What Goes Around

by Denene Millner

  “Yeah, your mom always was a worrier,” Uncle Larry said quietly. “This little hamburger and fries ain’t gonna kill me.”

  “Yeah, man, ain’t nothing wrong with a fry every now and again,” Smoke said. “But maybe you oughta meet your friends at the health food store—that way you can get you some vitamins and vegetables or something after you finish up your little talks.”

  Uncle Larry didn’t say anything—just blinked.

  “Who was your little friend?”

  “Who do you think it was, Richard?” Uncle Larry asked, putting a little more bass in his voice.

  Smoke frowned. “Well, judging from the ’Duke Two’ license plate in the back and the ’Duke Dealers’ plate in the front, I’m going to assume it was one of the Duke girls,” he said. “What she doing in these parts?”

  Under any other circumstance, with any other person, Uncle Larry would have come up with a good lie or simply told the inquirer to mind his own business. But this wasn’t just your average inquirer; this was Smoke. Lies didn’t work well with him. They’d known each other much too long for that.

  “That’s my niece,” Uncle Larry said simply. “She comes around every once in a while to check up on me.”

  “Really, now?” Smoke said, cocking his head to the side. “Your niece? How about that—I learn something new every day. And here we are, practically family. How come I’ve never seen her at your house before?”

  “Her mama and I had a falling out, so we’re just kinda getting to know each other is all,” Uncle Larry said, keeping his explanation as simple as possible.

  “Humph,” Smoke said, his arms still folded. “Well, it’s good to keep in touch with family, huh?”

  “Well, that depends on who your family is,” Uncle Larry said. “Like I said, her mama and I don’t have much dealing with each other. The young’un just wanted to reach out to her ol’ Uncle Larry. Simple as that.”

  “Yeah, simple,” Smoke said.

  Surly Girl stalked her way back to the register, two bags in hand. She dropped them unceremoniously on the counter. “Ketchup?” she practically growled.

  “No, none for me,” Uncle Larry said.

  “I’ll take a few packets,” Smoke said, peering into his bag to grab a fry.

  Surly Girl pushed a few packets across the counter. “Next,” she said, peering around the two men to get to the next customer.

  “Good seeing you, Trina—give a brother a call sometime,” Smoke said. She ignored him. Then Smoke turned to Uncle Larry.

  “I just stopped by because I saw your car parked out back, and I figured I’d come on in and holler at you. My mother’s been on me to stop by the house.”

  “Yeah, yeah, it’s good to see you, Smoke. How’s your mama doing?”

  “She’s getting along all right,” Smoke said.

  “Well, tell her I said ’hey,’” Uncle Larry said, picking up his bag.

  “Will do,” Smoke said. “By the way, that Duke car was hot. Maybe I ought to go down to the dealership and see if they have any more like it. Maybe I could cop one.”

  Uncle Larry held his breath and then sighed. “You could do that, but you know the Dukes can be hard on the pockets.”

  “Yeah, but they serve a brother well,” Smoke said. “They serve a brother real well.”

  Uncle Larry stared blankly at Smoke, clutching his meal. He didn’t say another word.

  “You enjoy your lunch now,” Smoke said. “Trina made the fries nice and salty, just like you like ’em.”

  And with that, Smoke disappeared into the winter chill.

  7

  SYDNEY

  “I don’t know, it just doesn’t add up,” Sydney sighed in frustration as she cross-checked the most recent Sadie Hawkins savings-account statement with the growing list of expenses for what felt like the hundredth time.

  “What are you talking about, Sydney?” Marcus questioned tiredly. “You’ve gone over the same twenty line items for the past three hours. Let it go, it’s already been an hour since we adjourned the committee. I’m not sure you’re aware, but it is a Friday night.”

  Sydney cut her eyes so hard, Marcus cringed. “Um, yes, I am very aware that it’s a Friday night. And please believe I have somewhere to be, too, Marcus,” she spat back. “But I’m not about to half-step on my responsibilities because you want to hurry up and catch Albertson’s midnight sale on baby formula!”

  “That was uncalled for,” Marcus retorted. “And for the record, I wasn’t implying that I had somewhere to be. I was just pointing out that you’re nitpicking. If we’re a couple thousand dollars off, it’s fine. All these figures are estimates. Something will come in lower than expected.”

