by Chanta Rand
“Hot.”
His dad chuckled. “I went to Houston once. Sweat so bad, I could make my own lake!”
“I’m just glad to be home,” Tristan said laughing.
His brother Nick walked past them wearing his swimming trunks. “Yeah, Texas is brutal, man. I read that a Union General named Phil Sheridan was posted in Texas after the Civil War. He said if he owned Hell and Texas, he’d rent out Texas and live in Hell!”
Tristan’s dad howled with laughter. “That was good one, son.”
“It’s true,” Nick promised.
“All right,” Tristan threw up his hands. “I don’t wanna hear anything else about Texas. I came here to party. Where are the birthday girls?”
“C’mon,” Nick told him. “Everyone’s out back at the pool.”
The three of them went outside to enjoy the party. The triplets had just learned how to swim last year, so the pool was finally being put to the test. The rest of his family had arrived before him, as usual. Carmen was cutting cake. His sister Debra and her husband, Sterling, were playing dominoes. His mother was lounging in one of the pool chairs, filming all six of her grandkids with a camcorder.
He knelt on one knee beside his mother’s chair. “Hey Ma,” he said, kissing her on the cheek.
She returned his kiss and put down her camcorder momentarily. “Finally.” His mom had a way of sweetly scolding him. She never raised her voice, but he could always tell when she was irritated – which was most of the time. “We’ve been waiting for you,” she said, looking at her watch.
“Beautiful watch,” Tristan said. “I wonder how many emeralds are in there.”
She smirked. “You oughta know. You bought it for me.”
He smiled. “If I’d have known you were going to use it to time me, I would have left it at Cartier’s.”
She returned his smile. “Don’t be a smartass.”
He kept grinning. “Yes ma’am.”
Debra approached. “Tristan has a lot going on and he still made it on time.”
“Thanks sis,” he said as he hugged her. “You’re the only one who understands me.”
She held out her hand. “So what’d you bring me?” she asked.
“Damn– ”
“Watch the language,” his mother warned.
Tristan continued. “And I thought you loved me for me.”
Debra crossed her arms. “Love is overrated. Where’s my present?”
He laughed. His sister never minced words. He ran back into the living room and retrieved the bag of gifts he’d brought. When the kids saw the iPods, they jumped out of the pool and swarmed him, almost soaking his clothes. After he’d played Santa and distributed all the presents, he changed into a spare pair of swim trunks he kept there. He played Marco Polo with his nieces and had a water gun fight with his nephews. He realized that most precious gift he could give them was his time. Just being with his family strengthened him.
Hours later, he sat in Nick’s living room, laughing and talking with his family members. It felt good to be away from the public eye, where he could relax and be himself. Tonight, he would stop by Tyrek’s house for another famous Predator Party. He knew he would have to put his guard up again. Everyone would be there to see T-Rex, not Tristan. There were very few people he could open up to. That was the downside of fame.
“Uncle T, you’re on TV!” One of his nephews came running into the room. The boy quickly flipped on the flat screen television and Tristan immediately saw video of Alexa and himself standing outside of the Melrose Hotel in Dallas. His heartbeat thundered wildly in his chest. Alexa looked good. Her face was flawless. Her skin was smooth like caramel. And her dress was banging. His body tensed just looking at her. Reading it in the paper was one thing, but seeing her on the screen was different. He was totally unprepared for the powerful effect she had on him.
Debra turned up the volume so everyone could hear the newscaster. “Our cameras caught up with California Predators quarterback, T-Rex, having a night out on the town. He was spotted leaving an exclusive Dallas area bar on Friday night. The star football player was accompanied by a woman who has been identified as Dr. Alexa Kennedy. Dr. Kennedy practices at Mercy Hospital in Dallas. We were unable to get a comment from T-Rex or his lady doctor, but we can only wonder if she was making a late night house call.”
Tristan’s jaw tightened. How dare they talk about Alexa like she was some over-sexed groupie? She hadn’t even wanted to go out with him. He’d persuaded her.
“She’s a beauty,” his dad commented.
