Another Man Will

by Daaimah S. Poole

  He walked us to the car. Jalena had these big, brown eyes and was so sweet and well mannered.

  “Be good. Listen to Miss Yvette,” he told Jalena.

  “Yes, Daddy Pop,” she said in a sweet baby voice. She got in the car, slid her seat belt across her legs, and began talking with Mercedes. They both were smiling and already talking about television shows they liked and their favorite subject in school.

  The Dominican shop had salsa music playing to drown out the loud blow-dryers. It smelled of hair being pressed, hair sprays, and perfume conditioners. Luckily, it wasn’t that crowded. We came in, and a lady speaking with a Hispanic accent said, “Have a seat, Mami. We will be right with you.”

  Mercedes and Jalena were still talking quietly among themselves. Jalena was first in the chair to be serviced. She must have been tender headed, because the entire time she got her head done she looked like she was about to cry.

  “Ms. Yvette, it hurt!” Jalena moaned. “They burning my scalp.” I tried to tell the woman styling Jalena’s hair not to be so rough, but she didn’t understand English very well, so another stylist came over and translated for her.

  After having their hair conditioned and pulled, they both looked like little princesses, and they knew it. I got just a wash and a set, and from the hair salon, we went to the nail salon. It was time to get our manicures and pedicures.

  After a day of beauty, the girls were making so much noise in that room back at home, like little animals. I walked in the room and they were jumping on the bed and giggling loudly.

  “What are y’all doing?”

  “Nothing, Mom, we are just seeing who can jump the highest.”

  “Stop jumping before one of you get hurt.” My lecturing at them was interrupted by William ringing my phone.

  “I’m on my way to come get her,” William told me when I called him.

  “She is fine. They are having a lot of fun. Here. Talk to her.” I turned and yelled, “Jalena, your grandfather is on the phone.”

  She came running and took the phone. “Hey, Daddy Pop. Can I stay a little longer? I’m having fun.”

  She handed the phone back to me after a second, and then I asked him, “How is your ankle feeling?”

  “It’s feeling about the same. Well, I’ll be getting out here shortly and I’ll call you when I’m on my way.”

  William came to pick up Jalena and I didn’t know how Brandon would react to meeting him. He had known only two men in my life. His dad and Phillip. After William got to my place, he walked up to Brandon and introduced himself.

  Brandon stood up, said, “What’s up?” respectfully, and shook his hand.

  “Nice firm grip, that’s what I like. How old are you again?”

  “Fourteen.”

  “Okay. Maybe next summer you can come work for me,” William told him.

  “I want to work. My mentor, Mr. Walker, said that I should start looking for a summer job now. I’m going to tell him I already found one. Thank you. So what do I have to do?”

  “Don’t worry. You have the job. I really mean it, Brandon. Your mom won’t let me forget.”

  CHAPTER 52

  Dana

  I was waiting at our place. The place that after months of dating, we had agreed we liked the service, the ambiance, and the selections. It was 6:15 p.m., and Adam hadn’t arrived yet. Adam was never late, so I dialed him.

  He answered, “Babe, I’ll give you a call back in five minutes.”

  “But, Adam, hold up. I’m waiting at table twenty-seven for you. We were supposed to meet here at six.”

  “I was? Are you sure?”

  “Yes, you asked me to put it on my calendar.”

  “I did, sweetheart? Oh, wow, I did. I’m so sorry. Listen, I can’t make it. Dana, this is the beginning of our busy time of the year, and I’m swamped with work. With my uncle retiring, he sent all his people to me. I can’t get out of here. I hope you understand.”

  “Of course I understand.”

  “Okay, I will call you later and maybe we can meet later in the week.” I don’t know why, but when I hung up with Adam I wanted to cry. Maybe I was having flashbacks of being played by Todd, or I was becoming accustomed to having a great boyfriend that never stood me up. I don’t know what it was. However, I did know that Adam could not start making cancellations a habit. Because if he did, the next thing he would do is start start standing me up all the time and then start saying our relationship was getting too heavy and he needed space and it wasn’t me. It was him. I was not going to allow that to happen. If he wanted to work, fine, but that didn’t mean I was going to stay in the house, waiting on him. I made that mistake in my last relationship. Mr. Walker had invited me to go out with him. I’d declined, but now I was going to call him and tell him I could.

