Broken Glass

by J. D. Mason

  “Not yet.” She pursed her lips in contemplation. “Just dinner?”

  “Food.”

  Hope rising? Dare he let it?

  “Fine,” she reluctantly agreed. “I accept your invitation, Dr. Nick.”

  “Good,” he said, playing it incredibly cool. “Tonight? Six?”

  “I kind of wanted to wait until my ankle healed so I could wear— “”

  “Tonight,” Nick interrupted. “You can wear sneakers or flip flops.”

  Terri wrinkled her nose. “Sneakers?”

  “You’d look damn cute in sneakers.”

  She chuckled, “I think I own a pair. I’ll have to check, or, flip flops it is.”

  Nick couldn’t help but to grin. “I’ll pick you up at six.”

  Caviar and Filet Mignon was rare in Devastation. Gumbo, blackened redfish, and crawfish étouffée were plentiful. Chuck’s BBQ was a local favorite. Nick had every intention of impressing the hell out of her and spent the rest of the day driving himself crazy trying to figure out how to do it.

  “What about laying a blanket down underneath a tree, with wine and food?” he asked Yolanda who was sitting across the table from him.

  Nick had stopped at the diner for coffee and ran into Yolanda finishing up her lunch.

  She immediately shook her head at his suggestion. “That shit only works in the movies,” she said. “Bugs.”

  Made sense.

  “What’s good in Baton Rouge?”

  “That’s a whole hour and a half away, Nick,” she reminded him. “Y’all wouldn’t be eating until like eight. They’ve got a fancy seafood place, though. Clara’s or Cleo’s or something like that. It’s pricey. She’d like it.”

  “Not a lot of options.”

  “Luther’s has a mean a steak and oysters on special.”

  “Yeah, I don’t want to take her there.”

  “You still mad at your daddy?”

  “Not mad. Just not… anything.”

  “He’s good people, Nick, and I think you’d see that if you gave him a chance.”

  “Noted, but right now I’m trying to impress a woman.”

  “You’re impressive enough already, if you ask me.” She smiled.

  He chuckled, “That’s because you’ve had a crush on me since kindergarten.”

  “I have,” she laughed. “And I might kind of wish it was me you were trying to impress.”

  Nick couldn’t tell if she was serious or teasing him. “I’m sure you have plenty of dudes around here trying to impress you, Yo.”

  “Go to Miss Jolene’s,” she said, changing the subject.

  “On Levee Road?”

  Her eyes lit up. “Tell her you have a date with a special woman and want her best table.”

  “Miss Jolene’s got great food, but the place is a dump.”

  Miss Jolene ran a small restaurant, if you could call it that, out of her house, seating people on her screened in back porch.

  “Miss Jolene is the most romantic woman in town, Nick. She’s in love with the notion of love.” Yolanda smiled. “Trust me on this.”

  “Love?” he drew back.

  Nick wanted to treat the woman to dinner, not get married. Love was premature.

  “Don’t be bullshitting me, Yo,” he half-heartedly warned. “Miss Jolene’s? This better not be a joke.”

  He and Yo went back a lifetime, and neither of them were above, or below, the occasional practical joke.

  “Not for something like this, Nick.”

  “Something like this?” he probed.

  “Love.” She offered a soft smile. “I’m the second most romantic person in town, after Miss Jolene,” Yolanda laughed. “Why do you think I’m still single?”

  “Nobody here deserves you,” he concluded, studying her and wondering where all this love language was coming from.

  “Not a soul.”

  Looks Good To Me

  Nick pulled up in front of a small, white bungalow on the edge of town that looked a lot like the one Terri lived in.

  “So, we’re having dinner with your family?” she questioned, choking back disappointment as Nick helped her out of the car.

  This was not her idea of a friendly ‘Dr. Nick payback’ first date. Terri wasn’t expecting this evening to be anything more than it was… dinner with a nice man, but still. Meeting his family was pushing it.

  He smiled and brilliant, perfectly straight, white teeth beamed at her like moonlight. “I wouldn’t do that to you.”

