A Second Helping

  “He’s been trying to come up with a way to pay her back for helping him with his reading, and this was his solution.”

  “That is so sweet.”

  “He’s got a big heart. Runs in the family.”

  She gave him a look that he met with a smile and a wink.

  Still bowled over by the handsome Amari, Bernadine watched as he and Genevieve took seats. They were soon joined by Trent and Lily, also dressed up, and Devon, who apparently planned to wear suit and a clip-on tie every day for the rest of his little life. Seeing him gave rise to the worries she’d been harboring all week about the church service he was going to hold in the morning. She knew everyone who was able would show up to give him support, but suppose he couldn’t really preach? Suppose he was terrible? Last thing she wanted was for him to be a flop. There was no way to know how it would turn out, however, so she decided to let the angst go; tomorrow would come soon enough.

  Another kind of angst grabbed her when Leo came in with Marie. He was politely handing her to a seat. They both had tubs of popcorn and drinks. The smile they shared made Bernadine unconsciously grind her teeth.

  “Who are you glaring at?” Mal asked, then when he looked over and spotted Leo and Marie, he said, “Thought you were going to let that go?”

  “I’m trying, but I just don’t want to see Marie hurt.”

  “Not your concern, now.”

  “I know.”

  A few seconds later, the houselights went down. The opening score for the blockbuster adventure Transformers began and Bernadine turned her attention to the movie.

  During intermission, Bernadine made a quick trip to the ladies’ room; as she was leaving, Marie was coming in. “Hey, Marie,” Bernadine called, hoping the greeting didn’t sound too false.

  It did.

  Marie asked, “Can we talk a minute?”

  “Sure.”

  Since they were by the building’s front door, Marie stepped outside and a wary Bernadine followed.

  Marie looked out at the night for a few seconds, then asked quietly, “When are you going to stop tearing up your face every time you see me and Leo together?”

  Caught off guard and, yes, shamed, Bernadine asked, “Is it that obvious?”

  “Stevie Wonder could see it.”

  She offered a chagrined smile. “I’m sorry, Marie. I just don’t want you hurt.”

  “Didn’t we have this discussion before?”

  “Yeah, but—”

  “No buts, Bernadine Brown. I know you think Leo is the scum of the earth, and if I was in your shoes I’d probably feel the same way, but I’m not you. And I’m not inferring that he’ll treat me better because I’m better than you, but can you let me have a bit of fun and attention? If he turns out to be someone I don’t want to be with, I’m okay with that, but at least let me find out.”

  Bernadine sighed. “You’re absolutely right.”

  “Thank you.”

  She looked Marie in the eye. “I’ll get it together. I promise.”

  “I’m holding you to that. Now, let’s go back in.”

  Feeling like she’d been in the principal’s office, Bernadine led them back inside. When she returned to her seat it was dark and Mal leaned over and whispered, “Was just about to go looking for you. Did something happen?”

  She whispered back, “I was outside being read by Marie.”

  He tried to see her face in the dark. “You okay?”

  “No, but I will be.”

  He reached over and gently squeezed her hand. She could’ve kissed him for the small but needed show of support.

  Amari had a good time with Ms. Genevieve. When it came time to go home, she gave him a big hug and left with Ms. Marie and her new boyfriend.

  “You did a good thing, son,” his dad told him as they drove home.

  “I did, didn’t I,” he replied, grinning. He felt good.

  Marie wasn’t feeling so good. Her mother, Agnes, had ridden over to the rec with Tamar, but was going home in the limo, along with Marie, Leo, and Genevieve. Marie could tell she had to something to say. “What’s the matter, Mama?”

  “Nothing.”

  But Marie could see the way she was glaring at Leo and how uncomfortable he appeared as a result. “If you have something to say, just say it. You’re as bad as Bernadine.”

  “Bernadine has a right to be mad. Isn’t he her philandering ex-husband?”

  Leo’s lips tightened and he came to his own defense. “Yes, ma’am, I am, but—”

  “You got no business being with him, Marie.”

