Fixin’ Tyrone (33 page)

“It hurts right here?” he asked.

She nodded. “What does it look like?”

“It’s a bruise. Not that big. It was bleeding, but it stopped.”

His hands moved again and stopped on the small of her back. “Right here, too?”

Again, Mia nodded.

“You’ve got a tear on your pants,” he said. His hands went to the front of her body, and he undid the buckle. He slid the slacks past her hips and touched her right buttock more tenderly than he ever had. He slid his finger over her third sore spot.

“You got poked here, too.”

“It’s starting to feel better already,” Mia admitted.

Tyrone’s head came back up. He kissed her neck, right under her left ear. He stared at her reflection in the mirror. His eyes were glazed.

“I’ll be out there with the kids,” he said and left her in the bathroom alone.

Mia took a shower and dressed in shorts and a tee shirt. She cleaned her ragged nail and put a Band-Aid on it. When she got back to the living room, Tyrone had the kids gathered on the couch with him. Mia took a seat on the far end of the sofa, and Tyrone pushed mute on the remote.

“Well, how you guys doing?” she asked.

The kids were innocent.
Sweetly innocent
. They smiled up at her, and that gave her the strength to smile back.

“Is Aunt Crystal coming home tomorrow?” Mica asked.

“She might, but I don’t think so. It’ll probably be a few days.”

“Who’s gonna pick us up from school?” TC asked.

“Well, I will tomorrow. Or maybe your dad.” She looked over at Tyrone, and he nodded.

“What about Saturday?” TC asked. “Who’s going to take us to the library?”

“That’s
five days away
,” Mia said. “I’m sure your aunt will be okay by then, but if not, I guess you’ll have to go with your
grubby old mama
.”

Mica grinned. “You’re not grubby.”

“What about Daddy?” TC said. “He can take us to the library.”

“Yeah. I can take you,” Tyrone said and palmed his son’s head.

“Don’t worry about it,” Mia said. “We’ll make sure you get to everywhere you need to be. Did you guys brush your teeth yet?”

Both children responded in the negative.

“Well, go brush up so you can get in bed. I’ll come tuck you in a minute.”

The kids got up, and Mica stopped in front of Tyrone. “We get out of school at
three o’clock
,” she said. “Not
three-forty
.”

He laughed. “Hey, I’m not the one who was late. I got there as soon as I could.”

“Well,
now you know
,” she said, and ran off as cute and bubbly as could be.

Neither of the kids ever asked exactly what was wrong with Crystal, and that was a blessing. Their aunt was simply sick, and that’s all they needed to know.

* * *

When Mia returned from sending her little ones to their fields of dreams, Tyrone was still on the living room couch, still watching cartoons, for some reason.

“What are Mickey and Minnie been up to?” Mia asked him.

He looked over at her and smiled. He turned off the TV and stood to meet her.

“You don’t like cartoons no more?”

“Sometimes,” Mia said and stepped in to embrace him.

Tyrone held her gingerly, as if not sure where he could apply pressure.

“I’m not that fragile,” she told him.

“You not a man, either,” he said. “A man ain’t never supposed to put his hands on a woman.”

Mia looked up at him and Tyrone kissed her as softly as he was holding her.

“Do you want me to go home?” he asked.

“No,” Mia said. “I want you to stay.”

* * *

In her bedroom, Tyrone told her to take off her shirt again and lay on the bed. Mia did so. She lay on her side, but Tyrone rolled her onto her stomach. He left the room and returned with medicines from her bathroom. He climbed onto the bed and straddled her, his legs resting on her thighs, just under her butt.

Mia turned her head and laid her cheek on the mattress. “Take your pants off,” she murmured.

He dismounted. When he returned, his bare thighs rested on hers.

Mia never remembered Tyrone for having magical hands, but he did that night. He used a cotton swab to wipe alcohol on the three spots where she bled into her blouse. He then applied a dab of Neosporin to the wounds and smoothed it out with his fingertip.

He had a bottle of lotion, too. Mia was tender in a lot of places, and Tyrone seemed to find each one. He rubbed and massaged her back and neck for what felt like
heavenly
hours. By the time he was done, Mia was physically ready for sex, but Tyrone never made an attempt.

He lay down beside her and kissed her shoulder. Mia turned to her side and backed into him. Tyrone wrapped himself around her like a flesh blanket, and Mia began to doze almost immediately.

He kissed the back of her neck and whispered, “I love you.”

Mia told him she loved him, too, and slipped into blissful unconscious.

She never felt so safe.

REAL TALK

“Wake up, sleepyhead.”

Tyrone rolled over and squinted at the sunrays peeping through Mia’s bedroom curtains.

“Hey.”

“Hey,” Mia said. She wore blue jeans with a white sweater and white tennis shoes. Tyrone wore only his tee shirt and boxers.

“You already been up?” he asked.

Mia grinned. “I’ve been up and been gone, lazy. I just took the kids to school.”

He sat up and wiped the sleep from his eyes. “Why didn’t you wake me up?”

“You looked so comfortable. I didn’t want to disturb you. I figured since you kept them for me yesterday, I’d let you have an extra hour of sleep. I’m going to the hospital. You wanna go?”

“Did they call yet? Is she awake?”

“No. They didn’t call all last night. I called this morning, and they said she’s still the same. They said her eyeballs are moving around a lot under her lids, though. That’s a good sign. They think she’ll come around in a couple of hours.”

“Yeah, I wanna go,” Tyrone said. “What time is it?”

