From the moment Macy agreed to go out with Avery, she couldn’t focus on any of the important things. Instead of pursuing Michelle, she thought about what to wear. Instead of rechecking the few audit documents she had, she was wondering what she and Avery would talk about. This was a real date. Everything up to now was only practice. Dating Avery was like playing with an open flame?
“Look at you. Don’t you look nice? Don’t tell me you’re going out on a work night.” Gayle placed her hand on her hip.
“Just so you know, I’m going out with Avery tonight.”
“A date?”
“Yes. He asked me out, and I said yes.”
“I know you checked your horoscopes to make sure the stars are all aligned.” Gayle waved her hands in the air like one of those used car blow up balloons.
“Go ahead and make fun of me. Like I’ve said before, I’m not settling for mediocre so anything that gives me an advantage, I’m going to make good use of it.” She stuck her nose up in the air.
“I hear you, girl.” She strolled away, her slippers flopping against the floor. “Your cell phone is chirping.”
Macy rushed into her bedroom and read the text message from her brother. “We need to talk. Now”
She sat on the edge of the bed and dialed her brother. “Brian, if we need to talk why didn’t you call me?”
For several moments her brother said nothing. The only sound was his heavy breathing.
“Brian, what is it?” Her heartbeat ratcheted up a notch. “Did something happen to Mom?”
“Coach. I spoke with Coach today about the scholarship.” He huffed. “He said he wasn’t sure I was going to get it.”
“I thought you said it was a sure thing. Did something happen?”
“I thought it was.” He gulped. “Can we talk?”
“Sure.” She sat on the edge of the bed. “I’m listening.”
“No, Macy. Talk in person.”
“I’ll come home this weekend. I promise.” Guilt pinched her heart.
“Tonight, Macy. Can’t you make some time for me?” She heard the pain he was trying to hold back. “I need to talk to you, and it can’t wait.” He was agitated, any moment he’d burst with emotion like he’d done when she explained their father wasn’t coming back.
“Okay, Brian. Tonight.”
“Can we meet in Dover? We can have dinner at the Olive Garden.” His breathing wasn’t as heavy.
She looked down at her dress and matching heels. “Okay. I’ll be there, but give me two hours. I’ll leave now.”
She hung up and stared at the ceiling. If everything happened for a reason, then there had to be a reason fate was keeping her and Avery apart. Before she could call him, the doorbell rang.
“I got it, Gayle.” She hurried to the door, unzipping her dress. If she got out of the house in the next three minutes, she could make it to Dover in two hours.
“Avery, I need to cancel.” She kicked off her sandals. “I’ve got to meet my brother. Something’s come up.”
He stepped over the threshold. The crisp scent of his cologne was as intoxicating as the cleft in his chin.
“You look flustered. What happened?”
“I’ve got to go to Dover. My brother has a problem with his coach, and I need to be there for him.” She picked up her shoes and hurried to her bedroom. Forget changing. There was no time. She zipped her dress back up and slipped into a pair of bronze colored flip-flops and grabbed her purse. “I’m sorry. I couldn’t tell you sooner. He just called,” she yelled to Avery.
Avery stood by the door as if he were waiting for something more to happen.
Macy shouldered her bag. “We’ll have to do it another night.” She looked back at Gayle’s closed bedroom door. “Gayle, I need to borrow your car. I’ve got to see Brian. It’s an emergency.”
Gayle rushed out of the bedroom. “I’ve got a photo-shoot tonight. I was going to drive.” Gayle’s robe hung open exposing her bare breasts. She looked up, spotted Avery, grabbed the top of her robe, clutching it so it closed. “I didn’t know you had…” She pointed at Avery.
“He’s leaving.” Macy faced him.
“Actually, I’ll give you a lift since there seems to be one car and two needs.” His eyes sparkled like sun off the ocean, and his smile widened.
“I’ve got to go all the way to Dover,” Macy said. “It’s four hours round trip. I can’t…”
“That means I’ll have you all to myself for at least four uninterrupted hours.”
“I can’t.” She looked back to Gayle for an answer.
“Yes, you can.” Gayle adjusted the robe and tightened the belt. “I hope everything is okay.”
Avery extended his elbow to her. “My car awaits.”
Macy paused. No matter what, she couldn’t disappoint her brother. Whatever was bothering him must be pretty serious, because Brian seldom made demands. She looped her arm through Avery’s and closed the door behind them.
They were on 95 South when she said, “I’m going to have to buy a car. It won’t be anything as fancy as this one, of course.” The comment sounded ungrateful. “Thank you for doing this. I really mean it.”
“I don’t mind.” He drove with his right hand high on the steering wheel. “How do you manage without a car?”
She straightened. Telling Avery the details of her financial status wasn’t something she wanted to do. The only person who knew about her money situation was Gayle. Nobody wanted to hear her crying broke. “Cars come with payment, and they need insurance and gas and maintenance, and they need tires. Once we get my brother into college, I’ll see what I can do.” She shifted and pushed her chin a little higher. “I make out just fine, riding Septa, Amtrak, and taxi’s, especially when someone else is picking up the tab. Gayle has a car, and usually, I can borrow it if something comes up.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to come off like that.”
She brushed off his comment with a sweep of her hand. “As soon as my mom and I get Brian situated in college, and he gets a scholarship, things won’t be so tight. Until then, I can’t afford the expense.”
“Do you know what the crisis is about?”
