Another Man Will (24 page)

C
HAPTER
44

Yvette

T
he kids had left for two weeks. They were with their father in Florida for Christmas break, and I was about to cash my first paycheck. It wasn't a lot of money, but I was so happy. I was so blessed to be working again. It was going to take me a few months to pay everyone back, but at least now I could see the light at the end of the tunnel.

I wanted to get out and treat Geneva for being such a supportive friend. Everyone needed someone like her to have their back. I invited her to try the soul food place that I had delivered to on Germantown Avenue. We met at the bar inside the restaurant and were immediately seated at a table by the window.

“You look good,” she said as she gave me a quick hug.

“I feel good. I feel like the weight is starting to lift, literally and figuratively.”

“That's great. I started to invite Stacey, but I didn't know how you would feel.”

“I'm glad you didn't.”

“You don't understand how sorry Stacey is.”

“I don't care. If she didn't mean it, fine, but she shouldn't have let it slip,” I said. “Plus, she is more your friend than mine. If you are not around, I don't call her. I remained friends with her all these years because of you.”

“Well, I'm so happy everything is good now. I was getting scared that you might really kill Phil and go to jail, and then I would have to put my house up to bond you out.”

We both laughed, then I said, “Then I won't tell you that I almost burned his dad's house down. I had the gasoline, but not the match. He doesn't know how close he came to being in the burn unit.”

“What the hell, Yvette? I'm not sure I even want to know.”

“Yes, you do not want to know. I'm now only having positive thoughts,” I said as I bowed my head playfully, like I was praying.

“So what's good here?”

“The owner said they are known for their buffalo shrimps and wings. I don't know where the waitress is.”

The gentleman that owned the restaurant was going from table to table, checking on his patrons. He came over to our table and said, “Ladies, how you doing this evening?”

“Better if we had some drinks in front of us,” I snapped. “And I should get better service because I'm your delivery lady, Mr. William Nelson.”

“Call me William. I hate Mr. Nelson, and I recognize that pretty face. Let me take your drink order, since no one has been over here yet. My apologies—we are a little short-staffed tonight.”

A few minutes later he came back out with our drinks, and the waitress rushed over to take our dinner order.

After spending so many months in the apartment and not being able to treat myself to dinner, it felt so good to be served and to catch up with my friend. The food was delicious, and we couldn't finish everything and had the remainder of our dinner boxed and bagged. I asked the waitress for our bill. She told us the owner had taken care of it.

I was touched. “Aw, that was nice. Let me go over there and say thank you.”

I approached William and said, “Just wanted to say thank you, and the food was really great. I'm going to tell everyone about your establishment.”

“Thank you. I would appreciate that. Here. Take a few cards. I was wondering if I could possibly take my delivery lady out.”

He wasn't my type, but I gave him my number. I walked back to Geneva and told her he'd asked for my number.

“That would be good—a nice, distinguished gentleman. He's not that bad looking, either. I would give him about forty-something. You know he has money. He owns the place.”

“We'll see. I don't really feel like being bothered by a man right now.”

 

 

I knew William was over forty, but someone should have updated him on dating protocol. But anyone should know that after your first half a dozen calls went unanswered, you should leave a message and wait for your call to be returned. He wasn't getting the hint, so I answered.

“Hey. How you doing, Yvette? This is William.”

“I'm good.”

“I've been trying to reach you.”

“I know, but I have children and a life; so I'm sorry, but I'm not always near my phone.”

“Right. Yeah, I know you're a busy woman, and I see you a feisty one, too. I just wanted to say hello and tell you it was real good to meet you. I wanted to say something to you when you came in last week, but I wanted to keep it professional. So when I saw you again, I couldn't let you pass me by.”

“Is that so?”

“Yeah, so when will you be available for me to show you a good time?”

“I don't know—give me a call, maybe Friday or Saturday.”

C
HAPTER
45

Crystal

R
ell's middle name now was work. He worked so much, like he was making up for lost time. I was happy he had a job, and it was making everything a lot easier on me. But I missed having my boo bear with me, and not at work, but you can't have everything. I was decorating my white Christmas tree with bright, colorful lights and ornaments, trying to get things done for the holidays. I would get so much more done if Rell wasn't fixing everything that Little Shareef broke and was able to help me.