  Sydney could feel her blood pressure rising with each breath. “Marcus. It’s not just the missing money; it’s the principle. I need to understand where the discrepancy is happening. Did we not collect all the letters of intention? Did I miscalculate them?” she questioned, waving her hands dramatically in frustration. “I’ve never had this happen before on any of the committees that I’ve led. The Benefit is only two weeks away and…”

  Marcus gently grabbed ahold of Sydney’s hands. “Syd, re-lax. Seriously,” he said slowly as he looked her in the eye. “We can go over the numbers as many times as you need to feel comfortable, but I’m telling you, there’s nothing to give yourself a heart attack over just yet. I’m here and I got this.”

  Sydney stared at Marcus’s hands covering her own. Everything rational in her brain told her that she should be pulling her hands away in disgust, but for some reason, the warm pressure of his touch seemed like just what she needed to calm her nerves. Omigod, I forgive him. I’m finally over it, Sydney thought, noticing the lack of anger and, even more important, romantic tension. She inhaled deeply, exhaled slowly, and smiled.

  “Okay, just one more time and then we call it a night. Deal?” she asked, eager to finish and go spend time with the guy who actually made her hormones react.

  “Deal,” Marcus agreed as he slowly removed his hands from Sydney’s and picked up his BlackBerry to check the time. “Okay, it’s nine o’clock; we’re outta here no later than nine-thirty, agreed?”

  “Fair enough,” Sydney replied amicably as she picked up the stack of donor promissory notes and vendor invoices and handed them over to Marcus. “You read them off and I’ll double-check the account.”

  “Okay, drill sergeant,” Marcus teased with a mock salute.

  “Whatever,” Sydney laughed. “For someone trying to get out of here, you sure got a lot of jokes.”

  “Hey, I laugh to keep from crying,” Marcus said as he pulled his long locs up into a ponytail in one sweeping motion.

  “Mmm-hmm, I sure hope you laugh and count at the same time,” Sydney mused as she turned back to the statement. “Hey, do you see a withdrawal receipt for the second? I don’t think I went to the bank that day, but it says here that five hundred dollars was withdrawn.”

  “Maybe Principal Trumbull moved some money around,” Marcus offered as she started searching through the pile.

  “Maybe…” Sydney said as she highlighted all the withdrawals she didn’t recall at first sight. Deep in thought, she didn’t even hear the conference door open.

  “What’s up, Sydney?”

  Startled, both Sydney and Marcus looked up like deer caught in headlights. “Oh, hey, J,” Sydney responded in surprise. As Jason stood in the doorway assessing the situation, Sydney grew increasing uncomfortable. Marcus defiantly stared back at the other boy. She pushed her chair back and stood up.

  “I thought you said you’d be finished by nine?” Jason questioned uncertainly. “Am I interrupting something?”

  “No, no, you’re right,” Sydney said as she walked over to Jason to give him a quick hug and kiss. “There’s a small discrepancy with the numbers, so Marcus and I had to stay a little later and go over everything.”

  “Oh, true. So about how much longer you think it’s going to be?” Jason asked
.

  Sydney looked at her watch. “Um, gimme about fifteen, twenty minutes?” she asked sweetly.

  “All right, babe, I’ll be in the truck,” Jason replied evenly. He leaned down to kiss Sydney on the cheek and whispered in her ear, “I’m not waiting more than twenty minutes.” He backed out of the doorway before she could even react. Slightly bewildered by his tone of voice, Sydney watched Jason walk away without so much as a backward glance.

  “I guess you weren’t kidding about those plans, huh,” Marcus muttered sourly.

  Still reeling from Jason’s abrupt departure, Sydney turned around with a confused look on her face. “Huh? What did you say?”

  “Nothing. Do you still want to do this? Or do you need to go?” he asked pointedly.

  “No, it’s fine. Let’s just hurry up and finish.” Sydney headed back to her seat and tried to find her place. “Now, where was I?” Sydney struggled to concentrate on the figures, but Jason’s threat kept running through her head. She looked at her watch and wondered how many minutes she had left. And more important, whether he would make good on his word and leave her stranded.

