38
You have got to be kidding me,” Ashanti said. She held up a hand. “Nope. I take that back. You’re not kidding, because I can totally see Mrs. Frances pulling a move like that.”
“Straight up gangsta,” Thad said. He picked up a rock and pitched it into the Mississippi River. “Grams had her mind on her money and her money on her mind.”
Despite how busy she had been all morning, Ashanti hadn’t hesitated to drop everything and meet Thad back at Crescent Park when he’d texted. He’d contacted her while still at the airport after dropping Nadia off for her flight home. Ashanti was waiting for him when he pulled into the same parking lot they’d parked in the last time.
She had been prepared for a somber retelling of his morning with his grandmother, full of hurt and pain. What she hadn’t expected was Mrs. Frances to turn out to be an extortionist.
“Does it help, knowing that your grandmother was okay with what your grandfather did?” Ashanti asked.
He shrugged. “In a way.”
He switched Puddin’s leash to his other hand and captured hers, entwining their fingers. They continued walking upriver, the sun reflecting off the buildings of the New Orleans skyline.
“I don’t think anything will ever take away my disappointment,” Thad said. “I truly believed that my grandfather could do no wrong. It hurts to know that he was living this lie, even if my grandmother was okay with it—which I still think isn’t entirely the case. Can a woman really be okay with her husband fathering three children with someone else while they’re still married?”
“Couldn’t be me,” Ashanti said.
“Yeah.” He shrugged again. “Like Grams said, it was a different time, and he had a reputation in the community to uphold.”
“And she got a house and a successful business out of it,” Ashanti said. “Some women get nothing but heartache.”
“She held it together well, because I never would have suspected that there was anything but love between them. They weren’t the most affectionate couple, but who wants to see their grandparents being overly affectionate? But there was love there, you know? I never once thought that they didn’t love each other.”
“Maybe she did love him. Love is complicated.” She lifted both shoulders in a shrug. “Again, that couldn’t be me. But I’m sure your grandmother had her reasons for tolerating his behavior for all those years. What about your mother?” Ashanti asked. “Mrs. Frances talked about her before. She’s in California, right?”
“Henderson, Nevada,” Thad said. “She moved a few months ago.”
“Do you think she knew about it?”
“I doubt it,” Thad said. “Unlike my grandmother, I’m pretty sure my mom would have told me and Nadia. She never held anything back about my dad’s cheating and I just can’t see her doing it for Gramps. She would have been straight with us.”
They reached the end of the park’s walkway. Thad hunched down and rubbed Puddin’s head.
“The big question is what to do about all our new Alabama cousins. Nadia isn’t ready to talk about it. She regrets ever starting that genealogy project.”
“Do you regret it?”
He waited several beats before he finally answered.
“I don’t know. Ignorance is bliss, but being ignorant about something isn’t always for the best. My mind always goes to the most practical issues, like what if one of my nieces needed a kidney or something. It’s good to know we have family out there that could possibly help, right?”
“Um, I guess that’s one way to look at it.”
“It’s selfish,” Thad said with a gruff laugh. “But I’m trying to find the positives in this. Maybe I just need more time to process it.”
Ashanti stooped next to him and ran her fingers along his jaw. “One positive is that it wasn’t the devastating blow to your grandmother that you thought it would be. This could have been so much worse.”
He smiled. “You do have a knack for always finding the bright side of a situation. I love that about you.” His expression sobered as his focus settled on her. He cupped her jaw. “I don’t want to scare you, Ashanti, but there are a lot of things that I love about you. Like, enough to fill the Superdome.”
“It doesn’t scare me,” she said as she leaned over, capturing his lips in a slow, sweet kiss that she wished could last all day.
But it couldn’t. Because she had forty-eight hours of work to fit into the next ten hours.
They spent the return journey discussing the additional candidates Ashanti had spent her morning reviewing. She still experienced a pinch of anxiety in her chest when she thought about accepting that huge order, but decided if she called it nervous excitement instead anxiety it would make it easier to cope.
“I need to get back home,” she said once they reached their cars. She looked over at Thad and asked, “Do you want to come over?”
His brows arched. “Are your sisters there?”
“Yes. Are you up to meeting them? Officially?”
