by Tyora Moody
I blinked and stood, embarrassed by whatever came over my senses. I reached for the man’s outstretched hand. “Mr. Chambers?” I said the man’s name a bit breathier than I usually spoke. It was like something snuck up on me and snatched the wind out of my lungs.
He smiled, “Yes, I’m the middle school counselor here. I’m happy you were able to meet with me this afternoon. Follow me, my office is this way.”
“Okay.” I gripped my hands at my sides as I followed Mr. Chambers back towards his office. I’m not really sure how I made it back there, because my mind had drifted to places it hadn’t crossed in years.
Chapter 2
I couldn’t recall the last time I felt this way. My face felt warm and tingly, like someone had turned up the temperature in the building. I had to physically pinch myself as I sat across from Mr. Chambers. Seriously, I was ogling the man. He was a beautiful man with the kind of sculpted looks you see on a celebrity or ran across in your Instagram feed. I wouldn’t call him pretty. Definitely manly.
D oes he workout? He ha s to because that white shirt i s perfectly molded . … Stop it , Tangie!
I couldn’t believe my reaction to this man in front of me. And of all times. Right now! Shameful! I was here to talk about my son, to put that nightmare of a school year we just had behind us. I was a godly Christian single mom, raising three boys, and I was a successful business woman.
That man-crazy woman I used to be … she was gone. She had disappeared a long time ago. That woman never recovered from the pain of loss.
I pinched myself again when I found Mr. Chambers staring at me again. I gulped, at this point not even sure if the man had said something to me or not. “I’m sorry if I seem a bit flustered to you, but I was so excited about Drake being accepted here and your phone call threw me for a loop. Is something wrong?”
Mr. Chambers shook his head, his smile reassuring, “No need to worry. We set up appointments with parents for all students who are new to The Lab.”
“Okay, so this isn’t some kind of preliminary test? I mean Drake’s application was selected through the lottery process. I know you have his school records from his previous school. He’s a really smart boy.”
“Yes, he is. I have looked over his school records. I believe The Lab will be a perfect learning environment for Drake.”
“But…” Whatever hormonal foolishness going through my head a few moments ago was replaced by the anxiety that plagued me the past few days.
“Mrs. Nelson, you don’t have to worry,” Mr. Chambers held out his hands towards me, as if he wanted to calm me down.
They were nice hands. Long fingers, well-manicured fingernails.
Lord, what is wrong with me?
I took a deep breath and leaned forward in the chair. “Look, I really prayed for Drake to be accepted here. He was bullied at his last school. Not one of the adults stepped up to help him. In hindsight, I wish I had known or saw signs, but even I didn’t know what was going on with him. He tried to defend himself and he was punished. He needs this fresh start. He’s a brilliant boy.”
I sat back in the chair, a bit exhausted from my tirade.
Mr. Chambers watched me, probably wondering if I was the one he should be worried about. After what felt like a very long few seconds, he asked, “Do you have other children, Mrs. Nelson?”
I frowned. “Yes, I have two older boys, twins. They attend South Meck. Good boys. All of my boys are good.”
Mr. Chambers smiled, “I’m sure they are. They have a passionate mother determined that they achieve their best. I admire that. I’m where I am now because of a really strong mom determined to make sure I succeeded.”
He sat back in his chair. “Like I said, you have no worries. The board did note the suspension on Drake’s record, but we also saw that he wasn’t in trouble any time before then and after. I appreciate you explaining the circumstances he was under at his previous school. We can’t guarantee that type of incident won’t come up again, but I can assure you if a student comes to me about any sort of bullying, I will make sure to nip it in the bud right away.”
That made me smile, and I felt the tension melt from my body. “Thank you, I appreciate that. Please let me know how I can be more involved.”
“Certainly, The Lab needs volunteers all the time. We have a vibrant PTO. I will be sure to share that information before the end of our meeting. In the meantime, I’d like to go over the schedule that we have for Drake.”
