“Leah, can I talk to you in confidence?”
“Sure, Marie,” she responded.
“I’ve got a situation going on in my life and I want an unbiased opinion to make sure that I am handling it correctly.”
“Shoot.”
“Okay, I left a man in Baltimore that I care about. He wants to move to Atlanta to see if he can make it here. He wants to live with me but on a no-strings-attached basis. He just needs a place to stay until he establishes himself. Would you go for that?” When I said it out loud it sounded totally ridiculous and I wished that I could’ve taken back my dilemma but it was too late.
“Oh hell no. So you will have to foot the bills while he ‘finds himself’? I hope you told that man to forget it!” she shouted.
“I did. But I thought about how much I missed him and I started second-guessing myself. Thank you!” I said as I paid the check and we prepared to leave.
“You are welcome and if you ever have any doubts again, think of it this way. You already have three dependents; do you really need a fourth?”
“Three?” I asked confused.
“Yeah, you got to depend on you, don’t ya?” she answered with a smile.
“I knew I liked you when I first met you but now I know why,” I told Leah, shaking my head. We walked back to the building chatting away like old friends. Talking with Leah, I knew I had done the right thing but I still wanted to run it past Sammie. Leah was nice and all that, but she was younger than I was. On the other hand, even though I didn’t know Sammie that well, she was older than me and was a lot more experienced. I wanted to hear her input.
Back at my desk, I searched through my bags for the phone number that she had given me when we went out to Fat Tuesday’s. It was her home number so I called to leave a message. In my heart, I was comfortable with my decision, but I was having a hard time convincing my heart about David. But I wanted all the support that I could garner on that end. Getting neither answering machine nor Sammie’s voice, I hung up the phone.
Sammie called before I could hang up the phone good. “Hey, girl,” she said.
“Damn. I thought I was leaving a message on your home phone. Are you off today?” I asked.
“I have my home phone transferred to my cell phone and I constantly check my messages,” she replied.
“Are you that important?” I asked, laughing.
“Only in my own eyes,” she said, sharing the laughter. “So what have you been up to? I haven’t heard from you in a minute.”
“Girl, the same old, same old. I am in the process of moving. I need to give you my new number.”
“All right then. Where are you moving? Don’t tell me I won’t be able to catch the train with you anymore. That would truly upset my day!” she said.
“No, I will still be catching the same train ’cause I still have to drop the kids off at Mom’s. Look, I am having man troubles and I wanted to bounce it off you. Are you available for drinks one night this week?
“I will have to get back to you. I’m on lockdown right now. But I will get back with you.”
“Surely you jest,” I said, getting mad at the thought of a man placing a woman on lockdown.
“I can’t go into any details at the moment but things are tight around my home front. My husband ain’t dealing too tough with my mother and she is taking her frustration out on me. Jessie and I need to be finding our own place to live with a quickness!”
“Will you be able to talk at home or should I try to catch you on the train?”
“Catch me on the train. I get off at 5:00,” she said and hung up the phone. Since I started the new job, I had been working overtime and getting off closer to 6:00 instead of 5:00, so I rarely got the chance to ride home with Sammie. Although we still caught the train together in the morning, our conversations were limited because of the early morning crowd.
I piddled through the rest of my work that was on my desk and even started to work on the project that Mr. Miller had sent me. That was the type of work I liked, something with meat to it. The client’s husband was employed at a local landfill. He was making repairs on a tree grinder and signaled to his coworker to turn the machine off as he climbed in to make repairs. The coworker, who had a history of showing up on the job drunk, turned the machine on instead and it killed our client’s husband. She was suing the county and stood to make a killing. The county was trying to say that he was negligent by climbing into the grinder but my research was proving there was no other way to make the repairs once the problem was isolated.
I glanced at my watch and realized that I would have to hurry if I wanted to catch Sammie at the train. I turned off my computer and closed up my files, checking to make sure that everything was put back in place before I turned off the lights and left. I hated coming into a messy office and made a point to clear off my desk every night in order to start fresh in the morning.