He pulled in a deep breath, glanced at the bridge, and then back at her. “Does meeting your sisters mean what I think it means?”
Ashanti nodded. “It does.”
There was no mistaking it now, what flowed through her veins was pure anxiety. They both knew the significance of her offer. She’d told him before that she would not introduce him to the girls if she wasn’t ready to go all in.
She was inviting him into her life. Fully. Completely. No turning back.
“Are you okay with that?” Ashanti asked.
The lion’s share of her anxiety melted away at his smile.
“I am exceedingly okay with that,” Thad said. He stepped up to her and wrapped his arms around her. “I am so, so okay with that.”
Ashanti looked up at him. “I have to warn you, they can be a bit much. You’ve kinda met Kara already, and I’m sure she made an impression in just those few minutes.”
“She is the reason I will never even think of leaving Puddin’ in my truck unattended.”
Ashanti laughed, remembering that conversation. It seemed like ages ago.
“Kendra, on the other hand, is quiet and reserved, even though she’s the cheerleader.” She shook her head. “Their personalities don’t fit their personas at all. I think they do it purposely.”
“Do you think they’ll like me?” Thad asked. It was the most unsure Ashanti had ever seen him, and she could not deny how adorable it looked on him.
“Only one way to find out,” Ashanti said.
Thad followed in his truck. Based on the smell of charcoal and the dozen extra cars parked along the street, someone in the neighborhood was having a cookout. She had to park five houses down from hers, with Thad having to park even farther.
She had yet to run into Bernard Willis. The little creep had been avoiding her, but Ashanti hadn’t forgotten about the verbal beatdown she owed him.
Duchess went into a frenzy at the realization that Puddin’ was joining her at her home.
“Look at those two,” Ashanti said. “They look like two friends getting ready to have a sleepover.” She held a hand up to Thad. “I’m not ready for that yet. And it’s not because of Anita and her threats.”
“You’re raising impressionable teenagers. I get it, Ashanti. We’re still moving slow and I am fine with that,” Thad said. “But being introduced to your sisters as your boyfriend is a giant step forward. And it is fucking crazy how ready I am to take that step.”
She smiled. “I’m ready for it too.”
Her phone rang as they started walking toward her house. It was Kara.
“Hey, Kara, I’m outside. I’ll be there in a—”
“Get in here now,” Kara said. “Kendra is so upset that even I’m scared.”
Ashanti’s heart dropped to her stomach. “I’m on my way,” she said, already starting to run.
“What’s wrong?” Thad asked.
“It’s Kendra,” she called. She stopped and handed him Duchess’s leash. “Can you take her for me?”
At the base of the steps, Ashanti turned to him and said, “Don’t leave. I just need to—”
“I’m not going anywhere,” Thad interrupted. He hitched his chin toward the door. “Go.”
Kara opened the front door. “She’s in her room.”
Ashanti ran past her and up the stairs. She could hear Kendra’s crying from the other side of the door. She turned the knob and was surprised to find it unlocked.
Her heart broke the moment she walked into the room. Kendra was draped across the bed, her body shaking with sobs. Ashanti took a chance and sat on the edge of the mattress.
“Ken.” She ran her hand along her arm. “Ken, what’s wrong? Please, talk to me.”
Her sister turned and looked up at her. Her face was swollen from crying, the tears still streaming from her red eyes down her cheeks. Ashanti’s throat ached with her own tears. There was nothing she hated more than to see her sisters in pain.
“Kendra?” Ashanti prompted. “Did something happen at school?”
She nodded and sat up in the bed.
“What’s this about, Ken? And don’t tell me it’s because you didn’t make managing editor of the magazine, because I won’t believe you. I don’t care how badly you wanted that position; you wouldn’t be crying like this just because it went to someone else. Now tell me, what is going on?”
“It’s…” She hiccupped. “It’s Mr. Williamson.”
Ashanti’s back went ramrod straight. Mr. Williamson was the literary magazine’s faculty sponsor, and without a doubt, Kendra’s favorite teacher.
“What about him?” she asked. “Did he kick you off the magazine? Is that why you’ve been so upset?”
