The Atonement (25 page)

Allen opened his book to the page for
tomorrow’s reading began taking notes, alternating attention
between his meal and the work in front of him. He would only stay
up until 2:00 am so he could get enough sleep to get through the
day. Allen had barely gotten a few notes jotted down before the
sound of his phone interrupted his flow. He stopped what he was
doing to check to see who it was. It was Callie. He had to take it.
“She wouldn’t be calling this late unless it was important,” he
thought as he answered his phone.

“
What’s up? Is everything
okay? Darius isn’t sick, is he?”

“
No, everyone’s fine on this
end. I know it’s late and you’re probably busy, but I just wanted
to check in with you. I called earlier, but I guess you got out of
school late today, hunh?”

“
I had to go to my
professor’s office hours. No big deal. What’s on your
mind?”

“
Just wondering how things
are going between you and Jim. I know it’s a lot trying to work, go
to school, and entertain your best friend at the same
time.”

“
We’re fine. It hasn’t been
a problem at all, so far.”

“
Is he still
depressed?”

“
Somewhat from what I can
tell. But I think being around family has been good for him. He was
even reading his Bible when I came in. It’s gonna take some time,
but I’m confident the old Jim will show up eventually.”

“
That’s good to hear. I was
worried that his emotional funk would start to rub off on
you.”

“
I hope you’re not about to
go into another ‘Jim’s going to bring you down’ rant”

“
I’m not. I was only
thinking that he might be a little worried about having to start
his life over. You said he lost his job at the MTA, and now he’s
temporarily disabled and has no prospects for one.”

“
Right now, he’s just
worried about getting his casts off. We’ll deal with that other
stuff when it comes to it.”

“
But I was wondering if the
city is such a great place for Jim to start over.”

“
What are you talking
about?”

“
I’m saying with the high
unemployment rate, and all the temptations here, maybe Jim could
use a change of scenery.”

“
You mean he should move out
of New York?!”

“
Don’t get so excited! No
one’s suggesting he just go to some no-man’s land all by himself.
He could go some place where he has family and friends.”

“
And where would that
be?”

“
How about North Carolina?
After all, you said your family is Jim’s family. I’m sure Riley and
your other cousin’s would look after him. Plus, I’ve been hearing
there are lots of job opportunities that are opening up down
there.”

“
I don’t know, Cal. Jim’s
been gone for a long time. I was kinda looking forward to us just
chillin’ like old times.”

“
You’ll still have a chance
to re-connect with him. I’m not saying he should go down south
right away, or that he should never come back, but you can’t argue
that he shouldn’t explore his options a little more.”

“
And you’re sure this has
nothing to do with putting distance between me and Jim’s corrupting
influence.”

“
I was thinking about what
would be best for both of you. You do have three more years of law
school to go, and you have enough to worry about as it
is.”

“
Callie, it’s not like I’m
trying to help Jim all by myself. My mom is here, so is my
dad…”

“
So you’re saying that this
new adjustment’s been easy?”

Allen had to admit that it was going to take
some time to get used to the new situation. Would it have been
easier for him if Jim weren’t there? Maybe. But Allen realized that
when you’re trying to be there for someone, it wasn’t always going
to be about what was comfortable for yourself. Jim was already
trying to accommodate Allen’s needs regarding laws school. Thinking
about this made Allen feel guilty. He didn’t want Jim to feel
neglected by him or even worse, to feel like a burden. In addition,
down south, Momma Shirley didn’t work like his mother did, and
Henry Junior was still in high school, so Jim would have a lot more
company during the daytime instead of having to hobble around the
house by himself, which he would have no choice to do once Riley
left.

“
O. K. Maybe you’re right to
consider it as an option.”

“
Do you think you might make
the suggestion to him?”

“
If things don’t work out
for him here, I will. But let’s see what the Lord decides. Anyway,
while I have you, how’s Darius?”

“
Good – He’s even been
trying to walk by himself now.”

“
Really? Man, I wish I was
there to see him.”

“
Don’t worry. I recorded it
on my phone. I’ll let you see it when you come over on
Saturday.”

Allen’s heart sank.

“
I wanted to be there when
he took his first step.”

“
Allen, don’t worry. Darius
will have plenty more moments for you to be there for: like his
first day of school, and his first time riding a bike. He’s a got a
ton of growing up left to do.”

“
I know.”

“
It’s getting late and I
don’t want to hold you any longer. I know you have a lot of work to
do.”

“
Yeah, you’re right. I
better be going.”

“
See you
Saturday.”

“
See you.”

When Allen ended the call, the time came up.
It was now 11:30. He only had 3 hours left to study and he’d only
gotten through 30 of his 250 page readings. Another thing that
always worked against him was traveling back and forth between his
place and Callie’s place. He’d have a lot more time to spend with
Darius and Callie if he lived there. If he lived there, he would be
able to check in on them every day rather than once a week. He
wouldn’t have to worry about being interrupted by phone calls
because he’d be there already. However he knew that he couldn’t
live with her without being married to her.

Then he considered what Daniel said during
their Brotherhood Bible study meeting last Sunday: “If you really
love her, you offer her your life, not 15 minutes in the sack, or a
couple of months as a bed buddy.” Allen knew he loved Callie, and
she was definitely the woman he saw himself spending the rest of
his life with, but he still had reservations. First, he wasn’t sure
how she felt about marriage. In the past, she’d suggested they move
in together, but she never suggested marriage. The last thing Allen
wanted to do was to scare her away with a proposal. Then there was
the annoying little fact that she wasn’t a Christian. Allen could
not deny, considering after what happened at their last Sunday
dinner, that she was any closer to becoming a Christian than she
was when they started dating. It took him two hours to calm her
down that Sunday evening and he had to be careful not to say one
word about God in order to do it. It would take nothing short of a
miracle to get Callie into the church.