  Marie sighed. She glanced Genevieve’s way and received a look of sympathy. “I’m sixty years old, Mama.”

  “So you keep pointing out, but you’re acting like a teenager in heat, just like last time.”

  Genevieve gasped and scolded, “Agnes, that is not right.”

  “It’s the truth. What if Bernadine gets mad and fires her? She can, you know. She owns the whole town.”

  Leo said, “Bernadine would never do that.”

  “Bet you never thought she’d divorce your cheating behind either, did you?”

  Marie was so angry and humiliated, all she could do was stare out at the darkness and hope Leo didn’t see the tears in her eyes.

  He could. He had no idea what the old harpy was referring to about Marie’s past but he could see how devastated the words left her and it angered him. It was obvious that Marie needed to be extricated from what appeared to be on the surface a difficult situation, and he knew just the man for the job. As for Agnes, she could go to hell.

  Mal and Bernadine were sitting in his truck out in front of her house. Even though she’d enjoyed the movie, she was still brooding over her encounter with Marie.

  Mal sensed that, so he said, “Weatherman is forecasting a good breeze tomorrow. Want to go fly some kites after church?”

  She turned his way and stared. “Kites?”

  “Sure. You ever flown one before?”

  “No.”

  “Nothing like it. Real good way to shake off the stress.”

  She’d never heard of such a thing, and wondered what this crazy, wonderful man would come up with next.

  “Yes? No?”

  “Yes,” she said with a laugh. “But you’ll have to show me how.”

  “Be happy to. How’s two o’clock sound?”

  “Sounds good.”

  Later, while lying in bed, Bernadine replayed her run-in with Marie and decided she needed to grow up and stop acting like somebody in middle school. But she was conflicted. Large parts of herself were still angry and humiliated by Leo’s adulterous behavior, while other parts wanted to know how dare he find someone new.

  She hadn’t minded him hooking up with his ex-wives, Thing Two and Thing Three, because neither of them could compete with her in spirit or intelligence. Marie, however, was Bernadine’s equal, and she was having a hard time with that. Am I just jealous? She was certain that she wasn’t and decided it was more of her not wanting him to find love again and certainly not with a woman from Bernadine’s own backyard, but it was out of her control. She’d been talking the talk about being over Leo and moving on with her life but she hadn’t walked the walk. Now she would. Marie had made it quite clear that she didn’t need or want Bernadine’s input, so it was time for her to put away wanting to blow up Leo every time she saw him and act like the grown woman she was supposed to be. As she noted earlier, this was life, not middle school.

  The next morning Amari, like everyone else, was at Zoey’s house for Devon’s church service. So many people showed up that they wound up caravanning over to the school to use the new auditorium. None of Amari’s past foster parents had been churchgoing folks so he didn’t know a lot about the whole organized religion thing but even he knew Devon rocked the house. The usually timid kid Amari had nicknamed Creflo Jr. was transformed on the stage. He was shouting and pointing and quoting the Bible. At one point he got so into it he shouted at the audience, “Who
in here knows the Lord!”

  The adults looked blown away. He and Preston shared grins.

  “Even if you don’t know Him,” Devon exclaimed walking back and forth across the stage, “He knows you! He makes the crooked road straight, the lame walk, and the blind see the light.”

  His voice rose in volume and resonated. “He’ll hide you from the darkness under the pinion of His wings, and you shall not be afraid. Hallelujah!”

  People were shouting and yelling. For another thirty minutes, Devon spread the Word.

  Amari looked over at Ms. Bernadine. She was all dressed up and wearing a big fancy hat. She had tears in her eyes. Ms. Lily had her hand in the air and was crying too. All over the auditorium people were on their feet and Devon was working it.

  “Can you feel His presence? Do you need His Presence? Don’t matter if you don’t know Him! He knows you! Can I get an amen?”

  The responding amens filled the air.

