Sixty-Nine (9 page)

Keyonna sat at Neal’s large desk in his office, turning away from the monitor of his desktop, aiming the office chair toward
Magnolia and Neal. “Don’t be mad at him. I insisted he let me be here. I know Neal and I know what he likes.” Keyonna, who
spoke her words with a casual cadence, was medium brown, with shoulder-length hair and short bangs. She had a young-looking
face and flawless complexion. And she had on a short blue robe, tied tight at her twenty-four inch waist, bare shapely legs
extended.

Magnolia asked, frowning, “You know what he likes? Well that’s good. Because the only thing I know is that, as usual, he likes
lying.” She gave a stabbing stare at Neal. “You didn’t tell me you had company.” Magnolia turned her back to walk out.

Neal took her by the upper arm. “Mag, baby, hold up.”

She snatched away. “Don’t you dare call me baby. Your baby is right there.” Her eyes skipped to Keyonna. She asked, “Is this
an ex-girlfriend hater setup or something, because I’ll tell you now, I do not want your man, so you can lighten the hell
up. All this wasn’t necessary.”

Neal then placed his hand on Magnolia’s shoulder and squeezed. “This is not anything like that. We both want you here.”

Magnolia moved his hand by bumping his forearm with hers. “You what?”

Keyonna said, “We wanted you to come by for dinner.”

“We?”

Keyonna continued, still talking with an easy breezy softness. “So we could bury the hatchet. You know. Get to know each other
better.”

Magnolia gave much neck-ti-tude. “I don’t wanna know you. You got with my man when you knew he was taken. I was your co-worker.
All that’s fucked up, Keyonna. I have nothing to say to you.”

“Wait,” Neal told Magnolia, trying his best to get her to take his hand again.

Then Keyonna stood and knelt down before Neal, pulling down his shorts, and within just a few seconds, she took his saluting
penis into her hand.

Neal looked straight at Magnolia, who looked down at Keyonna like she’d seen a hundred-twenty pound hoochie snake. “What the
hell?”

Keyonna sucked his brown penis, licking his mushroom tip, bobbing her head, like it was as normal to do in front of someone
as coughing.

Magnolia forced her mouth to close so she could swallow and then talk. “Oh hell no. You are some crazy ass fools. You can
do all that nasty mess when I leave. Which is in about thirty seconds.”

“Wait,” Neal said again. “Come here.”

“No,” Magnolia yelled.

But Keyonna kept sucking.

Neal tried again. “Come here. Kiss me. Now.” He eased his feet out of his shorts.

Magnolia raised her hands and shook her head like she was dreaming. “No, Neal. If you think I wanna be in the same room with
you and your new girl while you two freaks freak, you are sadly mistaken.”

Neal began to say a word, but the sounds of Keyonna sloshing and moaning as she went down on him grew louder, so he looked
down and so did Magnolia. Her eyes then met his.

She took a deep breath and her shoulders dipped.

Keyonna’s eyes rose to watch Neal pull Magnolia closer. He opened his mouth and met her lips, and he led her through a deep
tongue kiss, pressing lips like they definitely knew their way around each other’s mouths.

Keyonna raised one hand and placed it on Magnolia’s hip and then squeezed Magnolia’s plump backside. Her hand made its way
to Magnolia’s thigh and up her skirt. Then Neal lifted her skirt to expose her rear end. The rear end he always said was sitting
on 22’s.

Neal and Magnolia stopped kissing.

Keyonna stopped sucking. She stood and lifted her robe and lay pantieless on the white carpet with her legs up and her knees
almost to her ears.

Magnolia could see it all, landing strip and runway. And she was stunned. Her jaw dropped to her belly.

Neal got on his knees to position himself between Keyonna’s legs. In one quick move, before Magnolia knew it, he’d penetrated
Keyonna and was fucking her, right in front of his ex.

Neal groaned. Loud.

Keyonna groaned. Louder.

A cat had Magnolia’s tongue. She looked traumatized.

Neal began to pull down Magnolia’s thong and scooted her closer. Being on his knees, his mouth was in a prone position, right
at her vagina. He got her thong to her knees, just when she leaned down so she could pull it back up.

Her hands were shaking.

She awkwardly wiggled herself back into it and readjusted her skirt.

Neal looked up at her with an expression that was half ecstasy and half worry.

A tear rolled down Magnolia’s cheek in slow motion.

Though Keyonna was grinding fast, Neal ceased his stroke.

Magnolia said with a soft voice, “I can’t.” In her high heels she high-stepped around her ex and his new woman and walked
out the office door.

“Mag,” she heard Neal say.

And then, “Magnolia, it’s okay,” Keyonna yelled her way.

By the time Magnolia reached the bottom of the stairs, she could hear fast footsteps behind her. It was Keyonna, adjusting
herself, closing her robe. “Magnolia. I’m sorry you’re uncomfortable. But please don’t go.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” Magnolia looked at her, astonished.

“Seriously, we don’t want you to go. What you don’t know is that Neal has you in our bed every damn time we have sex. Your
name always comes up, or his eyes are closed and I know what he’s thinking. He’s thinking of you.”

