After All (21 page)

“
What I'm sayin' is, it's a
paycheck. See this?” T'aneka held up a lottery ticket.”When I win,
look out.”

“
That's a long shot,”
Dominic laughed.

“
Hey now, I won fifty
dollars one time.” T'aneka smiled at him, then lowered her eyes
shyly.”You gone be comin' over here a lot I guess.”

“
Buster is thinking about
letting me handle this contract, yeah.” Dominic sat in awkward
silence for several minutes listening to the soft clicking of the
keys. “You wanna go out? I mean, if not, I understand.” Dominic
shrugged looking down the hall as if seeing Buster.

“
What?” T'aneka's eyes went
wide with shock. “No way! He's old enough to be my daddy. Here.”
T'aneka gave him a pink business card with her name on
it.

“
You're a hairdresser? When
do you find time?”

“
On Friday nights and
Saturdays. I plan to have my own business someday.” T'aneka looked
at him steadily. “Give me a call.”

Dominic's eyes lit up. “I
will.”

Buster came back. “What's this? Soon as
my back is turned he gets next to my baby. Oh well, that's the
breaks. Besides I don't think she ready for the big leagues
anyway.”He gave Dominic a playful punch on the shoulder.

“
Here comes Miz Kinchen,”
T'aneka said. She made a face behind his back when Buster turned to
look.

“
Hey, Charlotte. Got a
minute to talk? I wanna introduce you to my new man here. Dominic
Toussaint, this is Miss Kinchen. Dominic just may be handling this
here contract. After some trainin' of course. He's a fast worker.
He's already started gettin' friendly with the staff.” Buster gave
a coarse guffaw at Dominic's embarrassed expression.

“
Nice to meet you. Come on
in.”Charlotte gave them a crisp nod and led them into her
office.

“
Talk to you later,” Dominic
whispered to T'aneka before closing the door to Charlotte's
office.

T'aneka smiled for several moments
before continuing to type.

Lonnie passed her on his way to the
stairs. “I'm gonna be out making rounds for the rest of the
afternoon. Beep me if Calvin calls.”

“
Okay.” T'aneka watched him
leave then picked up her phone.”Joanne, catch the phone for me. I
gotta go get something out the file room. Thanks.”

Because it was after two o'clock the
office was quiet. T'aneka went into the storeroom first instead of
going to the file room. She pulled out a drawer in one of the old
metal cabinets and stuffed papers from it into an expanding folder.
Moments later, she came out again and shut the door quietly.
Glancing around to make sure she had not been observed, she entered
the file room. T'aneka fed papers through the automatic feeder of
the photocopy machine.

Chapter 9

Lizabeth eyed her only child
affectionately as he closed his eyes. Anthony chewed the chocolate
cake slowly.”Like it, huh?”

Anthony smacked loudly. “Ahh. Mama,
nobody does it better.”

“
I've got some here for you
to take home.” Lizabeth pointed to a plate wrapped in aluminum
foil.

“
You’re too good to me. Save
some for Thanksgiving though. I want Michelle to taste
this.”

“
No, I thought I'd make a
pineapple upside down cake.” Lizabeth smoothed a tiny wrinkle in
the table cloth.

“
Have mercy. You're going to
knock her socks off with that one.”Anthony's eyes were wide with
delight.

“
Well, it's not every day my
new daughter-in-law comes to dinner.”

“
Now don't start. Michelle
and I are taking things one step at a time.”Anthony held up one
hand.

“
Judging by the way you're
acting, this is serious business. You've made up for lost time
obviously.” Lizabeth's eyebrows went up.

“
We're doing okay,
yeah.”Anthony blushed.

“
More than okay much time as
you've been spending with her.”

“
We've been getting
re-acquainted so to speak. Working out a few
differences.”

“
Your Uncle Ike you mean.”
Lizabeth nodded when he looked at her.”Oh I remember how hurt you
were when all that happened.”

“
Michelle still hasn't
gotten over it either. She's convinced Uncle Ike deliberately tried
to ruin her father to save himself. I said some things, she said
some things and bam! We didn't talk or see each other for almost
seven years.”Anthony rapped his fork against the saucer.

“
You know how I feel about
your Uncle Ike, Anthony. He's been good to us and he's a kind man
in his way. But he's like your father in a lot of ways.” Lizabeth
picked up the dishes and started for the kitchen.

“
No way, Mama. Uncle Ike
doesn't run out on family. They may be brothers, but Uncle Ike can
be counted on when things get tough.” Anthony spoke angrily as he
followed her.

“
Anthony, listen to me. I’ve
known that family for over thirty years. They may not have the same
daddy, but they been close all their lives. Neither one likes
playing by the rules. The difference is Ike takes joy in beating
the system by getting to know important people. Your daddy never
wanted to be tied down. Sonny liked to come and go as he pleased,
hated being on somebody else's schedule. Even his brother's.”
Lizabeth began washing plates in the kitchen sink.

“
No, he couldn't bother to
be tied down by a little thing like supporting his family. Or pay
child support so you wouldn't have to work two jobs to keep us from
being thrown out on the street. I don't understand how you can say
Uncle Ike has anything in common with that man.”Anthony still
refused to call Sonny his father or say his name. “You sound almost
like you're defending him.”

“
It's been so many years
now, Anthony, that I'm not angry anymore. I was very bitter when
you were young and I was struggling to keep us off welfare. But I
learned to let go of it, son. Truth is, I knew Sonny wasn't the
most responsible man around. That's part of what made me so crazy
about him. How he could make me laugh.” Lizabeth paused to gaze out
of the kitchen window above the sink. It was as if she could see
the handsome man standing in the back yard.

