“Of course I missed you, Momma.”
I really did miss her, too. Even though Momma and I didn’t see each other all the time when she was in Atlanta, it was a source of comfort to know that she was right across town whenever I needed her. Unlike Daddy.
“Did you enjoy Europe?”
“That’s the understatement of the century, baby. I had the time of my life.”
“That’s great, Momma. You deserved it.”
“So what have you been doing with yourself? I hope you aren’t still cooped up in that apartment every weekend. Life’s too short for that.”
“I get out and hang with some of my friends whenever I get the chance,” I lied. “Most of the time, I bring work home with me and end up buried in that for hours.”
“They don’t pay you enough to bring your work home, Jonquinette. I still don’t know why you wanted to become an accountant. You could’ve been anything you wanted to be.”
“I wanted to be an accountant, Momma, and I’m very satisfied with my job.”
She sighed, voicing her disapproval that way. “Well, you’re still young, so if you ever want to try another profession, it’s never too late.”
She had a lot of nerve. All she’d ever been was a housewife, and after she kicked Daddy out, she moved in one sugar daddy after another to cover her bills.
“I’m happy, Momma. Can’t you just be happy for me?”
“Whatever you say.”
There was a pregnant pause while we both gathered our thoughts.
“Jonquinette, how about dinner tomorrow?”
“I have to go to church.”
“Church doesn’t last all day. I’m talking tomorrow evening. Say about six at the Ram’s Head Tavern over in Buckhead.”
I really didn’t want to go to dinner with Momma but knew I’d never hear the end of it if I didn’t make her happy.
“Okay, Momma. I’ll be there.”
“Great.” She giggled. “I could tell you were sleeping when I called so I’ll let you go. See you tomorrow, and don’t be late.”
“I won’t be.”
She hung up. Momma had this thing about never saying good-bye. I think it was because her first childhood memory revolved around tragedy. She remembered kissing her grandparents good-bye one morning when they left for the mom-and-pop store they owned on the coast of Miami. They never came back. Two masked gunmen took their lives for a measly thirty-seven dollars. Momma’s parents were janitors, but somehow she turned out to be extremely materialistic, along with her two sisters.
I stared up at the ceiling but I knew sleep wouldn’t come easily for me again. After five minutes or so, I decided to see if the Saturday morning news was still on. I reached for the remote on my nightstand and hit the power button. After I propped my back up on a bank of pillows, I yawned and eyed the screen. I sat there for two hours, staring at it, wondering when, why, and how I’d written the words “You’ll never win” on the television in red lipstick.
After I finally managed to move, I decided to just make the best of it. This wasn’t the first time I’d seen something written by my hands that I never wrote. “You’ll never win” made no sense to me. Who’ll never win what?
I was wiping the words off with paper towels and glass cleaner when a knock came at the door. That irritated me because no one ever came to my door unless they were selling something.
I was stunned when I glanced through the peephole and Mason was standing there.
As soon as I opened the door, he winked at me. “Is this the apartment of a female single? I hear there are a lot of them around here.”
I fought to suppress a laugh. “Um, yeah. I’m a female single.”
“Good. I thought I might have the wrong place for a second and I wouldn’t want to get attacked by a jealous husband or boyfriend.”
“Well, I don’t have one of those either.”
“My lucky day.”
“So how do you like your new place?”
“It’s okay.” He held out his hands and presented me with an apple pie on a glass plate. “Since I waited around for a week for the welcoming committee to grace me with a pie and no one showed up, I figured I might as well break tradition and welcome myself.”
Oh my goodness! Did he really expect me to bring him sweets?
“I apologize,” I said sincerely. “If I’d known that you really anticipated me getting you something, I would have.”
He chuckled. “I’m just kidding with you, Jonquinette. I’ll be honest. I wanted to see you again and I haven’t been able to catch you in the hallway so I decided to come up here groveling for attention instead.”
I took the pie from him. “Thanks for the pie. Did you bake this?”
“Are you kidding? I can’t even boil water.”
“Now that I can do.”
“You just can’t make toast?” he asked jokingly.
“Right. I can’t make toast.”
He cleared his throat and ducked his head into my apartment. “Nice place.”
“Thanks.” I knew what he was hinting at, but wasn’t sure I was ready to invite a man who wasn’t there to fix something inside of my apartment. He didn’t appear to have plans to leave until I did, so I said, “Would you like to come in?”
“Thanks. I thought you’d never ask.”
I moved out of the way so he could enter and headed toward the kitchen. “Feel free to have a seat. I’ll be right back.”
I set the pie plate down on the counter and had to lean against it to catch my breath. My knees were wobbling and my hands were suddenly sweating. I ran them under cold water and lathered them with soap, splashing some of the water on my face. At that moment, I wished I’d taken the time to get properly dressed instead of staring at my television screen for so long.
I felt someone behind me and jerked around. Mason was standing there.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you, Jonquinette.”
“No, you didn’t.” I turned off the water and reached into the cabinet for a couple of saucers. “I was just going to cut the pie. It looks delicious. Would you like a piece?”
“Absolutely. That pie cost me about ten bucks.”
We both laughed.
“I didn’t want to get you one of those cheap pies from the grocery store so I went to a bona fide bakery.”
The man was determined to make me blush. “I feel so special.”
He took his index finger and moved a tress of hair out of my face. “You are special. I can see that already.”
Things were going well up until that point. His hands on me. The way he was looking at me. I couldn’t take it.
I stepped away from him. “Mason, I just remembered that I have to meet someone in a few minutes.”
“Really? You just remembered that, huh?” he asked skeptically. He knew it was a fabrication.
“Yes, my friend. Um, Darnetta. She works with me and I promised her that I’d meet her today.”
I did make a promise to Darnetta. Just not for that day.
He looked highly disappointed. “In that case, I guess I better leave.”
“Would you like a piece of pie to take with you?”
“No thanks. I’ve suddenly lost my appetite.”
I felt bad as I saw Mason out. I really did think he was nice and he even made me laugh. That was rare. But I couldn’t be with him or any other man until I figured out what was going on with me. Hopefully, Dr. Spencer would get me the help that I needed. After all, she’d also made a promise.
11
jude
Meredith Williams Pierce aka Queen Bitch. There was no way I was going to allow Jon to go out to dinner with her. Not the way Jon had been acting lately. I couldn’t believe she’d actually flirted with that Mason character the day before. For the second time, no less. If she hadn’t kicked his ass out the apartment, I would have for damn sure.