* * *
“Your little girlfriend is posting on my Facebook page,” Leslie said to Graham in front of all their coworkers at the dinner table.
Graham fumed, not just because of Leslie’s announcement, but because of the picture in the first place. He’d watched her go around the room taking selfies with everyone, deep down knowing that she only wanted the selfie with him. Lorne had told her to get the heck out of his face with her camera, and Craig had disappeared at the last second. She’d only caught Graham, because he’d just had a glass of wine and was feeling friendly. Almost as soon as she clicked, he realized she was going to post it on social media.
She had, and Onika had seen it. Onika never posted on his page. He had inspirational quotes up daily, but she never responded to those. But one tagged photo with a woman she knew he didn’t want, and she was online commenting. Women.
“Graham’s little girlfriend just might come see you,” Lorne said. “She seems like the rowdy type. If I was you, I’d leave her alone.”
“She’s not the rowdy type, but she’s my type,” Graham said in response. “She doesn’t have anything to worry about. She probably genuinely liked the picture.”
Leslie frowned, probably not liking getting a comeuppance, but she deserved it, since she wanted to start stuff.
“I’m turning in, y’all,” Graham said. “We have class in the morning, so I want to get some rest.”
“Party pooper,” Lorne mumbled.
He might have been a party pooper, but he wasn’t going to spend another minute at the table with Leslie, giving her time to think up more lies or attacks on Onika.
“Good night, Graham,” Leslie said in a very seductive tone.
Everyone laughed. Everyone except Graham.
“She’ll be on her way up later,” Helena said, getting a roar of laughter from the group.
Graham didn’t think that was funny at all, but if he commented, then of course he would be the villain. So he left the table without responding. He could see that eventually, whether he wanted to or not, he was going to have to do something about Leslie, and he didn’t see it ending well.
CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE
Onika jumped up from the desk in Charmayne’s office and shouted with joy. It was too early for all that noise, but she couldn’t help herself. She had a job offer—for a real job. It was as a legal secretary, and it paid fifty-eight thousand dollars a year. Even though it wasn’t even close to how much she needed to make in expensive DC, it was better than what she had now, and she would be able to move.
She looked at the communication again and realized she didn’t recognize the company’s name. She didn’t remember applying for the job, but that’s not to say that she hadn’t. She was pretty much mindlessly applying for any and every job she saw online. She definitely hadn’t interviewed for it, so they were giving her an offer sight unseen.
“Everything okay in there?” Charmayne asked from outside the door.
Onika should’ve known Charmayne would wake up and come down there with her nosy self. She wanted all the scoop at all times.
Onika opened the office door. “Yes, everything is incredible. I got a job offer. I start next week. It’s as a legal secretary.”
Charmayne jumped up and down and clapped. “Look at God! Didn’t you say you might want to go to law school? Maybe this will lead you to that. What a blessing.”
The joy went right out of Onika’s face. Why was Charmayne giving credit to God? Onika hadn’t prayed about her joblessness and homelessness. She hadn’t asked Him for anything. She’d asked God for one thing a long time ago—a sober mother. He hadn’t helped then, so why give Him any credit now?
“This is not a blessing. This is me attracting interest with what I’m putting out there. I am putting out positive energy and receiving positivity in response to that.”
Charmayne looked confused. “Okay, well, I prayed for you, so I’m going to thank God. You can say it’s whatever you want it to be.”
“I’m saying what it is.”
“Well, what’s positive about lying to your boyfriend? He still doesn’t even know why you live in a women’s shelter. So what happens with that? When you put lies out into the universe, what happens then?”
Onika narrowed her eyes angrily at Charmayne. “How dare you try to make fun of what I believe?”
“I am actually surprised to hear that you believe in anything. That is a start. That’s a way to get you back to God.”
“I never said I didn’t believe anything. I just said I’m not going back to any of your churches, and I’m not asking Jesus for anything. If there is a higher power, it has enabled all of us to attain exactly what we can have. Reaping and sowing is a law of the universe.”
Charmayne merely stared at Onika. She didn’t react, even though Onika was screaming now. Onika checked herself and calmed down. She still lived here, under Charmayne’s roof. She was grateful to her, even if she was a Christian.
“I’m sorry,” Onika said. “I didn’t mean to scream.”
“It’s okay. I rather like you showing some emotion. Do you realize that you hold everything in? I’ve only seen you break down once, and in your situation, that is hard to imagine.”
“Why do you think I have to let you see me break down? You don’t know what happens with me in my private time. You don’t know what kinds of personal reflections I have about all this. I just haven’t let you see it.”
“That’s fair,” Charmayne said. “And I don’t have to see you break down. As long as you are examining what went wrong with your choices and are planning to make different ones. If you continue to live the same way, you’re going to have the same outcomes.”
“Thank you.”
