Fixin’ Tyrone (39 page)

Mia had to learn how to come home and fix dinner for a man, but that task actually thrilled her. Tyrone eagerly devoured anything she put on his plate and wanted seconds most of the time. TC used to be the one with the voracious appetite, and everyone finally saw where he got it from.

Mia had to give up half the space in her bedroom, but she would have eagerly given up more to be with Tyrone. She came home from work, showered, and waited for her man now. When Tyrone got home dirty and stinky, she loved his messy clothes and adored his funky smell. She loved how motor oil would stay under his nails for days at a time, and how he needed help scrubbing the middle part of his back when he showered. Mia would scrub that back for the next fifty years if she could.

She admired Tyrone’s handyman qualities, too. One of the kitchen drawers had been hard to manipulate for ten years, but Tyrone had it sliding smoothly in five minutes. He fixed the leak in Crystal’s bathroom, too, and renovated Mia’s backyard. The reason she didn’t want to get the kids a dog was because her picket fence didn’t come flush to the ground all the way around. Even a big dog could have burrowed under it. But Tyrone brought in wood, bricks, and dirt to solve the problem.

Three days later he brought home a two-month-old Labrador retriever. The kids were so excited, they nearly peed their pants. Mia thought it was the most precious thing she’d ever seen, and even Crystal couldn’t stop cuddling the chocolate lab. As a group, they settled on the name Queenie, and thanks to Tyrone, they had their first family pet.

Mia loved a lot of things about their new living arrangements, but the in-house sex was close to the top of the list. Even a year and a half out of prison, Tyrone still laid pipe like a Viagra-popping porn star. They made love in the closet. They made love in the shower. They made love in the evening, and they made love at daybreak before Mia woke the kids.

One such morning, Tyrone rolled over to suckle Mia’s breasts.

“I’ve got some bad news,” he said between licks.

“You’re making my nipple hard.”

“I know,” he said, then sucked the other for uniformity. “But I got some bad news.”

“What’s wrong?”

Tyrone moved downward and ducked his head between Mia’s legs. He kissed the outer lips, then licked down the middle. “I got rejected for another job,” he said, and licked again.

Mia squirmed. “Where at?”

“Auto Boys
.
”

“The one with those stupid commercials?” Mia asked, and then bit her bottom lip. “
Oh
.”

Tyrone sucked and kissed some more. “They start their mechanics off at $25 an hour.”

“You’ll make th—
thirty
,” she said, and moaned.

“You sure?” he asked, and his lips latched on to her clitoris.

Mia’s legs clamped closed on his head. “
Stop.
”

“Why?”

“’Cause we don’t have time.”

“We got plenty time,” he said, and mounted like he was trying to make a baby.

* * *

Even with his certificate from ATI, it was still five months before Tyrone found a good job. By then he was already enrolled in community college, taking four core courses and one remedial class; math was never Tyrone’s strong point. When he came home from work one day clean and neat, Mia expected the worst.

“You got fired?”

“From my uncle’s shop? Why would they fire me?”

“Why you so clean?” she asked.

“’Cause I quit,” Tyrone said with a smirk.

Mia thought she knew her man better than that. “Why would you quit your only job?”

“It wasn’t my only job,” he informed. “I had
two
jobs for a while today, so I had to quit one.”

Mia smiled. “You got a job?”

“I got a damned good job,” he said. “I got a job at Auto Boys.”

“I thought you said they told you
no
.”

“They did. I went back up there and tried again.”

That was bold, even for Tyrone. “Why would you do that?”

“I got a homeboy who works there. He told me they have
two
supervisors. One’s a bitch. The other one’s cool. Turns out I interviewed with the
bitch
the first time. I went back on his day off.”

Mia laughed. “What about your criminal record?”

“This other guy still asked about it, but when I told him I just got out of ATI, he
really
wanted me. And since I didn’t get locked up for stealing or for shooting somebody, he said he could work with my felony.”

Mia didn’t think she’d ever been happier. “What happens when the first supervisor sees you?”

“I told the other supervisor about that. He says I shouldn’t care what Mr. Dickerson says because Mr. Dickerson ain’t running nothing.”

Mia jumped up and threw her arms around him. “We’ve got to go out for dinner.”

“It’s not a big deal.”

She gave him a dumb look. “What do you mean? This is damned-sure a big deal. How much do you make?”

Tyrone smiled. “I told you they start off at $25 an hour, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, since I went to ATI, they’re giving me $30.”

Mia shook her head slowly, her eyes filling with moisture. “I knew you could do it.”

“You’re the
only
one who did,” he said. “That’s why I got you this.”

Tyrone’s jewelry box was felt this time, and the gold-plated, diamond teardrop earrings were exquisite.

“Tyrone.”

“It’s okay.”

“How can you afford this?”

“I had the money.”

“How?”

“In the bank.”

“You’re not supposed to spend that. You need that for your shop.”

“That’s two years away.”

“But you’re going to need as much as possible.”

“I’ll put it back. I make thirty dollars an hour now.”

“How much did these cost?”

“Don’t do that.”

“Tell me.”

“No.”

“
Tyrone.
”

“It’s the best gift I’ve ever given you,” he said. “I want you to have them.”