I went into the kitchen to check on him, to see how he was making out with the stopped-up drain. Shareef had put something down there. I saw Rell plunging the sink with long, hard strides, yet the water still would not move. And the only thing I could think was,
If Little Shareef breaks another got damn thing in my house, I don't know what I'm going to do! Angel and Big Reef still think I'm their babysitter. Hello, I have three children of my own.
She always said, “Girl, I got you. We are going to babysit for you,” but this had not happened yet.

After numerous attempts at plunging the sink, Rell realized the clog wasn't budging, and it was time for him to get ready for work. He left the sink full of undrained water. I followed him upstairs and said, “I don't know why Little Shareef has to come over all the time and break everything.”

“Mercedes is over here just as much as Shareef, and he doesn't break things on purpose.”

“But my niece doesn't punch holes in the wall or stop the sink up. I'm not used to this type of stuff in my—”

“In your what? Go ahead and say it. In your what? Where is all this ‘my stuff ' coming from lately, Crystal? That's my nephew and he is a kid and they break things. It happens.”

“All right. I'm not saying anything else, but what time are they coming to get him?”

Rell scrunched his shoulders, tied his black work sneakers, buttoned his evergreen-colored work shirt, which had
GLOVER
stitched on the pocket, and said, “I don't know. I'm going to work. Call Angel and tell her to come get him.”

I followed him to the front door. “And what about the sink, Rell?”

“I'll get on it when I come home.”

As I watched him walk out the door to the truck, I realized there were some things I really had to get used to. One of them was waiting on a man to do something. I'd been on my own since Jewel's father went to jail, and I was just so used to getting things done. I was not waiting for him to come home to have this sink fixed. I did not have time to look at a sink full of dirty water. I was going to call a plumber.

By the time I heard Rell come in the house, I was exhausted from dealing with the plumber, kids, decorating, and washing clothes. I heard him call out from downstairs, “Eh, Crystal, how you fix this sink?” I came down the steps to see him standing in the kitchen with this metal coiled pole thing in his hand.

“I called a plumber.”

“Why would you do that? Didn't I tell you I was going to fix it? You had me drive across town to pick this thing up, when you could have at least called me and said that you got it done.”

“Well, Rell I didn't know what you were going to do. I didn't have time to wait. I had to cook and wash clothes.”

“But I told you I was going to do it. Next time say something so I won't be running around.”

 

 

Christmas morning, our house looked like a toy store. There were big, colorful, blue, green and red metallic wrapped boxes with bows on the top.

Last night, on Christmas Eve, while we were wrapping the last of the gifts, Rell surprised me with an early gift. He took my hand and removed my wedding ring and replaced it with a big diamond cluster ring. I was in tears when he said, “Every year, boo, I'm going to upgrade you.”

I felt good, because I had a real wedding ring, and then bad, because I had bought him only a robe and more slippers for Christmas, but he told me he'd wanted something comfortable to wear when he came in the house after work.

As for Nasir, I think he stopped breathing when he discovered Rell had got him a PlayStation 3 and an Xbox, a bike, and cars. And Jewel, she had dolls' clothes, a little computer, and a little pink cell phone There were bikes, games, and Barbies. He bought Kori clothes and a bunch of baby toys. I didn't know how he'd managed it. I knew he made money at that job: the overtime made our Christmas look like we were rich. I wasn't really expecting all of this. With my gifts and the kids' gifts, there wasn't enough space hardly to walk.

“So I have one more gift for y'all,” Rell said. “Nasir, put on shoes. Jewel, you going to love it.”

“Oh my God, Rell. What is it?” Jewel asked. They were jumping all around the living room.

And then I went from happy to what the hell? Rell had a nasty dog with a bow run into my house.

“A puppy?” Jeweled shrieked.

Rell nodded. “Yes, a dog.”

Nasir got on the floor with him and was playing with him and hugging him.

I didn't want to end the love session with man's best friend. But I had to tell Rell, “Babe, no dogs in my house. I hate dogs.”

“But I'll clean up after him. Look, the kids love him.”

“No, Rell, they are dirty and they stink. I hate animals. I don't want no filthy animals in my house.”

“Fine, I'll take him back.”

