As he sat on the bench waiting for the bus to arrive, Davis could not stop thinking about Ansley and their time together. He had just sent a text to let her know that he was thinking about her. As he thought about last night, he felt a twinge of sadness thinking about how different their lives were and wondered if she could ever love someone like him.
She was a college graduate, and he never finished due to the financial troubles his family experienced after his father’s death. Her family was all college educated and his family just tried to make it each month. At times it was a struggle just to make it through the week.
He loved hearing how her family always got together for church on Sunday, often had weekend meet ups, and celebrated most major holidays together. Davis loved that family was so important to her. He wished his family had that same dynamic—wished that they cared about his future and what he did with his life.
His mom made a pretty decent living working for the United States Postal Service in Chicago, but after his father passed away when he was eighteen, his mother informed him of the situation they were dealing with and announced that he needed to help out financially. He never anticipated at that age that he was to become the man of the house while she spent the majority of her time working or trying to find a new man to head their household.
Davis’ heart filled with bitterness as he thought about his father. The ugly truth was that the man had checked out on his family long before he died. Get rich quick schemes and women without morals were his father’s drug of choice. Davis used to want a relationship with his father, but the man could not be bothered to take time to build a bond with him or his brother.
It wasn’t always like that. His father used to take him and his brother out to hoop on local basketball courts or to toss around the football. But once he was laid off, his love for his family was no longer a priority. Davis detested his father for that, and he soon started to resent his mother as well. He didn’t understand why she did nothing to hold the family together.
It was because of her that he never gave a woman more of himself than was required. He was there for his mother, and even as a child she took from him and his brother. Was not there to show his little sister how to be a woman, she used her curves to take care of her personal needs and treated her children like a distraction.
Davis wanted to be different though, he did not want to be a man that hated women and treated them as disposable goods. He blamed his mother for showing him that only one person really benefitted in a relationship. There had to be someone that loss in order for the other to gain, he recalled her telling him and his siblings that one evening. She would go from one man to the next, and stay gone for days. Leaving him to fend for his family. He promised that he would never let a woman take advantage of him. He would always take what he needed before they got the chance to hurt him.
Coming out of his dark memories, he grinned when his phone lit up and he saw that Ansley had responded to his text.
Ansley: I had a wonderful time with you, too. I can’t wait to see you again.
Seeing her message lifted his spirits. Ansley gave him hope that there were women out there that did not come with an agenda. Her heart was pure gold and it showed. Ansley would be the one to change him for the better; he just needed to make a few life changes to ensure that once he got her, she wouldn’t abandon him. He needed her to keep him at a peaceful state. He couldn’t take on any more drama in his life.
Just as he was about to put his phone away, it rang. The number on the screen was showing restricted. He went ahead and answered it, with the people he rolled with, it was not unheard of to have a burner phone or two.
“Yeah, you got Davis… who this?”
“Davis, huh? Is that what you’re calling yourself these days? I don’t know what’s wrong with the name I gave you, chile. Oh, that’s right. Someone is running from the law like a buffoon.”
His lips turned downward. “Hello Ma.”
“I don’t know why you insist on throwing your life away like this,” she responded, continuing her rant. “You use to be about something. I’m shocked you’re still using this number. I hope you didn’t forget that you’re scheduled to appear in court next week. Are you coming into town? You can’t keep prolonging this.”
“I’ll be there, Ma. Why you trippin’ like this?”
“I know I didn’t raise you to be this way. It just breaks my heart. It really does. Men are supposed to take care of their responsibilities. This just don’t make no kind of sense, son.”
“I’m fine. Thanks for asking,” he said his tone laced with sarcasm. His mother never seemed to have anything nice to say. He was not perfect. He messed up just like the next person, but she could never understand that.
“Boy, you must think I’m slow or something. I know sarcasm when I hear it, and you best keep that smart mouth of yours under control. With all that I know, you should think twice about treating me any kind of way.”
