A Constant Reminder (13 page)

Roxanne loved her daughter more than life. But being the mother to a pale blonde biracial kid wasn’t what Roxanne wanted. It was forced upon her. Her first attempt at dating a white man was a disaster. She blamed it on her attack. But she realized she had never seen the guy that attacked her and blaming an entire race of men for the evil criminal deeds of another was just plain stupid.

Roxanne felt the date went great. Adam was a gentleman with a devilish tongue. He wanted to sleep with her and it didn’t turn her off. It made her feel desired. Some guys play it so cool that you’re not even sure if that are truly attracted to you. Some guys were so chill that you questioned their sexual preference. Adam wanted her and it felt good to be wanted.

She drove home feeling like maybe this time Adam was different. Erika was at her apartment watching Morgan when she arrived back at home. She knew Erika would have twenty to thirty questions but she didn’t care. She was walking on sunshine in the moonlight of the night.

Roxanne walked into the living room and tossed her purse on the couch. Erika was sitting on her couch watching television. Morgan was asleep on Erika’s lap. Her blonde curly hair was covering her face.

“Oh she’s asleep.”

“She was exhausted. Don’t be alarmed when you notice the bruise on her leg. She banged it on the edge of the bed.”

“Oh poor baby.”

Roxanne sat down next to Erika and rubbed Morgan’s wild curly mane back from her face.

“So Missy, how was the date with the oily guy?” Erika couldn’t wait to get the deets.

“It was wonderful.”

“Girl stop playing. What does wonderful mean?”

“It was good. He was nice and God he is so hot.”

Erika rolled her eyes. “If the first thing out of your mouth is how he looked he must be a loser.”

“No he’s not a loser.” Thinking of Adam made her gush. “That wasn’t the first thing out of my mouth.”

“Uh.” Erika groaned.

“As if you’re a good judge of character.” Roxanne huffed. “If I run down the list of losers you gave you hoo-ha to, I could make you cry.”

Roxanne thought Erika was being a little harsh. It wasn’t like her to lash out but she wanted to defend Adam like he was her guy.

Roxanne knew that maybe Erika was jealous.

“Erika, don’t interfere with my lust moment. Adam is fine. Not just white boy fine. He is fine period. I know you see that.”

“I only seen him in those ridiculous narcissistic selfies he sends you. He sent you a selfie of him eating a bowl of cereal.”

“So.”

Erika rolled her eyes. “Maybe I should see him in person.”

“Girl have several seats.” Roxanne’s first mind told her that Erika would try to sleep with him. Erika was a slut. Roxanne hated that these terrible thoughts entered her mind but Erika had a constant flood of sex partners since college. It was hard to keep up.

Roxanne loved Erika like a sister. She trusted Erika with her daughter but Erika craved affection and attention, more than the average woman. She wanted all the men and she had an affinity for the ones that were taken.

Roxanne wasn’t sure if Erika had ever slept with one of her past boyfriends. At this time she hadn’t slept with any that she knew of. But truthfully, she couldn’t put it pass her. Erika had done it to some of her other friends and that alone made her suspect. Roxanne’s mom told her she thought Erika was sneaky.

“Okay back to reality. He’s poor if he works at an oil change garage.”

“I have never seen his apartment so I don’t know if he’s poor or not.”

“He makes no money at that place. I don’t have to tell you that.”

“Okay fine, whatever, money isn’t everything.”

“He might be trying to move up and mooch off you.” Erika suggested.

“Shut up.”

“Okay when he does the
Dougie
on your heart, I won’t say I told you so.”

“I’m sure you will because your mouth never stops moving.” Roxanne flashed a sarcastic grin.

“Maybe you would be able to keep a man if I showed you some of my super-head techniques.”

“No thanks I want a guy my age not twenty years older than me. So stay in your lane.” The hoe bag lane, Roxanne thought but didn’t dare say out loud.

***

Adam left the date with Roxanne and decided to go see his mother. Their relationship was better than ever. He was happy that she never gave up on him. He had served six years behind bars. He would have never made it without her support.

Prison was hard. The transition from prison to society was extremely difficult.

Adam wanted to start off easy. He went to work at one of the garages his mother owned. Once Jane was sure Adam wouldn’t fall back into a life of drugs she signed the three oil change businesses over to him. She had to reward him for staying sober. She wanted him to have something of his own. She wanted him to have some responsibilities that could help keep him on track and out of trouble.

Alcohol had never been Adam’s problem. Jane poured her son a few glasses of wine and they reminisced on some of the good things from the past. After he visited with his mother he decided to spend the night in his old bedroom. Everything looked exactly the same. He remembered the last night he broke into her house. It was the last time he saw her before he was arrested.

Adam got into his old bed and tried to sleep. Something was nagging at him and he wasn’t sure what it was. The wine had a strange effect on him. He sprung out of bed and went over to the closet. He sat inside the closet and rummaged through some boxes at the bottom of his closet. He was searching for something. He found his old high school class ring. He found his old high school yearbook.

Adam’s heart raced when he thought about the possibility that he could find drugs. He didn’t really think he stashed any in his room but it was so long ago. The mere thought scared him.

He had been away from temptation for so long. His life was going great. He had a nice townhouse. His mother gave him three lucrative businesses. He had even met a beautiful woman. All these things were working in his favor but he still feared the call of heroin.

He stumbled upon a metal box with a small silver padlock.

Adam grabbed the box from the floor and placed it on the bed. He paused, looked around the room and darted over to the chest of drawers and removed a key from underneath a pile of clothes in the bottom drawer.

