Everything in Between (14 page)

“Which he isn’t,” Dawn deadpanned. She entered the double room, leading Cory, who struggled with a mini refrigerator. “Just set it on the counter there,” Dawn told him, pointing to the counter running beneath a row of wall-mounted cabinets.

“You could have at least gotten the door for me!” Cory said after placing the fridge in its designated spot. “I missed a study group meeting to help you move in. The least you could do is actually help.”

“No, this is the least I could do.” Dawn stretched out on the futon and started biting her nails.

“Dawn acts like she’s the queen of the world,” CJ said, opening a bag of cheese puffs.

“Are you in a study group, Chip?” Eve asked him. She popped into the bathroom and returned with a paper cup of water for Cory.

“It’s more a study pair,” Chip answered. “Me and one other kid. Braeden Hayes.”

Zae turned from the mountain of clothes she’d been hanging in the closet. “When Braeden dropped my class last month, I thought he’d decided to put off Comp II until next semester. I didn’t realize he’d transferred into Bligh’s class. I thought he was enjoying my class.”

“He was.” Chip moved closer to Zae. “He couldn’t take Elton Dye anymore.”

“Who is Elton Dye?” Dawn asked.

“He’s a member of that fraternity with the big house at the far end of the campus,” Eve volunteered. “He’s the pledge master or something. He hangs around with a bunch of MU’s star football players, even though he couldn’t make the team.”

“How do you know so much about him?” Dawn asked, eyeing her sister suspiciously.

“I’ve run into him on campus once or twice.” Deliberately avoiding her sister’s gaze, Eve picked up a box with
toiletries
written on it. “He’s an aggressive, narcissistic personality. I need to put these things in the bathroom closet.” With that, she disappeared into the bathroom.

“He’s a disturbed personality,” Zae said and rolled her eyes. “That kid makes my back teeth hurt. He never does his reading yet argues with me constantly, and he tries to be cute all the time. I didn’t know he was giving Braeden a hard time in my class. I thought he spent it all on me.”

“Not in class,” Chip said. “Everyplace else. Over the past month or so, I’ve noticed Elton going out of his way to harass Braeden.”

“Our Braeden?” Cory asked. “The new kid in my beginner’s class?”

“The very same,” Chip said. “I was late for our study session at the library, and I caught Elton and some of his cronies playing keep away with Braeden’s books in the parking lot.”

“Is that why you invited Braeden to Sheng Li?” Zae asked. “To teach him to defend himself from Elton?”

“He’s a real martial arts nut,” Chip said. “I’d invited him to try some classes before I knew about the bullying. I didn’t think he’d stick with it, but then he saw Eve and Dawn after their class his first night at the dojo. He marched right into Gian’s office and offered to clean mats with his tongue in exchange for lessons.”

Zae laughed. “What did Gian say?”

“He said, ‘That won’t be necessary, but I’ll keep it in mind.’ And he signed Braeden up for Cory’s beginner’s class.”

“Braeden is out of shape, but he’s motivated,” Cory said. “His conditioning will improve and he’ll know what to do when guys pick on him.”

“Run away?” Eve suggested.

“That’s Plan A.” Cory snickered. “But if that doesn’t work, a good combination of punches is a great Plan B.”

“Elton Dye’s fraternity was fined last semester for harassing female students who walked by their house,” Eve said. “He and his frat brothers would hold up scorecards, rating the girls.”

“They sound like seventh graders,” Dawn said.

“I think seventh graders are more mature than that Dye kid,” Chip replied.

“I’ll keep an eye out for him,” Zae said. “I can’t stand bullies.”

“There was a kid bullying me last year,” CJ said. “He put chewed up bubblegum in my clarinet, and he mashed ketchup packets in my desk. Mama came to school and talked to the principal and my teacher about him. His mother was so mad, she came to our house and threatened to kick Mama’s ass.”

“Say ‘ass’ again, and yours will be mine,” Zae said.

“She thought Mama would get her kid kicked off the football team for bad behavior,” CJ finished.

