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“Turkey bacon? More like plastic in my opinion. I tried to switch to turkey bacon, but it was disgusting to me.”
“Here, taste this brand.”
I broke off and piece and offered it to her. She plopped it in her mouth.
“There is no way this is turkey,” she said while covering her mouth with her hand.
“Yes, it is. I don’t know the brand, but Lita keeps it stocked for me.”
“You eat turkey because you don’t eat pork?”
“I cut pork out of my diet while I was incarcerated. I haven’t picked it up since.”
“Why pork?”
“At Pineville, the pork meal they would feed us made me sick, so I stopped eating it and haven’t tried again. It could have been something wrong with that particular meat but getting sick after eating that meal, ruined all pork for me.”
“That’s understandable. When my grandpa died, I remember my time reference changed to either before grandpa died or after grandpa died. Is that how it was for you after being released?”
That’s a great question no one has ever asked before.
“I guess it did. That one incident changed the whole trajectory of my life. I don’t know if I would have made it to where I am if it hadn’t happened.”
“You don’t think so?”
“I can’t say for sure, but before going away, I didn’t have any plans to do anything other than what I was doing which was working at Foot Locker and chasing tail. That’s what my mother used to call it; chasing tail,” I chuckled.
“The drive you have comes from being incarcerated?”
“No, the drive I have now comes from the need to maintain what I have. The drive Ihadcame from trying to prove everyone that called me a murderer wrong. I wanted to rub my success in their faces. Once I became successful, I needed another reason to keep going.”
* * *
After breakfast,Averie changed into the clothes that were sent over from the boutique, and I took her on a tour of my property. We climbed into one of my golf carts and started driving. We crested the hill and saw my mother getting out of her car.
“Is that your mother?”
“It is,” I said as I pulled to a stop behind my mother’s car in her driveway.
“Mom,” I said as I climbed out of the cart to give her a hug.
Even though we lived on the same property, I didn’t see her as often as I would like. I only came out to the house on some weekends, and she never came downtown unless she absolutely had too.
“Hey, Baby. I didn’t know you would be out here this weekend.” She was speaking to me but looking around me at Averie.
“Change of plans,” I said while taking her hand and leading her to the cart. “Mom, this is Averie Patterson. Averie, this is my mother, Vivian Valentine.”
Averie smiled as she climbed out the cart with her hand extended toward my mother.
“Ms. Valentine, it’s a pleasure to meet you.”
“You’re the lawyer my daughter told me about that runs the charity program?” Mom asked as she shook Averie’s hand.
“Yes ma’am, this is who Torrey was talking about.”
Mom’s smile widened as she moved closer to Averie to hug her. Averie didn’t jump or stiffen up she hugged her back.
“You should have dinner with us tomorrow, Averie,” Mom said after releasing her from the hug.
