Read Breaking the Ties That Bind Online
Authors: Gwynne Forster
Breaking the Ties That Bind (2 page)
“Well, I’ll be damned,” Kendra said under her breath. “She didn’t even glance toward the cloakroom where she’d expect me to be. I’m going to give her the respect she’s due as my mother, but I am going to quit toadying to her. She doesn’t care about me.”
Ray White approached Kendra, his face aglow in a triumphant smile. “You got nothing to worry about, kid. She wasn’t planning to pay. I got rid of her.”
Kendra stared at the man for a minute, whirled around, and rushed to the ladies’ room as tears cascaded down her face. She washed her face, pushed out her chin, and went back into the dining room. “Don’t let it get ya, kid. She oughta be proud of you. If she’s not, it’s her loss. Pick up table seventeen.”
Lunch hour ended, and Emily didn’t report at five o’clock, so Kendra worked the dinner hour, too.
When she crawled into bed past midnight after having soaked her swollen toe again, she had counted nearly two hundred dollars in her own tips plus eighty dollars in tips left at the cloakroom. She didn’t think the money she’d earned was worth the humiliation of seeing her mother attempt to pull a fast one, though, and of having had to report her to the management.
“Papa is right. She’ll drag me down if I let her.”
The following night after work, Kendra wrote a check and tore it up. Forgery might prove too tempting for Ginny to forego. She went down to the main post office near Union Station, bought a money order, and sent it to her mother. “The next time you need money, old girl, go to work,” she said aloud, and dusted her palms across each other, signifying the end.
Sunday morning arrived, and Kendra arose early and began packing. The moving company had supplied more boxes than she expected to need. Carrying a big black plastic bag, she took the elevator to the top floor of the building in which she lived, and from the incinerator rooms on each floor, she collected for packing purposes all the newspapers and magazines she could find and stuffed them into the bag.
After packing her dishes, glassware, and other breakables, she sat down to rest. The telephone rang, and she approached it slowly, thinking that the caller would be Ginny. But when she saw her father’s ID, she perked up.
“Hi, Papa. You’re not in church today?”
“I thought I’d go over there and help you pack. I’ve done a lot of that in my day.” He paused, as if waiting for her response. “That is, unless you’ve got a man friend to help you.”
“It’s just me, Papa. I don’t have a boyfriend right now.”
“That’s a pity. But at least you’re not man crazy. And I won’t say more about that. I hope you haven’t packed the coffee pot. I’ll bring over some pastries.”
“I can definitely make coffee, but not much else.”
They finished the packing in a little less than four hours, and she dropped herself on the sofa, exhausted. “That was a real workout.”
“Sure was,” Bert Richards said. “It’s early for dinner, but I’ll drive you to a good takeout shop, and you can get what you want, bring it home, and eat it here when you get hungry.”
She’d be satisfied with a sandwich and tea, but she knew he wouldn’t accept that, so she went with him, and he parked in front of Lena’s Gourmet Shop.
“Papa, this place is too expensive.”
“Child, I’ve tried to teach you that anything you put in your stomach should be the best quality. They get their beef from me.”
She went home with a gourmet meal, but she’d never been lonelier or needed company more. She telephoned Flo, one of her three good friends.
“Hi, Flo. Papa helped me pack, and then he took me over to Lena’s Gourmet Shop. This gourmet meal he bought me is more than enough for two. Want to come over?”
“Where would we sit? Haven’t you packed?”
“Sure I packed. Papa was helping me. We can sit on the sofa and eat, and I’ve got paper plates and cups and plastic utensils. Bring a sharp knife.”
“See you in twenty minutes.”
Twenty minutes later, the doorbell rang. “Hi. First time you’re late getting somewhere, I’ll expect Armageddon for sure. Come on in.”
“Nothing gets on my nerves like a person who wastes other peoples’ time. You and your dad did all this today?”
“Yes, and we finished before four o’clock.”
Flo sat down and crossed her long legs. She had a good inch on Kendra’s five feet, eight inches, and she worked hard at maintaining her size ten, flat-belly figure. They spread out the food, and Flo reached for a crab cake and cut a thick slice of artisan-baked Italian whole wheat bread.
