White Lines III

by Tracy Brown

  Sunny felt like someone had a gun to her head. Marisol looked at her granddaughter with a mixture of awe and pride. Mercedes had told the truth and thrown down the gauntlet. Ava, too, was impressed. She thought to herself that the young lady would have a brilliant future in law.

  Sunny looked around the room, helplessly.

  Nervously, Jenny G spoke up. As Sunny’s housekeeper/nanny, she was afraid that participating in this intervention might get her fired. Still, Jenny had grown to love Sunny like a daughter over the years. She cleared her throat, and her voice quivered as she spoke. “Sunny, Mercedes is right. I’m not saying that rehab is all that you need. Because you need God, too. But you need to go somewhere and get your head together. You have to clean yourself up.”

  Sunny glared at Jenny G, but was snapped out of it by Mercedes’ voice.

  “You look terrible, Mommy.” Mercedes shook her head, sadly. “I’m not saying it to hurt your feelings. I’m just telling the truth. I’ve never seen you like this before. I don’t like it at all. This is not you.”

  Ava marveled at Mercedes’ candor, but silently agreed. Sunny wasn’t herself at all.

  “Sunny,” Ava said. “Earlier in the car, you said that you think I don’t like you. But the truth is I’ve kind of looked up to you all these years. You and my sister.” Ava looked slightly embarrassed. “Maybe I was even a little jealous,” she admitted. “Even when I didn’t agree with how you lived your life, I always admired you for keeping it together. You always maintained your composure, and you made it look effortless. You’re such a go-getter. You’re not afraid of anything, always in control. But the woman I saw today charging into that law firm was not the Sunny I know and love. I listened to you talking today and I think your story explains a lot. I see why you got hooked and I understand your family dynamics and all of that. But you’ve got an incredible daughter here. She’s just like you. Tough, sassy, and smart. You have to meet her halfway and go into a program. We can find you someplace discreet.”

  Sunny covered her face with her hands. This was a nightmare. She didn’t want to go into rehab. What she wanted was to hit rewind, and have the events of the past week erased completely so that she could start over. She wanted to rewind to that day in Acapulco when she’d stormed off after Malcolm told her the truth she wasn’t ready for. She had vowed not to get high anymore, and she had let herself and everyone else down. She looked up and saw Mercedes looking at her. An unspoken conversation took place between them then. Sunny’s eyes said, I’m lost and I’m so sorry. Mercedes’ said, I forgive you. We can do this together.

  Sunny wept openly. “Okay,” she said. “Okay.”

  Mercedes went to her mother and hugged her. Sunny threw her arms around her and hugged her back tightly. The two of them cried, so many raw emotions overtaking them at once. Soon, Marisol encircled them, and the three generations of women embraced tearfully, ready to face their challenges as a united front.

  Afterward, Sunny looked Jada in the eyes. “I’m sorry for the things that I said earlier, about you and Born.” Jada nodded. “He loves you, Jada. You have to make things work between you.”

  Jada looked over at Sheldon, and Sunny read her thoughts.

  “He’ll have to get over it. You have to be happy, too,” Sunny said.

  Jada squeezed her hand and smiled weakly. “Right now, I’m just worried about you.”

  Sunny winked at her. “Everything is gonna be just fine.” She wished she believed it. Somehow, she couldn’t shake the feeling in the pit of her stomach warning her that her troubles were far from over.

  Sunny noticed Jenny G standing nearby, looking unsure. Sunny gestured toward the seat next to her, her lips curled into a slight smile. “Come sit with me, Jenny G.”

  At fifty-nine years old, Jenny Gonzalez had seen it all. Having worked as a domestic all of her adult life, she had learned the art of understanding her employers. She had to know when to become invisible, and when to make her presence felt. She had worked for Sunny for years, ever since Sunny moved into her fancy Manhattan apartment after Dorian’s death. She had seen Sunny up and had seen her down, too. But she had never crossed the line and intervened in Sunny’s personal life. Until today.

  Jenny sat now beside Sunny, unsure of what to expect from her unpredictable boss. They had a good relationship, but Jenny had rolled the dice when she agreed to be a part of Jada and Marisol’s plan. Jenny had walked into Jada’s apartment that day, knowing that Sunny might fire her for daring to question her behavior.

