Grace was speechless, shocked, and impressed all at once. “Uh, okay, then that’s that. I’ll call Miss Pearl and discuss it with her. Thank you for your time,” she said in a staccato, rhythmic manner. After speaking with Skyler’s grandmother and seeing to it that André would catch a ride home with his friend, Grace wasn’t completely convinced that he hadn’t brokered a better deal for himself than she had, but it worked out swimmingly, just like it needed to, for the both of them.
Friday night came right on schedule. Grace spoke to André at halftime, on her cell phone, as an extensive line of expensive cars inched toward the busy valet stand. She told her son to behave himself and call her once Skyler dropped him off. Then she flipped her phone shut and checked her makeup in the overhead vanity mirror. Red-jacketed valet attendants darted back and forth to accommodate the multitudeof high-strung clientele, all extremely eager to get insidethe main ballroom. Annually, the distinguished men’s fraternal organization held their fun-filled Las Vegas–style mix-and-mingle to help underprivileged neighborhood kids but many of their guests arrived hoping to take home a specialgift or two for themselves. That’s how Grace had met Tyson. She’d made a striking appearance, wearing a tightly fitted red hot cocktail dress, and had flounced around playinghard to get, when in actuality she was in the mood to give. Tyson shooed away a flock of women, pursued her, and the rest was history. This time around, it would be different,Grace thought. It was a good thing she wasn’t willingto bet her own salvation against the house or she’d have lost it all.
“Hey, Grace!” Chandelle shouted over the noisy hubbub spilling into the women’s restroom. “Nice dress, nice dress, but I’d have gone the I-want-a-man route, instead of the I-got-a-man-but-he-won’t-let-me-wear-my-sexy-clothes-in-public route,” she added, leering at Grace’s basic black spaghetti-strap number.
“Chandelle, I don’t have time for this tonight,” Grace told her flat out. She stared at her reflection as she dabbed a tissueacross her forehead and cheeks. “Uh-uh, not after you had me barging into that conference room like Scarlet O’Hara in Gone with the Wind.”
“And what was wrong with being assertive? Grace, the man did leave the conference room smiling like you’d just promised to give him some.”
“The man was practically married, and happy as a punk in prison about it, too. From now on, I’d appreciate it if you’d stay out of my business and let me be single, if that’s what’s meant to be. If I can accept it, you should be able to.” Grace gazed past her own reflection in the broad mirrorto find Chandelle sulking like a kid sister who’d gotten her feelings hurt. “What?” Grace barked, feeling a tad guilty for putting Chandelle in her place when she meant no harm.
“I’ont have nothing else to say,” Chandelle muttered under her breath. “A sistah I happen to care about just told me to shut up. What can I, a loving friend of hers, say after that?”
Grace turned around to face that loving self-proclaimed friend of hers. “Now, don’t go getting all gloomy because I asked you to butt out. You did make me realize that I had been shortchanging myself, but just because I want somethingdoesn’t mean I’ll get it. Let’s go out there and have a good time. Suddenly I feel like flirting.”
Chandelle made a miraculous recovery. Her bruised ego suddenly healed, and a devious grin replaced the protruding lips poked out like a third-grade Girl Scout down to her last box of cookies. “That’s the Grace I’m talking about,” she cheered. “Too bad, though. If you’re expecting the men out there to flirt back, you wore the wrong dress for it. I’d have put on a dress so tight that it would have taken some wigglingaround on the floor to get into it, know what I’m sayin’.” Although Chandelle was out of line, as usual, Grace couldn’t do anything but laugh.
Linda spotted the two of them exiting the powder room, talking like lifelong pals. “Shelia, there she is, with a pinup Boomshieka Barbie.”
“Where? Oh, I see her now.” Shelia took one look at Chandelle’s long legs packaged in her tiny satin beige dress, then tugged at hers to reveal more breasts than she was previouslycomfortable with. “You were right. This year’s competitionis stiff. Good thing she can’t compete with the likes of the twins. Breast men love the twins.”
