Tony Sinatra: If Loving You Is Wrong, page 5
MaKayla and Rain laughed, and even Brent and Bobby smiled, but Tony couldn’t do it. The last thing he wanted to spend his Friday night doing was listening to some woman cackling on about hair dye and pretending it was funny.
“So she got that red dye right out of my hair,” LeeAnna said again. “Yes she did.”
Rain saw that Tony wasn’t feeling it. And she quickly tried to change the subject. “What about your art exhibit at the Marshall Museum, LeeAnna?” Rain asked her. “Why don’t you tell Tony about that.”
Rain could see that Tony was immediately interested. He looked at LeeAnna. “You have an exhibit at Marshall?”
“Yes, I do,” LeeAnna said proudly. “Well, it’s not mine exactly.”
Rain and Bobby were confused. Tony was too. “What do you mean you have an exhibit there, but it’s not yours?” he asked her.
“I mean I’m not the person who actually painted those paintings. I’m not the artist. But I’m on the board of directors and we decided to pay for the exhibit.”
Tony rather doubted her story. He knew most of the people on the Marshall Museum board and he could not imagine them offering her a position there. But he could be wrong. “You’re on Marshall’s board of directors?” he asked her directly.
“Not Marshall’s board of directors, heavens no! I’m on The Ladies in Waiting board of directors. We’re the ones who paid for one of those exhibits.”
Tony looked at Bobby and Rain. They were the ones who got him into this mess.
Bobby knew it too. He regretted listening to LeeAnna’s father, who worked for him at City Hall as the city’s comptroller. Her old man insisted she had all the attributes a man like Tony would just love. But he was wrong. She was so not for Tony!
But Bobby also knew that his older brother wouldn’t be rude to her, or judge her lack of sophistication. That just wasn’t in Tony’s DNA. “I’m sure the artist you helped,” Bobby said to LeeAnna to help salvage the mismatch, “appreciated your patronage.”
“Yes,” said a still-smiling LeeAnna.
“Which exhibit is it?” Tony decided to ask. He was usually well-versed with each exhibit Marshall debuted.
But LeeAnna looked at him as if it was a trick question. “Excuse me?”
“Which one of the exhibits did you and your board pay for?”
“Oh,” said LeeAnna as if she was just getting it. “How should I know? One of them. I don’t even like paintings, to tell you the truth. They’re so . . . abstract. They leave everything to your imagination! Can you imagine that?”
That did it for Tony. “Anyway,” he said, tossing his napkin on the table. “It’s getting late and I’m deadbeat tired.”
“Right,” said Brent, standing and assisting MaKayla on her feet. Bobby stood and assisted Rain. And Tony stood and assisted LeeAnna. After the tab was paid by Tony, they all headed out of the restaurant.
But Bobby purposefully moved over by Tony. “Can you at least drive her home?” he whispered to him.
Tony gave his brother such a hard look that Bobby already knew the answer. And when Rain glanced back at them, Bobby shook his head.
Rain, understanding, placed an arm around LeeAnna. “You’ll ride back with us, Lee,” she said.
“Oh. Okay,” LeeAnna said, still bubbly, but she glanced back at Tony as if she was dogfight mad.
When they made it outside, and waited for the valets to bring their cars around (or truck in Brent’s case), it was LeeAnna who bothered to look all the way across the highway.
“Why don’t you arrest them, Brent?” she asked.
Brent frowned. “Arrest who?”
“Them!” LeeAnna pointed across the highway.
Everybody looked where she was pointing. And it was only then did they realize a few hookers were hanging on the corner. Nothing unusual there. That side of the highway always had something going on. But Tony frowned. Because one of those hookers looked familiar. One of them looked just like the girl he asked MaKayla to bail out for him. And as soon as he realized it could be her, his pulse began to race. Which stunned him. What kind of bewitching shit was this, he wondered? Were his eyes playing tricks on him? Was his heart?
But when a car drove up to those ladies of the evening, and Wendy and Sam began to walk across the sidewalk toward that car, Tony knew it was no trick. Because he was certain it was her. She got out on bail, not to spend her time proving her innocence, but to what? To become a prostitute? That wasn’t in her record. In fact, the only crime she’d ever been accused of was that embezzlement charge. But he refused to judge her. She had her reasons, he decided.
But he couldn’t help but be a little disappointed in her.
“If we arrested every streetwalker we ran across,” Brent said to LeeAnna, “that’s all we’d do. Jericho is changing. Until the city council approves more officers for me, there’s no way we can keep up with those changes.”
“But they’re getting so bold with their crimes now,” said LeeAnna. “And I hate that crime the most. I can’t stand a woman who would prostitute her body for cash. It’s disgraceful! They need to just get a job like everybody else.”
“Spoken by a woman who’s never worked a day in her life,” said Rain boldly.
But she knew LeeAnna. And she was right. LeeAnna wasn’t offended at all. She laughed. “But I’m so far above those girls there’s no contest. They’re the workers of the world. We come from the bosses of the world.”