Tristan shook his head, not trusting himself to speak.
“Is that your girlfriend, Uncle T?” his nephew asked.
“Tristan does not have a girlfriend,” his mother answered for him. “He is focused on his career right now. He does not have time to settle down. Besides, he knows these women are nothing but gold diggers. They can’t be trusted.”
“I think it’s cute,” Debra said. “If he has a girlfriend, that’s his business. Nick is married and so am I. What’s the problem?”
Tristan’s father cut in. “The problem is that he needs to concentrate on football. He can’t afford to have any drama jumping off right now. There are too many teams watching him, waiting to pick him up as a free agent. He doesn’t need to have his business in the headlines. There will be plenty of time for him to settle down and have a family later. Right now, we’re all the family he needs.”
“I agree,” his mother sided with his father. “The only courting that should be done is by the teams who are interested in him.”
Finally, Nick intervened. “Everyone calm down. That was just a business event for the charity auction Tristan attended. Dr. Kennedy works at the hospital that won the bid.”
Tristan’s dad folded his arms across his chest. “Son, tell us the truth. Is this thing with the doctor serious?”
Tristan tried not to be agitated. He knew his family had his best interests at heart. They just didn’t understand Alexa. And now was not the time to try to school them. “Nah, Pops. Like Nick said, it’s just business.”
* * *
Later that night, Tristan made it to Tyrek’s house. The party was jumping. Tristan could hear the loud sounds of rap music before he even made it to the front door. As soon as he arrived, a cutie in a red string bikini pushed a drink into his hand. He had no idea who she was, but he assumed she was a member of the UGC – the Unofficial Greeting Committee.
“Nice gear,” she said, looking him up and down.
He’d come straight from Nick’s house, so he was still wearing his white sweats with a pair of sneakers. He didn’t know if she was being serious or not. He didn’t care. He looked at the clear drink she gave him, then quickly handed it back to her. “I drink scotch,” he said before walking away, headed for the staircase. He knew Tyrek would be on the second floor playing pool.
A trip that should have taken less than a minute lasted more than twenty minutes. He had to make his way through crowds of people who knew him or wanted to know him. It was always like this at Tyrek’s parties. The crowd was made up of pros, Joes, and hoes. Pros were of course, the professional athletes. Joes were the wannabe celebrities and the non-athletes – the average Joes off the street. In this case, a lot of them were just relatives, freeloaders and other hangers on.
Then there were the women. There were females everywhere, and they weren’t afraid of being noticed. Tall sistahs. Short ones. Slim, full-figured, and in-between. Blondes, brunettes, and redheads. They came in all flavors and sizes – like a night at Baskin and Robbins. Some of them were locals who came to every party for every baller. Others were new faces. But inside they were all the same. They were hoping to snag a rich husband. He shook his head. They might be fine, but they were sure dumb as hell. What man was going to marry a freak that everyone else had sampled? The truth was, he’d been with quite a few women and he’d yet to find one that didn’t have an ulterior motive. All except Alexa. She didn’t need his mone
y. She didn’t need him. She had her own thing going on. He liked that. She was heads above these women.
He watched a woman walk by and wink at him. She was dressed in a fur bustier with a short leather skirt and yellow, stiletto-heeled boots. Normally he was turned on by half naked women, but tonight something felt different. He kept thinking about Alexa. She would never wear that crap. She was sexy without even trying. When she met him for drinks, she had on that slinky blue dress that tastefully hugged her hips. She knew how to dress. She didn’t have to show everything that God gave her.
“Hey T. How you been?”
He turned to find a familiar face at his elbow. “Hey Monique. What’s up?”
“You tell me. Why come I ain’t heard from you?” She pressed her cleavage up against him. She looked eager and ready to please in a silver, skin-tight strapless mini dress.
“Uh, I’ve been busy,” he told her.
“Too busy to call?”
Just then, the cutie in the red bikini returned with a glass of dark liquor. “Scotch for you, baby,” she said, giving him a wink. Monique glared at her, silently signaling for her to back off. The two of them looked like they might start a catfight right on the spot.
