Two Tears in a Bucket (22 page)

“
Maybelline, the cosmetics. You look like you should be a CoverGirl model or something.”

“
Ah.” She blushed, flattered by the compliment.

Andre pulled a bottle of white wine, two plastic cups, and a deck of cards from the basket. “Let’s toast,” he said.

“
To…”

“
To us. Three months ago today, our paths crossed.”

“
You mean they crossed again.”

“
True. But we’ve been going out strong for about a month, and I’ve enjoyed every second of it.”

“
So have I,” Simone agreed.

He popped the cork and filled their glasses. “I want to play a game. You ever played dirty hearts?”

“
No,” Simone said as she sipped her first glass of wine. “How you play?”

Andre opened the fresh box of cards and shuffled through their stiffness. “It’s easy. We just keep picking from the deck until someone draws a heart. If you pluck a heart, you get to ask the other person a dirty question.”

“
Okay, that’s simple enough.”

Andre placed the cards in the center of the blanket. “Ladies first. Pluck a card.”

Andre and Simone sipped the white wine and plucked card after card. Finally, Simone plucked a heart. She chuckled nervously.

What in the world do I ask him?
she thought. How dirty was dirty?

“
Ask me something.”

“
Something like what?”

“
Anything. It has to be dirty, though. And just so you know, mine are gonna be real dirty, so don’t be acting all shy.”

“
Okay…umm…shit,” she said. “Damn, I don’t know what to ask you! You can have my heart.”

Andre smiled, but he wasn’t letting her off the hook. “No, just ask me something dirty.”

Simone sighed. “Okay, umm…did you wash your ass?”

The twosome laughed.

“
Yes,” Andre chuckled. “Here, drink some more wine so you can loosen up. The questions have to be about sex, sexual dirty,” he said as he topped off her cup. She gulped the entire thing down. “Damn,” he said, filling her cup again.

“
You gotta drink yours, too,” Simone urged.

Andre drank his and replenished his cup, as well.

Two more cards were plucked and Simone got another heart.

“
Hold up, hold up,” she said, gulping down her third cup.“Okay,” she huffed, bracing herself. “What’s your favorite sexual position?”

“
That’s not that dirty, but you’re getting better. My favorite position…” Andre looked toward the sky, contemplating his answer. “All of them are my favorite.”

“
See, you talkin’ ’bout me needing to loosen up. How you gon’ just say all of them? That’s too generic.” Simone unfolded her legs and stretched them out on the blanket. “Come on, you need to drink some more, too.”

Nearly thirty minutes later, Andre and Simone were working their way through the second bottle.

Andre plucked a heart and asked Simone, “Have you ever had oral sex?”

“
Yes,” she said without hesitation.

“
You have?” He seemed surprised.

“
Yes.”

“
You did it or someone did it to you?”

“
How do you know it wasn’t both?”

“
Was it?”

“
You already asked your one dirty question,” Simone said. Moving the game along, she plucked. Andre plucked another heart.

“
Okay, explain the oral sex thing.”

“
I never did it, but it was done to me.”

“
Oh, I was getting ready to say. You don’t seem like the type to do it.”

“
What does that mean?”

“
Naw, you just seem so innocent.”

“
It’s not that I wouldn’t. He just didn’t want me to.”

“
So you’ve never done it?”

“
No, I haven’t, and you have to stop cheating. You be trying to ask too many questions on one heart.” Simone plucked. She came up with a heart and passed Andre a seductive glance. “Do you eat booty?”

He smiled his biggest smile of the night. “The wine really loosened you up. To answer your question, yes. It’s one of my favorite desserts.”

Five plucks later, Andre plucked a heart. “Would you mind if I eat you?”

“
Ah, that’s why you wanted me to wear this dress and drink all this got damn wine.”

“
Yep, that’s exactly why.” Andre eased from the blanket and crawled over to Simone. “So can I?” he asked, whispering in her ear as he nibbled gently on her neck.

“
What you waiting for?” Simone asked.

“
I gotta take your panties off.” Andre caressed Simone’s plump thighs and inched his hands up her legs. He gasped when his fingers reached her hips. She wasn’t wearing any underwear.

● ● ●

The next day, a delivery guy walked into the leasing center carrying two vases. Each overflowed with a dozen long-stemmed roses.

“
I’m looking for Simone Woodard,” he said, glancing at the card.

“
Those are for me?” Simone was stunned.

“
Whoever this guy is, he really has a thing for you. I was in the shop when he came in. He specifically said two dozen, in two separate vases. He wanted me to bring them in one at a time, but I have ten other deliveries. Sign here, please.”

Simone pulled the card from the flowers. It read,
Last night was unbelievable. Just like you
.

“
Wow,” she said. Everything about Andre was blowing her away.
I gotta do something for him
.

Simone left work a few hours early with her ideas running wild. She wanted to prepare a romantic evening for Andre at her place, but there wasn’t enough time to prepare an extravagant meal.

I can just order something from one of our spots,
she thought as she climbed into her car
. Ooh, and I can get a bunch of candles and something sexy to greet him in.

Simone placed her key in the ignition, but her car wouldn’t start.

Ah, come on.
She tried again, but still nothing. Disgusted, she headed back inside her office and called Andre.

“
Hey, what you doing?”

“
I was getting ready to come see you. Why, what’s up?”

“
My car won’t start. I was trying to run a few errands.”

“
Well, I’ll take you to run your errands, and then we’ll ride past a few car dealerships.”

“
Car dealerships? For who?”

“
For you.”

“
But all my car probably needs is a battery.”

“
Let’s just go look. You don’t have to buy anything.”