Grace hugged Chandelle and said so long when her husbandseemed annoyed that she’d been absent from his companyfor far too long. “Bye, girl. Don’t keep that man standing around here all by himself. A woman like me might get him,” Grace kidded. When she noticed the girls motioning for her to join them outside the main ballroom, she headed in their direction. I should have known, Grace thought to herself while looking at her friend’s cleavage o’ plenty. Shelia’s showing off the twins. “Look at y’all,” Grace beamed, “all regal and refined. I like it.” Both women were adorned in long extravagant gowns tapered at their waists.
“Don’t get to liking it too much,” Linda suggested. “This one is going back to the store tomorrow, which reminds me.” She spun around to foster a fake pirouette. “Is my tag showing?”Grace snickered. It had been a long time since she’d pulled the same stunt. Having a good time without funking up a pricey dress to be returned immediately after a swanky affair was a difficult feat to accomplish. “Cool, let’s get in there so those high-fallutin Negroes get a look at us before I start to sweat.” Shelia propped up the twins again and followedbehind Linda and Grace.
The Grande Ballroom was arrayed in deep red and cream-coloredsashes and streamers. Bright lights and big smiles illuminated it throughout. Portable slot machines aligned the opposing walls. Roulette wheels, craps tables, and other games were placed in the middle of the room. Grace forked over two hundred dollars to the man sitting behind a makeshiftteller window. In return, he handed her poker chips redeemablefor prizes donated by major corporations.
“How can you tell who the members from the Dallas chapter are?” Shelia asked, appraising the most pleasant gathering of businessmen ever to don tuxedos. “You know I’m always up for a man-fest, but I hate having to drive home the morning after I’ve spread my wings all night in the suburbs. Passing by all of those big houses, I get an inferioritycomplex every time.”
“I think the ones from Richardson-Plano wear the white dinner jackets, and the others go with the standard black,” Grace pointed out to the best of her recollection.
Linda grabbed a complimentary glass of champagne off a serving tray as a white-jacketed host strolled by. “I’ont know Shelia, I’m willing to do the ’burbs if brothas like him are serving champagne out there, too.” She sipped from the glass with her pinky finger outstretched. “Uh-huh, I could get used to this.”
“A grown man like him is what I’d like to get used to,” Shelia confessed softly as she pointed out a very attractive man worth noting. Both Linda and Grace observed who she was talking about. An attentive group of women surrounded a dashingly handsome blackjack dealer who was mesmerizinghis audience by reciting Shakespeare as he fleeced them eloquently, all in the name of charity. When the dealer’s concentrationwas interrupted by spotting Grace, he made no qualms about disappointing his loyal fans and asking anotherdealer to man his station.
He made his way toward Grace, through the crowded room. As he approached the gleesome threesome, his confident swagger caught the attention of several additional females along the way. Linda was prepared to shake what her mama gave her at him, and Shelia was ready to put in her bid likewiseby introducing him to her surgically enhanced accessories.Both ladies were immediately thrown for a loop when the blackjack dealer’s eyes remained locked on Grace’s. Green with envy, Shelia whispered, “I wonder who he is, and could there be more of them?”
Linda agreed. “Wow, if not, I got next on this one.”
Grace let out a lengthy sigh as if she was already bored with the event’s selection. “Oh, him,” she said matter of factly. “That’s the guy I was telling y’all about the other night. He’s the schoolteacher.”
“Him?” Shelia whispered as he drew closer. “Oh-oh, Grace, he’s still coming thi
s way. You got to get with that. He’s what you call grown-man sexy. If they were making teachers like that when I was coming up, I’d still be in the twelfth grade trying to push up on some private after-hours tutoring.”
“What about all of that he-must-be-gay stuff you were popping off at the house?” Grace challenged through clenched teeth.
“She could make a living at being wrong about men,” Linda said to Grace as she grabbed Shelia by the arm to haul her away.
“All I’m saying is, I’ve been thinking about taking some extra classes,” Shelia was overheard saying just as Wallace finally reached his destination. “Can’t I hang around long enough to ask the man what time school lets out? What? Like you don’t wanna know too.”
19
Sleight of Hand
“Hey Grace, I thought that was you,” Wallace sang when he approached her. “Ouch, nice dress,” he complimented, surveying her outfit. “Understated but nice,” he added with a slight smile.
