Chapter 7
August 9
The only thought that got Vanna through what felt like the longest Friday of her life was the dinner and company she expected the moment she walked into her house.
And she wasn’t disappointed. After two steps into the foyer, she smelled the delicious scent of pot roast. She slid her purse strap from her arm and set it and her keys on the small round table by the door before stepping out of the taupe wedge sandals she’d worn today. After retrieving her phone from her purse, she bent down and picked up the sandals, then made her way up the steps to the main level of her house. Motown tunes blasted from the cordless speaker on the stand in the living room. Vanna had curated the playlist for Granny and shown her how to cue it up whenever she came over.
“It smells like heaven in here!” Vanna yelled as she dropped her shoes near the stairs leading up to the bedrooms. Then she walked through the open space to get to the kitchen, where Granny was stirring something on the stove.
“Roast, baby gold potatoes, and onions over there in the Crock-Pot,” Granny said without turning to face her. “Greens are almost done. Got the ones from that new market because I couldn’t get to the farmers market last weekend. But these’ll be fine. Macaroni and cheese just came out of the oven.”
Vanna’s stomach growled, and she moaned. “I love you so much, Granny.”
Going to stand beside her grandmother, she leaned in and kissed her on the cheek. “So, so much.”
Granny chuckled. “Sure you do. Especially when I cook everything you put on that list. Even though you know I don’t need you to tell me what your favorite foods are.”
Vanna opened a drawer and found a fork. She pulled back the foil on the pan of mac ’n’ cheese and stuck her fork into a crispy brown corner. Granny always cooked it until the thick layer of cheese she piled on top was golden brown, just like Vanna loved. “Mmmmmm,” she said, and chewed the forkful, which almost scorched the roof of her mouth. “I know, Granny. You know all the things.”
“Indeed, I do,” Granny said, and returned the top back to the large stainless steel pot she had almost filled to the top with collard greens. “Just like I know what happened last night has something to do with that raggedy man you married after I told you not to.”
Vanna didn’t even bother rolling her eyes or attempting to find an excuse to leave this conversation. She’d known it was coming. Last night, when she’d told Granny to stay here and there’d been no argument, she’d thought her grandmother might start this talk then. But, blessedly, she hadn’t. They’d both gone straight to bed. Granny was not a morning person, unless there was a man in her bed she wanted to hurry out—as was the case whenever her “little boy toy,” as she referred to Sam from the senior center, paid her a visit after dinner. So when Vanna had gotten up to get ready for work, Granny and Frito were still in the guest room, snoring.
From the day Vanna had settled on this house—yes, it was in her name only because Caleb had been unemployed and she’d been preapproved for a home loan based on her own income—Granny’d had a key. Caleb had been perturbed by that thought, claiming he didn’t want her popping up on them unexpectedly, but Vanna quickly ended that remark by flashing the mortgage-payment book with only her name printed on it in front of him. Granny was wearing different clothes from what she’d worn last night, which meant whenever she’d gotten up, she’d gone home, showered, changed, and then went to the market to get all the food she needed for tonight’s meal.
“You might as well go ahead and tell me the details,” Granny prompted when Vanna hadn’t replied.
“I think it involves Caleb,” she said, and tossed the fork she used into the sink. “The detectives didn’t tell me much before I asked for a lawyer.”
“Well, that was smart. But you need to find out what that man has dragged you into, because now that he’s in the grave, you’ve got to answer for it by yourself.” Granny crossed the room to the refrigerator and yanked it open. “And don’t think I can’t see how much of a coincidence this is that he floats up in the water dead as a doornail one day, and not a week later some dusty cops show up and put you in cuffs.”
She pulled out the pitcher of iced tea and set it on the counter. Vanna went to the cabinet to get them both a glass. With glasses in hand, she went to the island and set them down. Granny went back into the refrigerator and pulled out the carton of lemonade.
“I don’t think that’s a coincidence either,” she said quietly. Absently, she ran a finger along one of the gray marble lines in the island top. “They said something about a bank account that had both our names on it. But I know Caleb, and I talked about splitting everything when I put him out. He even brought me some papers to sign and get notarized from the credit union so that we could make it happen.”
Granny picked up the glasses and went back to the refrigerator to use the ice machine. When she returned, Vanna picked up the pitcher of tea and poured some into the glasses first. Granny always poured too much tea in the half-and-half mixture, so Vanna wanted to be in charge of that part. Granny poured the lemonade. Then she stuck a finger into the glass in front of her and stirred.
How many times had Vanna seen her grandmother do that with a mixed alcoholic drink? The thought had a ghost of a smile appearing on her face.
