Pastor Needs a Boo (35 page)

“‘Solid.' And ‘I'll see you tomorrow afternoon,'” Marsha said, hoping she sounding cool and nonchalant.

“Oh, I see,” Keisha said, thinking, “Rev must have really put it down with his sexy brotha phone voice to get Marsha this bent out of shape over ‘solid' and ‘I'll see you tomorrow afternoon.'”

“So what time do we need to be at the church?” Veronica asked. “And what else do you need for us to do?”

“Be here around five p.m. And check on the caterers. Make sure the youth choir finishes folding the programs and knows where they are to be when they get here. I asked them to serve as hosts and hostesses.”

Marsha looked up to make sure she had everything covered.

“Make sure the floor is clean and dry and that there are plenty of towels, fresh fruit and crackers, and bottles of water for the contestants.”

“Do you have the final number on who is competing?” Keisha asked.

“Dayeesha and Marcus have all of that information. They will give out the final numbers and give us the order of performance for each set of contestants.”

“You think Xavier and Camille Franklin will be there tomorrow?” Veronica asked.

“You know they will,” Marsha said. “Xavier Franklin is not going to let Denzelle get this much attention and not be around to try and steal some of it away from him. Plus, I know he thinks Denzelle can't dance and is hoping he will make a fool of himself.”

“Well, he is in for a rude awakening,” Veronica said. “I saw you all putting the finishing touches on the dance day before yesterday. That dance is tight.”

“Sexy, too,” Keisha added, grinning.

“It's not sexy. It's full of energy and spunk,” Marsha said defensively.

“I guess Rev isn't really ‘sexy,' just full of ‘energy and spunk,'” Keisha said. “Gee, I never knew ‘energy and spunk' was the ‘new sexy.'”

“Me, neither,” Veronica chimed in, laughing, and then said. “Marsha, quit running game on your own self and admit that Denzelle is fine and sexy and makes you want to give him some.”

“VERONICA!” Marsha said. “That is so wrong.”

“Even if it is a correct assessment,” Keisha mumbled under her breath.

“Girl, we know you are the
savedest
woman in the Triangle,” Veronica said. “And I know you are not lusting after that man. I also know he is the one man who can get next to you. But you get up under that man's skin, too. And Denzelle Flowers definitely doesn't like that, because he is not in control whenever you are around.”

“Yeah,” Keisha said. “Rev is so scared you will capture his whole heart. And you know a reformed player like Rev can't go down on a technicality. That's why he fights you so, Marsha.”

“It's deeper than that, Keisha,” Veronica told her. “Denzelle is afraid Marsha will discover she has already captured his heart. Remember, this is a brother who has been fighting against and running from love for years.”

Marsha was quiet. This conversation made her uncomfortable. She had such a sweet spot for Denzelle Flowers—but thought she should leave that matter in God's capable Hands. Because God was the only One who could truly deal with Denzelle on this matter. The best thing Marsha could do about him was pray.

If the Lord led a man to a woman, she had to trust the Lord to handle all of the behind-the-scenes details about this matter. That was easier said than done, however. Some men were running from a woman and the Lord so hard, they were going to end up facing off with a talking donkey, stuck down in a whale's funky belly, or going back and forth with the Lord over fleece that was wet when it should have been dry and dry when it should have been wet.

Marsha had discerned that Denzelle was running from the Lord like that. Sometimes he could play the game of running so well, she wanted to GPS him directions to the town of Nineveh in the Bible. Other times Marsha wanted to go off on Denzelle. Then sometimes she wanted to just ignore him and act like he didn't even exist.

“You okay?” Veronica asked her friend.

“I'm fine. Just thinking.”

“I hope you're ready to kick some butt on the dance floor tomorrow. Because you sure do look like you are ready to kick somebody's butt right now.”

“Yeah, Roni, I'm ready,” Marsha answered solemnly. She honestly didn't know if she were more ready to kick Denzelle's butt or just plain ready to tear up that dance floor with Denzelle. Marsha was not in a mood to deal with Denzelle trying to keep a distance from her while being all up on her when they did their dance.

“I think you're very ready, Marsha,” Keisha said. She wondered if Marsha had a clue as to how beautiful an experience it was for others watching her dance with Reverend Flowers. It had to be one of the best dances she'd seen in a long time.

