Another Chance to Love

by Cheris Hodges

  “What, I’m supposed to patrol a bunch of kids all day?” Brian asked. He was hoping to be assigned to the traffic division or something. The last thing he wanted was to be the surrogate father to a bunch of teenagers who thought they owned the world. He had run into his share of those on the street. He downed his bourbon, hoping it would change what Chief Whitt was saying.

  “Brian, I know it sounds like baby-sitting, but you’ll have the authority to arrest. You’ll be the security expert for the district and you’ll be the DARE officer as well. Just think of it as another way to fight drugs,” Whitt said as he picked up his glass of bourbon. Brian refilled his own glass.

  About a half an hour later, Brian headed home to an empty house.

  Brian climbed out of the bed. His bedroom wasn’t a place of comfort; it was a reminder of Olivia; from the rose-colored comforter that he had thrown on the floor to the pink and yellow curtains that hung on the window. He walked over to the window and snatched the curtains down, then opened the window to let in some fresh air. The lingering aroma of Olivia’s signature scent was overpowering this morning. He stalked out of the bedroom and into the kitchen, where he grabbed a huge black trash bag. Walking back into the bedroom, he began throwing away everything that reminded him of Olivia—the curtains, the comforter, and half-empty bottles of perfume that she’d left on the dresser. Brian picked up a picture that they’d had taken on their third wedding anniversary. They had decided to spend the weekend at Myrtle Beach. He looked at his wife’s oval-shaped face. She was smiling as he held her. Two days after they returned from the trip, Olivia found out that she was pregnant. She’d had a miscarriage, though. And things changed in their marriage. Brian and Olivia didn’t talk about the loss of the baby and there was some distance between them.

  A year later, she had Mickey. Looking back, he could see that after their son was born, the rift between then grew wider.

  When Mickey was two years old, Brian and Olivia had had a huge fight.

  “I’m sick of being stuck here with the baby all the time. You never make time for me, Brian. What happened to the way we used to be?” she’d yelled as Brian walked in the door from patrol one day.

  “Olivia, calm down. Why don’t we put Mickey in day care and you take that time—”

  “To what? Iron your uniforms; cook your lunch and dinner? This isn’t what marriage is supposed to be. Why do you get your dream and I get stuck with the kid?” Olivia had slammed out of the house, the first of many temper tantrums she would throw before leaving.

  I should have fought for my marriage. I don’t want my son to have two houses, two bedrooms and two sets of toys. That’s not how family is supposed to work.

  Brian dragged the bag into the bathroom, and then proceeded to rip the taupe and mauve shower curtain off the silver rings and toss out Olivia’s cold cream, lipsticks, old birth control pills, and razors. Then he walked back into the bedroom, making sure he had all traces of her out of his space. All at once, the sound of screeching brakes caught his attention. Brian watched as a cherry red convertible Mustang and a Ryder truck pulled up in front of Mrs. Anderson’s rental house. He drank in the image of the woman emerging from the car, noting her long lean legs and the short jean shorts that fit like a second skin, the white tank top that clung to her breasts. She slammed the door of her car and turned to the thick brother that had gotten out of the truck. Brian assumed that they were the new couple moving into Tamara Anderson’s house.

  Since March, five people had lived in that house. Most of the people had been quiet, but there was one resident who Brian arrested for smoking marijuana. He assured Mrs. Anderson that he would watch her property for her, but he also told her that she should screen her residents before allowing them to move in. Turning away from the window, he grabbed the full trash bag, and then slipped his feet into a pair of black leather slippers before heading outside to the trashcan.

  “Where’s that damned woman?” the woman standing next to the Mustang exclaimed. “It’s entirely too hot for this crap.”

  Brian cast a contemptuous glance her way. Her voice sounded the way he’d always imagined the cry of a mythic banshee. She must be a Burger King woman. She wants it her way, right away. What a shrew.

  “Excuse me,” the man said to Brian. “Have you seen the woman who owns this house?”

