Two Tears in a Bucket (32 page)

● ● ●

Back in town, Simone pulled into Stan’s driveway and tooted her horn. Months before Thomas had passed, she had not only helped her brother buy a house, but she’d signed over her commission check to cover his down payment.

“
He wouldn’t have done it for you,” Thomas had told her. “That boy just like your momma. I’m glad you got my heart.”

Simone tooted her horn again. She knew Jordan was there. Stan was Angela’s only other option. Finally, Stan opened his front door in a wife-beater, jeans, and slippers. He looked at Simone and shook his head questioningly.

“
What?” Simone yelled from her window. “I know you not getting ready to say she can’t come.”

“
I’m not gon’ tell you nothing,” Stan said as Jordan brushed past him with her bag, smiling like always. “If Ma gets upset, that’s on you.”

“
Yeah, whatever. She ain’t seen upset yet.”

Simone wasn’t sharing Jordan anymore, and she was more than ready for Angela’s wrath.

“
Hey Simone,” Jordan greeted, jumping in the car. “Y’all went to Disney World?”

Simone backed out of the driveway as Jordan fastened her safety belt.

“
Yeah, Andre planned the trip. He figured I needed a get-away. If I had known, I would have taken you, too.”

“
Ugh…I don’t wanna see Mickey Mouse and Cinderella.”

“
It’s other stuff to do. We could’ve hung out in downtown Disney. They have a superstar studio where you sing and make CD’s.”

“
Oh, now that’s different. I was just telling Ma I wanna take vocal lessons. She ignored me, though.”

“
That’s so funny, Jordan,” Simone smiled. “I’ve always wanted to take lessons, too.”

“
For real?”

“
Yeah, I’m serious. Matter of fact, that’s something we can do together. I’ma find us a vocal coach.”

“
For real, Simone!”

“
Yeah, why not?”

“
Yes!” Jordan beamed. “So now where we going?”

“
Well, I’m taking you shopping.” Jordan’s face beamed even brighter. “But there’s something we need to discuss first.”

“
Okay, what is it?”

“
How would you feel if I told you that I’m not taking you back to Angela’s? I’m keeping you with me.”

“
But I kinda already live with you.”

“
I know, but I’m talking about all your stuff being at my house and I’m taking you to school every day, not here and there.”

“
Mmm,” Jordan moaned as her excitement seemed to dwindle. “Would I have to change schools?”

“
No. I could still drop you off the way I do now. After school, you can go to Angela’s and I’ll pick you up from there.”

Jordan smiled. “And I’ll still get to see Ma’ because I’m going there after school,” she said more so to herself.

“
Yep. So…you’re cool with the idea?”

“
Yeah, I’m fine, but…”

“
But what?”

“
You and Andre argue a lot.”

“
I know. We’ll work on that. But right now, my focus is you, Kayla, and real estate. Now let’s go shopping.”

A week later when Jordan was due to return to Angela’s, Simone called her mother, ready for battle. She wasn’t the naïve little girl who’d trusted her mother and clung to her every word. She was a successful businesswoman with savvy connections a phone call away. If Angela wanted a legal battle, Simone was ready, willing, and able to serve her one on a silver platter.

“
Jordan’s not coming back.”

“
Umm,” Angela groaned into the phone, unfazed. To Simone’s surprise, her mother didn’t challenge her decision. “She shoulda been with you. I’m getting old, and I could mess around and have a stroke just like your daddy. Besides,” she added, “the hard work is already done.”

Part Three

“
If it comes back to you, it was meant to be”

Chapter Twenty-Seven

2004

Fifteen-year-old Jordan climbed on the barstool and slumped over the countertop, still dressed in her flannel pajamas late in the afternoon.

“
What’s for dinner?” she mumbled, tapping her fingers along the granite counter.

“
Lasagna. Something quick and easy.”

Jordan didn’t respond, and Simone knew from her bleak demeanor that dinner was the farthest thing from her mind.

