After All (7 page)

“
Shantae, this is not on
your way home or on the way to your mother's house.”Michelle leaned
against the counter.”What's up?”

“
I stopped by to, you know,
say hi and... You act like I'm up to no good.” Shantae eyes were
wide and innocent looking.

“
You're lying. Whenever your
eyes get big and keep saying `you know' you're lying.”

Shantae turned her head so that her
eyes were hidden from Michelle's view.”No I'm not. Honest, I
haven't talked to you in almost a week. I, you kn--, I mean--how's
it going? How was the banquet Saturday?”

“
Ah-ha! You talked to Laree.
The mouth of the south couldn't wait to tell you.”Michelle stabbed
a finger at her.

“
Tell me what, Chelle? I
don't have any idea what you're talking about.”Shantae put down her
purse and sat on the stool at the breakfast bar.

“
That Anthony was there and
we talked.”

“
Oh, yeah. Now that you
mention it, Laree did say something. . . I wasn't paying too much
attention though.” Shantae gave a careless wave of her
hand.

“
I see. The banquet was
nice.”Michelle continued cooking. Watching her friend with a
side-long glance, she changed the subject. “How was your
weekend?”

“
It was okay. So Anthony was
at the banquet. What's he up to these days?”

“
Nothing much. Say, you're
welcome to have some of

this, I've got plenty. I tell you,
today was hectic--”

“
Okay, so I'm lying. What
happened with you and Anthony? Did he ask you out? Tell me
everything.” Shantae dropped her pretense of being interested in
chit chat.

Michelle shrugged.”All he said was that
we should at least be on friendly terms and maybe we'd have lunch
this week. . . or sometime. It was no big deal really.”

“
Didn't call, huh?” Shantae
clucked sympathetically.

“
He didn't promise to call.
And I didn't promise that I'd go out to lunch with him.”Michelle
banged the spatula into the sink.”Who cares? I have a life, thank
you.”

“
This is Shantae you talking
to, sugar. Let it out. Holding in that hurt ain't good for ya.”
Shantae came around to put an arm on her shoulder.

“
Get off me, girl. I'm not
holding anything in. I haven't seen the man in almost six years and
we weren't speaking then.”Michelle shook Shantae's arm
away.

“
Sure, tell me anything. I
was away at Jackson State when y'all were dating in college. But
Laree told me how you were crazy for the dude. Couldn't get enough
of his sweet stuff.”

Count on Laree to remind her about the
intensity of her affair with Anthony. They were together every day,
holding hands or hugging. They shared a wonderful intimacy reserved
for two people with a passion for each other.

Michelle scowled at her.”Don't be so
crude. And Laree's mouth is going to get her butt in a whole lotta
trouble.”

“
Come on now, we're you're
girls. Like the song says, lean on me.” Shantae placed a hand over
her heart.

“
Will you stop,” Michelle
retorted.”I'm going to lean on you all right if you don't quit.
Anthony is the past. I mean, I was just being polite.”The phone
rang once and she grabbed it.

Shantae smirked at her.”My, eager to
answer it aren't we?”

Michelle stuck her tongue out at her
before ducking into her bedroom with the cordless phone. She locked
the door behind her.

“
That answered my question,”
Shantae yelled.”You still want him.”

Five minutes later, Michelle emerged
from the room with the phone. The scowl had softened and she moved
with more relaxed motions. Though she was careful to keep a bland
expression, Shantae was not deceived.

“
I have some ice tea if
you'd like.”Michelle turned quickly away from her
scrutiny.

“
I'll get it. ”Shantae got a
glass from the cabinet and the pitcher of tea from the
refrigerator.”When and where? And don't even try telling me it
wasn't him. You've got a sparkle in your eyes that you didn't have
before you got that call.”Seeing Michelle's mouth open, she cut her
off.

“
Wednesday, Cheramie's.”
Michelle scooped up a large spoonful of vegetables and placed them
on a plate for Shantae. “But it doesn't mean what you think.”The
soft, dreamy look in her eyes told a very different
story.

***

“
That shade of blue is
perfect on you.”Anthony gave her an admiring once over.

Michelle blushed, and then felt like a
silly teenager for it. Her embarrassment was made even more acute
because of the two hours she had spent the night before deciding
what outfit to wear. After much agonizing between her dark red suit
and the royal blue dress, the dress won. It made her hips look
smaller she had decided after eyeing herself in the full length
mirror in her bedroom for the fifth time. She had agreed to meet
him, unsure that she was ready for him to pick her up. That was too
much like a date for her comfort.

“
I'm really glad you said
yes, to lunch.”Anthony sat forward.” I've been wanting to tell you
how great I think it is to see you on television. I knew you'd make
it though.”

“
What about you? Your own
business. From what I hear, you're building a reputation for some
of the best work around in the construction business. At least, to
hear Shantae bragging on Cedric.”

“
We've done better than even
we expected. But it's been a lot of long hours and putting most of
the profits back into the business.”Anthony fidgeted with his
napkin.”I wanted to call you when I first got back, but I... wasn't
sure what to say.”

“
We didn't part on very good
terms,” Michelle said awkwardly.

Gazing at his face, Michelle did not
want to say the

reason they had parted so bitterly.
Though she had been fighting all the old feelings, successfully as
long as they did not meet face to face, seeing him brought them
vividly alive. A fact that thrilled and frightened her. For weeks
now she had tried to revive the animosity that had filled her six
years ago in an effort quell her attraction to him. Yet she could
not deny being with Anthony again felt good, even though they were
surrounded by people.

