“You’re a good man, Bently Evans.” Her words unlocked something deep inside him. As much as he wanted to argue, having her think that of him put a little piece of him back together.
He leaned in and kissed the top of her head before she released him. He didn’t know why he’d done it at dinner a few days ago, except that not putting his mouth on her in some way felt wrong. It wasn’t sexual. It was . . . something deeper. Friendship. That’s right. He was just being a good friend.
***
“In what year did slavery end?” Bently quizzed TJ on his history homework.
“Which one?” TJ asked.
Bently looked back to the list of questions on the paper. “Is there more than one?”
“The Emancipation Proclamation was issued January first, eighteen sixty-three. But the civil war between the confederate states of the South and the union soldiers of the North didn’t end until eighteen sixty-five. However, news didn’t reach Texas until June nineteenth, eighteen sixty-five.”
Bently searched the notes. “It doesn’t say anything about that date in here.”
“It wouldn’t.” TJ shrugged. “Juneteenth isn’t even a public holiday.”
Andre and Remy celebrated Juneteenth—he’d heard about it from them when he was a young teen. “Okay—”
TJ held up his hand. “That’s when they say slavery ended, but really it changed forms. Since you weren’t allowed to own human beings anymore, they enacted Jim Crow, segregation. They created more laws in the eighteen nineties limiting what a Black person could do, where they could live, what they could own, and suppressed their votes.”
Bently nodded. “Good thing that was a long time ago.”
TJ met his eyes. “Jim Crow didn’t end until nineteen sixty-four. Only fifty-six years ago. That means your daddy or granddaddy lived to see it.”
Bently shook his head. Heaviness settled on his shoulders for his ancestors’ crimes. His stomach churned. “Right, the civil rights movement.”
“Bingo.”
“Aren’t I supposed to be quizzing you?” Bently forced a chuckle.
TJ lifted the can of soda to his lips and took a sip. He set it down and grinned. “I got a good one for you. What year were interracial marriages legalized?”
“Uh . . . I don’t know. The same year?”
TJ shook his head. “Went all the way to the Supreme Court in nineteen sixty-seven. Loving v. Virginia.”
Bently sat back and sighed. “I don’t get how so many people could mistreat a group of other humans like that, like shit.”
TJ was quiet, staring out the window.
“Can I ask you a question?” Bently asked.
TJ turned towards him. “Sure.”
“Were you scared of me, that day with the bike?”
TJ’s eyes clouded over as he nodded. “All I could think was I’m gonna be shot and Belle’s gonna be all alone.”
Bently ran his palm over his face. This conversation got heavy fast. “I’m sorry. I hope you know that you’re safe here in Shattered Cove. My station is full of good officers who care about this community.”
TJ grunted.
“You don’t believe me?”
“I think you believe that. I’ve had a target on my back from the day I was born, simply for having more melanin in my skin than you. I can’t afford the privilege of feeling safe, or not being conscious of where my hands are at all times when I’m out.”
Bently cleared his throat. His mind reeled from TJ’s honest and heartbreaking words. “What can I do to make it better?” he asked.
“Man, I’m seventeen years old. I ain’t got the answers to world peace. Apparently treating each other with basic human decency is too hard for so many to grasp.” TJ shook his head, reaching for his soda once more.
“I’m sorry. You’re right.” He grabbed the beer he’d set on the coffee table and took a long gulp. “Alright, next question. What was the date Abraham Lincoln was killed?”
***
Bently sat on his couch, his computer open on his lap. TJ’s words stuck with Bently long after he’d finished quizzing the young man for his test. An uncomfortable briar wedged deep in the back of his mind. The kid had a valid point. How could one man solve world peace? How could you convince another person to leave their bias in the garbage where it belonged? How could you change what was imbedded in the DNA of an entire country?
It had to start somewhere. Shattered Cove seemed as good a place as any.
Bently clicked open his browser and pulled up a list of books on racism and White privilege. TJ was right—it wasn’t his job to give Bently answers. Change started from within. The first step in battling ignorance and prejudice was identifying your own.
Chapter 19
Bently
Pain radiated along Bently’s neck as his head snapped back from the blow.
“Stupid, good-for-nothing, pussy boy. Man up! Get off your ass and face me like a real man. You think you’re so tough.” The growl of his father’s voice told him all he needed to know. If he didn’t get back up, his father would take out his rage on someone else. His mother, his little brother, or possibly his baby half sister.
“Stop!” his little brother’s tiny voice yelled.
Paul Evans turned his scowl onto Mikel’s five-year-old body. Bently shot to his feet, ignoring the throbbing ache.
“Go to bed, Mikel!” Bently yelled.
Mikel looked back and forth as Jasmine began to wail in their mother’s arms. She needed him to protect her too. Maybe if he was stronger, or smarter, he’d be able to get them to safety, away from the monster that was their father.
Paul Evans took a swaying step forward towards Mikel. Bently tucked his shoulder and rammed into his dad. The man’s rage now focused on him, rather than the others.
“You son of a bitch!” Paul screamed as he brought his fist down hard on Bently’s back again and again. Pain sliced through him.
A sweaty hand grabbed his neck and pushed him against the wall. His feet
