“You come in when we’re ready to close, so you get to miss all the gossip. Half the time, I pretend I’m not listening, but folks seem to talk about everybody and everything on Coates Island. I didn’t have to wait to read in theClarionthat Reese had put in his discharge papers and left the army because someone had overheard his cousin, Chief Parker Shelton, mention it to one of his deputies. Then the news spread like a wildfire that Reese was coming back to live in the house where he’d been raised by his grandparents.”
“What happened to his parents?” Cherie asked Kayana.
“I recall my mother saying something about his mother being killed in a car accident when he was just an infant, but no one has ever mentioned his father.”
Cherie bit her lip and stared at the contents of her glass, wondering if her life paralleled Reese’s, whether both of them were unaware of who had fathered them. However, it may be different for her, because Edwina had known the men she’d slept with to father her children, but had elected to remain mute whenever she or her brothers questioned her about them. And she wondered if the same man had fathered all of Edwina’s children, or did each of them have different fathers? The questions had nagged at Cherie for so long that it had become an exercise in futility to continue to ask Edwina about the men she’d slept with. However, her mother had given her an opening when she said, “I’ll tell you once you decide to start a family. But not until then.” That was going to be a while for Cherie, because she’d planned to earn a graduate degree and become a classroom teacher before she would even consider starting a family.
“Did he marry a girl from Coates Island?”
Kayana gave her a steady stare. “He told you about his ex-wife?”
Cherie lifted her shoulders. “Yes. Why? Was it a secret?”
“I’m just a little surprised that he would’ve opened up to you like that,” Kayana countered. “Like I said, he usually keeps to himself and tends to be very quiet.”
“The man saved my life, Kayana, and that created a bond that connects us to each other.”
“That connection started even before he saved your life,” Leah interjected. “I told you the man couldn’t keep his eyes off you whenever he came here. He saw something he liked, and it was just a matter of time before he’d make that known. I don’t think he could’ve anticipated saving your life, but it had to be destiny that he was in the parking lot when you were attacked.”
She wanted to tell Leah that Reese believed in destiny, that he was supposed to be where he was to save her from what could’ve been certain death. “He’s easy to be with and to talk to.”
“I know, Kayana, and I don’t want to get ahead of ourselves, but we hope you can have a better relationship with Reese than what you had with your ex.”
Cherie wanted to tell Leah there was no comparison between the two men. She’d spent nearly half her life wishing, praying, and hoping to become the wife of someone who had been unable to commit and then had deceived her over and over—and still she’d stayed. She’d hoped to marry Weylin, and her hopes were dashed when he’d announced he was going to marry someone with whom she’d shared classes. Then when he’d proposed that they have a child together, her rationale had become that if she couldn’t have the man, at least she would have a part of him in their child, and again he’d proven to be duplicitous because he wanted his child for his wife. That’s when she turned from sweet, agreeable Cherie Renee Thompson into the greedy ghetto bitch his lawyer had called her and decided that, if she was going to give up her baby, then it had to be financially worthwhile. Any love she’d felt for Weylin died like the extinguished flames of a campfire. There were no smoldering embers, just smoke, until that finally disappeared into nothingness.
“You are getting ahead of yourselves,” she said, smiling. “Sharing meals does not necessarily translate into a relationship. Right now, I’m more than happy for us to become friends.”
“Have you ever dealt with a man who was your friend?” Leah asked. Cherie shook her head. “Well, neither did I until I met Kayana’s brother. I wasn’t a virgin when I slept with Alan because I’d had a boyfriend in college. I discovered being friends allowed me to relate to Derrick in a way I’d never been able to do with Alan in nearly three decades of marriage. I was able to gauge his moods, what he liked and didn’t like. Then it was discovering what we had in common, and that was a love of cooking. Some of the best memories of my childhood were baking with my mother and grandmother, and when Kayana and Derrick allowed me the opportunity to bake for the café, I knew it was where I wanted to be. As they say, the rest is history,” she added as a noticeable flush added color to her pale complexion.
“I think Reese and I have something in common,” Cherie stated.
“What’s that?” Kayana question.
“He reads. I gave him my copy ofThe Alienist.”
Leah and Kayana exchanged high fives. “Maybe we can get him to join our book club, like Jocelyn did with Grigg inThe Jane Austen Book Club,” Leah suggested.
Although Cherie was familiar with the movie, she still had to read the book. “I don’t think so, Leah. Reese works different shifts, depending on the week, so there’s no guarantee he would be able to attend our meetings.”
“I don’t think inviting men to attend our meetings would go well when we veer off topic to talk about dildos, droopy balls, and shriveled dicks,” Kayana stated, as she struggled not to smirk.
Cherie nodded in agreement. “Once you start talking about a man’s junk, he’s like a coiled rattler ready to strike. Yet they get together and talk with impunity about the size of a woman’s breasts or her behind, and we’re supposed to accept that that’s okay.”
“Preach, my young sister,” Kayana intoned. “I’ve lost track of men commenting on my body when I’m within earshot, but one time I got so sick of it that I shouted out, ‘You must really like this ass because you have to take that little blue pill whenever I give you some.’ ”
Leah covered her mouth at the same time Cherie laughed so hard tears rolled down her face. She picked up her napkin to blot her cheeks. “No, you didn’t.”
Kayana pushed out her lips. “Yes, I did.”
“What did he do?” Leah asked after she’d recovered from laughing.
“He started to come at me, but his boys held him back, saying it wasn’t worth it. I used to carry pepper spray in my purse, and he definitely would’ve gotten a face full of it if he’d attempted to attack me.”
“When was this?” Cherie questioned.
“It was when I was in graduate school. I used to stop at this corner store to pick up breakfast before going to class, and a group of men who would just hang there, doing who knows what, would holler at every woman who walked by, and that day I’d had enough.”
Cherie nodded. “As they say, that will learn them.”