“Thank you, Wallace, but I specifically went out of my way so I wouldn’t have strange men in my face talking about how nicely understated my dress is.” Grace was playinghard to get, and harder to figure out.
“Ahhh, so I’ve been cast into the strange-men category?”
“Well, I hardly know you, and you are in my face. Furthermore,what are you going to do about your flock?” Grace tossed a quick glance at the bevy of beauties he’d left awaitinghis return at the blackjack table. “I’d hate to keep you from your adoring entourage. They look heartbroken and so . . . adoring.” She almost giggled when she couldn’t think of another word to use, but it seemed to fit most appropriately. “Look at them, staring over here with big puppy-dog eyes, salivating. Perhaps you should have fed them before you left.”
Wallace slid both hands inside the pockets of his black tuxedo slacks. He lowered his head for a moment, then raised it again. Gazing into Grace’s eyes, he attempted to see what she was working so hard at concealing. “If I need a statusreport, Grace, I’ll get one from my stand-in when I relievehim. What I’d like to know is what you’re so afraid of.” Grace snatched a class of Chardonnay off a passing tray, similar to the way Shelia had earlier.
“Those little girls over there must have you confused.” She took a healthy sip, noticing that their standoff in the middle of the walkway had attracted several sets of roving eyes, from both men and women. “There is very little that frightens me, and a smooth card dealer with his own fan club isn’t one of them.”
Wallace relaxed his stance before debating with her. “I beg to differ. Actually, there is something very different about you, very different from the first time I saw you comingout of the rain at André’s basketball game. I can’t call it, but it’s there.”
“Good different, I hope.” Grace said nervously as she began to feel the strain of carrying on a conversation with so many others watching her every move.
“Noticeably different,” Wallace answered, with a smooth step toward her. “Yes, you look almost vulnerable. It’s extremelybecoming. A woman who has it all figured out can’t fully appreciate what a man has to offer.”
Somewhat at a lost for words, Grace avoided eye contact. “Humph, you think you know me? I’m not like those young, fall down, slip and bump my head with my legs wide opened worship-the-ground-a-fine-man-walks-on types, if that’s what you think.”
“Not at all,” Wallace stated in a low, controlled tone that forced Grace to lean closer in order to hear him. “But I’m beginning to gather what you think about me.” He saw that Linda and Shelia were standing nearby, posted up and pretendingthey weren’t taking turns scoping out his and Grace’s encounter. “We’re not finished with this discussion, you and I,” he whispered, standing dangerously close to Grace. “By the way, your perfume is delightful. I like that most of all.” Without so much as a good-bye, he turned slowly and walked away.
Grace held the glass of wine up to her face as if to inspect it. “Ooh, I’ma need another one of these.”
As soon as Wallace disappeared into the horde of party-goers,Linda skirted past Grace. She shot her a follow-me-so-I-don’t-have-to-pump-you-for-information-in-front-of-all- these-nosey-people glare. Grace chuckled, managed to get her hands on another glass of Chardonnay, then headed for the powder room behind Linda. Shelia had gone off in anotherdirection when she’d recognized someone from her past, a man who didn’t mind using his charge card liberally at Appliance World. That was her kind of man.
Grace recalled her conversation with Wallace while struggling to make sense of it. Linda apprised her of how it appeared from the vantage point she had. They went back and forth, neither of them aware of Wallace’s scheme to get Grace’s undivided attention again before the night was over.
He’d stepped outside, noted the time on his classic Movado watch, then casually headed for the valet stand. After interrogatingthe attendants, he located the one who’d parked Grace’s car. “Listen, because this is very important,” he told the attentiveyoung man about to be debriefed. “The woman drivingthat Volvo SUV is very dear to me and I’d hate for anything to happen to her. She’s had too much to drink and will undoubtedly demand her car keys. Now, this is where you come in. No matter what she says, I’ll need you to act as if you’re searching for them, but you will not be able to locatethem. Do you understand me?”
“Yes sir, I’ll pretend to search for the keys, but I won’t be able to find them.” Suddenly, a wave of concern came over the young man. “What if she sees them in the key box and takes them from me?”
“That’ll be impossible because I’ll have them,” Wallace explained.
The attendant squinted his eyes as he deliberated. “You’ll have them? But what if I get into trouble?”
