“What did you cook today?”
“I got ham hocks, black-eyed peas, hot water bread and gravy.”
“Is Boris over there?”
“Uh-uh.”
“What about Adonis?” Monique asked.
“I ain’t seen him since church.”
“Okay, then go ahead and soak your feet in Epsom salt. Arykah and I are on our way.”
“Where are you staying at? And why weren’t you in church today?” Myrtle asked.
“I’ll talk to you about that when we get there.”
After dinner the ladies sat in Myrtle’s living room. Arykah made herself comfortable and leaned back on the loveseat and propped her feet up on the cocktail table, then belched loudly. Monique sat on the floor in front of Myrtle and dried her right foot, then massaged it with Johnson’s Baby Oil.
Myrtle looked down at her. “I’m waiting.”
“Waiting for what, Gravy?” Monique asked without looking up.
“For you to tell me why you moved out.”
“Can I tell it?” Arykah asked.
Myrtle looked at Arykah. “Yeah, tell me.”
“Mind your business,” Monique scolded Arykah.
“Somebody’s gonna tell me something,” Myrtle insisted.
Monique began filing Myrtle’s toenails. “Gravy, it’s about Boris, and I don’t wanna discuss it with you.”
“Why, because I’m his mother? I know my son ain’t no good. I told you a long time ago to leave him alone. I’m just glad you finally listened. I wanna know what he did that pushed you out the door.”
“I can’t say it’s one particular thing that he did, Gravy. I just got tired of being tired; you know?”
“Baby Girl, we all have our limits. What gave you the guts to pack your bags?”
Arykah raised her hand in the air as though she were sitting in a sixth grade classroom, eager to solve a mathematical problem. “Ooh, ooh, can I tell it? Please, Miss Morrison, can I tell it?”
“No. And I told you to mind your business,” Monique said.
Arykah let her head fall back on the loveseat and closed her eyes.
“I’m still waiting,” Myrtle said to Monique.
Monique dried Myrtle’s left foot and exhaled. “Gravy, do you know who Kita is? She sings and she’s a praise dancer.”
“You’re talking about Sister Vickie’s daughter?”
“I found out that she and Boris are keeping close company.”
Myrtle sat up in her chair, stunned at what Monique had just told her. “What? I thought she was going with Sister Jackson’s boy.”
“You’re talking about Trevor. He canceled Kita last summer when he found out she was snuggling up with Deacon Woolford. Where have you been, Gravy? You gotta keep up with the current events.”
Myrtle leaned back as Monique massaged her toes. “Chile, I try not to get in nobody’s business. Wait a minute, Deacon Woolford is in his late sixties.”
“And? Kita doesn’t care. He’s also very married. Who do you think pays for that brand new Lexus truck she’s driving? And you know what kind of car Sister Woolford drives, don’t you, Gravy?”
“Uh-uh. What kind is it?”
“Humph, it ain’t nowhere near a Lexus.”
Myrtle shook her head from side to side. “That’s a mess, a hot mess. That Kita girl is something else.”
“She’s a hooker,” Arykah said with closed eyes as she shifted lazily on the loveseat.
Myrtle was ashamed of Boris. “And now my son is another experience she added to her résumé. Boris is truly his father’s son.”
Monique began applying red polish to Myrtle’s toenails. “It ain’t just this thing he’s got going on with Kita, Gravy. I’m tired of the disrespect. I cook and clean for Boris, but he doesn’t appreciate it. The one thing I ask him to do is to replace the gas he uses in my car, and he can’t even do that. I’m sick of the late night calls he gets on his cell phone and I’m sick of him comin’ in whenever he feels like it without a reasonable explanation. So I decided to pack my bags and leave, and that’s exactly what I did.”
The front door opened and Adonis walked in. He saw Monique and Arykah and paused at the door.
Myrtle yelled at him. “What the heck are you just standing there for? You think I got money to air condition the whole darn city in June? Close my door, and where is your cousin?”
Adonis closed the door behind him and kissed Myrtle’s cheek. “Hey, Auntie. I don’t know where Boris is. I haven’t seen him since church let out.”