Magnolia had her purse in hand. She shook her head, not believing what she was hearing.

Keyonna continued. “I’m someone who’s fine with fantasy. I’m pretty okay with a lot of things as long as it’s with my man.
But I will admit, you’re constantly in his head. I figured I’d join him with you. Getting with you and him, threesomes are
not new to me. He knows that. And I’m quite sure you know it’s not new to him, either.”

“I know that. But that’s no longer my problem.”

“He and I have been with other women before. But I know you’re the one he fantasizes seeing me with. It gets him off, fast.
It’s simple. Neal wants us both.”

“Yeah, well I don’t want him, you, none of this shit. This madness is insane. I mean, it makes no sense whatsoever. What is
wrong with you? Excuse me but it really doesn’t look like he’s your man now. You’re just a participant in him living out all
of his fantasies.”

“It’s not that big a deal to me.”

“Wow. I really do feel sorry for you. You’re giving him a license to cheat. What is that about?”

“A lot of people do it. I’m okay.”

Magnolia looked over and saw Neal standing at the foot of the stairs with his shorts on. She said to him, “This was fucked
up, Neal. Plus, you’re trying to be with two women you’ve been in relationships with. That’s just straight up messy.”

“I’m sorry.”

“You should be. You set me up. Not to mention the fact that you’re using her.” She pointed at Keyonna with her head.

His eyes were blank. “Honestly, I just thought maybe, maybe you’d come out of your shell a little. I guess I was wrong. No
worries.”

“Yes, worries. What made you think that? And if I ever did, you can bet you’d never see any side of me out of my shell. Not
with you, not with Keyonna, not with anyone you set me up with. If I do end up out of my shell, the person I enjoy my new
sexual freedom with will not be Neal Graham. And Lord only knows what made you think I’ve lightened up.” She stepped to the
door and said to Keyonna without looking back. “Goodbye Keyonna. I sure hope you wake up one day.”

Keyonna nodded. “Magnolia, I hope you do, too.”

Magnolia took one final look back, this time cutting her eyes more at Keyonna than Neal. “Oh, I’ll get out of my damn shell
all right.”

Magnolia slammed the door.

She drove home traumatized from watching the man she still had feelings for, penetrating his new younger woman right before
her eyes.

And the anger from the visual made her feel just a little bit more anxious about the challenge of her own resolution.

Just a little bit less okay with being missionary.

D
arla, line two is for you.”

It was a Thursday.

The tone of Darla’s co-worker was rushed and dry, like maybe Darla shouldn’t have had a call at all. Darla knew her co-worker’s
attitude all too well, and had grown to expect it.

“Thanks,” Darla told her, walking by without taking the sight of the petite girl into view. Darla headed down the hallway,
straight to her desk in the back office.

Darla had nine co-workers, and half of them were younger. As far as Darla was concerned, most of them were unprofessional
gossips. The customers had often complained regarding the frontline customer service. And Darla was never surprised. She kept
telling herself she was only passing through, but year after year went by and it was weighing on her like a ton of bricks,
on top of everything else.

The small, red brick office of Dr. Tracy Bradford’s dental practice was located on Lincoln Road, less than four miles from
Darla’s condo on Collins Avenue, which allowed Darla to walk to work whenever she wanted. She’d been walking every day of
the new year thus far, aware of her need to trim down her thicker-than-thick frame. Thus far, she didn’t see any effects from
her daily strolls, which she attributed to her high level of stress, and otherwise sedentary lifestyle.

Darla picked up the receiver. “Hello. May I help you?”

“Mrs. Clark?”

“Yes.”

“This is Maggie Kinnear with the Florida Dental Credit Union.”

“Yes.”

“You applied for a small business loan with us, correct?”

“Yes. I did.”

“I wanted to ask you a few questions if you don’t mind. Is now a good time?”

“Sure.” Darla turned her back from the front door.

“We pulled your credit file and, while your score is on the low end, it is right at the bottom limit that we require. It’s
just that I see some collection accounts, mainly medical and it looks like some charge cards. Oh and a tax lien. Can you please
give me an explanation as to what went on?”

Darla paced the width of her desk, back and forth, as she talked. “My husband died five years ago, and some of the medical
bills we had weren’t covered because he’d lost his job just before, and we didn’t have COBRA. He wasn’t even sick, really,
he just collapsed from a heart attack and died. And I did get some life insurance money but not a lot, so I paid off some
things but his credit cards were maxed out, and the ones that show up on my report are the ones that were joint accounts.
I had to use some of those for some car repairs and other things we owed. But the biggest was the federal tax for 2005. I
filed head of household for the first time and got hit hard. I did sell our house and paid it off, and got a condo. I’m pretty
sure the only accounts showing a balance owing are some small collection accounts.”

“I see. Do you have any savings?”

“No, I don’t. Not anymore.”

“You know, in order to get a business loan you need to have some liquid assets or seasoned funds that would equal a percentage
of the loan. I see your checking balance is low. I don’t see that your mortgage payment came out of your checking account
for last month. Your report doesn’t reflect a problem lately with your mortgage company, but it looks like it was behind before,
right?”

