CHAPTER 2
Out of Bounds
During the next few minutes, the sisters laughed heartily, recalled fond memories of their dear mother, and argued over trivial things like which sister had the biggest butt and which of them had the best boyfriends when they were younger. But as soon as their nails were done, they grew quiet and admired each other’s manicures.
The ladies slid on plastic slippers and relocated to the area in which they could slide their freshly polished toenails inside the dryer. Peaceful music serenaded them. Anyone there could tell that the shop owner was serious about maintaining a feng shui atmosphere.
Once the sisters settled in, Burgundy waved her hands to get everyone’s attention.
“Okay, ladies, we’ve stretched this out long enough. The September Sister Assignment is this: Confront someone in a nice way and tell them whatever has been bothering you.”
“I can confront.” Alita scoffed. “But being nice?”
Dru burst out laughing. “You can be nice when you wanna be.”
“Tell you what? I’ma try my best.” Alita promised. “And you know who I wanna confront right now? No need to even ask.”
“What, Alita? What you want now? Damn,” Coco said.
“I want to know who Chance’s daddy is.” Chance was Coco’s youngest child. At two years of age, he was a ball of energy and chatty just like his mother. He mostly looked like her. And the day after she gave birth to him, Coco told the nursing staff to put Chance Reeves on his birth certificate.
“Aw, Sis, c’mon now,” Burgundy said. She knew Coco was very tight-lipped about the identity of Chance’s father. “We’ve already been over this topic a hundred times.”
“And even after all those times, we still don’t know the answer. It kills me that I am his aunt and I don’t know who his father is.”
“And yet, you don’t need to know.” Coco looked riled up as she slid her feet deeper inside of her dryer. “As long as Calhoun is cool with the situation,” Coco argued, “and as long as he acts like Chance’s father, that’s all that matters.”
“Girl,” Alita yelped. “Ain’t no grown-ass man gonna be all right with paying for some other man’s child.”
“Well, apparently he is okay with it, ’cause he does pay. Damn, Alita, get off my back. I’m not playing now. You gon’ make me do something to hurt you.”
“What?” Alita rose to her feet and shuffled a few inches away. She positioned her long, slender legs till she towered over Coco. “What you gon’ do, huh?”
“I’m sick of you. Tired of everything.” Coco’s beady eyes exploded into a shower of tears. She shut both eyes, blocking out Alita. She rocked back and forth in her seat and mumbled to herself.
“Alita, leave Coco alone.” Burgundy immediately came to Coco’s side. She grabbed Coco and pulled her face against her bosom and gently patted her back. “For the millionth time, we are sisters. We hold each other up. We don’t tear each other down. We’re there for each other through good times and bad. Now, I don’t know what you got against Coco, but you’re going to have to let it go, Alita. She doesn’t deserve this type of treatment.” Burgundy lowered her head until she was facing Coco’s protruding stomach. She kissed Coco’s belly then rubbed it. “We are family,” Burgundy concluded. “And that’s that.”
“Just because you’re family,” Alita said, “doesn’t mean I agree with everything that family does. That’s not truthful. That’s not real.”
“I don’t care what you say, Alita,” Burgundy said in an icy tone. “In this family we will support each other even if we don’t agree. We will learn to get along even if it kills us. You’re going to have to do right by Coco whether you’re feeling it or not. And remember, be nice.”
Coco opened her eyes and wiped her tears. She smiled gratefully at Burgundy.
“Yes, I agree with B,” Dru said. “I already asked you to ease up off Coco. She doesn’t need all this stress.” She asked Coco, “When’s the baby due?”
“Mid-March,” she replied. “March twelfth.”
“So there, it’s settled. She’ll be a new mom in six short months from now.” Dru’s voice sounded incredulous. “I can’t even imagine being in Coco’s shoes. She needs our love and support.”
Alita couldn’t listen any longer. “Well, in my opinion, she should have thought about the shoes she was in before she went around fucking without making Calhoun strap up. Or she needed to stay on the pill even if it made her gain weight. Just because you can spread your legs and bring a pregnancy to term don’t mean you’re a fit mama.” Alita strutted back to her seat and let her pedicure resume drying.
