My White Hero (8 page)

“
Is Cynthia being set up?” she asked in a whisper as she set the table. Tony smiled at her and nodded. “Whose idea was this?” she asked.

“
Well, I plead the fifth on that,” Tony said before he walked back to the living room. Rochelle took a seat next to her sister and held her hand.

“
Tony won’t tell me whose idea this was. Was it you?” she asked in a whisper.

“
Actually, yeah. I thought it was about time our girl moved on from her dark past,” Desiree said before she turned to look at her sister. “Speaking of moving on, you do know you don’t have to put on this spectacle right?” she asked as she looked into her sister’s eyes.

“
I know but I really do feel terrible,” Rochelle said sadly.

“
And me too, sweetie. I said that out of anger and I get it. You and Cynthia are the only family I have and truth be told, I would probably have done the same,” she said. “So quit beating yourself up about it,” she added. Rochelle smiled.

“
I just thought that I needed to show you just how much I much I love you even though I do stupid things sometimes,” she said. Desiree smiled.

“
I know that but if you want to continue with these apologies, it has been a while since I had some pot roast,” she said just as Tony served the glasses of wine.

“
It’s nice to have you here, Duncan,” Rochelle said.

“
Thanks for having me. I honestly thought I would be imposing with the whole family dinner thing,” Duncan said. Rochelle looked at Desiree.

“
What? You knew?” she asked surprised. Desiree looked at Taylor.

“
In the future, keep all plans to yourselves. Telling Ericson to keep a secret from me is just as good as having it posted on some billboard,” Desiree said. Rochelle stared daggers at Taylor.

“
I’m sorry. But she is your sister, and there is no way I can keep anything from her,” he said. “She should be in the CIA or something,” he added. Rochelle frowned.

“
Hey, we can still have the dinner. The food was the real surprise,” Desiree said. Rochelle smiled at her.

“
Okay, then everyone can come to the table now,” Rochelle said as she led the group to the kitchen.

“
Everything smells delicious, Roch,” Taylor said as he pulled a seat out for Desiree. Rochelle smiled in pride and shrugged.

“
It better, I spent three hours on it,” she said as she turned her attention to the new man in the room. “So, Duncan, what do you do?” she asked. Duncan took a sip of his wine and smiled.

“
I’m a chef at Bramwell’s,” he said with a smile. Rochelle rolled her eyes at Taylor. “Of all the nights you could bring a guest, you had to bring one on the one day I was making dinner?” she asked. Cynthia smiled.

“
Come on, you worked so hard on that dinner. I’m sure Duncan will like it,” Cynthia said as Tony poured the wine. Rochelle smiled nervously as she served everyone before sitting down.

“
Okay guys, dig in,” she said. She was already beginning to feel the effects of the two glasses of wine she had drunk earlier and even though the previous ones had served their purpose, she still felt she needed more.

“
Okay, I will not say this just because I am the new one in the fold, but Rochelle, this is breathtakingly delicious,” Duncan said. Rochelle smiled.

“
Yeah,, Rochelle. If this is your apology recipe may I suggest the new shoes you ruined last year without asking my consent?” Cynthia said smiling. Rochelle laughed.

“
First, thank you, Duncan, that means a lot to me. Secondly, Cynthia, that was not my fault. Who buys suede during winter?” she asked. Cynthia frowned.

“
Well, I do,” Desiree said. Taylor looked at her, surprised.

“
You do?” he asked.

“
What? You don’t have to look bad just because it’s all snowy outside,” she said. Taylor laughed.

“
You would have been a terrible soldier,” he said as he took a bite of his steak. “Duncan’s right, Rochelle. This is great,” he said as he took another bite of his food. Rochelle shrugged again and smiled.

“
Enough about winter boots, guys. Or do you want to hear about our footwear choice by the season, Duncan?” Desiree asked. Duncan laughed.

“
I am actually enjoying being with this family in its natural habitat,” he said. “Plus, it is good to have something prepared by someone else for a change and not cringe as you take every bite,” he added as he took another bite. Desiree smiled and leaned on Taylor.

“
He’s a keeper,” she whispered to him. Taylor smiled back at her.

For the rest of the dinner, they talked of old schools, neighborhoods, likes and dislikes. By the time they finished dinner, one thing was clear. Cynthia and Duncan had hit it off. They were whispering into each other’s ears, brushing their hands against each other and at some point even danced. Of course, it might have been the effects of the wine served that night, but the Young sisters were definitely happy that their cousin was having a good time. She had spent her life wallowing in self-pity for too long. It was about time she got out of it and who knew, maybe Duncan was exactly what she needed.

Before long, Taylor and Desiree were the only ones left at the table. Tony and Rochelle were seated on the couch pretending to watch a movie even though Desiree knew that all they were doing there was just making dirty talk. Cynthia and Duncan were deeply engaged in a video game. Desiree shook her head.

“
You know when Rochelle and Cynthia first talked of buying that game, I thought they were nuts,” she said smiling.

“
Why? That’s one of the most exciting pastimes I have ever heard of,” Taylor said. Desiree shook her head.

“
When we have kids we won’t get them video games. I mean, I turned out just fine without frying my brain killing trolls and shooting at terrorists,” she said. Taylor looked at her and smiled.

“
When we have kids?” he asked. She smiled at him.

“
Don’t you want kids?” she asked. Taylor took her hand in his and smiled.

“
Of course I want kids. I just didn’t think you saw a future that far with me,” he said. She smiled and shrugged again.

