A Good Dude (33 page)

With delicious food in their faces, the conversation became more casual, and soon everyone was laughing and enjoying each other’s company. Gerald told stories about Candace when she was a child in New York, and Tino began to loosen up. His trademark wit, humor, and innocence kicked in, and Candace knew her parents were starting to like him.

They left the restaurant in great spirits. Gerald let Tino ride in the back with Candace on the way home, and they got a chance to hold hands for the first time that evening. But they had to keep their lovey-dovey eyes to a minimum. Every time Candace looked up, she saw her father staring at her in the rearview mirror. His eyes were still cold and threatening, but at that point Candace knew it was all for show.

When they got back to her apartment, Candace’s parents said they were going to turn in for the night rather than visit for a while. Candace hoped she’d have a chance for some alone time with Tino, but he was hesitant. If he waited for her parents to leave, they would know he and Candace were going inside alone
.
Instead of putting that thought in their heads, Tino was the first to bid a fair adieu. He shook hands with everyone, Candace included, and burned off in his hooptie.

When Candace got upstairs, she put Leila in her crib and breathed a big sigh of relief. The subject of Katherine taking two trips from New York never came up.

Some lies will go away by themselves
, Candace decided.

* * *

The Hendrickses stayed three more days. On Sunday afternoon they packed up their hotel room and drove to Candace’s apartment for one last goodbye before their flight back to New York. Candace made sure Tino was there, too.

There were a lot of hugs and kisses and crying from the Hendricks women. In the midst of these emotions, Gerald pulled Tino aside for a little heart-to-heart. Candace watched from a distance. She couldn’t tell what was being said, but when it was over Tino didn’t look too rattled. Gerald shook his hand one last time and made peace with his daughter’s boyfriend.

Candace told her mother she could call anytime she wanted from now on, and she promised to visit them in New York during her Christmas break. When they were gone, Candace went upstairs to her apartment, and Tino followed. It was good to be alone with him again. Candace sat on her couch with Leila in her arms, and Tino cuddled next to her. He wrapped his arms around her waist and laid his head on her shoulder.

“You glad that’s over with?” she asked.

“It’s not over with,” Tino said. “He wants me to call him every week.”

“My
dad
?”

“Yeah. He says I can call collect.”

Candace was astonished. “Tino, you do not have to call my father.”

“I’m just kidding,” he said.

She poked an elbow into his ribs. “Quit playing. What did he say for real? I saw y’all talking.”

Tino leaned in and kissed her softly on the neck. “He says I shouldn’t do that anymore.”

Candace grinned. “What else did he tell you not to do?”

Tino scooted up and kissed behind her ear this time. His lips were warm and barely wet. He sucked a little before backing away. A fiery tingle skated down Candace’s side.

“I’m not supposed to do that, either.”

“
Ooh
,” Candace said. She looked down at Leila, who sucked her bottle complacently, totally unaware of the hormones raging around her. “What else can’t you do, Tino?”

“You really want to know?” he asked.

She nodded.

He put a hand on her thigh and moved slowly toward those
nether regions
. This was new territory for him.

“I’m definitely not supposed to do this,” he said, and stopped abruptly within an inch of her panty line.

Candace’s throat was dry. She swallowed roughly. “Why’d you stop?”

Tino took the offensive hand away and put it all the way in his pocket. “I told you, I’m not supposed to do that.”

“But you did that other stuff.”

“Yeah, but those are minor violations,” he said. “That third one will get me shot.”

“My dad isn’t going to shoot you.”

“He shot people before,” Tino countered.

“In a
war
,” Candace said. “That was different.”

“He thinks protecting you is a war.”

“Did he really tell you not to touch me?” she asked. “No.”

“What did he say?”

“He told me not to hurt you,” Tino said.

That sounded like Gerald.

“So no one told you not to touch me?” she asked. “No. I do that on my own.”

They had only been dating for a few weeks, but Candace knew boys who would have been a lot more aggressive in this same period of time. Especially if they were alone in her apartment.

“All right,” Candace said. She turned away and leaned her head to the side, exposing her jugular as if for a vampire. “I like what you did earlier . . . .”

“You mean this?” Tino asked, and sucked under her ear again.

“Yeah, that,” Candace said. “Do it again.”

“Okay,” Tino said. “But you’re not getting my best until the baby goes to sleep.”

Candace looked down and saw that Leila’s eyes were already closed. She pulled the bottle from her mouth and the infant didn’t react.

“Well, lookey here,” she said.

