A Deal With God: The Power of One (10 page)

As it got later, it got colder outside. But it was warm in Leon’s truck. They had blankets, the radio, the heater and each other.

They got back to Leon’s just after midnight. Jenny was asleep on the couch. Deana woke her up.

“I told my parents I was spending the night. Is that all right?” she asked.

Deana was surprised. This was not what she was expecting. If Jenny charged by the hour like she said she did, either Deana or Leon would be out quite a bit of money. Since it was her idea, she didn’t want to saddle Leon with the tab.

Deana went into the bedroom and kissed and cuddled with Leon. He held her tight and kept her warm. An hour later they were both falling asleep. Deana grabbed a couple of blankets and went to sleep in the chair next to the living room couch. She couldn’t believe she was spending the night. It was nice, though, not spending another night alone.

Jenny got up at 6 o’clock. Deana drove her home. Jenny reminded Deana she makes six dollars an hour for watching three children.

“Do you mean you want me to give you fifty–four dollars Jenny?” Deana asked. “That’s close to everything I made working dinner shift last night.”

“Fifty dollars would be enough if you pay cash,” Jenny answered.

Deana realized Jenny was going to grow up to be one shrewd business woman.

It was already into December and soon the boys would be off from school for Christmas break. They would have their mid–term exams their first week back in school in January. Deana had promised the boys’ teachers she would have them caught up by then. It was going to be a lot of work.

Vito’s was continuing to do well with the single crowd. It didn’t hurt that it was the Holiday season. One young woman that frequented Vito’s often was named Tracy. She always sat in Deana’s section. Sometimes she came with a friend; sometimes she came alone.

“When are you hitting the ATL with me,” Tracy asked Deana. Tonight Tracy was alone. “We need to go clubbing together.” Tracy knew Deana would be the perfect wingman. Deana would be pretty enough to attract the attention of many men but not aggressive enough to take any action away from Tracy.

“Waiting tables is a poor vocation if you want any semblance of a social life,” Deana lamented. “We work all the good bar nights. I’m pretty much here until late every Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights. Add in an hour to get ready and the hour drive to Atlanta, it would be almost 1am before I got there. I would be falling asleep by then. I have a hard time dating my own boyfriend because of this. It’s good being off all day to take care of the boys, but I don’t get to go out much.”

“Well if things ever change,” Tracy said, “please let me know.”

“I really will try,” Deana said. “I do enjoy getting out with friends; sometimes it just takes a little creativity.

On Saturday night, Deana didn’t get to Leon’s until almost eleven o’clock. They had been surprisingly busy at the restaurant. Still in her uniform she sat on the couch with Leon. They started to kiss. As they became more comfortable with each other, the touching and kissing got more passionate. Deana did not want to go too fast. But she wasn’t sure how to slow things down.

One thing that can slow romance down is the children. The boys were off from school for the next three weeks. Mark had been getting caught up in all his subjects except Math. Matthew was behind in Math and English.

Every day from 10am to 1pm, Deana worked with the boys. She told them if they made progress she’d get them a little something extra for Christmas. Mark wanted the new video basketball game and Matthew wanted the hockey game.

It was Tuesday, December 18, and it was Leon’s payday this Friday. Deana had set it up for Leon to make another mortgage payment. If he made this payment he’d only be a couple days past 30 days late. He was getting close to catching up.

At 9:30pm Deana put Luke to bed, the boys played video games and Deana went to watch television with Leon.

“Deana, if I make this mortgage payment on Friday I’ll have no money for Christmas” Leon sadly admitted. “I’ll have less than fifty dollars. I wanted to get you and the boys something nice.”

“It’s all right,” Deana replied. “We can postpone giving each other gifts. I’m buying the boys the hockey and basketball video games, if they keep doing so well. I’ll wrap the games up and say they’re from both of us. Just buy Luke a little Santa gift and I’ll buy Luke a gift from both of us. It will work out perfect. The important thing is that you have to pay the mortgage.”

Deana was not happy when she found out Christmas Eve was a Monday night and Christmas was a Tuesday. New Year’s would be the same. Deana would get no extra days off.