“It was.” Darla’s reply was dry.

“There’s quite a bit we’d need to make sense of. Honestly, I’m sure you can understand, but when we see reports like this
it makes us a bit nervous.”

Darla looked down at her feet and then stood before her desk, leaning her hand along the desktop. “Excuse me. So, obviously
you’re disapproving me, right? I mean, everything you’ve said sounds very negative.”

The woman spoke a bit more rushed. “I just needed to ask for your explanation and take notes. Usually we ask you to put it
in writing once we hear the reason, and then we have a better idea as to whether or not our underwriters might consider it
for approval. Though I must say, you’re probably right. The likelihood of you being able to survive until your sales are in
the black looks bleak. Especially that first year.”

“I thought that was what some of the loan money was for. I mean, you call me at work and make me go through all of this, only
for you to tell me you can’t help me. You knew when you ran my report you couldn’t do it.”

“Mrs. Clark. No, I didn’t actually. But I really am sorry.”

Darla paced again and moved her hand about. “Okay, so what are my options then? I mean, if I can’t go through the SBA, through
my own credit union, whom I’ve been with for nearly twelve years, what can I do?”

“I suggest maybe you borrow the money from a friend, if possible. Again, I’m sorry. You’ll be getting a letter in the mail.”

“Well, thank you, Ms. Kinnear, was it?”

“Yes.”

“Yes, Ms. Kinnear. Thanks a lot.” Darla’s cynicism was loud as she hung up without exchanging good-byes.

From behind her back Darla heard the same co-worker speak. Darla turned her way. “Darla, the doctor is looking for you. You
know the prosthesis you built for the lady who complained last week that her veneers were loose?”

Darla looked like her mind was elsewhere. “Yes.”

“Her husband is here. He’s not very happy. The doctor wants you to meet with him as well.”

“Please tell her I’ll be right there. I just need to make a phone call.”

The woman cut her eyes toward the ceiling and walked away without replying.

Darla picked up the phone again and dialed. “Magnolia.”

“Yeah. Darla. How are you?”

“Okay.” The sound of her voice disagreed.

“I didn’t recognize your work number on the display. Are you okay?”

Darla cut right to the chase. “Magnolia, listen. Do you think I could get a business loan at your bank?”

“I can try. How much are we talking about?”

“Eighty thousand.”

“I don’t see why not. You do know one of the first things we’d need is a business plan?”

“I’ve got that.”

“Okay. I’ll have the branch manager email you an application. Would that work?”

“It would. But I’m telling you now, my own credit union turned me down.”

“Were they trying to do an equity loan?”

“No. I’ve only been in my condo for four years. No equity. If there was some before, it’s depreciated now, like everything
else.”

“Let’s see what we can do. I’ll talk to you later. Maybe we can meet, too, for breakfast soon. For now, just email me your
last two years’ taxes. We can pull your credit right away. ”

“Thanks, I appreciate it.”

“And Darla, girl, I just wanted to ask you. Did Rebe tell you she got a job stripping already?”

“What? No.”

“Yes. I got an email from her last night telling me she started working at this club, and she said she’s loving it.”

“Oh my goodness.”

“She’ll tell you, I’m sure.”

“That Rebe. What are we gonna do with her?”

“Beats me. But hey, she told us she wanted to so can’t be surprised I guess, right?”

“Well I am.” Darla scooted her thoughts back. “But anyway, I’ll see you later. Gotta get back to work.”

“Okay. Bye, girl.”

“Bye.” Darla hung up, gave a cleansing breath, and headed straight to the dentist’s private office.

At the end of the day, at the height of rush hour, Darla headed down the busy street, Collins Avenue, taking the last block
toward her condo, people all around, mainly driving but some pedestrians as well. With her work shoes in her shoulder bag,
she wore her walking shoes and took it slow. Her mind had zigzagged its way into an official headache. The patient was not
upset about the loose veneers, it was the infection that had set in her gums after the extraction. Though Darla’s boss asked
Darla to make an adjustment to the veneers anyway, as though that might have made a difference in the beginning. Darla agreed
to do that once the swelling went down, though she didn’t agree that her work was part of the problem.

After an overcast day, with the early evening wind on her skin the entire walk home, Darla arrived at her building and entered
the lobby, giving a quick smile to the doorman.

She stopped by the mailbox in the lobby, using her key to open it, adjusting her purse, and then rummaging through the envelopes.
There was one from American Express, past due. One from Chase Bank, thirty days overdue. She took the few steps to the elevator,
pressed 11, rode up to her place and walked up to her front door, seeing that there was a notice posted for the world to see.
Notice of Intent to Lien from her overdue homeowners’ association dues.

Darla snatched the notice, jammed her key in the door, opened it, and stormed inside, catapulting it closed. She untied the
shoestrings of her tennis shoes and tossed each shoe with strength. They both bounced with dull thuds, landing across the
room near the sliding glass door, one on its side and one right side up.

Darla, who never ever cursed, screamed at the top of her lungs, “Fuck!”