, but you are my boss, so I’m not trying to overstep any boundaries between employee and employer,” I joked.

  “What people don’t know won’t hurt them,” he said with a look that made me wonder if Grayson wanted more than friendship from me.

  “So dinner tomorrow night at seven?” I asked, throwing the hook out to see if he would bite.

  “Tomorrow at seven sounds great,” he agreed, smiling, and just like that I went from sad to delighted.

  Chapter 24

  Shauna

  Boy, was I tired. I thought the day would never end. It was so hard pretending like I loved my job when I hated dealing with people. Only my dumb self would get a job that required dealing with people all damn day. Still, the day ended well despite how Cal tried to ruin it. I was off for the next two days, so I was looking forward to relaxing a bit, and also my dinner with Grayson tomorrow.

  I walked into my home and plopped down on my sofa, wishing my shower was already taken. I took one before I went to work, but I always needed to take another to wash off the stench of the restaurant, which to me smelled like grease and onions. I sat up and unbuttoned the burgundy collared shirt and took it off because I was tired of smelling it. I needed a few minutes before I willed myself to the bathroom to wash this aroma off of me.

  Picking up the mail I’d just gotten out of my mailbox, I saw that all of the envelopes were bills. Can once, just once, somebody send me a damn check? I’ll even take a credit for overpayment on something; anything that would require money coming in instead of always going out. I tossed the pile of envelopes back on my coffee table. When I did that, Dawn’s invitation fell to the floor.

  “If that ain’t a damn sign,” I mumbled to myself. I leaned down to pick it up. I read the black-and-white invitation again.

  Dawn Cherie Johnson and Corey Raquon Lewis

  Request the honor of your presence

  at their wedding

  On Saturday, the ninth of January two thousand

  and sixteen

  At five o’clock in the evening

  At the Mount Zion Baptist Church.

  Who in the hell gets married two weeks after Christmas? They must call themselves starting the year off right. How wrong was she? She was marrying a man who was no damn good for her, and she was too stupid to see it, yet she was mad at us. She puts us down for trying to help her stupid behind, but raises this punk up like he’s a saint.

  Every time I read this and thought about Dawn and how she went off on us over a month ago, I got pissed off all over again. The nerve of her, taking my ordeal with Cal to make her own situation look better. It was so wrong to me. What happened to me was a one-time thing, like I told her. If a man puts his hands on me, it’s a done deal. Hell, if he cheats on me, his behind could get to steppin’ then, too. I was not going to put up with any type of bullshit from nobody, and that included my impolite sister.

  I hadn’t tried to call Dawn, and she hadn’t bothered to call me either. I guessed she was busy planning her nuptials. I was surprised she sent me an invitation at all, but maybe she did this to rub her wedding in our faces, and maybe it was just to let us know she was still going through with it.

  The only one who really knew what was going on was Vivian. Even after all the stuff Dawn said to her, Vivian took it upon herself to try to resolve things. It took her a while to get through to her, but at least now they were talking. I didn’t know why Viv tried to resolve things with Dawn. We weren’t wrong. How Dawn treated us was uncalled for, and she just got dealt some of her own medicine.

  Vivian kept us in the loop on what was going on with our sister. Things got so good between them two that Vivian was now a bridesmaid in her wedding. The last I heard from her was that she was trying to get Serena and Phoenix to come around also, just like she tried to do with me, but I wasn’t having it.

  “Come on, Shauna. Dawn is our sister,” Vivian said.

  “And?”

  “And we need to work this out. You have to be there. How can you not come?”

  “It’s easy, Viv. I don’t agree with it, and I damn sure don’t appreciate what she said to us,” I argued.

  “A lot of things were said that night that were wrong. Now we need to come back together and let all of that go. One day you don’t want to look back and regret not being there for her.”

  “Then I’ll deal with that day when it comes, but for now, I don’t give a rat’s ass about Dawn or her bogus wedding.”

  “If she apologizes, will you come to her wedding?” Vivian asked.

  “Like she’s going to do that. Dawn is more stubborn than I am. You know damn well she’s not going to let the words ‘I’m sorry’ pass through her lips.”

  “But what if she does?” Vivian asked.

  “I don’t know, Viv.”

  “We are going to fix this. This has gone on for too long.”

  I hadn’t heard anything from Dawn yet, but I didn’t expect to hear from her. She was standing her ground and I was too. Dawn getting married to Corey was a big mistake. As her sister, I had a right to say so. You can’t force anything in life to work, especially a relationship doomed for disaster.

  Look at me. I didn’t try to work it out with Cal after he beat me. Before our confrontation today, he was texting me over and over again, talking about how sorry he was and how he would never do it again if I gave him another chance.

  Baby plse txt me bck.

  I’m sorry baby. U no I luv u. It will never happen again.

  What can I do 2 make us wrk?

  I’m miserable w/o u.

  U no u made me do it.

  I’m sorry. I need you baby.

