“Fine. I’ll go,” she said and disengaged her arms from around Liza’s waist and turned to leave. She quickly turned back around to face the trio of women. “And besides, my daddy don’t like you anyway! He said you were too young to try and give us girls advice here, and that you didn’t know your butt, from a hole in the ground!”
“Your father said that to you, Angel?”
“Well, no…” she dragged out the word, “he was talking to my Aunt Milly. And he didn’t say butt, either, “she giggled.
“It’s not nice to listen to grown people speaking in a private conversation, Angel. That’s nosy and rude. It’s called eavesdropping.”
“Well…that’s not all he said! He said your skirts were too short and your legs were too damn long! He said they made you look like a spider. Aunt Milly asked what he was doing looking at your legs, and said something about you catching him in your web or something…I didn’t understand that part,” she paused and scrunched her nose before she shook her head and blithely continued, “But I think Daddy’s right. Your legs do make you look like a spider with that short body of yours!”
“That’s enough, Angel. Your father and I obviously need to have another…talk. I think it’s time for you to go to your session,” the director said and Liza could clearly see the faint blush that ran beneath the surface of her cocoa-brown colored skin.
“Fine, I’ll go…but, I’m not scared of you telling my daddy…like I said, he don’t care,” she said and skipped off toward what Liza assumed to be the blue room, leaving the woman to stare thoughtfully at her small retreating figure before she turned around to face she and Karina, with a forced smile.
“Hi, Karina! Thanks for coming. I’m sorry about all of that.” She apologized and shook her head as though trying to shake off something unpleasant before she continued to speak. “This must be your friend, Mrs. Colburn? Hi, my name is Candice Cane. Most people just call me Candy. I’m the director here at Girls Unlimited.” There was a forced note of cheeriness in the woman’s voice as she greeted them.
Liza had carefully observed the entire exchange between the director and the child and was curious to know what the deal was between little Angel’s father and Candy Cane. There were definitely undercurrents there. She glanced quickly at Karina and Karina gave a barely noticeable shake of her head, and mouthed later.
“Please, Ms. Cane, call me Liza.” Liza extended her hand in greeting and did a very feminine, quick visual appraisal of the woman standing before her.
Ms. Cane’s head barely reached Liza’s shoulders, similar to Renita and Karina in height. But unlike Renita, Ms. Cane’s figure was more like Karina’s…stacked. Her breasts were large but appeared firm behind the soft blue t-shirt that she wore. She’d tucked the ends of her t-shirt into what looked like fabric that she’d simply wrapped around her body, outlining her full round hips.
“Please, call me Candy,” she invited Liza and when she smiled, the corners of her full mouth dimpled and her nose scrunched. “The girls seem to get a kick out of my name, so I let them call me by my first and last name,” she laughed. “My parents had the strangest sense of humor when they named me!” Liza noticed the smattering of small freckles across the small bridge, making her look more like one of the young girls at the center, rather than the grown woman she was when she laughed and gave an explanation for her name.
Her dark eyes were large and round with a slant in the corners, denoting an Asian heritage somewhere in her genealogy, Liza guessed as she took in Candy’s creamy brown skin and thick black, winged eyebrows. Her thick, kinky-curly hair was coiled in one long braid that ended between her shoulder blades. A few strands had escaped here and there, framing her oval face.
“Thank you, Candy. I’m happy that I was able to come with Karina, today. I’m looking forward to the day. It should be a lot of fun,” Liza said and all three women began to walk down the hallway, toward the loud music coming from behind the double doors of the gym.
“Wow. So much has changed, yet it’s all still so familiar!” Liza said as she looked around as they walked.
“Yes, we’ve done quite a bit of renovating lately,” Candy said as she opened the doors and silently motioned for the women to precede her into the gym, talking loudly over the music.
Several girls waved at them and within moments, Liza breathed a sigh of relief when the music, although still loud enough to hear in the next county, was lowered several decibels so they were able to speak and hear each other without shouting.
“Girls Unlimited was bequeathed a large amount of money a few years ago by Mildred Strong in her will and it’s helped us tremendously in the way of funding some of our programs. We were able to use some of the money to supplement the building fund,” she said as she began to unfold the gunmetal gray chairs and line them up in a circle. Liza and Karina quickly began to help her as they prepared for the session.
“Isn’t Angelica related to Mildred Strong?” Karina asked with a frown, trying to remember the connection between the young girl and the patron.
“Yes. Mildred was her great-aunt. She raised Angelica’s Aunt Milly…Mildred, and her father from the time they were small children. Ms. Strong was also responsible for me being hired at the center.” Both Karina and Liza noted the way Candy stumbled when she mentioned Angelica’s father.
Oh, yes. There was definitely something there, Liza thought.
“That’s one of the reasons that Angel comes here on the weekends.”
“Why is that?”
“Her great-aunt is quite the entrepreneur in Stanton. She was the first woman to own and operate a construction business after her husband died and left the small company to her.”
“It’s no small company now,” Karina said.
