Chapter Eleven
It was Christmas Day, and Terence didn’t like the idea of staying at home by himself for the holidays. Even if Avila didn’t
say yes or no with regards to whether she wanted to spend Christmas with him, he was definitely going to stop by and drop
off the gift cards he had purchased for Ebony.
Terence stepped around the stacks of boxes, bags of trash, and other things that were laid out on Avila’s front porch. Then
he opened the screen door and knocked. He sensed that Avila had been avoiding him since he had asked her about her career
plans, but he wasn’t going to let that bother him.
Ebony answered the door. “Merry Christmas, Terence.”
“Merry Christmas.”
“Come on in. Mom’s in the kitchen.”
“Happy holidays. How’s it going?” he asked Ebony.
“Going great.”
Terence stepped into the kitchen. Avila was opening the stove and putting a covered dish in the oven.
“Do you need help?”
Avila sighed. “I got it. Just making Christmas dinner for us.” She continued cooking, not looking at him even once.
Terence got the hint, but he ignored it. He placed the card on the kitchen table. “This is for Ebony. A Christmas gift.”
Ebony’s eyes widened. “For me?”
“Of course it’s for you.”
“Can I open the gift now, Mom?” Ebony’s eyes pleaded.
Her mother stopped stirring the batter in the mixing bowl. “Of course you can, but you’ll have to open my gift too.” She headed
over to the coat rack, pulled the card from her purse, and gave it to her daughter. “Here you go, my dear.”
Ebony smiled and opened both cards. “Whoa. This is a lot of money in gift cards.” She held them up for both to see. Thank
you, Mom. Thank you, Terence.”
“You’re welcome,” they said in unison.
Avila and Terence looked at one another, and he could see the softness in her gaze. “That’s kind of you, Terence. You didn’t
have to do that.”
“I know. But I wanted to.”
Avila smiled. “You know, Terence. You could help with something. I’m trying to make a Christmas meal and work on the house
at the same time. And it’s obviously not working. Could you help me with decluttering the extra dishes and pans that are in
the kitchen cabinets?”
Most of the pans and dishes in the kitchen were in decent shape, though they didn’t match. He supposed that kind of thing
mattered to most women. “I’d be happy to do that.”
They worked in silence for a long while. As they worked, he couldn’t help but think about her former stint as an actress.
He knew that she loved performing. Didn’t she want to pursue it again? Or something close to it, like teaching arts to others?
She seemed to be very closed off to the possibility of anything that had to do with the arts, but if she could try her hand at it again, and let him know why she had hesitations, then perhaps he could address those things out in the open.
Okay, he was overthinking things a lot, but his heart was leading him in her direction. Even when they had last seen one another
all those years ago, he knew it would be forever with Avila. Her happiness mattered to him. Their relationship mattered to
him too, and he didn’t want to give up on that.
The door to her heart was so thick. If he wanted her to be more open, he’d have to be more deliberate. But Avila would be
gone before he knew it. What would he do if he missed his chance to connect with her?
“Do you and Ebony want to go to Christmas Mass this morning? Some of our old classmates still attend the parish. I’m sure
they’d love to see you again.”
“I don’t go to Mass anymore,” Avila said.
“Just because you haven’t doesn’t mean you can’t.” He gave her a smile.
“I’m really busy with the house these days.”
The guardedness in her voice told him not to press the issue any further. “You’ve been working really hard. You definitely
need a day off. How about next weekend? We could go to the Fun Park with Ebony and hang out. I think she’d love that.”
Avila rearranged the dish towels and dishes in the box and set a cast-iron skillet on a burner. “I’m not so sure about that,
Terence.”
He waited for her to say something more, like say she had to do more painting or sorting or cleaning, but she didn’t give
a reason.
“How about we just hang out tomorrow afternoon? We could work on the house in the morning and then spend the afternoon and early evening at Kiawah Island. We could catch a nice seafood place on our way home. I think we could get a lot done on the interior of the house in one weekend.”
She stood and opened another cabinet, rearranging the odds and ends that were inside of it. “Maybe Ebony can go. I’ll stay
behind.”
“I know you have a lot of work to do but—”
“It’s not work, Terence.”
What was the issue? “Everything okay with you?”
There was a long pause. “Yeah. I’ve just been thinking. About a lot of things. About what I’m supposed to be doing with my
life. About Ebony... and you.”
Terence watched her fill the box. Maybe she didn’t want to have anything to do with him at all anymore. That thought worried
him. “What about me?”
“Just...” she said, whispering. “We need to figure us out.”
“What’s there to figure out?”
“I don’t want us to restart our friendship and then create expectations of something more...”
Great. She was about to toss their friendship out the door. Avila was going to return to New Jersey, and they’d lose all contact
with one another once again.
Calm down , he told himself. There was no need to overreact about this. He grabbed an empty box and filled it with random things. “I
don’t think that there’s going to be a problem.”
“That’s what I mean,” she said quickly. “I don’t know if I want that. My life is in New Jersey.”
“Is it really?”
She glanced at him, curious.
“I know that you’ve lived there for a long time now, but is your life really there?”
There was a silence between them for what seemed like a very long time.
