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“I dunno,” he muttered. “I doan want no shit with your old man, and it seems like he’s always at your house these days.”
“I see. Well, stop by the bar, then. Okay?”
“Sounds good.”
After they hung up, Mel started to call Adrienne at work just to chat but then changed his mind. She would pick up on his gloomy mood, and it might ruin her day. He turned over, went back to sleep, and sank into a familiar dream.
The welcome home party was jumping, and the champagne flowed like water. Adrienne’s family—Aunt Patsy, Aunt Clarice, and Aunt Ellie, who had all come up from Dietsville to celebrate—mixed, stirred, fried, and laughed in the kitchen as they kept the chicken, greens, and macaroni coming. Debra and her friends were everywhere dancing and shouting over the loud music that boomed over the Jordans’ new sound system.
Neighbors from Adrienne’s old building came with their grandchildren, and even her former roommates showed up. Everyone under fifty and over thirty clapped and sang along with the Gap Band’s “Burn Rubber” as those too old or too young to remember the noisy song mumbled among themselves in disapproval.
Mel and Debra drank cup after cup of rum and Coke as they passed out handfuls of pink-ribboned cigars to celebrate Delilah’s birth. The infant didn’t let the party disturb her. Closed off in her parents’ room, she slept quietly in a white, lace-covered bassinet that her grandma had bought her, fists held tightly against her cheeks.
Adrienne, still a little tired from Delilah’s birth the week before, sat in the living room watching everyone have a good time. There was a strained smile on her face as she waited patiently for the celebration to end. Then the screams rose in Mel’s ears. Higher and higher they became, until he found himself looking into a singed bassinet to find nothing but ashes where his angel had once slept. The guests, who had been wearing party clothes, were suddenly draped in black. They swarmed around him with their sorry, tear-streaked faces. A white man sprang up with a shovel in his hand, and everyone was transported to Delilah’s gravesite, where the man proceeded to dig the hole that would put Mel’s baby in the ground forever. Rain suddenly poured out of the sky, drenching everyone with such force that Delilah’s charred little lips popped out of her mouth and landed on the ground next to Mel’s foot.
Mel sat up shaking from the nightmare, his face damp with perspiration and tears.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Adrienne had just booted up her computer and started on the day’s work when her phone rang.
“Media Services,” she said crisply.
“Hi, Adrienne. How are you?”
It was Lloyd Cooper. Adrienne’s heart skipped, but she kept her composure. “I’m fine. And you?”
He sighed. “I’m in the midst of an apartment hunt, and believe me, it isn’t fun at all.”
“I know exactly what you mean. It took weeks for me to find something decent in Manhattan. At least you’ll get help from the company.”
“That’s true,” Lloyd agreed. “Every week I get a list of ten empty spaces that sound just perfect. I make time in my schedule to view the place and it turns out to be either a dump or a cubbyhole.”
“What are you looking for?”
He paused. “I want a three-bedroom duplex on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, with a doorman.”
“Where are you living in the meantime?”
“At the Parker Meridien Hotel.”
“Not bad.”
“Parton, Webster will pay for the suite for another month or two, but I don’t want the search to take that long. I’m practically living out of a suitcase, and I miss my belongings. They’re all
in storage back in Chicago.”
“I’m sure you’ll find something soon.”
“I’m sorry that I made such a mess out of our first meeting.” Lloyd said quietly.
Adrienne could hear phones ringing around her, feet scurrying up and down the hall, peals of laughter, and the whir of the printer as it spewed out documents. But none of these ordinary office sounds could distract her from the knowledge that Sherry Ingles had stopped typing and was eavesdropping on her conversation.
“It was quite a shock, but I’m all right now.”
“All right enough to have lunch with me today?” he asked.
“Ah, sure,” she said cautiously.