He handed me a set of stapled papers across the desk. I reached for them, grateful to be able to focus my attention anywhere except Mr. Chambers’ face.
I read along while Mr. Chambers explained Drake’s classes and structure of his daily schedule. The man’s voice soothed my nerves.
“He’s definitely gifted and I believe the curriculum will challenge him in ways that he needs and also desires. This year we’re starting a robotics program. How do you think Drake would feel about being involved?”
Now I couldn’t keep the smile off my face if I tried. I lifted my head to face Mr. Chambers. “That sounds wonderful. He will be so excited.”
“Good, I look forward to meeting Drake. He’s going to do great here at The Lab. If you need anything or want to come in to discuss Drake, feel free. We encourage parents to be involved with their children’s learning. Even though Drake is entering middle school, this is the time of his life when he needs even more guidance.”
Mr. Chambers stood and reached out his hand.
I stood as well, to shake his hand. For a second it seemed like we held each other’s hands a bit longer than necessary. In fact, I’m pretty sure I let go first.
Mr. Chambers came from around the desk to walk me out. Now, I’m a tall woman, five foot eight, but Mr. Chambers appeared to tower over me. I didn’t notice this when I followed him to his office, probably because I was observing his backside.
Shameful, Tangie!
I had no idea what possessed me, but I asked, “Did you play basketball? No offense, I just had to ask. You have to be at least six foot four or five.”
He grinned, “I get that question a lot, and nice guess! Six foot five and I did play at South Meck back in the day. Couple of state championships. Later, I played at UNC.”
“Wow! My son is a point guard for South Meck.”
“Really? Wait,” he looked at me as if he was thinking hard about something. “Nelson. Your son is Martin Nelson?”
“That’s my boy.” I knew I was beaming.
“Small world. A couple of my buddies were talking about him. He’s really talented.”
“Thank you. I found it hard to believe when he told me he made varsity last year. I hoped it wouldn’t go completely to his head.”
Mr. Chambers let out a deep throaty laugh. “I was placed on varsity when I was a sophomore too. It’s quite the ego boost for a teenage boy.”
I sighed, “I’ve seen the effects.”
Mr. Chambers reached back to his desk and grabbed a business card. He wrote on the back of the card. “Here’s my card. If you have any issues, not just with Drake. If you need a friendly talk from a guy for one of your other sons, I mentor outside of school. That’s my personal cell on the back of the card.”
“Thank you, Mr. Chambers.”
“Nathan. Please call me Nathan.”
I looked up at those eyes again thinking this was definitely not how I saw this meeting going at all. “Okay, friends call me Tangie.”
“It was nice to meet you, Tangie. I hope to see you again.”
As I stepped outside of Mr. Chambers, uhm, Nathan’s office, I realized I wanted to see him again too.
Chapter 3
After church on Sunday, my longtime friend and mentor, Beulah Samuels invited us to her house for dinner. Beulah worked at Crown of Beauty for years before retiring a year ago. She was the backbone of the salon, being the oldest stylist in the house. I loved how Beulah didn’t let her age stop her from being stylish, and I missed her dearly. The o
lder woman was the life of the salon, bringing good humor and plenty of good gossip. She knew everybody and everybody knew her.
Now more important things filled her life. Harold Samuels had been displaying signs of dementia for some time and became the reason why Beulah finally retired from the beauty business she loved. I hadn’t seen Beulah in a few weeks and I knew under her bubbly exterior, she was lonely taking care of her husband.
When I entered Beulah’s home, with my three boys in tow, it felt like entering home. My mama passed away five years ago, and I missed her. She’d been my rock and the one I leaned on when my boys needed care due to my work hours. But she’d gone downhill in health as the boys grew older. Her battle with colon cancer was quick and dealt a brutal blow.
Beulah had filled in as a mother figure in so many ways. I welcomed any time she had for me and the boys. Since her and Harold never had children, I knew she loved to dote on us. When I told her about the boys starting back to school and Drake’s new school, she wanted to make something special. Beulah loved to cook anytime of the year, no matter the occasion.
