The Joneses (13 page)

My cell phone vibrated. It was a text message from Lovie. Now I knew the identity of the person who gave Jason that fat, lower lip. I laughed out loud. I should have been mad at Lovie for disobeying me, but I wasn't.

I
looked at Lexi. She didn't look too pleased with Jason's intrusion into our private time. Jason didn't appear to be leaving any time soon. I needed to get him out.

I yawned. “Jason, I hate to end this night, but I have a full day ahead of me. I want to retire early.”

Jason looked at me and then at Lexi. “I guess I've overstayed my welcome.”

Lexi, without looking up from her magazine, responded, “I guess so.”

“Let me walk you out,” I said.

I walked Jason to the door. Before leaving, Jason turned and asked, “Is everything okay with Lexi? She seemed cold and distant.”

“She's probably PMS-ing. I just go with the flow, man.”

“Well, I just wanted to make sure everything was okay between the two of you.”

Lexi walked up behind me and placed her arm around my waist. “Things are great. Good night, Jason.”

Jason looked at Lexi. “Oh. I didn't see you there.”

“We'll talk later,” I assured him.

“We sure will. There's something else I need to talk to you about.” He was talking to me, but he kept looking at Lexi.

Jason left. I shut the door and faced Lexi. “Jason is right about one thing. You've been a little distant ever since he came over tonight.”

“I don't trust him, and I do not want him in my house anymore.”

“This is my house, too, and I have a say-so about who comes and goes just like you do.”

“Fine. You can sleep in the guest room tonight because all of a sudden, I'm no longer in the mood.”

Lexi stormed off, leaving me looking bewildered and confused. I was frustrated and horny. This was going to be a long night.

I tossed and turned the entire night. I dragged myself out of bed the next morning. I smelled the aroma of breakfast cooking, which usually meant Lexi was in a good mood.

“Hi, baby,” I said, as I walked up to her at the stove and gave her a quick peck on the lips. She didn't hit me, so that was a good sign.

“Sorry that I overreacted last night,” she responded. “How did you sleep?”

I rubbed my lower back. “My back will probably be hurting all day.”

“I'm sorry.” She stuck out her lips and pouted. “I am trying to make it up to you.”

I poured a cup of coffee and sat at the table. Lexi placed a big plate of food in front of me. “Homemade biscuits. You are forgiven.”

The biscuits melted in my mouth. She fixed a smaller portion for herself and sat next to me.

“So, what's on your agenda today?” she asked in between bites.

“Back-to-back funerals, again. I need to hire at least three or four more people.”

“I'm on it. I'll see who I can find and set up some interviews,” Lexi responded.

That's what I liked about Lexi. I just told her what needed to be done, and she took care of it for me. We had our little system going. She wasn't at the funeral home every day, but she still contributed to the business. I didn't have an official Human Resources department. There was no need to since Lexi was good at handling my staffing needs.

I finished eating and instead of going to the funeral home, I met some of my staff at a church on the other side of town. After the funerals, I was feeling a little depressed. Some days at work were better than others, and this was one of those days where words eluded me.

“Royce, do you want me to lock up? I'm about to leave for today,” Shannon walked to my door and said.

“No, I got it. Be careful out there.”

“I will. Mama said call her. She wants you and Lexi to come by for dinner one weekend.”

“Okay,” I responded.

As soon as Shannon left, I got my cell phone and synched the office calendar with my phone's calendar.

“So this is where ‘The Man' spends his days?” a familiar voice said, startling me.

I looked up. “Tyler, is that you?”

Tyler stood in the doorway but didn't make any move to come inside. His unfriendly stance took me by surprise. “I'm surprised you know who I am.”

“Come on in.” I pointed to the chair. “Have a seat. I'm glad to see you.”

Tyler looked around my office before taking a seat. “Nice.” He picked up the frame that enclosed a recent family photo. “So this is your other family?”

I took the frame from his hand and placed it closer to me. “Yes. How's your mom doing?”

“Like you really care. But since you asked, she died.” He stared at me with cold black eyes. “She died six months ago.”

My heart ached with pain. “Why didn't you call me? I would have been there. What happened?”

“You happened. The day you left us, pieces of my mom died, and she was never the same.”

“I don't understand. Whenever I spoke with her, she seemed okay.”

Tyler slammed his fist down on my desk. “That's just it. You couldn't leave her alone. She may have been okay if you would have stopped contacting her. She hoped after each phone call that you would come visit her, but you never did. Broken promises are what broke her heart.”

“Tyler, you don't understand. I cared about your mom, but what we were doing was wrong. I already had a wife and family. And regardless of how it looked, I loved my wife, and still do. Your mom knew the deal going in. She knew I would never leave my wife and family behind for her.”

“That's the thing, my mom never asked you to. You just took it upon yourself to cut her out of your life. When your phone calls stopped, she started drinking. She became a shell of herself. Do you know how helpless I felt to watch her kill herself with alcohol because of you?”

“The last time I talked to her, she told me she was going to get married. That's when I decided it was best to cut off all forms of communication.”

Tyler laughed. “Married? I doubt if she even talked to another man after you.”

“I swear. I didn't know. I believed her. I was only trying to do the right thing.”

“The right thing would have been to leave her alone. You were married, so you shouldn't have ever started something with her. And to make things worse, you were around so much, I began to think you were my dad.”

