The Perfect Present

by Rochelle Alers

  She released a cleansing breath as she reached the entrance of the greenway. When DeShawn touched her elbow, Kayla almost screamed.

  “Damn, girl! You still got that speed.”

  “I did give myself a head start, and you know I was always faster than you.” She winked at him. “But I couldn’t carry a football, so it didn’t matter.”

  “Want to grab a smoothie? There’s a shop across the street that has a mean mango and banana drink.”

  Kayla glanced down at her watch, then realized that there was no need to pretend she had something to do. “Sure.”

  DeShawn smacked her backside like he used to do when they ran on the relay team together. “We got a lot of catching up to do.”

  Kayla’s cheeks reddened as she smiled. How could this much time have passed, yet she was still so deeply attracted to this man?

  They walked to the smoothie shop in a comfortable silence. When he put his arm around her while they crossed the street, Kayla closed her eyes and let her mind wonder what could’ve been if they had been more than friends.

  “So,” DeShawn said, breaking the silence. “You and Autumn aren’t still beefing, are you?”

  “Autumn is Autumn.”

  “Your sister has been one of the school’s benefactors, though.”

  “Nice,” Kayla said with an eye roll. “I’m surprised that she didn’t try to date you.”

  DeShawn laughed. “She did.”

  Kayla shook her head. “Really?”

  “I knew what it was all about. She missed you and wanted to get you back home by pissing you off with her happiness with me.”

  Kayla thumped him on his shoulder. Damn, his body was rock hard. “I would’ve killed you both. But you would’ve went first, since you know better.”

  “Aww,” he said. “I had no idea that you cared.” He leaned in and kissed her on the cheek, and Kayla wanted to melt.

  They walked into the smoothie shop, ordered their drinks, and grabbed a table in the corner.

  “When did you and Raul get divorced?” He jabbed at his drink with his straw.

  “It was finalized last month. But we probably should’ve ended things last year.” Kayla took a sip of her drink, then looked at him. “And you never took that trip down the aisle or came close to it?”

  He shook his head. “Nope. I thought I was going to, but I can’t find what I’m looking for.”

  “Please, I figured after you made it to the NFL you’d have a harem.”

  “Really, Hollywood?”

  “Stop calling me that. I never got into the whole Hollywood scene. As a matter of fact, that’s why I’m not married now.”

  “You married an actor?”

  Kayla rolled her eyes. “No, worse, a wannabe producer. But I don’t even want to think about that idiot.”

  “No love lost, huh?”

  “Just a lot of money.” Kayla sighed and rolled her eyes. “That fool took all of our money and invested it in a play about Obama that flopped like a dozen pancakes.”

  “Wow. I think I heard about that. Damn.”

  Kayla nodded. “Imagine how I felt when he strolled into our place and said he just put all of our money in this lame duck. Not to mention we’d been struggling to pay our bills. If I wasn’t afraid of jail, he would’ve died that day.”

  “I’m sorry you had to deal with that, Kayla.” DeShawn placed his hand on top of hers and she felt electric jolts.

  “It’s all right.”

  “Actually, it isn’t. You should be treated like the queen you are, and never worry about some knucklehead making you feel insecure about your finances.”

  Kayla got lost in his eyes and his words hugged her heart.

  “What?” he asked as he noted her silence.

  “Nothing. It’s just . . . Well, you always had a way with words. Thanks for that.”

  “Kayla, I hate that we . . . um . . . lost contact all those years ago.”

  She nodded. “Me too. But we can catch up now.”

  “I say we start tonight with a movie.”

  “Remember the Titans?”

  DeShawn nodded. “You know it. I’ll pick you up from your mom’s place around eight.”

  “All right. Well, I’d better get back to the house. I slept through a shopping trip last night, and I told my mama that I’d join her and Autumn for a trip to the mall today.”

  “Good luck with that. How did we do it back in the day when we’d spend hours at the mall?”

  “Doing nothing, broke as hell,” Kayla said with a laugh.

  “But you always had money for Cinnabon!” He slapped his hand on the table. “And were selfish! Never wanted to share the extra icing.”

  “That was the best part of it all. And I was only thinking about you. All that sugar would’ve slowed you down on the field.”

  DeShawn’s face softened. “This feels so good.”

  “I know. But I’d better get out of here if I don’t want to face the wrath of Autumn. She lives for shopping.”

  “Before you go, give me your number so I can call you and make sure you haven’t forgotten about our movie date later.” DeShawn pulled his phone out of his armband and Kayla rattled off her number.

  “Got you locked in.” Then he snapped a picture of her.

  “Come on, man, I look a mess.”

  “You’re never a mess. You’ve always been beautiful.”

  Kayla smiled, and those dimples were back. As she rose to her feet, DeShawn drank in her image and was filled with want and desire. How was he going to keep his hands to himself when they watched the movie? It was tough to do in high school; now it was going to be virtually impossible.

  Chapter 3

  Kayla walked into her mother’s house and was surprised to see Autumn sitting at the kitchen table munching on bacon and eggs.

  “Oh, you’ve been out running, huh?”