“Girl, look at you. I’m loving the new do.” Beulah reached up and hugged me.
I grinned, “I decided to give the braids a break.” I was enjoying my natural curls.
“Well, it looks good. You see what I’ve done to mine.”
Beulah was sporting a short, silver cut with curls on the top, tapering into a fade down the sides and back.
“Miss Beulah, you always look good.”
She turned her attention to my boys. “So how y’all doing? Give me my hugs.”
Each of my loud and boisterous boys seemed to turn shy, but they all reached down and hugged Miss Beulah. It wasn’t until I observed Drake bend a bit that I really noticed my baby had gained more inches than I realized over the summer. Even some of his baby fat seemed to have melted. The realization took my breath away for a moment.
I caught Beulah watching me. She lifted her eyebrow. “Are you doing okay?”
I waved my hand like I hadn’t just received a shock. “Yeah, sure. We can catch up later. I know these younguns are starving.”
Beulah eyed me a bit longer before heading into the kitchen.
The Sunday meal consisted of some of Beulah’s specialties: fried chicken, collard greens, macaroni and cheese. I can’t say it bothered me that this was the first real home-cooked meal my family had in a few weeks. I was not a bad cook, I just plain didn’t have time to cook. Seemed like during the summer with the longer daylight hours, I spent more time in the salon. Plus my boys were old enough to feed themselves. I tried to use the slow-cooker some weekends. I even cooked and stored food in the freezer. There was currently a lasagna in the freezer that I’d planned to take out today as a backup. Now it could wait until after the boys started back to school.
As we served ourselves, passing around plates, I couldn’t help but notice Beulah appeared more worn down than the last time I saw her. Harold was also at the table today. He had always been a quiet man, but today he appeared even older too. His head was almost bald with a slight sheen of silver hair. He sat stooped over his plate, occasionally smiling at everyone.
“Are you boys ready for school to start tomorrow?” Beulah asked.
Martin and Mark answered in grunts, with their heads both down in their plates. Thank goodness Drake remembered his manners. He grinned at Beulah and answered, “Yes, ma’am. This chicken is so good, Miss Beulah.”
Beulah threw her head back and laughed. “Thank you, baby. Get some more if you want. I made plenty since I knew I had growing boys coming to dinner.”
I had to smile because Drake’s enthusiasm was infectious and also warmed my heart. He’d been talking about his upcoming first day at the new school all weekend. I hated to admit my mind lingered on more than just Drake’s new school, but also his school counselor.
It had been a loooooong time since a man caught my eye. I was ashamed to admit. Years!
Since our meeting, I googled Nathan Chambers, doing what I classified as research. Nathan, as he insisted I call him, was going to be counseling my baby boy. With the influence he would have, in my mind, there was nothing wrong about checking out his background. A basketball star in both high school and college, Nathan had a very brief stint in the NBA with the New York Knicks. It was a shame a knee injury left him unable to fulfill a longer career in the NBA.
I almost sent him a friend request on Facebook. I pondered clicking the button for a whole fifteen minutes before my senses kicked in.
I was a grown woman with children. Not a stalker!
While I wasn’t courageous enough to send a friend request, I didn’t hesitate to follow his Instagram feed. Instagram made it so easy as long as people kept their profiles public. If Nathan happened to notice I followed him, I hoped he would think it was harmless. It wasn’t like I had some sexy photo of myself.
Now back in the day in my early twenties, I probably would have, but my Instagram photo displayed me with my boys. It was an old photo. At the time Martin and Mark were ten and Drake was only four. Most of the photos on my feed were of my sons. If Nathan wanted to explore my Instagram, he would see I was a very devoted mother.
I think what attracted me to Nathan was his bounce back from basketball. It was nice to see an attractive, successful black man working inside a school. Almost rare in an environment dominated by white females.