“It’s always the football players,” Dawn said. “No wonder Azalea can’t stand them.”

“I love football players,” Zae said. “As long as they do their own work and their coaches stay out of my business.” She narrowed her eyes at Dawn. “And you know how I feel about you calling me by my first name,” she warned.

“Mom had a run-in a couple of semesters ago with the MU defensive coordinator,” Eve said, reemerging from the bathroom with an empty box.

Dawn snapped her fingers and pointed to a long, flat box near Cory. Grudgingly, he shoved it over to the futon. Dawn stretched out on the futon as prettily as Cleopatra upon a litter, and she rested her feet on the long box. “Coach Deen came to talk to Azalea—”

“You know how I feel about you calling me by my first name,” Zae warned.

“—about one of his players, this kid named Tyler Jack Vincent,” Dawn continued.

“Three first names,” Chip said. “That’s never a good sign.”

“He was a good ballplayer, but he was dumb as hair,” Dawn continued. “I don’t know how he even got into college.”

“The same way he got into Reichart Academy on a full scholarship for high school even though he could barely write his name,” Zae said. “Recruiters cared more about his talent on the field than in the classroom.”

Dawn continued her tale. “Tyler Jack was in Azalea’s—”

“Dawn!” Zae snapped.

“—Mom’s sophomore American literature class, and she gave him an F on his first essay, which put him on academic probation.”

“You can’t play on a team if you’re on academic probation,” Eve said softly. “That F cost the Wildcats one of their key players.”

Dawn resumed the account. “The football coaching staff lost their shi—”

“Language, Dawn,” Zae cut in.

“—minds,” Eve said, picking up the tale where her twin left off. “The football players started a petition to demand that Tyler Jack be reinstated on the team, his other teachers stuck their heads in the sand, and Mom had to go before an academic review hearing to prove she gave Tyler Jack a fair grade. Two of Tyler Jack’s teachers showed up to testify that he was a good student, one of his coaches accused Mom of having a vendetta against football players. Mom argued that sports were secondary to education, and that Tyler Jack was functionally illiterate. He was her only witness. She gave him that morning’s
Post-Dispatch
and asked him to read the front page headline. He couldn’t do it, and that was all the proof needed for the grade to stand.”

“The whole thing got pretty ugly,” Dawn said. “We were getting prank calls in the middle of the night, someone broke two of our windows. Strangers would cuss at Mom on the street.”

“She would always just smile and tell them to have a beautiful day,” Eve recalled, smiling in adoration at her mother.

“I remember all that,” Chip said. “I saw the story on the local news when it all happened. I never did find out what happened to Tyler Jack, though.”

“After the hearing Mom started working with Tyler Jack, one on one,” Eve said. “She spent time every day and on weekends, teaching him to read and write. She helped him with all his classes.”

“He graduated last June with a 2.1 GPA and a degree in communications,” Dawn said. “He was invited to an NFL combine, but he blew out his knee. His professional football playing career was over before it even started.”

“But he’s still in professional football,” Zae said pointedly, “because he got his degree.” She turned to Chip. “He works in the public relations department for the St. Louis Rams.”

“I hope he realizes what you did for him,” Chip said, awed.

“I think he does.” Zae smiled.

“Where do you think the great seats Mom gets for Rams home games come from?” Dawn asked.

Chip tenderly cupped Zae’s nape. “The wonder of you never ceases. You were probably the first person to make that kid realize there was more to life than football. Just in time, too.”

“I was his teacher and he was my student,” Zae said simply. “I owed it to him.”

Chip impulsively took her hand and squeezed it.

“Now that you have the house practically all to yourself, maybe Chip can stay the night once in awhile,” Dawn suggested.

Zae’s head slowly turned in Dawn’s direction. “What did you say?”

“You and Chip can stop pretending to be ‘just friends’ now that Eve and I have moved out. Everybody knows that there’s something going on between you.”

