Too Much of a Good Thing

by Kimberla Lawson Roby

  “You’d better,” Tyler said. “Because somehow I don’t think a woman like Adrienne will accept rejection all over again. I mean, you just don’t keep playing with a woman who loves you the way Adrienne loved you before and obviously still loves you now.”

  “If I were you, I’d watch my back,” Cletus said.

  “Man, I don’t think it’s that serious,” Curtis said confidently, but deep down he knew he had to craft something suitable before October. For the life of him he didn’t know what excuse he could come up with, but he knew it had to be good. It had to be something that Adrienne would be pleased with.

  “Alright, don’t say we didn’t try to warn you,” Cletus said. “And it’s because of mess like this that I don’t deal with real women. They require way too much work, and it’s so much easier when you stick with twenty-year-olds. As a matter of fact, once they turn twenty-five or so, I don’t have much use for ’em.”

  “Well, as far as I’m concerned, I think you would all feel a whole lot safer if you stuck with one mistress,” Tyler said. “I might dabble every now and then, but for the most part I stick with my wife and my main girl.”

  “I agree,” Malcolm said. “One good mistress is more than adequate when you have a wife at home. And the only time I tend to stray is when I just can’t help it. Because everyone here knows what it’s like when certain out-of-town churches come to visit or you visit some out-of-town church and there’s that certain woman who you just can’t take your eyes off of.”

  “Yeah, I hear what you’re saying, because even though I’ve dealt with multiple women in the past, I’m going to try to stick with just one from now on,” Curtis said. “And I’ve definitely learned my lesson about dealing with women inside my own church. So that’s totally off-limits.”

  “Well, I’m sticking with my four,” Cletus argued.

  “We don’t doubt that,” Tyler teased. “But hey, on a different note, Curtis, man, did you talk to your officers about installing those ATM machines and offering direct deposit to your members?”

  “Man, yeah. But they weren’t too receptive. And two of the older deacons practically lost it. They acted like I was planning to commit a felony or somethin’.”

  “I’m sorry to hear that, because when I spoke with mine, they wanted to know more. They also didn’t see a problem with us hiring financial planners,” Tyler said.

  “But, see, that’s the thing with your officers, they hired you to lead the church, and they’re allowing you to do it,” Curtis acknowledged. “And even though I have a lot of young officers and a few from the old church, they’re too afraid to stand up for what they believe in. Some of them are a little on the conservative side, too.”

  “Then what you have to do is find some skeletons,” Cletus said.

  “Meaning what?”

  “Meaning you need to talk to some of those gossip columnists at your church. Every congregation has ’em, and I’m sure they’ll be more than happy to tell you what they know about your little deacon board. Because you can bet your last dollar that every one of ’em has something in his past or something he’s doing right now that would give you grounds to make him step down from the board. And push come to shove, I would hire a private investigator if I had to.”

  “I really hadn’t considered anything like that, but you might have a point,” Curtis agreed, and wished he’d thought of that himself. If he could get rid of Deacon Thurgood and Deacon Winslow, he’d be halfway to the finish line.

  “You’ve got to do what you have to do when you’re dealing with some of these fools. Otherwise you’ll be fighting a losing battle for all eternity,” Cletus said matter-of-factly.

  “Yeah, you do have to get rid of the ones who won’t go along with the program,” Malcolm said. “I did that five years ago, and I haven’t had any problems ever since.”

  “It’s a shame, but they’re right, Curtis,” Tyler said. “You have to get a group of men who will let you do what you think is best when it comes to running your church. You need to make sure that at least ninety-five percent of your officers are pro-Curtis Black before you try to approach them with that ATM and direct deposit proposal again. But you do need to take care of it at some point, because if you can get the direct deposit thing going, Cletus and Malcolm can show you how to funnel some of it into your own account.”

  “And in the future, you need to make sure that every deacon and trustee you appoint is a very able lieutenant. You have to make sure they have the balls to back you up in front of anybody,” Cletus said.

  Curtis nodded. “I should have done that when I was at Faith, because if I had, I might still be pastor over there.”

  “You probably would be,” Tyler said. “Because it sounds like your main rival was Deacon Jackson, and it’s not that hard to get rid of one man.”

  Curtis was glad he had three true friends in his age range who were successful senior pastors. Each of them was the man he wanted to be when he grew up. They were the men he was on his way to being before he was kicked out of the pulpit. Curtis had always taken great pride in knowing that he was on top of things and that he had a good head on his shoulders, but Tyler, Malcolm, and Cletus were on a different level. They’d all been in their positions for eight or more years and each had his entire church under command. They also had a ton more members than Curtis. Tyler, Curtis’s knight in shining armor, had over ten thousand members. Malcolm had around eight, and Cletus had just over six. They were the true definition of success, and Curtis had learned a long time ago that if a person truly wanted to be successful they needed to network with those who were doing much better than them. They needed to watch and learn from people who were already what and where they aspired to be.

  “So which flick are we going to indulge tonight?” Cletus asked, walking over to Tyler’s brand-spanking-new forty-twoinch plasma TV.

  “Man, I hadn’t even noticed your new screen,” Curtis said, turning around. “How much did that set you back?”