  I met Mr. Walker at a trendy restaurant lounge in the Liberty Towers skyscraper, R2L. I rode the elevator to the thirty-seventh floor. Mr. Walker was waiting at a table overlooking the city. He stood up and gave me a quick hug. His cologne smelled so delicious, and his hug was so warm.

  “What a beautiful view,” he said.

  “It really is pretty nice. It reminds me of place I ate at in LA. Yeah, it’s almost identical . . . ,” I said as my voice began to trail off as I looked out at the panoramic view of the city.

  “Not that view. You.”

  I blushed and said, “Mr. Walker, you’re starting early this evening.”

  “I am. Why wait? If I see something I want, I go after it.”

  “As you should, but not when you want is not available.”

  “My parent taught me nothing was out of reach. Were they wrong?”

  “No, but . . .” I was saved by my ringing phone. Adam’s timing was always perfect.

  I didn’t answer the first time, and then he called back.

  “Dana, I feel real bad about standing you up, so let’s meet up. Are you still downtown?”

  “Uh, I am. I met Mr. Walker, Brandon’s principal.” He waved as if Adam could see him.

  “Where are you?”

  “We are at R2L.”

  “What are you doing there? That place is nice.”

  “Him and his girlfriend were in the area, and they were having drinks, and she is a mentor, so you know, babe, they are still trying to get me to join their mentor organization.”

  “Okay, well, just meet me at my office.” I told him I would see him in a bit.

  “You’re a great liar, Ms. Turner. So our date is off. I feel kind of sad.”

  “You shouldn’t. . . .” Before I could say anything else, he grabbed my face and began passionately kissing me. He pulled back. If I hadn’t liked it so much and hadn’t been mesmerized, I would have slapped him and told him I was involved and he could never do that again.

  “Did you feel that?” he asked.

  “Feel what?”

  “That?” he asked, then reached over and kissed me again. I pulled away. “Mr. Walker, I have a boyfriend. I’m in a relationship and everything is not in your reach. Again some things are just not available. Have a good evening.”

  I walked out like I was angry, but I wasn’t. I was more intrigued. I wanted to know more about Marcus. Why, why, why was I being tempted by this man? It was not fair.

  CHAPTER 53

  Yvette

  “What if he is on Viagra or the other one, Cialis?” Geneva said, giggling on the other end of the phone. I began to picture erectile dysfunction commercials in my mind.

  William was my friend, and the man I’d been seeing regularly and whose granddaughter I’d been taking care of, but I had not been having sex with him. He hadn’t made a move on me yet, and I hoped what Geneva was saying was incorrect.

  “Don’t say that. He is only forty-seven. I like him, but if he said, ‘Hold up, honey. Let me take my pill first’ that would spoil everything.”

  “Are you attracted to him?”

  “I am. I really am. He is growing on me.”

  “If his man equip
ment doesn’t work, could you be in a sexless relationship if everything else is on point?”

  “No, if it doesn’t work, then that is a deal breaker.”

  “But he has all the other components of a good man.”

  “I know, but I still don’t think I can be with him. We’ll see. It hasn’t come to that yet. Let’s not talk about that anymore. Well, you know I’m unemployed again. Tina in HR over there said she was trying to get me in, but I haven’t heard anything yet. I’m a little uneasy about not having steady income.”

  “Something else will come through and your hard times are over, especially now you got William in your life.”

  “Yeah, I know.” I looked down at the screen on my phone. “You talked him up. I’ll call you back. That’s him calling me now.”

  “Hey, William,” I said after hanging up with Geneva.

  “Hey, love. What are you doing?”

