Chapter 12
“Hello.”
“I told you she was alive, Vanessa.” Janae shook her head at the sound of Cree’s voice coming through the phone. How that woman managed to be so bouncy and energetic even through a phone line, Janae would never know.
“Of course I’m alive. Why wouldn’t I be?”
“Well,” Vanessa responded in the calm practical tone Janae was certain came from her more than twenty years of being a practicing accountant. “We haven’t heard from you since last night, and you know if we waited too much longer to call you, Cree was likely to combust in excitement.”
Vanessa was right. Cree’s voice had way more pep than usual. It wasn’t safe for anyone around her to be near all that excitement.
“I’m safe, Cree. Now that you know that, you can go back to whatever it is you were doing before y’all called, and I can fix me a late brunch.”
“Brunch?” Cree repeated. “It’s so late in the day, you’d might as well call this early dinner. What’s got your clock all outta whack?”
Adam Henderson. His mouth, his hands, his … everything.
Those thoughts were the only answer to her friend’s query. Or, more specifically, spending the night with Adam doing nothing but talking, laughing, and commiserating until just before dawn.
Janae was sure her friends were looking for much juicier details. There were none. Much to her credit, Janae was glad there weren’t any. What she and Adam had shared last night, it was … special.
It was very special, and because of that, Janae had no intention of sharing any of the details even with her friends.
It wasn’t that she was ashamed of anything that had or hadn’t happened between she and Adam last night.
It wasn’t that she had a problem with spending time with Adam either, she didn’t.
Okay, maybe that wasn’t the complete truth.
It had taken quite a bit to get her to the point where she could allow such intimacy with Adam.
Past fears tried to encroach on the good feelings flowing through her right now.
She pushed them back, shoving them in her mental closet, refusing to let them taint the wonderful memories she and Adam had just created.
This was sweet and fun. It would never have a chance to become as toxic as her relationship with Marq because it was just fun and friendship.
Obviously, she was still processing it all if her intrusive thoughts were trying to ruin her morning-after euphoria. Until she had a handle on it, she knew she couldn’t allow anyone else’s thoughts and opinions to muddy the waters.
“James stayed at Marq’s last night so I could go to the reunion. Forgive me for taking time to enjoy a rare opportunity to indulge in a lazy morning.”
She smiled at her ability to speak the truth without giving away any of the important details.
It was a skill she’d honed to perfection with all those years working in healthcare under her belt.
It was especially useful when loved ones who weren’t entitled to the specific details of a patient’s healthcare information wanted to know what was going on.
Who knew it would be helpful against nosy friends too?
“You sure James being at your ex-husband’s place is the reason you slept in?” Janae could hear the smirk in Cree’s voice springing through the phone. “Or did it free you up to hang out with a certain tall and attractive man with sexy locs?”
If she wasn’t so busy remembering said sexy man with the beautiful locs, she would’ve told Cree to mind her business. But she couldn’t exactly blame the woman when she was guilty of the same thing herself, could she?
“You still there, Janae?”
That came from Vanessa, whose quiet concern pulled her back from the thoughts that wanted to play on loop behind her eyes.
“Yes,” she answered quickly. “Just trying to figure out what I’m eating.”
“Likely story,” Cree replied, nearly bringing a smile to Janae’s lips.
If Cree was doing this to anyone else, Janae would find it funny.
Hell, if she were honest, she’d be the one leading the charge.
She certainly had done so when Vanessa was the one in the hot seat at the beginning of the fall when Vanessa and Michael had found each other.
Having that focus directed at her, she had to admit, it didn’t feel as great. Not because she didn’t want to share with her friends. These were her girls, she knew she could tell them anything. But sharing this thing that she couldn’t even name herself, it seemed too much, too soon.
Cree sighed heavily before speaking again, drawing another smile from Janae. “Fine, be that way. But at some point, I expect a full report on just what it was the two of you got up to after Vanessa and I left.”
“Hey, Ma.”
James’ warm greeting surrounded her, bringing a smile to her face until she turned around and realized that smile wasn’t reaching his eyes the way it normally did.
“Ladies, James just arrived home. I’m gonna talk to the two of you later.”
Her friends said their goodbyes and ended the call quickly. “What’s going on, baby?”
James’ eyes didn’t meet hers when she watched him from across the kitchen counter, instantly putting her mommy radar on the alert.
“Nothing.” His succinct answer was another hint that something was going on.
James was very much like his mother. Being around people who made him feel safe always brought out the best in him.
That kind of confidence acted as a beacon whenever the teenager walked into a room, drawing everyone’s attention. Not so today, though.
Today, he dropped his knapsack on the floor by the shoe rack, gave her a pitiful kiss on her cheek, and was headed upstairs when Janae called his name again.
