She blinked, tapped her fingers on the table a few times, and cleared her throat. She was smart, but I was smarter. I had got her number two minutes after I met her. I could tell that she was fishing for the same kind of information about me that I was fishing for about her. She was probably as anxious to lock us into a serious relationship as I was. “My daddy drives me up the wall sometimes, but I don’t mind. I enjoy spending time with him. I don’t know what I’m going to do when he dies.”
“I can understand you wanting to be with your daddy as much as possible, but everybody should strike out on their own once they reach a certain age. If you don’t mind me asking, if you got such a good job, how come you still live at home?” From the tight look on Joyce’s face now, I could tell I’d asked a question that made her feel uncomfortable. “I’m sorry.” I held up my hand and tried to look apologetic. “You ain’t got to answer that. That ain’t my business.”
“I don’t mind answering it.” She stopped talking long enough to take a long, deep breath. “I tried sharing a room with another girl a few years ago and it almost ended in a bloodbath.”
“Was she hard to get along with?”
“That and everything else, which was a surprise to me. I’d known her since tenth grade, and she seemed like the kind of person who’d make a good roommate. Well, I was wrong. She never had her share of the rent on time, and she kept the place looking like a pigsty. Her boyfriends were in and out all hours of the day and night. Every time I complained, she accused me of being jealous on account of I had one date for every five she had. I moved out and tried living by myself. It was okay for a few months until I got tired of coming home to an empty room and not having anybody to talk to.”
“I see. That’s one thing me and you got in common.”
“Oh?”
“I don’t like being lonely either.”
I must have struck a nerve because Joyce’s mouth dropped open. She looked me in the eye and told me in a firm tone, “I’m alone, but I’m not lonely. I have a few friends that I do things with, but I like to do a lot of things by myself, too.”
I wanted to laugh. Only a “lonely” person would say something so pitiful. I didn’t think it would benefit me much by dwelling on this subject, so I shifted gears. “You don’t know how lucky you are to have a good job. Times is harder than they used to be for colored people these days. We have to take whatever we can get, whether we like it or not. You ain’t got to worry about nothing like that.”
“What do you mean?”
“If you ever get tired of the job at that schoolhouse, you still got your folks’ business to fall back on. You lucky.”
Joyce nodded. “I guess I am pretty lucky. But work is about the only thing I’m lucky in. . . .”
Chapter 6
Odell
JOYCE’S CLAIM THAT SHE WASN’T LONELY WAS NOTHING BUT A BUNCH of happy horse manure. I knew a lonely woman when I saw one. “What do you mean by that?” I had already made up my mind that I was going to take this woman, so I had to play my part to the hilt. I was going to be everything she wanted a man to be.
She took her time answering my question. “If I could be lucky in love, I’d be all right,” she said with a faraway look in her sad eyes. Even with all the face powder she had on, I could still see the dark circles up under her eyes. Either she stayed up late reading every night, or she spent a lot of time crying. I had a feeling it was both.
“I know what you mean. I ain’t had much luck with love myself.”
Her eyes got big. “Say what? Why would a man that looks like you need luck when it comes to love? Are you serious?”
I nodded. “I’m as serious as a heart attack. Looks ain’t everything. Most of the women I done been with looking for a lot more than I have to offer. I got kinfolks so trifling I’m too ashamed to tell people I’m related to them. I dropped out of school in the middle of the eighth grade, so I ain’t even got no education to fall back on. Folks like me, and Lord knows there’s too many of us these days, we take what we can get. Most women want a man that’s got a decent job.” It probably wasn’t even necessary, but I decided to add to my last comment anyway. “Like the job I got now. God is good. . . .”
“Hmmm. I can’t tell you how happy I am that you came along when you did. My mama and daddy were getting desperate to find somebody to replace that last stock boy they had to fire. That lazy rascal could never get to work on time and when he did, he did only half of what he was supposed to do. Daddy has enough to keep him busy with the orders and dealing with the vendors and supervising his employees, but he’s been doing his job too long. He does too much lifting and stocking and other things, and he’s too old to keep it up. I tell him all the time that he needs to retire and let a younger person take over. Mama’s not much help. She hangs out at the store almost every day but she spends