Tristan seized the moment. “I gotta go,” he told both of them. He walked off without looking back. Let them fight it out. He didn’t belong to either one of them. On his way to the staircase, he ran into a few of his buddies on the team. He’d played with them for the last couple of years. Curtis Steele, also known as the Man of Steele, approached him first. He was a light-skinned brotha that all the ladies seemed to love. “Yo, T. What’s going on?”
“Same ole, same ole.” They greeted each other with a handshake and a back slap.
“I hear you. I’m just checking out the honies while I still have time.”
Curtis was technically on house arrest for a weapons charge. He’d been caught with an assault rifle in his trunk on a routine traffic stop. He was out on bail, but his hearing was in two weeks. Curtis wasn’t a bad person. He just made bad decisions sometimes. Still, Tristan wondered about his judgment.
The team’s wide receiver, Frankie “The Avalanche” Johnson, joined them. There was one thing about professional sports. If you were talented, everyone wanted to give you a nickname. The more Tristan thought about it, the more he wanted to laugh. Alexa would have a field day dissecting all these names. He could just see her now telling Frank that an avalanche was probably not the most dangerous weather event. He wondered how Alexa would fit in here. Just then, a woman in a leopard-patterned swimsuit ran by, running from a man in a bear costume. He had his answer. She wouldn’t fit in at all!
Finally, he made his way upstairs. He saw Tyrek in the game room, bent over the pool table, concentrating on his shot. A Black & Mild dangled from his lips, threatening to spill ashes onto the green felt. Tristan watched as Tyrek pointed to the corner pocket, indicating the spot where he’d send the last ball. With a quick thrust of his pool stick, he barely nicked the ball. It headed straight for the corner pocket and effortlessly dropped inside. He smiled, then snubbed his cigarette into a nearby ashtray. Tyrek was a shrewd pool player. Everybody knew never to play him for money. He’d empty your whole bank account.
His current girlfriend walked up to him and palmed his bald head. Then, she playfully grabbed him by his diamond-studded ears and kissed him. She branded his lips with her sticky lip-gloss. Tyrek pulled her hands away from his ears. “Watch out for the ice, baby.” Tyrek was worse than a woman when it came to protecting his diamonds. Tristan saw him look in his direction. “My man, T! Whaz up?”
“It’s all about you, playa.” They gave each other a fist pump.
Tyrek grabbed a napkin and wiped his lips. His girlfriend walked away. “How was the big D?” he asked.
“It was all good,” Tristan answered. “I’m glad to be back home.”
Tyrek placed the plastic triangle on the pool table and started setting up the balls for the next game. “I know it was hot.”
“It was all right.”
“Man, I heard it’s so hot in Texas that when you dig potatoes out the ground, they’re already cooked! All you need to do is add salt, pepper, and butter.”
Tristan laughed. “Yeah, something like that.”
“Speaking of hot, don’t look now, but somebody is checkin’ you out.”
Tristan looked over his shoulder and saw Monique casting him sly eyes. She licked her big pouty lips. Tristan turned away from her and grabbed the nearest cue stick. “I’ll break.”
Tyrek dusted the top of his stick with the chalk block. “Man, why don’t you hit that?”
Tristan shook his head. “I already did, last month at your Fourth of July party. She’s been hounding me ever since.”
“So…”
“So, I wasn’t impressed enough to go back for seconds.”
“Since when did you ever need to be impressed? I’ve never known you to turn down any coochie, whether it was easy or not. Besides, I thought your motto was ‘seek and conquer.’”
Tristan shrugged. “I just get tired of these women always chasing me. And when you do talk to them, there’s nothing but air up there.” He pointed to his temple. “It’s as if they never had an original thought.”
Tyrek’s mouth dropped open. “Okay, who is she?”
“Who?”
“The woman you’re in love with.”
Tristan waved him away. “Man, get real.” He bent down and aimed his pool stick at the group of balls. He pulled back sharply, and then struck the front ball. The other balls cracked loudly against each other. The solids and strips scattered in all directions, but none of them reached the pockets.