“
Well, you are a keeper, Ericson, and I will go to the ends of the earth before I finally let you go,” she said. Taylor smiled at her.

“
That is the most perfect thing you have ever said to me,” he said before kissing her hand. “But video games are an essential part of a child’s growth so let’s agree to disagree,” he said.

“
Come on, Ericson. Tell me, when did you play your first video game? And I am talking about these shooting stuff that Playstation and Xbox have come up with, not good old Super Mario,” she said as she looked at him. Taylor shrugged.

“
Okay, maybe I was old enough, but does it mean that because we grew up without phones and internet that we should have our kids use the public library and house phones?” he asked. Desiree looked at him, defeated.

“
Well, those are essentials,” she said in her defense. Taylor laughed.

“
Really? Our teenage daughter will use her phone to tweet and chat up her friends about the hottest boy while our son uses the internet to watch porn in his room. Wouldn’t you rather have them here shooting at imaginary insurgents while their loving mother makes them some guacamole for their chips?” he asked. Desiree shrugged again. She knew Taylor had made a good point.

“
Well, we will revisit this in a few years,” she said, brushing the topic off.

“
You mean when you finally have points to make in your favor, huh?” he said smiling. Desiree smiled.

“
You know me so well, Ericson,” she said as she took another sip of her wine. She looked at Cynthia and Duncan and smiled. She had not seen her cousin happy in a while, and genuinely happy. She always seemed to be far away, deep in thought, but since she came back from her “cleanse” it was as if she decided to just let everything go. She looked at Taylor and smiled. “At least you are a good matchmaker,” she said before looking at Cynthia and Duncan again. Taylor smiled.

“
She needed to move on because there is almost no chance of her ever seeing Picasso again,” he said. Desiree turned to look at him.

“
You think so?” she asked. Taylor nodded.

“
MIAs are usually tortured to death or when they die in enemy territory, no one ever gives a damn about them. So they just…disappear and according to a few of my friends in the service, Picasso’s presumed dead,” he said. Desiree looked at Cynthia. “The sooner she forgets him, the better it will be for her,” he added. Desiree nodded.

“
I guess you are right. We’ll have to help her every step of the way but you also need to tell her that he is…you know,” she said finding it hard to say the words “presumed dead.” Taylor draped his arm around her and nodded.

“
Of course but when the time is right,” he said. Desiree nodded. They would have to give Cynthia more time before giving her this new truth. After all, she had just gotten used to the last one.

Desiree’s stomach was in knots as she waited outside her manager’s office. She had just been through a two-hour long interview with her immediate supervisors and the regional manager of Pay Less, the store she worked for. She thought that it would be a good thing not to go first, but seeing her colleagues walk out of the office distraught, confused and sometimes even in tears made her rethink the whole assistant managerial position. She rubbed her hands together as she took several deep breaths. She thought that the questions asked in the interview were pretty standard and the fact that she left the interview holding her head higher than she had while going in made her think that maybe she had lost the position.

“
Maybe being emotional is one of the main requirements,”
she thought. She took another deep breath as she watched another one of her workmates practically running out, probably to someplace private where she could cry. There was still one more person to interview and judging by how the day had been so far, she knew that the entire process would not take less than an hour and a half. She grabbed her bag and walked out of the office space. Back in the store, everything was so normal. People were still shopping, workers in uniform were tending to customers and well, there was nothing major going on that was out of the ordinary. She walked out of the store as she dialed Taylor’s number.

“
Hey there. How is it going?” he asked when he picked up.

“
Hey,” she said in an exhausted voice.

“
What’s wrong? You sound exhausted. Did you get the results of the interview already?” he asked in a concerned voice. She took a deep breath and leaned against the wall.

“
Not yet and that’s just the problem. This suspense is killing me,” she said.

“
Come on, just hang in there. The mere fact that you got this far should be an encouragement,” Taylor said. Desiree looked around the parking lot.

‘
Yeah, I guess you are right but I wish they would just tell me to go and come back,” she said even though she knew that this being the second and last interview, that would never happen. “But I should know whether I get to be the ass man or not in the next hour,” she said.

“
Ass man?” Taylor asked. She could hear the confusion in his voice.

“
Assistant manager is way too long for the tag so it’s usually shortened to ass man,” she explained as she put up finger quotes almost as if he could see her.

“
Oh. I’ve got to keep up with the lingo,” he said just as one of the junior attendants walked up to her.

“
They need you inside, Dee,” the short woman said with a smile before quickly walking back inside. Desiree’s smile quickly died down.

“
I’ve got to go. They are calling for me,” she said as she clenched and unclenched her fist in a bid to reduce the tension.

“
Okay, I’m almost done here anyway. Good luck to you, babe. Call me when you are done,” Taylor said.

“
Will do,” she said before she hung up. As she walked back in, she could feel her heart beating almost as loudly as the music in the store. She walked past the customer care desk almost robotically. The girl behind the desk said something to her, but in her own realm of wild thoughts, Desiree did not hear her but smiled courteously as she walked past. When she got outside the manager’s office, she took a couple of deep breaths before she knocked gently on the door.

“
Come in,” she heard Mark Simmons’ familiar voice beckoning her in. She slowly walked inside and smiled at the two men again. She had done everything right, from the navy blue pencil dress to the gold rimmed heels she wore. Mark pointed at the seat in front of the desk and smiled. “Please,” he said looking at her.