15. Jones
Jones
Lex’s booth required a whole ass set-up. We had to assemble the tent, three portable barber chairs, and three portable workstations.
“Dog,” I said, as I wiped the stream of sweat that fell down my forehead. “I thought you were setting up a booth to pass out information about your shop. I didn’t know you were giving haircuts at this bitch.”
He grinned. “Yeah. My bad. I—”
His thought was interrupted by the woman I recognized as Teeyah. Bright and I had run into her at the Humanity for Community project. I had fucked her a few times when I first moved to Jackson Falls.
“Hey, Big Poppa,” she sang, a slick grin on her lips. “You out here shooting up the club with a double-barrel shotgun. Congratulations on the babies.” She put stress on the ending of the word to make sure I caught that she was saying babies, plural.
“What’re you talking about?” I just knew that rumors hadn’t started flying about the paternity of Kylena and Jenna’s babies already. The fucking spring festival had just opened.
“Word around town is that those girls you were messin’ around with out at the barn are here. And they’re obviously pregnant, Jones.”
“Word around town?” Lex repeated while I tried my damnedest to process the whole shit.
She shrugged her shoulders.
“Those aren’t his babies,” Lex told her.
She shrugged again. “Well, that’s what people are saying.” She walked away.
I looked down at my sneakers for a minute. This was some shit I didn’t need.
Lex came and stood beside me. “Bro, don’t let this get you off your forward motion.
You’ve been turning your shit around, standing on business.
You’ve been staying out the headlines, laying low.
You’ve been about ya girl, finding your piece of land, and reaching your career goals.
This town gon’ talk. Let ’em. Fuck ’em.”
“Yeah, but it ain’t just about me. Church is connected to my reputation now.” I huffed out a sigh. “Let me get at her before somebody approaches her on that bullshit.” Before I could walk away from Lex’s set up, a text came through on my phone.
Big Strong: Nephew. I want to holler at you right quick. Come by the booth.
So, my uncle Bradford needed to holler at me. I really needed to get to Church to see where her head was at. I decided to get at him after I got at her, except another text came through.
Big Strong: ASAP
I blew out a sigh. Let me see what this dude wants, I thought to myself as I decided to get him out of the way first. The lodge’s booth was in the opposite direction of Church and Mari’s, not too far from Lex’s.
It was right next to Brewer’s food booth.
I approached the booth, making a beeline for my uncle.
“What’s up, Auntie?” I asked, giving her a hug.
“Apparently, the number of great-nieces and nephews I’m about to have.” She side-eyed me once I released her from the hug.
Damn! The rumor had already made its way to my family. “What you talkin’ ’bout, Auntie?”
She mushed my head firmly. “Don’t play with me, boy.”
“Jones.”
I looked up at the sound of my name and found myself staring into my uncle’s eyes. “What’s up?”
“Walk with me to my truck. I need to get a box.” He beckoned to me.
I fell into step beside him. “Those ain’t my babies,” I told him. “Kylena and Jenna know exactly who the father is. They just can’t mention his name until the results of the paternity tests come back. It ain’t me.”
“Um.” He made some indecipherable noise with his mouth.
“I’m tellin’ the truth.”
“And I believe you.”
“You’re probably the only one. Even Aunt Beverly was giving me the side-eye.”
“She was giving you the side-eye because you ruined your reputation months ago.”
“Right. Months ago. Why is it still lingering? Why are people tryna act like I’m the same dude I was back then?
They haven’t heard nothing about me in months.
I’ve been chillin’. Spendin’ time with my girl.
Workin’ on getting certified so I can start this business.
I haven’t even been in these Jackson Falls streets since before my birthday. That was six months ago.”
“Yeah, but you were so proficient at messing up.” He chuckled. “It’s gonna take more than a few months for people to forget who you were when you first got here.”
“I don’t even care what people think, . . . except for Church. She ain’t really wanna mess with me in the first place. She didn’t want her name attached to somebody who was popular around town for all the wrong reasons. I don’t want her to think she was right, to regret even giving me a chance.”
“They say it takes twenty years to build a good reputation, and five minutes to ruin it. You spent twenty years making a reputation as a playboy. Did you really think you were going to be able to shake it in a few months?”
“So you sayin’ that I’m just stuck with the reputation as the town thot?”
He laughed. “I’m saying that you have to teach people that you’re not that guy.
And you do that with consistency. Keep being this new version of yourself.
Keep showing up as trustworthy, serious, dependable, and hard-working.
Don’t let the whispers detract you. Keep leading with your character.
Character is who you are. Reputation is who other people think you are. ”
Church and Mari sold out of product just as the sun started to set.
Part of me wondered if that was because of the rumors.
Usually, she sold out before the afternoon even hit—before lunchtime.
A lot of people came to the booth and bought, but a lot of people turned sad eyes on her, rolled their eyes at me, and walked past the booth.
Even some of the people who made purchases gave Church sympathetic looks, and basically gawked at me, like they couldn’t believe she was still letting me hang around.
I really wanted to crash the hell out and ask some of those staring motherfuckers if they had an eye problem that they needed me to fix. But I knew that wouldn’t do anything but make the situation worse.