She prayed Kendra would say yes. When her sister shook her head, Ashanti’s stomach dropped, along with her voice. “What did he do?” she gritted between clenched teeth.
Kendra’s eyes widened. “No!” she said. “Nothing like what you’re thinking.”
Ashanti pressed her hand to her stomach as relief swept through her. “Then what, Kendra? And I want the truth this time.”
“Mr. Williamson didn’t kick me off the magazine.” She sucked in a shaky breath, then said, “He’s been selling grades.”
Ashanti’s head snapped back. “What?”
“You remember Michelle Miles, right? She’s on the cheerleading squad with me.” Ashanti nodded. “She was put on academic probation at the end of last year because of her grade in English. She almost lost her place on the squad. So, during cheer camp over the summer, I offered to tutor her.
“Just after the start of this school year, I asked her how things were going in English and if she maybe wanted to study together. She said no, because she already knew she would get a passing grade.” Kendra sniffed and wiped at her nose with her wrist. “That’s when she told me that she paid Mr. Williamson a thousand dollars to cover her grades for the semester.”
Ashanti had to steady herself on the mattress. It felt as if the wind had been knocked out of her.
“Are you serious?” she asked.
Kendra nodded. “He has an entire network, Shanti. Nearly everyone who works on the magazine is in on it. They’re selling term papers, taking online tests for people, everything. And not just at our school.”
Ashanti brought both hands to her mouth. She could not believe this. Mr. Williamson had won her over during the very first parent-teacher night during the girls’ freshman year. They’d discussed Kendra’s love of reading and he’d told Ashanti about the literary magazine. She was the one who had encouraged Kendra to join the staff.
“I went straight to Mr. Williamson,” Kendra continued. “I thought Michelle was lying on him, that she was trying to get him in trouble or something.”
“And what did he say?”
“He asked if I wanted to join in on their little cheating circle,” Kendra said, wiping at her eyes with the heels of both hands. “He said that he’d never invited me because he assumed I was too much of a goody two-shoes to come over to the dark side. He laughed, like it was a joke or something.
“When I told him I wouldn’t… it was like… like his face changed before my eyes, Shanti. His eyes were so cold and just… scary. He said he would tell Principal Keller that I was the mastermind behind the whole thing, and he said that everyone who works on the magazine would back him up.”
“That son of a bitch,” Ashanti said.
“I didn’t think they would take Mr. Williamson’s side. These are my friends! Paulina Dugas, Kimberly Jackson—I’ve known them since middle school. But the day after I confronted Mr. Williamson, they cornered me in the restroom and said they would start spreading rumors about me, and you, and Kara if I didn’t keep my mouth shut. Awful rumors,” she said. “Rumors that could ruin your business.”
“Oh, Ken,” Ashanti said.
“So I didn’t say anything, because I couldn’t risk it. But I can’t take it anymore,” she said. “I quit the magazine.”
Ashanti wrapped her arms around her, squeezing tighter than she should but unable to stop herself.
“Baby, I am so, so sorry.”
The words hurt as they pushed past the knot of emotion lodged in Ashanti’s throat. She’d been so frustrated with Kendra’s attitude, and all the while her sister had been facing those little terrorists alone, all for the sake of protecting Ashanti. It should have been the other way around. She was the one who was supposed to protect Kendra.
And Mr. Williamson. That bastard had better be ready, because her wrath would be unlike anything he had ever suffered.
“I will be in Mrs. Keller’s office Monday morning,” Ashanti said.
“No!” Kendra wrestled herself out of Ashanti’s hold. “Shanti, please. It’s not worth it.”
Bullshit.
There was no way she would let that grown-ass man get away with threatening her little sister. He was going down. They all were.
“This can’t be the end of it, Kendra. What they are doing is wrong—it is illegal. Whether or not you want to work on the magazine is no longer the issue. Mr. Williamson cannot be allowed to continue teaching.”
She took Kendra by the shoulders and held her so that she could look her in the eyes.
“You know this, don’t you? You knew from the moment you decided to tell me the truth that this would be the outcome. Because I will not let him get away with this.”
She nodded. “Yes, I knew,” she said. She hiccupped. “I’m just… I’m so hurt, Shanti.”
“Oh, baby, I know.” She wiped the fresh tears that had started to stream down Kendra’s face.
