Page 28 of Say He's Ready
Mother left me to the wolf in a nice suit. I shifted because under his glare I was feeling a little uncomfortable. It was way too intense for me. Like he had a plan that I wasn’t in on. I started to play with the left-out pieces of my goddess braid out of nervous habit. I was completely anxious. The fact that I didn’t know if I was interested or not was unsettling. I kind of had someone. The conversation of yours and mine hadn’t taken place, but after I shared myself with him in my mind, we were in a relationship.
“You look uncomfortable. Please don’t be nervous around me. I’m nobody,” he joked flashing his big smile before sipping something dark. His cologne made me want to fall at his feet. It was a big contrast from the paint smell I had become accustomed to.
“You have to be someone to be here. So what’s your story and how do you fit in?” I asked also sipping from my own flute. I felt flirty and like a cheater. I needed to remove myself from this situation and quickly. I turned slightly to scan the area. I hoped I would find someone to pull me away and save the day. But currently, the room was fairly empty. No one I knew was in sight. It was me and Bobby in a corner playing a dangerous game.
“Well, actually I guess I should leave that to your mom. It’s the whole purpose of the party. Promise you’ll stick around,” he grinned again. I grinned back and remembered my mother and her obsolete party planning business that never moved past a title. Raising my glass, I took off to find Missy.
Searching the wing of the party, I found her slumped over in a chair, snoring like the toddler she was known to be. Kicking her leg, she woke up looking around. “We need to leave like right now. I have a bad feeling, and I really can’t explain it.”
“Alright, girl, shit, this party dun put me to sleep anyway.”
Before I could turn the doorknob, I heard the glass clink and knew my time for a speedy and anticlimactic exit had dwindled tremendously. Grabbing Missy, I found a spot out of my mother’s line of vision and waited.
“Today we are gathered for a wonderful announcement. I hope you are all enjoying the party. It was many years ago before I had my Teaghan,” she started but stopped to look for me. I felt a nudge to the front of the crowd. “There she is, before I had my Teaghan I had all these wonderful dreams a party planner, a nurse, oh the list was endless. But nothing gave me more pleasure than raising my only child and standing beside my husband as he claimed his spot in this universe. It’s been almost thirty years being Mrs. LeJune, we’ve had fun, but we’ve been busy. It saddens me to know that all things have to end because ole Frank will be bored, but me, I’m glad to get my husband back.”
I was lost as I listened to her speech. I was doing my best to decipher exactly what was going on around me. People were smiling and clinking glasses. Bobby and what I assumed were his parents were by the mantle with picture perfect smiles and joy in their heart. He spotted me and winked. Without much effort, I smiled back.
“Frank and I are excited to announce that this will be his last term as governor. This next election will be all about the endorsement of Bobby Harlow for governor. Bobby is bright and reminds me so much of my Frank. It almost scares me sometimes when we speak about the plans he has for his people. Today is not only a brunch for his accomplishments but the start of fundraising. We will take the time to auction off items to help kickstart his career and running. First, we have a date with my daughter Teaghan,” she clapped as I stood stone still from mortification. I knew something was about to go down, and so did sneaky slithering Bobby. I wasn’t some prized cow that you could just purchase. This was not explained, and I was so damn tired of being attacked and played by my own damn parents.
“Come on up, baby girl,” I heard my father say, holding out his hand. The way I looked at his hand you would have thought he had shit covering them. This was too much. I couldn’t remember when my life became such a damn joke or game to them. It was all for show and to please them. They still weren’t getting it. But as I placed my hand in his hand I felt like a little girl again that had to suck it up and toss a wide smile on my face. It was the only way I could miss the conversation of being a big disappointment.
“$10,000 for the lady,” Bobby yelled before I had the chance to get settled at the front of the room. Out of my peripheral, I could see my father and my mother grinning like this was the plan. Missy was damn near blue in the face from choking on her drink. My smile was so forced that I knew I would chip my tooth from gritting so much.
“Anyone else? Be careful, it seems like someone’s got their eye on the prize,” she joked as the crowd went up in an uproar of laughter. Bobby had his hand on the small of my back, rubbing in a circular motion. I did my best to keep my cool. “Well going once, going twice, sold to the man with the plan Bobby Harlow.”
Stepping down, I grabbed Missy and left without saying goodbye oreven entertaining what the hell just happened. In the car, I broke down as I started to back out. We rode silently, she knew the drill. When I was ready to come to terms with the actions of my parents, I would spill my guts and create a mantra to move on. However, it was time to take a stand and claim my own life. I was so embarrassed and just someone they could use and flaunt.
Houston
She hadn’t called in four days.
I wasn’t going to pretend that didn’t mean something. Teaghan wasn’t a woman who went quiet by accident. Everything she did was intentional, even the silence. Especially the silence. So I let the first day be. Let the second one go. Worked a job on Cartwright Avenue through the third and fourth, and told myself she would call when she was ready, and believed it less each time I said it.
By the fourth day, I was done telling myself that.
I dropped Malone at Luke’s for the night, came home, stripped out of my work clothes, and stood in the shower until the hot water ran out. Stood in my closet after and looked at what was hanging there. I didn’t normally do this type of shit, so my selection was slim, but I had a red Polo, washed jeans, and white Forces that surprised me as I put them on. Clean, pressed as a muthafucka, smelling like something other than a workday. Showing up for a woman the way she deserved to be shown up for. The fact that I was standing in that mirror thinking about it meant something had already been decided in me that I hadn’t said out loud yet.
I grabbed the flowers off the counter and left before I could talk myself into waiting one more day.
My phone rang, and I hoped it was her but was also thankful it wasn’t. I wanted to surprise her. Wanted to show her I was on different shit.
“Hey Shawn, what happened?”
“Nothing, but there’s a new restaurant bar called Luther’s. Take Teaghan there. She’ll love it.”
“Preciate that.”
“Yeah. Don't mention it.”
I shook my head because that wasn’t anybody but Malone running his mouth through his aunt. That boy was working his side of the deal. I finally made it to her spot and could tell she was home by the amount of lights on. I shook off the nerves and headed to her door.
She answered, and I watched her face do three things in about two seconds. Surprise. Something softer than surprise. Then the chin came up as she put herself back together.
She had on a silk robe the color of dark honey, and her hair was wrapped, a few pieces loose around her face. Fresh-faced and barefoot, and still the most striking woman I had ever been in close proximity to. Deep brown skin, slanted eyes that took their time looking at you, lips that always looked like she had something to say and was choosing whether to say it. Just standing in her own doorway in a silk robe, my shoulders tightened.
“Houston, hey.”
“Hey? What’s up, Tea? You’ve been MIA.”
