The Beauty Within (32 page)

father…his lazy ass…”

“Who’s lazy?” Damon asked, leaning over the couch to kiss Wendy’s cheek.

“I know y’all ain’t talkin’ ’bout me!”

“Then you know about a whole lot o’ nothin’!” Wendy teased, giggling

when Damon moved his mouth to her neck. Gunnar crouched down behind

the couch and kissed Tyler’s cheek lightly.

“You two were behaving?” Gunnar asked, brushing his knuckle against the

swell of her cheek.

“As if we know how to do anything else!”

Gunnar’s gray eyes darkened and he nibbled on her lobe. “You know how

to make a mean breakfast…”

And just like that, Tyler wanted to kill him and push him up against the

wall just to show him how “mean” she could be.

Tyler and Gunnar visited for another hour before he took her home. They

sat in the car and made out for another fifteen minutes before Tyler bade him

goodnight.

“I have to walk you to the door,” Gunnar insisted against the column of her

neck.

“You’re not coming in…”

“But that’s the best place to
come
, Tyler…”

She slapped his shoulder with a surprised laugh. “
You
need to
behave
!”

His gray eyes were alight with mischief and longing. He grasped her chin

and kissed her softly. “That’ll be us one day, right?”

The Beauty Within

“What will?”

“Damon and Wendy.”

Tyler replied by kissing him again, harder, and infusing all the vows she

dared not speak into it. Gunnar pulled back with a slow nod and smile.

“As long as you promise,” he said with a wink, and then got out of his Jeep.

He behaved during the short walk to her door, and gave her the sweetest of

kisses in goodnight.

About a week after the dinner, Tyler was in Soul Cuts closing up when the

phone rang. She sucked her teeth. She was tired and wanted to take a shower

and go to bed. She hadn’t seen Gunnar in a few days, though admittedly that

was more her fault than his. She’d been over at Wendy and Damon’s house

helping her sister go over plans for the wedding and preparing meals for her to

eat since Damon was all but hopeless in the kitchen. Wendy hadn’t begun

scaling back yet because she was still able to work. She hadn’t even told her

bosses yet, but both Damon and Tyler were firm in making her promise to tell

her superiors soon.

She set the broom in the corner before going over to her station and pick-

ing up the cordless.

“This is Soul Cuts; how may I help you?”

“¿
Hija
?”

Tyler sucked in a breath and tears immediately sprang into her eyes. She

sat in the chair, trembling a little. “Mommy?”

Her mother’s husky voice wafted through the receiver to her ear. “¿
Hola
,

mijita. Cómo estás
?”

“Mommy…”

“Oh,
corazón
, don’t cry,” Carmen Colón Carver cooed to her daughter. “¿
Por

qué lloras
?”

“I’ve missed you, Mommy,” Tyler whispered. She didn’t care she was al-

most twenty-nine years old; she might have been a daddy’s girl, but her mother

always had a special place in her heart as well, even if she was on a different

continent now.

“I just spoke with your sister,” Carmen said, her voice even more heavily

accented since her time in her home country. Tyler had always loved listening

to her mother speak, and had always asked her mother to sing Spanish lulla-

bies, uncaring she didn’t really understand what was being said. “
Me dan un

‘calling card’…that’s what you call it?”

“Yes,” Tyler chuckled.

“Five hundred minutes. That’s a long time. ¡
Habla por siempre
!”

“Yes!” Tyler laughed. “Mommy, Wendy’s having a baby. She’ll have much to

talk about,” Tyler said with a smile.

“I know,” Carmen said on a chuckle. “¡
Yo voy a ser una abuela
! ¿
Y tu novio
,
hiji-

ta
? ¿
Cómo es…Gunnar
?”

“Gunnar! Wendy told you?” Tyler groaned. “She has a big mouth!”

Savannah J. Frierson

Carmen laughed. “¿
Wendy siempre tenía una boca grande
,
no
?”

Tyler laughed as well. “Yes, Mommy!”