“I know that the initial reason why you moved up there was for college and to have access to the entertainment community in
New York City, but you can do those things here. It may not be as big as what’s possible in New York or Los Angeles, but I
don’t know... something could be found here too.” Avila appeared to be deep in thought. Terence wasn’t sure if that was
a good thing or a bad thing. “What would it take for you to stay in Charleston?”
She resumed her work. “A good education for my daughter.”
“They have good schools here.”
“I want her to continue going to private school. That can get costly. I know it sounds odd, but she is really flourishing
at her school in New Jersey, and I don’t want to take that away from her.”
He stopped packing the box. “How much is the tuition?” His tone was terse.
“Fifteen thousand dollars a year before financial aid. I applied for financial aid, and I only get two thousand dollars.”
She glanced over at him. “I’m also working a lot of overtime to pay the other thirteen thousand dollars. Sometimes an anonymous
gift helps with the tuition, but I can’t count on that.”
He wanted to say that he could easily cover the cost of a full ride for Ebony to attend a private school in Charleston, but
that wasn’t true. He was only an assistant professor. He wasn’t even tenured yet.
“That’s a lot.”
“I know.”
“And you never researched schools in this area?”
“Nope.” Avila shook her head.
“Interesting. All I’m saying is that you should give Charleston a trial run. You never know what good you could find here...
for you and for Ebony.”
Avila seemed to be deep in thought. “You know, right before we left for Charleston, Ebony had a hard time at the theater where
she takes acting and singing lessons. The kids and their mothers can be harsh, especially when you’re the only person of color
there.”
“I’m so sorry.”
“It happens. If I’m honest with myself, they’ve been like that toward Ebony all along, treating us like outsiders. Don’t get
me wrong. The training that she gets is very good, but the rest of it... not so much.”
There was a silence between them.
“I just want the best for my daughter.”
“I want the best for her too,” Terence said quietly.
“You do?”
“Of course I do. What kind of friend would I be if I didn’t want the best for her?”
She smiled, as if in agreement. “That’s a true statement. I’ll think about what you’re saying. I had an interesting turn of
events happen to me the other day.”
“Oh really? What was it?”
“This.” Avila reached for a paper that was in her back pocket and held it up. “I went to the diner yesterday for lunch, and the waitress recognized me from when I used to perform at the Lit tle Theater. She shared this information with me. Auditions for The Piano Lesson . Ebony!”
Footsteps came closer. “Yes, Mom.”
“I looked up the roles for this play, and they have one for a character named Maretha. The character is an eleven-year-old
girl. You could audition for her role. The Little Theater is an Equity theater. If you got the role, you could get your Equity
card. You’d be a professional actor.”
Ebony’s eyes lit up.
“I know that union actors who are minors get on-set tutoring. So I could arrange something with your school and a tutor if
you book the role and it conflicts with your school schedule. What do you think?”
“I think this is amazing!”
“So you want to audition?”
Ebony nodded her head. “Yes, of course.”
Avila glanced at Terence and smiled. “So we might be here after the holidays too. Only if she gets the role,” Avila said.
“And we’re not staying permanently, of course.”
“Woohoo!” Ebony and Terence high-fived one another.
“So what does Ebony need to prepare for the audition?” Terence asked, directing his question to Avila.
“First thing, I’ll need to reserve an audition time. Then she needs to review the sides. I miss anything, Ebony?”
“Nope. That’s all. Oh wait. You might want to ask them if they have the sides available to download or if we should get a
copy of the play.”
“I’ll remember to do that.” Avila folded the paper and put it in her back pocket.
Seeing them so joyful did something to his heart. All this time, it had been just her and Ebony, a family of two. In this moment, Terence imagined himself in the picture too, a family of three. Even though they had their disagreements, they were working together. They were getting along.
“Penny for your thoughts?” Avila asked.
Terence gave a half-smile. “You don’t want to know half of what I’m thinking about.”
Terence liked being around the two of them. They jelled in many ways. In a perfect world, everything would work out, but Avila
was also eager to return to her regular life. Yes, they had a somewhat challenging past, but today was a new day. They could
move forward differently from now on—if Avila wanted to do so.
“Are you going to be at the auditions, Terence?” Avila asked.
“I wouldn’t miss them for the world. And I’ll be at every performance too.”
“I appreciate your commitment. Then you could chaperone her on the auditions, and I could still work on the house. That way
we won’t lose any time.”
“Mom, I want you there too,” Ebony said with pleading in her voice.
“You do?”
“Of course. You’ve been at every one of my rehearsals. You’ve been at every one of my performances. It wouldn’t be the same
without your presence.”
A whole bunch of emotions colored Avila’s expression at that moment. “Are you okay? You usually act as if you don’t want me
around when you’re rehearsing.”
Ebony laughed. “Of course I’m okay. I’m more than okay. I’m great. You know, when we were at the park the other day, Terence told me that I need to start appreciating you more. And I realized that he’s right.”
Avila looked stunned. “You told her that?”
“Of course I did.”
Avila sprayed oil on the skillet.
“So are you coming along, Mom?”
“I’ll be a little behind on getting the house ready, but of course, baby. I will be there. You’re still going to go too?”
Avila directed her question to Terence.
“Of course,” he said.
“I’ll have to revise the repair schedule now. But it’s worth it if you’re looking forward to the audition, Ebony.”