Firestone (24 page)

“
Matt was up all night
last night,” Erin said in a conspiratorial tone. “They made a plan
to keep you safe, but it requires a lot of finagling.”

“
Finagling?” Sandy
asked.

“
Making sure people don’t
screw it up.” Erin nodded.

“
Who’s making the plan?”
Sandy asked.

“
Who else?” Erin nodded.
Sandy smiled as if she knew what Erin was talking about. Erin
laughed. “What did they tell you?”

“
Nothing,” Sandy said.
“Last night, I heard . . .
and . . .”

“
Did they tell you they
had to check with their boss?” Erin asked.

Sandy nodded.

“
Do you know who their
boss is?” Erin asked.

Sandy shook her head.

“
My sister,” Erin
said.

“
Samantha?”

“
The other one,” Erin
said.

“
Alex is Raz and Colin’s
boss?” Sandy whispered.

“
She’s kind of boss of the
entire world.” Erin rolled her eyes.

“
Oh.” Sandy looked
down.

“
Did I say something
wrong?” Erin looked at Sandy.

“
They said they talked to
their boss and got help that they didn’t have before
and . . .” Sandy started.

Erin shook her head.

“
That wasn’t true?” Sandy
asked.

“
My sister is the nosiest
person on the planet,” Erin said. “She’s got her fingers in
everything. There’s no way she wasn’t all over everything Raz did,
let alone Colin. They were probably just waiting for a reason to
roll out all the stuff they’d already planned.”

Sandy nodded.

“
Did you really want
Grace’s hair cut?” Sandy whispered.

“
If you could,” Erin said.
“It’s her first cut and . . . But I don’t want to be
selfish. I understand if you don’t have time or just don’t feel up
to working today.”

Sandy looked at her schedule on her iPhone
again.

“
They filled the whole day
and some of the night with soldiers!” Sandy said. “Agents. Police
officers. Seth’s even on here.”

Erin nodded. Sandy crossed her arms for a
moment and shook her head.

“
You know what?” Sandy
shrugged. “I don’t care. Having the team here is always a really
fun day. Plus, they tip well.”

“
And Grace?”

“
Of course,” Sandy said.
“Do you want me to touch up your hair? We have time.”

“
We do?” Erin beamed. “Do
you mind?”

“
Sounds fun!” Sandy
said.

Matthew came over to them.

“
I was going to get some
coffee,” Matthew said. “Can I get you ladies anything?”

Sandy heard the lie under his casual tone.
Rather than confront it, she smiled.

