The Joneses (14 page)

I sat down. “Got a lot on my mind.”

“If that dude is giving you the blues like this, you don't need him.”

“That's the same thing Charity said.”

“Then why are you putting yourself through all of these changes?”

“I love him,” I confessed.

“Baby girl, take it from me. I'm a man. When I really care about a woman, I treat her with the upmost respect. I've had some girlfriends who I treated any kind of way. You want to know why?”

“Why?”

“They allowed me to. I could run over them. Like the one I'm with now, she barely sees me but she don't give me no flack about it. She's there when I need some loving. Do I care? No, because I
don't have to put in any work. I'll keep her until I meet someone else better.”

“But that's not fair to her. She probably cares about you. You shouldn't string her along when you know you really don't want to be with her.”

“Exactly. So you see, the guy you're with, he don't respect you. You seem to be the only one committed in your relationship.”

Lovie gave me something to think about. I left his office reconsidering the relationship with Tyler. My dad's office door was now open. He wasn't inside. I took a seat and waited for him to return.

“There you are. Shannon told me you were here,” he said as he walked in, leaned down, and hugged me.

“Charity told me you stopped by last night.”

“Yes, and from what I understand you were out. Who's this young man you've been seeing?” he asked, as he removed his jacket and hung it up on the coat rack.

“Dad, I didn't come here to talk about my personal business.”

“Well, that's why I wanted to see you. You girls don't hang out with your old man no more. You definitely don't tell me what's going on in your lives. If it's not about me giving you money, I don't hear from you.”

Ouch. That stung. “Dad, I'm not that bad, am I?”

He looked at me without saying a word. “You can remedy that. Why don't you bring your boyfriend over for dinner tonight?”

“I'll have to check with him.”

“Call him or text him. Just let me know. Your mom's going to kill me. You know she don't like last-minute things. But I really want to meet the man who has been getting a lot of my little girl's time.”

“Oh, I didn't know you had a guest,” Jason said.

My dad responded, “Come on in, man. Have a seat.”

I turned, looked at Jason, and rolled my eyes.

“My favorite niece. How've you been?” Jason said, as he took a seat next to me.

“Fine.”

Shannon walked in. “Royce, someone's up front to see you.”

“My office is like Grand Central Station today. Y'all wait right here, and I'll be right back.” He got up, grabbed his jacket, and put it on before leaving us alone.

Jason leaned over. “Miss me? Or better yet, do you miss my money yet?”

He placed his hand on my knee. I knocked it off. “I wouldn't do that if I was you.”

“You can make things up to me. Meet me at our spot in about two hours.”

“It will be a cold day in hell before I let you touch me ever again.” I looked him in the eyes and didn't flinch.

Jason laughed. “Hope, I don't know who this man is you've been seeing, but dear, don't get the big head. Once mine, always mine.” He winked his eye.

“I know I didn't hear what I thought I heard,” Lovie said.

He caught Jason and I both off-guard. I looked up with a shocked expression on my face.

Jason stood up. “It depends on what you heard.”

“Sounds like you were threatening my sister.”

“No, man. LJ, what have I done to you? You seem hell bent on accusing me of something. First it was the money, and now your sister.”

Lovie looked at me. “I'm not talking to you. Hope, is he threatening you?”

“No.” I lied.

I felt the room closing in on me. I left Lovie and Jason in my dad's office by themselves.

I ran into my dad near the front door. “Dad, I'll get back with you on dinner.”

“Pudding, you don't have to go,” my dad insisted.

“I promised Charity I would pick something up for her.” I told another lie.

Being close to Jason made me ill. I couldn't get out of there fast enough. I headed straight to Tyler's office. The receptionist at the front desk said, “We don't have a Williams Construction in this building.”

“Are you sure? Because this is where he told me he worked.”

“Ma'am, I've been working in this building for fifteen years and I know everybody here.”

I left the lobby, and went and sat in my car. If Tyler lied about his place of employment, what else was he lying to me about?

I sat in my dad's seat, while staring at Jason. I refused to leave him alone in his office.

Jason rubbed his face. “I should sue you for hitting me.”

I responded, “Go right ahead, and then we can tell my dad why I knocked you the hell out in the first place.”

“Son, you need to stay out of your parents' business.”

“You forget. This is my business, too, and I will die before I let you or anyone else come in and destroy what my parents have built, and that includes their marriage.”

Jason clapped. “I could tell you some things about your parents that would have you eating those words.”

All of the tension I was feeling settled right in the middle of my chest. “Jason, I'm not my dad. I see you for the snake you are.”

“If you only knew the whole story, you might change your mind.”

“I know enough. In fact, follow me to my office.”

I stood up and walked out of the room with Jason on my heels. I went to my office and pulled out several documents out of a huge brown folder. His eyes bucked when he read over the documents.

“Where did you get this?” Jason stuttered.

I leaned back in my chair and smiled. “You did a good job covering things up, but not good enough.”

“What you have here are trumped-up documents.”

“We can handle this one of two ways. I can give it to the
authorities, and let them decide whether they're authentic, which you know may lead them to check into some of your other clients' accounts.”

Jason shifted in his seat. “What's the other option?”

“I'm glad you asked.” I picked up a sheet of paper with the amount of money I calculated he owed and handed it to him. “Or you can transfer the amount of money you owe my dad to his account within the next twenty-four hours. I don't have to give you the account number. You should know it by memory.”

He looked down at the sheet of paper. “Twenty-four hours. That's a lot of money.”

“Not my problem. Steal from one of your other clients if you must, but in twenty-four hours when I check the balance on the account, it better have a deposit.”

“I'll see what I can do.” Jason stood up.

“Tick-tock. The clock is ticking.”

