The Atonement (26 page)

“
Nice to meet you, too” she
said, shaking Tamiko’s hand weakly and avoiding her eyes. Then she
returned her attention to Davis. “Look, it’s getting late and I
have to go.”

“
We didn’t mean to interrupt
you. We were just stopping by to say hi,” said Tamiko.

“
No, it’s okay” she said to
Tamiko while trying to force a smile. “See you around Davi. Good
luck and God bless you,” she said to him before planting a kiss on
his cheek, collecting her things and walking away. Davis just
looked down at the coffee cup in front of him.

“
Davis, are you alright?”
asked Tamiko. He didn’t look like his usual self. In fact now that
she had been looking at him closely it looked as if he may have
been crying as well.

“
I’m fine,” he said still
looking away from her.

“
Was that your cousin?”
asked Riley.

“
She’s an old girl-friend of
mine,” said Davis quietly.

“
Interesting,” said Riley as
she arched her eyebrows at Tamiko.

“
Davis, I – we didn’t mean
to bother you. I mean I hope we haven’t caused you any trouble,”
said Tamiko.

“
I wasn’t trying to get with
her if that’s what you’re thinking,” he said looking at Riley, who
rolled her eyes at him.

“
Davis, you don’t owe anyone
an explanation,” said Tamiko.

“
He doesn’t?” said
Riley.

“
No,” said Tamiko firmly to
Riley before returning her attention to Davis “Goodnight,
Davis.”

“
Goodnight,
Miko.”

“
Let’s go, Rye,”

“
I didn’t even get a chance
to get my snack.”

“
Let’s go!” Tamiko
insisted.

They walked away, but after a few steps
Tamiko looked back and Davis was still sitting at the table looking
dejected. Her stomach was in knots. There was definitely something
wrong, but Tamiko didn’t know if she really wanted to find out what
it was.

*****

Tamiko tried to keep her mind on the work in
front of her. She had finished writing tomorrow’s lesson plans and
was working on organizing data she had collected on her students
through assessments in order to preparing for her first assessment
meeting of the year which was a week away. This year, more monthly
assessments were added. There was a new sight word assessment, as
well as a numeracy assessment on top of the reading level tracking
sheets, math unit tracking sheets, and writing tracking sheets.
Tamiko had just finished the three latter sheets and was now
beginning to tackle the sight words assessment. She was trying to
find a way to collate the information she had gathered on the
student’s sight word knowledge. She had given all of the students a
baseline sight word exam and was trying to figure out how to level
her students based on the information, but there was so much
information that she was having trouble organizing it all. Every
child was assessed on 100 words over a three-day period. The only
thing she was certain of was that they all needed to work on
learning the words. The 100 words were broken down into distinct
groups of words such as gold words, silver words, bronze words and
the like which made things even more complicated. Then add to that
the scene from the discount store that nagged at her brain, making
it hard for her to concentrate. Then, just as she was trying to
format the spreadsheet she was trying to make, her computer
froze.

“Awwwww, c’mon!” said Tamiko as she
frantically tapped the ‘esc’ key.

“Computer giving you trouble?” asked Riley
who was coming in with a tray that had two cups of hot tea and a
plate of mini-crescents. She put the tray on the vanity before
walking over to the desk where Tamiko was sitting with her
computer. “Try pressing control, alt and delete at the same time.
That’s what Wilson tells me to do.”

“But then it will re-start and I’ll lose what
I was working on. I guess it doesn’t matter though. It’s not like I
had any idea what I was doing anyway. Just thinking in circles,”
said Tamiko getting up from her desk and sitting on the airbed.

“Maybe some of this tea will give you a brain
boost. It’s just like you like it with honey and lemon. I got some
mini crescent rolls too, if you want,” said Riley handing her a
cup.

“Thanks, Rye. I’ll just have the tea. I’ve
been thinking about what I could do to make this spreadsheet, but
I’m blocked.”

“I hope there’s nothing else on your mind
that’s blocking you.”