“No. Strong Construction is one of the largest in the city…” Candy paused, “Girls, come and give us a hand!” Candy yelled and the young women snapped to attention and ran over to help. They put the rest of the chairs and tables together for the session and Candy turned to the women.
“Mildred was one of the original council members who helped start Girls Unlimited. She’d grown up in North Stanton and wanted a place for young girls to come to stay off the streets. She’s semi-retired from the business now, and is on the board of directors for the center and sinks a lot of her own money into the center. She’s the main reason I was hired as the center’s director…”
As they’d been speaking, girls began to trickle in and, within moments, they were sitting around in chairs preparing for the session.
“Thanks for coming, girls. Today we have a visitor. Mrs. Tolson has brought a friend of hers with her today and she’s going to sit in on the session, if that’s okay with you all,” she asked.
Liza was nervous as she sat in the chair and felt the piercing gaze of roughly twenty-five pairs of eyes boring a hole in her. They boldly checked her out from head to toe in open assessment. From the top of her carefully coiffed do, to the bottom of her new Prada mules.
She felt like crossing her arms over her chest as she used to do as a young girl. In protection. She didn’t like feeling exposed.
“What she doing here? Doing research for some university paper on little girls in the hood?” A young girl, who looked more like a grown woman than anything else, laughed and asked. “Oh no, maybe she’s a reporter. Gonna feature us in the community section in the Sunday newspaper?” she guffawed.
At first, Liza had been tempted to jump up and either run out of the gym, or revert to her old way of dealing with things as a young girl who was often picked on by lashing out at the young girl out of reflex. But she didn’t. She paused and looked at it from the girl’s perspective.
As she looked around, everyone was dressed in jeans or sweats, including Kari and Candy, as well as the girls. She felt like an idiot because it hadn’t even occurred to her to dress in a similar manner. Although she wore slacks and a ribbed sweater, her clothes were more casual than what she normally wore. They still were
out of place at the center and made her stick out as different.
“No, I’m not here to do research for school or a newspaper. I came here because my girl Karina asked me to,” she purposely spoke in a casual way, not talking down to the girl, instead using language she herself used when she and Kari spoke versus when she spoke to some of her other friends. “And…because I wanted to see what Girls Unlimited was like after being a member myself as a young girl.” She laughed when a few of the girls looked at her like she was the biggest liar on the planet.
“You used to come to the club?” another girl piped in to ask.
“Sure did, didn’t we Karina?” Liza asked and Karina laughingly agreed.
“Yep…and you wouldn’t know it to look at Miss Bourgie…” she laughingly called her friend stuck up, “but back in the day?” Karina looked around as though to make sure no one was listening. “Mrs. Colburn used to be hell on wheels. Anybody step to her wrong and she made mincemeat out of them,” Karina laughingly called her friend out.
“Karina! Don’t say that. That’s not even true!”
“Oh please, Liza. Let’s be real. I mean you’ve got it together now, but I remember once, when we were in second grade and I made you mad and you stuffed me in the trash bin outside, in fact…”
The girls all laughed and eased their chairs closer to hear the gossip as Liza groaned but felt a curious lightness as Karina told the girls a few of her antics growing up.
“But, but girls…look at Mrs. Colburn today. She went on to school, went to college and made something out of her life.” Candy Cane too had been wrapped up in the tales Karina told and laughed right along with the girls at the stories.
“Yes, I did. And it wasn’t easy. But, I was determined to make a success of my life,” Liza sobered up and said.
The rest of the session was easy and laid back. The girls asked both Liza and her questions about everything from college and what to do after high school, to what to do when a boy asked for sex. At times Liza didn’t know if she gave the right answer. The textbook answer. But she did give the answers from the heart. From experience.
As she looked around at the animated, laughing faces of the young girls, Liza saw a piece of her past in each one of them. The hope, anticipation, as well as the fears and uncertainties were all right there, unadorned, on their young faces.
She felt a stronger connection with them than she did with either her country club friends or the women she volunteered with for the various charity boards she belonged to.
“This has been a great session, girls! But as much as I would love for us to continue…” Candy paused and laughed at the collective groans of protest from the girls as well as from Karina and Liza. She held up a hand and continued. “Ladies, ladies, ladies! I hate to wrap it up, but we have to get the gym ready for the dance tonight. Maybe if you’re all nice and beg really nicely…Mrs. Tolson will bring Mrs. Colburn back again for a visit next week,” she said with a sly grin aimed at Liza.
“Please, Mrs. Colburn? Please come back next week with Mrs. Tolson next week! This was off the damn chain…um, I mean this was cool,” Sam, the young girl who’d first asked her what she wanted from them, quickly corrected herself.
Liza hated to see the session come to a close and was surprised at how much she’d enjoyed just being around the young girls and talking about everything but the kitchen sink, as Karina’s Big Momma would say.
She hadn’t been prepared to enjoy it quite as much as she did and was just as surprised as Karina obviously was when she agreed. “I think I’d like that, Samantha. As long as Mrs. Tolson doesn’t mind sharing you wonderful girls with me?” she held her laughter in check at Karina’s surprise and hasty, happy agreement to drag her down with her every Saturday that she could.
