After All (2 page)

“
Mr. Hilliard, it's so nice
to meet you.”Jennifer purred as she held the hand of the tall
handsome man in a somewhat less than businesslike
handshake.

“
This could be a new horror
movie, Lizard Man meets the Incredibly Annoying Woman,” Michelle
snorted in disgust before turning back to her computer.

“
With that face and body he
could stick his tongue out at me anytime.” Gracie
sighed.

“
Take a cold shower,”
Michelle retorted. “ Thought you were so in love with your husband,
Hal the hunk.”

“
Just 'cause my plate is
full don't mean I can't look at the menu.” Gracie
winked.

“
I ought to call your
reverend daddy. And a Black man at that.” Michelle shook a finger
at her.

“
Now, daddy has mellowed
these past few years. Why he even invited a Black pastor to worship
at his church. Hello, good-looking man at two o'clock,” Gracie
whispered.

Anthony Hilliard moved across the room
with the same agility he was famous for on the basketball court and
the track field. His six foot two frame formed a triangle, with
broad shoulders narrowing down to his trim waist. Though clothed in
an expensive brown suit, it was still easy to see that his arms and
legs were thickly muscled. With skin the color of brown sugar and
dark brown hair, he caused female heads to turn. Anthony flashed a
winning smile that melted almost everyone. Michelle folded her
arms. Her expression meant to convey she was not bowled over by his
mere presence.

“
Hello, Michelle.” His deep
baritone voice rolled out like a velvet carpet. Anthony extended
his hand.

“
My, my,” Gracie
breathed.

“
Oh, grow up,” Michelle
hissed in her ear. “Hello, Anthony.” Michelle gave his a hand a
weak shake before pulling hers back.

“
Congratulations on a
fantastic job. You haven't lost any of your style when it comes to
public speaking. You didn't ace Speech class in our senior year for
nothing.”

“
Thanks. Oh, this is Gracie
O'Hannon. Gracie--” Michelle began to straighten the teal jacket
then stopped. Why should she care what he thought of her
appearance?

“
I know,” Gracie broke
in.”Pleasure to meet you Mr. Hilliard.”She pumped his hand all the
while grinning widely.

“
Good meeting you, Ms.
O'Hannon. That story you did on our church last week was
outstanding.”

“
Gee, thanks. It was great
learning its history. A hundred and twenty-five years and still
going strong. Christ the King Baptist Church is something you can
all be proud of.”

“
We are. And thanks to your
story, we've gotten more support to expand our after school
programs for kids.”

“
Oh, wow. That's just
wonderful.” Gracie blushed.

“
So, what brings you here?”
Michelle tried not to make a face at her friend. She would not to
be taken in by his cheap attempts to win brownie points.

“
I'm being interviewed for
the Sunday Journal show.”

“
Really? Isn't that-- nice.”
Michelle kept shifting her gaze from those intense dark brown eyes.
But she found herself staring at his shoulders, then his broad
chest.

Finally, she decided she was better off
looking at his face. She shuffled her weight from one foot to the
other.

“
I... just thought I'd say
hello since I saw you.”Anthony's eyes held a question.”I've been
back in town almost two months now, you know.”

“
Yes, I knew.” Michelle had
spent those first weeks taming the urge to call him. But she had
been determined not to give in.

Looking from one to the other, Gracie
began to back away from them. “Goodbye, nice meeting you, Mr. H--.”
She bumped into Kate who was startled out of staring at the scene
before her.

“
Anthony, please.” Anthony's
smile lit up his handsome face.

“
Anthony.” Gracie gave a
short laugh. Turning she bumped into Kate again. “Isn't that your
desk over there? Move.” She spoke through tight lips as she pushed
Kate ahead of her.

Anthony turned back to Michelle. “Like
I said, I've been back home for awhile now. Working in Atlanta was
a great experience for me.”

