Before I Let Go (16 page)

When Nate had come down with the flu in January, he went straight to his grandmother’s house, where she nursed him back to health. Sahleen didn’t make a big deal out of the rejection that she felt when he refused her attempts to make soup or go to the pharmacy for him. Nate made it clear that it was his nana, and only his nana, who could provide the necessary care that he needed when he was sick.

Sahleen was rubbing Nate’s freshly shaved head and just appreciating his presence. She moved her arms down so that she could hold him while he slept. Then she wondered,
How in the world did I make him fall in love with me so quickly?
She just giggled and hugged him tighter. Then she made herself a mental note to ask a question a little later on. Maybe during breakfast she would have an opportunity to ask him who this India person in his dream was, and what in God’s name had Nate done to make her want to shoot him?

Brendan and Laney
were headed around the track for their twelfth and final lap. Brendan was winded and was using every ounce of willpower he had left to turn the last corner. Laney began sprinting full speed, and pulled away early on the last lap. She always sprinted the entire last lap, sometimes the last two. Since she had been running with Brendan, she had slowed her pace down to accommodate him. Laney was encouraging Brendan to change to a more healthy diet as part of his New Year’s resolutions. The exercise program was just an add-on to his new state of health consciousness.

Brendan and Laney had spent New Year’s Eve at Baltimore Harbor eating seafood at Phillip’s Restaurant. Laney had treated Brendan to a dinner, which consisted of lobster tails, Alaskan crab legs, Maryland crab cakes, and steamed shrimp. It had been her suggestion that the two of them enjoy a nice high-calorie and cholesterol-loaded meal as long as Brendan agreed that they wouldn’t do it again until the Fourth of July. She also had convinced him to name at least five things that he could promise to do in order to become healthier. She had promised him that if he kept at least three of the five promises, she would make him very happy that he did. She also had surprised him after dinner with a key to a room at the Downtown Renaissance Hotel, which was located just across the street from Phillip’s. Laney called it the “fireworks” agreement: If he went along with her diet and exercise suggestions she would ensure that he saw plenty of fireworks all year round.

Spring was only a few days away, and Brendan had kept up his end of the bargain, and so had Laney. Brendan had lost seventeen pounds since the new year began, and he was feeling better about himself than he had in years. When the couple first started working out, Brendan could barely do a mile. Now, just a month later, he was running up to three miles a day, four days a week.

Laney had turned out to be good for him. He was happy with her in just about every respect, except that she worked late on weekends. Not this weekend, though. She had taken off from work because it was Brendan’s birthday. Cory, Nina, Nate, and one of his girlfriends, either Sahleen or India, were going to meet them for dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. They never knew which girlfriend Nate was going to show up with, but it didn’t matter. Both of Nate’s honeys were easy to look at, and both were nice. India was a little more down-to-earth as far as he was concerned, but Sahleen was cool, too. Shit, when you are that fine it’s kind of hard to be totally down-to-earth, Brendan often thought.

After their early jog at PG Community College, Brendan and Laney went back to the house to shower. Renee was in the kitchen drinking coffee while she scanned the
Washington Post
to see who had a sale going on.

Renee offered Laney a cup of coffee.

“No thanks, but I could use a glass of water,” Laney said, while pulling her hair back into a neater ponytail.

Renee was handing Laney the cup of water when Brendan asked, “What about me?”

“You,” Renee said, pointing to the cupboard, “can get it yourself. You know where everything is, I believe.”

“How are you going to treat a brother like that on his birthday? Man, I can’t get no respect,” Brendan said, doing a poor impersonation of Rodney Dangerfield.

“Brother, I have your gift in the car, and I told you that you get dinner on Sunday wherever you want to go. Now, don’t press your luck.” Renee meant it.

“So why can’t you go out with us tonight?” Laney asked. She asked in a humble tone. She really wanted Renee to like her. She could tell how close Renee and Brendan were, and she wanted to gain Renee’s respect, if not her admiration. Laney was smart enough to catch on to the fact that Renee’s opinion meant a lot to Brendan, and without it she would face an uphill battle trying to get any closer to him.

“I told Brendan that my book club has its monthly meeting tonight. I might have skipped it except that tonight it is my turn to host it. Plus, I chose the novel,
Let That Be the Reason
by Vickie Stringer…. The book was all of it, girl.” She paused to take a sip of water. “Brendan will do fine tonight, though. He has you and his boys to contend with. I’ll make it up to him tomorrow, I’m sure, if he has any energy left.” Renee kept flipping through the pages of the paper.

