“Well, you’re going to keep on hearing it until you start treating your daughter like she’s seventeen and not seven,” Julie said to her husband’s back.
***
Saturday morning, Wayne was up and dressed before his alarm clock went off. He walked into his parents’s house just as his father started dialing his number.
“What the hell are you doing here on time?” Nevel asked in shock.
“You got a problem with that?”
“I wish you could be on time every morning.”
On the way to their first job of the day, Wayne drove in silence as his father wolfed down his egg McMuffin.
“You think I’m too hard on your sister?” his father asked between bites.
“I think she’s used to being one way; and it’s hard for her to accept the things you want her to do just because it’s in her best interest. I mean, she’s seventeen; she’s at the age where she’s piecing together her identity.”
“And I don’t want four babies from four different daddies being part of that identity,” Nevel shot back. “You’re not stupid. You know how these kids think. They act as if they’re invincible, like they can’t get pregnant or catch AIDS. She may think I’m hard on her now, but she’ll thank me in the long run. Allah says in the Holy Quran ‘save yourself and your family from the hell fire’. And that’s what I’m going to do. Speaking of which, what happened to you yesterday? I didn’t see you at the Mosque.”
“You’re the Muslim, Dad, not me.”
“You need to come to the Mosque and get some guidance in your life.”
“I’m not the one needing guidance.” Wayne could feel himself getting upset at his father’s holier-than-thou attitude. “I’m not the one going back and forth to prison, leaving my family to fend for themselves.”
“I’m having a hard enough time with your mother and sister, don’t you start with me.”
“I’m saying—”
Nevel balled up the Egg McMuffin wrapper and threw it out the window. “What are you saying?”
“I’m twenty-six years old and from as far back as I can remember, I’ve always known you as a hustler.”
“Well, I’ve changed. I ran the streets all my life. I’ve been shot, stabbed, beat down... you name it. Instead of these situations slowing me down, I hit the streets even harder. There was only one thing in this world that could slow a fast track hustler like me down—old age. I look at all the years I wasted on the streets and in prison, and I’m full of regrets. I know I haven’t been the perfect father, but if there’s anything I want you and Alisa to remember me for, it’s for all the mistakes I made. Learn from them so you won’t have to waste a large part of your life making the same ones.”
Wayne stared at his father, speechless. He couldn’t remember the last time his father talked to him from the heart.
Nana stood on her porch in her housecoat and slippers, ready to bark orders when Nevel and Wayne pulled up. “I want you to start with the garage,” she started. “Then, I got some stuff in the attic that needs to be brought down and carried to the curb for garbage pickup. And I hope you brought enough fertilizer this time.”
“Nana,” Wayne said, taking his keys out the ignition. “Can we get out of the truck first?”
Wayne had to clear their calendar for the rest of the day. Nana refused to let them leave until they completed every item she had on her list. What started as cleaning out the garage and planting some flowers ended up turning into a full-scale renovation project. Nevel took care of the flower planting and lawn work, while Wayne cleared out the garage, emptied the attic, painted two rooms, and replaced the cracked tiles in the bathroom shower.
Wayne looked at his watch and sighed. It was four-thirty, and Nana was steadily adding on to her list.
“Wayne!” Nana was sitting at the kitchen table. “How much longer are you going to be messing around in that bathroom?”
“I’m on the last tile right now.”
“When you get done, I need to talk to you.”
Aw, damn! She’s bugging. Nah, I’m bugging. Every year I swear that I’m going to charge her full price like everybody else that way she won’t have a heap of shit for us to do. But every year I buckle when I see her scraping together coins to pay me.
“You done yet?” Nana called out two minutes later.
“I’m on my way.” Wayne walked into the kitchen, massaging his lower back. “What’s up?”
“Sit down.” She patted the kitchen chair next to her.
Wayne gratefully accepted the seat. “What’s up?”
“I need for you to do me a favor.”