Sammie was already on the platform when I got there. We walked to the very end of the station hoping to get a semi-empty train car so that we could talk in private.
As usual, she was looking great. She had on a slamming red dress with matching heels. Her hair was done in an upsweep with red pieces hanging down.
“Where did you say your husband’s shop was? He sure does know how to hook a head up! Hell, I might want to get him to do a little something with this mess,” I told Sammie, tossing my own locks around.
“Girl, he can do some hair when he wants to but he has gotten so lazy since we moved here it don’t make no sense. He only does my hair to keep my mother out my shit. I don’t think he has done anybody else since we came back.”
“So, you are the sole breadwinner in a house full of grown-ups? That is too much drama. Why don’t you move out if things are so bad?”
“We are trying but my credit is shot and I don’t think his is any better. Even with the $20,000 my dad left me, most people don’t want to take a risk on you. Momma don’t help none either ’cause she is charging us $100 a week just to stay with her. Girl, I’m getting it at both ends. Jessie hates Althea, and Althea hates us both.”
“Hell with $20,000 why don’t you buy a house?” I asked clearly confused.
“Credit issues; weren’t you listening?” she demanded. She busted my chops. Even though I was listening I just assumed that she could put $10,000 down and most lenders would be agreeable to take a chance.
I felt sorry for Sammie but I didn’t know what I could do to help her. I had my own troubles.
“I am so blessed; my mother ain’t charging me anything. I would have never been able to save for this house if I had to pay rent and child care,” I said. In hindsight, that probably wasn’t the best thing to say at the moment but it was all I had come up with.
“Girl, the more I stay in that house with Althea, the more I learn about her. All this time, I didn’t know that my mother cheated on Daddy. She was about to leave him when she found out she was pregnant with me. That’s why she has always hated me!”
Wow, that was some deep shit, I thought.
The train came and we were able to get a seat together so we could continue our conversation.
“She just came out and told you that? She is a hateful bitch, ain’t she?”
“Girl, that’s putting it mildly. She got mad when she found out Daddy left me some money. We got into an argument right there in the lawyer’s office. She said, ‘I’ll bet that son of a bitch would just roll over if he knew he just gave $20,000 to a bastard that wasn’t even his!’” Rocked, I placed my hand over hers and tried to keep from crying for her.
“What did your husband say?” I whispered totally dumbstruck.
“He just laughed! I bolted from the room and Momma and Jessie stayed to finish the paperwork. I never knew that Daddy was not my father, but he treated me more like his own than my own mother. All Jessie and Althea wanted from me was a signature on the paperwork. Jesus himself could not have persuaded me to go back in that office to face them,” she moaned
in the thick of pain again.
I was overwhelmed with emotion.
“Did she tell you who your real father was?” I asked, still fighting back the tears for her.
“As far as I’m concerned, that was my real dad. I don’t want to know who the sperm donor was. He didn’t stick around long enough to see about me, so fuck him! Daddy was the only person that ever cared about me.”
She had a point. We rode in silence for a few minutes.
“Why don’t you leave them both? You got money. I’m sure you could talk someone into renting you a small apartment. Hell, you could just charm your way in!” I said, trying to bring a smile to her face.
“What money? Jessie got the money. Plus, he said he would kill me if I left him.”
“He’s joking, right?”
“Hey, sorry, but I don’t want to talk about this anymore, okay? What’s up with you? Where you been hiding?” Sammie asked.
“Like I said, girl, I’ve been working my ass off trying to make a good impression. Between work, spending time with the kids and my mother, I have a full plate. Now, with this move, it’s really been crazy. And to top that off, I have man problems.”
“What man? I thought you were too busy to be out shopping for men?” she said.
“I have. It’s one I left behind. He wants to come and stay with me while he finds a job.”