Andre and Simone hit nearly every car dealership in the area, in search of the so-called perfect deal. Before the week was out, Simone was driving a brand-new champagne-colored Camry off the lot, thanks to Andre and the fifteen hundred dollar check he so eagerly wrote to help cover her down payment.

“
I gotta ride by and show my father. Plus, you need to meet him,” she said, grinning from ear to ear.

“
What about your mother? You don’t wanna show her? I wanna see if she looks as crazy as she sounds.”

“
She’s having some kind of end-of-summer cookout tomorrow. I wasn’t going, but if you wanna meet her, we can swing past for a few minutes.”

“
When was the last time you saw your daughter?”

“
A few days ago. I don’t go as often as I probably should. I hate hearing her call my mother and my stepfather ‘Mommy’ and ‘Daddy.’ She has no idea I’m her mother.”

“
Then tell her.”

“
Please, and start the battle all over again? Then I’ll never see her. At one point, I couldn’t even set foot in their house. At least now, Jordan can spend the night with me. My stepsister has to come, too. It’s like she’s her bodyguard or something.”

“
So who does your daughter think you are?”

“
I don’t know.” Simone shrugged. “I guess since we both call my mother ‘Ma’, I’m supposed to be her sister.”

“
Man, this is some soap-opera mess.”

“
I’m going to get her back soon, though. Things are almost where I need them to be. The attorneys that I spoke with when the whole mess happened said it’s hard to take custody. So, in order to win my case, I have to be squeaky clean, stable, professional…all those things.”

“
You’re already all those things.”

“
Yeah, but the judge is going to compare me to the two parent home Jordan has now so I have to make sure everything on my end is perfect. I have to redo my budget and factor in a car payment now. I had money set aside to put Jordan in private school. Now I have to make sure I have money for tuition and my car payment.”

“
I’ll help you, Simone. You know that.”

“
You’ve already proven that.” Simone smiled. “But I have to show them that I can do all these things on my own. I have to get her back. I couldn’t take it if I lost especially when I hadn’t done anything wrong to lose her in the first place.”

“
Wow. So umm,” Andre began, fishing for a way to change the subject. “How you like your car?”

“
I love it, but not as much as I love you,” Simone said as she reached over and squeezed Andre’s thigh. He grabbed her hand and slid it up to his penis. “You so nasty,” she said, squeezing the bulge in his pants.

He moved her hand aside and undid his zipper. Maneuvering around inside his boxers, he freed himself.

“
Go somewhere and park. Let’s break the car in.” Just the thought made Andre good and hard, but Simone was already pulling up in front of Thomas’s house.

“
Too late,” she said, glancing at his erection. “C’mon. Now my father will see why I really love you.”

● ● ●

Simone couldn’t wait to hear her father’s opinion. She called him bright and early Saturday morning. “So, Daddy, what did you think?”

“
He’s an a’ight guy. I like how he’s willing to help you,” Thomas said. “But them detectives and police officers got a lotta women. You sure you wanna deal wit’ that?”

“
Yeah, but he’s not like that, Daddy.”

“
Not yet, but watch what I tell you. When he starts accusing you of stuff you know you ain’t doing, that normally means he’s doing something.”

“
Why you wishing bad luck on me?”

“
I’m not wishing bad luck on you. I’m telling you ’cause I love you and want you to be ahead of the game. Is he there with you now?”

“
No, he’s at work.”

“
What your crazy-ass momma say about him?”

“
She hasn’t met him yet. She’s having a cookout later on today, so I’m taking him over there.”

“
Well, I hope you don’t be nothing like her.”

“
What you mean by that?”

“
Don’t get so caught up in him or any other man that you forget about your child. You got your apartment, a good job, and reliable transportation now. It’s time for you to work on getting your daughter back, don’t you think?”

“
I’m working on it, Daddy.”

Later that evening, after Andre had time to shower and change from his uniform, he and Simone headed to Angela’s.

“
Hi, Simone.” Jordan grinned as Simone and Andre walked through the fence into the backyard.

“
Hey, Jordan.” Simone kneeled down and planted a kiss on Jordan’s cheek. “I want you to meet somebody. This is Mr. Andre.”

“
Hi, Mr. Andre.” Jordan said as she smiled and waved her hand.

“
Hey, Jordan!” Stan yelled, strolling toward them with one of his friends. From a distance, Simone thought the guy looked familiar. “Your mother wants you.”

Jordan tugged on Andre’s hand. “Come meet my mommy, Mr. Andre.”

“
Okay,” Andre replied and skipped along with her.

“
Hey, Simone!” Stan hugged his sister. “What took you so long to get here?”

“
Please! I wasn’t in a rush to come over here. I had to wait for Andre to get off anyway. Oh my God, is this who I think it is?”

Fat Ed smiled. “What’s up, girl?” he said, hugging Simone. “How you been? Wait till I tell you-know-who that I saw you. You look good, too. Shit, damn good.”

“
Hey, do you still talk to Ms. Kennard?” Simone asked.

“
Yeah. I was telling your brother how bad she wants to see Jordan. She ain’t seen her since she was a baby, and dag, look at her. I don’t know who she look like, you or Kevin.”

Simone looked around for Angela. She spotted Andre giving her a hug, which meant the formal introduction had been made. Digging inside her purse, she pulled Jordan’s most recent picture from her wallet.

“
Don’t be a snitch, Stan!” Simone said as she handed the picture to Fat Ed. “Give this to Ms. Kennard.”

“
I’m not in it, and I don’t see nothing,” Stan said as Fat Ed put the picture in his back pocket.

As Angela and Andre headed in their direction, Simone noticed the slight look of irritation on Andre’s face.

Wow, she musta said something crazy,
Simone thought. “Stan, Ed, let me introduce y’all to my boo.”