Kendra eyed her friend. “You must be hungry. Better watch that bread.”
Flo chewed the crab cake, looked toward the ceiling, and shook her head slowly. “This is heaven. And don’t you worry about my figure. When you’re asleep, I’m in the gym suffering. Lord, this stuff is good.” She served herself some roasted peppers and green bean salad. “No wonder you called me. You couldn’t eat all this in two days. I’d better be careful or Ernest won’t recognize me. He says I’m perfect.” She pushed some long strands away from her face.
“Is he talking about making it permanent? It’s been going on for a year now, hasn’t it?”
Flo sipped some ginger ale and leaned back. “Yeah, but for most of that year nothing much was happening, and I was about to give up on it. Half the time, I was so frustrated I wanted to throw things.”
“What do you mean?”
“Look. Like I said, nothing was happening. I liked everything about him, Kendra, but the sex was awful and I didn’t have enough experience to fix it. About a month ago, I went to see a doctor. She said nothing was wrong with me, and that all we needed was technique. She made some suggestions, so I bit the bullet and told him that it wasn’t working and that if we couldn’t fix it, I was out of there. So we tackled it the way you’d go about solving any other problem. The formula that the doctor gave me took us right there as soon as we learned to use it. Oh, happy day!”
“If I ever have that problem, I hope you’ll give me that formula.”
Flo’s laugh was deep and throaty. “You bet I will. Every animal, wild or tame, is born knowing how to do it, but we humans have to learn. Just another one of nature’s lousy tricks. It’s good with us now, and if it continues this way, I may see if we can make it permanent. What about you, Kendra? I wish you’d get out of Ginny’s clutches, find a guy, and grab some happiness.”
“Mama and I are nearing a parting of the ways, Flo. I understand her now, and I know what I mean to her. It hurts, but dissing your mother isn’t easy, no matter what she does. Mama’s like a leech.”
“If you had a man you cared for, she’d be less important to you.”
“This is true. You know, there’s a man who comes to lunch at the restaurant every Wednesday. He’s always alone, has a crab-cake sandwich, a green salad, and a glass of white wine. He’s elegant and good-looking, and I can feel his masculinity from a distance of twenty-five feet.”
“Why don’t you try to meet him?”
“Because he wouldn’t give me a second glance. That brother’s got
CEO
written all over him. I wish I had my degree in communications and the kind of job that goes with it.”
CEO
written all over him. I wish I had my degree in communications and the kind of job that goes with it.”
“Don’t worry, you’ll get that degree. A person who wants something as badly as you want that degree is bound to succeed.”
“Yeah. But I won’t get
him.
”
him.
”
Flo poured herself half a cup of coffee, drank it, and stood. “You never can tell. I gotta go, hon. Thanks for the goodies, and give my regards to your dad.”
Kendra had to make herself go to bed. The next night, she’d be sleeping in a lovely two-bedroom apartment, with living room, dining room, kitchen, and one-and-a-half bathrooms, one block from Connecticut Avenue on Woodley Road. She longed to furnish it elegantly, but that had to wait till she finished school. She tossed in the bed until daylight, got up, and began counting the minutes until eight o’clock when the movers would arrive.
That afternoon, with the move completed, and everything in place, she stood in the middle of her new living room, raised both arms, and laughed. Laughed until she felt like dancing; then danced to the point of exhaustion. She didn’t know when, if ever, she’d been so happy.
Monday was her day off, and she headed down Connecticut Avenue to buy a few essentials for her new apartment. She didn’t own a bedspread, because her previous apartment hadn’t had a bed. But her father’s gift of a bedroom set had arrived that morning, and she wanted to dress up her new bedroom. She bought the spread and walked down near Calvert Street to her girlfriend Suzy’s dress shop.
“Hey, girl. What’s up? You look as if you just won the lottery. Did you move?”
Kendra hugged herself, twirled around, and spread her arms wide. “I am now residing on Woodley Road, friend. Ain’t that some stuff?”