“I feel stupid even saying this, but Mr. Williamson felt like a dad to me these past two years.” Her eyes went wide. “Not that I don’t appreciate everything you do, Shanti! I just mean—”
“Shhh, it’s okay, Ken. I know what you mean,” she said, wrapping her up in her arms again.
Ashanti rubbed between her shoulders, gently rocking her back and forth. It reminded her so much of those nights just after their parents died, when she would have one girl on either side of her, comforting them as they all cried themselves to sleep.
She sat up straight and took Kendra’s chin in her hand. “You have a right to feel everything that you are feeling. Mr. Williamson is—was like a dad to you. He’s the reason you want to go into journalism. It’s okay to be hurt and disappointed that someone you looked up to turned out to be so horrible.”
Ashanti tilted her head to the side as something occurred to her.
“Ken, are you up for meeting someone?”
“Who? Your new boyfriend?”
“He’s not—yes,” Ashanti said. “I’m talking about my new boyfriend, Thad.”
“It’s about time you got a new boyfriend. I don’t know how you’ve gone this long without—”
Ashanti held up a hand. “Don’t finish that statement.” Relief swelled in her chest at the sight of Kendra’s smile. It was the first genuine one she had seen on her face in a long time. “I don’t want to spring Thad on you if you’re not up for it,” Ashanti continued. “But I think this would be a good time—the perfect time—for you two to meet.”
She nodded. “Yeah, I’m up for meeting him.”
“I’ll go downstairs and get him.”
“You left him downstairs with Kara? You don’t plan on having him for a boyfriend for very long, do you?”
She grimaced. “Let’s hope she hasn’t run him away.”
Ashanti pressed a kiss to Kendra’s forehead. She went downstairs and found Thad and Kara sitting at the dining room table, attaching labels to Duchess Delights packaging. Duchess and Puddin’ sat at the foot of Thad’s chair, waiting for a treat to drop to the floor.
“Is Kendra okay?” Kara asked the moment she spotted Ashanti.
Thad immediately rose from the table and came to stand next to her.
“You two officially meet?” Ashanti asked.
“Yeah, we met,” Kara said. “He’s much better with Puddin’ now, so I have no objections to him.” She brought her palms together and bowed. “You have my blessings.”
Ashanti rolled her eyes.
“Can you watch the dogs?” she asked Kara. “I need to talk to Thad.”
Kara eyed her suspiciously. “Did something really bad happen and you’re just not telling me?”
“Everything is going to be okay,” Ashanti said. “It’s just that Thad recently experienced something that’s very similar to the situation Kendra is going through.” She looked up at him. “I think you may be able to help her.”
His brow furrowed, but he didn’t question her.
Ashanti took him by the hand and started for the stairs. She stopped midway, right next to her parents’ picture, and in a lowered voice gave him a summary of what Kendra had shared.
“That motherfucker needs to go down,” Thad said.
“My sentiments exactly,” Ashanti said. “But that’s on the agenda for Monday. Right now, all I care about is Kendra, and making sure she’s okay. It’s a lot to ask of you, but as someone who knows what it’s like to have a father figure you thought hung the moon turn out not to be the person you thought they were, I thought it would help to have you talk to her. You don’t have to tell her what happened with your grandfather, but you understand the disappointment she’s feeling right now better than anyone.”
He remained quiet, his expression unreadable. A knot of regret formed in her throat.
“I’m sorry for assuming that you—”
“Ashanti,” he stopped her. “It’s not that. It’s…” He released a breath. “I know how much your sisters mean to you, and I am honored and humbled that you would trust me with something so important.” He took her hand and placed a kiss in the center of her palm. “Thank you.”
She grasped both his hands in hers and squeezed them tight, then pressed a quick kiss to his lips.
His left hand still clutched in her right one, she guided him up the stairs and knocked on Kendra’s door, which was still slightly ajar.
“Ken?” Ashanti said, pushing the door open. She moved to the side so that Thad could enter. “This is Thad Sims.”
Thad gave her a wave. “Hi, Kendra,” he said. “I know we’re just meeting for the first time, but it turns out that you and I have something pretty unfortunate in common. You up for a chat?”