Laney didn’t particularly like Renee’s statement about “making it up” to Brendan. Her eyes narrowed with cattiness when that comment slipped out of Renee’s mouth. She decided at that minute to make sure that Brendan wouldn’t have any energy left when the morning came. Laney knew she was being silly, but she didn’t care. She wanted everyone to know that she was the current owner when it came to Brendan Shue. She could care less how long or how great a friendship he had with Renee. He was her man now, even if he didn’t know it yet.

When Laney went up the steps to Brendan’s bedroom he was already out of his sweats and clad only in his underwear. She quickly pulled up her hooded sweatshirt and kicked off her Nike Air Max running shoes. Once her tights came down she caught Brendan staring at her firmly shaped butt when she turned around.

“Birthday boy, what is that shit-eating grin for?” she asked.

“You know, girl.” Brendan smiled, while grabbing Laney and pulling her to the bed.

“Boy, please. Let me take a shower or something first.” She tried to protest.

Brendan started to kiss her. “Nope. It’s my birthday, and I get whatever I want. And I want you now, sweat and all.”

Even though Laney found his request a little gross, she remembered her mission to leave the man drained by morning. “Okay, baby. Whatever you want.”

Brendan grinned widely as he slung his underwear on top of the TV. Then he said simply, “Fireworks, right?”

Laney closed her eyes as her sports bra came off. “Yeah, baby. Fireworks.”

N
ina and I arrived first at the Cheesecake Factory in White Flint Mall. We went in to get a table, only to find that the place was packed. I had never eaten there before, but Nina had been there a few times and told me it was always like that on the weekends. It was only a few blocks from my apartment, so I volunteered to get our names on the list for a table. We sat in the waiting area watching all the people walking by the restaurant into the mall. Nina was looking really nice, as usual. She had on a skirt and a suede shirt. I had gotten used to Nina crying broke all the time, but at least I knew where all of her money was going. Obviously it went into clothes, because the car note on her Civic and her rent were her only major bills, and the two combined weren’t a thousand dollars. She made decent money, somewhere close to fifty grand, as a bookkeeper for Remax Realty, one of the leading real estate companies in the country. She was taking courses at Trinity College at night and on weekends trying to earn her bachelor’s degree in accounting. She was only thirty hours away and seemed pretty focused.

She sat quietly next to me, holding my hand as we waited, while I took notice of two brothers laughing loudly by the payphones. They were acting as if they were intoxicated, but I could tell that they weren’t. They were just loud. One of them was sort of tall and looked familiar for some reason, but I couldn’t figure out why. I knew that I didn’t know him, and the way they were acting I was glad that I didn’t, so that they wouldn’t come over and do the whole handshake thing.

Nina began talking to me about a restaurant down on Wisconsin Avenue that we should have gone to and perhaps avoided the crowd. As she went on, I was thinking about how lucky I had been to stumble onto her at that party that night. We were becoming an item, although we still had yet to put any titles on our relationship. Nina was spending at least three nights a week at my place, and I was spending one at hers occasionally as well. My mother had wondered out loud if I was doing the right thing by dating Shelly’s baby sister. She’d said, “Cory, with all of the single women in this area, why would you pick one that you had to stir up trouble with? You need to think of the rift that you’re going to cause in that family, and really ask yourself if you’re going to be worth the damage that you cause between sisters. How would you feel if you were in Shelly’s shoes?”

It had been a good point, but the only thing my mother was unaware of was that Shelly didn’t know what was going on. Within a couple of weeks after Christmas, Shelly had apologized to Nina and never asked her about it again. Nina believed that Shelly had assumed there was nothing going on between us because Shelly would assume that if something were Nina would have told her about it. Shelly couldn’t have been more wrong, because Nina and I were enjoying each other immensely and were basically fucking like a couple of jackrabbits. We had gone skiing in the Pocono Mountains with Nate and India, and she had accompanied me to Manhattan on a business trip. She had shopped at Burberry’s, Saks, and Bloomingdale’s, my treat, while I went to meetings. One night she even got me to see
The Lion King.

“We were obviously destined to meet up again,” she’d told me. “It seems as though we would never have bumped into each other otherwise.”

There was no denying that I hadn’t had a chance to go out much at all since I had moved back. The job had been extremely demanding. Each department head had come to realize that I was becoming Jamison Hakito’s right-hand man. I’d even felt some jealousy from those who had been at the company longer than I, especially from a coworker named Roy Wells, who ran the accounting department. He was the only other black in management, but was not considered an executive, which meant the poor fellow did not have a parking space. I had only become aware of his disdain for my manner of doing things when my assistant, Heather, who was working out beautifully, told me that he’d questioned her about my spring reports, which were due by April 15, tax day. He had had the nerve to ask her if my projections were going to be as unrealistic as my winter reports had been, which I had compiled after only a month at HE.