“
I heard you were working
for Darryl Beshears. Pretty impressive learning from one of the top
African-American architectural and construction empires in the
country.”Michelle was sincere. Darryl Beshears was as famous for
building community centers and youth sports gyms for a song as he
was for making million dollar deals to build large corporate
structures.

“
It was invaluable. I
learned more about the business than I could ever learn in a
classroom. But it was demanding. I had little or no social life.”
Anthony raised his left hand to smooth his hair, even though it was
perfectly in place.

“
Really?” Michelle noticed
that he wore no wedding ring. Her pulse quickened.

“
What about you? I suppose
your career has kept you very busy, too.”

“
Pretty much, yeah.”
Michelle was careful to keep her face blank, her arms still
folded.

“
But I guess you have to eat
dinner sometime, right?”

“
Mostly on the
run.”

Michelle allowed herself to take him in
from head to toe for the first time. Being this close to Anthony
again brought back a rush of memories and, disturbingly, old
feelings. Their separation and the demands of her career had done
much to dull the ache caused by their breakup. But now, with him so
near she found it hard to feel the rancor that had sliced through
her six years earlier. Here he was, just as handsome but with a
confidence that made him even more attractive. She smiled in spite
of herself seeing his tie a tiny bit crooked.

“
Pull it a little to the
left.”Michelle tugged at her own collar.

“
Still happens from time to
time. You always did have to get me straight.”Smiling, he arranged
the silk paisley tie.

“
How's your mama?” Michelle
asked. Unfolding her arms, she leaned against her desk.

“
Better. She's taking her
medicine now. I see to that.”Anthony's face softened into an
expression of tender affection.

“
That's good. High blood
pressure is nothing to play with, especially for us. And make sure
she eats right.”

“
I do. Speaking of eating,
maybe we could grab a bite sometime. Lunch or dinner?”

“
I don't know. I keep really
busy and--” Michelle looked down at her pumps.

“
I would very much like us
to get together. Please, Chelle.” Anthony moved closer.

Michelle felt a rush of warmth hearing
him use her nickname in a way only he could.”Wednesdays I finish up
early, around four.”

“
Anthony, here you are.
Sidetracked by a beautiful woman, eh? I understand.” Ike Batiste
strolled up.

Michelle stiffened at the appearance of
Anthony’s uncle. The thud of her heart now signaled a very
different reaction, one of loathing and suppressed
wrath.

“
Uncle Ike, you remember
Michelle Toussaint. We went to school together. McKinley High and
Southern University.” Anthony placed a hand on the arm of the tall
man who joined them.

“
Ah, yes. Our star reporter.
How are you, honey?” Tall and distinguished, Isaac Batiste was
handsome in a hard way. His hair was a salt and pepper gray. His
tan brown skin shone as if polished. Leaning forward to kiss her he
blinked when she stepped back.

“
Mr. Batiste. Of course you
remember me. I'm sure you remember my father, too.” Michelle's
expression hardened.

“
Of course. Well, Anthony
they're waiting for us, son. Hurry along. Bye, now.” Ike smiled at
a point over her shoulder before walking away.

“
Be there in a
minute.”Anthony turned back to Michelle.”So Wednesday is a good
day, huh?”

“
I don't think so. I forgot
I'm working on a big story that's going to keep me tied up for
quite a while.” Michelle stood erect and unyielding.

“
Come on now,
Chelle.”

“
I said I'm going to be too
busy.”

“
Listen, this is about us,
not Uncle Ike.”Anthony's jaw tightened.

“
He's the same. Still oozing
greasy charm.” Michelle grimaced as though the taste of something
sour was on her tongue.

“
Michelle, don't start that
again. Uncle Ike is a good person. He's been like a father to me,
more than my own Father.” Anthony’s tone was a plea to forget the
past.

“
And you still have on those
blinders, don't you? You think I can just forget the past? After
what he did to my family? Not likely. You breeze in here asking me
to have dinner with you after the way you slammed me when I was
down. Man, you both have egos the size of the Grand Canyon. Forget
it.”