“You were my quiet one.
Tímida
. ¿
Aún
,
hijita?
Shy?”

“A little, Mama,” Tyler confessed.

“¿
Por qué mijita
?
No necesitas estar tímida
. ¡
Tú eres bonita y maravillosa
!”

There was nothing in the world like a mother’s encouragement, and Tyler

smiled. “
Gracias
, Mommy.”

“
Sí, de nada, mijita
,” Carmen said. “Now,
dímelo
.
Tu novio
. ¡
Necesito saber
!”

So for the next hour, Tyler told her mother about Gunnar Daniels. And be-

cause this was her mother, Tyler left nothing out—not even about her one-

time date with Quincy or Gunnar kissing another woman on his birthday. She

even talked about Gunnar’s desire for her to meet his sister all the way in Los

Angeles.”

“¿
Vas
?”

“Ma’am?”

“Are you going?”

Tyler breathed deeply. “Mommy, I don’t know. I still have work to do, and

I want him to be proud of me.”

“¿
Por qué no sería orgulloso de tí, chica
?” Carmen asked, confusion and chas-

tisement in her tone. “¡
Él
tiene buen suerte
! ¡
Él tiene tú
!”

“
Te amo,
Mommy,” Tyler said sincerely.

“
Te amo mucho
,
mijita
,” Carmen returned. “
Ten fe
,
chica
.”

Have faith
. “Yes, ma’am,” Tyler said. “But I still need to get myself right be-

fore I go meet his folks.”

“You’re right just as you are,
mijita
,” Carmen said. “
Yo sé que tu hermana es muy

delgada como yo, pero tú, mijita, no hay nada mala de tí
. ¡
Tú eres perfecta
!”

“I’m not perfect, Mommy,” Tyler said.

“No, but you are for
tu novio
, Gunnar,” Carmen said. “
Mijita
, don’t be like

me.
Ten fe de tí
.
Confia del amor
. I didn’t do that with your father.
Deseo que yo había
confiado en tu padre. Mi amor…
”

“He loved you until his last day, Mommy,” Tyler said quietly.

“And I’ll love him until mine,” Carmen returned, just as soft. “Don’t be like

me. Trust your young man, okay? Trust yourself.”

“Yes, Mommy.” She checked the clock and winced. It was late, she was

exhausted, and she needed to stop by the pharmacy to pick up some items, but

she didn’t want to stop talking to her mother. “Will you be able to come visit

soon? The wedding?”

“At least then,
mijita
.
Abuela no siente bien, tú sabes
.

“Give her my love.”

“
Sí
.
Yo voy darlo
.”

“I love you,” Tyler said again.

“
Tú
eres mi corazón
,
mijita
.
Mi vida
.
Tú y tu hermana
.”

The Beauty Within

173

They blew kisses into the phone before ending the call. Her mother’s

words, even the Spanish ones…though admittedly, Tyler heard them much

better than she could speak them, remained in her brain as she pulled into the

neighborhood pharmacy. She picked up a red plastic basket and went into the

feminine products aisle, and grabbed the necessary items. On the way to the

cash register, Tyler went into the vitamin aisle, stopping in front of big,

expensive bottles.

“Lose weight fast.” She’d seen the product on television. Closing her eyes,

she quickly dumped the bottle into her basket and then hurried to the register

before she could change her mind.

Seventeen

Though she hadn’t told Gunnar yet, Tyler had personally resolved herself

to go see his sister in LA. That meant she picked up the pace in terms of her

sessions. When she’d told Gunnar she wanted a more intense workout, he’d

looked at her through narrowed eyes, and asked her why.

“Plateau. You said it yourself.”

His eyes still had remained shrewd, but her argument was sound, and he

relented. Gunnar hadn’t been easy on her, either, confiscating her remaining

Girl Scout cookies and other sweets and would let her have them as a reward.

Of course she had pouted, but she knew she would have to sacrifice some

things in order to get the results she wanted.

But the Girl Scout cookies…that had hurt a little bit.