That was Wayne’s cue to hem and haw, but he saw the sadness in her face. “What is it, Nana?”
“It’s Liana.”
“What about her?” Wayne asked concerned.
“She’s back.”
“I know. I saw her at the concert Wednesday night. She said she missed you and came all the way up from California to check on you.”
“That’s what she told you?”
Wayne nodded slowly, hoping he didn’t say more than he was supposed to.
“I swear that girl is so full of pride that it’s going to be the death of her. She’s not visiting me. She moved back in.”
“Really?” Wayne said surprised.
“I told her that man wasn’t right,” Nana said, referring to Ron. “He moved her all the way to California away from her family and friends and then decided to act a fool.”
“Acting a fool how?” Wayne asked, his shoulders tensing.
“Liana caught him in their bed with his baby’s mama.”
Wayne relaxed his shoulders. “That’s crazy.”
“Humph. What’s crazy is he tried to convince Liana that he wasn’t doing anything wrong. Talking about ‘she’s my son’s mother, and we’re always going to have feelings for each other.’ Boy, if that was me, I would’ve knocked them both out and lit the bed on fire with the both of them still in it. I’m not lying.”
“So, what do you need from me?” Wayne asked.
Nana touched his cheek. “She really needs a shoulder to cry on.”
“I don’t know, Nana—”
Nana silenced him. “You know her better than anyone else, including her friends. All they want to do is take her out and find her another man. What she needs is someone she feels comfortable enough with to talk to.”
“Man, Nana. You’re really asking for a lot. You know how she feels about me… and the way we broke up…”
“Wayne Dupree. I know you’re not telling me no. I changed your diapers, boy. I even—”
“Okay, Nana. All right. I’ll talk to her, but only when she’s ready. She’ll be more forthcoming if she brings it up. Deal?”
“That’s the Waynie Wayne I know and love.” Nana pinched his cheek.
“Can a brother get something to drink?” Wayne’s father said, trudging into the kitchen with his hat turned backwards and the tail of his shirt hanging out his pants.
“Help yourself,” Nana said, pointing to the refrigerator. “And when you finish, I got a couple more items on my list I need you to take care of before you go. I thought you were going to be able to finish everything today, but tomorrow’s another day.”
Wayne and his father both looked at each other.
“We have other jobs to do Nana,” Nevel complained.
“Did I ask you about your other jobs? I paid you didn’t I?”
“Hardly, Nana, listen—”
“Nevel Dupree. I know you’re not about to get fly out the mouth with me. I changed your stinking ass diapers and—”
“All right, Nana, all right,” Nevel said, holding his hands up like two stop signs.
Although Nana cared for a lot of children in her lifetime, she only had one child. A daughter who was murdered in 1986. The murder of her daughter plagued her so that she became overprotective of Liana, not to mention, she was the only family she had left.
“Break time’s
over,” Nana said, clapping her hands. “We don’t have time to be lollygagging. It’ll be dark soon.”
They turned toward the side door when they heard it open.
“What are y’all staring at?” Liana said, as she closed the door.
“Make some noise when you come into my house, girl,” Nana said, grabbing the bag of groceries from her. “You didn’t forget the Massingil this time, right?”
“Nana!” Liana said embarrassed.
“What? We’re all grown here.”
“But I didn’t need to hear that,” Nevel said.
“If you were outside putting down the rest of that fertilizer like you were supposed to be, you wouldn’t have heard it,” Nana said.
Liana looked at Nevel apprehensively. “Hi, Mr. Dupree.”
“Girl, since when you started calling me Mr. Dupree? You better recognize the Ol’ G.”
Liana walked into his arms and hugged him. “I’m really glad to see you, Pop Pop.”
“Ol’ G?” Nana said sourly.
“That’s my cue to get back to work,” Nevel said, releasing Liana.
Nana threw a dishtowel at him as he headed out the door. “Liana, fix Wayne something to drink. I’m going to go put these toiletries in the bathroom.” Nana winked at Wayne and left.
