“What’s up?” Darrell asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Just waiting for you and Jamal.” Deion said. “I thought he was coming with you?”
“He can’t make it,” Deion’s father said. “Just going to be us for lunch.”
They entered the kitchen, and he caught his brothers glancing discreetly at Valerie. They took seats at the kitchen table as Deion’s father prepared their lunch, and the talk soon turned to Deion and his childhood.
“Deion was smart,” Darrell said. “We all knew he was gonna amount to something. We just never thought he’d wind up working at an import business.”
“We can’t all be lawyers,” Deion’s father said with a smile. “Some of us got to work for a living. With that fancy degree and all those languages he speaks, I always expected him to go into politics. Valerie, did you know my boy speaks five languages?”
Valerie bit her lip and said, “So I’ve been told.”
“He was a smart boy,” the old man said, “not like these two.”
Darrel and Kelvin shot their father a dirty look, but the old man appeared unapologetic.
“You and Mom would never stop talking about Deion,” Kelvin said. “Deion did this and Deion did that. Oh, Deion got a scholarship. Deion—”
“Give it rest,” the old man barked, his smile fading. “You boys done good, all of you, ‘cept for Jamal, and there ain’t nothing wrong with bartending.” He placed plastic trays of meats and vegetables on the table, followed by soft baked buns. He smiled at Valerie. “Help yourself. We don’t stand on ceremony here.”
The trays were soon passed around as everyone assembled their own sandwiches while the old man poured them glasses of soda.
“What do you do for the government?” Darrell asked Valerie between bites.
She shrugged. “I work with small businesses. Most of the time I’m emailing and faxing secretaries, trying to clear up shipping or sales problems. It’s very boring.”
Tonya gave her a toothy smile. “I’m sure it’s fascinating. Deion was one of your problems?”
“Yes, a problem with export paperwork. Signatures in the wrong place, the wrong form, that kind of thing.”
“Did you know Kelvin works for the government?”
“Really?”
“He’s a manager at the Post Office, and a member of the APWU. He’s moving up in the world. Isn’t that right, baby?”
Kelvin shrugged. “Doing all right. What about you, Deion? You moving up? You must be, ‘cause you don’t ever come home. Must be that’s why you’re so busy.”
There it is. “As a matter of fact, I am moving up. It’s not that I don’t want to come home. I don’t live here like you, Kel. I can’t just drop by.”
“You had no problem swinging by when Mom died, but as soon as you helped Dad move, you took off again,” Kelvin said, glaring at him.
“He’s got a point,” Darrel agreed.
He turned from Kelvin to Darrel. “You, too?”
Darrel smiled, but his mouth was pinched. “I know you’re too busy to come home. I know that we have to look over Dad while you get to live your life—”
The old man interrupted. “Now don’t you bring me into this. I know Deion’s doing what he’s got to do. A man has to make a living. No shame in that.”
Darrel snorted. “What about the shame in dating a white woman?”
“Darrel,” the old man said, slamming his fist against the wooden tabletop hard enough to make the glasses shake. “You don’t insult a lady in my house.”
“What?” Darrel said, raising his hands. “I’m just saying what we’re all thinking. He comes home, first time in a year, and he brings a white woman?”
Deion felt a stab of anger. “Apologize to Valerie or I’m going to wipe that smirk off your face.”
He felt Valerie’s hand on his arm. He turned to her and she had the same calm smile as before, but there was a hard glint in her eye. “Don’t worry, I don’t mind. I can understand how this might be upsetting. It’s not like you prepared them for this.”
Tonya cleared her throat. “It’s none of my business what you do, but aren’t you a little old for him?”
Valerie’s grip tightened on his arm. “I don’t think age is a number so much as a state of mind.” She turned to his father. “Mr. Freeman, perhaps I should be going.”
His father smiled warmly, then turned back to the others. “That’s a bunch of nonsense. You all done lost your manners. This girl is under my roof. You treat her as a guest or I will, by God, knock you into next week. You understand?”
Kelvin and Tonya looked down at their plates, but Darrel spoke up. “We’re not kids anymore. You got to stop treating us like that.”
His father shook his head, and this time there was no disguising the anger in his voice. “I’ll stop treating you like a child when you stop acting like one. I can’t believe you act like this in my house. Lunch is over. Put your damned plates in the sink and be on your way.”
There was an awkward pause before Tonya spoke up. “Nice meeting you, Valerie.”
He wanted to believe Tonya meant it, but he caught her self-satisfied smirk to Kelvin.
For a moment he thought about taking his brothers outside and beating some sense into them. With his training, it would be easy to knock them around. They wouldn’t stand a chance.
He sighed heavily. It wouldn’t do any good. You can pick your friends but you can’t pick your family. Besides, they would just want to know how a Harvard graduate with a gift for languages could manhandle them.
They stood and dutifully placed their plates in the kitchen sink before leaving. Deion sat next to Valerie, while his father watched them leave.
When the door had shut, the old man sighed, then turned and winked at Valerie. “You have to understand. They’re knuckleheads.”
Valerie laughed. “I understand.”
The old man lit up. “You’re taking this well. Nice to see Deion found himself such a level-headed woman. Must be you’re in the same line of business.”
“No, I work at the State Department,” Valerie said.
The old man stood and removed an apple pie from the refrigerator. “Darling, let me tell you something about my boy. He ain’t in the export business.”
Deion stood. “I’m not sure what you’re saying—”
The old man waved for him to sit. He shuffled to the counter and brought back a stack of plates, then sliced a big piece of apple pie and placed it on one of the fine china plates and handed it to Valerie, then another piece for Deion. He cut himself an even bigger portion, then took a bite.
His head rolled back, eyes closed, and he let out a satisfied hum. “Nothing like a piece of pie to make you forget your troubles.” He opened his eyes and winked at Valerie. “Now, I was born at night, but not last night. Ain’t no export business keeps you that occupied. After you graduated, you got snapped up. I never said nothing, because it wasn’t my decision to make. It was yours. After 9/11, the world changed. I understand that.”
Deion started to speak, but the old man chuckled dismissively.
“Don’t tell me you weren’t halfway around the world. I’m not blind. I’m proud of you, boy. I always been proud. You picked a rough life, but you did it for your country. Nothing wrong with that. This little lady, she got the same eyes you do. Always looking for the walls and doors. Figure it’s to find a way out in case of trouble. No, you two are in the same line of work.”