It also helped she had, quite unwittingly, started spending time at Gun-

nar’s house more often than not on the weekends. It had happened so seam-

lessly that it wasn’t until Gunnar had given her his good morning kiss before

going on his run one weekend did Tyler realize she was not in her house or her

bed. She did go home every Sunday, but each weekend she found herself

pulling into Gunnar’s driveway after work.

She even had a drawer now.

Though Tyler wasn’t ready to go on a run, she did do a few miles on the

treadmill while Gunnar did his weight training. Most of the time they were

quiet and independent, but sometimes Gunnar would come up behind her and

fix her form whenever she would get slack, which was rare; or when he was

randy, which wasn’t quite so rare.

They would go grocery shopping, Gunnar giving her pointers about how to

shop and which foods are healthier and richer in necessary nutrients than

others. She hadn’t realized how into public displays of affection Gunnar was,

and it was only after he’d made her giggle quite loudly in the cereal aisle did

The Beauty Within

she tear the list in half and ordered him on the opposite side of Food Lion so

she could calm down and he could behave. He’d given her a heady look, letting

her know he would be making her do something more than giggle later on that

night.

She also continued taking the pills that would suppress her appetite and

increase her metabolic rate, or so the product said. Luckily, she only had to

take one with a meal, so she usually took it with her breakfast. She also bought

an electronic scale. The downside with that was she checked her weight

compulsively.

Then again, it was nice to see those electronic numbers get smaller and

smaller.

Her clients were starting to notice. On her recent appointment, Loretta

had made such a fuss about how “slim and sexy” Tyler was getting, saying

immediately there must be a man in her life.

“That’s the only reason a woman would really lose weight—a man,” Loret-

ta had declared.

“Not personally?”

“No. Why? If there were no men, women would be all fat and happy!”

They had laughed, which petered out when Loretta’s man Jason walked

inside holding a napping Will. The transformation on Loretta’s face said it all.

It had been soft and full of love, and Tyler had pretended she had to get

something from the back so they could have a private moment. After an

interval, Tyler had walked back out to see Jason drop a sweet kiss to Loretta’s

forehead.

“Tryna get some tonight, aren’t you?” Loretta had teased.

“No, baby, I’m tryna
give you some
tonight,” Jason had said with a wink, then

bent his head to kiss her lips. “You look beautiful. Tyler, you do excellent

work!”

Tyler had been jerked out of her musings at Jason’s voice, and she’d given

him a brilliant smile. “Thank you. You ’bout up for a cut, aren’t you?”

“Yeah. I really like the fade you did last time,” Jason had said, brushing a

cinnamon-colored hand against his hair. “And the ladies love it too—”

“Okay, LL Cool J,” Loretta had said, rolling her eyes.

“And you know this,” Jason had replied, giving Loretta one last kiss, then

bringing down their sleeping son so Loretta could bestow one on his cheek.

“I’ll see you at home, baby. Tyler, have a good one!”

“You too. Y’all drive safe,” Tyler had said, going back behind Loretta as

they both watched father and son leave. Tyler had thought about Wendy’s

impending motherhood, and then she touched her own belly as Gunnar flitted

through her mind. He would make such a loving, wonderful father. The fact he

seemingly wanted a family with her thrilled as much as it terrified.

“When you gon’ have a daughter so we can be in-laws?” Loretta had asked

after a moment, and the women had laughed again.

176

Savannah J. Frierson

“Well, you’ll probably have to settle for Wen, because she’s the one about

to have a baby.”

Tyler had been glad she’d already put down her shears, or else Loretta’s

scream could’ve had her missing an ear, it had shocked so. After Loretta had

gotten herself under control, the women had made preliminary wedding plans

for Will and the hypothetical girl Wendy might be having.

Family and the future seemed to have overtaken Tyler’s thoughts com-

pletely.

Tyler increased her efforts to get herself as healthy as possible, and that

included changing her diet even more. Aside from the cookies, she cut out

everything white—no white rice, no sugar, no mashed potatoes (especially not