 

Chapter Twenty-six

“Don't forget to get Reverend Flowers's tux, Lil' Too Too.”

“I'm at the tux shop right now, Cousin Marsha. I'll be at the church in about forty minutes.”

The store clerk came back up to the register counter as soon as Lil' Too Too finished talking to his cousin. He raised an eyebrow when the man walked up to him empty-handed.

“Did you say Reverend Denzelle Flowers? That's the name for the tux?”

This was unbelievable. The man just told Lil' Too Too he took Rev's tux order, and how much he liked the tux Reverend Flowers's selected. He said, “Dawg, why you askin' me a dumb question like that—as if we haven't already had a detailed conversation about Reverend Flowers and his tux? I can't imagine you had two people with a name like ‘Denzelle Flowers' coming up in this joint to get a Dolce and Gabanna tuxedo.”

“Well,” the man began nervously, “I have been all over the back and there is nothing there. I don't know what has happened.”

“Whatever happened, you better fix it fast,” Lil' Too Too told the man, and started texting one of his girlfriends to see if she would fix him something to eat.

“I've got this, Kenan,” an older black man said with a smile Lil' Too Too thought was too smooth to be trusted. Plus, the brother's teeth were too even and way too white. That man didn't look like somebody who should have teeth that white. His teeth looked like he colored over them with some dollar store chalk.

Lil' Too Too, who had a handsome smile and great teeth, stared at the brother's mouth again. He wondered why the brother wasted money on caps and whitener and didn't do anything about those spaces in between each tooth. That man had enough spaces between his teeth to put an extra set of teeth in his mouth.

“So, what can I do for you, young brotha?”

“I'm here to pick up the tux for Reverend Flowers over at New Jerusalem. You know they are…”

The man raised his hands to stop Lil' Too Too from continuing. He was sick of hearing about Reverend Denzelle Flowers. If he never, ever heard the name Reverend Denzelle Flowers again, it would be too soon. And it had been horrible over these past weeks with all of the radio announcements about this
Dancing with the Stars
mess at Reverend Flowers's church.

Truthfully, Zeus Nance had never met Denzelle Flowers. But Zeus had met Denzelle's big brother, Officer Yarborough Flowers, from the Durham Police Department. Yarborough had arrested Zeus for beating up his wife, and then for slapping his new girlfriend around on the parking lot of The Place to Be Night Club, and after that for attacking his baby mama with a stun gun. The stun gun incident landed him a year's vacation in the Durham County Jail, thanks to the hard work and dedication of Yarborough Flowers.

Zeus swore to never use a stun gun again after serving jail time. It wasn't because of the jail sentence, either. Zeus discovered just how serious a weapon a stun gun was after Yarborough used it on him as many times as he could without having to explain himself to his superiors.

Zeus Nance swore he would get Officer Flowers for that. He didn't have a clue concerning how he was going to get Yarborough. But it sure did feel good to go around Durham County talking trash about all he was going to do to Yarborough Flowers.

Zeus was presented with an opportunity to get Yarborough when he was approached by one of Luther Howard's flunkies to help Mr. Howard with a small job. The only problem with the offer, however, was that Zeus would have to settle for Yarborough's little brother, Denzelle. It was about as close to getting Yarborough back as he was going to come. And the most unsatisfactory part about this offer was Zeus couldn't even plan his own method of attack. All he could do was mess up the tuxedo order for that
Dancing with the Stars
program.

“Are you going to go and find the tuxedo, dawg? Or will you refund Rev's money?”

Zeus didn't want to have to give up a refund for this tux. It hadn't occurred to him that a refund would be demanded when he messed up this order to get back at Yarborough Flowers. A refund demand could get a Lil' Vincent employee fired, because there was usually little room for error with folks and their tuxedos.

Lil' Vincent's Tuxedo Wear had been the main tuxedo shop for brothers in Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill for over fifty years. The store prided itself on getting things right the first time. Black men loved going to Lil' Vincent's for a tuxedo, because they knew the staff would not mess up their orders. It was also a store tailor-made for them—just like Durham's Miss Thang's Holy Ghost Corner and Church Woman's Boutique was the perfect store for black women in the area.