“He was always a sneaky bastard, Vannie. I don’t put anything past him, not even now that he’s gone,” Granny said, and took a sip. “He did something bad, I just know it.”
Vanna could only shake her head before sipping from her own glass. She didn’t disagree with her grandmother. Not about anything she’d just said. It had taken Vanna a long time to come to terms with the truth about the man she’d married, and in the months leading up to this birthday, she’d realized it was time for her to accept that she’d made a mistake and finally, totally, move on from it.
“Well, unfortunately, I’m gonna find out all the details soon enough. But for now,” she said, recalling what her new attorney, Jovani, had instructed, “I’m going to continue with the second FFSF weekend celebration.”
It may have been too late for her to start the belated divorce proceedings, but it wasn’t too late to focus on her new beginning.
Granny smiled when she looked over at her. “That’s my girl,” she said. “Keep your head up.”
“I plan to,” Vanna told her. “I’m going up to shower and change. Jamaica and Ronni will be here in an hour, and we can get our dinner-and-a-Madea-movie night started!”
“Lawd, I don’t know why you like those movies. That man don’t know how to be a woman. Looks a holy mess on that screen.”
“But you laugh right through each movie,” Vanna said before she drank from her glass again, then stepped away from the island.
“Sure do,” Granny said. “Funny is funny.”
Vanna chuckled as she walked toward the stairs.
“That shit was not funny at all,” Jamaica said. She was sitting in the corner of Vanna’s royal blue sectional with her legs stretched out on the long portion of the furniture. “Every time I watch this part, it makes me angrier and angrier.”
Which was why Vanna had saved this movie for last. She’d known exactly what Jamaica’s reaction was going to be and figured it would be better to send her home pissed off to Davon instead of having her sit through another movie here. This was the third and final Madea movie they would watch tonight, since it was already ten forty and they were only five minutes into it.
“If Davon ever thought he was going to drag me out of my house and toss me on the porch, I would burn that shit down with him in it,” Jamaica proclaimed.
Nobody responded because everyone in the room believed her. Vanna sat at the other end of the sectional with her legs curled at her side. Ronni had set up a blanket and pillows she’d retrieved from the couch in the basement on the floor at the foot of the sectional where Jamaica was stretched out. Granny, who was laid out on the recliner Vanna had bought especially for her, had asked Ronni if she thought she was having a picnic with her children.
“Men like him need to be shot in the balls,” Granny said, and crossed one ankle over the other.
“Exactly!” Jamaica chimed. “And I’m the right one to do it.”
“I always feel so bad for her in this movie,” Ronni said. “It took her so long to recover from everything he did to her, and then he goes and gets shot and he guilt-trips her into taking care of him.”
“She should’ve pushed his ass into oncoming traffic while he was in that wheelchair,” Jamaica snapped.
“Well, she did get her lick back,” Vanna added, before forking another piece of the lemon meringue pie Granny had bought from the bakery.
“I guess that’s worth something,” Jamaica replied. “Speaking of which, you ready to talk about what happened last night?”
For the second time this evening, Vanna settled into a sense of dread over a conversation she knew she would have to have sooner or later.
“Don’t look at me,” Granny said. “I already said my piece. These two been hanging tight with you for a long time. I don’t know why you didn’t think they’d want the details too.”
She had looked to Granny without noticing it. Had she thought her grandmother would say or do something to deflect this conversation? She should’ve known better.
“So, wait, you were really planning not to tell us?” Ronni turned her attention to Vanna, her brow creased. “I thought we were giving you space.”
“That space thing was your idea,” Jamaica said. “I wanted to call her when I went on my break earlier today. But since I knew we would be here tonight, I waited.”
“Well, now I know why the two of you didn’t bail on me tonight,” Vanna said. She leaned over and set her small paper plate with the last chunk of her pie on the end table.
“Not fair—your nephew was sick last week. And besides, we did the spa day and church. Plus, we promised not to miss any more of the birthday activities,” Ronni replied, her tone almost a whine.
“She’s avoiding the question,” Jamaica said through pursed lips. “Spill it.”
Vanna sighed. “Since we’re obviously not interested in this last movie ...,” she began.
“We’ve all seen this movie a dozen times, and I told you it wasn’t that good the first time,” Granny said, and smacked a hand to the button on the side of the recliner until it brought her up to a sitting position. “I need something else to drink.”
And since she and Vanna had already had this conversation earlier, Granny wasn’t trying to stay for a replay.
“Again,” Jamaica said, “spill.”
“Okay, okay,” Vanna replied. “I don’t really know that much. The charge was embezzlement, which you heard at the cemetery. You know I was gonna take advantage of my right to remain silent, so my conversation with the cops was quick. There’s a bank account with a crazy amount of money in it. They say it’s in me and Caleb’s name. They asked me when was the last time I saw Caleb, and I requested my lawyer.” She shrugged. “And that’s it.”