  “Well, we were going to go over everything one more time,” Marcus started slowly. “But to be honest, maybe you should just prepare the deposits for tomorrow and start again on Monday when everything clears.”

  “Yeah, maybe you’re right,” Sydney said as she opened the money pouch with all the checks and deposit slips. “Hey, do you see the calculator anywhere? I need it to add up everything right quick.”

  Marcus scanned the cluttered table and easily spotted the half-hidden instrument directly in front of Sydney. He reached over and grabbed it. “Okay, Sherlock Holmes, this was right in your face. You’ve clearly checked out,” he said. “Why don’t you go ahead and let me do tomorrow’s deposit, and you can handle the one on Tuesday, okay? Just sign the slip so I don’t have any issues at the bank.”

  Partially embarrassed and very much relieved, Sydney nodded. “Okay, that’ll work.” She scribbled her signature on the slip, stood up, put on her Burberry minitrench, and grabbed her extra-large burgundy Botkier saddlebag. “Thanks, Marcus,” she said as she put her folder with the committee notes in the bag and tossed it over her shoulder. “I owe you.”

  “Yeah, you do,” Marcus replied simply as Sydney headed out the door.

  Sydney lightly tapped on the truck’s window to get Jason’s attention. Noticing her standing outside the passenger door, Jason quickly unlocked the doors, jumped out the driver’s side, and ran around to open her door. “Thank you kindly,” she said as she sat down inside. He closed her door without a word and headed back over to his side. Jason jumped in the car, buckled his seat belt, and turned on the engine. “Sorry about that, there’s a little bit of discrepancy with the funds and—”

  “You said that already,” Jason said curtly as he turned on the radio.

  “Okay,” Sydney said hesitantly. “Um, is something wrong, J?”

  “You tell me, Syd,” he responded while staring straight ahead.

  “I have no idea what you’re upset about, Jason,” Sydney said honestly. “I know you had to wait a little while for me to come out of the committee meeting—”

  “Actually, Syd, the ’committee meeting’ has been over for the past hour,” he retorted, using his fingers to accentuate his point. “The reason I know is because I ran into Cornell and his girl, Delria, at the BP gas station. And he had just come from picking her up. So really, I’ve been sitting out here waiting for you to finish hanging out with Marcus for the past twenty minutes.”

  Sydney was at a complete loss for words. “That’s not what…I wasn’t just hanging out with Marcus. I was working—we were working on finalizing the expenses,” she corrected.

  “Really? ’Cause you guys looked extra cozy up in there to be discussing some numbers. Not to mention the way you jumped when I walked in the room. Seemed to me like somebody was feeling pretty guilty.”

  “Guilty? I didn’t do anything to act guilty about,” Sydney responded defensively. She turned her entire body to face him. “You just surprised us, that’s all. I told you that I would call when I finished. So you walking in like that was unexpected.”

  “Honestly, I’m really not feeling the whole working-late-with-Marcus thing,” Jason stated as he pulled the brim of his Yankees cap down on his stormy face.

  “Jason, I already told you. No, I promised you that there was nothing between Marcus and me except for planning the Benefit,” Sydney said slowly, hoping that her words would penetrate the cloud of anger that felt like it was suffocating her.

  “And not for nothing, what’s up with the outfit? Do you always dress like you’re going to the club for your committee meetings?” Jason continued his angry rant.

  Sydney looked down at the purple-and-white BCBG minidress. The truth was, she’d changed into it just for Jason, but now she felt like a fool. “I didn’t think it was that short…”

  “If you say so, but I don’t need my girl sitting up in a room wearing some skintight minidress with her ex.”

  Sydney tugged uncomfortably at the hem of the designer frock as she made mental note to donate it to Goodwill immediately. “I wasn’t sitting up in the room with my ex, we were working.”

  “And I don’t like the way he was looking at you. I’m not stupid; that shit is disrespectful,” Jason continued as if Sydney had never said anything.

  “Babe, I swear, there’s nothing going on,” Sydney pleaded. “You have to believe me. I’m not doing anything to jeopardize our relationship ever again.”

