REFRESHED BY the shower he’d just taken, Josiah slid open the hotel room’s closet door and fished out a pair of khaki shorts and a T-shirt that displayed the emblem of the Chicago Bulls. They weren’t nearly the beasts on the court that they’d been during Michael Jordan’s active days, but the Bulls was still one of his favorite teams. Josiah looked at his chosen ensemble and sighed. It was the third outfit he’d considered wearing, and that alone concerned him. He hated that he wondered which outfit would be most impressive. He hated that he wondered which cologne would be most alluring. He hated that it felt like he was preparing for a date with the girl next door instead of lunch with his big sister.
It was Monday afternoon, and after spending hours at his foster parents’ house yesterday and declining Joanne’s insistence that he spend the night in one of their spare bedrooms, Josiah had returned to his Stone Mountain hotel suite and slept the night away. He’d slept away the better part of Monday morning as well. The excitement of seeing his family again had been a rush that kept his adrenalin revved well into the night. But once he made it back to the Hampton Inn, fatigue assailed him, and he barely remembered anything after his head hit the pillow.
“Please, JT?” Last night, Patrice had taken over begging duty once Joanne finally ran out of steam and eventually called it a night. “I know Sam is a bit huskier than you, but I’m sure he has something in his closet that you can wear just for the night. It’s nearly two in the morning. It doesn’t make sense for you to drive back to Stone Mountain. Everybody else is already gone to bed, and I keep clothes for Arielle and me in one of the spare room closets; so we’re gonna crash here, and you can too. It’ll give us time to talk some more. I only teach four days a week, and Monday is my off day, so I’m free to sit up all night and talk like we used to do sometimes when we were kids after Mama and Daddy had gone to sleep.” She brought her voice down to a whisper on that last part as if their foster parents might hear the confession from their master bedroom all the way down at the end of the hall.
Josiah smiled at the childhood memories and gave her plea some serious consideration. Staying did seem sensible. Thomas and Joanne had plenty of room to make accommodations, and his eyelids were already getting heavy. Why not take advantage of the chance to stay in the house with his foster family again?
But the painful reality set in when Patrice snuggled up to him on the sofa and added, “Think about it, JT. Me, you, and Sam, all under the same roof. It’ll be just like old times.”
Oh no it won’t. The chill bumps that rose on his arms the moment she leaned against him refuted every word that had come out of Patrice’s mouth. This was not at all like old times. That was then. This was now. Back then, when they all lived under one roof, she didn’t make him crazy like this. Back then, he always felt the urge to yank at her long, thick ponytail just to hear her yelp in pain. Last night, he wanted to free her hair strands from the clip that bound them and run his fingers through the soft tresses. Back then, when they nestled together in front of the fake flames of the fireplace while eating popcorn and watching television, it felt as if he were having a slumber party around a campfire. Last night, it felt like a different kind of party, and she was setting his soul on fire.
“I have a better idea,” he’d suggested while abruptly edging himself free, nearly causing Patrice and the bowl of popcorn she held to topple off the sofa. He had to put some space between them before he said or did something really stupid. “How about the whole family go out to lunch tomorrow. Whatever restaurant you guys choose is fine with me. My treat. I would stay over, but I have some paperwork at the hotel that I need to complete early in the morning, and I need to use the hotel fax to send it to MacGyver by the time my boss gets in.”
Wow. Josiah amazed himself at how quickly he could generate a lie when it felt like his life depended on it.
“Oh, okay. Well, yeah. Let’s do lunch then.” Patrice conceded, no doubt figuring she didn’t have a choice if he had work obligations to fulfill.
Allowing his mind to float back to the present, Josiah looked away from the mirror and at the grey prayer rug beside his bed. He’d had a good, long talk with God this morning, apologizing for the blatant fib, and when he got up from his bent-knee position, he was satisfied that the Lord had heard him and granted him pardon. In Josiah’s mind, all while he was praying, God was waving a carefree hand in his direction and in an understanding voice was saying, “Pshhhh … no need to apologize, my son. Under the circumstances, who wouldn’t have lied?”
That must have been wishful thinking at its highest level because Josiah now felt that God had totally tuned out that morning prayer and was now punishing him by forcing him to face the demons he was so desperately trying to avoid.
It was Joanne’s telephone call that stirred him from a deep sleep just after eleven this morning. The pastor of Kingdom Builders Christian Center had called an emergency leadership meeting, she’d told him, and all of the staff ministers, missionaries, deacons, and deaconesses who were available were asked to meet him at the church at 1:00.