  Nothing but a bunch of lies. I may not be the smartest person in the world, but I knew never to take an abusive man back for him to do it again. That next time could possibly kill me. I wasn’t the one, and I wouldn’t be the one for Cal. I thought the only reason he really wanted to come back to me was because he needed a place to stay. He didn’t want to go back and live with his mother, her man, his sister, and her four kids in a three-bedroom apartment, which was exactly where he had to go unless he wanted to live in the park. As far as I was concerned, Cal could continue to kick rocks, because I was done with him. Hell, I was done with stupid people. If you didn’t get it and didn’t want help, you could get out my face. It was simple as that. I have this one life to live, and I wasn’t about to waste my time on people who only cared about themselves.

  I finally managed to get up to go take my shower when there was a knock at the door. Instantly I became panic-stricken. I wasn’t expecting anyone, so who was knocking at my door? Was it Cal coming back to exact more revenge after what happened today? I tiptoed to the door to check the peephole first to see who was standing on the other side before I opened it. If it was Cal, he wasn’t getting in here to try to hurt me again. I would immediately call the cops, because he would be violating the restraining order I filed against him before I got home.

  Peeping through
the hole, I saw it wasn’t Cal, but the person standing there shocked me. Picking up my shirt, I put it back on, attempting to button it back up. I swung the door open.

  “Hey, Grayson,” I said, smiling sheepishly.

  “I hope you don’t mind me dropping by like this.”

  “No, not at all. Come in.” I gestured, stepping back for him to walk in, and he did.

  I shut the door, making sure to lock it just in case Cal managed to get out of jail and was somewhere scoping out my place. As crazy as he acted earlier, I wouldn’t put it past him. I hoped he was still in jail, but I knew his mom had probably already bailed him out.

  “I’m sorry to show up like this, but I’m here making sure you made it home okay,” Grayson said with his hands in his pockets.

  “Aw, that’s sweet,” I said. “You can sit down if you like,” I suggested, and he did so nervously. “You know you could have called me to see if I made it okay, Grayson.” I smirked.

  “I know, but seeing you for myself is better than hearing it from your lips,” he said.

  I stretched my eyes at how he said that, and instantly got turned on. I guessed he noticed the surprised look on my face, because he backpedaled and tried to find a better way of saying it.

  “I meant I wanted to see for myself,” he corrected.

  “Well, here I am, and as you can see, I’m okay.”

  “I’m glad, but I’m seeing more than you probably want me to,” Grayson said, nodding toward me.

  I looked down to see one of my buttons was undone, revealing my black lace bra.

  “Oh, I’m sorry,” I said, embarrassed as I buttoned my shirt. “I was getting ready to get out of these clothes and take my shower when you knocked.”

  He giggled, saying, “You know I didn’t mind.”

  Again with his slick remarks, I thought. After making sure none of my body parts were showing, I looked back up at Grayson.

  “You know, I don’t think Cal would be dumb enough to try anything stupid.” I lied because I didn’t know what he was capable of, but the one thing I did know was I wasn’t scared. Well, maybe a little bit, but I was prepared for him now. The gun I kept in my top drawer now made me feel more secure, and I wouldn’t hesitate using it on him if need be.

  “You can’t put anything past someone like him,” Grayson said.

  “You are right, but I’m going to be okay,” I said, feeling like I was trying to find something to talk about with him. I felt like there was something else he wanted to talk to me about, but I couldn’t put my finger on it, so I asked.

  “Did you come over for something else, Grayson?” I asked, not beating around the bush. I wasn’t at work now, so I could talk like I wanted to.

  He dropped his head as he smiled. “You got me,” he said, clasping his hands together.

  “So what’s this visit really about?”

  Chapter 25

  Serena

  It was not even seven in the morning when I heard a horn blaring outside. It woke me out of my sleep. At first I thought I was dreaming, but when I opened my eyes and still heard the high-pitched horn, I realized I wasn’t. Whoever it was wasn’t just beeping the horn. They were laying on the horn for a long time. I was so aggravated because Nevaeh had finally done well sleeping last night, and the one morning I was able to sleep in, a car blowing its horn wakes me up.

  I sighed with much frustration and crawled out of bed to look out of the window to see who it was disturbing the entire neighborhood this early in the morning. To my dismay, it was Juanita. I recognized that bright red coupe anywhere. She was parked in front of our house in the wrong direction, making a spectacle of herself. Something was on the side of her car, but I couldn’t quite make it out.

  I snatched my robe off my chair and went over to Tyree’s side of the bed, shaking him.

  “Hum,” he said, making me mad because he was able to sleep through all of this commotion. This man could sleep through a category-five hurricane, which could rip our house to shreds, and he would still be snoozing like nothing was happening.

  I shook him again but made sure to do it harder this time. If I couldn’t sleep, he wasn’t going to sleep either.

  “What?” he muttered.

  “Get up, Tyree. Juanita is outside.”

  “What?” he asked again, disoriented.

  “Get up!” I yelled. “Juanita is outside waking the neighborhood with her horn blowing. You need to get her out of here.”