“Ma, I appreciate you calling, but I’ll take care of it. Don’t worry,” he said, not hiding his agitation.
“That girl keeps calling here, wanting me to deliver messages to you and I’m sick of it. You need to handle your mess and leave your father and me out of it, ya hear?”
“I don’t have a father, and when have y’all ever helped me out with anything?”
When he told Ansley that his father was dead, Davis meant it. The man was dead to him.
“Sometimes I feel like Beau is the only family that I have,” he said, feeling defensive. “Your first husband completely abandoned me. Your current, disowned me, and with both of them openly denouncing me whenever they had a chance, you took your love away from me, too. But my cousin—he’s always got my back. Just stop calling me.”
“I love you, Lord knows I do, but you are so ungrateful. Harold might not be your biological father, but he did more than your sperm donor ever did. Harold provided a way for us to pay for your tuition, books and student housing and what did you do to show your appreciation? You didn’t even finish.”
He winced. Davis was tired of her not taking ownership for the way his life turned out.
“How soon you forget that I had to leave school to help you? You let my siblings continue their education while I worked to help you pay for them to remain enrolled. So you can stop hanging that over my head.”
“Boy please. You got caught up running the streets with Beau, you coulda gone back to school. Don’t you ever fix your mouth to say we didn’t do anything for you. We just stopped trying to help cause’ I learnt a long time ago that you can’t help the helpless. Handle your business and tell that girl don’t call here no more,” she said before disconnecting the call.
Just when things were going well—his mother called him to make him feel worthless. Bringing up drama that he did not want to be bothered with now. Most mothers were supportive of their children, but not his mother—that husband of hers, Harold, had taken prime real estate in her mind. That is where all of her attention went. She did not have time for her oldest son, but in comparison, his siblings were always a priority.
It was okay, though. He did not need her for much anyway. He was his own man. He had to go back to Chicago to resolve a few issues, but planned to come back to resume his new life in Georgia and his plan to make Ansley his woman.
Davis was starting to feel like he was getting his life on track, and he wanted to make sure the problem went away forever. Using the Delta Airlines application on his iPhone, Davis searched for flights to Chicago. He was not sure how he was going to finance this trip, but he had to figure out a way. His cousin, Beau came to mind.
Beau Cannon was infamous in the family and there was no situation too large for him to handle—for a small fee, of course. Davis already owed Beau at least a thousand dollars, but Davis hoped that he could work out another deal with his cousin. He had to get to Chicago, and he knew asking Beau for help meant terms and conditions, but what choice did he have?
The phone rang twice before a woman answered, “Yeah, who dis?”
Davis thought he had the wrong number. Beau changed his number at least once every two or three months, but he always answered the phone.
Davis paused. “Umm... is Beau there? This is his cousin, Davis.”
He heard a conversation going on in the background before Beau came to the phone.
“Fool, if you’re not calling to make a payment, then you don’t need to be calling,” Beau said, without prolonging the awkward moment Davis anticipated.
“Listen man, I know I owe you and I’m working on a come up right now, but check it out, I need to catch a flight to Chicago tonight. Old girl tossing my name around and I need to get her to withdraw this lawsuit.” Davis was desperate and did not have another option.
He knew that Beau would request that he make a drop in Chicago to repay the debt. Right now, Davis had no choice but to do whatever Beau requested. He just hoped that it was not a large ticket item or one of those dummy missions. “I can bring you in on this job I’m working on and give you a majority of the profit, if I have to, but I need you to make this happen for me.”
Beau roared with laughter. “Man, you stay in trouble… you know that? You owe me more than a percentage, brother. I’ve always kept your name clean and took the hard hits for you. So I tell you what; I got some business to take care of in Chicago as well. You handle a few things for me and I’ll give you a hand.”
Davis swallowed hard. He knew any task that Beau would assign could be risky. He was running out of time and opportunities to end this situation, and doing work for his cousin was his best and only choice. “Alright, man. What do you need me to do?”