No Place Like Home

by Trina Crooks

  “Did you ever get any chili? We kept you so occupied over there that you never got anything to eat.”

  “No, I didn’t but it’s alright. I will find something to eat after this.”

  Felicia grabbed his hand and tugged, leading him over to the assortment of chilis which he did have to admit smelled delicious. “You have to try them. I didn’t get to eat either so I will keep you company.”

  Antonio didn’t want to be rude so he joined her as they sampled every chili in the place. He had to declare that he loved one of the chilis better than all of the rest. Mrs. Young. She put her foot in that food, so much so that he circled around and gave his best smile to get another sampling.

  “Mrs. Young is an amazing cook. There was a rumor she planned on opening a small café but we already have one so it might not be a good idea.”

  “Jasper Springs really only has one of everything?” Antonio asked.

  “For the most part.”

  “That’s interesting.”

  Felicia smiled brightly. “That’s how it is in a small town.”

  Antonio and Felicia stood around talking, with her flirting with him incessantly until he finally saw Sonya looking over in their direction. Her face was not very happy.

  Felicia reached out and rubbed his arm. “I would love to give you a tour of our town. There is more to offer here than you think.” She caressed him and stepped into his personal space as she continued to talk. “We could have a good time together.”

  Over Felicia’s head he could see Sonya watching the whole display. She said something to whomever she was speaking to and then turned toward the exit doors. “Excuse me.” He ran off behind Sonya and finally caught up with her halfway down the street. He didn’t know why she always insisted on walking in the dark but he didn’t like it. “Sonya. What’s going on?”

  “Nothing.”

  He felt like he saw jealousy and sadness in her face when he was talking to Felicia and there was no reason for it. “I only have eyes for you but you don’t seem interested.”

  “I like you but…”

  “But what?” She shrugged her shoulders and stayed silent so Antonio grabbed her hand reassuringly. “Whenever you are ready. I am ready.”

  Chapter Seven

  I took a deep breath before I picked up my cell phone to dial a number that I dreaded calling for the last couple of weeks. Someone had to check on my car before I drove it in the river so I had to swallow my pride and call Graham.

  “Graham’s Auto Body. How may I help you?”

  I paused for a moment because I was now having major second thoughts about actually placing this call.

  “Sonya,” Sharon, Graham’s receptionist said. “We have caller ID.”

  “Sorry Sharon. I was looking at an incoming call on my work phone,” I responded with a lie. “I was calling to see if Graham has some availability today to look at my car.”

  “He’s booked today.”

  I rolled my eyes. Ever since Graham got married, Sharon treated me badly. When I saw her on the street, she never spoke to me. Would just pass right by me like we hadn’t gone to high school together. “Can you ask him if he can squeeze me in?”

  “You expect him to do you special favors Sonya?” Sharon asked. But before I could give the woman a good piece of my mind, Graham took the line from her.

  “Hey Sonya. What’s wrong with your car?”

  It felt like it had been forever since I heard his voice. The same voice I listened to for hours and hours on the phone when we were teenagers when we were so in love. And then again when we tried to give our relationship another chance years later. His voice always soothed me, reassured me, cheered me on and supported me in everything. Now we barely spoke. “It’s acting funny. It will start one minute, won’t start the next. It’s happening quite frequently.”

  “Can you bring it over in an hour?”

  “You sure you can squeeze me in?” I asked. “Sharon was acting like you were booked solid.”

  “Just bring it in an hour and I will take a look at it.”

  “Thank you.” I hung up the phone quickly and relaxed in my chair. I did notice that it was easier to have a conversation with him today than it normally was. Usually I would hang up with a feeling of slight longing over what could have been still hanging over my head. But not today. My cell phone rang and I immediately smiled because it was Antonio. Uh oh. I found myself actually looking forward to hearing from him. “Hello.”

  “I am bored,” he said in such a cute way that I chuckled.

  “Okay. What do you want me to do about that?”

  “Are you free for lunch?”

  “Um…” I didn’t know if I should be seeing him this regularly. This could lead to nothing but hurt for me when it was time for him to go back home. I knew that I was moving to New York City but our two New Yorks were going to be vastly different. He would go back to his lavish life of luxury and I would be struggling in my cardboard box. There was no reason to get my feelings attached for nothing. “I am swamped here at work. Maybe another day.”

  “Alright.” I could hear the disappointment in his voice but I knew that this decision was for the best. I almost couldn’t get off of the line before her phone rang again. It was Laya.

  “Hey girl. What’s up with you?”

  “Calling to see if you want to meet up for dinner.” Why did everyone want to eat with me today? But catching up with Laya was definitely a must.

  “Yes. That sounds great. You might have to pick me up though.”

  “That’s not a problem. Six sound good?”

  “That is fine.” I hung up and this time I grabbed my purse and locked the door to my office.

  I pulled my car up to the automotive shop and Graham immediately waved me into one of the empty bays. He then came over and opened my car door for me. “Hey.”

