Fixin’ Tyrone (36 page)

When she got home Tyrone and the kids were sprawled on the living room floor playing Go Fish with a deck of regular playing cards. The kids greeted their mom briefly and then went immediately back to their cards. Only Tyrone’s gaze lingered. Mia forced a smile at him and nodded. He nodded back and then asked Mica if she had a four.

“Go fish.”

* * *

When the kids were bathed and fast asleep, Mia snuggled with her boyfriend on the couch.

“So she wasn’t really tripping?” he asked.

“She was when I tried to leave, but she knew I wasn’t changing my mind.”

“Did she ever admit to what was going on?”

“Not really. She kept saying it wasn’t a big deal. The counselors will help.”

“You going to work tomorrow?” he asked.

“Yeah.”

“You gonna get those people to pick up the kids from school?”

“Yes. I already talked to them. I’m not going to stay too late, these next few weeks at least. I’ll be off at five.”

Tyrone nodded. “So how
you
doing?”

Mia subconsciously rubbed the scratch on her face. Tyrone saw the move, and his eyes flashed fire, but then it was gone.

“I’ll be all right,” Mia said. “It’s only three months. When she gets out, I think she’ll have a good head on her shoulders. Maybe she’ll want to do something better with her life.”

Tyrone smiled. “
Like me
.”

Mia smiled too. “Yeah. Like you. How are
you
doing?”

“What you mean?”

“I mean with the kids and your new ambitions. How you handling all of this?”

“Oh, I’m cool,” he said. “I told you I wanted to raise Mica like she was mine.”

Mia couldn’t understand how just a few months ago those exact words made her sick to the stomach. “What about that other stuff?” she asked. “You still think you wanna go through all that?”

Tyrone looked at her like she said the world was flat. “Yeah, I wanna do it. Why wouldn’t I?”

“I don’t know. You might think it’s too hard.”

“It’s not so hard,” he said, and kissed her. “All I have to do is go to school.”

“Make good grades,” she said.

He put his hand under her shirt and held her side. The hand slid up to her breast.

“I’m gonna make all A’s,” he said and kissed her again.

Mia closed her eyes. “It’s gonna be hard,” she whispered.

Tyrone took her hand and placed it in his lap. “It’s already hard.”

Mia giggled and opened her eyes. “You freak.” Then she squeezed it and said, “
Ooh
.”

“I know I’m not supposed to spend the night more than once a week . . .” Tyrone said.

“I see you still remember the rules,” Mia noticed.

“I told you, I’m going to make all A’s,” he said.

Mia didn’t know what it was about him, but Tyrone seemed serious about everything. She knew the road ahead was rough, worse than either of them really expected, but she believed they could make it. It was ridiculous, anyone would tell her so, but she had faith in Tyrone.

“Come on,” she said. “But don’t think I’m a pushover.”

“Trust me, I know you’re not.”

She took him to her bedroom and rocked
his
world this time around. Tyrone wasn’t normally a vocal lover, but when she got on top and held his chest, grinding like it was his birthday, Tyrone’s ecstasy was too much to contain.

“Mia.”

“What?”

“That . . . that feels good.”

“
Huh?
”

“That feels . . . that feels good.”

“I know.”

* * *

When he rolled her onto her back, and looked into her eyes, and they were face to face and breast to breast, Mia believed a meshing of souls was occurring as the sweat on their bellies mingled.

FIXIN’ TYRONE

“Wake up, sleepyhead.”

Tyrone rolled over. He wore only boxing shorts. The lone blanket on the bed was draped over his legs. Staring at his muscular torso and arms made Mia want to slide back between the sheets with him. He shook off the last holds of sleep and smiled at her.

Mia wore a dark blue skirt suit with a white blouse today.

“You been up already?” he asked.

“I’ve already taken the kids to school, lazy. I’m on my way to work.”

“Why you didn’t wake me up?”

Mia sat on the corner of the bed and held his head against her chest. “You looked so peaceful, I didn’t want to bother you.”

He rubbed his face on her stomach. “You smell good.”

“You smell like
sex
,” she said.

“It was good. I’m not gonna take a bath. I want to smell like this all day.”

“
Eww. Nasty
.”

He sat up and looked around the room. “Where my pants?”

Mia found them on the other side of the bed. “You’re just throwing your clothes everywhere.”

“I don’t even remember taking them off,” he said and stood. Even half sleep he was awesomely handsome. Mia stepped to him and put both hands on his chest.

“I like these,” she said, rubbing from top to bottom.

Tyrone dropped his pants and grabbed the bulge in the back of Mia’s skirt. “I like
these
,” he said.

Mia stood eye level with his Adam’s apple. She kissed it, then his collarbone, then the side of his neck. Tyrone squeezed harder, and Mia felt him growing against her belly. She backed away and eyed the bulge in his boxers.

“That was quick.”

He licked his lips. “You look good, Mia. It took you a long time to put all that stuff on?”

“Yeah,” she admitted. “It did.”

“So, you probably don’t want to take it all off then, huh?”

“Wish I could, baby. I
really
do.”

Tyrone reluctantly picked up his britches. “You sure you don’t need me to pick the kids up today?”

“No. It’s all taken care of. This place they’re going to is really good. They’re already picking up twelve kids from the school. One of them is in TC’s class. I talked to a few parents, too. Everybody likes them. They say it’s one of the best day cares in the city—and they should be for what they’re charging.”

“If you let me watch them, you could save that money.”