Arykah was lying on the loveseat with one eye open looking at them. Monique continued polishing Myrtle’s toenails without acknowledging Adonis.
“You ain’t seen him since church let out? Where you been all this time? Church let out almost three hours ago,” Myrtle inquired.
“I had to take care of some business.” Adonis was anxious in Monique’s presence, so he opted to change the subject. “What did you cook?”
“Ham hocks and black-eyed peas. You might have to warm your plate in the microwave.”
Adonis turned toward the kitchen, and Myrtle stopped him. “Excuse me, don’t you see company? You can’t speak?”
Arykah decided to be messy. “You ain’t gotta speak to me, Adonis, ’cause we saw each other in church today, but it’s been awhile since you’ve seen Monique, right?”
Monique looked at her best friend, and if looks could kill, Arykah would have been six feet under.
“Yeah, it’s been awhile. How are you doing, Monique? It’s good to see you,” Adonis said.
Monique looked up at him. “I’m fine, Adonis, how are you?”
“I’m good, thanks.”
Neither of them wanted to be the first to take their eyes away from one another.
Myrtle looked from Monique to Adonis, then from Adonis to Monique as they held their gaze. Arykah was on the loveseat having a field day.
“Adonis, get me a glass of water,” Myrtle said. When he walked away, Myrtle lowered her voice. “What was that about?”
Monique started to apply the clear topcoat to Myrtle’s toenails. “What was what about?”
“Baby Girl, don’t play with me.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Gravy.”
Myrtle was quiet for the longest moment before she spoke. “Uh-huh.” She looked at Arykah who quickly closed her eyes and pretended to snore loudly. “Uh-huh,” Myrtle said again.
Adonis brought the glass of water to Myrtle, then urgently left the living room. She looked down at Monique who seemed to be in a rush to finish her toes. She then glanced at Arykah lying down with her eyes closed and a silly grin on her face.
“Uh-huh,” Myrtle said a third time.
A half hour after Monique and Arykah left, Myrtle walked into the kitchen and found Adonis at the sink washing the last of the dishes.
“Since you’re in a washing mood, how about coming by next weekend to help me wash the outside of my windows.”
Adonis drained the sink and dried his hands. “How can I resist a chance to do hard labor? I took the garbage out and tightened the screws on this ceiling fan. It’s not shaking anymore.”
Myrtle looked up at the fan. “Boy, you’re gonna make some woman real happy to have you as her husband. So what are you waiting on?”
“The right woman,” Adonis answered.
“You think you’ll know her when you see her?”
He didn’t answer.
Myrtle remembered the way he and Monique were looking at each other. “Have you seen her?”
He leaned back against the sink, crossed his arms over his chest, and exhaled. “I thought I did, Auntie, but I was wrong.”
Myrtle sat down at the kitchen table. “Adonis, sit down for a minute.”
Adonis rolled his eyes. He knew those words meant it was storytelling time. “Oh Lord, here we go.”
“What do you mean here we go? And what are you rolling your eyes at?”
He sat across from
Myrtle. “Nothing, Auntie, what’s up?”
Myrtle looked into the face of a man she raised since he was ten years old. “You’re so handsome, Adonis. I’m so proud of the life you chose to live. For you and Boris to be raised as brothers, you’re like night and day. I’m sure I don’t have to say which one of you represents the day.”
Adonis smiled at Myrtle’s words.
“You have the same smile your daddy had. Same teeth, same dimples, and everything. My brother was a good man, and I see all of his traits in you. Do you know how he and your mother got together?”
“He met her at one of your family reunion picnics, right?”
“Your mother, Augustine, came with a girl named Sharlene Taylor, who was your daddy’s girlfriend at the time. Your mother and Sharlene were first cousins.”
Myrtle saw Adonis’s eyes grow wide. “Why are you telling me this, Auntie?”
“Because I’m going somewhere with this story. Your father and I were in high school at the time, but he was a year behind me. Back then Sharlene was the head of the cheerleading squad at our school. Needless to say, she was a fox, and she knew it. According to your father, Sharlene could do no wrong. Whatever she said was the law. Clearly, she wore the pants in that relationship. Your grandmother and I couldn’t stand the broad, but we let your father do his own thing. Since he liked her, we promised to tolerate her. Because Sharlene was the head cheerleader, she thought that gave her license to walk around as though her poop didn’t stink. She had a very nasty attitude and treated your father like crap. But she had his nose wide open; he couldn’t get enough of her. Sharlene knew that and used it to her advantage.