Lil' Vincent's was a well-kept secret in the community, and few if any white folk knew it even existed. The store was located in Raleigh's black community. And from the outside it looked like a traditional mom-and-pop operation. But nothing could be further from the truth. On the inside, Lil' Vincent's was the black man's store heaven—with some of the sharpest tuxedos at the best prices in the entire Triangle.

You could find a tuxedo in every style, color, and fabric, and by every designer (known and unknown) imaginable. The most popular tuxedos were the ones made out of material with famous NCAA, NBA, and NFL team logos printed all over them. Many a high school prom had a young blood strutting up into the dance decked out in a tuxedo made out of material with his favorite team's logo all over it.

“Let me go in the back and see what is going on,” Zeus said, and he walked back to where he had hidden the countriest red tuxedo in the world.

He hoped Denzelle Flowers would not demand that refund, because he'd just gotten out of jail and needed this job real bad. But for the moment, he was getting great pleasure from handing over this ugly mess. Zeus Nance knew Denzelle would dance in some old man Bermuda shorts, black socks, and brown sandals before he wore this outfit.

Zeus came back with a black satin bag across his arm, grinning like he'd just gotten over on somebody. There was something wrong with this tux. Lil' Too Too was sure of it. He couldn't figure out what it was, because everything looked normal. But something was wrong.

Lil' Too Too was getting ready to inspect what was in the garment bag but was stopped by his phone buzzing.

“Where you at, Cuz?” Marsha asked. It was five p.m., and they would need to start getting dressed soon.

“I have Rev's tux,” Lil' Too Too told her, while walking out of the shop. “Cuz, do you want me to check it out? I don't like the way the joker in the store handled this situation. Something ain't right.”

“We don't have time for you to do all of that. Denzelle's been doing business with Lil' Vincent's Tuxedo Wear for years. He's never had any trouble with them.”

“Okay, Cuz. I'm on my way.”

Denzelle was standing in the back door of the church when Lil' Too Too pulled up in a black Volkswagen Bug with rims and spinners. He didn't remember ever seeing a Bug with rims and spinners before. But then again, this was Lil' Too Too. Marsha's family was a trip. Lil' Too Too was her baby cousin, and he was always into some extra stuff.

Denzelle always felt that Lil' Too Too would make a good cop. Lil' Too Too had a lot of street sense, he was smart, he could sniff out crap, and he was always game for a good fight. While Lil' Too Too had experienced some skirmishes with the law, he'd never committed the kind of offenses that would keep him from joining the police force. At some point, Denzelle was going to have that hard conversation with Lil' Too Too about answering the calling on his life to serve and protect his community.

And then there was Marsha's other cousin, Sweet Red, who recently stopped dancing at Rumpshakers Hip Hop Gentleman's Club to enroll in their management training program. Sweet Red could put a hurting on a pole, and she was fine. There was nothing more exciting than a sister who could dance and was fine, too. Denzelle understood why some of Charles Robinson's most loyal patrons had been in tears when they were told Sweet Red was stepping down from the pole.

Marsha's people were a trip. But you couldn't help but love them. They were some hardworking and loyal folk who would be there for you when you needed them.

Lil' Too Too hopped out of the car and got the bag with Denzelle's tux off of the back seat. He said, “I hope this tux is okay, Rev. I kept thinking something was wrong. But Cuz said you've always done business with them and everything was always okay. They had this new guy. A Zeus Nance. I didn't like that joker.”

“Zeus Nance works at Lil' Vincent's?” Denzelle asked Lil' Too Too. “My brother has arrested him several times for beating on his women. Last time Yarborough made sure he spent some time in Durham County Jail. Didn't know he was out.”

Denzelle put the garment bag over his arm. Lil' Too Too was right. Something wasn't right about this. Nothing was ever right if Zeus Nance was involved.

Marsha met Denzelle at the door, eager to see the tuxedo. They were both dressing in Denzelle's campaign colors of crimson and cream. She made sure he had the smoothest tuxedo—black, with a white shirt with red stud buttons, trimmed in black, and a red-and-black jacquard silk tie and matching pocket handkerchief. It looked so good when she and Vincent put it together online.