  “Hi.” After our second breakup we pretty much stopped speaking, except for when we were with our group of friends. I couldn’t help but run into him from time to time though since the town was too small to avoid each other all together. “Thanks for fitting me in.”

  “It’s not a problem.” Graham walked over and popped the hood so that he could start checking it out. I moved over to stand beside him like I really knew what I was looking at. “So, it is not starting all of the time?”

  “No. It is almost every other time. I’ve been doing a lot of walking around town.”

  Graham tinkered around with some things before he started talking to me. “I hear that you are spending a lot of time with the new guy. What do you know about him?”

  “He is just here with his grandmother. You know Mrs. Randall. She has been coming here the last five or so years.”

  “Oh yeah. Nice lady.”

  “I’ve had several conversations with him and he seems nice enough,” I stated. I was not exactly sure why he even cared about who I spent my time with.

  “Well people are saying that he has taken a real interest in you.”

  “Okay.”

  “Do you think you should be entertaining a stranger?”

  I stepped back and crossed my arms. “Do you think you have the authority to be asking me that sort of question?”

  Graham stood up and wiped his hands with an already greasy towel. “I just don’t want you to get hurt.”

  “No one can hurt me as much as you did.”

  “We were broken up for a good while before I met and fell in love with Desiree. I am sorry if you were not over me but that is the truth.”

  I scoffed. The nerve of him. “You are so full of yourself Graham.”

  “I don’t want to argue. I thought above all else that we were friends and as your friend I just wanted to ask you to be careful.” I could see that he actually looked concerned about me and was making me feel foolish to be holding on to old anger and hurt. All of these pent-up aggressions were probably why I couldn’t find anyone new in the first place.

  “Thanks,” I responded. “I a
m being careful. I don’t really know what his intentions are so I am taking it very slow. Feeling him out a little bit.”

  “That’s my girl,” he responded with a smile and for the first time in a long time I felt like our friendship was on the mend. “How does your mother feel about this new guy hanging around you? I am sure Mrs. Cummings has an opinion.”

  “What does that mean?”

  Graham wiggled a wire before he looked at me. “Your mother was the unspoken third member of our relationship. She wanted a lot of your time and always had an opinion about what was going on with us. It got to be too much.”

  “Well in high school of course,” I said.

  “No. After high school.”

  I couldn’t believe he was telling me this. “Really. That’s how you felt?”

  “Mm hmm. But I guess it worked out the way it was supposed to for us. We wouldn’t have been happy together Sonya. We weren’t meant to be.”

  “I guess not.”

  “Anyway. Your car is on its last legs and you might want to look into getting another one.” He set the hood down with finality. “There’s not much more I can do for this car.”

  “I kind of figured it was getting to be about that time. Thanks for checking it out for me anyway.” I jumped in and started my car with ease. That conversation was enlightening and I definitely walked away learning a lot of information. After that interaction with Graham, I needed something sweet to lift my spirits because my mind was swirling with what he said about my mother. Not that I didn’t believe him because what he said was very possible.

  “Hello Mr. Carter,” I greeted when I entered The Sweet Tooth, our local bakery. I loved the tasty treats you could always find in here but I definitely tried to keep my visits to a minimum because I would be as big as a house. I could never limit myself to just one thing and Mr. Carter had a way of talking his customers into more than you needed.

  “Hi Sonya. Good to see you.”

  I smiled because although he didn’t like to interact with the community much, Mr. Carter was always a nice man to me. It might have a little bit to do with my working for him one summer when I thought I wanted to make a living as a baker, since making desserts of all kinds was always a passion of mine. That was an amazing summer and I had the time of my life, but I didn’t see much of a reason to pursue it since The Sweet Tooth had the customer base locked up. “Good to see you too. I came in here for one flower cookie.”

  “Just one,” he asked which was his usual question to me. The flower cookie was large and topped with all sorts of icing that was going to make me feel guilty for a couple of days. There was no need for more than one.

  “Just one. I would love that pink one right there.” I pointed at my choice and he lifted it into a box, yes, a box, along with several others that looked just like it and two chocolate cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. My eye grew big at all of the sugar he was gifting me with and just shook my head. There was no reason to argue with him.

  “I’m happy that you stopped in today. I’ve been meaning to talk to you.”

  “Okay.” Mr. Carter handed me my box of treats and then a chocolate chip cookie in some wax paper so that I could eat that right now before he kept on speaking.

  “I’m getting up there in age and I am thinking of retiring within the next few months. I know you have a love for baking and thought you would be the perfect choice to take over for me. You already have half of the town in love with your desserts anyway so you might as well make them in abundance for your customers.”

  I just stared at him because I couldn’t believe what he was saying. “You’re not old enough to retire yet.”

  “How kind of you to say that, but I am up there.” Mr. Carter was already a mature age when I first started coming around him but now his blonde hair was starting to recede and he moved much slower than he used to. “So, what do you think? Can you see yourself here, baking to your hearts content?” he asked with a huge smile.

