by Zuri Day
Dominique got up to use the bathroom. On the way there, her home phone rang.
“Who could be calling me on my home phone?” she asked aloud. Everybody who knew Dominique knew that she was at work at this time on a Monday morning. She looked at the caller ID and her frown deepened. “Mama?”
“Hey, Nikki.”
“I’m surprised that you called my home phone. I’m usually at work by now.”
“I know, which is why I called your office first. They put me through to Reggie, who told me you were home. Are you all right?”
“I’m fine.”
“Then why are you home? Did you decide to heed my advice, take a few days off and focus on you?”
“In a way. It’s been hectic both at the office and at home. I’m going in this afternoon but decided to take the morning off.”
“What’s going on at the house? Justin seemed fine when he came over yesterday, although now that I think of it, he was quieter than usual.”
“It’s nothing for you to worry about.” The last thing Dominique wanted to do was upset her mother, which is why she hadn’t told her about Jake. Anita was always trying to get Dominique married. If she heard there was a potential mate in the vicinity, Dominique knew she’d get no rest.
She hadn’t told her about the recent disagreements with Justin either. “Your grandson is growing up,” she finally said into the silence. “I’m dealing with some of what I’m sure you experienced as I entered my teens.”
“You weren’t so bad,” Anita answered, with a chuckle in her voice. “In fact, I was glad when you came out of your shell a little bit and proved that you weren’t just another big girl with an attitude.”
“But at times,” Dominique said, her voice sounding like the young, vulnerable woman she once was, “that’s exactly who I was.”
Dominique didn’t remember a time when she wasn’t a big girl. Her earliest memories were from the age of four, when she’d help her grandmother make lemon icebox pies in the brightly colored Alabama kitchen where she spent a good deal of her childhood. Grandma Ella always encouraged her to eat her fill and complimented her when she cleaned her plate and asked for seconds. It was the world as Dominique knew it and, except for Anita and Faith, most of the people around her were big. It wasn’t until the family relocated to California that she found out that being thick wasn’t considered cute and she started having a hard time because of her size. She was ten years old.
At first, Dominique didn’t know how to handle these taunts, and she tried to diffuse them by becoming everybody’s friend. When that didn’t work, she resorted to serving up fist sandwiches to those who opened their mouths with put-downs. That solution wasn’t satisfactory either. Anita wasn’t trying to have her daughter in the principal’s office every other week, nor was she willing to take off work to attend counseling sessions. Then one day a teacher took note of Dominique’s gift of writing and encouraged her. That and a school outing helped to build her esteem and boost her confidence. She worked on the student newspaper and yearbook through junior high and high school, and even had an article published in a regional magazine. Dominique never stood a chance of being voted Most Popular, but she had a place where she felt her power. When she hung out with the people putting pen to paper to create inspirations that people read... she belonged. She graduated high school, got a degree in journalism, and never looked back.
Her first boyfriend was a math and science whiz who was labeled a nerd because, well, because he was. William was a year younger than Dominique. He was a senior in high school when they met at a party. She was a freshman in college who figured that to lose her virginity she’d have to take the proverbial bull by the horns. They dated off and on for three years before Dominique decided she needed a little more excitement in her life than William provided. Enter Leland, Justin’s father. Where William’s personality was quiet and laid back, Leland brought a bit of swagger to the mix. She was a senior in college when they met. He was an engineer, with a car, a condo, and a wicked smile. Dominique had been immediately impressed and after experiencing a type of attraction that she’d never felt with William, she and Leland hooked up. Justin came six years later, almost a year to the day after they married. By that time, Dominique had all but forgotten the taunts that used to follow the chubby brown girl with the strange accent who had moved to a new neighborhood on the West Coast. She knew she had an eye for fashion and a gift of language. She’d hung her confidence on those pegs and kept it moving.
Dominique and Anita’s conversation drifted from reminiscing about old times to the goings-on in her mother’s neighborhood and at the church that Anita attended. After dodging her mother’s offer to “set her up with a nice deacon,” Dominique looked at her watch, realized it was time to get to the office, and ended the call.
On her way to Capricious, she continued to reflect over her life and at the fact that work had often been the balm that soothed and covered personal sorrows: low self-esteem issues brought on by weight, not being considered popular or pretty, and, Dominique realized in her later years, not having a father figure to set the example for how a man should treat her.
As she pulled into her reserved parking spot at Capricious magazine’s offices Dominique had a thought: Maybe God was sending her someone to show her how it was done. Someone named Jake.