  Her heart beat rapidly as she sat beside Sunny. She stared at her hands, wondering what she would do or where she would go if Sunny sent her packing. Jenny was an illegal Mexican immigrant, and had given up her rundown Bronx apartment years ago to move in with Sunny full time. She knew that she had enough money saved to start over, but the truth was that Jenny didn’t want to go. She loved Sunny and Mercedes like family. Jenny fought the urge to burst into tears as she waited for Sunny to speak.

  Sunny watched her housekeeper struggling with her emotions, and knew instinctively why Jenny was so anxious. She reached out and took the older woman’s soft hands in hers, and met her gaze.

  “Jenny, it’s okay,” Sunny said, soothingly.

  Jenny’s tears plunged forth, and a lone sob escaped her. Sunny pulled her close and Jenny rested her head on Sunny’s shoulder in relief.

  Sunny resisted the urge to cry herself. She patted Jenny reassuringly, and comforted her. “You have nothing to worry about. You hear me?”

  Jenny nodded, sat up, and retrieved a tissue from her pocket. She blew her nose, softly, and did her best to pull herself together.

  Sunny took a deep breath. “I just want to tell you that I’m grateful.” Her voice cracked as she spoke, and she looked at Jenny intently, willing herself to hold it together. “You have been one of the few people that I can really trust. You’ve always had my back. You are loyal, and you only told me the truth—you, Jada, my mom … you were all right. I need to get help.” Sunny wiped the corners of her eyes where her tears had gathered. “I just want to say thank you for looking out for me and Mercedes all these years. You’re like a second mom to me, Jenny.”

  Jenny nodded, happy tears slowly falling from her eyes. “I feel the same way. I really love you and Mercedes. I want you to be happy, Sunny. You deserve that after everything you’ve been through.”

  Sunny couldn’t agree more. “You’re right, Jenny.” Sunny nodded. “And from now on, I will be happy.” She gripped Jenny’s hand. “Thank you. I don’t trust people very easily. But I trust you. And I know that you’ve got my back, even though I’m not the easiest person to work for.”

  Jenny laughed, knowing that last statement was true. “I wouldn’t want to work for anybody else. You are like family to me.” She smiled.

  “Good,” Sunny said, wiping her eyes one last time. “No more crying.”

  “Okay,” Jenny agreed.

  Hand in hand, Sunny and Jenny G joined the rest of the women to plot her return to rehab.

  11

  OLD NEWS

  Born heard the doorbell ring. He wasn’t expecting company. In fact, this was his first time at home in days. He’d been spending a lot of time at Anisa’s place. Too much time, he feared, since the last thing he wanted was for Anisa to get the wrong idea. He did enjoy her company, as well as the sex and the attention. But he knew that all of it was merely a substitute for what he was missing, which was Jada. He hoped it might be Jada at the door now, and he quickened his pace in eagerness. He looked through the tiny peephole and was surprised to find no one there.

  He stood back. Something didn’t feel right. His time in the streets had taught him to trust his instinct. Stepping away from the door, he went to the coat closet nearby to get one of the two guns he kept in the house. As he reached for the .45 on the top shelf, he was rocked by a force so powerful it deafened him. He felt as if he’d been pushed with an incredible amount of force, and found himself thrown feet first a
cross the room, landing on top of the door to the coat closet he’d just been standing near. Debris was scattered everywhere. There was a gaping hole where his front door had been, and through it he could see nothing but smoke and flames. As his hearing slowly returned, he heard the faint sound of the smoke alarms squalling. Born was dazed and confused. It took him several minutes to register that a bomb had just gone off at his front door. And if he had stepped outside instead of stepping back, he’d be dead right now. The realization hit him so hard that he passed out cold.

  * * *

  Jada raced through the halls of Richmond University Medical Center in search of his room. She passed nurses and staff members who asked whether they could help. She had to find him.

  Jada was spent. After a long and emotional day with Sunny and her family, she had gotten a call from DJ that Born had been in an accident. It was all he was willing to say over the phone. Jada finally spotted him as she rounded the corner. DJ saw her, too, and came rushing toward her.