“Alita, I swear to God, you gon’ make me seriously hurt you one day.” Coco’s angry voice nearly shook the walls. Two manicurists rushed into the room. At first they spoke in Vietnamese, then used English.
“What wrong? Why loud? You got to leave. Pay money. Then go.”
“Damn, see, Alita, your loud ghetto ways are scaring everybody. They may not let us come in here anymore, and then what we going to do? Nothing and no one better not mess up Sister Day. And I mean that.” Burgundy released Coco and apologized to the two employees. She promised that they’d be quieter and begged to stay a few more minutes until their nail polish was completely dried.
The two women looked skeptical and left the room but not before they fired a cautionary glance.
“Alita, see all the unnecessary hell you always raise?” Burgundy scolded. “You need to do better.”
“Okay, okay. My bad,” Alita whispered. She realized she was exhausted from all her yelling. Her forehead was filled with wrinkle lines. “I need a stiff drink. Need to stop worrying about family. Need to chill. Need to pray.”
“You need a man,” Burgundy answered. “And not just any man. A good man who knows how to love you just right; and one whose love can help take away all your stress.”
“Ain’t no man like that in the world.”
“Oh, really?” Burgundy shot back. “You used to think Leonard Washington was that man.”
“Yeah, I can admit he had me open back in the day. In the beginning when I was allowed to live the fairy tale. I never thought I could love any man as much as I loved him. But it all changed.”
“If you had a great love once in your life,” Burgundy replied, “there’s a good chance you can have it again.”
“True love can’t strike twice,” Alita protested.
“As long as you have breath in your lungs, anything is possible, Sis.”
Alita cast Burgundy a doubtful glance.
“I’m talking what I know,” Alita solemnly continued. “These days brothas out here rough-acting and beat-down looking. I feel like I gotta pick through the scraps after the lunch crowd has come through the Chinese buffet.”
“You’re wrong. There is a good man out here for you. In fact, I know the perfect one.”
“Who is he, Burgundy?” Dru wanted to know.
“He goes to Solomon’s Temple, of course.”
“Church man? With me? That’s like water . . . mixed with oil . . . and dynamite. Aw, hell no,” Alita said.
“Sis, let me finish,” Burgundy pleaded. “Stop being so negative and try to listen first.”
“All right, then. Finish.”
“Thank you! Okay,” Burgundy continued. “All I can tell you is that this man is considerate. Thoughtful. A gentleman. And he’s not the typical selfish guy who only cares about himself. He has a really down-to-earth, agreeable personality, but—he’s no pushover.”
“Go on.”
“He has an excellent job working downtown, Alita, and he’s not that needy, mama’s-boy type, so there you go! That’s another plus mark. Um, he’s a good looking guy too, but he’s no pretty boy, and we know you don’t like those types.”
“Nope, too cute means too arrogant. Go on.”
“What else? Oh! He’s into eating healthy. You won’t catch him at Mickey D’s or Burger King unless he’s buying a salad or a wrap.”
“Mmm, sounds good. I can live with that. I could stand to lose a few pounds anyway.”
“Girl, now we know you lying,” Coco said with a giggle. “You ain’t got an ounce on fat on your bony behind.”
Alita smiled and gave Coco the middle finger.
“Seriously,” Burgundy continued. “This man will work with you if you really want to get back in shape. He’s into fitness and sports, and I think he’s a very patient man too.”
Dru shook her head in disbelief. “A man with patience? Shoot, he sounds like a man that I’d like to meet.”
“Girl, don’t be greedy. You already got a good man,” Alita snapped. She sat up straight in her chair, swept aside the long bangs from her naked forehead. “Um, so far he sounds all right, B. But I have two questions.”
“What are they?” Burgundy said.
“If he’s so damned perfect, why hasn’t another woman snatched him up?”
“Hmm. I can answer that, and I don’t even know him.” Coco spoke with confidence. “He probably can’t commit.”
“You describing Calhoun,” Alita said.
“Shut up, Lita!” Coco said, then continued. “Or he’s a sneaky-ass, down-low man that likes to suck dick. Or he’s boring as hell, a felon with a rap sheet, or he’s too weak to handle a real woman,” Coco said.
“You did good, Dark Skin. I like those answers,” Alita said. Coco and Alita high-fived.