34
Jake left Middleton Prep’s main building and headed for the football field. Preoccupied with what had been offered during this impromptu meeting with the principal, he didn’t notice the admiring glances from female peers and moms in the parking lot waiting to pick up their kids. A five year contract? At double the salary? That’s what he’d been offered to remain at Middleton as Athletic Director, along with other perks and incentives. The program responsible for the football team’s undefeated record was obviously something the school wanted to see continue. As he neared his office on the side of the stadium, he pulled out his phone to call Johnny. It was time for a pow-wow. But just as he prepared to flip through the phone list for his twin brother’s name, he heard voices coming from the locker room, which was next door to his office. He looked at his watch and reached for the door. School wasn’t officially out for another ten minutes so whoever was in here was playing hooky.
Jake eased open the door and quietly stepped inside the room made cool by cement walls. No one was in the main area; the voices were coming from the area where practice gear was kept in locked cages. He took a couple more steps and was just about to bust the class-skipping students when he recognized the voices.
“It sucked that they lost.” Jake listened as Travis discussed what wasn’t supposed to be shared with anyone who’d not been on the trip. “Especially to the Chiefs.”
In spite of the situation, Jake smirked at the comment. The Kansas City Chiefs were long time Raider rivals, so of course the boys hated them.
“Yeah, but how was it being in the stadium? Who did you meet on the team? Man, I’m still so mad that I didn’t get to go. I bet it was so cool.”
Jake’s heart clenched at the somberness in Justin’s tone, and his anger at Dominique was rekindled. As far as he was concerned, anyone who knew Justin knew that he should have been on that trip, including his mother. No, especially her. A vision from the other night when Dominique sat in his living room flashed in his mind. A vision of vulnerable yet determined loveliness. Are we cool. Am I forgiven? Jake had yet to answer Dominique’s question, but he intended to, and soon.
“The guys were cool,” Jake heard Travis continue. “And they are huge, like Coach. We got to take pictures with them and everything.”
“Man, I’m so jealous.”
Jake rounded the corner to where Travis and Justin stood just as several other teammates entered the locker room. “You boys are a bit early for practice, don’t you think?”
“We finished our quiz early, Coach,” Travis explained. “Miss Banks excused us.”
“Oh, really? Well, I’m going to speak with Miss Banks
. Your story better check out or I might be looking at a couple of Saturday morning bench warmers.”
Justin’s eyes widened at the thought of not seeing action on game day. “She said we could leave, Coach, promise!”
Jake nodded, thankful for the change in Justin’s demeanor, even though his disappointment had been replaced by fear. “All right, then. Let’s get moving. Oh, and Travis?”
“Yes, Coach?”
“Make sure you see me once practice is over.”
Travis’s head dropped. Jake noticed the action and understood why: Travis knew that Jake had heard him talking about the trip to the Raiders’ game and knew he was in trouble.
Ninety sweaty minutes later, the boys trudged off the field. Jake talked to Travis, and much to the boy’s surprise, told him that while it was never okay to disobey rules, he understood why Travis had felt the need to confide in Justin, one of his best friends. As a relieved Travis raced away, Jake noticed Justin ambling toward him with a troubled look once again marring his handsome countenance.
“Hey buddy,” Jake said as Justin approached. “You all right?”
Justin shrugged, continuing into the locker room. Jake followed him there.
“I heard you and Travis discussing yesterday’s game.”
Justin looked up, but said nothing.
“The defense didn’t hold the line,” Jake continued, pointedly referring to the game and not the trip. That’s why Oakland lost.”
“I didn’t see the game. We were at Knott’s Berry Farm.”
“Did you have fun?”
“It was all right.”
“Justin, you know that I wanted you to be there, right? In Oakland, at the game?”
“Yeah, and my stupid mother messed it up for me so I couldn’t go!”
Jake came around the bench that separated them and clinched a towel in his fist. “Don’t you ever refer to your mother as stupid, or use any other demeaning description, understood?”
Justin was surprised at Jake’s reaction and stepped back a bit. “But she apologized this morning and admitted that she should have let me take the trip!”
“Justin, let me tell you something. Under the circumstances, your mother was doing the best she could. She loves you, and would do any and everything to protect you. That’s all she was thinking about when she decided against your coming with us.” When Justin continued to sulk in silence, Jake added, “Dominique is a good woman, Justin. And you might not understand it now but everything that she does... she does for you.”
“That’s what she said,” Justin said as he continued to pout.
Jake smiled. “You remind me a lot of myself at your age and Dominique reminds me of my mother.”
This statement got Justin’s attention. “She does?” He listened while continuing to place his school clothes in his backpack.
“You know I grew up without a dad, right?”
Justin nodded, remembering the speech that Coach had delivered shortly after their first home game, when he’d told the players a bit about himself, and how his mother’s firm guiding hand and his love of sports kept him out of trouble.
“After my father died, my mother had her hands full raising four boisterous boys. She had to be strong to handle us, and often made us do things that I would rather not have done—my homework, for instance, and cooking.”