“Wait, you and Caleb still have a joint account?” Ronni asked.
“No,” Vanna replied quickly. “We don’t. The checking and savings accounts we had together at my bank, I closed before I even told him to leave. All the money in those accounts was mine, so I just opened new solo accounts. He had credit union accounts from when he worked for the city, but I filled out all the paperwork to have my name removed a few months after he moved out. So I don’t know what they’re talking about.”
“Sounds fishy,” Jamaica said.
“Real fishy,” Ronni echoed.
“Right. So I talked to the lawyer this morning, and he said he was looking into it and that we’d talk about it in more detail on Monday and make a plan.” She shrugged. “That’s it. I’ve been fingerprinted, had a mug shot taken, sat in a cell with Kita and some of her friends, and have some papers upstairs with a next court date printed on them. All in the same twenty-four hours that I buried my estranged husband.”
Ronni got up from where she was sitting and came over to drop down onto the couch beside Vanna, who quickly moved her legs out of the way. Ronni pulled her into a hug. “Oh, sweetie. I’m so sorry this happened.”
“I don’t like this,” Jamaica said. “I know you don’t have all the details, but I don’t have a good feeling about this.”
Easing her head up from where she’d momentarily let it rest on Ronni’s shoulder, Vanna replied, “And you’re the one who gets to stand on the other side of the locked cell door. Imagine how I’m feeling.”
“I did imagine it,” Jamaica replied. “All last night while we were waiting to hear from you, I was picturing you in there, and my stomach twisted. But what I’m saying is, I don’t feel good about where this might lead. Caleb obviously got you mixed up in something.”
“We haven’t even been talking that much these last few months. I mean, not like the every couple of weeks he used to hit me up, asking if we could talk.” She’d been amazed that all these years after their separation, Caleb had still thought they had something to talk about. She always declined, and when he’d finally stopped completely, she couldn’t lie—it had been a weird change for her.
“Is this lawyer any good?” Ronni asked.
“I asked around about him at work today,” Jamaica said. “He’s damn good. If I’d heard anything different, I would’ve called you and told you to find someone else. He’s pretty expensive too, so let me know if you need anything to get this taken care of.”
“Oh, yeah, right. I have some money in my private account too,” Ronni said. “I can help out.”
Ronni worked as a part-time secretary at the elementary school where Wyatt, her seven-year-old, attended. Her middle child and only girl, Tasia, was four and attended the church day care, along with Jonah, during the hours she was at work.
Vanna shook her head. “I don’t want you dipping into your private stash,” she told Ronni, and prayed they would avoid the conversation of whether women should keep a separate bank account from their spouses. They’d had it so many times, and where it had exhausted Vanna before, considering the present circumstances, she definitely didn’t want to go through it again.
“Don’t get all proud on us,” Jamaica said. “You know how we roll. If either of us are in need, we’ve got each other’s back.”
And that was true, had been for as long as Vanna could recall. But just as she’d never imagined herself being in jail, she couldn’t even fathom accepting money from her friends to get her out of this legal trouble.
“Aden paid for it already,” she blurted out, and noted the raised brows and widened eyes of both her friends seconds before the doorbell rang.
Vanna jumped at the sound and so did Frito, who’d been sleeping at the edge of the blanket where Ronni had been sitting. Now he jumped his compact little body up and charged through the room and down the couple of stairs to the door, barking like he was a pit bull instead of a noisy little runt.
“Who in the world?” Granny said, echoing everybody’s thoughts as she came back into the living room area. “It’s eleven o’clock at night. You got a booty call you ain’t tell us about, Vannie?”
Standing, Vanna ignored that question.
Jamaica snickered. “Lord knows, she needs one right about now.”
Granny made it to the door just as Vanna started down the stairs, and they both froze in shock once they saw the person on the other side.
“Hey,” Aden said, giving Granny a surprised smile. Frito was at his feet, dancing around and continuing his barking greeting. “Hey, little guy. Good to see you again.”
Vanna watched as Aden eased down into a squat and scrubbed behind Frito’s ears the way she sometimes did.
“Boy, what are you doing here at this time of night?” Granny asked, taking the words right out of Vanna’s mouth again.
When Aden stood once more, his gaze found Vanna’s, and he waved. Then he returned his attention to Granny. “Ah, I was in the neighborhood, coming back from a networking event, and thought I’d stop by to see how Vanna was doing.”
Granny folded her arms over her chest. “You know what time it is?”