  Jason looked at Sydney. “You already lied to me once, Sydney. I just don’t know if I can deal with this…I’m just not—”

  “I know, I know, and I’m sorry, but please, Jason. Nothing was going on.” Sydney’s voice started to rise. She grabbed his right hand as she felt the tears well up in her eyes. “You’re the only one I want to be with, I swear.”

  Jason inhaled deeply and exhaled slowly as he stared into Sydney’s frantic face for what seemed like an eternity. Finally, he said, “Fine, I’ll let it go. But you gotta figure that working arrangement out ’cause that can’t happen again.”

  “Okay, babe, I will,” Sydney responded.

  “You know I’m only mad because I care,” Jason said, trying to justify his outburst. He reached out and softly wiped Sydney’s tears from the corners of her eyes. “I don’t want you to cry, but you can’t get me mad like this.” Sydney nodded silently. “Anyway, let’s just go get something to eat. Okay?”

  “Okay,” Sydney said softly as he leaned in to kiss her forehead.

  “That’s my girl,” Jason said with a slightly triumphant tone as he started to back the truck out of the parking spot. Sydney turned and looked out the passenger-side window.

  “So then we went to dinner and it was like nothing ever happened,” Sydney said with a confused shrug as she finished recounting Jason’s bizarre outburst to Rhea and Carmen over sips of her Starbucks caramel latte the next day.

  “Wow, that’s a lot,” Carmen said as she stirred her vanilla frappuccino.

  “Yeah, I know,” Sydney agreed. “And that whole twenty minutes comment…Do you guys think he would have left me if I’d been late? Like, seriously?”

  Carmen shrugged her shoulders and took a long sip. “I mean, I hope not,” she offered after she swallowed.

  “I mean, you’ve seen my BCBG minidress. Do you think it’s skintight?” Sydney asked.

  “No, not at all,” Rhea responded from behind her favorite Gucci shades. She pulled her hair up into a bun. “But honestly, from the sound of it, you could’ve been wearing a potato sack and he would’ve had something smart to say.”

  “Huh? What do you mean?” Sydney questioned her friend.

  “I mean,” Rhea started slowly. “Jason was being a boy. He’s insecure about your ex-boyfriend so he was throwing a temper tantrum.”

  “Good point,” Carmen co-signed.

  “I guess…�
�� Sydney started. “But he seemed like he was really about to break up with me.”

  “Oh, I don’t think that,” Carmen countered with a shake of her head. “Why would he get back with you just to dump you? Now, that’s crazy.”

  “Yeah, I think you’re taking it way too personally,” Rhea said as she sipped her green tea and stifled a yawn. “I’m sorry; I was out late with the boy.”

  “You guys are probably right,” Sydney said, although she was clearly unconvinced. “I guess I’m just not used to this whole dating thing. I mean, being with Marcus for four years really kept me out of the loop.”

  “Yeah, I totally wouldn’t stress it too much,” Carmen replied as she turned to look out the window. “I remember when I first started dating Michael. He used to trip every time my phone rang. Now it’s like he wouldn’t even care if I was on the phone with freaking Chris Brown. Or what’s the name of that cute boy from Day 26?”

  “Ugh, as if any of the boys in Day 26 were ever cute!” Rhea countered with a laugh. Sydney smiled at Rhea’s reaction.

  “Whatever, silly, my point is,” Carmen said, pointedly ignoring Rhea’s sarcastic comment, “everyone goes through it. And then, just like that, they stop. And you almost wish they cared enough to get worked up.”

  “I hear you, but I don’t remember Marcus being like this,” Sydney said doubtfully. “Jason seemed really angry with me.”

  “But remember, Syd,” Rhea offered. “Marcus never had any competition. When the two of you got together, it was like Beyoncé and Jay-Z. Who else could you have been with that was equally fly? Had Jason been around, it might have been a different story.”

  “Good point,” Carmen nodded. “It’s a totally different ball game now.”

  “And not for nothing,” Rhea continued. “It’s kinda cute that he got that worked up. I think he really, really likes you.”

  “Well, when you put it like that…” Sydney said, finally starting to come around.

  “For sure,” Carmen said as she finished up the last of her drink. She stood up and stretched.

  “You’re finished already?” Sydney questioned as she slowly sipped her latte.