  “It set New Hope back about seven grand, and the thing is, I didn’t even ask for it,” Tyler said. “One of my trustees is manager at some electronics store, and he suggested to the entire board that it would be nice for me to have the latest technology. So after discussing it, they decided it would make the perfect birthday gift from the church.”

  “That’s how it’s supposed to be,” Cletus said. “Every church should take care of its pastor before it does anything else.”

  “I do have to admit, they are very generous to my family and me,” Tyler said. “Tina thinks the world of just about everyone at the church, and my two daughters feel the same way.”

  “I can see why,” Curtis said. “My congregation feels the same way about Mariah and me, too, and it does give you a good feeling.”

  “So which one will it be, boys?” Cletus reiterated, flipping through a stack of DVDs. “Or maybe we should order pay-perview through the satellite.”

  “Man, you must be crazy,” Tyler said. “You know the title of the movie will show up on the bill and the bill goes straight to the church.”

  “Oh, that’s right. My bad, brother.”

  “Wouldn’t that be somethin’,” Malcolm said, laughing.

  “So I think you’d better pick one of those in that stack,” Tyler said.

  Cletus flipped through them again and said, “Beautiful Black Bunnies it is.”

  Chapter 10

  Mom, do you think James will take me to the father-daughter dance in a couple of weeks?” Alicia asked, leaning against the island. At first she’d decided not to go, but after Danielle practically begged her to change her mind, she did. And she had another motive, too.

  “I’m sure he would be honored, but are you sure you don’t want to ask your father?” Tanya said, tossing a bowl of lettuce. They were just preparing to sit down for dinner as soon as James came back downstairs.

  “No, because, like always, he’s probably too busy.”

  Alicia didn’t want her father t
o escort her anyway, and she was going to make sure to brag to him about her night out with James just so it would piss him off. She wanted him to know, for a change, what it felt like to be disappointed.

  “You won’t know unless you ask him,” Tanya said.

  “But, Mom, I don’t want Daddy to take me. And if that’s who has to do it, I won’t go at all. James is the one who spends time with me and who takes my friends and me anywhere we want to go. He even takes us with him to see the Bears and the Bulls when they play at home.”

  “I understand that, Alicia, and I’m glad you appreciate James as much as you do, but I still don’t want you to overlook your father. I know he’s made some mistakes, but this might be a good opportunity for you to spend some time with him alone. Especially since that’s what you’ve been saying you want.”

  “I did, but now I’m through with him. I don’t care if I ever see him again, and even when I get married one day, I’m having James walk me down the aisle,” Alicia said, and felt like bawling. She hated her father for neglecting her the way he was, and she was going to make him pay for it. She didn’t want to use James to punish her father, because she did genuinely love James, but she just didn’t know what else to do to get her father’s attention.

  “I think you should talk to James about it to see what he thinks.”

  Alicia took the salad bowl and sat it on the table near the patio doors. Then she brought over a pan filled with warm garlic bread. Her mother had fixed her famous lasagna and Alicia couldn’t wait to eat some of it.

  “By the way, I called your counselor today, and he said you haven’t missed one class this week, and that you’ve turned in all of your history assignments,” Tanya said. “So that’s why, even though you’re still grounded, I’m okay with you going to the dance.”

  Alicia didn’t know what to say. She was a little perturbed that her mother saw a need to keep checking up on her, but she wasn’t going to make a big deal out of it. Maybe last week she would have, but not after chatting with Julian on-line a couple of days ago. He’d told her that life would be a lot easier if she simply went to class and did her homework. That way, her parents wouldn’t have anything to complain about, and they wouldn’t have a reason to keep punishing her. She hadn’t agreed at first, but there were two things he’d said that had made her rethink her position. He’d told her that even though she was angry, she needed to remember everything her mother had gone through with her father and be thankful that James was the sort of stepfather that treated her like his own. He told her that, to him, it seemed like her mother and James were always there for her and that she should work very hard at trying to appreciate that.

  She still didn’t like the fact that her mother was trying to control her life, but she had to agree with what Julian said. Her mother had been a good wife to her father, and she’d always gone out of her way to be a good mother. When she was married to her father and even now that she was married to James. So Alicia decided she was going to do the right thing when it came to school, but she wasn’t going to let her father off so easily.

  “Boy, that smells even better than before I went upstairs,” James said, playfully yanking Alicia’s ponytail as he walked by her.

  “Stop it,” Alicia said, laughing.

  Tanya smiled at both of them and sat down at the table. Alicia and James did the same.

  “Do you want to say grace, Alicia?” Tanya asked.

  They all held hands and closed their eyes. “Dear Lord, thank You for my mom, thank You for James, and thank You for the food we’re about to receive. Amen.”

  Tanya and James spoke in unison. “Amen.”

  “This is still sort of hot,” Tanya said, scooping out a square of lasagna and placing it on James’s plate. Then she put a piece on Alicia’s and then hers.

  “So how was school today?” James said, picking up the tongs inside the salad bowl.

  “Didn’t Mom tell you?”

  “Tell me what?”

