They were questions she should’ve asked an hour before but didn’t.
Adrienne covered her face with her hands, feeling very alone. She drew a deep breath and pulled out the iPad. She responded to Jayden first.
J-
Thank you so much for today. You’re the only good part of my life right now. I’ll see you at school Monday.
A.
She sent it then systematically deleted all the horrible emails from kids at school. She paused at Emma’s, her guilt making her want to cry again.
Emma,
I’m so sorry I didn’t have lunch with you Friday. I was stupid. If you don’t want to have lunch with me again, I totally understand. If you do, I’ll buy us both salad on Monday.
Adrienne
It didn’t seem like enough, but she didn’t know what else to say to her friend. If she had the money, she’d offer to buy Emma lunch every day for as long as it took to win her back.
If I don’t get my voice back, I can use my album money. Adrienne sighed, not wanting to consider what happened if Kimmie refused and Candace’s tea didn’t work.
“Why you down here?”
She looked up, not noticing Rene’s approach until he stood right in front of her.
She shrugged.
He sat down in the chair beside her, managing to take up the whole space. He hung his arms over the sides of the chair and sat with his knees a part. She envied him for a moment, wishing she was as unapproachable looking as he appeared to be. People were probably afraid to embarrass him in public or break into his apartment to leave mysterious sticky notes. Even the Red Man would be leery of executing the curse.
Residents that had ignored her eyed the muscular thug in baggy clothing seated beside her.
“How did Jax lose his way?” she asked.
“None of your business.”
“It is now.” She slapped the sticky note down on his arm. “Some crazy person broke into my apartment to tell me that.”
Rene caught the note before it fell, glancing up at the tremor in her voice.
“Who broke in?” he asked warily.
“I don’t know. Some woman. There was something … unnatural about her.”
He read the note and passed it back, unaffected. “She’s wrong. You need to keep away from him.”
“So … what? Jax is in trouble?”
He said nothing.
“No, I get it now,” she said, angry and upset. “Jax wants me to go home. Maybe because I remind him too much of Therese. You’re the voodoo warrior gang member who’s supposed to be protecting people like me, except you won’t stand up to your brother. In the meantime, the Red Man is fixin’ to show up in my house and kill me, because of some curse started by people I ain’t never heard of, but who happen to be related to me. I could stop it, but I can’t sing!”
Rene rested his head against the back of the chair, watching her calmly.
“Am I right?” she demanded.
“Not really.”
Rather than anger her further, his words crushed her. Adrienne pushed the things in her lap to the side of the chair and pulled her knees to her chest, burying her face in her arms. She couldn’t cry. She was too angry.
And scared. The sticky notes appearing hadn’t bothered her, but their delivery by a woman who might’ve been possessed by her dead sister – that was something worth fearing.
“I just want to be normal,” she murmured. “Instead, I’m just waiting for some stupid curse to get me.”
“It’s not that bad.” Rene sounded distracted.
Adrienne twisted her head to see him. “How so?”
“You ain’t dead yet.”
“You are getting on my everlasting nerve, Rene.”
“If you angry, you fine. If you hurt, you alive. Be grateful.”
“I can’t be grateful. I’m scared.”
Rene shifted, leaning forward to rest his elbows on his knees. He was quiet for a long moment.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
“Do me a favor,” he replied. “Don’t leave your apartment tomorrow.”
“I have to sing …” she stopped, throat tightening. “Never mind. I guess I won’t be singing at the church anytime soon. But I do have to work.”
“Call in sick. Quit. Just don’t leave the house.”
“Why?”
“Something’s not … right,” he said. “I don’t know what. But I know I can figure it out. Work on your sister’s journal.”
Adrienne considered. It did sound like a good idea – staying home to put together the music mystery her sister left. She didn’t have to tell her daddy she was skipping. She’d send him off like she did the past three Sundays, telling him she’d be at church then at the psychic’s. He used Sundays to wrap up any outstanding work from the shop and to do paperwork. He’d yet to come home early, so he’d never know if she stayed home.
“What if … she comes back?” she asked tentatively.
“She won’t.” Rene was firm. “I’ll make sure of it.”
“You gonna sit down here all day?”
“No.”
“You are moodier than any woman I’ve ever met.” Puzzled, she sensed his mood was turning from cooperative to stonewalling, like usual. “I’ll stay home tomorrow, if you tell me what’s going on.”
“I will later,” he said gruffly and stood. “Candace walk you home or you just act stupid and walk on your own?”
She said nothing.
“You just asking for it,” he snapped, frustration clear. “I’m going out of town for a couple days. Stay away from Jax and don’t walk anywhere alone. You got it?”
She rolled her eyes and nodded.
Satisfied, Rene left.
Adrienne watched him walk out of the building. People moved out of the thug’s path, and she almost smiled. She wondered why he was so nice to her, if Jax insisted, because of Therese.
She stayed downstairs until her daddy got back from work then joined him in the elevator. He was tired looking today. For his sake, Adrienne put on a smile she didn’t feel.
He didn’t need the added burden of her life issues.
“So, we gonna talk about Candace, Daddy?” she asked, needing a distraction from her worry.
“What about her?” he asked gruffly.
“Like … maybe you can tell me why it’s okay for you do date a black woman and I can’t even study with a black kid from school?” she challenged.
“Black man and white girl.” He shook his head. “Ain’t no excuse for that.”
“Daddy, Jayden’s father is like some sort of genius and he’s rich. He’s smart and sweet and plays football. Football, Daddy. You love football,” she pointed out.
“Every man born south of the Mason-Dixon line loves football, if he wants to call himself a man,” he replied. “Don’t mean I want black football players in my living room.”
“You’re not making sense,” she complained. “Candace is beautiful and nice. It’s not fair!”
“You’re a different kind of girl, Addy,” he said, narrowing his eyes at her. “Almost unnatural like. I don’t know where you get this stuff. Therese never would’ve let no black man in my house.”
Therese was in love with a voodoo-practicing gang member! Adrienne crossed her arms, moping. Her daddy didn’t know anything about Therese. She wondered if anyone actually did. It seemed liked every year her sister only got smarter and sweeter and more religious and better than Adrienne in every way.
Who had Therese really been? She practiced voodoo and dated someone she could never bring home to her daddy. Was she really what others thought she was?
For the first time in her life, Adrienne wished more people knew about Therese’s dark streak and how she’d dabbled in black magic. Maybe the comparisons would stop.