One Way or Another (13 page)

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Authors: Rhonda Bowen

BOOK: One Way or Another
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He laughed humorlessly. “According to her, both of us couldn't be dumb and broke.” Trey shook his head. “You would have thought she was the older one the way she handled business.”
He pressed his fist to his mouth and rocked back and forth a little. “I should have talked to her about the house. Even after the fight, I should have talked to her. Maybe if I had ... Who knows?”
Adam looked at Toni and felt like he was seeing her for the first time. He was starting to understand her—the independence, the mistrust, the unhappiness. Trey was right. She wasn't over it. Not by a long shot.
The heart monitor seemed to beep too loudly in the room as they sat watching Toni breathe in and out slowly. Adam rested her fingers against his lips and closed his eyes. He felt Jasmine grab his arm. And then they did the only thing the three of them knew how to do. They prayed.
Chapter 15
“O
kay, I've got Premiere Pink, Satin Sheets, and Shine On,” Camille said, walking into the hospital room and emptying a small pharmacy bag filled with manicure supplies near the foot of Toni's bed.
Toni looked up from the morning's edition of the
AJC
at her friend, who began setting out supplies on what was supposed to be Toni's lunch table, but which had now turned into a cosmetics counter. “You know I'm not into the nail polish thing but, girl, your nails look a hot mess. What were you doing in Mississippi? Crawling through the mud?”
“Well, good morning to you too,” Toni said with a laugh.
Camille slipped around the side of the bed and gave Toni a quick hug. “You know it's all good. So which one is it gonna be?”
Toni opened her mouth to answer but the words never made it out.
“Can you believe they wanted to search me out front?” Afrika asked, stomping into the room. Camille and Toni exchanged a look and bit back smiles.
“Asking me if I got any weapons in my purse, just 'cause the metal detector went off.”
“Afrika, did you forget to leave your box cutter in the car again?” Toni asked with a grin.
Afrika narrowed her eyes at Toni and put her hands on her hips. “You know, for your freshness I ought to make you stay up in here with your unibrow.”
Toni's eyes widened in horror as she slapped her hand to her brow line. Camille burst into laughter.
Toni turned her alarmed eyes on Camille. “You couldn't tell me that I looked like a werewolf?” she screeched, grabbing the mirror Camille had set out on the table earlier. “What kind of friend are you?”
She scowled when she realized that Afrika had been exaggerating. She should have known. “You know you wrong for that,” she said, pursing her lips at Afrika.
“Hmph.” Afrika grinned as she came over and gave her friend a hug. “I got you good though, didn't I?”
“Whatever,” Toni said, rolling her eyes. But as she looked back and forth between Camille, who was pulling out cotton and acetone, and Afrika, who had retrieved three different tweezers and thread from her purse, she couldn't help but laugh.
“You guys are crazy,” Toni said, shaking her head. But she wiggled her fingers gratefully at Camille, glad to be pampered for a bit.
“So what's the deal anyway?” Camille held out all three bottles of nail polish to Toni. “When are they letting you out of here? It's been like what, a week and a half?”
Toni picked a bottle and Camille put the other two away.
“They say in a day or two I should be good to go.” Toni pulled herself into a sitting position. “They're just keeping me a bit longer for observation.”
Camille opened the windows to let out the smell of the polish and then sat on the edge of the bed across from Afrika, who was already using a tiny comb on Toni's thick eyebrows.
“Ouch!” Toni squealed as Afrika's thread pinched her skin. Afrika had recently learned to thread eyebrows. She wasn't perfect yet, but she insisted on using Toni as her crash test dummy.
“Shush,” Afrika chided. “You didn't feel a thing.”
“So I guess I must have imagined the pain a second ago,” Toni said dryly.
“Mmm-hmm,” Afrika said. “Just like Camille and I imagined a certain guy who doesn't wear suits, leaving as we were comin' in.”
Toni bit her lip but said nothing.
“Was he here all night?” Camille asked casually, as she finished off the first coat of polish on Toni's left hand.
Toni sighed. “Yes, he was,” she said wearily. “With Trey and his wife, and Naomi and a bunch of other people.”
“I didn't see them this morning though,” Afrika said slowly as she pretended to think back. “Did you, Camille?”
“Uh-uh,” Camille said, shaking her head. “I don't think I saw them either. I think I would have remembered so many people.”
“They came and went,” Toni said defensively. “I was so drugged up last night, I barely remember who was here.”
“And what's with this Trey-and-his-wife business?” Afrika asked as she got up and switched sides with Camille. “You still got a beef with Jasmine?”
“She's still buying the house my parents were killed in, isn't she?” Toni snapped back.
“Look, I know Jasmine has passed her place a bunch of times,” Afrika said. “And you know that usually I would be right behind you calling her crazy behind out on all the mess she pulls, but she's still your brother's wife. And you don't want to make him have to choose between the two of you. No matter which way that goes, it ain't gonna end well, you know?”
Toni shrugged. “He's already chosen her. So let them have each other and leave me out of it. Jasmine and I don't have to love each other for her and Trey to be together.”
Camille and Afrika exchanged a look.
“You know she's the one who found you, right?” Camille asked quietly. She had been silent for a while, and even after she had spoken, she didn't look up at Toni. “Do you even remember what happened?”
Toni bit her lip and shook her head. She felt her stomach tighten as she watched Afrika and Camille exchange a look of concern.
Camille put the cover on the nail polish and let out a slow breath. When she finally turned her gaze on Toni, the fear in her eyes told Toni exactly how serious the situation had been.
“She had come to see you, to work things out,” Camille said. “She buzzed and knocked for fifteen minutes. She was gonna leave, thinking you just didn't want to talk to her. But then you opened the door and collapsed right in front of her. She tried to wake you but you wouldn't respond. You weren't breathing, and they couldn't find a pulse. She thought you were ...”