“It’s a quarter ’til eight.”

“I don’t have anything to wear. Do we have time to stop by my house so I can shower?”

“Yeah. Come on, stinky.”

“
You
the one stinky.”

“Oh, and they arrested Crystal’s boyfriend last night.”

“For real?” Tyrone’s eyes grew livelier with that news. “Yeah. He got out last night, too.”

“You bullshittin’.” Mia shook her head. “How the hell he get out so quick?”

“All he did was push me down,” Mia said. “That’s an assault, but it’s basically a ticket. They really didn’t have to arrest him.”

“So he bailed out?”

“He didn’t have to bail out. He got arraigned and they set up a court date, just like with a traffic ticket. They didn’t have anything to hold him on.”

“That ain’t cool,” Tyrone said. Mia agreed that it wasn’t.

* * *

Mia sat on a love seat in Tyrone’s living room as he took a quick shower and put on clean clothes. Tyrone’s mother lounged on a nearby sofa, and she was not the great conversationalist Mia remembered her to be.

“Do you think you can get me a loan down at yo job?” the woman asked.

Mia knew she wouldn’t, but was curious. “What do you need a loan for?”

“I been thinking about fixing up that back room there. Putting in a pool table and a movie screen for the grandkids when they come to visit.”

Mia was pretty sure no room in the woman’s house could fit both a pool table
and
a theatre. “I don’t handle those kinds of loans,” she told her.

“My Aunt Ruby used to have a pool table in her garage. I told her one day I would do her one better.”

Mia hummed.

“Do you play pool?” the lady asked.

Mia shook her head. “Not really.”

“You should come by and teach me when I get my table put up.”

“
You
don’t play pool?” Mia asked.

“Oh, no, child. I can’t stand it.”

Tyrone stepped into the room a few minutes later wearing khaki Dickies with a blue tee shirt. His gold chain glistened like a samurai’s sword. Mia had never been so happy to see the thug.

“You ready?” She stood and threw her purse over her shoulder.

“Yeah,” Tyrone said. He kissed his mom good bye and followed Mia outside.

“She asked me to get her a loan,” Mia told him when they got back into her car.

“Aw, don’t tell me she’s talking about that pool table again.”

“Pool table
and
movie theatre. In the
same
room.”

“You gon’ give it to her?” Tyrone asked with a wry smile.

“Yeah. I’m faxing the paperwork right over,” she said, then, “You smell good.”

* * *

When they got up to Crystal’s room, they found her still sleeping. She had a new IV depositing slow drips from a saline solution, but other than that, there were no changes.

Tyrone stood over her with both hands on the bed. “She look pretty peaceful.”

“She does, doesn’t she?”

He grinned. “Have you even tried to wake her up?”

“Uh,
yeah
.”

“For real,” he said, then pushed Crystal’s shoulder. “Hey, girl! Wake up!”

“Stop!” Mia said.

“What?”

“What are you doing?”

Tyrone looked at her like it was pretty obvious. “I’m trying to wake her up.”

“I don’t think you’re supposed to do that.”

“See, that’s what I’m talking about. I bet nobody’s really
trying
to wake her up.”

They walked to the nursing station and asked Crystal’s current RN for a progress report. She was a light-skinned woman with thick lips and thick hips.

“She’s doing fine,” the nurse said. “If she’s not up by noon, the doctor is gonna come look at her again.”

“Is it all right if I try to wake her up?” Tyrone asked. “What do you mean?” the nurse asked. “You know, like push on her shoulder a little bit, and

say, ‘
Hey, wake up
!’ ” Mia rolled her eyes, and the nurse laughed. “I don’t

think that’s gonna help, but it won’t hurt, either.”

“See, told you,” Tyrone said. Mia grabbed his arm and led him away. “You wanna

get some breakfast?”

“Yeah,” he said with a big smile. “But I left my dope money at home.” Mia sent an elbow to his gut. “
Ow
!”

“Let me find out you have some dope money,” she said. “I
do
got some dope money. What you want me to do with it? Throw it away?” Mia stopped and stood before him. “Are you still selling drugs, Tyrone?”

“Naw, baby. But I do have money left over.”

“You’d better quit playing,” she told him, and continued down the hall. “You need to quit being so serious,” he said. Mia got on an idling elevator and Tyrone glided in with her. They were the only two on, so he slipped in for a hug. “We have to have a talk,” Mia said between kisses. “About what?”

“You looking at that nurse’s ass, for one.”

“I wasn’t looking at nobody’s ass.”

“I saw you, Tyrone.”

He pulled away and looked into her eyes, but Mia was still smiling.

“You think I want that chunky girl?”

“I think her ass is big and round, just like you like ’em.”

“I might have
looked
, but that don’t mean I want her.”

“I know you,” Mia said. “You like a big booty. But are you gonna be happy with my midsized one? That’s the question.”

Tyrone grinned. “Well, let me see.” He moved in for another hug. As soon as he wrapped his hands around her lusciousness, the elevator dinged and the doors began to open.

“I like this one a whole lot better,” he said.

“You better.”

* * *

Tyrone had biscuits drowned in gravy with sausage patties. Mia had a bowl of assorted fruits; mango, cantaloupe, watermelon, and grapes. They both had orange juice.

“Want me to pick the kids up today?” Tyrone asked around a mouthful.

“I can pick them up,” Mia said. “You didn’t even bring your car.”

“You don’t want me to take yours?” he asked.