  Then Ms. Roni walked onto the stage. Zoey began pounding the keys like she’d been playing gospel all her life, and Roni lifted her beautiful voice and sang “Oh, Mary Don’t You Weep.”

  By the time she got halfway through the old standard, the adults in the audience were swaying, keeping the beat with their claps, and singing along. “Oh, Mary don’t you weep. Tell Martha not to moan.”

  Zoey’s small face was a study in concentration as she accompanied Mama Roni, and she didn’t miss a change or a note.

  Amari had never heard the song before, but he got so caught up in the electricity in the air that even he was singing the chorus by the time the song ended, “Oh, Mary don’t you weep. Tell Martha not to mooannn.”

  When Roni ended, her performance was greeted with thunderous applause. Teary-eyed, she took a bow, then extended her hand to acknowledge Zoey. Zoey stood, face beaming, and bowed too.

  Devon walked back to the center of the stage. Everyone quieted, and he said in the small, polite voice they were all more familiar with, “Thank you for coming to my church. I’ll see you next week.”

  If any of the adults had had any doubts about Devon’s abilities, there were none now. As Amari followed his dad up the aisle and toward the exit, he heard Ms. Bernadine exclaim to anybody who’d listen, “That boy can preach!”

  Just as promised, Mal showed up at two o’clock to take Bernadine kite flying. They drove out to the creek, then left the truck.

  “Perfect weather,” he called out over the wind.

  Bernadine begged to differ. The wind was whipping her hair like it didn’t care how much time she’d spent making it look good.

  He reached into the Ford’s bed and after moving some stuff around, handed her a cheap plastic kite with a spindle of string attached. Batman was in the center of it and she laughed. “Batman? Isn’t this more Devon’s style?”

  “True, but it was either that or SpongeBob.”

  The wind was whipping the edges of her Batman kite so she held it and the spindle close to her body to keep it from being carried away. With her other hand she pushed her blowing hair out of her face. “What are you flying? Spider-Man?”

  “Nope. This.”

  He lifted out a large red dragon, complete with teeth and scales. Unlike Batman, it wasn’t made of plastic but of fine gauged paper.

  “Aw. I want one of those.”

  He shook his head negatively. “Once you can fly Batman without losing it, we’ll talk.”

  As they walked out onto the open prairie, he gave her some basic instructions.

  She said, surprised, “You mean I don’t have to run up and down like a crazy woman to get it in the air?”

  “No. For now, just give it a short line of string out and let Batman decide which way it wants to go.”

  So she did that. She unrolled just enough string for it to rise a foot or so above her head and shoulder and suddenly felt the kite pull sharply.

  “Give it some string. Slowly now.”

  Following instructions, she let out more string and then more, and suddenly the kite was airborne and soaring.

  “It’s flying!” Filled with excitement, she let out more string in response to the kite’s wishes. “I never knew this was so easy!”

  “Keep your eye on it.”

  “This is fun!’ she called over the wind.

  He grinned, walked a few feet away, and put his dragon in the air. Soon it was flying too.

  Bernadine looked over. “Why does yours have more than one string?”

  “So it can do this.”

  As she watched, he tugged on the strings and made the dragon dance. The head and tail bobbed up and down as if it were alive.

  “Oh my goodness!” She turned her attention back to Batman, which by then was so high up it was just a small triangular shape in the sky. “I want one of those.”

  “Just don’t cross your line with mine.”

  She took a few steps to her left and gave her kite the rest of the string. Suddenly she was holding an empty spindle. “Mal! My string’s gone!” Batman was flying away like Superman and she had no way to bring him back.

  “Aw baby, I’m sorry. I forgot that sometimes those dollar store kites don’t attach the string to the spindles.”

  “Shoot!” She pouted. Batman was halfway to Gotham by then.

  He chuckled.

  The kite was soon out of sight. “Not funny.”

  “I’m sorry. Here, come fly the dragon.”

  She stood in front of him and he very carefully handed her the lead string but kept his arms around her so that his hands could guide hers.