Liana opened to the refrigerator. “We got Pepsi, iced tea and your favorite.”
Wayne thought back to when they were twelve years old and Liana had dared him to drink a whole bottle of prune juice. He won the dare, but lost control of his bowels and shitted on himself.
“Pepsi’s good.” He watched her as she handpicked his ice cubes and placed them in the glass. He wanted to walk up behind her and press his body against hers as he did so many times in the past. He looked away when she turned around and placed his drink on the table. Wayne took four gulps before speaking. “Did you enjoy the concert?”
“It was okay. You know I don’t like crowds, especially when people are acting a fool, but I toughed it out for my girls. I see you enjoyed yourself. You, Taz, and them two hos.”
Wayne chuckled. “It wasn’t even like that. I went home alone.”
“Yeah, right. That girl was wrapped around you like an Ace bandage. I know she gave it up.”
“You know I don’t go to concerts. I let Taz talk me into going. I dropped Taz and the two girls off at the Marriot when I realized how late it was. I had to be up the next morning for work.”
Liana twisted a lock of her hair as she stared at him and then smiled. “If it were anyone else trying to sell me that story, I would’ve called them a lying bastard. But I know how much you love your job, and I do know you would put it in front of some pussy any day.”
“Still know me like the back of your palm, huh?” Wayne said rhetorically. Hearing Liana using profanity always turned him on, because she was a good girl. So to hear her say pussy or butt crack just did something to him. Something that was about to become real embarrassing if he had to stand up at that moment. Think fertilizer, deflating balloons, flat tires, air leaks, go down dammit, go down.
“You okay, Wayne?”
“Just deep in thought. Going over that long-ass list Nana gave me. You know how Nana and her lists can be.”
“You know I know. She tells me to pick up two items from the store. Then she gets to writing them down and before you know it, the list is a page and a half.”
Wayne agreed with a smile and then changed the subject. “How’s Ron?”
“Ron is Ron,” Liana said dismissively.
“Okay, that tells me a whole lot.”
“Well, there’s nothing to tell. He’s doing fine, I’m doing fine—”
“But we’re not doing fine,” Wayne interjected.
“What?” Liana face knotted up.
“You didn’t say we’re doing fine. You spoke about you two separately.”
“We’re both fine,” Liana snapped. “Fine as can be.”
“I was just asking.”
“No, you were reading shit into the answer I gave you.”
“Whoa, calm down Miss defensive.”
“Nobody’s getting defensive. You need to stop minding my business and mind your own damn business.” Liana stormed out of the kitchen and headed to her room. Wayne jumped when he heard the door slam.
Nana walked into the kitchen and started unpacking the rest of the groceries. “That went really well.”
CHAPTER 2
“C’mon, girl, snap out of it,” Elizabeth said to Liana. “Here.” She placed Liana’s hand on a silk blouse. “Feels nice, right? And look at the design, it’s different.”
“We should’ve left her love-sick ass home,” Reese grumbled.
“So Ron could harass her with his whining phone calls?” Jenna said. “I don’t think so. Liana needs therapy and there’s no therapy better than shopping.”
“Especially when you’re spending someone else’s money,” Reese threw in. “Ron didn’t cancel those credit cards for a reason, girl, so you better stop acting like you don’t know what to do with them.”
“I’m just not feeling it today,” Liana said depressed.
“What’s there not to feel?” Reese asked. “You’re in Crossgates mall with a platinum card. You’re going to buy something, fuck that”
An outfit caught Jenna’s eye. She grabbed it off the rack. “This is hot.”
Liana looked at it and faintly nodded.
“This will definitely look good on you.” Jenna held the outfit in front of Liana. “A black wrap around jacket, a long, polka dotted sash, and feel these pants. They’re multilayered silk. Now you can wear those black and white Manolos you’re always claiming don’t match anything in your closet.”