I watched Jason walk out. I picked up the phone and dialed Hope's number. “What was that all about in Dad's office earlier?” I asked as soon as she answered.

“Lovie, I told you nothing. Now drop it,” she snapped.

“I can tell when you're lying, but I'll drop it for now.”

I hung up the phone. If I find out for sure that Jason had been messing with my sister, he's as good as dead.

My mom's incoming call interrupted my thoughts. “Is Jason still there?” she asked.

“No. He just left.”

“Good. I came by there earlier, but saw his car and kept driving.”

“After tomorrow, I hope our financial problem will be resolved. I threatened to report him to the Feds if he didn't return the money he stole.”

“How did you do that?”

I picked up the papers and placed them back in the brown folder. “Let's just say I showed him some documents that appeared to show proof he stole from us.”

“Lovie, what did you do?”

“Well, I sort of created some documents that looked authentic, but really weren't because I'm still waiting on the copies to be sent to me.”

“You are your mother's son.”

“Glad that you are pleased with my methods.”

“What did Royce say?”

“He's not aware of anything…not yet, anyway.”

“Don't tell him anything until the money's been deposited. In fact, let's all get together so you can share the news with the entire family tomorrow night.”

“Sounds like a plan to me, Mom.”

We ended our call. I sat back in my chair, leaned back, and closed my eyes. The tension in my chest eased.

T
hanks to Lovie, the Joneses would be celebrating tonight. I'd been in the kitchen cooking all evening. I wanted things to be just right for our celebration. I couldn't wait to meet Hope's new boyfriend.

Royce walked in the kitchen and wrapped his arm around me. “I don't know if that's you smelling good or the food.”

I playfully hit him. “You know it's me, so stop tripping.”

I faced him, and we kissed. The buzzer on the stove went off interrupting our intimate moment. “I better get back to the food. So, you did confirm with the kids, right?” I asked.

“Yes, darling. They should be here any minute.”

“Good. I need to have a talk with that daughter of yours. Why am I the last person to know about this new guy?” I turned the buzzer off and removed the roast pan from the oven.

“I just found out about him myself.”

“You should have called me the moment you found out,” I said, as I opened up the cover and the steam almost hit me in the face.

“You know now. Lighten up on me, baby.”

I looked up and saw Royce's smile. It reminded me of why I loved him. No matter how gloomy things got, he had a way of brightening up my life. I loved that man more than life itself. The doorbell rang.

“Keep them out of my kitchen, please,” I said as Royce left to answer the door.

I hummed a Whitney Houston tune as I placed the food on serving trays.

Lovie walked in. “It's official. We're in the money,” he sang.

I did a victory dance. “Yes. Thank you, baby.” I hugged him and we twirled around. “I can't wait for you to tell Royce.”

“Me, too. He's been looking so depressed lately,” Lovie responded.

“Now, if I can only get him to get Jason out of our lives for good.”

“After tonight, I'm sure there will no longer be a problem.” Lovie patted his pocket. “I got the papers from the broker. This letter is all the proof I need.”

I hugged Lovie again. “You just don't know how happy you've made me.”

“Mom, you're squeezing me to death.”

I laughed as I released him. “There's the doorbell again. That must be your sisters.”

“I'll go find out,” Lovie said.

I carried the food to the dining room table. Charity, Royce, and Lovie were standing in the room. “I see Hope is late as usual.”

Charity got up to assist me. “She'll probably be extra late since she's bringing a guest.”

Lovie said, “This should be interesting.”

Royce said, “Please don't give the guy a hard time.”

We all looked at him. I said, “This is coming from the man who thinks that no man is good enough for his girls.”

“I was right about that Scotty, wasn't I?”

“Yes, but please don't bring up his name to me ever again.” Charity followed behind me to the kitchen.

“So what can you tell me about this guy?” I asked, as I handed her the tray with the rolls.

“Nothing. I was supposed to meet him a couple of nights ago, but that didn't work out.”

I picked up the roast pan. We walked back to the dining room. Royce got up and assisted me by placing the pan on the silver cooling rack so it wouldn't mess up the gold tablecloth.

The doorbell rang. “I don't know why you all insist on using the doorbell when you have keys,” Royce said, as he pushed his chair back.

“Dad, I got it,” Lovie said.

Royce remained seated as Lovie went to answer the door.

I sat down and waited for Hope to enter with her mystery man. I exhaled the moment they walked through the door.

“Everybody, I want you to meet my boyfriend. Tyler this is my family. Everybody, this is Tyler.”

Tyler smiled and looked around the room. “Nice to meet y'all.”

Charity blurted out, “This is who you've been seeing?”

“Charity, don't be rude.” I looked at Tyler. “Come, sit next to me.”

Hope said, “Yes, so you'll be close to her when she starts bombarding you with questions.”

“I can see where Hope gets her beauty from.” He picked up my hand and kissed the back of it.

Hope turned to Royce. “Dad, you're not going to say anything?”

“I have a lot to say. I just don't know where to begin.” Royce sounded like he had a frog in his throat.

S
o Tyler wasn't lying. He'd figured out a way to infiltrate his way into my daughter's life. He was quite the charmer. Lexi laughed at some of his corny jokes. The only two people who didn't seem to be enjoying his company were Charity and me.

“Tyler, what high school did you go to?” Lovie asked him.

“Marshall High,” he responded.

Charity said, “I was under the impression you grew up in Shreveport.”

Hope interjected, “He was always here, so you might as well say he grew up here.”

Lexi placed her drink down. “So, what type of work do you do? It's going to take a man with a big account to keep my daughter happy.”

“Mom. You're making me out to be some kind of gold digger.”

Lovie started singing, “I ain't saying she's a gold digger.”