An invisible cord of tension seemed to connect Zae and Dawn. Physically, the twins were pocket editions of their mother—tall and statuesque, with a sensuality that simmered just beneath a veneer of cool. Where Eve was slow to anger and quietly thoughtful, Dawn had her mother’s short fuse and explosive temper. Chip was none too eager to experience the simultaneous wrath of two Richardson women at once. He gently gripped Zae’s shoulder, but she shrugged him off as he attempted to craft something to say that would diffuse a row before it got started.

Eve jumped into her mother’s path before she could reach Dawn, who stood to face her mother. “Dawn, you have no right to speak to Mama like that,” she said. “And Mama, Dawn didn’t mean what she just said. We’re both a little weirded out about moving out.” She stretched out her arms, keeping her mother and sister separated.

“Dawn, you’re being totally selfish,” Eve told her. “Mama deserves to be happy.”

“I want Mama to be happy, too, but I never expected her to trade in Daddy for someone like Chip,” Dawn stated.

“What does that mean?” Eve asked.

“He’s hardly older than we are!” Dawn squawked.

“He’s way older than us! He’s already got gray hairs!”

“Do I?” Chip rushed into the bathroom and stood before the mirror, searching his curls for strands of silver.

“Chip’s a good guy,” Cory said. “Be fair, Dawn.”

“It’s embarrassing, having our mother running around campus with a white guy young enough to be her…her…”

“Go on and say it,” Zae challenged, her hands on her hips. “You might as well get your money’s worth.”

“Cousin!” Dawn spat, eyeballing Chip as he returned to Zae’s side.

“You’re being ridiculous.” Eve went to one of the twin beds. She snatched up the folded fitted sheet atop the bed, shook it out, and let it float over the bare mattress. “I don’t understand why you’re suddenly being so difficult.”

“What’s ridiculous is the thought of CJ being raised by someone who has no idea what it’s like to be a black man in America!” Dawn ranted. “Mama, you oshould be ashamed of getting so deeply involved with someone incapable of relating to CJ.”

“I like Chip,” CJ said through a mouthful of cheese puffs.

“How dare you!” Zae finally exploded. “Ever since your father died, I’ve spent every day of my life doing the best I can by you! Don’t I deserve to be happy? Don’t I deserve to be with someone who cares for me?”

“Yeah, it’s not Chip’s fault he’s white!” CJ butted in.

Zae glared at her son. “Do I look like I need help from you?”

“My bad.” He raised his hands in surrender. “I think you’ve got it under control. If you need me, I’ll be at the vending machines in the lobby.” With that, CJ left.

Zae turned back to Dawn. “I enjoy Chip’s company. That doesn’t mean I plan to marry him. And if I did, that’s my business, not yours, little girl. Don’t you dare judge or criticize me.”

“You could have found somebody more suitable,” Dawn grumbled.

“You mean somebody exactly like your father.” Zae’s voice broke.

Her lovely mouth pinched into a bow, Dawn fought to keep tears from falling. She lost the battle, bursting into loud sobs that brought her mother to her side.

Zae held Dawn close, guiding her to one of the empty beds. “I’ll never find another man like your daddy because God only made one of him.”

She looked up and met Chip’s gaze. In the past weeks, she had spent time with Chip as she always had, although she’d been careful to avoid being alone with him. She didn’t trust herself to keep her hands to herself, and until she understood her feelings for him, her physical attraction to him had to take a backseat. Her children’s needs had come first for so long, she was uncertain how to begin fulfilling her own now that two of her children were going into the world and her third no longer needed her constant attention.

Chip, her dear, wonderful friend, had slowly, easily become someone in whom she could trust. Someone on whom she could rely. In his company, she could relax and think only of herself but in the most unselfish of ways. He knew her children and he knew her in ways no one else but Colin ever had.

Long a part of their lives, Chip had become part of their family, someone so trusted and loved that Dawn felt comfortable targeting him for her wrath, knowing he would forgive her as only a family member could. Or would.

Zae pressed kisses to the crown of Dawn’s head. “I don’t know what the future holds, baby, but I have someone who makes me feel complete again. You’d begrudge me that?”