Simone turned off the pot of boiling pasta, crossed her arms, and gave Jordan her undivided attention. “So, you wanna tell me what’s wrong, or do I have to guess?”

“
You promise you won’t get mad?”

Simone looked at Jordan cockeyed, wondering what could possibly be so serious.

“
It’s about my father…my real father,” she said, sitting up. “Why’d y’all break up?”

“
Why’d we break up?” Simone repeated more so to herself.

“
Was it because he went to jail?”

“
No,” Simone said as she dumped the pasta in the colander to drain. “We broke up because he cheated.”

“
He cheated? While you were pregnant with me?”

“
Yes, ma’am.”

“
How’d you find out?”

“
I called his house and the tramp answered the phone,” she said playfully. “I’m just kidding, but some chick did answer the phone, claiming to be his girlfriend. We exchanged pleasantries, and blah, blah, blah,” Simone said, dismissing the ordeal with a wave of her hand.

“
Simone! Don’t blah, blah the good stuff. Did y’all fight?”

“
No, I went over there, but we didn’t fight. The bad part is after it was all said and done, I never heard from your father again. Well, let me take that back. Your granddaddy was complaining about somebody calling from prison. So,” Simone added with a shrug of her shoulders, “I guess he may have tried to call once or twice.”

“
How come he didn’t want me with you?” Jordan asked.

“
Remember when Granddaddy told me you were my mother?”

“
Yes,” Simone said, wiping her hands on a terrycloth dishtowel.

“
Well, when I went home, Ma showed me a piece of paper that my father signed.”

“
What kind of paper?”

“
Um, I don’t know. I guess custody papers. It was signed by Kevin Kennard.”

“
That doesn’t make any sense,” Simone said. “I don’t know what Angela showed you, Jordan, but it’s probably some mess she forged. Your father wouldn’t have signed anything. He didn’t have a reason to.”

“
I just wish I could meet him. I’m the only girl in the world who’s been fooled all her life. I don’t even know what he looks like.”

“
Jordan,” Simone sighed, knowing her point was valid, “I don’t have a problem with you meeting him. I just don’t know how to get in contact with him or his mother. Your father could be out of prison, married, and living with the elves in the North Pole, for all I know.”

“
Well…can you help me find him?”

“
And where do we start looking?”

Sucking her teeth, Jordan slid from the barstool in defeat and headed upstairs to her room, leaving Simone to ponder the idea. In the still darkness of her room, Jordan lay stretched across her bed with the earphones of her iPod stuffed in her ears. All evening she sulked in her room. She didn’t even bother to eat dinner. Before turning in for the night, Simone opened Jordan’s door and flicked on her light.

“
Simone!” Jordan whined, throwing her pillow over her face to block the bright light.

“
Oh, well. I guess you don’t wanna know that I’ve decided to help you find your father,” Simone said, switching off the light and closing the door.

Jordan sprang up in bed, yelling, “No, Simone! Come back!”

Simone chuckled. “I thought you would get up then,” she said through the crack in the door. “Now listen. Don’t go getting your hopes all up, because I don’t even know if this is going to work.”

“
What?” Jordan asked.

“
I’ll send a note or something to their old address, and we’ll just have to see what happens. I doubt if they still live there.”

“
Can we just go check?”

“
Don’t push your luck. I think you should be happy with the note. Now goodnight.”

● ● ●

“
Simone! Simone! Simone!” Jordan screamed like a maniac through the phone. “I talked to her! I talked to her!”

“
My goodness, calm down,” Simone said, adjusting the volume of her cell. “You talked to who?”

“
My grandmother! She just called me. Can I go over there tonight, please?”

“
What! Jordan, she called you already? I just mailed the note a few days ago.”

“
Yeah, she got it today. She was crying on the phone and everything. Can I go over there, please, Simone? Can I go?”

“
She was crying?”

“
Yeah. I was on the phone talking to my friend Alexis, and the line beeped. I started not to answer it, but I clicked over, and she said, ‘Is this Jordan?’ and I said ‘Yeah, who’s this?’ And she was like, ‘Oh my God,’ and I could hear her crying.”