“But you’re a good cook!”
“And that’s because my mother forced me into the kitchen. I didn’t like it at first, thought cooking was for girls. If Mama hadn’t put her foot down, I may never have discovered how much I enjoy it.”
Justin chewed on his bottom lip as he pondered Jake’s words. He followed Jake out of the locker room and across the field toward the parking lot. “Do you like my mom?”
Jake was taken aback by the question. “Of course; I like all of my players’ parents.”
“Not like that,” Justin countered, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. “I mean like her like her.”
He thought about making light of the question, but upon taking in the vulnerable look in Justin’s eyes, Jake decided on a more serious, yet still light approach. He stopped and turned to Justin. “Would you like me to like her like her?”
Justin shrugged, even as he dropped his head to hide a grin. “I dunno.” Pause. “I guess so.” He kicked a clod of dirt across the grassy field. “Do you think she’s pretty?”
“Yes.”
Justin squinted up at Jake. “I think she likes you.”
Jake worked to keep his voice casual. “Why’s that?”
“I heard her talk about you to Aunt Faith.”
What did she say? You shouldn’t be eavesdropping, is what he thought. And then, because he couldn’t resist, asked, “What did she say?”
“That y’all went to dinner and stuff. And she said you look good, too!”
“You really shouldn’t be listening to your mother’s conversations,” Jake admonished, even as the ray of brightness that burst forth in his heart competed with the sun shining overhead. “That isn’t polite.”
“I know,” Justin admitted. “But I made you happy, huh?”
Jake placed a hand on Justin’s shoulder as they reached the edge of the field. His answer was simple. “Yes.”
35
Moments later, Justin caught up to and chatted with a few of the other boys as they reached the parking lot. Once there, they said their good-byes and walked to whoever waited to pick them up. Justin scanned the cars for Tessa’s silver Mazda. His face contorted in surprise and confusion when he saw his mother’s Mercedes instead.
“Mom,” he said after racing to the car and jerking open the door, “what are you doing here?”
“Hello to you too, darlin’.”
“Hi, Mom.” Justin threw his gear in the backseat and climbed into the car. “What are you doing here?”
“Buckle your seatbelt,” Dominique said as she started the car and navigated out of the parking lot. “I was able to leave work early today and thought it would be nice for you and I to hang out tonight... just the two of us.”
“Where are we going to eat?”
“I’m fixing dinner.”
Justin looked at Dominique with wide eyes. “You?”
“Ha! Boy, don’t sound so incredulous. I’ve worked my way around the kitchen a time or two.”
“Yeah, but...”
Dominique’s brow arched. “But what?”
“Never mind.” Justin looked out the window for a moment and then asked, “What are we having?”
“Taco salad.”
“Yum, Mom. That sounds good!”
“It will be delicious, and you can help me make it if you’d like.”
“Yeah, like Coach Mac!”
“The word is yes, Justin, not yeah.”
“Yeah, okay. I mean, yes.” Justin giggled and then continued without skipping a beat. “You know what Coach Mac did in practice today?”
“No, but I have a feeling you’re going to tell me.”
And for the next ten minutes, Justin did just that—rattling nonstop about plays and team members and his beloved coach. Dominique listened and laughed, glad to see that Mr. Sulky had left the building and the affable, chattering love of her life was back in town.
Later, Dominique breathed a sigh of satisfaction as she entered the master suite. She and Justin had spent the entire afternoon and evening together. Before going home, they’d stopped by the grocer and then by Justin’s favorite ice-cream store, where he readily ignored his coach’s healthy eating rhetoric for a quart of his favorite vanilla ice cream loaded with chunks of real candy bars. Using the salad fixings that had gone uneaten the day before, Dominique had impressed her son with the ground turkey–based taco salad she’d prepared. He hadn’t minded at all that the seasonings were from a package and the sauce was from ajar. “It’s good, Mom,” he’d said simply after the first bite. Dominique’s heart had bloomed with joy. After helping Justin with his homework, something tha
t Tessa normally did, he and Dominique had danced with Michael Jackson on the Wii and laughed more than they had in years. And then, in the quiet of his bedroom with him all tucked in, she’d begun “the conversation.”
“Honey, I want to talk with you about something.” Justin turned to Dominique with questioning eyes. “It’s about the comment you made the other day when you were angry. About wishing that Jake was your dad.”
“I’m sorry, Mom. I—”
“It’s okay, Justin. You don’t have to apologize; especially if that is really how you feel.”
Silence.
Dominique’s voice was low, soft. “Is it?” Still no answer. “Do you think about how things might be if Jake were your father?”
Justin’s nod was almost imperceptible. “Travis and his dad are always doing things: going fishing, golfing, stuff like that. And so do some of my other friends with dads in the house.”