Charmayne shook her head, probably because of Onika’s stony facial expression. Onika wasn’t going to give her anything else. She refused to feed Charmayne’s need to feel other people’s suffering. There was a whole house full of women who had buckets of pain. She could go and listen to them wailing and moaning and praying. They wanted the breakthroughs that Charmayne prayed about, so she could go and talk to them.
“You’re going to regret not telling Graham the truth.”
“Your warning is duly noted. I will be moving in a couple of weeks. That will free up a spot for another woman. I appreciate you being here and doing what you do. I don’t know where I would be if it wasn’t for your kindness.”
“I suppose the universe dropped you at my front door.”
Onika laughed and didn’t bring up the homeless lady and the flyer anymore. She was just going to have to remain a mystery.
The doorbell rang, and Charmayne furrowed her eyebrows.
“It’s only eight o’clock in the morning. Who is visiting this early?”
Onika followed Charmayne to the door. She opened it, and there was a moving truck outside. The driver stood at the door.
“How can I help you?” Charmayne asked.
“I have some personal belongings to deliver to Nikki Lewis.”
Charmayne turned to look at Onika, and she shrugged with confusion. She had no idea what was going on.
The driver started back to the truck, but then ran back to the door like he had forgotten something.
“There’s a note for Ms. Lewis,” he said as he handed the card to Charmayne.
Charmayne passed it to Onika. Thinking that this might be a surprise from Graham, she opened it with a smile. It said, Since you now have a new job, you’ll need your clothes and shoes. Dress to impress. Xoxo, Aaron.
Onika looked up to see racks of her clothing and shoes being brought up to the front door. At Aaron’s town house, her closet had been larger than her bedroom at Safe Harbor.
“Where is all this stuff gonna go?” Onika groaned. “I can’t believe this.”
“Who is it from? Your ex-boyfriend?”
Onika nodded. “When I left, he wouldn’t let me take anything he bought me while we were together. He said that the designer clothe
s were listed as his assets.”
“Well, we could put what won’t fit in your bedroom in the basement. It’s waterproofed and finished down there.”
Onika imagined her snakeskin shoes and soft leather skirts in the basement and cringed. Aaron knew exactly what he was doing. He was making her uncomfortable at Safe Harbor. It would be nothing to him to send movers out the very next day to pack Onika up and bring her to his town house. What would she look like living in a homeless shelter with two-thousand-dollar shoes? Absolutely foolish.
“You could keep some of it, and we could have an estate sale,” Charmayne said. “I know some very elite women who would pay top dollar for designer shoes and handbags.”
“Let’s think about how to set that up. I can definitely use the money.”
“How did he know where to send your things?” Charmayne asked.
“That is a very long story. I think he wants me to come back to him, but I won’t. I refuse.”
Charmayne said nothing, although Onika expected to hear much more. Onika was happy for Charmayne’s silence, though. She was already feeling irritated enough that Aaron was inserting himself into her life again. First, with the check, then pulling strings to get her a job, and now sending thousands of dollars’ worth of clothing to a homeless women’s shelter.
Onika had a feeling that she’d opened a Pandora’s box by accepting that check, but she couldn’t silence the voice in her mind that told her she deserved it. She deserved to walk away with something instead of being empty-handed.
That’s why she couldn’t stop the movers from bringing in box after box of clothes and shoes. And because she’d accepted this kindness, and she’d accepted the job and Aaron’s check, he wouldn’t stop.
This was just the beginning. Aaron liked to win, and wouldn’t stop until he did.
CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO
Graham enjoyed watching Onika sprawled across his couch eating a bowl of popcorn. Well, they were supposed to be eating the popcorn while they watched a marathon of X-Men movies. He’d let her pick, and that was what she’d come up with. Superheroes. He wasn’t mad about it, though.
“I thought we’d be watching either foreign language films or Tyler Perry movies today.”
“Eww to both. I hate movies where I have to read the screen, because I don’t completely pay attention to movies. My brain likes to multitask.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means I am incapable of just sitting in front of a TV watching a movie from start to finish without thinking of something else.”
“What do you do when you go to the movies?”
“That’s probably the only time I see an entire movie, because I can’t do anything else but watch it.”
“Note to self, if I want Onika to really watch the movie, take her out to the theater.”
“Correct, unless you take me to one of those places where they have wine and food. Then I’m paying more attention to my snacks than the movie.”
Graham laughed. “And what’s the reason for not choosing the Tyler Perry movies?”
“Not my type of hype.”
“I haven’t heard that in . . . ever. I’ve never heard someone say that. Maybe in a movie. An old-school movie about the nineties.”
Onika giggled. “I love nineties hip-hop. Now you know. I like superheroes and nineties hip-hop.”
“I love that.”
“I start a new job on Monday, so I won’t be at the soup kitchen anymore.”
“A new job? You don’t sound excited. Tell me about it. Does it pay well?”
She nodded. “It pays better than the soup kitchen, and it’s full-time with benefits. I’m happy about it.”
Her actions didn’t fit her words. She didn’t seem happy about it. She seemed indifferent.