“The best gift you’ve given me is getting a good job. You graduated from ATI and you’re doing good in college. I don’t need this.”

“I want you to have them.”

“Take ’em back.”

“Mia.”

“Take them back,” she said. But he wouldn’t.

* * *

The next two years were difficult, but everyone was ready for that. Tyrone’s new job at Auto Boys paid well, but the hours were hard on his school schedule. Technically, he made enough to forget the rest of The Plan, but he never even thought about quitting, even when his remedial math had him bogged down in fractions and decimals. He did his homework late into the night, usually in the dining room so Mia could still get her sleep. She found him passed out on the table at three o’clock one morning.

“Tyrone.”

He lifted his head and immediately began to write.

“Tyrone, come to bed.”

“I can’t. I didn’t do well on my last test. The teacher says I need to study more.”

“What’d you get on your last test?”

“A sixty-five.”

“Isn’t that still passing?”

“
It is in college, but it wasn’t in high school. I don’t know why, but when I see
sixty-five
, I still think I’m failing.”

Mia stood behind him and wrapped her arms around his neck. Each time she thought she could be no more proud of him, Tyrone proved her wrong.

* * *

He ended up making a B in his remedial math class, but got an A in College Algebra six months later. After his first year at community college, Tyrone showed Mia his transcript. The B in remedial math was his lowest grade.

“I
almost
made straight A’s,” he said.

Mia smiled. “Tyrone, you don’t have to make straight A’s. That you’ve done this much makes me happy. Everyone’s proud of you.”

He shook his head. “Uhn-uhn. I told you I was going to make straight A’s, and I meant it.”

And he wasn’t lying.

Halfway into his second year of college, Tyrone brought home a certificate from the administration office. Mia stared at it, then pulled him down to the couch.

Tyrone sat next to her, nodding and grinning like a pedophile at day camp.

“You made the dean’s list?” Mia asked.

“That’s what that paper says.”

Mia was awed. “Tyrone, how is it possible that you barely squeaked by in high school, failed a couple of your
electives
, as a matter of fact, but now you’re rolling through college with straight A’s?”

“It’s not
me
. It’s
you
,” he said.

“No, it’s not. You’re the one staying up all night to do this stuff.”

“Yeah, but I wouldn’t have done it if not for you. I would have been on the block selling dope. You know it.”

Mia did know it.

“I want you to let me take some money out of my account so I can buy you a ring,” Tyrone said. “I want us to get married.”

That was not the proposal Mia had dreamed of. It wasn’t even as romantic as Eric’s blubbering declaration of love, but it made Mia very happy just the same.

“We don’t have to get a diamond right now,” she said. “We just need the wedding bands. I’ll get them.”

Tyrone lit up. “When?”

“Soon,” she said, and they kissed like newlyweds.

* * *

Mia took her man’s certificate to the beauty shop with her the following Sunday, but the women at Claire’s pulled another swift one on her.

“I knew he was gonna do good,” Gayle said.

“That is not what you said!” Mia was starting to think she’d gone crazy, but Vasantha had her back.

“Yeah, you said Tyrone wouldn’t never be shit. I remember.”

“I never said that,” Gayle said.

“Yes, you did,” Vasantha said. “You said it after Mia left.”

“What?” Mia said.

Vasantha leaned in for a conspiratorial whisper. “Don’t worry about these bitches, I got your back.”

“
You
said Tyrone was going to take all her money,” Gayle reminded the golden-skinned girl.

“I didn’t say that,” Vasantha said.

“Yes, you did,” Mia said. “You said that while I was sitting right here. But both of y’all were wrong. Tyrone’s doing great. If he stayed in school two more years and got a bachelors, he could get any job wanted.”

“All right,” Gayle said, “so you’re a miracle worker. Tell me how you did it, ’cause this lazy nigga I got at my house is about two minutes from getting evicted.”

“You just have to encourage them,” Mia said sheepishly.

“Yeah, right. You must have diamonds between your legs,” Gayle guessed.

“Tyrone says it’s
platinum
,” Mia said, and the room erupted in laughter. “We’re getting married,” she said when the noise died down, and that brought a fresh round of questioning. But
no one
had anything bad to say about Tyrone this time.

* * *

Tyrone got his associates degree in business on a warm July afternoon.

Later that day, he and Mia were married at a private ceremony in Mia’s back yard. She would have married him
after
they got his business going, but Tyrone wanted to go into the venture as husband and wife.

TC was the ring bearer and Mica was the flower girl. Vasantha was Mia’s maid of honor, and a tall, skinny man with too many teeth was Tyrone’s best man. Mia didn’t really know the guy, but nothing could spoil that day for her. Not even when Queenie, a full-grown dog now, barked as they read their vows.

* * *

After three years of saving, Tyrone had an astounding $18,000 in his bank account. Mia couldn’t believe it, but he showed her his statement. And there it was, in black and white.

Eighteen thousand dollars
.

“How’d you save this much money?”

“What do you mean?”

“This is a lot of money.”

“I’ve been saving religiously,” he said.

“Fifty dollars a week?”

Tyrone gave her a silly look. “I’ve been putting in three hundred a week since I started at Auto Boys.”

Mia squinted at the digits again. “You had enough to buy me a ring then.”