“He’s a high school senior. It could be almost anything or everything. All he’d tell me was it had something to do with his coach and the scholarship.”
“Have you been able to talk with your assistant?”
She pursed her lips. “No. I haven’t been able to reach her and she’s moved out of her apartment and left no forwarding address,” she paused. “I talked to the building manager. Everyone seems to be glad she moved.”
“You never really know people, do you?”
“Yeah, I think something’s going on with her. I just don’t know what, yet.”
They arrived at the restaurant before Brian. The hostess placed them in a booth large enough for a family of five.
Macy scrolled through her phone when it pinged. “He just sent a text. He’s just a few minutes away.”
Avery moved closer to her. “Me being here isn’t going to be a problem, is it? I can sit at the entrance and let the two of you talk if you want.” He was being nice. Sitting with a porcupine would have been more fun for him right now since she was wound tighter than a spinning toy.
“No. I don’t think Brian will mind. We’ll see what he says when he gets here.”
Avery ran his finger down the menu. “Let’s order an appetizer while we’re waiting.”
“Fine, you decide.” No matter what she ate, she wouldn’t taste it.
Brian arrived before the appetizer. “Sis.” He slid into the booth next to her.
“This is Avery. We were going out when you called.”
Avery reached across the table and shook her brother’s hand. “I’ve heard a lot about you, Brian.”
“I’ve never heard your name. But that doesn’t surprise me.” He faced Macy. “Does that explain the sexy dress with the flip-flops?”
“You didn’t give me time to change.” She placed her hand over his. “What’s going on, Brian? What happened?”
“I took a hot shower this morning. Does that answer your question?”
“Okay, I get it. What’s up?”
He started to talk, then stopped and glanced across the table.
Avery pushed back. “If you’d like for me to give you two some privacy…”
Brian hesitated a moment. “No. You can stay.” He cleared his throat. “Today the coach told me that no one from the University was going to come see me. How can I get that scholarship if no one visits the school?”
“Did something happen? The coach was so sure the University of Maryland wanted you.”
Her brother shrugged his shoulders. This was just like Brian, to have only half of the information.
“What about the other schools?”
“I want to go to the University of Maryland. It’s a bigger school. It has the major I want.” He sounded like the little brother she always protected.
“Can I say something?” Avery said.
“Sure.” Macy gave him her attention.
“I know the Defensive Coordinator there. We were college roommates, and he just signed on there a few years ago. I can give him a call.” He directed his attention to her. “Remember, I told you about him.”
“Yeah, but I can’t let you do that. That’s asking too much.”
“You’d do that for me?” Brian perked up.
“Wait a minute. Wait a minute.” Macy held her hand up toward him to stop him from saying anymore. “We can’t ask him to do that.”
“Why not? If he can help, why not?”
“Because, Brian, Avery is just a friend. We can find another way to work this out.”
Brian looked at her for a moment, then across the table at Avery. “Man, if you can help by making a phone call, I’d really appreciate your help. Come on, Macy. How can making a phone call hurt anything?”
Avery held up his palms. “I do not promise anything will change, but I’ll attempt it, if your sister is alright with that.”
Both Avery and Brian focused on her. Either her brother was going to think she was blocking his path, or she was going to be indebted to Avery. Boxed in with no way out, she closed her eyes for a moment. The picture of her father walking away as if they were dime store trinkets was branded in her memory. Somehow, they’d managed her tuition, and now she had to do everything she could to make sure Brian had the same opportunity.
Brian poked her in the arm. “Come on, sis. It’s just a phone call.”
She looked into her brother’s dark brown eyes and, just like she did when there was only one Pop Tart left, she gave in.
“Okay. But, Brian, please don’t get too excited about this. Nothing might happen. We need to think about alternatives.”
He released a deep breath. “Thank, you, Avery. How soon can you call him?”
“I’ll do it tomorrow.” He stared across the table at Macy and smiled as if he’d just accomplished something big. “Now, since this is supposed to be a date, let me treat the two of you to dinner.” He turned to face Brian. “What position do you play?”
“Cornerback. You’ll have to come see me play.”
“I’ll tell you what, if I can talk the coach into coming, I’ll come watch you, too.”
Brian held up his hand for a sophisticated high five. “That’s a bet, man. Sure ‘nough. Maybe you can drag my sister, too. She hasn’t been to a game since the first one.”
By the time the entrees were cleared from the table, Brian and Avery were chatting like they’d known each other for years.
“Will you all be having dessert?” the server asked as she cleared the table.
“Brian, it’s getting late, you have school tomorrow. You’d better get down the road.”
“She’s always babying me,” Brian said to Avery. “Oh yeah, there is one more thing I need to tell you.”
The smile fell from his face. “I’ve talked to Dad. He wants to talk to you.”
Brian could have poured his ice water down her back, and she wouldn’t have felt any colder. Her mind refused to function. She fumbled for the right words.
“Brian.” She shook her head. “When? How?”
“He showed up outside my school one day. He said he was sorry…”
“We already know he’s sorry. I don’t want to talk to him.” She folded her arms over her chest.
“He just wants to talk, Macy. I’ve talked to him, and he say he’s sorry. I gave him your cell number.” Brian dropped his head and lowered his voice.
She drew in a deep breath. All of her thoughts whirled around the hurt little girl her father left standing in the doorway. That was the 202 area code number that kept showing up on her phone. She sighed.
Brian had been too young to understand the destruction their father had caused. But she couldn’t forget, and she couldn’t forgive.