There had been a companywide roar with the projections I had made. When I assured Jamison that the figures in my projections were reasonable, he came down to give me his personal approval. In order to meet my projections, nearly every department had to pull overtime, and for management that meant late nights and weekends.

Of course, my actions didn’t win me any friends around the office. However, Jamison had been pleased when only a month after I had released my projections, the company was ahead of schedule, and we were able to cut back on the overtime for those who didn’t want it. The grumbling among the employees quickly wound down, and I came away looking like a genius. I’d increased the sales and production in my department within my first two months at HE, and increased the revenue of the company for the month of January by 40 percent. If I kept this up, HE would be able to count on nearly an additional four million dollars for the quarter.

I looked up
and saw Brendan and Laney walk through the revolving doors, followed by Nate and India.

“What’s up, Cory? Hey, Nina, you two been here long?” Brendan asked, as he slapped me a soft five that went into a handshake and then a manly hug. The ladies exchanged hellos.

“Oh, I guess about twenty minutes. Our table should be ready about now. Let’s go in and check.” I turned and led the way. “So, how’s everything going, birthday boy?”

“Cool, my brother. Real cool. Laney got me some nice gear and Renee bought me the new Jordans.”

As Nate and India walked up behind us, Nate said, “Wait ’til you see what I got you. You are going to love it.”

“Yeah, right,” Brendan said. “Probably some more X-rated DVDs.” He laughed as he gave India a hug and shook Nate’s hand.

Nate had gotten Brendan tickets to see Allen Iverson and the Sixers. They were coming to town to play the Wizards in two weeks, and the tickets were sold out and damn near impossible to come by. Nate had two tickets behind the Sixers bench, and he was going to give Brendan both tickets, because he figured he would want to take Laney.

The hostess seated the six of us in a comfortable wrap around booth. Brendan and Laney were seated in the middle. Nate took one end, and I took the other. I told Brendan that I hoped that he and Laney wouldn’t need a bathroom break, because I wasn’t getting back up. We joked around for a hot second before our waitress came to our table.

“Hello, I’m Helen. Welcome to the Cheesecake Factory. Can I get you all a drink while you look over the menu?”

India suggested that we all share a bottle of wine rather than champagne, since we would be drinking on an empty stomach. It sounded like a good idea to everyone, but we gave the final word to Brendan. He said, “Sounds good to me.”

“Alright then,” Nate said. “Helen, bring us two bottles of your finest. Whatever it is.”

Helen held a perplexed look on her face for a second. Then stated humbly, “Sir, our finest would be a French zinfandel…and its $163 per bottle, sir. We do have Moët & Chandon which is about $75, if you prefer.”

Nate gritted his teeth, but kept his cool. It was Brendan’s birthday, and he wanted everything to go well. He forced a smile as he reached into his pocket. He pulled out a fifty-dollar bill. “Helen, right?” She nodded her head. “Look here, Helen. Take this. This is the tip for the zinfandel. Now get it, and make sure it’s chilled just right. Today is this guy’s birthday.” He pointed at Brendan. “He gets whatever he wants. We’ll worry about the price. You just worry about getting it to us, okay sweetheart?”

She smiled a cheesy grin and said, “No, I didn’t mean anything by it.” She was still grinning as she reached to accept the fifty. “I just wanted you to know that it was a little pricey. Not many people come in here and order it. That’s all. I’ll go and make sure that they have two chilled bottles.” She sped off before Nate could change his mind about the tip.

“I’m feeling you, big dog,” Brendan said, to compliment Nate on his manner of dealing with the waitress. Within two minutes someone from the bar was at the table with a cart containing the wine and two fancy ice buckets. He popped both bottles and poured for everyone. People at nearby tables took notice, obviously wondering what we had done to receive such attention. As we sipped the wine, I noticed a look of contentment on Brendan’s face that I hadn’t seen in a long time. Laney, meanwhile, looked as though she was simply thrilled to be there. Her demeanor showed that she was surprised at the level of love our clique had for one another. She did her best to fit not only because she wanted Brendan as her man; she wanted to stay a part of our scene. Occasionally she said something to reveal that the somewhat polished presentation she put on was new for her. I understood how it could have been hard for someone to fit in with us. We were all such a combination of street and class at the same time. Sort of like Whitney Houston. One minute we were showing the best of our intellect and grooming; in the next we were keeping it ghetto. We had all been out together many times, and occasionally she seemed to be trying too hard to fit in with Nina and India. It wasn’t necessary, though, because both of them had already accepted her as Brendan’s girl. I was also beginning to see that India, as much as Nina, admired Laney’s “semi-fly, semi-homegirl” approach to life. Half of the time Laney came off like someone whose only concern was an aspiration to rise above humble beginnings. Other times she seemed to care less about fitting into the standards of uppity black folks, almost snubbing her nose at others who appeared to be status seekers.