  “Nothing. I was talking to Geneva about not hearing anything back from my job. And I don’t want to go too many weeks without working again.”

  “Don’t worry, they will call.”

  “Yeah, hopefully. What are you about to do?”

  “I’m about to go and ride and see my son in Maryland; how about you go with me. It’s only about two hours away.”

  “Okay, I’ll go.”

  “All right. Well, I’m getting dressed now, so I’ll be there in a few and, Yvette, wear something simple, not anything too revealing.”

  The Maryland State prison walls reached far into the sky, keeping the inmates inside. I had never stepped inside a prison before, and I thought I wouldn’t ever again. The minute you got inside, it felt like your spirit was crushed. William and I entered and had to show identification, put all of our keys, money, and cell phones into a locker, and wait for our visit to begin. There were so many rules concerning what we could or couldn’t do. Like no phones, nothing in our pockets, no pictures. They should have just made a big sign that read NO ANYTHING. The guards treated us badly, like we had committed a crime. We sat in the waiting room, and a hating female guard came out and said I had too much cleavage showing and needed to go in the restroom and pin my shirt up. I was going to protest, but I really didn’t want to mess up William’s visits with his son.

  “All of this would make someone not want to come,” I said as we waited for his son to come out.

  “I know that’s what they want you to do, get aggravated and not come back anymore.”

  We waited almost an hour for William’s son, Tyron, to come out.

  “What’s up, Pop?” he said as approached, smiling. He gave his father a hug, spoke to me, and then took a seat. He was way smaller in person and didn’t look much older than Brandon.

  “This is my lady, Yvette.”

  “Hi, Yvette. My dad said Jalena been coming over your house a lot. Many thanks. She needs a woman to be around, instead of this old guy.”

  “You’re welcome. She is such a sweet little girl.”

  “So how are you doing, Dad?”

  “Same ole same ole. You?”

  “I’m good. They have me in this program teaching classes, since I had college credits. It’s good. It makes the day go by fast. I’m doing whatever I have to do to make this time pass fast.”

  “I know, son. You don’t have that much time left. You can come home and let me retire.”

  “I will, Dad. When I come home, I’m doing the right thing.”

  We left the prison, and as we drove back, I thought about how I had to keep my own son out of there. How William was a real good father and grandfather for taking on his granddaughter. How laws were made for bad people, but usually they missed the big-time drug dealers and the little guys got caught and did all the time, like Tyron. He shouldn’t have been selling, but he was good kid and shouldn’t be in prison, either.

  William interrupted my thoughts. I could tell William had a lot on his mind as we were leaving.

  “You okay?”

  “Yvette, I was thinking. Don’t worry about that job calling you back. How about you come help me out?”

  “Doing what?”

  “Everything. Managing and putting a woman’s touch on the place. You know I need the help.”

  “I don’t know. I never worked in a restaurant atmosphere before.”

  “Well, just try it out. See if you like it. I do pay real money. You get a salary and a paycheck every week.”

  “I know, but how do you think your other employees would feel about the boss’s girlfriend ordering them around?”

  “I don’t care. You can go in there and fire everyone. Just make it work.”

  CHAPTER 54

  Crystal

  I was on a call, and all of a sudden it hit me that my Rell was gone. I loved him and he did everything for me, and I just wanted to be a bitch, have dumb arguments, and fight for Kenneth to see Kori, when he’d never wanted to be a good dad before. I broke down at work. I needed my husband back. I took a fifteen-minute break. I walked to the restroom and went into a stall and began to silently cry. What was I arguing about? Why was I angry? I didn’t know. I couldn’t even answer my own questions.

  Rell left that night and hadn’t called me since. Rell hadn’t called me, and he’d changed his number. I couldn’t even call him to say I was sorry. It was so unreal.

