Through the Fire (12 page)

“You know how lousy airplane food can be. We’re both starved.” She patted her son’s head, who was still nestled in Quinn’s arm. “I was thinking maybe we could stop somewhere and get something to eat.”

Quinn looked at Rae.

“Sounds like a great idea,” Rae offered first. “I’m kind of hungry myself.” She saw a relief wash over Quinn’s face. “What do you have a taste for?”

Maxine grinned. “At this point, anything.”

“How ’bout Spoonbread’s up on 135th?” Quinn asked. “It’s not too far from your mom’s and the food is great. A little small, but good service.”

“Fine with me.”

The midday crowd at the neighborhood soul food restaurant was minimal. The quartet was
quickly seated and eagerly scanned the menu. The aroma of collard greens, barbecue ribs, and peach cobbler heightened everyone’s appetite.

“I want some of everything,” Maxine said, with a laugh. “It’s been so long since I’ve had some good soul food…”

“How long have you lived in California?” Rae quizzed.

“A little more than six years.”

“It must be a culture shock to come from such a warm climate to snow.”

“Sort of. But I grew up in New York. It’s more of a treat for J. He’s never seen snow before.” She reached over and hugged her son, whose eyes were glued to the window, watching the people trudge through what was now slush.

“Can I go outside, please?” Jamel asked, looking at his mother, then his father.

Quinn shrugged. “Sure. Until the food comes.”

“Put your hat on, J,” Maxine instructed as he leaped from his seat and made a mad dash for the door.

Quinn was right behind him. “Be back in a few.” He looked from one woman to the other and wondered how wise it was to leave them
alone, but now he had no choice. He followed Jamel outside.

“So, uh, what do you do?” Rae continued with her questions.

“I own a travel agency.”

“Really. Must be great owning your own business.”

“It has its merits. What about you?”

“I write music and play piano.”

Surprise registered on Maxine’s face. “I guess you and Quinn have a lot in common, then.”

“Yeah. I just wish he would play again.”

Maxine nodded. “Losing Nikita really undid him. He really hasn’t been the same.”

“He’s getting better,” Rae countered quickly. “We’re working on it.”

Maxine studied Rae for a moment. “You’re the first woman…he’s…since…”

“I know.”

“I guess he must really care about you.”

“He does,” Rae said with assurance.

Maxine picked up her glass of iced tea and took a thoughtful sip. As much as she didn’t want to, she liked this woman. She liked her directness, her self-assurance, even if it was for
her benefit. She knew good and damned well it took a special kind of woman to casually chat with her lover’s ex-girlfriend and mother of his child.

“I was just thinking,” Maxine said, putting down her glass. “I have tons of shopping to do in the next few days. I thought maybe we could do it together.”

Rae’s stomach did a slow flip.
Maxine and me. Shopping. Together. This is truly the new millennium.
“I…I guess.”

“Great.” She pulled a piece of paper from her purse and scribbled down her mother’s home number and handed it to Rae. “Give me a call when you have a minute, okay?”

“Sure.” Rae took the information and pushed it into her wallet. She pulled in a breath. “Are you free tomorrow?” she asked, stepping boldly into the untested waters.

“Absolutely.”

“What are you two conspiring about?” Quinn asked, walking up on the close of negotiations.

“We were making plans to Christmas shop…together,” Rae said, looking up at him.

Quinn’s brows rose as he glanced from one
smiling face to the other. Together? Shopping?
Women.
Go figure. But what he really would like to know was, what could they possibly have to say to each other? Then again, maybe he didn’t.

P
ulling her collar up against the bitter wind, Rae wondered why she had agreed to go shopping with this woman who had been so deeply involved with her man. Or man-to-be. She waited for several minutes until she saw the cab pull up at the curb and a head pop out the window, calling for her to get inside. Quinn stood in the doorway, watching and waiting as his little boy jumped out of the cab and raced into his father’s arms. Rae looked at the two of
them in a loving embrace and turned to see the expression of contentment on Maxine’s face before she stepped into the cab.