“Son, I'm sorry.”

“Yes, keep calling me Son. Who knows, I might become your son for real.”

“What do you mean?”

“Let's just say, I have a dilemma.” He paused. “I don't know which one of your beautiful daughters I want to be my wife. Maybe Hope. She's trainable. She pretends to know the ways of the world, but she's no match for me.”

I didn't know what kind of game Tyler was trying to play, but he was going to leave my girls out of it. “What do you want? Is it money? I can write you a check.”

Tyler stood up. “I want you to pay. I'm going to destroy your life like you destroyed mine.” He tossed a business card on my desk and walked out.

“Dad, what are you doing here?” I asked, surprised to see him at my door.

He gave me a hug and kiss on the cheek. “I can't stop by to check on my girls?”

“Of course, but we normally meet up at home or stop by the funeral home.”

“I wanted to catch up with you.” He followed me into the house.

“Well, Hope's not here.”

“Do you know where she is?”

“No, she didn't tell me. We only tell each other when we're not coming home for the night.”

I put my hand up to my ears. “I don't know if I want to hear this.”

“Don't ask a question you don't want to know the answer to,” I said, as I looped my arm through his, and we walked to the living room.

I picked up a folder with some information about my business and handed it to him. “I'm glad you're here. Some people may need help planning a repast, and I plan to offer all types of services. So, I was wondering if you could include some of my information in your packets?”

He glanced at the material. “Of course. That sounds like a good idea.”

“I know most families have friends, family, or church members
cooking, but then you get clients who don't, so I want to be a resource for them.”

“I'm so proud of you. You are really taking this seriously.”

“I just hate it took you losing money for me to come to this decision,” I confessed.

“I have a feeling this situation will be over with soon.”

I picked up the television remote. “I was just about to watch a movie. You want some popcorn? I think I have a bag or two in the kitchen.”

“I'm not going to keep you long,” he responded. He blurted out, “Have you been seeing anyone special?”

I shrugged my shoulders. “No.”

“You can tell your dad. You're a beautiful young lady, and I want you to find a nice, young man to settle down with.”

“Maybe one day, but that's not on my agenda right now.”

“Dear, don't let what Scotty did to you make you bitter toward all men.”

“I haven't. My priorities are just a little different right now.”

He seemed relieved. “That's good to know. Well, I'm going to go and let you get to your movie. When Hope gets in, tell her I need to speak with her.”

He got up and I walked him to the door. That was odd. I wondered what the visit was really about. I rushed back to the couch so I could watch the movie. I hit the rewind button to watch it from the beginning.

The phone rang.

“You said you wanted to meet my new man. I'll be at the Horseshoe, so stop through,” Hope said from the other end.

“I really wanted to watch this movie.”

“Suit yourself. You can't say I didn't try.”

We ended our call. The movie didn't hold my attention since I really was curious to meet Hope's new man.

“Forget the movie.” I hit the stop button.

Thirty minutes later, I was valet parking my car and walking inside of the casino. I sent Hope a text. She responded with her location. For a weekday, the casino was packed. I rarely came through and didn't see a lot of people.

Hope met me in the doorway. “I see you changed your mind.” She grabbed my hand.

“I had to meet the man that has my sister's heart.”

“I'm glad you came.”

I followed Hope through the casino. She stopped and looked around. “Where is he?”

“Don't tell me you lost him?”

“We were sitting right here. I told him I would be right back.”

“What does he look like?” I asked.

“He's a little bit over six feet. He's bald. He's wearing a pair of khaki slacks and a blue Polo shirt.”

“I'll wait right here while you go look for him.” I took a seat at one of the slot machines.

My phone vibrated. It was a text from Tyler.

Tyler: Where are you?

Me: I'm at the Horseshoe. What's up?

Tyler: Missing U.

Me: LOL. Sure U R.

Tyler: I'm still out of town. Can I see U when I get back?

Me: Maybe.

Tyler: Think about it. I love U.

Me: LOL. Goodbye Tyler.

Tyler: One day you will believe me.

I didn't bother to respond to his last text. Tyler was something else. If he didn't know how to lay the pipe, I would have stopped dealing with him a long time ago. I wasn't mad at him for trying though.

Hope walked up to me looking upset. “He left. I can't believe he left me here.”

“What? See, I don't like him already.”

“He just sent me a text telling me he had an emergency at work and had to leave.”

“He could have waited to tell you that in person.”

“Exactly. I'm so pissed at him right now.”

“Where's your car?” I asked.

“I used the valet.”

“Since we're both here, might as well enjoy ourselves.”

I placed a dollar in the slot machine and watched the images line up. “Whew. I just won a hundred dollars.” I cashed out. “Okay, I'm ready to go now.”

Hope shook her head and laughed. She followed me to the cage to collect my winnings.

C
harity mentioned that my dad wanted to talk to me. Instead of calling him, I decided to pay him a surprise visit at the office the next day.

“Hey, Shannon. Is my dad here?” I asked when I walked in.

“He's inside with a family now, but he should be out shortly,” she responded, not once getting off her cell phone.

“Is Lovie here?”

She pointed toward the back. “He's in. Go on back.”

“What's up, Big Bro?” I said, as I walked into his office.

He got up from behind his desk and greeted me with a hug. “You look like you lost your best friend,” Lovie said.