“If you’re referring to who we saw at the
food court, when we went to the discount store then I’d have to
admit that it is bothering me. I know that it shouldn’t, but it
does.”

“Miko, we’ve had this conversation before.
You’re supposed to be living your life, not obsessing. ”

“
I’m not obsessing! It’s
just that he looked so sad and depressed.”

“Mikooooo, don’t go there.”

“What? Even if we’re not together he’s still
my friend. I still care about him.”

“Even so, you shouldn’t let yourself feel
sorry for him. That wasn’t sadness you saw – it was guilt. We
caught him in the midst of his crooked little caper red
handed.”

“They were talking. It’s not like we caught
them kissing or something.”

“Miko, he was obviously trying to get back
with his ex! At least she was smart enough not to take him
back.”

“He said he wasn’t. Davis wouldn’t lie to
me.”

“Instant message alert: When it comes to
relationships, all men lie!”

“There weren’t any indications they were on a
date. I mean, who takes a date to the food court of a discount
store and then wears their work clothes?” said Tamiko.

“A cheap date, that’s what. Yes, they’re out
there. Believe me girl – what you saw tonight was a huge red flag.
Didn’t you see the way that girl ran off when we got there? She’s
his ex so she probably knows more about him than you do. If she
doesn’t want him back, I’d think twice before I got together with
him.”

“I don’t think she’s upset with him. She
kissed him on the cheek for crying out loud.”

“She told him good luck, too, so she was more
likely kissing him off.”

“Regardless, I didn’t get the vibe that he
was interested in her. It seemed like they were just talking. From
the way it looked it had to be about something really disturbing –
like maybe a tragedy they both experienced. Whatever it was, it
probably has something to do with what’s making Davis afraid of
relationships. I just wish he felt he could talk to me about
it.”

“That would be red flag number two. If he
feels that he can’t talk to you about what truly bothers him, do
you think that you two would really make it as a couple? That’s
what relationships are all about Tamiko: communication is key. I
think you need to deal with the fact that this dude is just not for
you.”

“
But if he’s not for me, I
wish God would let me know why.”

“
Just let it go already.
Goodness, why is it that we women insist on having our losers? All
dwelling on him is going to do is ruin your life and you don’t need
that especially when you’ve got bigger things to worry about: like
that thing you were working on just now.”

“
Yes, the endless amounts of
data that has to be analyzed. The problem is I have no idea how to
turn it into a spreadsheet without it becoming ridiculously
tedious. I would ask Allen to help me, but he’s drowning in law
school stuff.”

“
I’d help you, but you know
I don’t know anything about data or computers. What about any of
the others? Can’t they help you? Like, what about Daniel? He’s a
computer geek.”

“
No way. He’d think I was
interested in him and he’d spend the entire time trying to chat me
up rather than actually helping. Not interested.”

“
What about Mr. Snow Job?
He’s got to know his way around a computer.”

“
Stop calling him that. Tim
happens to be a very nice, genuine guy.”

“
Oh, you and Allen like
everybody.”

“
And you like nobody.
Anyway…Tim might be able to help, but he has a new job with a lot
more responsibility so he’s probably as busy as Allen. I don’t want
to be a burden.”

“
You know he won’t
mind.”

“
If it’s all the same I’d
rather not. Besides, any time I have male company, my mom goes off
the deep end and starts accusing me of throwing myself at
him.”

“
That’s because that’s the
type of woman she used to be, and she’s putting that on you. Now
she wants to re-write her history and make herself a saint. You
remember what your grandma Emma used to say about her,
right?”

“
Daddy says Grandma Emma
didn’t think any woman was good enough for him.”

“
I second that. But, back to
what we were talking about. You better ask somebody if you don’t
want to end up getting fired.”

“
I’ll pray about it. Anyway,
how’s being Jim’s home health aide going?”

“
Nowhere. All he does is sit
on the couch, watch TV, read the Bible, and sulk all
day.”