“
Great sense of humor. Only
the joke was on us.”Anthony remembered the smiling face that took
him to fun places when he was a small boy. But the memories were
tainted by Sonny's abandonment of his family.

“
All I'm trying to say is
you have to learn to see people for who they really are, son. The
whole person, good and bad.” Lizabeth dried her hands on a red and
white dish cloth.

“
I know Uncle Ike has his
faults. But he's not the devil either.”Anthony began drying the
dishes and stacking them on the counter.

“
You think Michelle can put
aside how she feels about Ike? Can you make it with him between
you?” Lizabeth put a hand on his arm.

“
We are going to make it,
Mama. Chelle is beginning to understand that Uncle Ike isn't so
bad. In fact, we even talked about this a couple of times. I'm
telling you when she gets to know him, things will be all right.
Maybe we can even get this misunderstanding between him and Mr.
Toussaint cleared up.” Anthony began putting the dishes
away.

“
For both your sakes, I hope
you're right, baby.” Lizabeth patted him on the back.

***

“
Dominic, even I won't
defend you on this one. Why in the world would you take a job
working for Ike Batiste!” Michelle folded her arms and glowered at
him.

They were in the garage apartment his
parents had fixed up for him was spacious and well furnished. With
two bedrooms, a bath, full kitchen, and large living room, it was
spacious and well furnished.

“
I don't work for him. I
work for Buster Wilson. I've told you that fifty times already.”
Dominic placed a can of diet cola on a coaster in front of her. He
plopped down into the chair next to the sofa and swung a leg over
its arm.

“
It's the same thing and you
know it. Everyone knows Ike really owns Quality Building
Contractors. The man tried to destroy daddy. Our family has never
been the same since.”

“
Get over it, Chelle. Even
dad didn't make this big a deal about it.” Dominic took a swig from
his can of soft drink.

“
Are you trying to tell me
daddy isn't angry that you're working for that crook? Oh, come on!
I saw the look on his face when you dropped your little
bombshell.”

“
He's not crazy about the
idea, no. But after the first month, he said he was pleasantly
surprised with the change in me.”

“
Quit lying.”

“
I go to work every day. I
don't stay out late on work nights, and I've been paying my own
bills.” Dominic held up a forefinger. “Including the utility bill
on my apartment for the first time.”

“
So what are you doing at
this dream job that's made you into a new man?” Michelle wore an
amazed expression.

Dominic sat up straight. “I manage
Buster's rental property. See to repairs, handle complaints, and
I've started collecting the rents.”

“
He's got some Section Eight
program houses. You know, where the government pays him part of the
rent. You manage those, too?” Michelle frowned slightly.

“
Sure. Not many though.”
Dominic shrugged. “Most of the property is pretty nice, even those.
They were a bit run down, but I've been able to get them repaired
for very little. Buster was impressed.” His chest stuck out a
little.

“
He let you get them fixed
up?” Michelle began to relax.

“
Sure. He's giving me more
and more responsibility.”

“
Maybe he's not as bad as
Batiste, then. I sure hope not.” Michelle bit her bottom
lip.

“
Huh?”

“
I mean, maybe he just
sticks to running his business and doesn't get involved in shady
schemes.” Michelle tensed again hoping Dominic would not press
her.

“
Will you stop it? It must
be the reporter in you, always looking for the worst in people.”
Dominic grinned.

Relieved, Michelle grinned back. “Maybe
so.”

“
I'm learning a lot,
Chelle.” Dominic propped his legs on the coffee table.”I actually
enjoy going to work. I get to help tenants solve their problems. I
helped this one lady get a rail for her porch steps. She said I was
the best thing ever happened to Buster's tenants.”

“
That's fantastic, Dom. You
know, I haven't seen you this at ease and happy for a long time.
It's got to be more than the job.”Michelle examined him as his grin
spread. “That dopey smile on your face means a woman is in the
picture somehow.”

“
Ahh, you know.” With a
shrug, Dominic brushed invisible lint from his pants.

“
What are you being so
shamefaced about? She's not married I hope.”

“
No indeed.”

“
Then who is she? Let's see,
you broke up with Chandra. Did you get back together with Kenice?
No, she just got married. Pam?”

“
None of them.” Dominic
pressed his lips together enjoying her attempts to
guess.

“
Wipe that superior look off
your face and tell me.” Michelle reached over to slap his
knee.

“
Her name's T'aneka Johnson.
I met her at work.”

“
Go, boy. How long have
y'all been dating?”

“
We've only been out a
couple of times. She's so different from the other women I've run
around with. T'aneka has had it tough, but she still has dreams.
Those other ladies had mama and daddy giving them everything they
wanted. They're interested in status symbols. The kind of car you
drive, designer labels on clothes, stuff like that. Spoiled, you
know?”

“
Oh really?” Michelle's eyes
went wide in mock surprise.

“
Yeah, well you don't have
to say it. That goes for me, too. Just like the crowd I was running
with, I didn't think about anybody much but myself. T'aneka has
been giving money from her paycheck to her mama since she was
fifteen to help with her younger brothers and sisters.”

“
She sounds like quite a
young woman.”

“
She is. Makes me look at my
life, you know? I mean Dad's been right, I was going nowhere and
thinking I was all that.”Dominic shook his head.

With a gasp, Michelle leaned towards
him. “Dom, is that you in there?” She peered into his
eyes.

“
Cut it out.” Dominic threw
back his head in laughter.

“
But do you understand you
just said Daddy was right about something? You agreed with him,
about you no less! Lord have mercy.”

“
Gotta admit I was dizzy
from shock for a few days myself.”

“
You told Daddy all this I
hope.”

“
Hey, we still have our
differences. He's not the easiest person to talk to either. So
don't make too big a deal out of this.”