  I knew I’d made a giant mistake, but I didn’t know how to fix it. I wasn’t sure if I was married anymore. I didn’t know what it took to get a divorce. I didn’t know what to tell the children. At first I’d said that Rell had gone back in the army for a few weeks to get the rest of his belongings, but that had only further upset Nasir. I didn’t know how long I could keep the charade going. Yesterday my dad called for Rell, and I couldn’t be honest with him. I told my dad someone had stolen his phone at the job and he had been pulling doubles and I would have him call him when he got his rest.

  I came out of the stall. I got a paper towel. After work I was going to go to his mother’s and try to talk to him. My mom agreed to pick up the kids, and I was going to see what I could do to make it right between me and Rell.

  When I was finally off work, I was so nervous. I didn’t know where Rell was, if he was at his mom’s or at work. I was going to try his mother’s first. I didn’t know if Ms. Cheryl knew that we had broken up. But my plan was to try to siphon as much information out of her as possible. I knocked on her door. She didn’t answer, and I didn’t see Rell’s car. I didn’t want to call her. Maybe she was at work. But I tried her, anyway.

  “Hey, Ms. Cheryl.”

  “Hey, Crystal. I haven’t talked to you in a while. How’s my Kori?”

  “She’s good.”

  “I’m so happy for you. Rell showed me y’all’s new house when he came to get the rest of his stuff the other day. It’s nice. When are y’all moving everything in?”

  “I don’t know yet.”

  “Well, I think it is just wonderful that you two have found each other and are living the life you are supposed to be. I really am happy to have you and Angel as my daughters.”

  “Thank you, Ms. Cheryl.”

  “Yes, and you know, soon as you get in and settled, you have to make us all a big breakfast again.”

  “No problem, but I have to go and get the kids, Ms. Cheryl. I just wanted to say hello.”

  “Okay, baby. Talk to you soon.”

  I had just learned a lot from my brief conversation with Ms. Cheryl. Not only did Rell have a new cell phone number, but he had moved to the house in Springfield without me. It was really over, and I was too late. He had already moved on.

  I sat crying in my car in front of my parents’ house. Today had been a hard one. However, I didn’t need to share it with my nosy parents. I pulled it together and entered the Turner house.

  “Dad, where are the kids and Mommy?”

  “She went out to the market. I need to talk to you, anyway, Crystal.”

  “About what, Dad?”

  “I talked to Terell today. He called
me to give me his new number. He said you guys are separating. What’s going on with you two?”

  How ignorant! I thought. Give my dad your number and not me, and tell him we are separating? I was thinking of another excuse or lie I could tell my father, but I just couldn’t hold it in anymore.

  “I don’t know, Daddy. I think I chased him away. He didn’t do anything wrong. He wanted us to move, and I didn’t. When he asked me if I wanted him to leave, I said, ‘I don’t care.’ And now he has moved into the house without me and has changed his cell phone number. He started working too much. I don’t know why, but I kept pushing him and pushing him some more, seeing how far I could go.”

  My dad began comforting me as I broke down. “Crystal, marriage takes work. No two are the same, but the moment they get rough, you cannot say, ‘I quit,’ and walk away. If every married person left at the first sign of trouble, the world would be single. Me and your mother had our times, but we knew those were temporary and the marriage was for the long haul. I wasn’t sure about him at first, but Terell is a real good guy. You have to go and talk to him. Here’s his number. Call him.”

  CHAPTER 55

  Dana

  Why did Marcus Walker keep bothering me? He could walk down any street, go to any club in any major city, and have his choice of women. They would rub his back, cook for him, wash his clothes, and love him unconditionally, but he kept calling me. I wanted to stay away, but I kept feeling this strange pull toward him. But I knew I was in love with Adam, and it was just insane, but I just thought about Marcus all the time.

  Marcus left a message and said he had a really big surprise for me and if I could just meet him out once more he would leave me alone. I sat on my white bed, debating whether or not I should go. He was just a temptation that I needed to stay away from.

  Against my better judgment, I met him in East Falls, at a private fund-raiser. He looked so good, but I played it cool, like I wasn’t impressed and had come just because he kept calling, not because I was really interested in exploring us more.