“It sure is.” Suzy walked over to a tall shelf, selected a silk scarf, and gave it to Kendra. “I don’t deal in home furnishings, so this is your housewarming present.”
Kendra leaned down and clasped the petite woman in a hug. “Thank you. This is beautiful. I think I’ll treat myself to a nice dress to wear with it.” She selected a red, tissue-linen, knee-length sleeveless dress that flattered her tall, 36-28-40 figure.
“It was designed for you. And you always look great in red. Be sure and let your hair down when you wear it,” Suzy said. “I wish I had your height.”
“Don’t make jokes. Haven’t you noticed that these tall, handsome brothers love women like you? Count your blessings.” She paid for the dress.
“Uh . . . Ginny was in this morning and bought the same dress, although it’s not for her. I tried dissuading her, but you know your mother. She said you’d pay for it when you came in.”
“Really? I had no idea that she was coming here or that she was going to shop any other place.” She gave Suzy one hundred and seventy-eight dollars for her mother’s dress. “Don’t give her anymore credit. If you do, the loss is yours, Suzy.”
“Gosh, I’m sorry, Kendra. I didn’t know she’d fabricate things.”
“If only that was all. I’ll see you this weekend. How’s Kitten?”
“Biggest heartache there ever was. Last night, Rick confessed to her that he’s gay. Didn’t we tell her that?”
“I guess she’ll believe it now. I’ll call her. Bye.”
Ginny opened the letter, extracted the money order for fifteen hundred dollars, threw the envelope into the waste basket, and headed for her computer. If she was in luck, Saks would have a sale on those five-inch-heel, red patent leather shoes. They’d be perfect for her red dress. They weren’t on sale, but seven hundred dollars for a pair of Jimmy Choo shoes was a bargain; she’d seen them for well over a thousand dollars. A phone call resulted in disappointment—the shoes were no longer available in her size. She pitched the phone across the room and stamped her feet. If Kendra had given her the money when she first asked for it, she could have gotten those shoes. No, she wanted her mother to beg. Infuriated, Ginny dressed and phoned her friend Lucille.
“Hi, Lucille. Let’s go to Bart’s for a couple of cocktails, and then find a good restaurant nearby.” She listened for a minute. “Never mind. It’s on me.”
When she got home several hours later, her earlier anger resurfaced and, having no one at whom she could direct it, she went to bed. She’d spent a lot of money, and to what end? She had no choice but to work the next day. Phil wouldn’t tolerate an empty booth on Fridays when business was usually good. He got a percentage of what his operators earned.
At work, she told each of her customers the woeful tale of her thankless and ungrateful daughter and, as she expected, each one sympathized with her. Her four-thirty appointment arrived a few minutes early and she was grateful for that, because it assured her that she’d be able to leave at six.
“How’s it going, Mabel?” Ginny said when the woman sat in her chair for a manicure and pedicure. “You always come on time,” she added, without waiting for Mabel’s response. “I want you to know that I appreciate it. Some people don’t give a hoot about the way they treat other people. I asked my daughter for a loan of two thousand dollars, peanuts to her, and after equivocating and pussyfooting for days, she came up with fifteen hundred, and had the gall to ask what I did with the previous twenty-seven hundred she loaned me. She actually thinks her mother should pay her back.”
“Where she work?” Mabel asked.
“She’s a coatcheck girl in one of the most expensive restaurants in town. Nobody can tell me—”
Mabel interrupted her. “She lend you that kind of money and she working for tips? I wish I had a daughter like her. Mine couldn’t lend nobody two dollars, much less two thousand. You blessed, and you oughta stop griping about her.”
Ginny swallowed hard, controlling the urge to nip Mabel with the nail clippers. She pocketed the three dollar tip, but she didn’t thank the woman for it, and if Mabel knew she’d made her mad, Ginny didn’t care.
Her next customer, a handsome twenty-year-old college student, arrived five minutes late, sat down, stretched out his long legs, and presented for her care the most beautiful hands she’d seen in a long while. He had the kind of presence that she liked in a man, but she was too mad to process his effect on her attitude.
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