Fixin’ Tyrone (16 page)

“I’m having a lot of fun with my boy,” Tyrone said. “Thanks for lettin’ me kick it with him by myself.”

“It’s all right.”

“Are we gonna go early Sunday, or do you want to wait ’til later on when it starts to cool down?”

“I’ll let you know tomorrow.”

“All right, well, thanks for the ride,” Tyrone said. When he leaned in to kiss her good night, Mia leaned in, too; it just felt right, but she caught herself the moment their lips touched. She pulled back quickly as if she’d been shocked. Tyrone’s lips were still puckered. They were red and full and soft. He reminded her of LL Cool J.

He opened his eyes. “What’s wrong?”

“Tyrone, I got a boyfriend.”

“You was finna kiss me.”

“That was an accident. I don’t know what just happened.”

“That’s fate, girl,” he said as he got out of the car. “That ain’t nothin but fate.”

WHEN IT RAINS

Mia drove away with her pulse racing. That was crazy. She couldn’t even begin to understand what just happened. Unfortunately, an even worse tragedy occurred to distract her from the Tyrone quagmire. Her cell phone rang, and it was Crystal.

“What’s up?”

“You on yo way home?” Crystal asked.

“Yeah,” Mia said. “Why?”

“Girl, don’t trip. Everybody’s fine.”

“What’s wrong?” Mia asked, tendrils of fear already tickling the back of her mind.

“Somebody just threw a brick through the living room window,” Crystal said, but that didn’t make sense.

“What?”

“Somebody just threw a brick through the window in the living room.”

Hearing it twice didn’t help. “What are you talking about? Are you serious?”

“Yes, Mia. There’s a brick on the floor. Glass is everywhere. The kids were in Mica’s room, but if they were in here, somebody could have got hurt.”

Hearing about the kids made a hard, cold lump form in the pit of Mia’s stomach. Her head swam and there didn’t seem to be enough air in the car anymore.

“Are they all right? Where’s TC? Nobody got cut, did they?”

“No,” Crystal said. “No one was in there when it happened. We just heard a loud crash. When we came in here, we saw this stuff everywhere. The curtain fell down—”

“Who did it?” Mia shrieked.

“I don’t know. Nobody’s out there . . .”

Mia heard someone crying in the background. The sound squeezed her heart like a cold vice. “Who is that?”

“That’s Mica. Be quiet, girl, it’s okay.”

“What’s wrong? Is she cut? You don’t have her in the glass, do you?”

“Mia, calm down. Nobody’s hurt. She’s just scared. The sound of the glass breaking scared her, and when she saw the mess, she started crying. She’s all right, though.”

“Where’s TC?”

“He’s right here. He’s fine, too.”

“Who threw a brick through my window, Crystal?”

“
I don’t know
. Why you asking me like that?”

“If that damned nigga you brought over there—”

“Sydney wouldn’t throw a brick in our window. Sydney love me. Why you blaming me anyway? It could just be something random.”

“No, I don’t think so,” Mia said. “Did you call the police?”

“For what?”

“You’re supposed to call the police if someone attacks your house, Crystal! I leave you with my kids and you don’ know what to do? We might not be the only ones. Have you been outside? Any other houses damaged on our street?”

“No. I didn’t go out there. It
just
happened. I would have to walk through that glass, and Mica was crying. I— I’ll check now if—”

“No. Stay in there with the kids. I’ll be there in ten minutes.”

“You okay, girl? You not gon’ wreck or nothing, are you? We’re all right. Don’t worry about us. You don’t need to speed.”

Mia took a deep breath and let it out. “Okay. I—I just. You don’t have any idea who it could have been?”

“No,” Crystal said. “But it wasn’t nobody
I
know. I know that much.”

“Is there a note on it?”

“What you talkin’ bout?”

“A note. On the brick. Did they put anything on the brick?”

“It’s just a brick, Mia. Why would they put a note on it?”

“Never mind. Tell the kids I’ll be there right away.”

“Okay. You don’t know who did it either?”

“I have an idea,” Mia said, and disconnected.

She banged her fist hard on the steering wheel.

“Shit!”

This was ludicrous. She lived in a good neighborhood, didn’t start trouble with people. She didn’t go to the club, didn’t have catty girlfriends, and wasn’t sleeping with anyone’s man—
or was she?
There were over two hundred contacts in her cell phone, but only one name came to mind. Mia dialed the number. After only two rings, he answered.

“Hello?”

“Eric, this is Mia.”

“Hey, Mia. Just got off?”

“Yeah. Um, how’s it going? Anything . . . weird happen today?”

“What do you mean?”

“Look,” she sighed, “I’m not trying to accuse you of anything. I’m just really stressed out and don’t know where else to look.” She took another breath and let it out slowly.

“What’s wrong?” Eric asked in the interim.

“Someone just threw a brick through my window, at home,” Mia said. “Again, I’m
not
accusing you. I know you didn’t do it, but maybe that girl, Shareefa. Do you think she might do something like this?”

There was a long pause.

“Hello? You still there?”

When he finally spoke, Eric sounded deflated. “Mia. I’m sorry.”

Her heart did not beat for a few seconds. “Sorry for what, Eric?”

“Someone broke a window at my house, too,” he said. “I got home at five and there was this big hole in my window. There’s a brick in here, too. I kinda thought it was Shareefa, ’cause I had an argument with her yesterday, but I didn’t think—Mia, if she had anything to do with your window getting broke, I don’t know what I’d do.”