  Brian shrugged his shoulders. “Mrs. Anderson doesn’t usually get out of church until two or three.”

  “Damn it,” the woman shrieked. “What am I supposed to do? Bake in the sun?”

  Brian shuddered inwardly and felt sorry for big man. But he wasn’t getting involved in their drama; he had his own worries. He walked back into his house and continued purging his life of Olivia. He took down the painting she’d purchased at the flea market. It depicted a man, woman and child, who were supposed to be representative of their family. What a fucking joke. He threw away all of the angel figurines that Olivia had collected over the years. Brian would have taken the canary yellow drapes down, but then his neighbors would be able to see directly into his house. But they wouldn’t see much. Brian’s days and nights were lonely. He hadn’t felt the touch of a woman in months. Even before Olivia walked out on him, she hadn’t allowed him to touch her, kiss her or make love to her. Brian yearned for the touch of woman, to feel soft lips against his, to feel a soft body in his arms, the swell of full breasts against his chest. He shook his head to clear away the lustful thoughts. All he needed to do was get her things out of the house and focus on his new assignment and his son. A couple of cold showers would clear up everything else.

  Paige and Patrick sat on the steps of the house. “You’re starting already. You know that man heard your potty mouth,” he said.

  She shrugged her shoulders. “She said she would be here by now.”

  “I hope she takes you to church one Sunday, because you need a little Jesus in your life,” Patrick said as he touched her forehead like a TV evangelist saving a soul.

  “Stop it.” Paige swatted his hand away. A few moments later, a long yellow Cadillac pulled in front of the house. The driver’s side door opened and a broad woman, dressed in a lime green dress and a canary yellow and lime hat with several feathers sticking out of it, got out and walked over to Paige and Patrick. She reminded Paige of Miss Piggy. She waddled instead of walked. Turning away quickly, she stifled a laugh.

  “Well, good afternoon,” Mrs. Anderson said.

  Paige stood up and extended her hand. “Hi.”

  “You must be Paige. I thought you were moving in alone. I don’t ‘low no shacking up in my houses,” Mrs. Anderson said haughtily. “If y’all aren’t married, I can’t let you stay here.”

  “This is my friend Patrick and he’s just helping me move in,” Paige said, struggling to keep her attitude in check. “I’m going to be living here all alone.”

  Mrs. Anderson released a sigh of relief. “Good, ‘cause I know you young people think it’s okay to live with each other, but that goes against God’s word. Now, let’s take a look at the house.”

  She walked up to the front door and unlocked it. A musty smell floated out of the house. Paige held her breath as Mrs. Anderson showed her around.

  “Now this is a nice house. Three bedrooms, spacious kitchen and look at the living room and this bay window. Isn’t it beautiful?”

  Paige nodded, her eyes burning from the smell.

  Mrs. Anderson looked at Paige and smiled sweetly. “I know I’m not going to have to worry about anything with you. The rent is due the first of the month and I don’t play that late shit, either. The law lives right across the street and I will not hesitate to have your ass arrested.”

  Paige fought the urge to roll her eyes. What a hypocrite. She just left church and now she’s cursing like Redd Foxx. She looked at her landlady and pasted a smile on her face.

  “Mrs. Anderson, I assure you, paying my rent won’t be a problem,” Paige said in the same syrupy tone Mrs. Anderson had used. It was as if the women
had drawn battle lines in the sand. Mrs. Anderson took her hat off and patted her flat brown hair.

  “Well,” she said. “I’ll let you and your friend get back to unpacking.”

  Paige flashed a smile and walked her to the front door. Mrs. Anderson handed Paige the keys to the house. “Welcome to Elmore. We’re going to have to worship together one Sunday. My church has bible study every Wednesday night at seven-thirty. There are quite a few single men who attend the bible study.”

  “We’ll have to see about that,” Paige replied. She wanted to tell Mrs. Anderson that she was a bleeding heart atheist just to see the look of horror that would spread across her wide face. But Paige didn’t want to alienate anyone on her first day in town. Patrick smiled at her when Mrs. Anderson left.

