Mama Dearest (21 page)

“I promise you, Yancey. Besides, you’re going to be a big star and make me even more money. Why would I do anything to harm you? Baby girl, you haven’t been anything but good to me ever since we met.”

His look was so sincere that I accepted his flattery. “Okay. Give it to me. I’ll take it to the bank first thing tomorrow.”

“Thanks, baby,” S. Marcus said, then checked his watch. “Damn, I need to get moving so I won’t miss my flight. Give Daddy a kiss.”

I kissed S. Marcus gently on the lips and I felt his huge hand caress my left breast. Damn, that felt good.

I took hold of his hand and held it in place. “You sure you don’t have time for a quickie?” I asked.

“I would love to, baby, but I got to get back to the city tonight. I’ve got a lot going on, including a meeting that starts with breakfast in
the morning.” He gave me a wink. “Just put it into my pussy account alongside my money.”

“I can do that,” I said. I gave S. Marcus a quick kiss, and before I could blink, he was out the door.

E
ARLY EVENING
D
ALTON SHOWED
up at my apartment with a guest. I opened the door and said, “Dalton, what a pleasant surprise.”

“Hey girl,” he said as he walked in and gave me a kiss on the cheek. A tall, well-built dark-skinned guy followed in silence.

“What are you guys up to?”

“Yancey, this is Anderson, my friend I’ve been telling you about.”

“Hi Anderson,” I said as I extended my hand toward him. He didn’t reciprocate. He was well dressed in a houndstooth jacket, black turtleneck and white gabardine slacks. He had a neatly groomed beard and mustache and his hair was cut low. He could have easily passed as a model or an Ivy League scholar.

“Hello,” he said in a deep voice. Nothing else.

I turned my attention back to Dalton and couldn’t help but notice that there was something wrong with his lips. He was trying to hide it with an excessive amount of Vaseline but it was clear something had gone wrong. Did he have some kind of disease like herpes or had he been stung by a bee? I didn’t want to ask because I didn’t know how much information he’d shared with Anderson.

“Why don’t we go in the living room and take a seat?”

“We don’t have much time, darling, we’re on our way to the movies, but I thought I should come over here and tell you this myself.”

“Tell me what?”

“You didn’t get the job.”

“What?”

“They wanted younger and went with some girl who got kicked off
American Star
during the second week.”

“You’re lying!”

“Young and pretty will do it every time.”

“Damn, I really wanted that job.”

“Would you take an understudy role?”

“Hell no!”

“Just what I thought. But there will be other jobs, sweetie,” Dalton said as he leaned over and kissed me. A closer look at his lips clearly told me it wasn’t a bee sting and I wasn’t feeling this Anderson character.

When I shut the door on Dalton and his friend, I leaned my back against the door wondering if Dalton was in some kind of trouble.

Ava sat before Mr. Lomax’s desk watching his tilted bald head look down at her file. She knew what he was going to say before he opened his big fat mouth with his fat, stubble-covered cheeks.

“Sorry you had to wait so long. I had a little backlog today.”

“Why should today be any different?” Ava asked, wanting so badly to chastise him for keeping her waiting for over two hours, but she knew better than to cross him.

“We discussed how important your getting a job is, didn’t we?” Mr. Lomax said, looking up and pulling off his reading glasses. They hung around his neck by a chain.

“Yes, and I’ve been trying.”

“Trying,” Mr. Lomax said, closing the manila folder and pushing it aside on his desk. “You’ve been sent to several temp centers that had open positions. When I called to follow up, they said you either didn’t show or declined the jobs.”

“I’m a stage actress, not a receptionist; a singer, not a secretary,” Ava said.

“You’re an ex-con, according to the state of New York, Middle-brooks.”

“That’s a mean thing to say, Mr. Lomax.”

“You don’t turn down jobs like you have a choice in the matter. I think I’m going to have to show you I mean business,” Mr. Lomax said, raising his voice, his face starting to turn red.

“Look,” Ava said, scooting to the edge of her seat. “If they could just find something a little more suited to my liking—”

“What!” Mr. Lomax said, shooting up from his chair, leaning over his desk, giving Ava an incredulous look. “Do you understand what could happen here, what’s most likely about to happen?”

“Uh, no,” Ava said in a way that suggested whatever it was, it couldn’t be that bad.

Mr. Lomax lowered his big body back into his chair and then slid open one of his desk drawers. He pulled out a sheet of paper, grabbed a pen and started writing.

Ava tried to get a look at what he was scribbling on the page. “Um, what are you doing?”

“It’s clear that you’re violating the conditions of your parole,” he said calmly, not looking up.

“What! Does that mean what I think it does? You trying to send me back to—”

“That’s what I’m going to recommend.”

Ava had to think quickly. There was no way in hell she was going back to that place. She wouldn’t survive that again. She had just found a wonderful stylist. Didn’t this man understand that?

Ava stood from her chair and approached the side of the desk. The dress she wore only showed the tiniest bit of cleavage, but Ava leaned forward to expose as much of her breasts to the fat man as she could. “Mr. Lomax, please.”

He looked up from the paper. “It’s too late,” he said, then looked back down, but only after taking a longer than normal glance at Ava’s
plump twins. “I’m tired of wasting time with you. You obviously think this is a game.”

“No, Mr. Lomax,” Ava said in the sweetest dumb-blonde voice she could create. She shuffled farther around the desk until she stood in front of him. “I promise I’ll never waste your time again if you just give me one more chance.”

Mr. Lomax looked up and over his glasses at her. Ava could tell he was giving it a little thought. She just needed to give him a nudge.

Ava placed her hand on his thigh, just above his knee, squeezed it a little, and said, “I swear, if I don’t get a job in the next two weeks, you can do whatever you want with me.”