“I will admit, Sharlene was a very pretty girl, but her attitude made her ugly. I’d watch your father sit up all night and wait by the telephone for her to call. She’d make a date with him and cancel at the last minute. I don’t think she appreciated him and what he did for her. With the little money he had, he would buy flowers and candy. One time she embarrassed him in front of the cheerleaders in practice. He went to the gym with six roses for her. She looked at him and said, ‘All the nooky I’m giving you, and I can’t even get a whole dozen?’ When he came home and told me what she said, he had to sit on my legs to keep me from going to whoop her tail.”
Adonis laughed. “You were a roughneck, huh, Auntie?”
“I had to be. Our mother was working two full-time jobs to help ends meet. Your father and I only had each other. We never knew our daddy. He left when your father was six months old. In high school your father had a paper route. He got up at four in the morning to deliver newspapers just so that Sharlene could take his money and do what she wanted with it. But hey, according to Mr. Adonis Cortland, as long as his woman was happy, so was he.
“One summer, Sharlene invited your mother to one of our family reunions. Augustine was staying with Sharlene’s family. Augustine was just as pretty as Sharlene, but Augustine was also pretty on the inside and treated your father very differently than her cousin. At the reunion, while Sharlene was off somewhere flirting and showing the latest cheer she’d put together for the upcoming football season, your mother was the one keeping your father occupied with volleyball and the water balloon toss. Augustine was his partner in the three-legged race. When the ribs were done, Augustine brought your father a plate.”
Adonis thought back to two Sundays ago, when Monique had insisted that she bring his dinner to him.
“For the rest of the summer, Sharlene made a mistake. She didn’t think it was necessary to spend quality time with your father because her cousin didn’t seem to mind doing it. The time Sharlene spent in practice, Augustine and your father were out walking along Rainbow Beach, sharing ice cream cones and holding hands. At the end of the summer, Sharlene asked your father for some money. He said he spent all of his money on a plane ticket to California. She asked him what was in California, and he said he would be when he took Augustine home.”
Adonis sat at the kitchen table in awe. Was Aunt Myrtle giving him permission to walk in his father’s footsteps and go after his cousin’s girlfriend just as his own father had done when he ended his relationship with one cousin and eventually married the other?
“Wow, that’s deep, Auntie. But why did you tell me this story?”
Myrtle stood up from the table. “No special reason, but if you can get anything out of it, be my guest.” She kissed Adonis’s forehead on her way out of the kitchen and left him to his thoughts. “I’m gonna take a bath. Make sure to set the alarm and lock the door when you leave.”
Adonis sat at the kitchen table for a long moment. He wondered if history was repeating itself. He grabbed his keys and walked into the living room. On his way out of the door, he caught a glimpse of his parents’ wedding picture on the mantel. He picked it up and saw how happy they looked. Adonis had to admit that he was a mirror image of Adonis Cortland Sr. Emotions crept on him as he looked into his parents’ eyes.
He could remember being called to the principal’s office in the middle of recess to find Myrtle sitting with her eyes almost swollen shut from crying. The principal left them alone in her office so Myrtle could break the news to Adonis Jr. that his parents had been killed in a car accident that morning shortly after they had dropped him off at school.
Adonis set the picture back on the mantel, wiped his moist eyes, set the house alarm, then securely locked Myrtle’s front door. He arrived home at approximately nine p.m. When he closed the front door behind him, he heard laughter. With every light in the entire house out, Adonis didn’t think Boris was even home. He walked through the living and dining rooms and found the voices coming from Monique and Boris’s bedroom.
For a quick moment, jealously enraged through Adonis’s body at the thought of Monique being with Boris. His first instinct was to go directly downstairs to the basement, but curiosity was killing the cat. He had to know if Monique had had a change of heart.