Mia shook her head. Her eyes were blurred. She blinked hard and realized she was crying. “What do you mean ‘
if
?’ ” she spat. “If your window got broken too, then you
know
it was her. This is,” her head started to swim again, “this doesn’t make sense. Why, how, how would—”

“Mia, calm down. If it was her, we can put her in jail. She can’t do this.”

“What do you mean she
can’t?
She
did
, Eric. My kids were at home! How the hell does she, what—Eric, does she know where I live?”

He sighed. “Mia, I didn’t think she did, but—”

“What do you mean, ‘
but
?’ Either she does or she doesn’t! What the hell kind of shit am I involved in?”

“Mia, calm down.”

“
Don’t tell me to calm down!
Did you not hear me? My kids were at home.
They could have been hurt!”

“She wasn’t trying to hurt anyone.”

“Stop defending her! How does she know where I live, Eric?”

There was another long pause.

“Eric?”

“She followed Candy around for a while,” he said softly.

“Candy? Who the hell is Candy?”

“That’s the girlfriend I had. Before you. She broke up with me because of Shareefa. Shareefa, she, she did something like this to her.”

Mia thought she might have to pull over. “What? What are you—are you saying she’s done this before?”

“Yes,” Eric said. “But this doesn’t have to come between us, Mia. We can—”

“Why is she not in jail?”

“It’s not that easy.”

“The hell it ain’t! Someone throws a brick through your window, and they’re supposed to go to jail.”

“I tried,” Eric said. “Trust me, I tried. But there was nothing I could do. Everything she did to Candy, we never had a witness. It was all circumstantial. We knew it was her, but that wasn’t enough to get her locked up. She didn’t do that stuff without thinking about it first. She was smart.”

Everything
she did to Candy?

“
Smart?
So, what are you saying, Eric? Crystal didn’t see her at my house either. So she gets away again?”

“Mia, we have to stick together. We can go to the police—”

“Did you see her break
your
window today?”

“No. I told you I didn’t. But—”

“Eric, then what you’re saying is she gets away with it again.”

“I didn’t say that, Mia!” Eric screamed, finally a little rattled himself. “She’s messed up in the head! What am I supposed to do?”

“This is ridiculous.”

“Yes! It is. But we can stick together. She doesn’t have to win.”

“She doesn’t, Eric? She knows where I live. She attacked me at my home and could have hurt my children. And there’s nothing we can do about it. Why doesn’t she win, Eric? Tell me why she doesn’t win?”

“Because she wants us to break up, Mia. She wants to ruin my life. If we break up,
then
she wins, but it doesn’t have to be like that.”

“So, what am I supposed to wait for?” Mia asked. “Should I keep letting her attack me until I have enough
proof
to stop her? I’m not fighting some crazy lady, Eric. I don’t need this.”

“Don’t say that, Mia.”

“I gotta go, I’m at home.”

“Mia, don’t say that. Tell me you’re not leaving me.”

“Eric—”

“
Please, Mia
. Just,
please
tell me you’re not leaving me. Don’t let her do this again. It’s not fair.”

“Eric, I have to call the police. I have to look at my house. My daughter’s standing in the doorway crying. Goodbye.”

“Mia, pl—” He started to say something else, but the line went dead.

* * *

The next couple of hours were somewhat of a blur for Mia. From outside she assessed the damage to her home: There was a huge hole in her main front window, and her Manchester curtains hung at a 45degree angle. Once inside, her first mission was to calm the kids, but they were actually more excited than frightened by the time she showed up.

Crystal had called the police when they got off the phone earlier, and two officers arrived five minutes after Mia walked in. In Tyrone’s neighborhood, it might have taken days for a unit to respond to a mere vandalism call, but there were no homes under $200,000 on Mia’s street. Plus Crystal told them someone was attacking a house full of children.

And it turned out Eric was right. The police took all of Mia’s information. They even jotted notes about her possible suspect. But frankly there was nothing they could do just because she was
pretty sure
Shareefa was involved. Mia might be able to win a civil suit with this kind of circumstantial evidence, but it wasn’t even enough for them to bring Eric’s ex-girlfriend in for questioning.

After the police left, Crystal got the kids started on dinner, and then she and Mia cleaned up the mess. Mia told her about the conversation she had with Eric, and Crystal asked if she would stay with him. Mia said she didn’t know. Crystal thought it would be silly to risk her home, property, and possibly her
life
just so she could go out with some stupid boy.

But Mia didn’t want to talk about it. She wanted to find a way to cover the hole in her window. They found a piece of cardboard big enough to tape over the jagged orifice until she could call a glass repair shop tomorrow.

They vacuumed the whole room twice but still kept finding stray shards here and there.

Mia used a Phillips screwdriver, the only tool she had any skill with, to fix the curtain rod, and she remounted her drapes. When they were done, there was no evidence of the vandalism from inside. That went a long way in making everyone feel better, but Mia wouldn’t feel completely comfortable until she was sure it wouldn’t happen again.

Before she put the kids to bed, Mia cuddled with them on the sofa and explained how bad things sometimes happen to good people. TC somehow steered the conversation to religion, and Mia then had to explain why God
allowed
bad things to happen to good people, which she was no good at.

Afterwards, Mica thought they should probably say their prayers that night, and Mia thought that was a wonderful idea. The three of them got on their knees in the living room and thanked God for the good people, prayed for the bad ones, and were grateful no one was injured when the brick came in. Mia promised there would be no more bricks in their living room, and they marched off to their bedrooms in good spirits.