“
Lord, I need a miracle
right now,” Allen prayed out loud. There were so many things that
weren’t fitting together that he needed to fall into place. “This
all has to work out somehow,” Allen insisted to himself. He then
opened his energy drink and took a long swig before directing his
attention back to the work in front of him. “Everything will work
out the way it’s supposed to,” Allen continued to reassure himself.
He was certain that God would make everything work out the way he
wanted. He just had to trust Him.

Twenty-four

The night was damp and foggy
as Tamiko and Riley made their way up the escalator in the mall on
153
^rd
Street. Looking from behind, Tamiko felt as if they were
rising through a plume of smoke. However there was no heat, only a
raw chill that tried to poke through her trench coat. They had come
for some special art supplies that Tamiko needed for a class
project the next day. When Tamiko looked over at her cousin, she
couldn’t help noticing the annoyed expression on her
face.

“I promise, I’ll only take five minutes. I
know what I need and where I can find it,”

“Don’t they have the same discount store in
Harlem?”

“They do, but they don’t have googly eyes or
pipe cleaners which I really need right now.”

“Alright,” she huffed resignedly.

They went inside and Tamiko got a basket from
the area where the carts were. Tamiko was trying to make their trip
as quick as possible, since it was late and she still had some work
to do for school. She quickly made her way down to Aisle 7 where
the arts and craft supplies were and picked up several bags of the
googly eyes and pipe cleaners.

“Are you sure that’s going to be enough?”

“I’m just buying enough so I don’t have to
come back again.”

“Please tell me they’re going to reimburse
you for all that.”

“I’ll get some of it back.”

“I could definitely not be a teacher.”

“Do you think there’s anything you need while
we’re down here?”

“I don’t really need anything, but I wouldn’t
mind stopping at that food court to get a snack afterward…that is,
if you don’t mind.”

“Of course I don’t, but I can’t believe
you’re still hungry. We just had dinner before we left.”

“You know I can’t live off those skimpy
portions your mama serves.”

“She’s just trying to be health
conscious.”

“Funny, I thought she was being cheap.”

The store wasn’t crowded so the lines weren’t
very long. The ladies were able to make their purchase rather
quickly before heading to the food court. They were halfway there
when Riley’s sharp eyes spotted someone familiar sitting at one of
the tables.

“Wait a minute,” said Riley stopping in her
tracks, “Isn’t that Davis?”

Tamiko also stopped as soon as she heard his
name.

“Where?” she asked as she began to look
around.

“Right over there at that table in the corner
where the pizza stand is”

Tamiko scanned the area carefully. Then she
recognized his trademark fade and work clothes. She also noticed
that he was sitting with an olive-skinned, Latina woman with long
dark brown hair, wearing a dark suit. They both had coffee and it
looked like they were in the midst of deep conversation.

“Stand over here so he can’t see us,”
whispered Tamiko as she pulled Riley into an aisle full of bakery
goods. Even from where she and Riley were standing they could still
see them. Tamiko could hear snippets of their conversation, but
they were speaking in Spanish.

“I wonder who she is?” said Tamiko.

“Me, too. You want to go over and say
hi?”

“Absolutely not! He’ll think I’m stalking
him. I’m supposed to be giving him space, remember?”

“Doesn’t look like he needs so much space
now. I told you he was no good.”

“We don’t know what that’s all about.”

“
It’d be a lot easier to
find out if they weren’t speaking Spanish.”

“
She could be a relative for
all we know.”

“
Girl, please. She don’t
look nothin’ like him.”

“
Not all relatives look
alike. Tim doesn’t look a lot like his sister.”

“
Still, I think you should
go over there. I’m not sayin’ you should make a scene, but you need
to let him know that you know what he’s up to.”

“
He may not be up to
anything. Let’s go,” said Tamiko who was beginning to feel
uncomfortable. “I don’t want him to see us and think we’re spying
on him.” She turned away from the scene, not knowing what to think
of it.

“Why are
you
feeling guilty? It’s not like we
followed him here from his job. It’s called a chance encounter. If
he’s not up to anything, he shouldn’t mind running into
us.”

“Their conversation looks pretty
intense.”

“So he won’t mind us interrupting it,” said
Riley grabbing her arm and pulling her out of the aisle where they
were hiding.

“Riley, no!”

“C’mon girl, you know you want to. You just
as nosey as I am.”

“Riley, stop! This isn’t funny!” said Tamiko
snatching away from her.

“I’m not playing. You need to let this dude
know what time it is,” she said grabbing hold of her arm again.

“I don’t even want him to know I saw him
here.”

“Too late, he’s seen us. Let’s go,” said
Riley who continued to pull her forward.

Tamiko looked over and saw Davis looking at
them. As their eyes met, Davis’s face went pale. The girl he was
with didn’t notice and was still speaking rapidly in Spanish.
However she stopped when she noticed Davis looking over her
shoulder.

“Hi, Davis” said Tamiko forcing a smile.

“Hey” he said. He didn’t look like he was
happy to see her at all. Neither did his guest. In fact the girl
looked as if she had been crying.

“
Didn’t know I’d run into
you here. Riley and I were picking up some supplies, when she
noticed you from across the aisle,” said Tamiko.

“
She gotta name?” asked
Riley.

“
This is Stephanie.
Stephanie this is my friend Tamiko and her cousin Riley,” said
Davis languidly.

“
Nice to meet you
Stephanie,” said Tamiko.