The director, Karina and Liza all said goodbye to the girls as they slowly trickled out of the small gymnasium. Liza was thrown off guard when after the last girl left, Candy Cane turned to them and gave them both a quick hug.
“Ladies, thank you so much! That had to have been one of the best gab sessions we’ve had in a while…wasn’t it, Karina?” she asked a beaming Karina.
“Yes, it definitely was! I don’t get to do that enough. I love it and the girls are so awesome. Liza, they love you. I’m so glad that you came with me.”
“I’m glad I came too. It turned out a lot differently than I thought,” Liza admitted.
“Liza I was serious about you coming back anytime that you want. If you’re interested in making a more long-standing commitment, we could use you.” The director’s voice was sincere as she extended the offer. “I’d love to keep talking with you both, but I have to go help the staff out in the gym. Until next time ladies, I’ll see you!” Her small impromptu hug surprised Liza, but she returned the affection.
When the small woman hustled away, Liza turned to Karina and laughed out loud at her expression.
“What the heck are you grinning about?” she asked as they turned and walked down the short hallway toward the entry.
“What? Can’t a woman smile without being accused of something? I’m naturally a happy person, I like to smile…what’s the big deal?” she laughed.
“I’ll say it for you then. It was great. I can’t believe how much I enjoyed that,” she said slowly, thinking.
“Li, you sound funny. What’s going on?” Karina asked, after waving goodbye to a few girls as the exited the building.
“Nothing. Not really. I don’t know. It’s hard to explain,” she said and shook her head. “I think I blew a few things up in my mind. Made them bigger than they really were. Now I need to do some reevaluating,” she told her with a small half grin.
“Honey, it’ll all come together in your mind. Seems like you’ve come to some acceptance about all of it. Maybe put a few ghost to rest?”
“Yep. A few,” she agreed and hugged Karina when she saw Cooper pull up into the parking lot. “Hey, here’s your ride, we’ll talk later. And Karina?” she said as Karina pulled away and waved at her husband.
“Yes?” She turned back around to face her.
“Thanks. It means a lot that you and my interfering husband care so much about me that you lied, manipulated and did everything under the sun to get me here.” She laughed when Liza started protesting. “Girl, I’m kidding. Well, not about the lying and manipulating…but it’s all good! Thanks, sweetie.”
“Speaking of lying and manipulating people, here’s my twin now,” Karina said and Liza was surprised to see Greg get out of Cooper’s SUV and walk towards her.
“I have to go, Li…I’ll call you later!” Karina said and quickly scooted away smiling nervously at Greg as she passed him.
Liza waved a distracted hand goodbye to her friend and waited for Greg to saunter his way over to her. When he stood less than a foot away he smiled at her, that sexy, let me-do-you-baby smile of his and she reached up and wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him.
His surprise at her actions only lasted one hot second before he’d tugged her close and took over the kiss, slanting her head for the best angle for full access to her lips. He plunged his tongue deep inside the cavern of hers and looked for and found her tongue, sweeping it with his own, as he pulled on her lips.
Just as he was pulling her closer into his embrace, he heard feminine giggles and catcalls, and slowly pulled away from Liza. When he looked down at her she was completely flushed and it took her longer to realize they had an audience.
A very rapt audience of several teenaged girls.
“Come on, let’s go to your car,” he said with a laugh and Liza gave a feeble smile and allowed Greg to lead her to her Mercedes.
After he’d opened the door for her and run around the front to enter his side and settled in, he turned to her and took both of her hands in his.
“Well…how was it?” he asked without preamble.
“It was…nice,” was all that she said. Let him squirm.
“Liza, come on. I know you’re
probably a bit ticked off at me. I probably should have made the suggestion up front and not gone behind your back…”
“You probably should have?” she interrupted. She rolled her eyes in automatic response and suddenly felt like Angelica, the little girl with the big attitude that she’d met earlier.
Greg ran a hand through his hair and pulled at the collar of his shirt as though it was suddenly too tight. “Don’t bust my balls on this, Li. I’m sorry, baby. I should have. I definitely should have made the suggestion up front. And I apologize…forgive me?”
“Of course I do. I know where your heart was. Where both of your hearts were, yours and Karina,” she said and was silent for a long time.
He knew his wife. She wasn’t stupid. From the time he saw her, he knew the jig was up, as his grandfather used to say. She knew he had something to do with her visit to Girls Unlimited. Now as she silently sat, looking down at her clasped fingers, he waited for her to speak, in no rush to hurry her words.
“Let’s go for a drive.”
“Go for a drive, where?”
“I think it’s time that I got rid of all of the ghosts,” she said. “I’ll give you the directions. We won’t be gone long,” she told him and he started the engine and reversed out of the lot, his gaze turning to his wife as she gave him an address and directions.
Chapter Fourteen
“ This is it, 1515 Kirby Road,” Liza’s voice was hushed as she stared out the window at the little white dilapidated house. It was the first house that she’d shown him, so far, on what he termed in his mind “the tour”. After she’d given him the address and directions to the house as they drove along, she pointed out buildings and houses that were familiar to her with both laughter and sadness in her voice.
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