by Teneka Woods
“Hey little munchkins. What’s up?” he said, looking back into the little brown faces that stared up at him bright-eyed and grinning. He rubbed their heads and patted their backs before Bryanna grabbed his hand, leading him towards the dining room.
“Nana’s waiting for you so we can eat,” she said in a stern tone Nate was sure she’d picked up from either her mother or her grandmother.
“Nana’s waiting for you so we can eat!” his youngest niece repeated before skipping ahead of them.
The adults were seated and in conversation around the table: his father Gerald III at the head, Victoria at his right; Sunny, Levi, his eldest brother Bryan and his wife, his other brother Gerald IV—whom they called Geo—and his wife. The kids took their places between their parents.
“Hey everybody,” Nate said as he took his usual seat at the end of the table opposite his father.
“Only ten minutes late this time, brother?” Sunny said. “I’m impressed.”
“Which is perfect because the rolls should be ready,” Victoria added as she stood. “I’ll go and get them now and we can get started.”
“How’s everything with you, son?” Nate’s father asked him. It was customary for the family to discuss any good news or issues they experienced throughout the week over Sunday dinner. “I was just telling them about my newest big project. A merger.”
Nate nodded. “My week was good. Picked up another private client yesterday through the lady I train on Saturday mornings. It’s her son, but she paid me up-front for three months’ worth of sessions for him.”
“That’s good. I’m not sure how much money it brings you, but my guess is a lot. I imagine you can charge a high price for your private sessions.”
“Well, I try to keep it as affordable for the clients as I can.” Nate never disclosed the specifics of his salary with his family because, unlike most of them, it was not something he felt the need to boast about. Besides, he knew they all knew his income could not compete with theirs and it didn’t make sense to even make it an issue.
Victoria grunted as she returned to the table carrying a basket of the fresh dinner rolls. “Gerald, I doubt that,” she said, addressing his father. “Which is why he basically has to work two jobs. Every day I question his logic in that venture.”
Bryan and Levi laughed while Sunny shook her head.
He’d only been there a good five minutes and his mother was already starting in on him. But what pissed him off more than anything was Levi having the audacity to laugh about the situation. “At least I have a job,” he said, eyeing Levi. “That’s more than what you can say though, right?”
“I work,” Levi countered. “I work with my kids at home. Schooling them. Taking care of them. Something you know nothing about.”
“That’s a lie and you know it.”
“Alright, you guys,” Victoria looked at Nate. “That’s enough and we are not going to have this discussion in front of the kids, okay?”
Nate glared at Levi before moving his eyes over to Sunny. She looked away from him.
Victoria grabbed the dish sitting in front of her and began to fill his father’s plate. “Let’s eat,” she said.
Dishes were passed around the table and Nate helped himself to everything. Only on Sundays did he relax his clean eating routine and indulge in the soul-filling goodness that was his mother’s cooking.
“What’s the latest on the engagement party plans?” Evelyn asked Sunny. Evelyn was Geo’s wife.
Sunny beamed as if she had been waiting all day for someone to broach the subject.
“We got the building as you already know. Ma is handling the guest list and invitations, and the parking and entry attendants. Kaneesa said she’ll find the caterer and band.” She glanced at Nate, but his attention was fixated on the plate in front of him.
“I’m just so happy you guys are finally getting married,” Evelyn said.
“Me too,” Sharday, Bryan’s wife, added. “But what about a photographer? You’re gonna have someone take photos, right?”
Sunny said, “Ma’s getting the photographer, too.”
“No I’m not,” Victoria shook her head. “That’s on the list of what you’re supposed to do.”
“Is it?” Sunny laughed. “I thought all I had to do was show up with my love looking cute?” She grabbed Levi’s hand and gave it a squeeze.
“You know you’re in charge of getting your own photographer and decorator.”
Nate’s ears perked up when he heard photographer. He’d hoped to receive a call back from Tora, but here it was Sunday and still nothing.
Gerald said, “I just want to remind you all while you’re making these elaborate plans just to tell folks you’re getting hitched that I’m only responsible for the actual wedding ceremony. My money will not be going towards this engagement party.”
Victoria rolled her eyes at her husband. “Oh be quiet, Gerald. No one’s asked you to pay for anything. Sunny and I got this covered.” She winked at Sunny and the two of them, along with the daughters-in-law, laughed.
“So you know what that means, Dad,” Bryan said.
“Yeah. They think they’re slick.” Gerald gave a skeptical look at his wife.
She blew a kiss his way and he folded.
“Oooh,” sang Bryanna, and the other little ones followed suit, mimicking her.
“Oh stop,” Victoria smiled at her grandchildren.
Sharday asked Sunny, “What made you want a band instead of a deejay? Remember it was my cousin who worked me and Bryan’s wedding? I can check if she’s available for that day.”
“Well, the live band was Ma’s idea. She thought it would be more appropriate for a formal event.”
“But it’s your party. You should have whatever you want.”
“I don’t mind. I like the idea of a live band. We’re keeping it classy since there will be a lot of my attorney friends there.”