“I’m so sorry, JT.” Joanne sounded every bit as regretful as she said she was. “Your dad is a deacon and I’m a deaconess, so we need to be there. We’re taking Sam along with us because he has a doctor’s appointment at 3:30 anyway.”
“It’s okay, Ma,” Josiah had assured her. “Like I said, I’ll be here a few days. We can all go out and do lunch any day this week.”
“But you’ll come over for dinner tonight, won’t you?”
“Yes, ma’am. I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”
When they finished the phone call, Josiah thought that was the end of it. He’d rolled out of bed, stripped the mattress of his personal linen, replaced it with the hotel linen, and then tried his best to muddle it so that it looked like it had been slept on. Then after his shower, he did the same with the towel and washcloth before removing the DO NOT DISTURB hanger from the outside of his doorknob so that when the maids made their second run, they’d come in and change everything out as normal.
Josiah had just poured a fresh cup of coffee from the hotel-provided coffeemaker and fired up his laptop to check his e-mails when the telephone rang again.
“Hi, JT. Looks like it’s just you and me for lunch, huh?”
Josiah almost spilled his coffee onto his laptop keyboard. He’d assumed that lunch would be cancelled altogether since Thomas and Joanne had a change in plans. “I guess so,” he’d replied, not knowing what else to say.
Patrice’s voice sounded joyful. “Listen. Instead of going out to a restaurant, let’s eat outdoors.”
“Outdoors?”
“You’re at the Hampton Inn on Mountain Industrial Boulevard, right?”
“Yes.”
“I’ll drive out there to meet you, and we can ride to the park together.”
“The park?” He felt like a parakeet.
“Stone Mountain Park,” she clarified. “You’re not far at all from the actual mountain, and today is too nice of a day to be stuck indoors; so I thought maybe I could pack some sandwiches and other goodies, and we could eat in one of the park areas out there. What do you think?”
Josiah hadn’t eaten breakfast yet, and on cue, his stomach produced an angry rumble, daring him to turn down the opportunity to feed it. “Sounds like a plan.”
“Great. I’ll meet you at the hotel in about an hour. What room are you in?”
No way was he going to invite her up to his room. His salvation would be challenged enough with him being alone with her in the open air of the park. “I’ll meet you in front of the hotel. I just need to get dressed. I’ll be ready in plenty of time. Just call me when you’re five minutes away, so I can start making my way downstairs. You don’t even have to get out of your car.”
“Yes I do, JT. You can meet me in the parking lot, but I’ll still have to get out of my car so that I can get into yours. I’m not missing a chance to ride in the Viper.”
“Same difference,” she responded.
The two cars were nowhere near the same, nor were their prices, but Josiah didn’t challenge her on it.
“I’ll be there in less than an hour,” Patrice said. “I just need to pack a few things, and I’ll be on my way.”
“Okay.” Josiah forced his voice to sound as cheery as hers. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to spend time with Patrice. The problem was quite the opposite. He did want to spend time with her. A lot of time.
What was wrong with him?
After only a few quick strokes of his fingers, Josiah heard a much-needed voice on the other end of the line.
“What’s happenin’, blood?” Craig’s words were muffled.
“Grow up, Craig.” Josiah sighed and shook his head. “And why do you sound like that? You had a dentist appointment or something? Sounds like you’ve got cotton stuffed in your mouth.”
“Try roast beef,” Craig corrected between munches. “Dani cooked a mean pot roast yesterday, and I went to her house after church to help her eat it. She packed a Tupperware dish of it for me to take home, and I sliced some up to make myself a roast beef sandwich. Want some?”
The offer made Josiah’s stomach growl once more. “No thanks, man. I’m headed to lunch myself in just a few. Just wanted to fill you in on everything.”
“Well, it’s about time. I got your text yesterday that you were at your folks’ house. So you found both of them alive and well?”
“Very much alive and well.” Josiah could hear the smile in his own voice. “But I found more than I was looking for. Are you ready for this? Are you sitting down?”
“Yeah. Lunchroom was too noisy. I’m sitting in my car catching some peace and quiet while I eat. Why? What happened? What did you find?”
Looking at the clock on the nightstand, Josiah knew he needed to get a move on if he were going to be ready by the time Patrice got there. “Let me give you the abbreviated version.”