“When a brotha starts talking about feelings, there’s something else going on,” Tyrek accused. “You used to could care less.”
Tristan gave a lame smile. “Forget it. I’m just jet-lagged, I guess.”
“Flights from Dallas don’t give you jet-lag, bro. I saw you on TV. It’s that lady doctor, huh? What’s her name?”
“Alexa.”
“Alexa. That’s right. You know that means defender of man in Greek?”
“Oh yeah?” Tristan grinned. “How do you know that?”
“Man, I’m an equal opportunity lover. I got women around the world. I know Greek, French, Italian, and Spanish.”
Tristan smirked. “Quit lying.”
“Okay, you got me,” Tyrek admitted. “I took a foreign language course. The ladies dig it. When I speak another language the panties just melt off.”
“I’m impressed.”
“No, I’m impressed with you dating a doctor. That’s a step up from your usual.”
Tristan gave him a curious look. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Don’t take offense, bro. I’ve known you for ten years, and I know what you like. I’ve seen women come and go in your life. Personally, I think Alexa is just a passing fascination for you. She’s different and you like that. But it won’t last.” He pointed a long finger at him. “You like variety.”
Tristan wondered why everyone thought Alexa was out of his league. Did people actually think he was so shallow that he was incapable of being with someone like her? It seemed no one had any faith in him. “There’s more to life than just hoochies and partying, Tyrek.”
“Maybe in your world, but not in mine. All I know is you need to cheer up. You’re gonna scare my guests away with that sour face.” Tristan watched as Tyrek effortlessly lined up each shot, quickly sinking all the striped balls into their pockets, and easily winning the game. He smiled. “Another game?”
“Tristan shook his head. “Nah. I can only stand one beat down. I’ll holla later.”
“Okay, take it easy, man.” He clapped Tristan on the back and turned back to his pool table. Tristan was walking away when he heard him call out. “Hey T, if you miss her that much, just call her!”
Chapter Five
Alexa sat in one of the two rocking chairs on the p
orch of her grandfather’s cape cod style home. He sat in the other. It was eleven o’clock in the morning, a little early for lunch, but still cool enough to feel the mid-morning breeze blowing through the screened in porch. The two of them munched on cold turkey sandwiches and sipped raspberry iced tea.
Alexa watched as her Pawpaw’s leathery hand wrapped around a tall glass. He looked older today. She didn’t remember him being so aged. He’d had a mustache for as long as she could remember. Years ago, it had been jet black. Today, it was on the verge of turning white. His cane lay propped against the side of his chair. Until recently, he never required any assistance walking. But since he suffered a stroke five years ago and a broken hip six months ago, he used the cane to help him get around. She suggested he get a wheelchair, but he was adamantly opposed to it. She didn’t argue with him; she knew he was a proud man. Walking with a cane was child’s play compared to the enormous obstacles he’d overcome in his life.
As a child he suffered through Jim Crow. As a teenager, he worked as a sharecropper for a dollar a day. As a young man, he served in the Army and fought in Vietnam. As an adult, he’d lost a wife, then a son and a daughter-in-law. For the past fifteen years, he’d lived a quiet life with no worries. She hoped he would live fifteen more.
“I’ve lived a good life,” he said, reading her thoughts.
She nodded, not speaking, just enjoying the quiet chirping of the blackbirds.
“I’ll be seventy-five in two weeks,” he reminded her.
“I know Pawpaw.”
“I don’t want no party; no surprises.”
“Why not?”
“I don’t think my heart could take it!”
Alexa laughed.
“I never thought I’d make it this far,” he confessed.
“Oh, stop it.”
“Seriously. When the Lord took my beautiful wife home to Glory, I thought I would die too. Even though it was for the best. The cancer had eaten her body alive. She was in misery, poor woman. I’d already seen too much death and destruction in Vietnam. I didn’t want to see any more. But God had another plan for me. He sent me you. That’s what has made my life feel so blessed. You’ve been the light of my life, Alexa. My sole reason for living.” He gazed into her eyes. “If not for you, I probably would have died of a broken heart a long time ago.”