“It’s all right,” Mia said. “But we do need to start getting some money saved for
your
schooling. Do you have a bank account?”

Tyrone sat on the corner of the bed, slipping into his shoes. He grinned at her.

“So, we’re starting already?”

“
The Plan
officially started at the hospital when you said you were willing to try.”

“I’m not just gonna try. I’m gonna succeed. Is that what you’re calling it?
The Plan
?”

“Yeah. I like The Plan, you got something better?”

“How bout
Tyrone’s Super Sexy Gangstalicious Plan
?”

“Yeah, we’ll just roll with The Plan, if that’s all right with you.”

Tyrone chuckled. “That’s fine with me, ma’am. But I don’t make a lot with my uncle. I think we’d be better off funding my education with dope money.”

Mia tossed his tee shirt at him, hitting him in the face. “I think we’ll be okay with what little you can bring in,” she said. “How much do you make? Do you get paid by the week or what?”

“You’re serious?”

Mia looked him in the eyes. “From now on, when we talk about The Plan, I’m always serious.”

Tyrone’s wages came out to $25 to $30 a day, which he was paid cash. Some evenings he made more, but they used the $25 as a base salary. With $125 coming in a week, Mia thought he should save $50 of it for his school expenses. Tyrone thought he could save up to $100, but Mia said he should give his mother some type of rent. Even though it was not requested, it was still necessary if he was to become a responsible adult.

Tyrone agreed. Fifty dollars a week would go to The Plan. That left $75 for the rent and other miscellaneous needs. Tyrone’s only objection was that he’d have no money to spend on the kids, but Mia came up with a whole list of activities that were both free and adored by TC and Mica, like the library, the park, and the museum on certain days. She said she’d even get them season passes so they could go to Six Flags. Tyrone said he could also take the kids to Cleburne to visit Maw Maw sometimes.

“They had a lot of fun down there,” he noted. “And that’s always free.”

“Now you’re thinking,” Mia said.

She dropped him off and went to work a little apprehensive about the new afterschool arrangements on that first day, but her worries were totally unfounded. When Mia picked her children up, they were happy and excited. Not only did their caregivers help them with their homework, but they had a copy of Woodway’s curriculum for the whole school year. TC and Mica got a head start on topics their teachers wouldn’t bring up for a couple of weeks.

Everyone missed Crystal, but Mia was very happy with her alternative plan.

* * *

Because he spent the night Monday and Tuesday, Mia didn’t expect to see Tyrone again until the weekend, but he called her Thursday night.

“Hello?”

“What’s up. It’s Tyrone.”

“Where are you calling from?”

“I’m with my homeboy. This his cell phone. Can I stop by for a minute?”

“It’s late. I’m getting the kids ready for bed. I’m tired, too.”

“It won’t take that long. I don’t want to come in. I just need to see you for a second.”

“All right,” Mia said. “How long before you’re here?”

“I’m on the road now. I’ll be there in five minutes.”

Tyrone called again a few minutes later and said he was pulling up. Mia turned the porch light off on her way outside, but reached in to flip it back on when she caught a look at her man: Tyrone wore blue jeans and a white tee shirt. His shirt was not only ripped at the collar, but had a bloodstain on the chest area. The source of the blood was quickly traced to Tyrone’s face: His bottom lip—
his beautiful bottom lip
—was bruised. Half of it was swollen, and there was a small cut.

Mia turned the light off again, her chest pounding, her eyes wide. “What happened?”

“I got into it with ol’ boy, Crystal’s boyfriend
Sydney
.”

“What do you mean you ‘
got into it
’?”

“Okay, I went and found him.”

Looking at Tyrone’s physique, Mia would have never thought he’d lose a fight, but the evidence was clear. “He beat you up?”

Tyrone looked incredulous. He knitted his eyebrows and smiled. His wonderful smile was marred by that fat lip. “Naw, he didn’t beat me up. He only hit me one time.”

Mia reached up and touched the wound. “It looks bad.”

Tyrone rubbed it too. “Yeah. I didn’t think he had nothing in him. I walked up to him, talking shit, you know, asking about him getting Crystal high and raping her. He started apologizing right off, so I figured he was a punk. I slapped him a couple of times, still talking shit. I’m
playing with him
really, but he ducked under one of my punches and came up with his fists raised. He caught me in the mouth that one time.”

“He hit you?”

“Yeah, but it was my fault. I was the one goofing around. I thought he was weak, but that ugly nigga had a little something.”

Mia couldn’t help but chuckle. “What happened after that?”

“Shit, I beat his monkey ass. Once I saw he had some skills, I stopped playing. I messed him up pretty good. Made him tell the truth about what happened.”

“What’d he say?”

“He said
Crystal
was the one who called him over. He said she’d been calling him every since you caught him in the house. He said
she
was the one wanted to get high,
and
he said she was the one who kept snorting even after he told her she had enough. He said she stole two pills from him. Oh, and he said she was still woke when they started, you know.”

“You believe him?” Mia asked.

“Yeah. I had that fool in a choke hold. He wasn’t lying.”

Mia shook her head. She looked past Tyrone and saw an old-school Fleetwood idling on the street. “Who is that? Y’all jumped him?”

“That’s my homeboy Kody,” Tyrone said. “And, naw, we didn’t jump him. I don’t need no help fighting.”

Mia stepped forward and wrapped her arms around him. Tyrone did the same. “I told you violence doesn’t solve anything,” she said.