“Coco, nice try, but you’re wrong,” Burgundy replied. “To be honest, Shade told me that he fell in love with a woman that he thought was ‘the one.’ And he assured me that he was very good to her. But you know how there are women out here that have a good man but they take ’em for granted. Yep. Shade held on for a good minute, giving her a few chances to make the necessary changes and respond to him in the way he wanted her to. But she started smelling herself and almost dogged him out. But Shade woke up one day and like Michael Jackson, he said, ‘This is it.’ He cut off that woman and moved on. And, of course, now she regrets it. She sits up in church looking all depressed and suicidal.” Burgundy laughed at the woman’s stupidity. “But when God gives you a blessing, you better be smart enough to receive it. And, Alita, I pray to God that you will be ready. I will not have you embarrass me in front of this man, you hear?”
“I hear you,” Alita said. She actually forced herself to smile. At that moment, a sliver of hope etched itself in her heart. Maybe all men weren’t the devil.
“All right. Fine,” she replied. “But there’s just one more thing.”
“What?” Burgundy sweetly asked.
“Is he father material?”
Alita’s only child, Leno, was an eleventh grader who loved sports. From the time he was in elementary school, kids from the block were always ringing their doorbell to see if Leno could go hang out. Alita would tell the little boys, “No.” And she’d quickly slam the door in their faces. The boys looked like thugs, and she never wanted her child to get caught up in any bullshit.
“Doesn’t Leno already have a father?” Dru asked Alita.
“Yes, silly,” Alita barked. “But if you haven’t noticed lately, he and I aren’t together. So, if and when I do choose to date, the man will have to be good with kids. I don’t want no fucking child molesters around my son. No perverted pedophiles that act nice in front of your face, but as soon as you turn your back, they try and force an innocent boy to suck his dick. Hell, no! The next man I get with has to have the fear of God and the fear of Alita in him before he even comes close to my baby.”
“That’s the problem,” Coco said. “You still treat my nephew like he’s a five-year-old. I’m just sure Leno is sick of you embarrassing his ass in front of his friends.”
Alita’s face reddened. For once she could not dispute her middle sister. She knew she’d never hesitate to say how she felt, whether it was to her son or any of his friends. She thoughtfully chewed on her bottom lip. “Well, I am his mama, so I have the right to raise him the way I see fit. You worry about your three and a half kids. How’s that sound?”
Coco could only laugh. She knew it would be a cold day in hell before her sister admitted that she was wrong about anything.
The whirring noise from the dryer fan suddenly came to a stop. Coco took a deep breath and stood up. “You may tease me about my life, Lita, but it’s clear that your life ain’t no day at the park either. You got as many issues as me. So deal with that.”
Coco grabbed her purse, told her sisters goodbye, and started to walk out of the salon so she could go check on her man.
But before she could exit, Alita ran after her.
She told her, “Hold up a sec.” Then she offered her a warm hug.
Coco felt awkward as Alita tightly grabbed her around the neck and gave a squeeze.
“You my boo,” Alita whispered in her ear. “I got you. I’ve been you. I just need you to stop pretending and just start . . . being.”
Coco nodded. “I know. And I need you to start being . . . nicer . . . and a little less nosy.”
Alita embraced Coco even more tightly. “I can try, but I can’t promise you I’ll be perfect.” She released her sister and said in an abnormally soft tone, “Our sister assignment says we should confront someone. I’m confronting you.”
“What else is new?”
“Coco Chanel Reeves?” Alita said.
“What, Lita, what?”
“Who is the father of this one that’s in your stomach?”
“Calhoun! What the fuck?”
“And were you lying when you said you don’t know who Chance’s daddy is?”
Coco paused. Her heart was filled with pain at the memories of her deception. “Yes,” she sniffed. “I lied. I know who his daddy is.”
“I had a feeling you did, but it’s all good. I know you got your reasons.”
Coco gasped, then admitted, “I do.”
“But one day, do you think you can tell us what happened? The true story, Coco?”
“Nosy-ass sister, one day you will know. But today ain’t that day. Now will you leave me the hell alone, please?” And Coco shut down the conversation, told the rest of the ladies goodbye. As she walked out the door, she prayed to God that her sisters would lay off of her and let her live her life. Forget her past, allow her to have her future. And just let her breathe.