“
I guess we can’t expect so
much, so soon. It’s only been a couple of days since he’s been out
of the hospital.”

“
But it’s more than that. I
really do think he’s depressed about something.”

“
It might have something to
do with what landed him in the hospital in the first place. You
know, we never really found out who did that to him. Maybe Jim’s
afraid of that person.”

“
Could be that. Could be a
number of things. I only wish he’d talk to me – or to anybody for
that matter.”

“
He very well may be. Since
he’s back in the church, maybe he’s talking to God about it. He can
do more about whatever’s bothering Jim than anyone
else.”

“
True. If that’s the case, I
hope he’s not just talking, but doing some listening,
too.”

“
I think so. I think it’s
even a miracle that he even wants to have a relationship with God
again. After Mama Merta died he was so angry and bitter at God, and
everyone. I was really afraid for him.”

“
Yeah. He took it really
hard.

“I didn’t think Jim would ever come back to
the Lord. I don’t know what happened to Jim out there, but I’m glad
for it if it helped to save his soul.”

“Like Mama Shirley say ‘Ain’t nothing or
nobody too hard for God.”

“I don’t know. I could think of one person –
like our special surprise guest at dinner last Sunday.”

“Who you talkin’ bout? Goldilocks or Allen’s
barracuda.”

“Goldilocks?”

“That’s the nickname I’m giving her to help
me remember who she is. This place is like grand central, I gotta
come up with some way of keeping track of all these characters you
know.”

“I was referring to Allyson, but you’re
right. Callie doesn’t seem like she’s going to be joining the
church anytime soon, either.”

“But you never know how God will work. I
can’t wait to see what He’s gonna do.”

“Neither can I.”

Twenty-five

The sounds of stirring in the room had
awakened Allyson from her sleep. It was dark, but there were a few
rays of daylight that peeked from between the folds of the drawn
curtains of her room. She could also hear the heavy drops of rain
battering the windows. After wiping the sleep from her eyes, she
could see Jason walking back and forth, gathering his clothes that
were scattered about. It seemed he was getting dressed to go out.
Jason never really liked to stick around long after they’d been
intimate, but this was the first time he seemed to actually try to
sneak away from her. However, she wouldn’t allow him to get away so
easily.

“Going somewhere?” she asked, her voice
groggy with sleep. She pulled the covers close to herself to cover
her half exposed body.

“I know this looks kind of bad, after I said
we’d do breakfast, but I was going to send you a text to explain
everything.”

“What’s to explain?” asked Allyson, who
couldn’t wait to hear what his excuse was this time.

“I’ve got a lot to do. My dad’s charity
luncheon is today and he’s going to have some important clients
there that he wants me to connect with. Then I have deadlines to
meet for an article I’m working on for the magazine, and a paper
that I have to finish for my medieval literature class,” he said as
he slid into his pants.

“You didn’t tell me any of this last night,”
said Allyson sitting up in the bed, pulling her knees to her chest
under the covers.

“You didn’t ask. And it certainly wasn’t on
my mind then.”

Allyson got up from the bed and walked toward
him where he was standing near the dresser, buttoning his shirt.
She came up behind him and embraced him, pressing her body against
his.

“I’m sure your dad wouldn’t mind if you were
a few minutes late,” she purred into his ear. Then she began to
kiss the back of his neck in an attempt to seduce him into staying.
She was surprised when he pushed her away and continued to
dress.

“Sorry, Ally, but this is much more
important.”

There was always something that was more
important. That’s the way the men in her social circle were. Women
were no more than tools they used to satisfy their carnal desires.
If you were lucky, you could get to be a trophy wife. Allyson had
hoped to become Jason’s trophy, but so far, there were signs that
it was unlikely. Had he considered her a trophy, he would have
asked her to his father’s business luncheon to show her off, rather
than sneak away from her to attend it. However, their relationship
was in the early stages and there would be time for her to be
introduced to family and acquaintances. She knew she had to be
patient.