Once everything was sold, we broke down the empty boxes and loaded them in the truck.
I would take them to be recycled on Monday.
Church didn’t say much, and I didn’t push.
Shit. I wasn’t even sure what to say. I just knew I needed to say something.
I needed to open the dialogue before the ill feelings started to fester.
Mari had already taken off with Lex, so it was just the two of us.
We walked to my pickup since we’d come to the festival together. We drove to her house in silence.
“Lil’ mama,” I said, as I pulled into her driveway.
“I’m fine, Jonah.”
“You’re not. Don’t lie. If you’re not ready to talk, say that. But we are gonna talk about it.”
“What’s to talk about?”
“Whatever has you pissed off.”
“Nobody’s pissed off.”
“Yeah, you are.”
She didn’t offer a rebuttal. She just got out of my truck and slammed the door like she had a personal vendetta against it.
I knew she probably wouldn’t appreciate the gesture, but the distance she was working to create between us was making me sick to my damn stomach.
I jumped out of the truck and stepped into her space, stopping her as she headed toward her front porch.
“Baby.”
She looked up at me with sadness in her eyes. Then she moved around me and walked up the stairs of her porch and unlocked her door.
I followed her into the house, both of us immediately stopping to remove our shoes. She wordlessly made her way into the kitchen with me hot on her heels. After washing her hands at the sink, she moved to the refrigerator. The two bottles of water she pulled out landed on the island countertop.
After I’d washed my hands, I turned to face her.
“I’ve done a lot of wild shit in my life,” I began.
“Things that were dumb as hell—not well thought out. Things that were risky and, in retrospect, weren’t worth the risk.
I’ve been reckless, careless, and impulsive.
But one thing I’ve never been is embarrassed.
I’ve regretted shit and promised myself that I would never do certain shit or make certain moves in life ever again.
But I’ve never been embarrassed about any of my behavior.
I’ve always had an it is what it is stance about anything I’ve done in life . . . until today.”
I walked over to her and took both of her hands in mine.
Then I looked her dead in the face because that was what she deserved.
“Baby, I’m so fuckin’ embarrassed.” I shook my head.
“The man in me is telling me that I’m pissed.
I’m pissed that niggas is running around, spreading lies about me because of what they heard.
But that ain’t really it. My ego just doesn’t want to admit that my past behavior and my past choices are fuckin’ with my current situation.
I done got my girl, . . . my fuckin’ heart’s name, dragged into some shit that doesn’t have nothin’ to do with her.
Motherfuckers stoppin’ at your booth, givin’ you the sad fuckin’ face like you’re—”
She cut me off, pulling her hands from mine with anger burning in her brown eyes. “The dumb bitch who tried to make a ho into a housewife?” she questioned.
She was pissed. I knew embarrassment was behind her feelings, too. I didn’t even bother to try to calm her down. I let her get all of her shit off because it was only right.
“They’re coming to my booth, treating me like I’m the dummy that agreed to stick beside you while you have two babies on the way.
The main thing I told you when you first started coming around was that I didn’t want my name in these people’s mouths.
Now, here’s my name, . . . in these people’s mouths. ”
“I know. You’re right. You keep to yourself.
Now you’re caught up in my bullshit.” I took her hands in mine again.
“I’m sorry. I apologize. This shit is all my fault.
I spent my first few months here, treating Jackson Falls like my personal hunting ground.
I fucked indiscriminately and acted like my actions wouldn’t have any consequences because I usually didn’t give a fuck about the consequences.
Now, my life isn’t just about me. Now, I actually have something to lose. ”
“What do you have to lose?” A smirk played on her lips. I could tell she was trying to fight it. She wanted to stay mad, but she was losing the battle.
I pulled her into my arms. She let me, coming into my embrace without offering any resistance. “Stop playing with me, stink. You know what I have to lose. You. I don’t give a shit about my reputation. But I definitely care about yours. I don’t want you out here catching strays behind my bullshit.”
“I know reputations are hard to overcome, but don’t let this situation distract you from what you’ve got going on now. Being the town bop is in your past.” She couldn’t stop herself from giggling.
“Damn. So, I was the town bop? That’s how you saw me?”
“You know what your reputation was, boo. Town bop is putting it nicely.”
“Damn. What’s with all the shots you’re takin’?”
“I was really mad at you,” she confessed.
“I know. You still mad?”
“At little, but not really at you. More at the situation. Sometimes, the main reason people can’t turn over a new leaf is that everybody around them keeps reminding them of the leaf they used to be.
You’re not the same person that you were when you first got to Jackson Falls.
And I’m not saying that because we’re together.
I’m saying it because it’s true. The things you’re doing with your business and looking for land and stuff, .
. . you would probably be doing that even if I wasn’t in the picture.
You get to be new if you wanna be, Jonah.
” She gestured with her hand. “Fuck these people. You get to be new if you wanna be.”
I kissed her lips. “I have no choice but to be new. Old Jones was nowhere near being on your level. And I refuse not to have you. Fuck the world, Church. Just give me you.”