“
Talk about people not
changing. You see only what you want to see. It was all in your
mind, Michelle. I cared about you. You pushed me away.”

“
I was sick of hearing you
be a one man cheerleading squad for that slime bucket. He tried to
ruin my father.”

“
Your father was having
financial problems that had nothing to do with Uncle Ike. You know
that.”

“
What the hell do you know
about my father's finances? Look, I'm not going to debate this with
you. We went through this six years ago. Goodbye.”Michelle picked
up a stack of files and stormed off. She almost crashed into one of
her best friends.

“
Whoa! Don't run over me,
child.” Laree's eyes grew big as she looked past Michelle.” Hey,
there's Anthony. Hi-- he's leaving. Man, I didn't get a chance to
speak to him.”

“
So what? You're late,
Laree. If you'd had your butt here on time I'd have been outta
here.” Michelle's pursed her lips in annoyance. She threw the files
down on Earl's desk, then realizing she still needed them, picked
them up and marched back to her desk.

“
Get up off my back, girl.
You said eleven. It is now ten minutes past the hour. I was on
time. It just that you were into your thing with Anthony. Don't
take it out on me.”

“
What's up? Let's celebrate.
Girlfriend did a job on the news. Go on with your bad self,
Chelle.” Shantae did a little dance in front of
Michelle.

“
Careful, honey. She just
dumped on me,” Laree sat on the edge of a desk.

Laree Holland and Shantae LeJeune had
been Michelle’s best friends since the fourth grade when all three
jumped rope in the playground. Laree was the office manager at a
local plumbing supply business. Shantae was a sales manager at a
local department store with an ambition to become a buyer. They had
planned to treat Michelle to dinner in honor of her Saturday debut
as anchor.

“
Say what?”Shantae eyed
Michelle. “Why is your mouth all stuck out. We're supposed to be on
our way to par-tee, and you look like somebody sucking on lemons.”
Shantae flipped back her long red braids.

“
Anthony's here.” Laree
said, her eyebrows raised almost to her hairline.

“
Oo-wee, you mean I missed
the fireworks? Damn!” Shantae snapped her fingers.

“
There were no fireworks. I
don't want to discuss it. Let's just go and have a good time. Now
come on.”Michelle unlocked her desk and jerked her purse from a
bottom drawer.

“
Oh yeah, I can see we're on
our way to havin' a real blast.”Shantae shook her head as she and
Laree followed Michelle out.

***

“
You've been mighty quiet
for the last hour, son. Anything you want to talk about or ask
me?”Ike Batiste wheeled the big midnight blue Lincoln onto the
interstate highway.

“
Nah, I'm just thinking
about some stuff I've got to take care of at work.”Anthony stared
out of the car window at the tops of buildings sliding
by.

“
That Michelle is pretty as
ever. Thick curly hair,

big brown eyes you can get lost in,
just like her mama. A real lovely lady for sure.”Ike glanced at
Anthony sideways.

“
Yeah.”Anthony had thought
of little else since learning he would be at the station where
Michelle worked. And seeing her had crashed through all his
defenses, making his reassurances to himself that he was over her a
joke. But he had been a fool to hope they could... what? Be
friends, or more? Michelle had made it clear what she thought of
him. He flinched remembering the cold, distance in those beautiful
eyes.

“
Don't let it get to you,
boy. With everything you've got going for you, there are beaucoup
women waiting to get next to you.”Ike seemed to read his
thoughts.

“
She simply can't forgive me
for defending you. Michelle is so damn stubborn.”Anthony fists were
clenched in his lap.

“
I tried to help the guy,
but he fell on his face because of his own bad judgment. Then he
tries to ruin my reputation. Forget it.”Ike reached out to give his
arm a quick squeeze.”Tell you what; let's stop off at Luther's
Bar-B-Q. I'm starving. Okay, champ?”