Victoria added, “And because we remember how a few of your family members got a little out of hand when a certain song was played.”
Nate couldn’t help himself and he laughed with the rest of them at the memory of the night of his brother’s wedding. He couldn’t recall the name of the song, but he remembered vividly the guests from the bride’s side of the family that held everyone captive, their mouths wide open as they stared at them as butts shook and hips gyrated and pelvises pumped and humped the floor.
Victoria was livid and had pulled her son to the side away from the wedding party to ask if he was certain he was marrying into the right family because she couldn’t imagine her son associated with such an uncouth group of people. Bryan told Nate he had to call Sharday over and she assured her new mother-in-law she was nothing like ‘those people from her daddy’s side of the family—the roguish side’.
Sunny agreed with Victoria. “We definitely don’t need any of that at my party.”
“I just want to say marriage is the most beautiful thing and I’m glad y’all are finally doing it,” Evelyn said. “But you haven’t told us what made you go ahead and propose for real this time, Levi.”
Nate’s attention immediately went to Levi, eager to hear what story he would tell.
Sunny laced her fingers with Levi’s as she stared at him like he was the best thing this side of heaven.
“It was just the right time. I didn’t wanna keep her waiting anymore because she deserves it. I’m not going nowhere. She’s not going nowhere.” He turned to her. “And because I love her.”
“Aww, babe,” Sunny cooed. “I love you, too.”
Nate grunted and took another bite of his food.
Sharday said, “It’s nothing like being married. I don’t care how much people like to claim living together is the same as being married, it is not. There’s nothing like the comfort of knowing that he is really serious about being with you and is committed to you for a lifetime.”
Victoria raised her glass. “I second that.”
“We’re all happy
for you,” Bryan said, looking at Sunny. “Bryanna’s already made up her mind that she’s going to be the flower girl.”
“Yeah!” Bryanna chimed in. “I’m the flower girl.”
Sunny laughed. “Well, I guess two flower girls are better than one because I had only thought about your cousin Anaya as the flower girl.”
“I wanna be the flower girl, too,” Anaya whined.
Sunny looked over at her daughter. “Anaya, you are going to be mommy’s flower girl, okay?”
“It is an exciting time indeed,” Gerald said. “I’m glad to know my daughter is making her family official.”
“What about you, Nate?” Levi said. “You’re the only quiet one. You happy I’m finally gonna marry your sister?”
Silence fell over the room and all eyes were on Nate. Even the children were uncharacteristically quiet as if they knew it was an off-hand question.
Nate looked squarely at Levi, his loosely-closed fist thumping lightly against the marble tabletop. “You want a pretty lie or the ugly truth?”
Levi gave him a look as if to say if he could crack his plate over Nate’s head he would do it without thinking.
Nate’s gaze didn’t waver.
“Kids,” Victoria started, “are you guys ready for dessert now? How about we all have dessert?” She got up from the table. She looked at Sunny and her daughters-in-law. “Clear the table and get the kids some ice cream. Let them eat it outside on the patio.” Then she turned to Nate. “Come see me in my office.”
Nate stood looking at the books and family photos on his mother’s shelf. They were books and family photos he’d seen many times before, but he needed to stand after waiting for nearly a half-hour for his mother to come and talk to him as she’d said she would. He was tired of waiting, but it beat having to sit and listen to his family gush about the impending nuptials between his twin sister and her tool of a boyfriend. He couldn’t stand to be in the same room with Levi. Just looking at the guy got under his skin.
His mother finally walked in. She’d changed clothes and her hair was pulled back into a sophisticated bun at the nape of her neck. It was how she wore her hair when she was going to work. She sat in the oversized brown leather chair behind her desk and pointed to the one in front of it.
It was the same feeling since he was a kid. Like going to the principal’s office when he was in trouble.
“What’s going on with you, Nate?” she asked as he sat down.
“What’re you talking about?”
“Why are you always picking on Levi?”
“Picking on Levi? You make it sound like we’re ten years old or something.”
“Well that’s what you two act like sometimes.”
“He’s always saying something to me. You know that. It’s not the other way around.”
“Nate, all he asked was if you were happy for them. What’s wrong with that?”
Nate shook his head. “He knows how I feel, so he just said that to get at me.”
“And you could have been the bigger person and just said ‘yes’ and let it go.”
“Say yes for what?”
Victoria sighed and reached to turn on her desktop computer. “Nate, he’s going to be your sister’s husband. He’s your nieces and nephew’s father, which means he will be a part of this family for the rest of his life. You two have to put whatever grievances you have with each other aside.”
Nate blew out a breath and sat back in the chair. “It wouldn’t bother me one bit if I never said anything else to that dude for the rest of my life.”
“You know I won’t tolerate this type of strife in my household—especially at my dinner table.”
He looked at his mother. “Why don’t you ever say anything to him?”
“Because you are my son. And you know how I raised you all to conduct yourselves. We uphold a standard of civility in the Walker family. Got it?”
He sucked his teeth and reluctantly nodded his head.
She pulled a folder from the drawer and a stapled document out of it. “Now, to discuss your behavior towards your brother-in-law is not the only reason why I called you in here.” She pushed the document towards him.