  Nick dressed for the occasion, a nice blazer over a fitted black tee, tucked neatly into designer jeans, and leather lace up shoes. Terri, refused to wear sneakers, but managed to find a cute pair of flats to wear with a simple, halter top summer dress. She also refused to drag even one crutch out of the house this evening.

  “They don’t go with this outfit,” she’d told him when he asked about them right before they left her house.

  Nick knocked lightly on the front door and a large, older gentleman, the color of charcoal, wearing a crisp, white button down underneath his finest khaki overalls, greeted them with a welcoming smile and slight bow.

  “Welcome to Miss Jolene’s,” he said, ushering them inside.

  Once inside, Terri’s nostrils were greeted with the most heavenly scents she’d ever encountered, savory, buttery aromas made her mouth water, and even Nick licked his lips after getting a whiff.

  “Follow me, please,” the kindly man said, leading them through a small living room that looked like something off the set of that old Archie Bunker sitcom.

  A brown, plaid sofa, worn leather recliner covered with a crocheted blanket and doilies made Terri feel like she’d walked through a time portal back to the seventies. Terri glanced over her shoulder at Nick, offering an uncertain smile in response, as they trailed behind the giant man to a creaky screen door opening to what looked like the back porch. Yeah. This was going to be a tough night and the last date the two of them would ever have.

  “I’m Bruce and I’ll be your waiter for the evening,” he said with an accent somewhere between American south and the queen’s English.

  Bruce pulled Terri’s chair from the table for her to sit. The look on Nick’s face was just shy of full-on terror. He’d fucked up and he knew it.

  Bruce stood by and recited the following:

  “On tonight’s menu is our creamy and delectable crawfish bisque with delicately toasted and buttered sliced baguette, pan seared red snapper with a delicious garlic-herb vinaigrette and a side of dirty rice,” he said, grinning and licking his lips as if he’d already sampled the food. His eyes lit up even more, “and for dessert, a slice of Miss Jolene’s famous eight-layer yellow Doberge Cake with chocolate butter cream frosting.”

  “Tell me you like seafood,” Nick said, staring at her with a concerned look on his face.

  “I love seafood.”

  “Splendid,” Bruce exclaimed, clasping large, calloused hands together, looking as relieved as Nick. “May I start you with some wine? I recommend the white to go with the fish.”

  Again, Nick glanced at Terri, who smiled her approval. “Perfect.”

  The whole set up was so fairytale-ish that it was actually charming. Theirs, was the only table on the back porch of Miss Jolene’s house. It was screened in, which was nice because it kept the bugs away, and strings of soft lighting hung all around, setting a surprisingly romantic atmosphere.

  “I took a chance,” Nick blurted out after Bruce disappeared inside. “A big one, on a recommendation from a friend.”

  “Boy, was it a big one,” she agreed.

  The two of them stared at each other until Nick laughed first. “I kind of dig it.”

  Terri smiled and bobbed her head from side to side in consideration. “I kind of do, too.”

  Nick sighed and slumped slightly in relief, but it was true. Surprisingly, Terri found the whole scene scripted to perfection and like something out of a Reese Witherspoon movie.

  “This is a
real restaurant?” Terri probed.

  Nick shrugged. “Apparently.”

  She laughed.

  “One of Devastation’s best kept secrets,” he added.

  “I’ll say. It’s nice, though, in an unassuming kind of way. Miss Jolene is the chef?”

  “That’s my understanding, and the owner.”

  Miss Jolene must’ve been listening. Suddenly, the screen door magically appeared to open, and Miss Jolene floated over to their table like a fairy godmother. A bright, welcoming smile exploded from her taupe, full moon, freckled face. She was the roundest thing Terri had ever seen and absolutely adorable. Sandy brown waves of hair pulled away from her face, covered in a hairnet that, upon close scrutiny, appeared to be adorned with glitter.

  “Welcome,” she beamed at the two of them. “Welcome, and it is so wonderful to meet you.” She turned specifically to Terri when she said it.