Laney had a good sense of humor and had us all laughing when she joked about her trip to the hair salon that morning. When the food came, everyone dug in, and it was so good that we all struggled to keep our faces out of our plates long enough to keep the conversation going. We all were enjoying our food immensely, but none of us more than Brendan. He had decided to forgo his diet for the night, and was working on a platter of grilled pork chops, mashed potatoes, and mixed vegetables. He was wondering out loud how he was going to have any room for the marble fudge cheesecake he was already planning to order, when one of the men I had noticed outside of the restaurant by the payphones walked up to the table.

Again, I wondered why he looked so familiar. When Nate looked away from India and spotted him, he gave a slight grin and extended his hand to the guy.

“What’s up, Donny?” Nate said enthusiastically.

“Ain’t too much, man. I’m just out with the fellas getting a bite to eat. What’s going on with you, Nate?”

“We’re just out celebrating my partner’s birthday.”

“I heard that,” he said, as he nodded his head to the rest of us and said, “What’s up?” We acknowledged him. Then he continued, “Joe is over there paying the bill.” Donny pointed over toward some other tables. “I’ll tell him that I saw you.” As he walked away, he looked back and took another glance in our direction.

“Who was that clown?” India asked.

“That was Donny Clark. He plays reserve point guard for the Wizards,” Nate answered.

“Yeah, okay. I thought I recognized him. He doesn’t get much time, though, does he?”

“Nah. He’s like the third string or something. But hell, he’s still getting a couple hundred grand a year for that,” Nate said, while squeezing a lemon slice into his ice water.

“Nina and I saw him standing outside while we were waiting for our table. He was with some other tall guy.”

“It was probably Joe Simpson. That’s who he said he was here with,” Nate added.

Brendan seemed surprised. “I wonder why Joe Simpson is hanging out with a third-string bum like Clark.”

“Donny is like a flunky to Joe. Joe is pressed to have people around him who ride his dick. To be honest, he gets on my nerves.”

“Who is Joe?” India asked.

“He’s the starting forward for the Wizards,” Nina answered. “You know, the one with the gray eyes.”

“Oh yeah, I know who you talking about now. He does that Nike commercial where he’s playing basketball and a thunderstorm starts, and when everyone else leaves because it’s lightning, he keeps playing, right?” India asked.

“Yeah, girl.” Nina laughed.

“What the hell is so damned funny,” I asked. “I know you ain’t sweating that nigga.”

“Cory, stop being so jealous,” Nina said. “You know I don’t trip off of nobody but you.” Then she squeezed my hand and kissed my cheek.

Brendan asked Nate to call for the waitress, and when she came Brendan asked her to wrap the rest of his food, but to bring him the fudge cheesecake he had been craving ever since he had been on a diet. No one else wanted dessert, but Nina ordered a slice of cheesecake to go.

Laney had been particularly quiet ever since Donny had come over to the table, and Nina took enough notice to ask her if everything was all right. She assured Nina and Brendan, who now had seemed to notice her uneasiness, that she was fine.

“I think I may have eaten too much. I might just need to go to the ladies room, if you will excuse me, Cory,” Laney said, sounding a little more nervous than sick.

“I think I’ll join you, as a matter of fact,” India added. “Could you let me out, sweetheart?” she said, as she gently nudged Nate’s shoulder.

Before either Nate or I stood to let the two ladies out, Donny was back at our table with Joe Simpson and another guy, who was too short to be an NBA player.

“Hey hey, what’s happening player?” Joe said to Nate as he shook his hand. All eyes were on Nate and Joe. The ladies looked as though they were wondering how Nate knew Joe well enough for him to come up to our table. I wasn’t surprised anymore. Nate knew everybody and everybody knew Nate. One night while we were hanging out together in Atlanta, Toni Braxton walked up and kissed him on the lips. I also witnessed Marion Barry giving him a pound and a hug at the Million Man March, but when George Foreman sent a bottle of champagne over to our table one night at the Mirage in Las Vegas, I totally flipped out. After that nothing would ever surprise me.