  “Calm down,” he said. Jada had panic etched all over her face.

  “Where is he?” She was breathless. “What happened?”

  “He’s okay. There was some kind of explosion. They don’t know if it was a gas leak, but they said something about a suitcase at the front door. They ain’t saying much, but he’s okay. Some neighbors called nine-one-one and they got him here. They called Miss Ingrid, and she got in touch with me. We’ve all been trying to get in touch with you for hours.”

  Jada groaned in frustration. She had been staging Sunny’s intervention all day. “Where is he?”

  “Listen.” DJ took a deep breath. He put his hands on Jada’s shoulders, looked her in the eyes. “Anisa’s here. She’s in there with Born right now.”

  Jada held his gaze. Her heart raced. With her jaw clenched, she narrowed her eyes at DJ.

  “Where’s Ethan?”

  “He’s with Miss Ingrid. She took him to get something to eat.”

  Jada glanced around. “Which room is he in?”

  DJ led the way. They stopped outside of Born’s room, and Jada could hear Anisa laughing softly.

  “Now I know you’re okay. You’re back to being fresh again.”

  Jada heard Born mumble something she couldn’t hear, but she had heard enough. Her blood was at a brisk boil.

  She stepped into the room, and saw Born lying in the bed with his head and right arm bandaged heavily. Anisa had basically draped herself across him, despite the IV and other monitors connected to him. Born looked at her as she stepped in.

  “Hey, Jada.”

  He seemed groggy. Jada wasn’t sure whether they had him doped up or if he was still mumbling as a result of the explosion.

  “Hey,” she said. “Why is she here?”

  “Excuse you?” Anisa frowned as she sat upright. “I’m right here. Why don’t you ask me?”

  Jada side eyed her.

  “Nah,” Born said. “Don’t ask nobody nothing.” He wasn’t that groggy, and he could tell that this was not about to go well. “Lis-ten.” He tried to sit up, but his right side was racked with pain. His head was pounding, and it hurt to move. He spoke in a jumbled whisper in an effort to keep his head from throbbing worse than it already was. “Listen, ’Neece, let me talk to Jada for a while. Please.”

  He watched Anisa contemplate it. This was her big chance. She could blow it all up, and tell Jada the truth about their reunion. Or she could play it cool and let Born handle things his way. Anisa was the type who could go either way. She was a live wire. But Born counted on the fact that they’d bonded recently. He hoped that they had an understanding. She sighed, gathered her sweater, and touched Born tenderly on the leg. “I’ll be outside.”

  She walked past Jada without a second glance. And it was then, as Born looked at Jada, that he saw the pain etched on her face. She stood close to his bedside with her hands in the pockets of her hoodie, her eyes heavy with tears. “She’s ‘’Neece’ now?”

  Born shook his head slowly. “Don’t start.”

  Jada wiped her eyes quickly. She was an emotional wreck, and she knew it. Seeing Born like this wasn’t helping. “Are you alright?”

  “I will be. Right now everything hurts.” Born licked his lips. They felt dry as hell.

  “She was all over you,” Jada said. She gestured with her chin toward the door. “What’s up with that?”

  Born cleared his throat. “My lips are dry. She was putting some Vaseline on for me.”

  “I bet she was,” Jada sniffed. She snatched the small jar of Vaseline from Born’s bedside table and applied it to his lips with her fingertip. “What else has she been doing with your lips?”

  “Oh, you care now?” Born tried to move into a more comfortable position, and winced a little at the pain that shot through his right side. He resigned himself to his uncomfortable fate, and looked at Jada standing there with the nerve to be mad. “It’s hard to tell if you even know I’m alive.”

  Jada’s eyes watered unexpectedly hearing him say that. It was true. “Come on, Born. You know what I’m dealing with. Sheldon is—”

  “Sheldon is what?” He sucked his teeth. “He’s a fucking brat.”

  Jada’s tears turned to rage then. “What did you just say?”

  “You heard me.” Born was done playing. Somebody was out to get him, and he wanted to know who it was. Being so close to death had put things into fresh perspective for him. “Word. That’s how I feel. For months I been calling you, texting you. Nothing. You want to blame Sheldon, but you’re the parent. He’s not in charge.”