  “Good job, Paige,” he said. “I just knew you were going to curse that old bat out. Hell, she actually deserved it. Thinking that you and I were a couple, please!”

  “Shut up,” she replied, then headed outside to begin moving her boxes in. “You should be so lucky.”

  A few hours later, Paige had all of her belongings moved into the house and Patrick was taking the truck back to Nashville. She took stock of her surroundings while she sat in the middle of the living room. This is it, she thought. This is the new beginning.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  It was just like Paige to be late for her first day at work. But it wasn’t really her fault. The chirping of crickets and tree frogs had kept her up all night. As well as the wailing of a neighborhood cat.

  Following a quick shower and speed dressing, Paige dashed into the kitchen, brewed coffee, poured it into her Tennessee State University mug, and grabbed her briefcase, along with three leather-bound psychology books that dealt with teenagers. A few drops of coffee trickled down the side of the mug and onto her tan pants. Paige swore under her breath and tried to wipe the stain away, then resigned herself to the fact that she was going to smell like coffee all day.

  Slowly, hands full and holding her key ring in her mouth, she backed out the door. Paige was nervous about her job. What were the kids going to be like? Would they respond to her? Elementary school students were easy to bond with, but high school students had a lot of baggage. Paige was passionate about helping children and she realized that high school students were sometimes pushed into adulthood when they weren’t ready to be. She knew it was her job to insure the children realized that it was okay to be a kid and leave adult problems to the adults. She managed to close the door and locked it without spilling any more of her coffee.

  Paige dropped her books and briefcase in the backseat of her car, and then slowly backed out of the driveway, only to speed down the street to the high school. There was no morning rush hour traffic and it took Paige only seven minutes to get to the school from her house. This must be the advantage of living in a small town, she thought. As it turned out, she was about ten minutes early for work. She hoped that she would be able to run into the cafeteria and grab a bite to eat. However, just as she walked through the doors of Elmore High School, the strap on her briefcase snapped. All of her folders, note pads, pens and books spilled across the floor. The three big books in her arms dropped also, narrowly missing her toes. And her cherished mug fell, shattering into a thousand white pieces. Paige muttered a string of profanities as she bent down to retrieve her belongings.

  “Miss, are you okay?” a velvet voice inquired. Paige looked up and saw a man who might have been a mythic god. His skin was the color of milk chocolate and his eyes sparkled like black diamonds. He began picking up coffee-stained pieces of paper and file folders. “Ma’am, are you all right?” he asked again.

  His voice was hypnotic. She felt like a cobra swaying to the charmer’s flute. She wondered if his wooly Afro was as soft as it looked. “Uh, yes. I guess it’s just first day jitters.” For the first time, Paige noticed he had on a policeman’s uniform. “Is this place that bad?”

  “No, ma’am,” he replied as he handed her the last of her belongings. Then he radioed for a janitor.

  Paige watched his thick lips as he talked into the radio. She wickedly wondered if he was a good kisser. Then she looked down at his left hand and saw his gold wedding band.

  Damn, the fine ones are always taken, she thought woefully. Paige waited for him to stop talking on the radio and then asked him to direct her to the guidance office. The policeman took the three books from her arms and walked her down the hall to the guidance office, which was near the main office.

  “Thanks,” she said, slightly blushing. The officer opened the door and nodded as she walked in.

  There was something vaguely familiar about that woman but Brian just couldn’t put his finger on it. Her beauty was striking, from her puffy afro, which reminded him of the texture of cotton, to her body that looked as if it had been sculpted from magic clay. But the most outstanding thing about her was her golden eyes. Even though he had sworn off women, he couldn’t deny her appeal. But he wasn’t going to get caught up in the woman’s web of lust and love. He had to take care of his son, and if he had to walk up and down the halls of Elmore High School, then he’d do it.