“
Sounds great,” Sandy
said.

~~~~~~~~

Friday morning—11:35 a.m.

“
So I couldn’t get in,”
Heather said.

She was standing in Tanesha’s kitchen in the
little yellow house. Tanesha had taken the day off school to be
available in case Jeraine or her mother needed her. Heather hadn’t
found out what was happening with Sandy until this morning when
she’d stopped by her studio for her usual Friday coffee. She wasn’t
allowed into the hair studio.

“
Did they tell you why?”
Tanesha asked.

“
MJ said that it was too
dangerous.” Heather nodded. “They’re using Sandy to try to catch
that police detective.”

“
Like bait.” Tanesha shook
her head with disgust.

“
Right,” Heather
said.

“
What did you do?” Tanesha
asked.

“
I went away,” Heather
said. “I mean, what can a good girl like me do?”

Tanesha grinned.

“
So then what did you
do?”

“
I called Jill,” Heather
said. “She doesn’t have any powers anymore because she had the
babies, but they don’t know that.”

“
What did she do?” Tanesha
laughed.

“
She ‘stopped by’ with
Katy,” Heather said. “Sandy seemed relieved to see a friendly face.
Katy charmed everyone, of course.”

“
How’s Sandy?” Tanesha
asked.

“
Scared,” Heather said.
“But I think having those soldiers and stuff around
helps.”

“
At least she’s not
alone,” Tanesha said.

Heather nodded.

“
Is Jill staying with
her?” Tanesha asked.

“
Uh huh. I’m supposed to
take her place in an hour,” Heather said. “Do you want to
come?”

“
Sure,” Tanesha said. “The
hospital is keeping Jabari, so there isn’t much any of us can do,
or specifically anything
I
can do.”

“
But he’s okay?” Heather
nodded.

“
He’s better.” Tanesha
nodded.

“
And his mom?”

Tanesha scowled. There was a knock at the
door, and Tanesha went to answer it. Peering through the peep hole,
she saw Jeraine’s other baby mother. Tanesha groaned.

“
What is it?” Heather
asked.

Tanesha scowled and opened the door.

“
Jeraine’s not here,”
Tanesha said before the woman could say a word. “I’ll let him know
you came by.”

Tanesha started to close the door.

“
I came to see you,” the
woman said.

Tanesha glanced at Heather, who was shaking
her head.

“
Don’t let her in,”
Heather mouthed. “You’re too pissed off.”

Tanesha nodded to Heather.

“
Jeraine’s working,”
Tanesha said. “You can call him.”

With a nod, she started to close the door
again.

“
I
came
to see you,” the woman
said.

“
That’s nice,” Tanesha
said.

As she pushed the door closed, the woman
stuck her foot in the doorway.

“
You agoin’ a be my baby’s
step’,” the woman said. “I
need
ta see if you’s capable of bein’ a momma to my
precious Jeraine.”

With her back to the door, Tanesha
sneered.

“
I can always tell dat
judge dat I don’ think JJ’s safe here.” The woman’s voice was
polite but held the threat.

Angry, Tanesha whipped open the door.

“
It’s not up to you to
decide,” Tanesha said.

“
Yes it is,” the woman
said. “Jus’ ’cuz you da wife don’ mean I ain’t Jeraine’s
mother.”

Tanesha scowled. The woman gave a little
yelp and hopped back as if she’d been burned. Heather trotted to
the door. She pushed Tanesha out of the way before the girl burned
to death or something equally horrible happened.

“
What do you want?”
Heather asked.

“
Who are you?” the woman
asked. “I don’ need some white
girl . . .”

Heather shut the door. Tanesha raised a
finger as if she were going to make a point. Heather nodded.

“
Why don’t we go get
Jeraine?” Heather asked. “He’s just downstairs.”

“
He’s working,” Tanesha
said. “He needs to make money to pay the womb he hired.”

“
I heard that,” the woman
outside said. “Just because you don’ like the way I live, don’ make
you better than me.”

Tanesha whipped open the door.

“
I don’t fuck married men
with the sole intent of getting pregnant so that they can support
me,” Tanesha sneered. “I don’t think having a wealthy man’s baby is
an occupation.”

“
You jus’ mad ’cuz you
ain’t had Jeraine’s baby,” the woman said.

Tanesha flushed red. Her dark skin looked
like the bark of a sequoia tree. Heather hopped in between the
women.

“
Why don’t you just go?”
Heather asked the woman on the porch.

“
I don’ take orders from
no white girl,” the woman said.

“
She’s too good for it,”
Tanesha said. “After all, she sold her bodily functions to the
highest bidder.”

“
You saying I’m a
prostitute?” The woman put her hands on her hips.

The ground around the house made a little