For the next several minutes, he filled Craig in on all that had transpired since he walked into Sunday morning service. Craig must have been spellbound by the details. All the chewing sounds had silenced, and he didn’t offer one word until it was apparent that Josiah was at the end of his spiel.
“Man, that’s dynamite!” Craig finally exclaimed.
Josiah laughed. “First you use the phrase what’s happenin’, blood, and now you’re saying dynamite. Man, what era are you living in on this Monday afternoon?”
“Sorry. Dani and I watched a Good Times marathon last night while I was at her place. I’ve got J.J. on the brain. Actually, I have Thelma on the brain, but that’s a different story.”
Craig rolled his eyes. “I’m losing you, Craig. Get back on subject here.”
“Oh, I’m sorry, man. I’m back. So after all these years, your sister and brother are still living in Atlanta.”
Josiah nodded, and at the same time said, “Yeah. I mean, Peaches left for a while to go to college, but she came back. Sammy never stopped living with Mom and Dad. They actually adopted him so he wouldn’t get taken away like I did.”
“What about any of your other foster siblings? Did you see any of them?”
“Nah. But Peaches and Sammy were the only two that I spent any length of time with in the Smiths’ home. We shared a lot of years together.”
“Ah, man. That’s great JT.” Craig sounded genuinely happy for him. “So when you reunited with Sammy and Peaches, was it just like with Mr. and Mrs. Smith? Did it feel like all the years were erased, and you were back with your siblings and picking up just where you left off?”
Josiah opened his mouth to speak, and then closed it back again. If he said what would easily roll off his tongue, that would make two blatant lies in two days that he’d told. He shot a glance at the old prayer rug beside his bed. “Yeah. It felt just like old times, Craig. Nothing had changed except our ages.” God would probably punish him for that one too, but Josiah just wasn’t ready to admit what he was feeling for Patrice. He wasn’t even sure what it was that he was feeling.
“Well, I’m glad everything is working out.” Craig’s voice broke Josiah from his deep thoughts. “I’ll be sure to tell Dani so that she can tell Bishop Lumpkin. He’ll be glad to know it too. Are you still gonna stay the whole week?”
“Yeah. We still have a lot of catching up to do.”
“Is there a chance you’ll be in Atlanta longer than a week?”
Josiah scratched his head. He hadn’t given it much thought. “It’s possible, I guess. A lot depends on how much bonding we can do this week. I know my parents are going to want me to hang around; especially if they find out I have more days that I can use. We’ll see.”
“I think you should take all the time you need,” Craig said. “As long as you’re back here by wedding rehearsal night, you’re good.”
“That’s seven months away, stupid,” Josiah said, laughing. “I’ll be back long before then.”
“All jokes aside though, man. I know how much this meant to you, and I know how much you need to make this connection. Don’t rush it, JT. Fifteen years is a long time, and you can’t make it up in seven days. Take some time and really renew your family ties. Maybe get to know them all on a different level. Not just like you knew them when you were a little boy, but let the man in you get to know them for who they are today. Are you gonna spend time with them today?”
Josiah was still pondering that let the man in you get to know them for who they are today remark, but it seemed like the perfect segue to answer Craig’s current question. “I’m joining Peaches for lunch in the next half hour. We’re having a picnic in one of the parks out at Stone Mountain.”
“Picnic in the park?” Craig released a short laugh. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d call that a romantic date.”
“Yeah, right.” Josiah felt the color draining from his skin. He was glad that this conversation wasn’t a face-to-face one.
“Well, when you think about it, it could be.” Craig just didn’t know when to quit. “I mean, she was just your foster sister. What’s that, really? A foster sister is like having your actual sister’s best friend come and sleep over at your house on a regular basis. She’s not a blood relative or anything. If you did want to—”
“I don’t.” If Josiah’s retort was a set of teeth, Craig would be missing a body part.
“Dang, man; it was a joke. I said if you wanted to.”
“And I said I don’t.” Despite the adequate air-conditioning, sweat was beginning to collect on Josiah’s brow. He didn’t want to talk about it anymore. “Anyway, I’ll call you again later. I gotta get dressed, and I’m already running behind time.”
After a quiet second, Craig said, “Yeah. I gotta run too. My lunch break is winding down, and I’ve got to prepare for my next class.”
Josiah was already beginning to regret his earlier snap, but he chose not to address it. Before he disconnected the call, he made sure his next words weren’t nearly as harsh. “All right, you do that. I’ll talk to you later. Tell Danielle I said hello.”