17. Santa, Baby
SANTA, BABY
K ayn
“You’re welcome.”
“Huh?”
“I said you’re welcome,” Byron repeated.
“For what?”
“Did you take advantage of the time you two had alone this afternoon?” Byron asked as we walked down Main Street.
I glanced at him and nodded.
“You do realize that I hooked that shit up so you could have alone time with her. Getting everyone out of the house, I mean,” he added.
Chuckling, I dapped him up. “’Preciate it, man.”
“Make that sista your wife for real. Let this lie you’ve told the fam be a prophetic announcement.”
“What lie?” Chauncey asked, popping out of a store behind us. I glanced at Byron, who scowled and turned to look at his younger brother.
“Nigga, what I tell you ’bout that creepin’ shit?”
“Ain’t nobody creeping. I walked into the store to get something for Mama and walked back out. Now, what lie?”
“Nothing, nigga,” Byron replied and shook his head. “You think y’all still gonna be here on Christmas Day?”
“I’m hoping not. I really need to make it to New York to handle this business and then get her back home in time to spend some of the holidays with her family. Her mama ain’t too happy with me right now. And neither is she, if I’m being honest.”
“Oh, that’s why you won’t let her out of your sight?” Chauncey asked and snickered.
I stopped on the middle of the sidewalk and stepped closer to my cousin.
I didn’t want to have to bury his ass in the snow piles that covered the streets and most of the sidewalk, but I would.
“Listen, I trust my woman. That shit we went through back in the days was kid shit. I ain’t worried about her sneaking around behind my back with you and nan other nigga.
But I don’t play ’bout that one. Let me find out you sniffin’ ’round her.
Nigga, I’ll body ya ass and leave ya stankin’. ”
“Merry Christmas,” an elderly lady greeted us as she passed us up with a lovely smile and stared into my eyes. It was just what I needed to bring me back into the moment.
“Ya Christmas angel just saved ya ass,” I warned Chauncey.
“I need y’all niggas to squash this shit.” Byron grumbled with irritation.
I didn’t break my stare with Chauncey for several long seconds before I walked away and headed into the next store. I guessed Byron must have been talking to that nigga because it was several minutes before they came into the store that I was in.
“You good?” Byron asked as I stood, turning a snow globe in my hand.
“Yeah, I’m chill. Ya brother the one who needs to chill out.”
I looked up and noticed that Chauncey was chatting with the salesclerk on the other side of the store.
“He wants to make peace with you, Emmanuel. He’s just not sure how to make that happen.”
“Stay away from Kandi, and we won’t have any problems.”
“Make her yours, and you won’t have no problems,” Byron stated matter-of-factly.
“She’s already mine. I just need her to know it.”
“Tell her. Show her. Quit being scared.”
“I ain’t neva scared,” I replied with a mug firmly in place as I looked my older cousin up and down.
“Yeah? Well, I can’t tell. You’ve only been running for forever. And you haven’t told that woman how you feel yet.”
“I told her earlier today.”
“Did you tell her how you feel, E, or did you just fuck her senseless until she screamed your name and didn’t know hers?”
I chuckled and shook my head. “Ain’t they one and the same?”
Byron smirked and angled his head sideways. “One day, my nigga. One day, you’ll get the picture.”
“Think she’ll like this?” I asked and held up the snow globe.
“I mean, I guess. If she’s into that type of thing.”
“She’s into Christmas, small towns, and Hallmark feels.”
Byron leaned slightly sideways, continued to stare straight ahead, and then lowered his voice. “Then I guess you got the right thing. But you need more than a snow globe to say Merry Christmas to the woman you love.”
“Who said anything about love?”
“A woman who you bring home to meet the family, even if it’s because your ass got stranded, causes you to get into the Christmas spirit, and has your old ornery ass calming down. I’d say that is love.”
He smirked at me, and I headed to the checkout line, but not before picking up a Jovi Noelle and Chris Perry Christmas CD. I had already purchased her a five hundred dollar online gift certificate to Spa Estime for when we returned home.