  “Yeah.” Kayla struggled not to roll her eyes. It was too soon for another sister battle.

  “Guess that’s the Cali thing to do, huh?”

  “I like running, it clears my mind. And I ran track in high school, remember?”

  Autumn rolled her eyes. “Oh, how could anyone forget the amazing Kayla running in circles for all the applause.”

  Sighing, Kayla took a seat at the breakfast bar and glanced around the kitchen. It seemed to be the only room her mother had changed. Stainless steel replaced the familiar white appliances that had been a part of the past. “Where’s Mom?”

  “In the shower. You want something to eat? I think there are some eggs left.”

  “I’m good. I had a smoothie and I ran into DeShawn on the greenway.”

  Autumn rolled her eyes. “That guy.”

  Kayla scoffed. “Guess you’re still salty because he wouldn’t date you?”

  “That’s what he said? Didn’t nobody want his broke-down ass. I was just being friendly.”

  “Sure.”

  Autumn dropped her fork. “What are you, jealous?”

  “Hardly.”

  “Why are you acting like you and DeShawn dated or something? According to you, he was just your friend.”

  “He is my friend.”

  “Tell the truth and shame the devil, you let him hit that, didn’t you?”

  “You’re so crass.”

  “And maybe if you didn’t have a stick up your ass, you’d still have your husband.”

  “I’m not doing this with you. Have your temper tantrum alone.” Kayla hopped off the barstool and headed to her room. Autumn followed her out of the kitchen.

  “You always thought you were better than everybody. Now, look at you—broke and divorced. Don’t come waltzing in here like you’re the shit when it’s obvious that you’re a failure.”

  Kayla wanted to slap the taste out of Autumn’s mouth, because her words hurt with the sting of the truth.

  “I can’t control what you think. But know this, Autumn—I also don’t give a damn what you think. As a matter of fact, you can ki
ss my black . . .”

  “Girls!” Nora exclaimed. “I’m not having this!”

  They whirled around and looked at their mother. “It’s Christmas and this is the first time in years we’ve been together. And we’re going to celebrate without all of this bickering. Do you hear me? If I have to get a switch, don’t think I won’t!”

  “Yes, ma’am,” they mumbled.

  Nora turned to Kayla. “Now, you get ready so we can get to the mall before it gets too crowded.” Then she focused on Autumn. “And there’d better not be a dirty dish in the sink. When I get dressed, we’re leaving and no one is going to be arguing today!”

  Kayla took off for the shower. When her mother threatened them with a switch, they always took notice, no matter how grown they were.

  About an hour later, the Matthews women were on their way to the mall. Despite Autumn volunteering to drive her Benz, Nora loaded her girls into her old minivan like they used to do back in the day. Kayla climbed in the back seat and smiled. When they were younger, she’d grab her favorite book and read while her mother drove and Autumn talked about herself.

  That hadn’t changed, because her sister was going a mile a minute about how she was going to decorate her house and what Rodney had better buy her for Christmas.

  “You’re going to drive that man into the poorhouse,” Nora said as she turned into the mall parking lot.

  “He can be roomies with Kayla,” Autumn snipped.

  Kayla cleared her throat. “He’d probably be happier than sharing a house he can’t afford with you.”

  “Stop this right now!” Nora said. “You two need to grow up.”

  “I was just joking,” Autumn said. “She’s the one who took it personal.”

  “Whatever,” Kayla said.

  “I will get a switch. I’m not playing.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Kayla said.

  Autumn nodded. “Let’s just get this over with. I hate the mall. I prefer using Closet Cloud.”

  “You act like you’re the Queen of Sheba sometimes,” Nora said. “You need to humble yourself.”

  Amen, Kayla thought as they crossed the parking lot.

  “Do you just save these lectures for me, or did you tell Kayla these things before she took off to California?”

  “I don’t have anything to do with the fact that you’re an ass,” Kayla snapped.

  Nora stopped walking and turned to her daughters. “You know what, I’m not putting up with this from you two. Figure out how to get home on your own. And when you come back to the house, you’d better have some Christmas spirit in you.”

  Kayla and Autumn looked at each other as their mother stalked away. “Autumn, we can’t keep doing this.”

  “What’s the problem? You can’t handle not being the center of attention?”

  Kayla rolled her eyes. “That’s always been your petty job. And I’m sick and tired of fighting with you for no reason. What’s your problem with me?”

  “You’re the problem. You left town and didn’t look back at all. Mom was worried about you and you didn’t give two shits. You were out there living the life until everything fell apart. Now you’re back and I’m supposed to be happy and bow down because the queen is back.”

  “Forget you, Autumn. You don’t know what I’ve been through, and I’ve never pretended I was better than you. I was simply older than you and I wanted to make sure my little sister didn’t make some of the mistakes that I made or saw other girls make.”

  “You wanted to run my life.”

  “Whatever. You wanted to grow up too fast, and the last thing Mama needed was your bullshit. Things were hard enough without Daddy, and you—”

  “Stop it!” Autumn yelled as she pushed her sister. “Don’t act like you were perfect. And don’t tell me I caused problems that weren’t there.”