Luke did not have a very good grasp of Christmas. Deana had fun finding books to read with him to get him excited about the birth of Jesus. Deana also taught him the story of Santa.

Luke was just starting to read and was improving. The books Deana brought him had lots of pictures to help him follow the storylines. It was cute seeing his enthusiasm as he counted down the days until Christmas.

Deana found a place where they had some bargain Christmas trees. She bought the least expensive one, but did not cut any corners decorating it with the boys. They had a lot of fun with the decorating process. It looked nice when they turned on the lights and it lit up the living room.

On Saturday, three days before Christmas, Leon and Deana game planned for the big day. Christmas morning the Johnson’s go to church with us,” Leon said. “After, we come home and open the gifts. Around 12:30pm, the five of us head to Athens and the Johnson’s go back to Macon. I hate to do this to you again, and I’ll understand if you want to back out, but it’s a little like Thanksgiving.”

“Claire makes a ham and brings that. She usually does a halfway decent job with it. Then Rebeccah only had to bring the sides. If you don’t mind kicking out a couple of sides, I would be extremely grateful.”

“I’ll say yes,” Deana answered, “but I want an incentive package like I got for Thanksgiving.”

“I’m sure I can come up with something” Leon replied. “I may, however, need a week or two.”

Monday morning, Christmas Eve, Deana started bright and early. She wanted to do the cooking today because she would be in church tomorrow morning. She baked a big pan of macaroni and cheese. She made a broccoli casserole. She baked a big loaf of cornbread and fried two and a half pounds of okra.

When the Johnson’s arrived at Leon’s house Christmas morning, they had very mixed emotions. They loved how well the boys were doing, Leon included. Matthew, Mark and Luke were cleaner, better dressed and more articulate than they had ever been. They were very respectful; looked well taken care of and seemed quite happy.

However, Rebeccah was their daughter and it was heartbreaking to see her replaced. To make things worse, Deana was better with the boys, the house was cleaner than ever and her sides were sitting on the counter looking absolutely amazing.

Deana was soft spoken, polite and respectful to the Johnson’s. There was no way they could dislike her. Nonetheless, all this did little to alleviate their pain.

Deana, Leon, Matthew, Mark and Luke got to the elder Samuels’ just before two o’clock.Each one carried one of the sides into the home except Luke. Luke was playing a little hand held game Santa had brought him.

Deana fired up Gracie’s oven to warm up the food. Claire, Julie and Deana set the table and got everything ready for dinner. Claire’s ham looked good and Deana’s sides looked delicious. This should be smooth sailing.

All ten sat down to dinner and the Colonel said a prayer. Everyone was complimentary about how good the food looked and tasted.

“As you can see, Claire is becoming a much better cook,” Lester remarked. “When we first got married she thought the smoke alarm going off meant the food was done.”

CHAPTER 9
TAMPA GIRL SHAKE IT FOR ME

There was something interesting Deana found out about Georgia. Most big fireworks are illegal in the state. In Florida it was much different. Pyro shows and big fireworks were abundant. If you were anywhere near a populated area either New Year’s Eve or 4th of July in Tampa, you were pretty likely to see something going off.

New Year’s Eve would be Monday night this year. It was expected to be extremely cold. There was a chance it might even snow. Living in Tampa her whole life and never having traveled, she had never seen snow before.

Leon asked Deana to spend the entire day and night. He wanted to watch the big college football game with her in the afternoon. After dinner he would build a big burn pit in the back yard. A burn pit was something else new to Deana. Leon dug a hole. He put firewood, regular wood and dead shrubs into the pit. He encased part of the pit with cinder blocks.

As late evening set in along with light snow flurries, Leon set the pit on fire. The burning embers and the lightly falling snow were absolutely beautiful. Leon had built little benches so everyone could sit around the fire and roast marshmallows. After dessert, Deana started getting the boys ready for bed. She read a little book to Luke as Mark beat Matthew in video game hockey. She was pleased when the game was over and Mark told Matthew “good game”. It was almost eleven when Deana kissed Matthew, Mark and Luke good night. She grabbed a blanket and met Leon at the burn pit. They put the New Year’s Eve countdown show on the television and listened to it as they sat in front of the fire.