  “Keep it even. Don’t let the head dip down or he’ll crash.”

  Bernadine concentrated but it was difficult with him standing so close that she could smell his cologne. She turned her head and looked back. “You smell good.”

  He kissed her. “Keep your eyes on the prize, missy. I paid three hundred dollars for that kite.”

  The power of the kiss made her sway a bit but she fought it off. Smiling, she kept her eyes on the dragon in the sky.

  They flew the dragon until her arms tired, then she ducked out from under Mal and let him reel the beautiful kite in.

  Driving home, he asked, “Did you have a good time?”

  “That was marvelous. When can we do it again?”

  “Whenever you like.”

  Bernadine couldn’t remember having so much fun. All it had taken was a cheap piece of plastic and a line of string. “I’m getting a better kite, though.”

  “My apologies again.”

  “It’s okay. I had a good time.”

  On Monday morning school started. Trent considered it a blessing because it was now Jack’s job to answer Amari’s 24/7 questions, at least until the end of each school day. Trent loved being Amari’s dad and he wouldn’t change his decision to foster him for the world. He also didn’t mind being mayor, most days. However, both jobs took up a lot of time, leaving him just bits and pieces to do the other thing he loved, restoring cars.

  By all rights, he should be at work handling things needing his attention like approving the final blueprints for Roni’s studio and her husband’s clinic. But now that the kids were back in school, he looked upon the resumption as the beginning of his vacation, so he called the Power Plant and told Lily he was taking a vacation day.

  He was in the garage with Black Beauty, the old Chrysler New Yorker Malachi had handed down to Trent his junior year in high school. After graduation he’d totaled it during an ice storm. Beat up and banged up, it had sat under wraps in storage until last summer, but now, it was fully restored and gorgeous.

  As he slowly circled the body checking out the new paint job and how it looked outfitted with new chrome wheels and door hardware, he reminisced on high school and driving around with Lily Fontaine riding shotgun. They’d made a lot of memories; some never to be revealed, but they’d had more fun than two kids playing in a pool on a hot day. Back then, he’d loved the car almost as much as he had her and it was ironic that his r
elationship with Lily and the car had both shared the same fate—totaled.

  Now the three of them could be together again, and who better to share the first ride than the Fabulous Fontaine, the nickname she’d earned during her high school track days. He picked up his phone and got her on the line. “What are you doing?”

  “Working, unlike you.”

  He grinned. “I’m working too, and to prove it, I’ll be there in a few minutes. Got something I want to show you.”

  “What is it?”

  “I’ll call you when I get there.”

  “Trenton—”

  “Bye, Fontaine.” He ended the call.

  When Lily got the call that Trent had arrived and was outside, she walked out to meet him. The sight of him leaning against the beautifully restored car stopped her in her tracks. “Oh my,” she whispered, hands over her mouth.

  “Like it?” he asked, arms crossed, looking all of seventeen again.

  “Trenton, she’s beautiful.” Finally able to power herself forward, she moved closer. Memories flooded her and she looked at him with awe. “You told me she’d been totaled.”

  “She was, but I took the wraps off last summer and started restoring her.”

  “We had some times in this car.”

  “Oh yeah.”

  Lily circled the vehicle silently, her eyes darting and lingering. She peeked through the window. “You put in a CD player.”

  “Yep, redid all the wiring. She may be a classic on the outside but inside she’s twenty-first century.”

  “Doesn’t that affect the value?”

  “It would if she were for sale, but she’s not.”

  “You’re going to keep her?”

  “Yep. With us back together, we need our car.”

  She stopped and met his eyes. Emotion filled her. “That’s so sweet.”

  “Want to test her out?”

  “Right now?” She felt seventeen all over again as well.

  “That’s why I’m here.”

  She nodded excitedly. “Let me call the Boss Lady first.”

  Once that was accomplished, Trent opened Beauty’s door, his beauty got in, and off they went.