  Jada shook her head. “It’s not that simple.”

  “I think we have different definitions of family.”

  “He tried to kill himself, Born.”

  “Right. So now you give him what he wants for the rest of his life. That’s smart.” His sarcasm was evident despite the rasp in his voice. “We’re talking marriage and making future plans, and then he does that and—BAM! Silence.” Born’s hurt was evident. “You just disappeared on me.”

  Miss Ingrid returned with Ethan. Jada greeted Born’s mother warmly, but she couldn’t help being annoyed with the interruption.

  Born, on the other hand, was grateful for it. He wasn’t interested in talking to Jada about their relationship since it was clear that she was still feeding into Sheldon’s bullshit. All he cared about at the moment was figuring out who had rang his doorbell that afternoon.

  Ingrid sat at the foot of Born’s hospital bed. She was still terribly shaken after finding out that her son had a close brush with death. Ethan, too, had been so afraid that his father was harmed. It had taken much reassurance from Born to calm him down.

  Jada managed a weak smile, and greeted Ethan with a hug. He seemed to have grown in the months since the last time she’d seen him. Jada hadn’t realized how much time had passed while she was being held hostage to Sheldon’s wishes.

  As if reading her thoughts, Ingrid asked, “How’s Sheldon doing?”

  Jada glanced at Born. “He’s okay. Ava’s with him now.”

  Ethan sat in the chair next to his father’s bed. He didn’t miss Sheldon one bit, and wished his grandmother hadn’t asked about him. Ethan was no punk. But he was smart enough to realize that Sheldon was crazy.

  “Tell me what happened.” Jada looked at Born with genuine concern in her eyes. She wished that they hadn’t been interrupted. She wanted to tell Born that she thought about him all the time. That she missed him. He was her warrior. Seeing him lying there so helpless was killing her softly.

  He cleared his throat again. “I was home, and the doorbell rang. I went and looked through the peephole and I didn’t see anybody. I just got this feeling that something wasn’t right. I wasn’t expecting nobody. So I went to the closet to get that thing.” He looked at his mother as he said it, because Ingrid knew better than anybody what her son was into. “Next thing I knew … it was just a big-ass blast. The door flew off the frame, and the whole front of the house is
blown apart. I’m lucky to be alive, for real.”

  “Oh my God,” Jada said. She thought of who might be responsible, but came up empty.

  Ingrid didn’t like it one bit. “I called Zion and he’s sending some of his friends down here to keep an eye on your room around the clock.”

  “Ma—” Born protested.

  “Ma, nothing. We don’t know who rang that doorbell. I heard the detectives talking about a black suitcase. Until we know what’s going on, I want you protected. And like it or not, you’re not in the position to protect yourself.” Her tone of voice made it clear that the subject was not up for debate. “And what about that thing you keep in the closet? You know they’re gonna mess with you about that now.” Ingrid didn’t miss a thing.

  Born smirked at her. “You worry too much.”

  “We’re all worried about you,” Anisa said, as she stepped back into the room. She was tired of standing in the hallway.

  Jada scowled at her, and Anisa pretended not to notice. DJ stepped into the room, too, and stood quietly in the corner.

  Anisa filled Born in. “The doctor said you can have more painkillers soon. I told him the last dose was wearing off.” Anisa walked over to Ethan and stroked his well-groomed head affectionately.

  Jada was pissed. All of a sudden Anisa was the one speaking to Born’s doctors and acquainting herself with the staff. She reminded herself that Ethan was present, that Anisa was his mother. Jada didn’t want to make a scene. But she needed this bitch to know that Born was not hers for the taking. “Thanks for filling us in,” she said, her eyes boring into Anisa’s. “I’m here now. I’ll take it from here.”

  Anisa smirked a little. There were so many things she could say to shatter Jada’s heart. Born had been in her bed and in every crevice of her body for many nights. Anisa held her tongue, but was cackling on the inside.

  A nurse came in and checked Born’s vitals. She injected something into his IV, and then left quietly.

  No one spoke after she left. The tension was palpable, and Ingrid sought to relieve it. “Marquis, you have a concussion. You should get some rest.” She stood to leave. The ladies reluctantly followed suit. Ethan stood near his father’s bedside.