After we devoured the meal, I helped Beulah clear the table and then clean the kitchen. As I loaded the dishwasher, Beulah asked, “How are you doing, Tangie? You’ve been quiet today.”
“Oh. I didn’t realize. Maybe I’m just nervous about tomorrow. I know Drake will do well in the new school. I just don’t want a repeat of what happened last year.”
“Well, you know bullies have been around since the beginning of time. Even adults have to deal with bullies.”
“I know, but I’m happy I moved him from that school. At least this time I feel like if something does come up, there are better people in administration to handle it.”
“Oh, yeah. Well, that’s good. Uhm, Tangie?”
I closed the dishwasher and looked at my friend. “What’s wrong?”
Beulah leaned against the counter, and threw the dish towel in her hand across her shoulder. “What’s with that smile?”
I frowned, “What smile?”
She pointed at me, “The smile that just showed up on your face. I haven’t seen one of those in a while. What or rather should I say who is on your mind?”
And just like that, Nathan Chambers appeared in my head again.
Why did thoughts of that man affect me like this?
Beulah clapped her hands together. “Spill it. Who is he?”
I walked closer to Beulah with my finger to my lips. “Shhhh, I don’t need the boys to hear this.”
Beulah swatted at me. “They have their head in that video game. Come outside, we can talk on the patio.”
After a deep sigh, I followed her. I really didn’t need to be spilling my sudden crush on Beulah. Then I thought maybe she could talk some sense into me. I mean this was a man at my son’s school. He should totally be off limits.
Especially from my thoughts!
Seated outside under the gazebo, I told Beulah about my visit and how the school counselor had invaded my thoughts. “I don’t know what happened to me.”
“A man happened.” Beulah Samuels exclaimed and then cackled.
I rolled my eyes. “I thought you were going to help me. I can’t be doing this, Beulah.”
She eyed me, “What exactly have you done? So, you’re interested in an attractive man. You’re a young woman. And you’ve been alone a long time, Tangie. I remember when you first came to the salon, girl you had your eye on any man that walked through the door. Then, you suddenly didn’t seem to care anymore.”
“That’s because I didn’t. I had young boys and I decided they needed to be my focus instead of wasting my time on knuckleheads.”
I recalled my last conversations with Mama before she passed. “Girl, you can be happy again. You’re still so young. Life isn’t over and your life is more than your boys. Don’t do what I did. After your father left, I let go. I gave up on love.”
I looked over at Beulah. “I gave up. That woman you saw when I first worked at the salon was desperate for someone to take care of me, us. Then it hit me. God had sent me the man I thought I would spend the rest of my life with. Then God took him away.” Tears flooded my eyes.
Beulah leaned over and patted my hand. “Oh honey, you were still grieving and lonely. You needed to give yourself more time.”
I nodded, “No one else compared to him.”
Drake’s father was different from the twins’ father. I met him when the twins were five and I was twenty-two. If life had turned out differently, Christan Nelson and I would still be together now. Ten years older than me, he was a good man who’d accepted me and my young twin boys, who had been conceived my senior year of high school. The twins, despite the absence of their biological father, took to Christan like he was their dad. We got married and Christan officially adopted Martin and Mark. Not too long after our first anniversary, we had Drake.
We had a home in the suburbs of Atlanta and I worked as a sales clerk at a J.C. Penney. On the weekend, I still did hair, tons of braids and weaves inside the basement of our home. Owning my own salon had been on the bucket list. Christan determined my dream would happen. He helped me heal from the wounds that held me bitter for so long after dealing with years of foolishness from the twins’ dad.
Two years old, Drake was in the car with Christan that day. God was merciful, still using a car seat, Drake came away with a few bruises and scratches. The emergency personnel had to rip the car door off to get them out of the flipped car. Christan stayed in the hospital for eight days, but he never woke up. I moved back to my hometown Charlotte to be closer to Mama so she could help with the boys. It took me awhile to get myself together, to move past the grief. I went from one job to another until I ended up at Crown of Beauty.