Simone couldn’t help but chuckle as Jordan ranted on and on.

“
Then she was like, ‘I can’t believe this. I can’t believe this. Baby, it’s your grandmother.’ She was crying and everything, Simone. Oh my goodness, she wants me to come over there tonight. Please, can I go? Please! It’s Friday, and she said my father calls her every Friday evening.”

Simone couldn’t believe how fast everything was happening. She had known with all certainty that the card would be returned to her stamped ‘Addressee Unknown.’ However, Ms. Kennard was still there after all these years.

“
Simone, can I, please? I wanna talk to him.”

“
I just can’t believe she lives in the same place,” Simone said, more to herself.

“
Please, Simone? Can I go?”

“
I need to talk to your grandmother first,” she said. “I’ll be home in an hour or so, and I’ll call her then.”

“
Oh my gosh. Thank you, Simone, for mailing the card. I love you. I’m going to pack my stuff!”

● ● ●

The overwhelming smell of cleaning products stung Simone’s nose the minute she walked into the house. Jordan knew Simone dreaded coming home to filth and disorder.

“
Hey, Simone,” Jordan hollered from the kitchen as she loaded the dishes into the dishwasher. Simone couldn’t tell what sparkled the most, her daughter’s smile or the kitchen.

“
The house looks good, Jordan, but you need to open the windows. Smells like you used a gallon of bleach.”

“
You want the phone so you can call my grandma now?”

“
Sure, Jordan,” Simone said, knowing there would be no peace until she finished what she’d started. Jordan wanted to meet her father. “Dial the number,” Simone told her while opening a few windows herself.

Jordan grabbed the cordless and dialed the number she’d already committed to memory. “Hey, Grandma!” She giggled into the receiver. “Simone’s here now. You wanna talk to her? Okay, here she go.”

“
Hey, Ms. Kennard!” Simone greeted, plopping down at the kitchen table. “How you doing?”

“
Simone, Simone, Simone. I’m going to say this, and I’m going to say it without crying, ’cause Lord knows I’ve been crying
all
day.” She paused as if she were trying to get herself together. “Kevin’s supposed to call here tonight. I know he’s gonna have a heart attack when I tell him.” Simone heard her sniff and realized the tears had won. “Simone, thank you from the bottom of my heart and from the bottom of Kevin’s heart. That boy has been though a helluva lot, and all he talks about is finding his baby once he gets out.”

“
Well, I just want you to know that I wasn’t the one who kept Jordan from you or Kevin. I was lucky to see her myself.”

“
You know, Simone. That’s the past, and I’m not trying to dwell in it. I just wanna see my grandbaby. Are you going to let her come over tonight? You know she’ll be in excellent hands.”

“
Sure,” Simone said, her eyes fixed on Jordan. “I’ll bring her in a little while.”

“
Okay, sweetie. You see I’m still in the same place. I vowed not to move until Kevin came home. The parole board finally agreed to give him a chance. He should be home in two years as long as he keeps his nose clean. Thanks again, Simone. I can’t wait to tell him what you did.”

Right
Jordan sprinted down the hallway just as Andre walked in. “I’m going to see my grandmother!”

“
That makes you that happy?”

“
Not Angela,” she informed, running up the steps. “My father’s mother.”

● ● ●

Simone’s cell rattled like crazy against the metal cup holder in her car as Andre blew up her phone calling back-to-back. A smidgen of her was tickled that for once he had something to worry about. It was payback for all the nights he had strolled in whenever he so desired, leaving Simone to draw her own conclusion. The other part of her simply didn’t care about him or his feelings. Before Thomas’s untimely death, she’d been mentally prepared to walk away from her piece-of-shit marriage. But now, leaving Andre and having absolutely nobody was a scary and foreign land that Simone didn’t care to travel. So, she stayed, and instead of focusing on Andre’s bullshit, her focus was her father’s wishes. She’d gotten Jordan back and even opened up her own real estate company.