“Yes, ma’am, I do. And I apologize for the late hour. I thought about getting in touch with Vanna earlier today, but I didn’t have her phone number.” He was actually standing there answering Granny’s questions, like he was a teenage boy knocking on her door at this time of night.
When she was a teenager, all Vanna’s boyfriends and boy friends (romantic and platonic) had known of Granny’s wicked tongue and were trained not to knock on her door after eight at night.
“So, you don’t have her phone number, but you have her address? Tell me how that works?” Granny asked.
Vanna walked down the last step and came to put a hand on Granny’s shoulder. “I can take it from here,” she said, giving her grandmother a light smile, then turning the same to Aden.
“I know you can, but I have questions,” Granny continued.
“And I’ll get the answers,” Vanna told her. “Now, please get your dog before he wakes up the entire neighborhood or runs out into the street. Neither of which I feel like dealing with tonight.”
“ Hmpff, ” was Granny’s only response, before she bent down and scooped up her dog, then walked back up the stairs.
Vanna waited until she heard her grandmother’s slippered feet shuffling across the living room floor before she spoke again. “How did you get my address?” she asked him.
He gave a little nod and pushed his hands into the front pockets of his dark-brown slacks. “Caleb invited me to a get-together he was doing for the brothers a while back, and I couldn’t come. But it had been some time since I’d heard from him, so I saved his number and address in my phone so we could get better at keeping in touch.”
She narrowed her gaze at him, forcing herself to watch him strictly as a friend of Caleb’s and nothing more. It occurred to her then that she’d done this on previous occasions.
Aden pulled his phone out of his pocket. “Do you want to see the saved contact?”
When she didn’t immediately respond, he swiped a finger over his phone, then leaned in closer to put his phone up to her face.
She read the entry for Caleb Carlson and relaxed her stance just a bit. “It’s still pretty late for a wellness check.”
“You’re right,” he said, pulling the phone back and slipping it into his pocket. “But like I told Granny, I was worried about you all day.”
“Why?” It was a clipped question, and she instantly felt weird about it, so she continued, “I mean, we haven’t seen each other since college.”
He hadn’t attended the big cookout-style reception Granny had thrown for them after the wedding. And Caleb hadn’t mentioned him at all during that time, so she was a little shocked that he’d reached out to Aden at some point. She remembered the get-together Caleb had suggested, and she’d done all the legwork for. It was during the summer, and she’d rented tents, tables, and chairs; hired a DJ; and helped Granny cook all the food. Two months later, she put Caleb out of her house.
“I know.” His expression sobered, but his gaze remained intent. “I’ve been feeling a way about that too. So I wanted to make sure you were good.”
She wanted to ask what that meant because it felt like it meant more than just those words. Was she serious right now? This was so out of bounds, from him being here to her even attempting to entertain that it might mean something more than what it appeared. She felt like the twenty-two-year-old she’d been when she first met him.
“I’m fine,” she said, and cleared her throat. “Just having a movie night to celebrate my birthday with Granny and my girls.”
“Oh, it’s your birthday?” He looked genuinely surprised.
“No,” she said with a shake of her head. “Not today. At the end of this month, but I’m celebrating with activities every weekend.” And why had she just told him all that? “Look, thanks for stopping by. I appreciate your concern, but like I said, I’m fine.”
“Good,” he said. “I’m glad to see you’re holding up.”
“She is because we’ve got pie and Moscato,” Jamaica said from the top of the stairs. “Why don’t the two of you stop letting the mosquitos in and come get some.”
Jamaica walked away as quickly as she’d seemed to appear, and when Vanna returned her attention to Aden, it was to see him grinning.
“Your people don’t play about you,” he said. “I like that.”
“Yeah,” she admitted. “I like it too.”
“So, I’d planned to ask if you wanted to go out and grab a cup of coffee, catch up or something. And before you say it, I know it’s late. I just ...” He shrugged. “I don’t know, I just really wanted to see you.”
And that was different. It was odd and she knew it; she just didn’t know what to do about it. Just like she hadn’t known how to handle it when they’d had these awkward interactions while she and Caleb were dating back in college.
“I don’t ... ah ... I’m not sure that’s a good idea,” she said.
“Well, he did pay for your lawyer,” said Ronni, who was now at the top of the stairs. “The least you can do is go get coffee with the man to say thank you.”
She didn’t know how she’d forgotten about that. Perhaps because he looked just as good as he had in that suit at the funeral—and the jeans in the parking lot of the police station—as he did standing here right now, dressed in shades of brown.
“Right, I should thank you for that. Even though I don’t know why you did it. I can pay you back. Just tell me how much it was and I’ll—”
“Have coffee with me,” he said. “That’s how you can thank me.”