“Hey, girl, how you doing today?” Maxine asked, real energy in her voice. “You ready for our Great Shopping Adventure? Quinn has Jamel for the afternoon so we can take our time…get to know each other. That cool with you?”

“Sure.” Rae wondered how much of this enthusiasm was an act.

“Where do you want to go first?” Maxine asked. “I was thinking we could hit Bloomie’s, look around, check out the prices. If we don’t get anything there, then we could slide by Saks and stop afterward for lunch somewhere.”

Rae nodded. She couldn’t figure this woman. Was she just being nice to get her to put her guard down? Or was she for real? While Maxine chatted away about her life on the West Coast, she sat there, taking in the sights along the streets as the cab headed toward the East Side. The holiday traffic was murder, cars bumper-to-bumper on the main thoroughfares in the midtown area. It made her uneasy but Maxine seemed to take it in stride, now talking
about adding a new porch to her home and possibly selling the house after the remodeling for more money and moving up to Monterey.

Finally, the cab stopped at the north entrance of the large department store on Lexington Avenue, and they got out, wading into the crowds on the sidewalk. Rae remembered how she used to come to Bloomie’s with her mother to shop for the holidays, the lights, the displays, and the mob of shoppers clogging the wide aisles. She waited for a few minutes while Maxine stopped at an ATM on the first floor to load up on cash so she wouldn’t tap out her credit cards. Then they sauntered along the main floor to the cosmetics department, where one Bloomingdale staffer stood spraying fragrances on the wrists of female passersby. Both women declined her offer, pressing on, glancing through the display cases at the rows of bottles and atomizers.

They went downstairs to the men’s clothing department, where Maxine bought two light sweaters for her husband, commenting how cool California evenings could get. Rae considered buying something for Quinn but didn’t.
After her sweater purchase, Maxine suggested they go up to the children’s department on the ninth floor. Here she bought an erector set for Jamel, saying how he loved building things. Who knows, maybe he’ll be an engineer?

Rae was quiet, almost sullen, wondering if she’d ever have a child to buy things for. Cute dolls for a little girl. Or a set of plastic action figures for a rambunctious boy. She watched quietly as Maxine cradled her purchases under her arm, walking through the store like a general reviewing his troops. God, she seemed so confident!

When they finished there, Maxine hailed a cab for them to go to Saks, which was nine blocks away on Fifth Avenue. They got a cab, though it became quickly stalled in traffic and they ended up jumping out about three blocks away from the store.

The wind carried a brisk chill, sharp, but without the razor’s edge of the gusts earlier in the day. Neither woman complained, stepping lively among the throngs meandering at the entrances of shops, restaurants, and salons. Soon they stood under the row of American flags
hung over the entrance of the fashionable store, walking in with women in jewels and furs. The pair went straight to the women’s collections on the second floor, inspected the goods, imagining themselves in dresses and other outfits clearly out of their price range. Still, Maxine bought a hat, a furry thing that made Rae laugh for the first time since their shopping spree began. She cracked up even more when her newfound “girlfriend” put the thing on her head and joked about her husband’s possible reaction to it. “Wait until he sees this!”

As they were passing the Bridal Salon on the third floor, Maxine nudged her, feeling quite giddy, and asked: “Do you think Quinn and you will have a big wedding?”

Rae was caught completely off guard. “We haven’t gotten that far into things yet.”

“How long have you known him?”

“A few months. We haven’t talked about anything serious yet. We’re still feeling each other out, trying to see if we should try the whole thing any further.”

“Are you in love with him?” Maxine bluntly asked.

“Yes, but there are complications,” she confessed, not sure why she did. This woman didn’t need to know that anything was amiss in her relationship with Quinn.

Maxine laughed knowingly. “With Quinn, there are always complications. But you know what? I wouldn’t want a man who didn’t have complications. Simple guys are boring. You want somebody you can’t figure out in one sitting. Do you know what I mean?”