  Brian walked down “E” hall, making sure all of the students were where they should be. He turned the corner and headed outside to the Army ROTC room. No students were outside. Next, he headed back into the building through the commons area. A few kids were leaving the bathroom, but heading back into their gym class across the hall. Brian passed the main office and the guidance office before turning onto “D” hall. Rows of yellow lockers greeted him. He heard muffled voices in the corner.

  “Man, this is some primo bud. Where did you get this?” a boy asked.

  “I have my sources. Besides, this is going to sell like damned hotcakes. We got all kinds of parties coming up and you know people want to take a—”

  “Wanna-be felon like you to jail,” Brian snapped as he walked up behind them.

  “What the—” the boys said in unison.

  “Drop the marijuana.” Brian reached for his radio as he surveyed the drugs. He estimated that they had about fifteen bag of marijuana, which were worth about ten dollars each.

  “Man, you can’t arrest us at school,” one of the boys said as he stood up. The other boy quivered by the lockers.

  “Young man, sit down,” Brian ordered in his toughest policeman voice.

  The boy just poked out his lips and folded his arms. “I know my rights. I don’t have to do anything you say until I speak with my lawyer.”

  Brian fought back a chuckle. “This isn’t Law & Order. Number one, you’re violating the law by disobeying an officer, two, you’re violating the law by being in possession of illegal narcotics on school property—both of you,” he said, shooting a warning glance at the other boy, who was on the verge of tears. “Sit down, son, or we’re going to have a serious problem.”

  “You ain’t my daddy.”

  Brian pushed him face first into the locker and slapped a pair of handcuffs on him.

  “Tough guy, huh? You’re already looking at a felony charge. Do you really want to add more charges? Now sit down!”

  The boy relented and sat down. Brian called for additional officers to take the boys away. He felt as if he were on the street again. About ten minutes later, two officers walked into the school and smiled at Brian.

  “Hook ‘em and book ‘em Jackson. It’s just nine o’clock and you got two already,” said Officer Bright.

  “Carlos, just take them and cut the jokes,” Brian said firmly.

  The officer threw up his hands and took the cuffs off the first boy. He handed them back to Brian, while the other officer collected the evidence. “Have a good day, Officer Jackson,” Bright said as he took the boys to his squad car. Brian waved and headed down the hall to see if there were any other wayward kids lurking around the corner.

  A few hours later, after walking around the school four times, Brian decided to go to his office, which was more like a closet. He had to admit, le
aving work at three forty-five was going to be great. He would be able to pick Mickey up from school and help him with his homework. Just as he was about to put his feet up on his desk, he heard a loud commotion down the hall.

  What now? He stood up and started down the hall. Brian got as far as the guidance office door before running into a large crowd of students. He was just in time to see the woman he’d helped earlier walk into a flying fist and fall to the floor. The crowd gasped collectively. “Danny hit a teacher,” someone yelled. Brian pushed his way through the crowd and grabbed the boy who’d thrown the punch. Looking at the woman as she held her eye, Brian felt an overwhelming urge to protect her. Before he could reach her, the boy involved in the altercation started fighting with the assistant principal. He subdued the boy who was now whaling on the assistant principal. After cuffing the boy and pushing him into the principal’s office, he made his way to the woman.

  “Ma’am.” Brian took her hand in his and helped her to her feet. He could tell that her eye was going to be swollen in the morning. “Are you all right?”

  She nodded her head. The principal rushed over to her. “Ms. Grayson, do you need to go to the hospital?”

  “I’ve been punched before,” she replied in a clipped tone before walking into her office.

  “Officer Jackson, this has been a crazy day. I’m glad the police chief decided to put someone here.”

  “Maybe I need to go into the homerooms and let the students know that violence and drugs won’t be tolerated,” Brian said. The principal nodded and headed for his office. Brian couldn’t wait for his day to be over.

  Paige’s head throbbed, her eye stung, and the last thing she wanted to do was answer a bunch of questions. But Dr. Sullivan, the head of the guidance department, made her go to the school nurse. Then he canceled the appointments she had for the day.