I finished paying for my items and then stepped out onto the sidewalk.
A man dressed as Santa stood beside the door, ringing his bell and calling out “Merry Christmas.” The sign on his bucket read, Mount Sinai’s Christmas Fund.
Byron was still inside, picking up a couple of last-minute gifts.
I reached into my wallet and pulled out a hundred-dollar bill and dropped it into the bucket.
“Merry Christmas. God bless you, Emmanuel.”
I tilted my head at an angle to get a better look at Santa. “Mr. Washington?”
My high school geometry teacher chuckled and replied, “The one and only, but today, I’m just dear old Santa.”
“It’s good to see you, Mr. Washington.”
“You, too, son. Glad you came home, and you look like you’re doing well.”
“I’m definitely blessed, sir.”
“Good. It’s the season for giving. You’ll get back everything you’ve given,” he remarked and winked at me.
Mr. Washington was one of the few teachers that I respected. He believed in me, pushed me, and always encouraged me.
“Emmanuel, can I talk to you for a second?” Chauncey asked after he stepped out of the store.
My face immediately screwed up into a scowl.
“It’s also the season for forgiveness,” Mr. Washington stated and then went back to shouting, “Ho! Ho! Ho! Merry Christmas.”
I glanced back at Chauncey again and nodded. We took a few steps away from the store’s front door and stood facing each other.
“Listen, it’s not easy for me to say this, but I’ve been wrong for so many years.”
I wasn’t quick to let my guard down because I didn’t trust people. I wasn’t sure what shit he was on.
“I never really gave us a chance to get off to a good start. We always got along before you came to live with us, but when you came, it was like all Mama and Daddy could see was you. I was jealous of that. It’s like they forgot all about me.”
“Nigga, gon’ with that shit. Your daddy always used to throw you up in my face, asking why I couldn’t be more like you.”
“I didn’t know. I mean, you started going to work with my dad, doing the lawn at our house with him, hanging out with him in the shop in the backyard. I felt like you came and stole my dad from me.”
“Nah, your dad saw a kid who was drowning and needed to be saved. That’s what he was for me.
He saved my li’l black ass from going out completely.
And your ass was too spoiled to see that.
Your daddy took you on one-on-one son outings every week, the same as he did for Byron and the same as he did for me.
He constantly praised you for your good grades, while he had to spend more time with me because I struggled with Language Arts.
Your mama never missed a basketball game that you played in and constantly rewarded you for your success. ”
Chauncey’s shoulders slumped, and he sighed loudly. “I know, man. I just couldn’t see that at the time. I tried to deal with my feelings, but then you went and got with Dom, and I couldn’t see straight anymore. All I saw was that you came and took everything away from me.”
I inhaled deeply and slowly exhaled before I pinched the bridge of my nose. “Listen, if you had told me about Dom, I never would’ve fucked with that girl. I don’t do that shit.”
“I just didn’t feel like I had a right to tell you to stay away from her when she wasn’t mine to begin with.”
“You could’ve told me you were feeling her, and I would’ve respected that shit. I never would’ve got with her, even if she was playing a nigga close.”
He nodded and looked away. “I’m sorry, Emmanuel. I was wrong. I shouldn’t have screwed her. She was yours.”
I sighed again and leveled with him. “Chauncey, you’re blood. I wouldn’t ever let a woman come between us. You should’ve known that.”
“I did. It was my jealousy and insecurities. I apologize for everything that I did, for making things hard on you, and for ruining our relationship. Just want us to be cool again,” he confessed with a slight shrug.
Kandi would call it the Christmas spirit. I wasn’t sure what it was, but I stepped forward, dapped my cousin up, and pulled him into a one-armed hug. I held him for several seconds before I heard, “Now this some Christmas movie shit if I ever saw it.”
I pulled back, shoved Byron in the shoulder, and laughed. It was turning out to be a good day.