“Girl, don’t do it. The last thing that you need is another dependent! I don’t care how good the shit is!”
Laughing, I said, “And it was good, too, gurl! That man was slinging dick at me and I was lapping it up! But you are right. I have my hands full trying to take care of myself, not to mention the kids!”
“I know that’s right. Where are all the real men?” I gave her a high-five and we got off the train laughing.
“Hey,” I said before I got into my car. “When you get some time, I want you to meet my coworker. She seems real nice and I think you will like her.”
“Sure, but it will probably have to be for lunch since I don’t get out much when I get home.”
“Okay then. But on the real tip, you have got to do something about your situation. You should not have to spend the rest of your life like this.”
“I know, girl. I know. Hopefully, I will see you tomorrow and if I get the chance, I will call you tonight.”
“See ya,” I said and drove home. My heart was heavy. Alone again, I thought about David and my decision not to let him come to stay. There was so much to do if I wanted to be ready for my move so I shook off the bad thoughts and prepared for greeting Keira and Kevin.
Atlanta was agreeing with them or should I say, my mother was agreeing with them. She spoiled them rotten.
I opened the door to Mom’s house and interrupted a game of Chutes and Ladders. Keira squealed and raced to the door with Kevin flat on her heels. They wrapped their arms around my knees squeezing me so tightly that you would have thought I had been gone twenty years instead of ten hours. I bent and kissed each of them on the mouth.
“Hey, Momma,” I said as I walked up to her and gave her a special peck on the check. I also licked her face, which she absolutely detested but it always brought about peals of laughter and threats of a beat-down.
“Oh, you,” she said, wiping off the spit with the back of her hand. The kitchen smelled of fried chicken. I followed my nose. Once again, Mom showed out in the kitchen. She had cooked fried chicken, potato salad and corn on the cob. I licked my lips in anticipation. It was going to be tough to leave all that good cooking behind when I moved. I was getting used to having supper on the stove when I got in from work.
“Have you all eaten yet?” I asked, grabbing a plate from the cabinet.
“You know those two could not wait. They were practically grabbing legs out the pan as soon as they were done. I hope you don’t mind that we didn’t wait for you,” Luetta said.
“No, there is no need to wait on me ’cause you never know when I’m going to get out of that office.”
“So things are still going well?” she inquired.
“Yeah, things are definitely looking up. I’m getting more and more work from the senior partners and that’s unheard of for someone as new as I am. Some of the other paralegals are not happy about it but what can I say. I’m good,” I said, patting my own self on the back.
“Have you finalized the move yet? I sure wish you would reconsider. I like having you around,” Mom said with a grave tone.
“Mom, I will still be around. Hell, I’m right around the corner and you will still have the kids with you most of the time. But I need my space and so do you. I’ll still come to stay some nights and hey, if you want to continue cooking us dinner, I’ll come by every night!”
We both laughed at that. Mom was doing well even though I knew she still was lonely. I talked her into taking piano lessons, something that she had always wanted to do but never pursued, and she was becoming more and more active in the church. She joined the choir and a group I dubbed the Loyal Order of Water Buffalos. It was a secret organization whose purpose I had not figured out yet, but they did good things in the community like offer college scholarships for the church youth. It kept her busy so it was all good!
I ate my dinner and it was delicious. Satisfied, I cleaned up the kitchen and went into my room to pack. I thought about calling David but quickly dismissed the idea. Dennis was the one on my mind so I gave him a call. I glanced at my watch and assumed he would be getting ready to go to work.
“Hello,” he answered, picking up after the first ring.
“Hey,” I replied, knowing he would know who it was.
“They ain’t killed you down there yet?” he said with a loud laugh.