rumble. The air in the house became heavy and dark. Heather heard
Jeraine scrambling in the basement. He ran up the stairs and across
the little living room space to the front door. Seeing Heather, he
looked relieved.

“
What’s going on?” Jeraine
asked Tanesha. He put his hand on her back. “You feeling
okay?”

“
The mother of your child
is here,” Tanesha said in a prim voice.

Heather managed to push Tanesha out of the
way of the door. Jeraine flashed her a “thank you” look and went to
the door. He stepped out on the porch and closed the door behind
him.

“
I . . .”
Tanesha nodded.

She started for the door again, but Heather
got in her way. Lost in thought, Tanesha stood face to face with
Heather for more than a minute. Tanesha nodded. Heather pushed and
prodded Tanesha back into the kitchen. She negotiated her onto a
stool and started making some of Tanesha’s special tea.

Neither woman said a word until the pot had
boiled and the tea was made.

“
She’s right, you know,”
Tanesha said in a low voice. “I
am
jealous. She’s the one who had Jeraine Junior,
not me.”

“
She’s not right,” Heather
said. “A child is not a competition or something you have so you
can live in a fancy house. A child is a miracle, a soul commitment
between mother and child, and father and child. You know
that.”

Tanesha looked at her tea.

“
This is never going to
work,” Tanesha said. “He’s got all this . . . and
I . . . have to deal with it and
I . . . can’t.”

“
Jabari’s pretty great,”
Heather said.

Tanesha nodded and held the cup up to her
nose.

“
Have you met Jeraine
Junior?” Heather asked.

Tanesha shook her head. They looked at the
front door when they heard the woman yelling at Jeraine. Heather
clapped in the direction of the porch and Tanesha grinned. They
were not above being glad Jeraine was getting his just deserts.

“
I should be like that,”
Tanesha said. “Yell it out, but I . . .”

“
Eh,” Heather shrugged.
“We all have our ways.”

Tanesha looked at Heather. Her eyes took in
her best friend’s face. Used to Tanesha’s scrutiny, Heather
smiled.

“
If you could make a wish
and make this situation exactly as you wanted it to be, what would
you wish?” Heather asked.

“
I don’t know,” Tanesha
said.

“
Humor me,” Heather said.
“You’ve spent all this energy worrying and being angry. What if you
spent a little time wishing for what you wanted rather than being
angry that things aren’t?”

“
Is this some ‘wish and
the universe provides’ crap?” Tanesha asked.

“
What if it is?” Heather
asked. “Humor me.”

Tanesha drank her tea while she thought.
Heather waited.

“
I guess I’d wish that
Jabari were well,” Tanesha said.

“
Would you wish Jer’s
children didn’t exist?” Heather asked.

Tanesha scowled as she gave it real
thought.

“
No,” Tanesha said. “I
think they’re a big reason Jer’s in recovery and stuff.”

“
What about Miss Thing on
the front porch?” Heather asked.

Tanesha scowled and drank her tea.

“
I can wish anything?”
Tanesha asked.

“
Anything,” Heather
said.

“
I wish she were a better
person,” Tanesha said. “Nicer, wiser. You know how much money he’s
spent on her?”

Heather shook her head.

“
Two hundred and fifty
thousand dollars a year,” Tanesha said. “More than a million
dollars plus expenses like housing and food.”

Tanesha shook her head.

“
I wish the mother of his
child would use some of that money to become educated so the child
would be educated.”

“
Jer says she’s going to
radiology school,” Heather said.

“
Did you hear how she
speaks?” Tanesha shook her head. “If she’s graduated the tenth
grade, I’d be surprised.”

“
So what do you want?”
Heather asked.

“
I wish she spent as much
money on improving herself as she does on her nails,” Tanesha said.
“I mean, she’s the mother of Jeraine’s child. She should be
hardworking and smart and educated and sassy
and . . . ”

Tanesha shook her head.

“
I don’t know,” Tanesha
said. “I wish I had more tea.”

Tanesha set the cup down.

“
You wanna go see Sandy
now?” Tanesha asked.

“
Good idea,” Heather said.
“We’ll stop and bring her lunch.”

“
I’ll get my purse,”
Tanesha said.

She went upstairs to her bedroom. When
Heather came around the counter, she noticed that Tanesha’s once
empty cup was now full of tea.

And it was hot.

More than a little freaked
out by that, Heather went to the bottom of the stairs. Tanesha came
down a moment later and they left to see Sandy
.