“Mitchie!” Wallace summoned.
The gruff veteran valet supervisor dashed over in a hurry. “Yes, sir, Mr. Peters?”
“Please clarify to this young man, how important it is that we get all of our guests home safely. Insurance premiums tend to go sky high after a terrible accident regarding an inebriateddriver.”
The older attendant caught on quickly. He nodded, confirmingthat he fully comprehended the importance of Wallace’sdemands. “Don’t worry, Mr. Peters. I’ll see to it that she doesn’t get into her car alone. Oh, and sir, might I add that she’s quite the looker. I can understand why you’re takingsuch precautions to get her home without a scratch.” He held his hand out to be compensated for his part in Wallace’s ruse. After two one-hundred-dollar bills landed in his greasy palm, the scheme was under way. It was Wallace’s responsibilityto hire the valet company for the event, so he had an inside track. Taking the time to get to know Grace motivated this charade over lost car keys. He needed an opportunity to catch her with her guard down, even if he had to manufactureone himself. Grace was worth it, he reasoned, she was well worth it.
“Good,” Wallace said to Mitchie and his young associate. “We’ll only have one shot at this, so I’m counting on you two to get it right the first time.”
Mitchie shoved the money into his pants pocket. “Considerit done,” he announced, grinning big and hard. “She must be really something.”
“I’m betting that she is, Mitchie. This one is a keeper. She’s worth the trouble to catch and the trouble to keep. You know what they say about thoroughbreds?”
“What, that every man wants to ride one?” Mitchie joked heartily.
“Most of them have no idea that a man comes along every now and then who’s willing to bet everything he owns hoping she’ll pay off,” Wallace explained. “This is the one I’m betting on to win. Wish me luck.”
Back inside the ballroom, Linda and Grace located Shelia. She was fake-giggling for some man who couldn’t keep his eyes off her breasts. Linda had seen this many times—Shelia laughing at every stale joke and lame story to shake the credit card right out of a man’s wallet. If he had known that most women decided within the first five minutes of meeting a man whether they were interested in getting undress
ed, he would have saved the small talk for the morning after. Shelia had already zeroed in and made mental notes to keep somethingin his mouth later on that night, so she wouldn’t have to listen to more of his boring self-aggrandizing fables once they were horizontal. “Excuse me, I’ll be right back,” Shelia said convincingly while lightly stroking the back of the man’s neck with her outstretched fingernails. “Don’t you move an inch unless I’m here to watch,” she added so that he’d think twice before drifting on to the next overly aggressivewoman in a borrowed gown. When the gentleman licked his lips as she brushed her chest against his, Shelia knew he’d be in that exact same spot if it took her three days to come back.
“Can’t y’all see I’m working over there?” she jeered at her partners in crime. “I got a live one. He’s about three months from getting his freedom papers.”
“He’s getting a divorce?” Grace asked, spying at him over Shelia’s shoulder.
“I didn’t ask if he was married,” Shelia said, smirking as if she couldn’t have cared less about that. “He’s only got three more months of child-support payments. Wanna guess who’s gonna be getting herself a new refrigerator?”
Grace smirked at her unscrupulous girlfriend. “You need Jesus.”
“I need a new refrigerator, and Jesus isn’t at the end of an eighteen-year, six-hundred-dollar-a-month commitment.”
“Grace, you should know by now that Shelia is going to do what she’s got to, with Jesus’ help or not.”
Before Grace had the chance to argue, her cell phone began vibrating at the bottom of her purse. She fished it out and walked to the corner of the room. She didn’t recognize the number, but took the call anyway. “Yes, this is Grace. I can hardly hear you. Dré? You’re where? Where’s that? No, I’m not mad. I’ll be there to get you and Skyler in fifteen minutes. Don’t accept any rides from strangers. I’ll be right there.” She flipped the phone shut and marched back to Sheliaand Linda’s idea of a promising night out on the town. “Listen, I have to go. André and his friend were on their way home after the game and their ride broke down. I have to pick them up. Shelia, if you can’t be good, at least be careful. Make him wrap it up, if you’re bent on serving it up. Linda, try to talk some sense into her.”
Down On My Knees Page 18