Nate looked at it but didn’t touch it.
“Do you have any idea how much we spent on you to attend UT?”
His eyes went back down to the paper.
“Take a serious look at it,” Victoria said.
He picked up the document. She’d typed up a report of every dollar she spent towards his tuition and fees and supplies for his entire college life. He flipped the pages.
“I have the same record for your brothers and sister.”
“Okay.” He frowned, realizing where the conversation was going.
“Nate, when your father and I got married and decided to have children, I had a vision of what I wanted for my family. I wanted you all to be the best kids, the smartest kids. And I wanted you to be a success. Gerald and I agreed that we would work hard to be the example and ensure you understood the types of careers that would afford you a certain lifestyle—the type of lifestyle we wanted for ourselves. When you graduated from college we didn’t want you all to be inundated with a bunch of debt like so many college graduates are and that’s why we paid for your education.” She sat back in her seat. “Nate, with your sister and brothers we can see the return on our investment. They have nice homes. Bryan and Geo’s kids are in good private schools. They’re doing well.”
Nate shook his head wearily.
“But you?” she continued. “It really upsets me how nonchalant you are about throwing our money away.”
“Mama, I didn’t throw your money away. I went to law school. I was a lawyer, remember?”
“But you’re not a lawyer now—”
“I love what I do.”
She shook her head at him this time. “I’ve come up with a plan for you to start repaying us.”
“Mama, are you serious?”
She clicked on the computer screen and the printer started to whir. “I’m very serious, Nate. I’ve told you this plenty of times before.” She grabbed the sheet of paper from the printer and gave it to him. “I figured half of what we paid for your education is fair enough. I’ll give you a month to prepare, but beginning the first week of August I want seventy-five dollars per week.”
Nate was furious. “Seventy-five dollars per week? I can’t afford to give you seventy-five dollars a week.”
Victoria shrugged. “You do what you have to do, son. Cut back on your expenses, take on extra clients, record more podcasts. I don’t care, but I want my money.”
Nate grabbed the documents from her desk and walked out.
SIX
Nate Walker? Why does that name sound familiar?
Tora halted her steps and aimed her camera as Mink sniffed around the buds of a floral bush. Just as her tiny paw reached up to touch the pink flower Tora captured the shot. They were taking a stroll through the apartment complex. Tora liked to bring the cats out for fresh air at least a couple times a week, but Silk wanted no parts of the outdoors today, so she left him inside the apartment. The outdoors made him nervous and the times when he didn’t put up a fuss and let her bring him out she had to carry him the majority of the time. Mink, on the other hand, waltzed ahead on her leash as if she owned the universe and dared a mutt to come running up to her barking like he was crazy.
Mink stopped every few feet to pounce on a fallen leaf or dig at the bark chips beneath the bushes. Maybe she thinks she’s a dog, Tora thought, and continued to snap photos as Mink romped through the grass and pranced the edges of the sidewalk.
Nate Walker wanted to know her pricing for a photo shoot, which caused Tora to purse her lips as she read the short message earlier. He offered no other information except that he admired her work from the pictures she had posted on her website and was interested in having his professional photos taken by her. The contact form clearly stated to be as specific as possible when requesting a quote.
She’d replied to his message with several questions to answer for more details on his needs.
“Are you ready to go inside?” Tora said to Mink.
Her mobile phone rang and she knew it would be Candace finally returning her call to hear about the fiasco that was her first experience with the dating site candidate.
It was a number that was not saved in her phone as a contact.
“Hello, this is Tora,” she answered.
“Hi, Tora, this is Nate Walker. I contacted you requesting a quote for photos.”
“Yes,” she said. She tried to come up with the image of his face in her head that would go along with the name and voice. Nothing came.
“I hope you don’t mind that I’m giving you a call back, but I thought it would be easier to talk to you instead of going back and forth through email.”
“No, it’s not a problem at all.” She scooped up Mink and walked to a table in the courtyard and sat down. “I don’t have anything to write with on me right now, so I’m going to place you on speaker and type some notes in my phone. Is that okay?”
“Sure,” he said. “No problem.”
Tora wrapped Mink’s leash around the table leg and tied it tightly so she wouldn’t try to get away. “Will this be a personal shoot or for a bigger party or—”
“A personal shoot. I want to get some recent photos of myself for my website.”
She didn’t want to assume anything, but she needed to know. “What type of website is it?”
“It’s my personal site. I’m a fitness trainer.”
“Oh, okay,” she nodded. She’d been hired to take photos for graduations, family portraits, a wedding, a quinceañera, an arboretum, but never a personal trainer. She imagined he would need full body shots, possibly topless, and possibly wearing skimpy biker shorts or—even worse—the dreaded Speedo. “What do you have in mind for the setting? Will this be an indoor shoot at a gym or do you want a studio background with props?”
“Uhh… I’m thinking outdoors, but if you suggest something better that will be cool, too.”
“If we do outdoors you have to consider the weather. Will there be any wardrobe changes or anything?” He laughed and she wondered what was funny about the question.