Rae returned her smile. She was beginning to like this woman, so natural, so real, so carefree. She spoke her mind but didn’t come across as a witch. It was all so easy talking to her, too easy in a way. Still, she could see why Quinn would have fallen for her. Men always liked women who weren’t limited to playing some stiff role of what they thought a woman was supposed to be, what femininity was supposed to be. Maxine was the real thing.

They circled around back to the second floor, where Maxine stopped to look at golf clubs, tees, jackets, and shoes. She explained to Rae that Taylor was itching to get out on the links since he saw Tiger Woods crush his op
position in the PGA Open. Taylor, according to Maxine, had been buying and reading every golf book and magazine he could lay his hands on. He was even talking about taking Jamel with him to one of the local parks. Maxine whispered the word
men
and winked playfully.

“I’d do anything for Taylor,” Maxine said, fingering the golf jackets. “He’s been a rock to me in some really bad times. You don’t find guys like him every day. None of that ‘I’m the man’ junk. We’re partners in every sense of the word. I can’t wait until my baby gets here.”

“How does he feel about Jamel, Quinn’s son?” Rae asked cattily. Tossing out a verbal stinger.

“Hey, he could have walked out as soon as he found out, but he stayed,” Maxine said. “We had some words about it. It was rough for a minute there. But he stayed. Now he loves Jamel just as if he were his own child. You oughta see those two together.”

“But it must be tough raising somebody else’s kid.”

Maxine reached for another jacket. “People do it every day. If you love somebody, you do what you have to do. Jamel loves Taylor, but he knows
who his real father is. I never let him forget that fact. Quinn is his father, no matter what.”

Rae picked up a pair of golf gloves, playing with the snaps at the wrist. “You ever think about sharing custody with Quinn? Letting him keep his son half the year or something like that.”

“No.” Maxine’s eyes flashed fire. She looked Rae full in the face, ready for battle.

“Why not?”

“Because he’s comfortable living where he is. I don’t think Quinn is ready to be a full-time father. He’s got a lot of issues to deal with before he can even think about taking on a responsibility that large. Raising children is no joke.”

Rae said nothing else. This woman, she thought, could be fierce if crossed. She’d hate to see her lose her cool, get mad about something. That was probably the other reason why Quinn loved her. Quinn and Maxine were an emotional match; each just as fiery, just as intense as the other. But so was she, she’d come to realize. She gave as good as she got. She stood toe to toe with him, and wasn’t knocked off her feet. No, she wasn’t the softie she once was.

“Let’s go up to eight,” Maxine said, walk
ing away from the counter. “I want to get some Godiva chocolates for my mother. She loves sweets.”

On the eighth floor, Maxine saw Rae looking across the aisle at the clothing for kids, newborns, infants, and toddlers. Making a face, she touched Rae on the arm and nodded toward the candy counter. The woman behind the counter was especially nasty, offering her the smallest box of candy possible first.

“We have one that is a little larger,” said the counter woman, a thin brunette with a long nose rivaling that of the Wicked Witch of the East in the Oz stories. “Possibly that would be more in your price range.”

“No, let me see that one there,” Maxine said, pointing to a larger box, offering a wider array of dark treats.

The counter woman frowned, toying with her collar. “Oh dear, the price on that one is rather steep. Are you sure this is the one you want? I could show you something a bit economical.”

Maxine put her hands on her hips and glared at the woman. It was the “don’t mess with me” pose. “I know what I want.”

The counter woman turned beet red, totally flustered, and retrieved a box from a drawer. “Anything else, ma’am?” The words were said with a tone of utter disdain.

“And I’d like the box gift-wrapped if you don’t mind.” Maxine kept her eyes locked on the woman. Neither woman wanted to back down but Maxine had the upper hand as the customer.
Customers are always right.

With that business finished, Maxine suggested that they walk over to Rockefeller Center, see the big tree, act like tourists, and get a bite to eat. Rae, still slightly rattled by the Saks episode, quickly agreed. Besides, her feet were starting to hurt from all of the walking and standing.