  “That I haven’t missed any more classes, and I’ve turned in all of my history homework.”

  “No, she didn’t, but I’m really glad to hear that, because I was starting to worry about you.”

  “I think we were all worried,” Tanya said.

  Alicia knew her mother was including her father when she said “all,” but Alicia knew he didn’t care one way or the other. The only thing he cared about were his precious little Mariah, that new church of his, and how much more money he could get.

  “I still scheduled a counseling session for us next week, though,” Tanya said.

  “Not with Daddy, too, I hope.”

  “Yes, with Daddy, too.”

  Alicia pursed her lips.

  “It’s for you, him, and me,” Tanya continued. “And in the future, we can include James and Mariah if you want.”

  Mariah? For what? She wasn’t Alicia’s mother, and she was never going to get a chance to be. So why would she possibly need to come to counseling with them? If Alicia had anything to say about it, it would never happen. Mariah was an outsider, and it was best for her to stay where she belonged: outside.

  But Alicia wasn’t going to share her thoughts out loud.

  “James, can you take me to the father-daughter dance in a couple of weeks?”

  “Well, pumpkin, you know I’d be happy to, but I don’t want to disrespect your father either.”

  “You won’t, because I’m sure he already has other plans.”

  “Have you asked him?”

  “No. He always has other plans.”

  “But I still think you should ask him. You know? Just out of respect.”

  “Why? Don’t you want to take me?”

  “Yes. You know I do, but it’s just that I think you should at least acknowledge your father.”

  “But I don’t want him to take me.”

  “I think you do, and you’re only saying that because you want to hurt him.”

  Alicia didn’t know how he knew what she was thinking, but he had her pegged to a tee.

  Tanya looked on in silence.

  “Look, Alicia,” James said, tearing a piece of garlic bread. “I know you haven’t been too happy with your father lately, but I think you need to give him another chance. I’m not trying to make excuses for him, but we all make mistakes from time to time.”

  “Daddy makes mistakes all the time, and ever since he married Mariah, he hasn’t cared one thing about me.” Alicia swallowed hard, trying to stop tears from rolling down her face.

  “That’s not true, Alicia,” Tanya said. “Your father may have a strange way of showing it, but he does love you. It’s the one thing I can say about him.”

  “Then why doesn’t he act like it?” Alicia said, wiping her face, her chest elevating.

  “We can’t answer that, sweetheart, but don’t ever think that he doesn’t love you,” Tanya said, holding Alicia’s hand. “Because he truly, truly does.”

  “So why don’t you give him a call when we finish dinner,” James said. “If he says he can’t take you, then two Saturdays from now, it’ll be you and me out on the town. But I at least want you to ask him.”

  None of this had turned out the way Alicia had wanted. She’d planned on having James escort her, and then she was planning to parade tons of photos of them in front of her father. She wanted him to know how it felt to be left out and replaced. But now James and her mother had made her realize that she did want her father to take her. He probably already had some previous church engagement, but she would call him like James suggested.

  They continued eating and discussed the fact that Easter was this weekend, that there were only six more weeks of school, and that they were taking a family vacation to Disney World at the end of June. Alicia was even more excited when they told her Danielle could go with them to Orlando.

  After Alicia finished loading the dishes in the dishwasher, she went up to her room to call her father.

  “Hello,” Mariah answered.

 
; Alicia rolled her eyes toward the ceiling.

  “Hi, Mariah. Is my daddy there?”

  “No, honey, he’s not. He got together with some other ministers for a meeting, but you can call him on his cell phone if you need him right away.”

  “Okay, then, thanks.”

  “Alicia?” Mariah said.

  “Yes.”

  “Can I talk to you for a minute?”

  About what? was all Alicia could think to say.

  “What did you wanna talk about?”

  “Well, basically I just wanted to tell you that I’m here for you if you ever need me, and that I’m hoping you can start spending more time over here with your father and me.”

  What Alicia wanted was to spend more time with her father. Not with Mariah.

  “Okay,” Alicia said just to hurry her off the phone.

  “And while I know I haven’t been your stepmother for very long, I’m really hoping that we can start building a relationship with each other. Maybe we could go shopping together. Summer will be here pretty soon, so maybe we could get you a whole new summer wardrobe.”

  “Actually, my mom is taking me shopping for summer stuff next week.”

  “Well, I know it’s a little late, but have you already gotten an Easter outfit?”

  Duh. Easter was only three days from now, so what did she think?

  “My mom bought my Easter dress sometime last month, but thanks for asking.”

  “Well, maybe we can do something else. I remember you saying that you weren’t coming to stay with us this weekend since it’s Easter, so can we expect you next weekend?”

  “Actually, I have a father-daughter dance to go to, and I want my mom to help me get ready for it,” Alicia bragged, but felt like kicking herself because she hadn’t wanted Mariah to know about the dance until after she’d told her father.

  “Oh, is that why you’re calling your father? He’ll be so excited. I never got to do things like that with my father when I was growing up, because he never came around.”

  Then, that means you know exactly how I feel, don’t you? Alicia thought.

  “Well, it was good talking to you, Mariah, but I’d better go so I can call my daddy.”