“
Michelle, I didn't do a
very good job back then of explaining myself or showing you how I
felt. I can only plead stupidity, and immaturity. It was a rough
time for you. I should have been more sensitive.”Anthony still did
not look up.

“
For both of us, I suppose.
Your Uncle Ike and my dad, two men very important to us, clashed in
a big way. It was natural that we'd each defend family.”Michelle
lifted her shoulders slightly.

“
I don't agree with
everything Uncle Ike does, but he saved my life. When my dad walked
out on mama and me, we both went through some bad changes. Mama
struggled to make a living. We had our electricity cut off more
than once.”

“
Oh, Anthony, I never
realized it was that bad.”Michelle felt a small shock.

Anthony's mama, Lizabeth, had always
seemed in good spirits. Sure their house did not look as well kept
as the others in their middle-class neighborhood, but it had never
occurred to her they had been on the edge of being destitute.
Michelle now thought of herself as a having been a self-involved,
insensitive teenager not to have understood what should have been
so plain if only she had been paying attention.

“
And she had her hands full
trying to keep me in line. I was heading for trouble when Uncle Ike
stepped in. Some of the guys I used to run with are in prison now,
one on death row.”

“
I know. It must be horrible
losing friends.”Michelle was moved he had shared something that was
obviously so painful.

“
Hey, I'm not looking for
sympathy or making excuses for me or him. I only wanted to explain
why I acted the way I did.”Anthony looked up, his eyes intense.”I
feel about him the way you feel about your father.”

“
You know, this is the first
time we've talked about this without yelling at each other, me
insulting your uncle, and you storming off. Maybe we've both grown
up,” Michelle said.

“
Maybe so.”Anthony's face
relaxed as the troubled expression faded.

Michelle forced her gaze away from
those eyes that held her.”Ummm... everything on the menu looks so
good it's hard to decide.

To her relief, the waiter appeared at
that moment to take their orders. She needed time to sort out the
torrent of emotions that threatened to overwhelm her. For the rest
of the lunch, she kept the conversation confined to catching up on
old friends, talking about their work, and other topics she felt
were safe. Standing in front of the restaurant afterwards, they
smiled shyly at each other.

“
Well, I better get going. I
have a meeting later.”Anthony didn't move.

“
Me too.”Michelle shifted
from one foot to the next.

“
I've got tickets to a Jazz
recital on campus this Saturday night. Would you like to go? We
could have dinner first since it doesn't start until
eight.

“
Things seem to be going so
fast... Michelle bit her lower lip. Somehow control of this
situation was slipping from her. Or was it silly to think she ever
did or could control her desire for him?

“
Two old friends who enjoy
jazz and love good food, that's all we're talking about.”Anthony
spoke quickly to ease the anxiety in her voice.

Michelle stared into his eyes for a
long moment. Her heart jumped at the anticipation she read there.”
Okay, I'd like that.”

Driving back to the station, Michelle
was in a bright mood. Turning up the radio, she bounced to the old
rhythm and blues tunes being played. Tunes that she had once danced
to with Anthony when they were in college. She smiled remembering
how they all cherished their record collections, mostly oldies
their parents had held onto from their college days. It would be so
great to once again share the pleasure of hearing wonderful music
with him again. Still humming an old Sam and Dave song, she entered
the newsroom.

“
Lunch was nice, huh?”
Gracie winked at her.

“
Not bad, not bad at all.
What's up around here?” Michelle sat down.

“
Be thankful you've been
gone. Lockport is a very unhappy news director. Channel Six scooped
us with an exclusive on the noon newscast. Seems there's a possible
link with that councilwoman's son arrested for possession a while
ago to a burglary ring. Jason's in hot water for not following up
and getting a reporter out when Nathan asked him to.”

“
Humm,” Michelle's said, her
voice flat with disinterest as she turned on her
computer.

“
Jennifer is peeved because
she got shoved around at the school board meeting, lots of angry
parents about the latest busing plan. Her story is short by almost
two minutes so Jason, poor thing, had to scramble for a filler so
the both the five and six newscast won't run short--”

“
Serves 'em both right,”
Michelle said with a satisfied smirk.

“
And Nathan is in a real
foul mood and asking for you.”

“
Uh-oh.”Michelle's eyebrows
drew together in consternation.

“
Exactly. Speak of the
devil,” Gracie mumbled then hustled off in the opposite direction
from which

Nathan was approaching.

“
Why are you still here,
O'Hannon? Aren't there two

stories you should be out on?”Nathan's
growl rolled across the room.

“
On my way now, boss.”Gracie
vanished around a corner.

“
Hi, Nathan. Love that
shirt. Is it new? Nice fabric.”Michelle rubbed a corner of his cuff
between her thumb and forefinger.

“
Save it, Toussaint. Where
the hell have you been all morning?”Nathan was like a hungry lion
that still had not been fed.

“
Why doing my job, of
course. The school bus stop safety thing you sent me out on,
remember?” Michelle said.

“
Oh, yeah.”Nathan lost some
of his thunder.

“
I had an appointment with
head of the school transportation department. What's
wrong?”Michelle, patting his arm, gave him a look of
concern.”

“
Don't mess with me today,
Toussaint.”Nathan scowled at her, but his voice had lost some of
its gruffness.”That guy Greg Matthews called. Sounded kind of
jumpy. Maybe he's decided to tell you more after all. But don't
wait too long. Like I said, he could lose his nerve any minute.
Said to call him at home cause he's off today.”

“
I'm on it.”Michelle flipped
open her small personal

phone book.

“
What's the occasion?”Nathan
pointed to her dress and pumps.

“
No occasion. Met somebody
for lunch, an old classmate.”

“
Oh, a lunch
date.”

“
No, we just met for
lunch.”