C
HAPTER
46

Yvette

W
illiam was far from the kind of guy that I would date and that was exactly why I thought I should go out with him. I couldn't get it right any other time, so maybe I needed to date differently. At least it was worth a shot and I wasn't doing anything else.

He was outside my door promptly at 6:30 p.m. He opened my door and closed it like the gentleman he was. Up close William was a medium shade of brown, with a little darkness underneath both eyes from long hours and hard work. His aura seemed older, not like my dad, but a lot different than what I was used to. I wasn't sure if I liked it yet.

“Did you have somewhere special you wanted to go? Because I was thinking maybe we'd ride down to Atlantic City, get a bite to eat. Get on the table for a little bit.”

“Okay, that sounds good,” I said.

He was driving a black Mercedes-Benz S-class with white interior. The inside smelled like strawberries, and the car rode smoothly. The whole forty-five-minute drive he played old-school R & B. He was in his own groove, bobbing along to music I kind of remembered from back in the day.

“So do you go to AC often?” I asked him, breaking the silence.

“When I can. Believe it or not, this drive is relaxing for me. Takes me away from all the craziness of the restaurant.”

“Why don't you have more help?”

“Do you know how hard it is to keep good people? I'm constantly hiring and firing people. I'm forty-seven. I've been working since I was thirteen. When I was growing up I knew I had to work if I wanted something. But this younger generation don't know or understand hard work. They come in and play around. They want to get paid for showing up.”

“I know what you mean. I used to run an HR department, but then I got divorced from my second husband and had to find a new job.”

“You've been married two times, and I've never met anyone I loved enough to marry once.”

“Yes, second means two,” I answered, becoming slightly irritated.

“Whoa. Should I be concerned?”

I wasn't about to let this old man make me feel any kind of way for being divorced. Since he wanted to be smart, I decided to play the insult game with him.

“No. I think I should be more concerned about a man that's forty-seven that has never married. But to be honest, you don't look forty-seven. I've never dated an older man.”

“I'm going to take that as a compliment. I'm like a good-running car. You wouldn't know what year I was unless somebody tells you. I get thirty-five, sometimes forty.”

“I definitely wouldn't give you thirty-five with those strands of gray hair.”

“This I had since I was twenty-seven.” He laughed and I laughed and the game was over.

We arrived at the busy casino. He turned his car over to the valet, and we walked into Harrah's casino. He went to a table and laid down stacks of one-hundred-dollar bills and the dealer dispensed him stacks of chips. Before he started playing, he handed me ten twenties and chips to play with. There was no way I was going to gamble all the money away. He would never know if I lost or kept the money.

I cashed in the chips and walked around the casino floor a bit, and then located William at the craps tables. His sleeves were rolled up, and he was shaking dice in his hand. It appeared like he was doing well: his chips were in a few rows stretching in front of him. He must have rolled the right number, because the second the dice hit the green table, the entire table erupted with a big, loud “Yeah!” The man next to him gave him a high five.

“What just happened?” I asked William.

“I rolled my point, and we all had a few hundred on it.”

“So you are winning?”

“I'm making out pretty good,” he said as he turned his attention back to the dealer, who was giving him back the dice once more. My father used to always say, “Never bother a man while he's gambling.” William was gambling and winning, and I didn't want to break his flow, so I left the table.

I made my way over to a blackjack table. The dealer handed me twenty-one a few hands in a row, and then the dealer turned on me and I lost back-to-back hands. I was done with blackjack and was off to the slot machines. I went and had a seat with all the senior citizens on the slots. I slid in a twenty and then pulled the handle aimlessly. I would probably give William another hour before I let him know I was ready to go. I looked around to see what the other people on my senior citizens' row were doing. I kept pressing the buttons and pulling the lever. So far I had won forty dollars. Not bad, but after an hour of hitting the minimum bet of a quarter, I was back down to zero. I slid another twenty dollars in, and began pressing the buttons and pulling the lever again. Shortly after, the machine started making noise and three sevens appeared on the screen in front of me. All these people started surrounding the machine and me.

The older woman that was sitting next to me said, “You just won seventy-five hundred dollars.”

“Seventy-five hundred?” I repeated to her. “Are you sure? I only put one dollar on the line.”

“That's okay. You still won the jackpot.”

People were coming over to me, congratulating me. Then an attendant came and asked me for my license. I was shocked and about to cry. My luck had finally changed.