“Okay, let’s try this another way.” She spread her hands against the counter as she looked at him.
“My son, the boy who’s always got a smile for me, and is also a bottomless pit, just walked in this kitchen, barely sparing me a glance and without asking once if there was anything to eat.
As far as I’m concerned, those two things are rare on their own, but together, are nearly impossible. So again, I’ll ask, what’s wrong?”
There was no better detective than a mother looking out for the welfare of her child. Realizing that, James sighed heavily, before sitting down at the counter in front of her.
“Last Friday was the first time I didn’t have to go to dance or fashion classes since I started the club at school.
I rushed home from Dad’s because Mondays are early morning practices before classes begin.
It didn’t really hit me until Dad dropped me off, and I realized I didn’t have to get up early because the program is done. ”
The sad and dejected look in his eyes nearly broke her. Yeah, he was pretending to be strong, but the grief of loss rested heavily on his shoulders, making her ache for her son.
“Baby, I’m sorry you’re going through this. It’s not right that they cut your club. Don’t you worry, though. Your mama’s working on something.”
He shrugged, giving her hand a soft pat before heading toward the stairs. “What can you do, Ma? No need in stressing about the things you can’t change, right?”
“There’s a school board meeting coming up, and I plan to let those people who sit behind their desks making decisions know the real-world impact their cuts are having on you kids.”
James’ eyes widened as he slowly began to shake his head.
“Ma, please don’t go to that board meeting and show out. You know how you get.”
Janae opened her mouth to object, but James held his hand up to stop her.
“Mama, it took me a long time to live down how you came up to the school and read my junior high school history teacher the riot act when I wrote about the Tulsa massacre for my term project, and he said there was no such thing as Black Wall Street.”
Janae couldn’t hide the smile on her face as she remembered that exact incident. She’d had that poor man in tears with him promising to do better when it came to learning and presenting Black history facts.
“I bet you he never tried that again.”
“Ma, that’s so not the point. When stuff happens, you get extra, and then I gotta listen to folks retelling the story like, ‘You remember that time James’ mother did…?’ No, absolutely not. I don’t want to go through that again.”
“Okay,” Janae said, walking over to her son, cupping both hands on his cheeks. “I promise I will try my best to keep my cool. Other than that, I can’t make any promises. I will do what I have to do when it comes to advocating for you. Is that good enough?”
He rolled his eyes, giving her that “I guess that’s the best I’m gonna get from you” look.
“Fine.”
That “fine” didn’t have a great deal of enthusiasm behind it. To tell the truth, she didn’t have a great deal of confidence that she’d be able to keep it together either. For her baby, though, she’d certainly give it a try.
“Dr. Henderson, the PTA president is going to be at the board meeting tomorrow.”
Adam looked up from his computer screen to focus on the office administrator’s face.
“You say that like it’s a bad thing?”
Harriet’s lifted eyebrow served as a cautionary warning.
“The PTA in a small town carries a lot of power and influence. You don’t want to make enemies of these people. They will make your life a living hell if they feel you’re not delivering on the district’s promise to educate their ‘precious babies.’”
The amount of sarcasm he heard in Harriet’s voice was more potent than any eye-roll Adam had ever witnessed. “Don’t underestimate them or the president.”
He rubbed the back of his neck, suddenly heavy with tension and discomfort. He was new to the district, and it wouldn’t serve him well to make enemies this early in the game, especially when he didn’t have to. He nodded, agreeing with Harriet, before he spoke again.
“Fine, I’ll take your advice and tread carefully. But Harriet?” She waited for him to continue, giving him her full attention. “My job is to do what’s best for the district and the kids. I won’t take my eye off the ball for anyone.”
“I understand, sir,” Harriet replied before turning back the way she came.
Adam watched her leave his doorway, thinking over what was happening.
He may be the one in charge, but he was smart enough to know that as the “new guy” he had to prove his worth to everyone, from the board of education to the office staff in the administration building.
That apparently included the volunteers who partnered with the district to provide kids with a balanced and full education.
In any case, that interim in front of his title meant that he had no time for distractions.
A pissed-off PTA president was a danger he couldn’t risk if he was to get the district to drop that particular qualifier from his position.
Resigned to do his best to stay civil and open, he went back to preparing for the board meeting.
There was a lot riding on it. It was the first where the board would introduce him to the community.
Nothing, and he meant absolutely nothing, could go wrong and shake the confidence he needed the parents in this town to have in him.
PTA or no, Adam was going to make a good impression.
All he had to do was keep his foot out of his mouth, and he was certain things would go well.
Fortified by his mission, he went back to the reports opened up on his screen. He was working hard for this opportunity. There was no one he’d willingly allow to compromise that.