They tightly embraced and kissed like they did down by the lake. This was Deana’s favorite New Year’s Eve’s ever.

“I know it wasn’t much,” Leon said. “But I hope maybe it was a little compensation for Christmas.”

“It was wonderful,” Deana said laughing. At that second the ball started to drop on television. Leon gave her another kiss and when the kiss was over it was officially 2013.

“Please don’t go home tonight,” Leon abruptly stated. “Even if you want me to sleep on the couch, I want you here with me tonight.”

Deana was surprised. Leon was usually not that assertive.

“I would love to spend the night with you, Leon,” Deana replied. “And we can sleep together in the same bed. We just can’t …”

“I understand,” Leon quickly answered “I don’t want to ask you to do anything you are uncomfortable with.”

Deana was happy how cool Leon was about everything. Not all men were as patient as he was. This was a quality of his she greatly admired.

In the morning the boys were surprised to see Deana and Leon together having coffee. Deana usually came later and would be wearing her own clothes. Deana was wearing one of Leon’s old T–shirts.

“Your father and I had a couple of drinks last night,” Deana explained. “It is wrong to drink and drive, so I slept here.”

That was all she said. It was Tuesday, her other day off and she usually spent most of Tuesday there anyway. At eleven o’clock the Bowl game from Tampa was on, and Deana wanted to watch it with Leon. She told Matthew and Mark if they would let her tutor them after the game for a couple of hours, they could play outside or on the game console for the rest of the day.

Deana started spending more nights with Leon. The next week they spent Saturday, Monday and Tuesday night together. The following Saturday night, when Deana came over after work, Leon made a surprising request of her.

“Next Saturday night is my friend Kenny’s birthday. I would like to take him up to Athens and party a little bit. What if we get that Jenny girl from up the street until nine or ten? If you get off work early, you could get Jenny home so it won’t be too much money. Then you can watch the boys until we get back home later.

Deana did her best to remain expressionless. Obviously she failed.

“Why are you upset?” Leon asked. “We won’t be home too late and we can still spend the rest of the night together.”

“It’s like we talked about in November, Leon,” Deana replied. “The local police eat at Vito’s and we hear them talk. Every Friday and Saturday night they park up on the main highway and catch as many people as they can for drunk driving. They pull over just about everyone. They brag about how many people they nail. Once they get you in the system it’s about six thousand dollars to get your license back and get clear.”

Leon had a co–worker get busted on a DUI and he knew what Deana was saying was true. A DUI conviction can pretty much ruin your life if you don’t have a lot of resources.

“Do you have a picture of your friend Kenny?” Deana asked. “I may have a plan.”

“Yes I do. Why do you ask?”

“May I see the picture?” Deana grinned. “I think I have an idea.”

The picture Leon had of Kenny was a good one.

“Is Kenny single?” Deana asked.

Leon nodded his head.

“Let me keep this picture for a day or two. I think we can throw Kenny a birthday party here you’ll both enjoy.”

Deana sent a text to Tracy. It read:
I might have a way we can have some fun together next Saturday night. Please come to the restaurant tomorrow night so we can talk. D.

Tracy was sitting in Deana’s station when she got to work Sunday night.

“Tracy, I need a huge favor. The guy in this picture, what do you think of him?”

“He’s cute.”

Deana reached in her pocket and took out eighty dollars. She gave it to Tracy. “Next Saturday is this guy’s birthday. His name is Kenny. He is Leon’s best friend. I really don’t want them clubbing together and getting into trouble. I want to throw a four person party at Leon’s house. I know we can give them a memorable evening. The eighty dollars is for two hours of babysitting and any party supplies you can think of.”

“This could be fun,” Tracy said. “I like your style Deana.”

The next night, Leon and Deana watched a hockey game together on television. The Monday Night Football games were over.

“Leon, I have good news about Saturday night.” Deana stated. “My friend Tracy will come over at eight o’clock and watch the boys. Tracy is my age and very pretty. She really likes to party. Tracy and your friend should really hit it off. You and Kenny can stay local, shoot some pool and have a couple of beers but stay off of the main roads. Between ten o’clock and eleven we can all meet back here. I promise we will do everything in our power to give you the night of your lives.”