  “You made everything that didn’t go your way a problem, with your whining and bitching.”

  “Don’t act like you were the only one who saw her pain. Most of it was worrying about sending you to college because you wanted to get away, like home was so bad.”

  “You ever consider your role in that?” Kayla rolled her eyes and folded her arms across her chest. “Why do you hate me so much?”

  “Kayla, I’ve been jealous of you all my life.”

  “Why?”

  She sighed and ran her hand across her face. “You remember Dad. You know what his voice sounded like. All I know about him is the pictures in photo albums.” Tears welled up in Autumn’s eyes. “You and Mom always had that. Y’all had those memories and I had nothing. Then you two would pull out the photo albums at night and talk about him. It was like I was on the outside looking in. I resented you for that.”

  “Why did you let it fester?”

  Autumn folded her arms across her chest. “You’re not easy to talk to, Kayla. You’re always looking for an argument from me.”

  “I don’t have to look far, Autumn. I say good morning and you start with an attack. If you wanted to talk about how you were feeling, you could’ve done that a long time ago.”

  “How? Whenever you had free time you were running track or hanging out with DeShawn.”

  Kayla couldn’t say that her sister was wrong. Back in the day, she did spend more time with DeShawn than she did with her sister. Being with him had been easy and simple. And it took her mind off missing her father, not being able to share track stories with him and stare into his eyes.

  “We both could’ve done things differently, then and now. The best gift we can give Mom this year is not arguing.”

  “Fine.” Autumn sighed. “And I’m sorry that your life in California came crashing down because your husband was a stupid asshole. If you want to, we can go kick his ass.”

  “Raul isn’t worth it, but thanks for the offer.” Kayla opened her arms to her sister and they hugged tightly.

  “I still say you and DeShawn did it.”

  Kayla pinched Autumn on the shoulder. “We did not!” At least not yet.

  “Well, if you get a second chance, I hope you plan on taking it. Broke down or not, he’s still fine.” Autumn winked at her sister, then pulled out her phone. “I’m going to call an Uber.”

  “Wait.” Kayla pointed at their mother’s van. “Mom never left.”

  “She is so shady.”

  “I guess that’s where you get it from,” Kayla quipped.

  “Where we get it from.” She wrapped her arm around Kayla’s shoulder and they waved at their mother. Nora opened the door, got out of the car, and walked over to her daughters.

  “Can we finally shop now?” Nora asked.

  “Yes, we can,” Kayla said.

  * * *

  DeShawn sat down on the sofa and picked up his laptop. He really didn’t want to check the emails that had stacked up in his inbox since his run. But he couldn’t keep hiding from reality—even if he was supposed to be on vacation. He clicked the email icon and there was the message he’d been dreading. The board had called an emergency meeting for tomorrow.

  “Shit,” he muttered as he read over the email. “This is going to be good.” Slamming his laptop shut, DeShawn padded into the kitchen and grabbed a beer from the fridge. At least he still had Kayla to look forward to.

  “DeShawn!” Taylor walked in the front door of his house, reminding him that he needed to get his key back.

  “In the kitchen,” he called back. She walked in, dressed in a black pantsuit and holding her iPad.

  “We have a situation and we’re going to need to put our heads together so that we can convince the board that we’re going to save the school.”

  DeShawn sipped his beer and eyed her nonchalantly. “Umm, no.”

  “Why are you drinking this early in the day? Do you realize how much trouble you and the school are in? I didn’t . . . What’s going on with you these days?”

  DeShawn leaned against the sink and downed the rest of his craft beer. “I have a better question for you: What’s going on
with you? Taylor, once upon a time you gave a damn about educating the kids at Millwood. You and I were on the same page. Something changed, and I don’t understand where and when that happened.”

  “This isn’t about me. This—”

  “It is about you. And don’t stand there and act as if you and Lucas aren’t—”

  “So, this is about your imagination running wild. There is nothing going on with me and Lucas. If you think that there is something going on with us, then you must be doing something on the side yourself.”

  “What are we doing, other than arguing? That was a nice little show that you put on at the school on my birthday, but you and I know this isn’t working.”

  “How did a discussion about the school turn into this?”

  “Because I don’t want to waste any more time, Tae. This isn’t working.”

  She slammed her iPad on the breakfast bar. “Who is she?”

  DeShawn sighed and shook his head. “She’s you. Taylor, you’re not the woman I see spending the rest of my life with, and I’m tired of wasting your time and mine.”

  She released a sigh and shook her head. “What was this relationship about? Job security?”

  “Never that. You’re the one who changed, and I don’t like who you’ve become.”

  She snatched her key off her key ring and tossed it in his direction. “I’m out. And for the record, Lucas wants you out. So, if I were you, I’d watch my back.” Taylor stormed out of the house and slammed the front door so hard that it vibrated throughout the house.

  “Tell me something I don’t know,” he muttered as he grabbed another beer.

  Chapter 4

  It was after four when the Matthews women finally left the mall. Kayla was happy that she and her sister had called a truce and were able to have a good time with their mother.