  Tyree was lying on his stomach and positioned himself up on his elbows. His head was down in his hands, and then he rubbed his eyes. Juanita blew her horn again, and Tyree shook his head. I stood over him with my arms crossed, waiting for him to get up. He slowly rose. He sat up on the side of the bed, stretching and yawning; all the while Juanita was still blaring her horn like a maniac.

  “Hurry up and come on. This is embarrassing, Tyree. Get her out of her,” I said, pulling on him.

  “I’m coming,” he said, rising to his feet. His morning erection was saluting me. He reached down and grabbed it as he walked to our master bathroom.

  We made our way downstairs. Tyree opened the front door to an even louder horn being blown, since we didn’t have the walls of our home to block out some of the sound now. What I saw shocked the hell out of me. This woman had the nerve to have a banner with Tyree’s picture on it plastered to the sides of her car, reading: TYREE WANTED FOR CHILD SUPPORT. HE IS A DEADBEAT DAD.

  When Juanita saw us standing in our doorway, she laid on the horn even harder. By now some neighbors were coming outside or peeping out of their windows to see what was going on.

  She rolled her window down and began yelling, “Deadbeat dad. Deadbeat dad,” over and over again.

  “Juanita, what in the hell do you think you are doing?” Tyree yelled, trying to scream over her blowing the horn.

  “What does it look like I’m doing? I’m protesting your sorry ass because you a deadbeat father to our son,” she screamed and then laid on the horn again.

  Tyree ran over to the car. Juanita let the window up before he could get to her. He tried to open the door, but she had them locked. She was looking at him with evil intent, still blaring her horn like somebody crazy.

  “You got my son with you,” Tyree said, looking in the back seat to see Zamir. “Where’s his car seat? Open the door, Juanita, and give me my son,” Tyree yelled, banging on her window.

  I could tell Tyree was getting mad. I ran over to him and grabbed him by the arm to stop him before he did something stupid. “Come on, Tyree. Let’s call the cops. This is what she wants,” I told him.

  “But she has my son,” he said, looking at Zamir, who was looking at us crying. Tears were streaming down his little cheeks. “Give me my son,” Tyree demanded again, banging on the window, but Juanita ignored him, still pushing down on her horn.

  I tugged at Tyree, but it was no use. He was not budging. He kept jerking his arm away from me, which was ticking me off. I finally gave up and ran into the house. Picking up the phone off the console table in our living room, I called the police. The dispatcher let me know a call had already been made about a disturbance in the neighborhood, and a unit was on its way. I was happy to hear that, but I needed them here now before Tyree did something that could land him in some trouble.

  When I went outside, I saw it was too late. Tyree had put his fist through the driver’s side window of Juanita’s car. This was the only time she let go of that damn horn. She was screaming like somebody was trying to kill her. Tyree was reaching in, trying to unlock the door, and Juanita was fighting him and screaming for someone to help her.

  He wasn’t even touching her, but Juanita was screaming, “He’s attacking me!”

  “Tyree, stop!” I yelled to him, but he didn’t.

  He managed to get the door open. Juanita went wild, swinging and punching at him while he struggled to reach on the door to unlock all the doors, giving him access to open the back driver’s side door. Once he did that, Tyree
went to the back door to open it.

  Juanita hopped out, punching him in the back. I had to hand it to Tyree; he didn’t swing on her. As a man he knew he couldn’t, but I could. I went over and jerked Juanita by her left arm, causing her to now turn her rage to me. I didn’t care, because this allowed Tyree to reach into the back seat and retrieve his son.

  Juanita swung on me and landed a nice right hook to my jaw, which caused me to stumble back. I lost my balance and fell to the ground. Juanita resumed inflicting her rage on Tyree. She didn’t care that he was holding their son, who was screaming his little heart out.

  Tyree held his arm out like he was trying to push her back from landing any blows to his son. The next thing I know, Juanita was throwing herself to the ground. I turned to see the cops arriving at the worst moment possible. I wasn’t sure how much they’d witnessed, but as they came to a stop, the two officers jumped out of the squad car and drew their weapons on Tyree.

  “Get down on the ground!” one of the officers demanded.

  “He beat me,” Juanita lied.

  “Ain’t nobody beat you,” Tyree yelled, bouncing his son, who seemed to have calmed down.

  The officer yelled his demand again. “Sir, get down on the ground now!”

  Tyree stood there disobeying the officers. “Are you serious? You want me to get down on the ground holding my son?” he asked angrily.

  “Tyree,” I said, now on my feet. I began to approach him.

  “Ma’am, get back,” the other officer said, pointing his weapon at me to halt as I threw my hands in the air.

  “Why?” I asked. “I’m just going to get Zamir from him. His son doesn’t need to see your guns being drawn on his father,” I said.

  “Just do as we asked,” the officer said.

  I didn’t move, but I said, “Tyree, listen to the officers. Please get down before they shoot you and your son.”

  Tyree gaped at me as I gave him an assuring look. He then dropped to his knees, still holding his son.