Mr. Lomax looked down at Ava’s hand on his knees, then up at her with narrowed eyes. “Don’t make promises you know you won’t keep.”

“No, Mr. Lomax,” Ava said suggestively. “I’ll bend over backward before I break a promise.”

Mr. Lomax gave Ava another long look, then balled up the form on his desk and pitched it into the wastepaper basket in the corner. “Okay. You’re free for right now, but let me say this, you don’t want to try me.”

OMG, Madison, OMG! Are you serious?” Caressa squealed like the last girl selected for the varsity cheerleader squad.

“So do you want to do it?” Madison asked. She was holding Caressa’s hands to keep them from shaking as the two of them sat on the edge of her bed. Madison was thrilled to make her best friend so deliriously happy.

“Be on your show. Are you serious? What’s my character’s name?”

“Caressa, silly. It’s a reality show. You’ll be playing yourself.”

“Oh, I’m so slow,” she said, shaking her head. “A reality show. That’s even better. But what about the show for Disney?”

“I’m going to do that as well. The cameras will follow me as I shoot the series. So you’ll be on the set with me, only this time not as my assistant but as my best friend.”

Caressa threw her arms around Madison’s shoulders. “Madison, you’re the best. This is going to be so great.” She pulled back and said with a wide smile, “Now people will know me just like you.”

Something about that didn’t sit right with Madison. It felt a little too fast, too complete before they’d even started. But Madison let go of her suspicions. “I’m sure you’re going to have a lot of fans, Caressa. You’re so beautiful and nice. But I warn you, you will have your share of haters as well.”

“Who cares about haters? I can’t wait to tell my parents and Wallace.”

“Are you still talking to him?” Wallace Davis was the blue-eyed basketball star who Caressa had a mad crush on. The only problem was, he was a ladies’ man and didn’t treat Caressa in a manner that made either her or Madison happy.

“Well,” she said, coming down from her high long enough to explain, “he calls sometimes. But since he’s been away at college, I don’t hear from him as often.”

“Where did he end up?”

“Auburn University.”

“And that’s where? Down south?”

“It’s in Auburn, Alabama. He asked me to come down for a visit, but since I’m doing the show, I won’t be able to do that.” The somber tone that suddenly came on suggested that Caressa was weighing her options.

“Do you think he’d let us film the visit?” Madison asked. “That would be a great episode. The two of us visiting a college campus. I have a lot of fans in college. They all watch
American Star.
”

Caressa brightened, and Madison felt like she had come to the rescue once more. “That would be so cool.”

“And the producers would pay for our trips. When are you going to talk with him again?”

“I can call him tonight. I texted him this morning, but I haven’t heard back yet. I don’t see any reason why he wouldn’t want us, though.”

“So just ask him,” Madison suggested with a shrug. “If he doesn’t,
I’m sure the producers will come up with several other things for us to do.”

“You know what would be cool for them to film on the show? You looking for your birth mother.”

“What? Are you crazy? I don’t want to do that.” Madison had resigned herself years ago that she would never meet her birth mother. From all that her father had told her, the woman wasn’t likely to be responsive even if Madison took the trouble to locate her. Not that she hadn’t thought about this before. “Besides, who needs her now that I’m famous?” Madison said. She got off the bed and went to her dresser, picked up a brush and slowly stroked her hair.

Caressa knew that’s what Madison did when she didn’t want to talk about something. “Sorry that I brought it up, Madison,” she whispered.

Madison didn’t respond but continued to brush her hair and mouthed the number to each stroke.

Derrick walked into the room and exchanged a small smile with his daughter while she continued to brush her hair.

He thought for a moment. “They asked me about your mother.”

“Who asked?”

“The producers.” Derrick kept his eyes fixed on the floor, unable to talk about the topic any better than his daughter.

“What did you tell them?”

“I told them you don’t have a relationship with your mother.”

“Why didn’t you just tell the truth? That my real mother is dead,” Madison said as she turned away slightly.

“Your aunt died, sweetheart. That’s the truth. Your mother, I mean your birth mother, is still very much alive and while they didn’t say so, I think they know Yancey Braxton is your mother.”

“Who told them that?”

“I don’t know, Madison, showbiz people have a way of finding out
things. Besides, don’t you remember how I told you that when you turn eighteen, if you want to meet Yancey, I will make it happen.”

“But I’m not eighteen yet, Daddy.”

“You will be soon. Why are you scared to meet her, Maddy?”

“I’m not scared.”

“I think you are.”

“I’m scared I might grow up to be like her.”

“Your personality is already clearly defined, Maddy, you don’t have to worry about that.”

“So the producers brought this up?”

“I guess they think it would be good for the show.”

“Absolutely not.”

“See what I mean? Doing this show is not as simple as it seems.”

“I thought they were just going to concentrate on my show and my music. They have no right to pry into my personal life like that,” Madison said.

“And they haven’t yet, sweetheart, but I’m just telling you they might.”

“I don’t want to talk about this again. Have you thought any more about me getting my own place? It’s time for me to have my own life.”

Derrick stood up from the sofa and walked over to his daughter and put his arms around her. He whispered, “I think it’s too soon for you to be living alone, Madison. Your daddy is not ready to let go of his little girl.”

She sighed, sad at the thought of leaving her father’s house, but excited by the prospect of independence. “I know, Daddy, but it’s time. And it’s not like I’m going to be living alone. I’ll get a roommate and a dog.”

“Let me think about this some more. I don’t think I’m going to change my stance.”

“Why not?”

“I don’t know, Madison. I need to pray on this.”

“But it’s my money,” Madison pouted. “Can’t I buy a place of my own with my own money?”

“You’re a star out there,” Derrick said pointing to the door, “but in here, I’m still your father.”

“What if I agree to meet Yancey? Then will you let me get my own place?”