  I stood there staring at him for a moment before I shook my head. “Maybe six months ago my answer would be different but now I am making some big changes to my life next year. I can’t possibly take over the business.”

  The disappointment on his face was very obvious but he just nodded softly. “Okay. I won’t be giving up. I don’t plan to officially retire for another four months.”

  I grabbed my box of goodies and turned to leave with that offer bouncing around in my head. Run the bakery? That would be a dream come true a year ago but now that I’d decided to move there was no turning back. It was full speed ahead to New York for me.

  *~~~*

  Today was dinner for one and Antonio was not that happy about it. But there was no way that he could expect to spend all of his time with Sonya. Although he really wanted to.

  Antonio went into his kitchen and rummaged through his cabinets for something to make for dinner. He bought chicken wings at the grocery store and the only thing he had to pair with it was some box macaroni and cheese. Not his number one choice but it would certainly do. The only problem was he didn’t have milk. Lucky for him his grandmother lived next door. Antonio slipped on his shoes and ran over there.

  “Hello grandson. What do you want?”

  It seemed like every time he came over to see Gigi, she was not at all happy to see him. It always felt like he was interrupting something. And she rarely let him over the threshold of the door which was the case right now. She was talking to him through a small opening of the door. Antonio glanced inside but just saw an empty living room. “I wanted to see if I could borrow some milk. I hear that is all the rage in these small towns.”

  “Sure. Stay right here,” she said as she slammed the door in his face. Antonio stepped back and turned toward the street. Something or someone was in that house that she didn’t want him to see. He just had to get craftier about his approach. The door swung open and she handed out the milk—the whole carton, like she didn’t want him to come back. “Here you go.”

  “Gigi. Can I come in for a moment? I wanted to talk to you about um…”

  “Nope. I will come by and see you later.” The door shut again and Antonio turned to go to his own house.

  “Yeah. Something is going on in there.”

  He went into his own home and completed his dinner. The house was quiet and he longed to have some company. And although he was sure he could rustle up someone to come over because there were several interested ladies that wouldn’t mind coming over to keep him occupied, he only wanted one.

  “Hello Antonio. How are you doing?” Rashad asked. He was so happy to receive this phone call this evening.

  Antonio got comfortable on the couch before he answered that question. “Good. I’m fitting in pretty good so far.”

  “I bet you are. You’re probably the big man on campus in Jasper Springs.”

  Antonio smiled. “I am a little bit. My shininess is wearing off though. I am not running into as many awestruck women the last couple of days.”

  “Already wearing out your welcome? It’s only been, what, a week and a half or something.”

  “I really don’t care. I have my eyes on a beautiful woman and…

  “Damn man. You move fast,” Rashad stated with a chuckle.

  “I met her on the first day. She runs the vacation rental home place.”

  “They have a rental home place?”

  Antonio couldn’t believe it either. “Yeah. Jasper Springs has a lot of people who come here for their summers and their winters. Most of the town is filled with visitors but they visit so much that they are like family.”

  “What is the name of your special lady?”

  “Sonya, and I can’t say that she is mine but I am very taken with her. It’s just something about her that draws me in.” But it’s happening so fast. That’s what was surprising to Antonio. He usually didn’t get this enamored with a woman for a lot longer than this. “I love talking to her and being around her. She treats me like a regular guy
.”

  “When I met Angela, I knew she was something special. By our second date I knew she was going to be my wife.”

  “For real? You never told me that.”

  Rashad chuckled. “You would have thought I was crazy if I told you that. And remember Dad always says that he knew Mom was the one for him immediately. Maybe us Randall men know who we like quickly. The soul knows what it wants little brother.”

  “Yeah,” Antonio responded as he thought about Sonya. He knew he could see a future with her but only time would tell. “I haven’t won her over yet.”

  “It’s only been a week. Give it time.”

  *~~~*

  “Why does every meal in this town have to be at The Barnyard?” I asked as I slid into the booth. Laya and I went round and round for fifteen minutes before my friend practically insisted that we go to the bar.

  “Because everyone comes here. I am still trying to find someone to flirt with.”

  The bar was packed as it normally was and this time instead of my normal cheeseburger, I went with buffalo wings and fries while Laya decided on a salad. “Really. You are eating a salad. Now I look like I am hungry as hell.”

  “Oh, you don’t have to pretend anymore. You found your person.”

  “Do you know something that I don’t know?” I answered with a giggle. Was Laya really thinking that Antonio was my person? That still remained to be seen.

  “How are things with Antonio?”

  I sighed. “I don’t know. I like being around him and I find myself missing him a little when he is not around. It’s only been a week Laya. This is nuts.”

  “What’s so nuts about it? Crazier things have happened.”

  “I guess. What about you? Didn’t you go on a date a couple of days ago with some guy. How did that go?”

  “Horrible. The men around here are just so terrible.”

  I didn’t want to say that they were terrible but after the bad dates I’d been on myself I could totally understand why Laya was feeling downtrodden about the situation. “Just hang in there sister. It will turn around for us.”