It took them under a half hour to wander over to Rockefeller Center, stopping to look at the window where Meredith, Matt, and Al held court every morning for
The Today Show,
the small shops along the short strip beside the main plaza and the arcade. They stood for a while above the ice rink, watching the skaters, some beginners and others almost pros, go through paces. Some onlookers laughed at the skaters who struggled to keep their footing and fell.
When they tired of that, the women walked to a nearby café and ordered salads and coffee. Maxine stopped the waiter and ordered a slice of apple pie, saying she was breaking her diet for the holiday. A few calories never hurt, she joked.

“What was Quinn like when he was growing up?” Rae asked, eating a piece of lettuce. “You knew him back then. You grew up together.”

“He was like any of the other boys around the way, maybe a little tougher, more cocky,” Maxine said. “I guess I looked up to him because I knew it must have been rough on him, not having a mother. He never groused about it. He did what he had to do for him and his sister, Lacy.”

“What was she like, his sister?”

“Oh, man, everybody loved Lacy. She was my girl. She was totally alive, a lot of fun. Funny, she’d make you wet yourself with some of the stuff she said. She was the exact opposite of Quinn in a lot of ways. Real open and honest. Not guarded at all. It almost killed me when she died.”

“It probably almost killed Quinn, too, huh?”

“Yeah, to tell the truth, I don’t think he ever
got over her death. They were real close. He loved his sister.”

Rae sipped her coffee and watched the sadness in the woman’s eyes. “What about the mother, his mother? What happened to her?”

“Nobody knows. She just left them. I think it messes with Quinn the most. I can’t imagine what it must be like to grow up without a mother. Especially when she just walks off and abandons you. Much of who Quinn is comes from that fact, that she left them high and dry. Without a word. I think that’s why he rarely lets people get close to him.”

“What about his wife, Nikita?” Rae asked, trying to make the most of the situation, get as much information as she could, because this opportunity might not happen again any time soon.

Maxine laughed and drank from her cup. “Yum, vanilla roast. Anyway, Niki, Ms. Uptown Girl. What was she like? In some ways, she was exactly what Quinn needed. Sometimes I didn’t see it but she was. Headstrong, willful, and often as sweet as she could be. I’ll tell you this. She had a way of neutralizing Quinn, of blunting his anger. She could cool him right out.”

“I’ve seen his temper,” Rae said. “He can really blow up.”

“He was like that with Niki, too, at the beginning, but she had his number. The girl was no pushover. She made him deal with himself and he resisted her. But eventually he came around. A lot of people, including me, underestimated her because she was so damn pretty, and that was their mistake. She was one strong, determined sistah. Quinn needed that. She didn’t let him get away with nothing.”

Rae went for broke. “Why did you two break up, you and Quinn?”

Maxine almost choked, coughed a few times, and drank some water.
This girl is direct, straight from the shoulder,
she thought.
She doesn’t mince words. Good. That’s just what Quinn needs. Not some phony stiff chick.

“We were never together,” Maxine answered. “Not like you think.”

“I don’t get it,” Rae stuttered. “But…Jamel.”

“That’s a long story. Not one I really want to get into right now.”

“But weren’t you two…together at some point?”

“Yeah, we had a thing. But I think we both knew it wouldn’t last. It was something that evolved out of need and familiarity, I think. I don’t know what I was thinking when I look back. It seems so long ago now. We tried living together but it didn’t work out.”

It was Maxine’s honesty, her refusal to duck and dodge the truth that impressed Rae most. She was really starting to like her. If things were different, Maxine would be one of the women who could become one of her closest girlfriends. Quinn was lucky to know someone like her.

“Do you still love Quinn?” Rae asked the question, watching the woman’s face.

“You don’t fool around with the questions, do you?”

“I guess not. Do you still love him, Maxine? I need to know.” Rae’s heart was pounding like a drum and her hands were sweating. This was the Big Question.

Maxine patted her on the hand, grinning. “Relax, Rae. Yes, I love him and I believe I always will. But it’s not the kind of love you build a life on. I have a good man, Taylor, who loves me very much, and a beautiful son. What
more could I want? I can’t remember when I’ve been happier, more complete.”