Liana inspected the outfit with her shopaholic eye. “It does look nice.”
“Hell yeah, it does,” Reese said.
“And look at this one,” Elizabeth said, handling a low-cut dress.
Liana looked it over; she was slowly coming back to her senses. She turned away from the two outfits and reached for a form fitting dress. “Now, this is what I need to be in.”
“That’s the Liana I know,” Jenna said. “Now, let’s do what we do best.”
Liana and her girls walked from one end of the mall to the other, and thanks to Ron’s platinum card, whatever Liana or one of her girls wanted they got.
“Spending Ron’s money is making me hungry,” Reese said, rubbing her stomach. “Let’s grab something to eat.”
“I’m feeling you,” Elizabeth said. “You’re treating?”
“Huh?”
“Huh? It was your idea. So, it’s your turn to spend some money.”
Reese stopped rubbing her stomach. “Well, I’m not that hungry. I can wait until I get home.”
Elizabeth’s mouth fell open. “I can’t believe how stingy and inconsiderate you’re being right now. Liana bought us outfits, shoes, and makeup; and you can’t even spring for lunch?”
“Why don’t you spring for lunch?” Reese said with an attitude.
“Cause you brought it up,” Elizabeth shot back.
“Well, forget I brought it up.”
Elizabeth stared at her for a moment. “I don’t know who’s stingier; you or the lawn mower man.”
“You didn’t have to take it there,” Jenna said.
Liana was about to come to Wayne’s defense, but she knew if she did, they would think she still had feelings for him.
“I’m not disrespecting him or anything,” Elizabeth continued, “I’m just stating a fact. The man’s tighter than micro-mini braids. Liana couldn’t even dream of a day out like this if she was still with him, or driving a Lexus SUV, or—”
“All right, already,” Liana said. “Let’s just get something to eat, and we’ll each pay for our own food.”
***
“So, what’s the verdict with you and Ron?” Reese said, as they were finishing their meal.
“What kind of question is that?” Jenna asked. “It’s over.”
“Excuse me, I was talking to the other Liana.” Reese looked back to Liana. “So have you decided, yet?”
Liana put her hamburger down. “I don’t know. He’s calling me every day, all day. He’s sending a bouquet of flowers to the house every week—”
“And he’s paying your platinum card and car note,” Reese squeezed in.
“This isn’t about what he’s doing for her, financially,” Jenna jumped in.
“Why the hell ain’t it?” Reese snapped.
“Relationships are about honesty, commitment, and trust. Without those, you have nothing.”
“No, Miss China, you have nothing. When your parents found out your boyfriend Eric was a brother, they stopped speaking to you. And when you two got engaged, they cut you out of their will. There’s no way I’m going to let a man come between me and my family.”
“You mean between you and your family’s money,” Jenna said, daring Reese to dispute it.
“Watch your mouth, Kung fu.”
“Please,” Elizabeth said, covering her ears. “We’re supposed to be hanging out with our girl today; lending her emotional support, and backing her on whatever she decides to do.”
“So, What’s up with Wayne?” Jenna said, throwing everyone for a loop.
Liana almost choked on her hamburger. “Nothing’s up with him.”
“Can’t you see she’s going through enough drama?” Elizabeth said. “That man will not be a part of our conversation today.”
“You don’t have to bite my head off, I was just asking,” Jenna said, rolling her eyes.
“I’d rather have a threesome with Ron, and his baby mama than get back with Wayne,” Liana said.
“Girl, I knew you was a freak,” Reese said. “Game recognize game.”
“No dear,” Elizabeth cut in. “There’s a difference between being a freak and being… you.”
Liana and Jenna hid their grins for a whole two seconds before they busted out laughing.
“Fuck you,” Reese said, sticking up her middle finger at Elizabeth. “You’re just jealous. You wish you could do the things I do.”
“You two can’t be in the same airspace for one day without finding something to argue about,” Liana said.
Soul Dancing Page 2