He used the key to open the padlock. Adam slowly lifted the cover of the metal container. His fear of finding old expired drugs was stronger than he could have imagined.

He reached in the cardboard box and retrieved an old worn picture showing him at a party with Tony Demarco. He smiled. Tony wasn’t a terrible guy. He was just like Adam, a young man that let drugs suck him into a life he had never planned.

He tossed the picture on the floor and went back into the box. He found a purse, a brown and beige purse. His hand reached inside the purse.

The hazy memories of that night came crashing back. He pulled out what looked like an identification card. He focused on the college campus I.D. card and the picture of the girl on the card. It read Roxanne M. Potts. He dug into the purse and pulled out the driver’s license. He intensely focused on the card. His eyes lingered on the picture. It was a face that he had recently grown to know very well.

Adam skimmed over the I.D. picture. This was the worse thing that could ever have happened to him.

KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!

Adam was startled by the knocks. He dropped the I.D. card back into the purse.

“Adam.” His mother called out to him from the hallway.

“Yeah.”

“Do you need a glass water? I’m going to the kitchen before I go to bed.”

“No thanks.” Adam listened carefully as his mother’s footsteps walked away from the door.

Adam was completely floored by his discovery. Now what? He had to completely break it off with Roxanne. It was time to blame somebody and all Adam’s anger was now directed at Tony Demarco. This was Tony’s fault, all Tony’s fault. He wished that he could tell him. He wished that he could punch him in the face but Tony was still incarcerated. He got a thirty-year sentence where he would have to serve at least fifteen years.

Adam was out of prison and left to deal with the aftermath. Part of his memory had been whipped clean because of his addiction. Other parts were as clear as if they happened yesterday.

Adam was left to deal with this mess that Tony created. He slowly placed the open metal box back on the floor at the bottom of the closet.

It took a long time before Adam could finally get some sleep. Sleep didn’t block out his discovery. He woke the next morning and ventured down to the kitchen.

“You’re just in time for breakfast.” Jane said as Adam entered.

He took a seat at the table. He thought about the night that his mother caught him rummaging through her refrigerator. He looked over at the spot where he dropped the orange juice, an unpleasant feeling fell upon him.

“Hey didn’t you say you went on a date last night?”

“Yes I did.”

“That’s good. You need to get out there.”

“Yeah.” Adam didn’t elaborate.

“So how do you feel about your brothers engagement?”

“I’m happy for him. How do you feel about it?”

“I don’t know. I think he’s doing everything. His fiancée needs to step up. He seems stressed. Daniel wants everything to go off without a hitch. I don’t see Melanie doing anything but spending money.”

“Mother he doesn’t want to look like an idiot.”

“I’ll remember you said that on your wedding day.” Jane took a drink from her glass.

“I’m sure you will.”

“I predict that you’ll be getting married soon.”

“What makes you say that? Who would want to marry an ex-convict?”

“Why would you ever tell any woman you went to prison?”

“Why would I hide it? She would need to know what she was getting into.”

“Seriously Adam that’s ridiculous. You have your own business. Not to mention you will eventually inherit twenty-five percent of the architectural firm. Your criminal past should stay in the past.”

“If I met a woman I loved, I don’t think I could keep that from her.”

“Do you like the woman you went out with yesterday?”

“Yes.” He wished he didn’t say that. He was going to have to break up with her.

“Well you dressed up for her. You seemed different.”

“You think it was because of her?”

“I don’t know, maybe.”

“I’m your mother. I know things. You seemed happy for a change.”

“She makes me happy.” Why did he say that? Maybe because it was the truth.

“What’s her name?

“Roxanne, we met at the garage. She’s senior Claims Adjuster at MetLife over in Marquette.”

“Fairly impressive title.”

“Does she know you own the garage?”

“No, she thinks I just work there.”

“See you withheld that from her. So maybe you shouldn’t tell her about prison.”

“Maybe.” Adam didn’t want to discuss it any longer. None of it seemed to matter.

Adam ate breakfast as his mother talked. He could barely listen. He had a dilemma that needed to be tended to. He had to figure out a respectable way to break up with her. Once he was finished with breakfast he began to clear away the dishes.

He was loading the dishwasher when he thought he heard his mother call on him.

“What was that?”

“Maybe you should invite this Roxanne to the wedding. We could all meet her.”

“Maybe I will. “ Adam had no intention of asking her. He only wanted to break it off with her. “I’ll ask. See if she’s free?” Why was he lying about it? He vowed he would stop lying once he was released from Chippewa Correctional Facility.

“Good.”

“Mother I’m going home. I got a few things to do today.”

***

Adam knew what he had to do. He set up another date with Roxanne. He planned to feed her some bullshit. He could have just stopped talking to her but he thought she deserved better than that. Plus he wanted to see her one more time.

He arranged for her to meet him at a restaurant close to the place he first met her. He was already there when she arrived. She walked over to the table in a beautiful formed fitting dress that wrapped around her body. His mouth fell open as soon as her saw her hips swaying in his direction.

The dress was a pale blue and it was closed with a string that tied in the front. It was a dress he could get her out of real fast and with little effort. She was making this hard for him. Her legs were out. He could see a little of smooth brown cleavage. Her breasts hung perfectly and not too high. He realized she wasn’t wearing a bra. She was stunning. He stood to wrap his arms around her. He hugged her tight and kissed her neck with his lips and tongue. He was going too far.

He pressed his growing manhood into her so she could feel it. Then he pulled away.