Adonis quietly crept to their bedroom door and saw it wide open. He stood in shock at the sight of three completely naked people. In the middle of the queen-sized bed, Kita was straddling Boris as he fondled Cherry. Either Boris didn’t expect Adonis to come home, or he didn’t care about privacy. He’d heard Boris tell Monique on more than one occasion that this was his house and he would do whatever he wanted in it.
The gasping sound coming from Adonis’s throat caused the trio to look his way. Adonis’s feet were glued to the hardwood floor. He couldn’t move to save his life.
“Come on and join the party, cuz,” Boris said when he saw Adonis standing in the bedroom doorway.
Adonis was in shock. “What the devil?”
“You heard Boris. It’s a party,” Kita said.
Cherry pointed at Adonis and motioned for him to join them on the bed. “You better come on over here and get your prize.”
Adonis looked at her and felt Myrtle’s ham hocks rising to his throat. He swallowed repeatedly to keep his dinner in place. Cherry blew what she thought was a seductive kiss toward Adonis, and it unglued his feet and sent him running to the bathroom. Adonis had to flush the toilet three times to prevent it from becoming clogged, he was so sick to his stomach. He envisioned the kiss Cherry blew at him, and it caused his stomach to rumble. Adonis had to flush the toilet a fourth time.
Chapter 7
At twelve-thirty on a Monday afternoon, Monique’s intercom buzzed. “There’s a Mr. Adonis Cortland here to see you, but he doesn’t have an appointment,” Theresa announced.
Just the mention of his name caused Monique’s heart to go pitter-patter. It had been two weeks since the last time she’d spoken with Adonis. She slowly counted to five to calm herself before she answered. “No appointment is necessary, Theresa. Show him in, please.”
The door to Monique’s office opened, and Theresa walked in followed by Adonis. Monique rose from her chair, walked around her desk and embraced him. “This is a surprise. What are you doing in my neck of the woods?”
It felt so good h
aving her in his arms with her face pressed against his chest. Adonis inhaled Monique’s scent, which almost caused him to lose his balance. “I finished a job early, so I decided to have my car detailed at a body shop just a block away from here. And now that I’m here, you can give me the keys to your car.”
Monique looked at Adonis confusingly. “The keys to my car?”
“On my way in to see you, I noticed that your car is looking kinda dirty. I can’t allow you to drive around in a dirty car when my car is shining. What kind of friend would I be?”
Adonis was too good to be true. Boris had never washed her car. Monique was at a loss for words, and it dawned on her that Theresa was standing in the doorway to her office, watching her and Adonis. “That’ll be all, Theresa.”
Theresa couldn’t take her eyes off of the tall and handsome creature standing in Monique’s office. Monique had told her that he was fine, but in Theresa’s opinion, he was stupid foine. An ‘Adonis,’ he truly was.
“Can I get you a cup of coffee, Mr. Cortland?” Theresa offered.
Adonis looked at Theresa and smiled. “No, thank you.”
“How about a cup of tea?”
Adonis smiled at her again. “No, I’m fine.”
You sho is. Theresa did not want to leave his presence. She wanted to do something, anything to please him. “I could run down to the corner store and get whatever you like. How about fresh lemonade? I could squeeze the lemons and sweeten it to your taste.”
Adonis blushed with embarrassment. Monique walked to Theresa and ushered her out of the office. Often times, Monique had to remind Theresa that she was a married woman. “Theresa, if you just have to get something, get me the number of calls that came in on last night’s show.” Monique closed the door behind Theresa and smiled at Adonis. “Do you see what kind of impact you have on women? You can’t come around here and disrupt my staff. She’s probably on her way to the bathroom to splash cold water on her face.”
“I could’ve stayed away longer than two weeks, but my heart was starting to ache. I had to see you.”
That remark put a lump in Monique’s throat. She swallowed three times as she guided Adonis to one of the chairs on the opposite side of her desk from where she sat. He was extremely handsome that day. He wore a white v-neck New York Knicks throwback that couldn’t hide his well-toned triceps and biceps. Dark denim shorts stopping just above his knees gave Monique full view of his bulging calves. The dark blue flip-flops Adonis wore showed his fresh pedicure.
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