The next day at noon, Lewis walked into a Hyde Park McDonald’s, carrying a fat brown envelope. He looked around, saw Salesha and Salonica sitting at a table.
Lewis took steps toward them, and then saw the man a few tables away stand up. He was shaved bald and wore a suit and sunglasses. He looked official, not like he’d know the likes of the two streetwalkers before him, but Lewis assumed he was there for them all the same.
“Have a seat, Lewis,” Salonica said, nodding toward the chair. “I’m thinkin’ that be a gift for us?”
Lewis was so troubled by all this nonsense that it seemed to be affecting all aspects of his life. He noticed he had been short with his daughter lately, impatient with all of the other things that would never have bothered him before. And he didn’t even want to think about Monica. He’d torn her head off more times than he wanted to think about lately, ignored her, walked out on her. Last night, when Monica rolled over and said, “We don’t have to discuss anything, we don’t have to try to resolve any of our issues tonight, but I need some sex. Can you give that to me?” Lewis had rolled on top of her, tried to give her what she wanted, but he was so stressed by this business with Salesha and Salonica that he couldn’t even get it up. Monica looked at him as though he was pathetic, then simply rolled over and went to sleep.
It was in that moment Lewis knew he had to get the women the money they had asked for. He just didn’t know how he would get the thirty grand back into Monica’s account before she realized it was missing. That was until this morning, when Freddy walked in the office much later than usual. He wore a cheek-to-cheek grin as he walked past the receptionist toward Lewis’s desk and said, “Follow me.”
Lewis pulled his heavy body from the chair, and met Freddy in the locker room.
Freddy was still smiling. “You’re gonna pay those girls their money and let them take their asses back to St. Louis?”
“I told you, I ain’t asking Monica for that. And I know I wouldn’t be able to replace it without her knowing if I withdraw it.”
“Yeah you will.” Freddy took Lewis by his shoulders. “The house sold!” he said, faking excitement.
“The house sold?”
“It sold. A little while ago.”
Lewis threw himself into Freddy, wrapped his arms around him, and squeezed. “Who bought it?”
Freddy hesitated a moment. “Does it matter? The house sold!”
“How much did it go for?”
“A hundred and twenty-five thousand.”
Lewis did a quick calculation in his head, then all of a sudden became sullen. “My part only comes to half what they asking.”
“But with my part, it takes care of all of it.”
“Naw,” Lewis said, shaking his head. “I can’t—”
“Lewis,” Freddy said, “I’m your friend. Your best friend. And no matter what happens, I got your back. Take my half of the money and pay them fools.”
“Are you sure?”
“You know you don’t even got to ask me that.”
“Man, thank you, but you know you don’t—”
“Lewis, I got your back,” Freddy said, staring him in the eyes. “You hear me? No matter what goes down, I got your back.”
Lewis paused for a moment. “Okay.”
Freddy released Lewis, smiled some, and then said, “Go to the bank and take care of your business.”
“You my boy. You know that? You my boy,” Lewis said, gratefully.
Now, sitting down at the McDonald’s before the two women, Lewis slid the envelope across the table. Salesha grabbed it, shoved it in her oversized purse, and smiled. “I don’t even got to count this, because I know you learned your lesson about me and my girl, right?”
Lewis nodded. “Right.”
“Then I guess we’ll never see you again,” Salesha said, standing, throwing her purse over her shoulder.
She walked from behind the table. Salonica smiled and did the same.
“Bye, Lewis,” Salesha said.
Lewis turned his head away, saw the big man in the suit follow behind them. He watched as the two women got in the rented car and drove off.
The man seemed to disappear after he had walked out the door. Where he went, Lewis did not care. Lewis smiled to himself, because all of a sudden, life had just gotten a lot better.