“Well, how will this impact your work at Safe Harbor? The community center was part-time, right? Will you be able to do both?”
Onika sighed and sat up on the couch. She set the bowl of popcorn on the table.
“Graham, I need to tell you something, but before I do, just know that I never meant for it to happen. And after I tell you, please know that the only reason I did it is because I like you so much.”
Graham got worried. What was she about to say? Would it change everything?
“Okay . . .”
“I don’t really run Safe Harbor. I do live there . . . because I don’t have anywhere else to live.”
“Wait, what do you mean? You’re homeless? You don’t seem homeless.”
Onika shrugged. “I know, but that’s only because Charmayne took me in.”
Graham didn’t know what he thought she was going to reveal, but it certainly wasn’t this. The girl he loved was homeless. Damn.
“I mean . . . how long have you been homeless? When I met you at the Metro station? Were you then?”
She nodded. “I was on my way to Safe Harbor that day. The night before I spent at the Gallery Place Metro station.”
“That’s the reason you didn’t call.”
“That’s exactly the reason I didn’t call. And then when I saw you again, I thought, just like you did, that it was the universe putting us together.”
“I didn’t think that.”
“You know what I mean. You thought God sent me to you. I felt the universe did. Same thing.”
“Not the same thing.”
“Graham, you are missing the point. I lied to you, but only because I thought you wouldn’t want me if you knew that I was homeless. I didn’t think anyone wanted me. My ex threw me out on the street. I was not in a good place.”
“Where are you now?”
“I’m in the best place ever, that’s why I’m telling you this. I feel so much love for you, and I don’t want to go any further without knowing whether or not you’ll accept me.”
She felt love for him. Was this the same as loving him, or was it some destination on the way to being in love with him?
“I don’t care about you being homeless, Onika. You can live here if you want. You don’t have to stay there.”
The look of shock on Onika’s face let him know that maybe he’d gone too far telling her she could move in, but he meant it.
“I have two bedrooms. I’m just saying you don’t have to live in a place you have to share with other people.”
Onika jumped up from the couch and threw herself into his arms. She kissed his face and neck and finally his mouth. He kissed her back and wrapped his arms around her lower back.
“I hate that your ex threw you out and that you didn’t have anywhere to live, but if he hadn’t done that to you, I wouldn’t have you. So, being homeless brought you to me.”
“You’re too good for me, Graham.”
He wasn’t too good. Because while Onika was in his arms, Graham was thinking about how hard Leslie would laugh if he knew he was dating a homeless woman. Lorne and Craig would be completely insufferable if they found out. They couldn’t find out.
As proud as he was to have Onika on his arm, he was as embarrassed as she was about her homelessness.
And that wasn’t the worst part. Now Graham was starting to question everything. If she wasn’t homeless, maybe she wouldn’t have ever looked his way. He only had a chance because she was at her rock-bottom. What would she do when she wasn’t struggling anymore?
“Thank you for offering me a place to live,” Onika said, “but I will be moving into my own place soon. I just need a pay stub.”
“You’ve got the money to move?”
Onika said nothing. She untangled herself from his arms, went back to the couch, and sat down.
“What?” Graham asked, not understanding what he’d done wrong.
“This is why I didn’t want to tell you. You’re asking too many questions now. I don’t need you to manage the situation, Graham. I am just correcting a lie that I told you.”
Graham sat down next to her. “I’m not trying to manage the situation. I just want to help.”
“I appreciate you for that. I just want to go through this piece of it myself. Depending on a man is what got me homeless in the first place. I’m going to handle this on my own.”
“Okay, but you don’t have to worry about me judging you, Onika.”
She smiled sadly. “I know you think you wouldn’t, but let me ask you this. If I had told you on the Metro station that I was homeless, would you have wanted to see me again?”
Graham would be lying to himself if he said he would. He would’ve seen her completely differently. He probably would’ve given her money, but not his business card. She was right—even he was judgmental.
“I’m glad I didn’t know then, because I would’ve missed out.”
“You would’ve, because I’m incredible.”
Graham slipped his arm around Onika and pulled her close. He buried his face in her hair and inhaled. He loved that coconut scent. He kissed her forehead affectionately.
“You are.”
It was just that now Graham was worried. No matter how incredible she was, Graham didn’t know if he could handle being with a woman who had a secret life.
CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE
Graham sat across from Leslie in a conference room. She glared at him, but he didn’t care. He wanted her foolishness to stop. Which was why the alternative dispute resolution representative, Shelly, and their boss, Roger, were both in the room.
“Just so that everyone is aware, what is said here is confidential,” Shelly said. “It won’t be shared outside of this meeting and won’t be used for any further action against you—disciplinary or otherwise.”
“Can we just get this over with?” Leslie asked. “I don’t even know why we’re here.”
“Graham reported what he considers to be a hostile working environment,” Roger said. “I have to say I was alarmed about his allegations. We won’t tolerate anyone feeling harassed in our department.”
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