Up at the College (22 page)

The only problem was that a lot of folk in her department, Yvonne included, did not have permanent, tenure-track appointments.
They were contracted annually as consultants, and without benefits. She was paid well—69,000 dollars a year with bonuses for
off-campus contracting. But she knew that she needed to be given a permanent, tenure-track position with benefits.

Still, she couldn’t complain because this job had been a blessing. And as her mother told her, God would step in and fix it
all in due season. All she had to do was continue to work hard and stay strong in her faith in the Lord. Her main job was
to trust Him and He would do the rest. A simple requirement that at times was one of the hardest things a child of the King
had to learn to do.

Over the past two years, Yvonne had been able to become debt-free and buy a new car, and could afford a lovely three-bedroom
cottage in Cashmere Estates. Right now money, unlike two years ago, wasn’t a problem. But she needed and wanted and deserved
more job security. Yvonne was learning, up close and personal, what it really meant to walk by faith.

There were times when it was scary. She’d walk through her house at night, when it was peaceful and the girls were in their
rooms happy and content. Then the temporariness of her job situation would send a wave of fear through her entire being. The
first time that happened, Yvonne thought she’d lose it. She went and sat on the side of her bed and cried like a baby.

She had come so far and life was so good. Yvonne and the girls loved their home, they had great neighbors, and she was enjoying
life for the first time in many years. The mere thought of having to go back to where she had been when Darrell put her out
was unbearable. In that scariest moment, Yvonne picked up her Bible and searched for a Word concerning her situation. The
only words that she kept hearing spoken softly and gently to her heart were, “Trust Me.” She then turned to Hebrews 11:1,
where she was reminded that faith was “
the confident assurance that what we hope for is going to happen. It is the evidence of things we cannot yet see.
”

God blessed Yvonne in that moment and reminded her to remain confidently assured that her hope for a permanent position was
going to happen. He also let her know, just as He did Joshua, that He would never leave her or forsake her. Right now, while
looking for the conference room, Yvonne was reminded that no matter how things appeared, God was right there by her side.

Yvonne walked down the hall of the Athletic Center. Judging from the austere black carpet and gray walls with red stripes
painted in the middle, it was clear that nobody in this department had taken it upon themselves to call her people for some
much-needed help and advice.

If Yvonne had been on the design team, she would have laid down black Berber tile carpet, painted the walls a deep smoky gray,
and used a brick red on the molding and trim. She would have had the uniforms of past star players on the wall in steel-gray
frames. And instead of the plain industrial track lighting, she would have opted for stainless steel lamps that hung low from
the ceiling all the way down the wide entry hall.

She found the plain gray door leading to the conference room. It was a lot better than the rest of the area she’d seen, but
it had a long way to go before it would measure up to her department’s standards. She could not believe that somebody had
ordered that long wooden table in a generic brown that did nothing for the rest of the room. All that was needed was a heavy
glass conference table with stainless steel trim and legs, surrounded by black mesh high-back chairs with the same stainless
steel trim.

Yvonne was the first one there and had her pick of where to sit. The only problem with this plan, though, was that she didn’t
have a clue as to where the head of the table was. There was no telling where the person running the meeting was going to
sit.

Curtis walked into the room and lit up in a bright smile when he saw Yvonne sitting at the conference table. He had not seen
her since they all had dinner in Raleigh, and he had forgotten how good he felt when he was around that girl.

“Hey, lady, how you be?”

“Good morning, Coach,” Yvonne said in a very polite and formal voice. She had figured that Curtis would be at the meeting
and thought it would be easier to see him in a business setting. She and Curtis had had so much fun together in Raleigh, and
it was hard for her to believe he could have that much fun with her and then go off and never even think about getting in
contact with her. Maybe it was a guy thing, and she wouldn’t understand.