  “I’ve never had a celebrity come here before. I read all about you in the paper, and I watched you on my favorite soap opera, Lives of Ashford,” she chuckled and lightly touched Terri’s shoulder “Dr. Claudia Braxton.”

  “Thank you,” Terri said, smiling and resisting the urge to glance at Nick after recalling his comment about his great-great whoever being a fan of the show.

  “I never believed you deserved to go to prison for killing that brute of a husband,” she said with earnest.

  “Well, my contract was up so…”

  “He deserved everything he got. Had it coming,” she said with tears glistening in her eyes. “I kept thinking they were going to find a way to bring you back.”

  Actually, Terri didn’t want to go back.

  “It was just time to go.”

  Miss Jolene blinked and the tears disappeared. “You’re here now,” she chuckled. “In my house, and that’s all that matters.”

  “It’s lovely here, Miss Jolene,” Nick finally chimed in.

  “Oh, thank you so much,” she said, pouring on thick, syrupy appreciation. “My establishment is small, but I prefer it that way, especially for lovers.”

  “No, we’re not— “” Terri tried interjecting.

  Nick grinned.

  “I can’t tell you how many couples have come here who ended up married or with new babies.” She winked.

  Nick looked at Terri, brows raised, eyes wide. “Is that so?”

  “Yes, it is,” she assured them both. “If you ain’t married to each other when you come here, give it a minute.”

  Miss Jolene chuckled, turned, and left, disappearing back inside, and leaving that damn threat hanging in the air like a dark storm cloud.

  “You look scared,” Nick commented, leaning on the table.

  “This is just dinner,” she reminded him. “I don’t plan on letting you get me pregnant.”

  He leaned back, smirking. “That’s too bad.”

  The food was breathtaking. Bruce deserved the Wait Staff of the Millennia award, and Dr. Nick was most charming. At the end of the meal, the two shared a slice of Miss Jolene’s decadent cake.

  “I can’t remember the last time I’ve enjoyed myself on a date as much as I have tonight,” she admitted, admiring the handsome man across the table from her.

  “Quit playing,” he joked. “A beautiful woman like you? I’d imagine you have all kinds of leading men chasing you down.”

  “A few,” she admitted, introspective and trying to resurrect the memory of any that actually felt legitimate. “Dating in my line of work isn’t for the weak.”

  “No privacy?”

  “No authenticity,” she admitted. “Everybody’s clawing their way to the top, and if dating a particular person can get them there faster, then...” she shrugged “or, they’re looking for that cheerleader, that ride or die, someone to hold it down for them while they chase what’s damn near impossible to catch.”

  This revelation surprised her, but it was the truth. Terri had been one of the players in that game for years, and tonight, this date with Nick was probably the most authentic she’d had since her high school prom.

  “This was nice,” she said, leaning back and smiling. “Very.”

  Without realizing it, that fine young man sitting across from her had come dangerously close to making Terri long for something she never realized she’d missed. A relationship. A real one.

  “It’s still early,” he said, glancing at his watch. “Wanna go walk off this cake?”

  She curled her lip, “I didn’t bring my crutches.”

  “Then let’s go sit somewhere nice.”

  “That’ll work,” she laughed.

  “I could’ve had Parker drop this off, Luther,” Darnell said as he helped Luther load boxes into the back of his truck. “He could’ve swung through, day after tomorrow.”

  “Nah, I need some of this in the morning, D,” Luther explained.

  A woman’s group was having a brunch at his place tomorrow at eleven, and the cook, Brenda, had just informed Luther they were out of cooking oil, flour and cinnamon.

  “Next time I’m sending Brenda’s ass to come pick it up if she don’t give me more notice,” he complained.

  “I hear you.”

  Half an hour later, the truck was loaded. Luther sat behind the wheel for a few moments before starting the engine but stopped short when he saw his son.

  Nick sat on a wrought iron park bench with his arm draped over the back, behind Devastation’s newest citizen and celebrity, pretty Miss Dawson.