NEWS FROM CELL BLOCK FOUR

Candace was under the impression it would start to cool off after August, but that’s not the case in Texas. September crept by like a long blast from a steel mill furnace. October brought much of the same misery. Halfway through the black and orange month, Candace asked Tino why they still had daily highs of ninety degrees or better. It was insane. He promised it would cool off pretty soon, and Candace threatened to go back to New York if it was still this hot on Thanksgiving.

But of course she was kidding.

And of course it wasn’t.

On October 31 something weird happened in the skies over Overbrook Meadows. Boreas blew hard from the north and brought with him the first cold front of the season. Leila finally got a chance to wear one of the jackets Candace bought her as the daily high dipped to a treacherous seventy-two degrees.

And it was still like that in November. Candace had Thanksgiving dinner with Trisha and her family, and most of the guests wore shorts and T-shirts.

In December the temperatures finally dropped to a level more worthy of the winter season. Candace bought a pink, New York-style bomber jacket with a furry hoodie. She wore it on the last day of school before Christmas break with a pair of tight jeans and wooly moccasins.

She met with Tino for lunch at the school’s cafeteria. Instead of the chips and sandwiches they usually ate, the couple partook in a holiday meal provided by the college. They had a choice of turkey or ham with dressing, mashed potatoes, green beans, sweet potato pie, and a cup of tea. Tino and Candace found a table to themselves and dug in ravenously.

“How do you think you did on your finals?” he asked. “I did good,” she said. “I think history was my worst class this time.”

“Don’t tell my mom that.”

“I won’t,” Candace said. Tino’s mother was an extremely passionate history teacher. Candace had met her a few times in the months they’d been together. She was a nice woman, short and round and as quick as a whip.

“I don’t see the point in it,” Candace said. “I’m never going to need to know which was the twenty-second state to join the Union.”

“Alabama,” Tino said.

Candace looked sideways at him. “Why do you know that?”

“It’s hard for me to forget stuff I memorized,” he said. “So you’ve got volumes of useless information up there?” She pointed to his noggin.

“I wouldn’t say it’s
useless
,” he said. “I’m the only one in my family who can get through a game of Trivial Pursuit. And what if you go on
Jeopardy
one day? Alabama might come in handy.”

“The twenty-second state, Alabama. I’ll try to remember that,” Candace said.

Tino smiled. His smile was goofy and cute and sexy at the same time—even with brown gravy in the corner of his mouth.

Candace plucked a napkin from the dispenser. She leaned forward and wiped his face much like she was accustomed to doing for Leila. Tino took it like a man. He seemed to appreciate the gesture. It was interesting how close they’d gotten since August. Yet still so far away . . . .

* * *

After lunch they were both done for the day, and for the semester. Candace looked forward to being off until January. Tino escorted her to her car with his arm around her waist. His hair was down today. He wore faded blue jeans with a white sweater and a black leather coat.

He was very handsome, always the cutest face on campus, in Candace’s opinion. She bumped him with her hip as they walked, and he bumped her back.

“Hey, you’re not supposed to hit a girl,” she teased.

“Ah, but that’s not true,” he said. “Statistically speaking, forty percent of all men surveyed admitted to hitting a girl within the last month.”

Tino was so good at that. It was hard to tell when his facts were fabricated.

“Sixty percent of
those men
have spent six months or more in jail in the last three years,” Candace countered.

Tino stopped in mid-stride and turned to face her. Candace stopped, too, but she didn’t see anything out of place.

“What?”

He reached out and held both of her hands. His fingers were cold, but the gesture was still comforting. He stared into her eyes and smiled warmly.

“What?” Candace asked again, grinning now. “Look,” he said, jerking his head towards the light pole they were standing next to.

Candace looked and followed it upwards until she saw what he saw: At the top of the pole, an arm extended over the sidewalk with a light fixture affixed to the end of it. This skinny arm was at least ten feet above them, but someone managed to tie a sprig of mistletoe about mid-center. Candace looked back at Tino and smiled eagerly.

“You see everything,” she said.

“I never miss an opportunity for a kiss,” he said and pulled her to him. She threw her arms over his shoulders and he wrapped his around her waist, and something strange happened when they kissed. Not only did Tino slip her a little tongue, but his hands slipped from her waist, and slid, and slid, and
yes
, Tino had his hands on her butt! He didn’t grab or squeeze, but they were there. And this was the first time they’d ever been there in public. The tongue in public was also a rarity. Candace opened one of her eyes to make sure she was kissing the right guy.

It was a nice kiss. It was a sexy kiss. But it was over as quickly as it started. Tino backed away and smiled, then he grabbed her hand and continued their walk to her car as if it never happened. And Candace didn’t like that. She wanted him to say
something
. She would call attention to it herself, but how would it look if a female brought up these issues?