“I’m still hanging in here but it’s such an adjustment. Did you know you can’t even buy booze here on Sunday? I made a fool of myself last week ’cause I wanted a wine cooler. First of all, they call liquor stores ‘package stores.’ I didn’t know that shit so I never stopped at them. I was getting gas and saw some wine coolers and I picked up a four-pack. I took it to the counter and the woman said, ‘I can’t sell you that.’ My dumb ass pulled out my ID, feeling flattered that she thought I was underage. Wrong. She said, ‘Honey, we can’t sell that on Sunday.’ I took it back and got a six-pack of beer and she said the same thing. It was like she had to hit my ass over the head with a two-by-four before I understood that no alcohol was sold on Sunday.”
“I told you that you were going to die down there. When are you coming back home?”
“Dennis, I’m going to try to make this move work if it kills me! I could not come back to Baltimore even if I wanted to now. Mom has already signed a contract on my old house. It is supposed to go to settlement at the end of the month. So I would not even have a place to live.”
“I know she did; I bought it,” he said.
“You are shitting me! Why didn’t you tell me?” I was stunned.
“I wanted to surprise you. That way, if you ever feel the need to visit, you will be able to. I could not help it; the price was right and your parents made a lot of improvements to the house. It’s the best value on the block. And I will still be close to my mother.”
“I’m happy for you, Dennis. So, how’s your love life?” I asked. “Found the woman of your dreams yet?”
“Not quite but I’m working on it. What about you?”
“Nope, haven’t ventured out since you were here. Just taking it slow. I’m moving this weekend so let me give you my new number. It’s 404-555-5175.”
“Good. Look, I got to run. Stay sweet and keep in contact. Did you get my letter?”
“No, not yet. I will let you know. Tell your mom I said hi,” I said before hanging up. Shit, he was moving on, too. I really needed to do something to get out of my rut. When I got settled, I was going to have to do something about my social life.
Chapter 17
Where the hell have you been?” I demanded when Sammie picked up the phone. I had been calling her all fucking w
eekend and only had gotten her answering machine. Although I never left a message, I knew she was aware I was trying to reach her. Ever since Sammie had moved from Althea’s house, the violence between Sammie and Jessie had escalated and it kept me feeling frantic.
“Shopping,” she said with little enthusiasm.
“Oh shit,” I replied with a sinking feeling in my stomach. “Since you don’t appear to be happy about this particular shopping trip, I can only conclude that you were fighting with Jessie again.”
“Yep, we went guilt shopping again,” she said with a heavy sigh.
“Well, how much did the bruises to your self-esteem and body cost you this time?” I asked sarcastically. I truly could not understand why she put up with this shit. There was no amount of money in the world that would make me put up with the verbal and physical abuse he dished out.
“We did not buy anything today; we visited the things that he is going to get me when he gets the money.”
“You have got to be kidding me. Visit; what the hell does that mean?”
“We go to all the stores where he would buy me something from if he could afford it. He points it out, I try it on and pretend that I like it and either hang it back up or give it back to the clerk depending on where we are.”
“What a waste of time and energy,” I replied.
“Yeah, but I’ll bet you won’t say that to Jessie’s face.”
“That nigger may have you scared but he don’t scare me. I would pop a cap in his ass for real! So what sparked the shopping trip this time, did he have a hangnail?” My blood pressure started to boil. I hated it when men tried to use their physical strength to dominate a woman. Even though I was not much of a fighter, I was ready to pounce on Jessie.
I recalled my own earlier attempts of violence but it did not defuse the anger I felt. Fighting was never one of my fortes! One time, in my younger days, I decided I was going to whip my boyfriend’s ass. I picked up a brand-new knife and decided I was gonna cut his ass. I lunged at him and did a roundhouse curve that should have cut off his head but he ducked. I wound up cutting out a slice of my own shoulder. Next, I picked up a brand-new frying pan, cast iron and swung in the same fashion. When I woke up, he was stomping me into the kitchen floor. I guess he ducked and I struck my own self in the forehead. Those were dismal thoughts but I flicked them away in my rage. It just confirmed what I was previously thinking. I may not have won the battle but at least I had the courage to fight back.
All That Drama Page 12