Camille swallowed and looked away. Even Afrika had ceased threading, and was holding on to Toni's other hand tightly.
“Jasmine called Adam screaming,” Afrika continued. “Then she called me. Trey was on a flight so they couldn't reach him.”
“T, she was so scared,” Afrika said, shaking her head.
“
We
were so scared,” Camille added, blinking back tears. “We didn't know if you were going to make it. I couldn't believe I got my friend back for a minute and was about to lose her again.”
Toni blinked back the moisture in her eyes as she tried to forget those hours of misery.
“What happened to you, girl?”Afrika asked incredulously after a moment. “Was it something in Biloxi?”
Toni shook her head. She didn't want to talk about what had been happening to her over the past couple weeks. She had never told anyone. And why should she? She could take care of herself. That's what she had been doing since the day her parents died.
“I've just been dealing with a lot lately,” Toni said, looking down at her newly polished fingers curled in her lap, but barely even seeing them.
A beat of silence fell among all of them before Toni spoke.
“It was the anniversary a month ago. I can't believe it's been ten years since they've been gone. It feels like yesterday.”
She told them about her parents' deaths and everything that happened after, even about Trey's betrayal. When she was done, both of them looked like they needed a Hoyer lift to pull their jaws back up.
Camille was the first to speak. “I can't believe I never knew all of this.” She shook her head. “I knew your parents died and that it had been bad. It was all over the news. But I thought your aunt had been taking care of you. And then Trey wasn't around... .”
“How come you never told me any of this before?” A mix of sorrow and anger molded Afrika's features as she interrupted Camille. “Dang, Toni, we've been close for a couple years now. And I feel like I don't even know you.”
“I know the feeling.”
All three women looked up to find Trey leaning against the door frame.
“Can I come in?”
“Of course you can,” Camille said. Toni pinched her hard and Camille jumped and snatched her arm away.
“I'm glad I finally caught you awake,” Trey said, taking a few steps into the room, but not coming much further. His eyes looked relieved and sad all at the same time as he stared at Toni.
She felt something tug at her heart. She loved her brother so much. He was the only real family she had left, and she would do anything for him. But sometimes she felt like the feeling wasn't mutual. It hurt to give so much of yourself to someone and not have it returned.
Camille cleared her throat and slipped off the bed. Afrika quickly followed suit.
“We're, uh, gonna run down to the café, for a minute,” she said, kissing Toni on the cheek. “We'll be back in a bit.”
“Catch you later,” Afrika said, squeezing Toni's hand before she followed Camille out of the room.
Toni and Trey watched them leave. And when they could no longer avoid it, they both turned to look at each other.
Trey sighed. “So I know you're mad at me. And you have every right to be.”
He came and sat in a chair near Toni's bed. “But you're my sister. And I hate knowing that we're fighting. You gotta know that I never thought buying the house would hurt you. You always acted like you were over everything. Like it didn't matter anymore.”
Toni looked away from him, tears of anger burning her eyes.
“Toni, talk to me, please,” Trey said, clasping her hand between both of his. “Tell me what you're thinking.”
“I'm thinking that you should have known better,” Toni said, turning toward him again. “I'm thinking that even if you thought it was okay, you should have at least told me about it before you announced it to the world. I know I can't tell you and Jasmine how to live your lives. I don't want to. But I never did anything that was going to affect you without telling you,” Toni said. “When it came time to decide what happened to the house, I asked you if you cared if we sold it—”
“... And you took care of me through all of it,” Trey finished. “I haven't forgotten what you did for me, Toni. How you sacrificed everything so that I could have what I needed.
“I want to make sure that you have what you need, as well. But I can't if you never tell me. If you act like you're fine and you got it handled all the time, how am I supposed to know when something's wrong? Most of the time ...” He paused and looked down.
“Most of the time I feel like you don't need me at all,” he said heavily. “Like your life would be just fine whether or not I was in it. Which sucks, 'cause I really need you.”
“Trey, that's about the dumbest thing I ever heard you say,” Toni said, as she pulled her brother into an embrace. “There's never going to be a time when I don't need you. You're pretty much stuck with me for life, buddy.”
He laughed as he returned her embrace. When they both finally stopped hugging, Trey took her hands in his.
“You gotta talk to me, baby sis. You can't be Miss Independent all the time. Let me know what's going on with you. Can you do that?”
Toni nodded. “Yes.”
“Are you sure? Do you promise?”
She laughed. “I promise”
“I love you, little sister,” he said. “I don't tell you all the time 'cause it's weird. But don't ever forget it. Okay?”
She nodded.
“Good,” Trey said, sitting back with a satisfied sigh. “Now let's talk about Jasmine.”
“Trey, no,” Toni said firmly, the smile disappearing from her face.
“Come on, Toni. You both are the most important women in my life,” he said tiredly. “How am I supposed to survive if the two of you are always at war?”
Toni pouted but said nothing. How come she was always the one who got the lecture about getting along with Jasmine, like it was all on her? Jasmine was always the one making waves. Toni was always the one who would have to deal with it. But whenever Toni had something to say, she would get the lecture.
“Whose idea was it to buy the house, Trey?” Toni asked.
He grimaced. “It was a mutual decision. Jasmine and I came to it together.”
“You didn't answer my question,” Toni replied stubbornly, her eyes narrowed. “Whose
idea
was it?”
Trey sighed and rubbed a hand over his face. “It was my idea.”
Toni and Trey both looked up to see Jasmine standing at the door. Toni felt every muscle in her body tighten. She turned her eyes back on Trey and said, “That's what I thought.”
“Toni—”

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