Curtis was caught off guard by Yvonne’s cold response to him. The last time they saw each other had been wonderful. Yvonne
had been so sweet and warm until he couldn’t even sleep for thinking about her. Now she was acting as if he’d done something
wrong …

Shoot
, he thought. Curtis remembered that he’d asked Yvonne if she’d like to have lunch with him on campus. She told him yes, and
made it clear that she looked forward to spending more time in his company. Curtis had been around scheming and conniving
skeezer types for so long, he’d forgotten what a woman with a genuine reaction to you was like.

He’d also forgotten that genuine and honest women would think that you were jive and playing games if you never followed up
on suggestions that you made without their prompting to get together. So of course the girl would be cold and distant. He
had given the distinct impression that he liked her and wanted to see her again, and then hadn’t had the decency to make good
on his own promise. Curtis smiled again. Yvonne liked him and that was a good thing.

“Let’s try this again,” he said.

Yvonne just looked at him and then put her chin in her hands, elbows on the table.

“I … I …” he began, not really knowing how to say this in a cool way, and feeling as if he were suddenly thirteen
years old again.

“Let me see if I can help you out, Coach,” she said. “You made it clear that we should get together for lunch, and then just
went about your merry way when it occurred to you that
you’re just not that into me
.”

Yvonne had been on her own with her girls for two years. In that time, not one man worth a nanosecond of her time had expressed
any interest in her. In fact, they acted as if she were invisible. And right now she just didn’t have the patience to pacify
a man who enjoyed her company on a short-term basis but was just too much of an idiot to see what a jewel she was. The good
thing is that Yvonne knew she was a jewel. It just hurt sometimes that there wasn’t a man around with sense enough to see
that she was and act like it.

Curtis opened his mouth to dispute that foolish claim. He was very into Yvonne and regretted how he’d handled her. She was
kind, honest, and forthright. And she wasn’t trying to play games and not act as if she didn’t want to be around him. It felt
good for a woman to react to him like that.

The door to the conference room opened and Gilead Jackson, Kordell Bivens, and Regina Young walked in. Regina took one look
at Yvonne, turned up her nose, and promptly went over to Curtis to make sure that Polly Pocket–looking heifer knew to back
off and stay away from her man. Plus, she didn’t like the way Curtis was acting around that woman. He was just too comfortable,
content, and slaphappy to be with her. In fact, if her eyes served her right, Curtis was acting just as Maurice Fountain carried
on when Trina was around.

Gilead was not happy that Regina had her butt all hunched up on her shoulders over Curtis Parker’s reaction to Yvonne Copeland,
Fountain, or whatever her name was. He’d left home at five a.m., under the guise of going to work out, just so he could spend
a few hours in Regina’s bed. They had been some good, freaky hours, too. Gilead wondered if Curtis knew that his woman was
the kind of freak “you don’t take home to Mother.”

Maybe not
, he surmised. Regina complained endlessly about having to be around Miss Doreatha Parker and Curtis’s mother, Miss Daphine.
She wasn’t into mothers—especially the mothers of men like Curtis Parker and Maurice Fountain. They were the kind of mamas
who always saw past the smoke screen of a woman who didn’t mean right by their boys.

Regina has some nerve
, Gilead thought, watching her slip her hand through Curtis Parker’s arm and press into him.
And she really believes the world revolves around her
.

Curtis had been trying to catch up with Regina for two days but to no avail. She’d been avoiding him and he didn’t know why.
But what he did know was that he didn’t appreciate this mess, and especially in front of Yvonne. It was clear that Regina
was blocking. And judging from the expression on Yvonne’s face, she was doing a bang-up job at it, too.

He pulled away from Regina, and went and took a seat next to Yvonne, who got up and moved. She did not want to be bothered
with anybody in this room. She didn’t want to be at this meeting because she suspected that it was about some mess. And right
now she did not want to sit next to Curtis, who apparently did not want to sit with Regina, who definitely didn’t want this
man anywhere near her.

“Coach Jackson, you called my department and demanded that I be at a meeting concerning some of Coach Parker’s players. My
time is short and precious. I’d like to know why I need to be here like this.”

Kordell Bivens tried to hide his surprise. He’d never pegged Yvonne Fountain as somebody with enough guts to speak up. She
always struck him as a woman who was concerned with making sure she did and said the right thing. Kordell couldn’t recall
ever hearing Yvonne raise her voice to anybody.