  “Well, damn,” he muttered with a slight smile.

  An air of unexpected pride filled his chest at the sight of his son, wooing the woman on the radar of just about every man, single or otherwise, in Devastation. Nicholas Hunt, doctor, grown man, and looking pretty damned pleased with himself. Good. Good for him. Luther had never been the father Nick wanted, but he’d only ever wanted his son to be happy.

  Seeing the two of them together gave rise to memories Luther put away a long time ago. He’d spent so much time on the road that sometimes he’d forgotten the moments he shared with Ava when it was just the two of them. Memories of a time when Luther didn’t have to hurry up to be somewhere. Before ‘I love yous’ were said over the phone, stretching across oceans and continents. She was his love, heart, and soul, but that love came in tiny pieces, having to be assembled like a puzzle to remind him of what they had before she got sick.

  Luther started the engine, watched his son laughing and enjoying the company of a beautiful woman, and envied him.

  Take Everything In

  “How’s that dreadful little town treating you?” her agent, Roxy, asked, her question lacking any real enthusiasm or interest.

  “Small. Quiet. Quaint, and no over the top drama,” Terri shot back.

  “When are you moving back to the A?”

  Terri sighed and rolled her eyes, not that Roxy could see them. “Never.”

  “You stay there, Terri, and you won’t have to worry about dying from old age. You’ll die from boredom.”

  “I’m retired, Roxy. For real, but if any decent voice over gigs or even commercials come across your desk, give me a shout.”

  “You keep saying that,” she whined.

  “Because it keeps being true.”

  “You know Tyler Perry is always hiring.”

  “Yeah, and by the time my chance for an audition comes up, his shows are already casted. You got to know Tyler or one of his people to get one of his roles.”

  “You know how this business is. The pendulum swings back and forth. You hang in there long enough and it’ll swing your way. It’s physics.”

  “Do you have any idea how exhausting and demeaning all that is, Roxy?”

  “I know it feels like it.”

  “Countless auditions, sitting and waiting by the phone for that call telling me I got a part, hoping and praying that some punk ass casting director deems me good enough is belittling, Roxy. I’m tired.”

  Silence hung between them. Roxy was a great cheerleader, but Terri
didn’t want to play anymore.

  “So, what do you do for fun?”

  Terri laughed, “I’ve got an unhealthy fascination with a fabulous riding mower.”

  “Cool.”

  “And… I’ve been dating.”

  “What? When’s the last time you said that to me?”

  “Years.”

  “Anyone in particular?”

  “His name is Nick.”

  “Nick? I’m listening.”

  “It was just a friendly dinner, Rox.”

  “I see.”

  “No you don’t. It’s not like that.”

  “But is it on its way to that?”

  “Probably not. He’s cute, but young.”

  “How young?”

  “Thirty-five,” Terri said, wrinkling her nose.

  “That’s not young, Terri. That’s grown.”

  “Not grown enough, and it’s really not serious. I fell and hurt my ankle dancing. He picked me up, carried me to his car and took me to the hospital. He’s a doctor. He just wanted to be sure I was okay.”

  “A doctor? Is he cute?”

  Hell yeah!

  “He’s alright.” Terri grinned.

  “Just alright?”

  “A little better than alright.”

  “And just a friend… like platonic?”

  “Absolutely.”

  Terri hadn’t lied. She and Nick had gone out once, talked on the phone a couple of times, and even bantered back and forth in a way that could be considered flirting, but she wasn’t in a hurry to get serious with him or anyone else.

  “Fine,” Roxy continued. “I won’t push for you to tell me more because I know you won’t.”

  Terri laughed. “If it turns serious, you’ll be the first to know.”

  “Promises. Promises.”

  Another call came through. It was Nick.

  “I gotta take this call,” Terri told her friend.

  “Tell Nick I said hello,” Roxy laughed before hanging up.

  “Hey,” Terri answered.

  “Hey. Is this a bad time?”

  She was starting to look forward to hearing the sound of his voice, but it was a platonic appreciation. That’s all.