Yvonne glanced over at Kordell and suppressed an urge to cut her eyes at him. She didn’t like him for the sole reason that
he was best friends with Rico Sneed, and was always helping Rico get away with his dirt at Marquita’s expense. If that negro
wasn’t so big and mean-looking, she would have gotten up, gone to his side of the table, and slapped the ugly off of him.
But on second thought, she could hurt herself trying to slap all the ugly off of that man.

Gilead wasn’t used to small-fry faculty talking to him like that. Because it was rare that an untenured, non-tenure-track
member of the faculty like Yvonne had the gumption to face off with Gilead. A lot of people at the university were afraid
of Gilead. He had a lot of pull with the president and could execute a hit on an employee’s job in a heartbeat.

“Are you tenure track, Ms. Copeland?”

“Fountain. My last name is Fountain, Gilead,” Yvonne responded, knowing that she was pushing the envelope calling him by his
first name. But she didn’t care right now. It was turning out to be a very bad morning and she just wasn’t up to being nice.

“Well then,
Yvonne
,” Gilead stated with a sly grin on his face. “Did you know that Sam Redmond is intent on hiring Dr. Darrell Copeland, who
I believe is your ex-husband?”

Yvonne stood up and picked up her things. She didn’t know where this man was going with this mess but she wasn’t going to
take it from him. Regina stared at Yvonne, surprised. She had no idea that Darrell Copeland was her babies’ daddy. Wonders
never ceased.

“And his wife, Dr. Bettina Copeland, needs a job. We are looking for funding to pay her. Your job is eating up money that
could be used as salary for a
real
faculty member—not some jacked-up janitress.”

Yvonne picked up her bag and backed away from the table. She’d heard that Gilead Jackson was mean and nasty and a piece of
work. But no one had ever told her that this man was just plain evil. She looked up quickly, hoping that she’d successfully
pushed back her tears.

Regina wrote a note and passed it over to Kordell. It said, “Let’s see ‘Polly Pocket’ get out of this one. You think Jesus
gone swoop down and save the day?”

Kordell started laughing. He wondered why folks were always depending on Jesus. Because it was during moments just like these
that people needed Jesus to lend them a helping hand. And here was Yvonne Fountain, who was as churchy as Rico’s annoying
wife, standing there trying not to cry because Jesus had left her out on a ledge—high and dry.

Yvonne fought back those tears and put her hand to her heart. She thought,
Lord, I need You. These people don’t fear You and they definitely don’t think You are capable of helping me when faced with
them. Let them know that this is not the case.

“Why is Yvonne here, wasting time with the likes of you, Gilead?” Curtis demanded, glad that Maurice, who had been running
late, had finally shown up.

“Sorry I’m late. Junior got sick at school and I had to go get him,” Maurice said breathlessly. It suddenly occurred to him
that there was a whole lot of tension in this room, and that his cousin was standing there looking pissed and trying not to
cry.

“I miss something?” he asked, now ready to jump in the fray. He didn’t sit back and let people mess over his kinfolk.

“Don’t worry, frat, ’cause I got this,” Curtis told him. He knew Kordell hated that they were Omegas because he and Rico had
never gotten past having their applications to pledge the graduate chapter tossed right in the trash as soon as they were
taken out of the mailbox.

“Like I said—why is Yvonne here? And why are you trying to beat her down, Gilead? What is it that you want to bully her into
doing?”

It was clear that Gilead did not like being called out like that. He said, “She hasn’t turned in grades for three of the players
you want to start at the game with Bouclair College. Remember the game you postponed after you whipped out a hidden clause
on the president?
Those
players,
dawg
.”

“LeDarius Johnson, Kaylo Bailey, and Sherron Grey have to finish up an exterior painting project for the university’s day
care center. It’s been raining a lot and we had to postpone it, so I sent in incompletes during the midterm grading period.”

“So, what you are saying is that without that grade, they are failing, right?” Gilead sneered.