“What do you mean we, Pale Face?” Rain asked.
“I’m saying,” said MaKayla. Both Rain and MaKayla were black ladies who didn’t take to anybody comparing them to the masters of the world. They most certainly were never that, and never would be that.
“I’m just joking,” LeeAnna said, laughing that off too. She laughed a lot off to Brent. Maybe too much.
But Tony didn’t see that side of LeeAnna, or any side of anybody else but Sam. He was unable to take his eyes off of her.
Sam wore what looked like a super-short leather dress that hugged every inch of her body, and when she leaned into that car that had just driven up, Tony could only imagine how much of her breasts she was exposing to whomever was in that car. And for some reason, he was more upset with her for the way she dressed than for what she actually was doing, which baffled even him.
And as Brent and LeeAnna continued going on and on about the police budget and what Brent and his employees should be doing, Tony kept his eyes on Sam. And when the driver actually got out of that car, walked around to where Sam and another prostitute were standing, and he and Sam seemed to be having a heated argument, his attention became even more acute. And when that man violently pushed Sam to the ground, and the other prostitute tried to hold him back from doing her further harm, Tony didn’t hesitate not for one second. His heart swelled in pure fear for Sam, and he took off running across that highway.
Brent looked away from LeeAnna when he saw Tony running away. And he was shocked. “Tony! Where are you going? Tony!”
Brent hadn’t seen the argument, nor the push. But even had he seen it, he would not have been running over there. Hookers and their johns got into it all the time. He’d never have a moment’s rest if he was intervening every time they had disagreements.
But Tony didn’t respond to Brent, even as his date and family members were all shocked by his behavior, because he didn’t hear him. He felt an urgent need to get to Sam. He ran across that busy highway so fast that he was up in that guy’s face before the guy could turn to get back into his car.
Tony punched him so hard that the guy’s legs immediately turned to rubber, and he fell on his ass. Then he began scooting backwards on his ass to get away from Tony. Proving that knocking down a girl was more his expertise than having any knockdown-drag-outs with a man, the guy jumped up, ran around to the driver side of his car, and got in and took off.
But Tony had already turned his attention to Sam.
Although Wendy and the other prostitutes in the area were surprised to see that a man of Tony’s esteem had come to the defense of one of their own, Sam was downright stunned. It was him again! The jail doctor. She looked up as he grabbed her by the hand to help her up, but she at first just stared at him. Because her heart squeezed when his hand touched her. Because his deep green eyes looked so warm and compassionate, but also so sad. As if what that guy did to her had been done to him too.
But then she caught herself. He was just being nice, that was all. Don’t overthink this, she had to remind herself. He wasn’t trying to help her because of her, but probably because of some sense of chivalry he had within his personality. It wasn’t about her. It was never about her. Nobody ever tried to help her.
She stood up, with her eyes still glued on him. “Thank you,” she said.
Her breasts were, as he suspected, just a sneeze from exposure, and all of that extra-heavy makeup she wore seemed utterly unnecessary. But it was her life, her face, her body. What difference should any of it make to him? “Are you alright?” he asked her.
“Yes, I am. Thank you.”
“What was that about?” Tony asked her.
It was about a guy named Mango, who Wendy sometimes worked for, and who called himself upset with Sam for turning down johns she didn’t feel safe going with. Which so far had been all of them. But she wasn’t about to tell the doctor that! “Just some loser trying to act like some pimp daddy,” she said.
Tony was still staring at her. “Is he your pimp?”
“Hell n’all! I’ll never be that crazy. That’s why he was angry. But thank you.”
“You’ve already thanked me.”
“I’m not talking about that,” said Sam. “I’m talking about the bail.”
“Oh, that.” Tony nodded. She was already making him feel as if it was wasted money. She get out of jail and get on the corner? He didn’t see how that helped her. “You’re welcome.”
Sam didn’t usually look a gift horse in the mouth, but in his case she felt a need to know. “Why did you do it?” she asked him.
Tony had to think about that. Why indeed, he wondered. Was it because of the facts of her case, which seemed sketchy to him, or was it more about him and his reaction to her every time he saw her? “You didn’t strike me as an embezzler,” he finally said.
It was the first time since she was arrested that somebody had actually believed she didn’t do what she was accused of doing. It was so refreshing to Sam that she found herself just staring awkwardly at him again, as if she were ogling him.
Tony felt awkward too. Why didn’t he just leave? He gave that guy better than what that guy gave to her. He helped her back on her feet. What more did he want?
But Sam began to reach a different conclusion for their awkward staring at each other. To her, she felt as if she’d let him down. He believed in her enough to bail her out and she repaid him by prostituting on a street corner? And suddenly she felt ashamed.
But Tony felt differently. He felt concern for her wellbeing on that street corner. He almost wanted to ask if she had a place to stay, and enough food to eat. And that was what spooked him most of all. What if she didn’t? What was he going to do about it?
He had to get out of here!
“Take care of yourself,” he said, without bothering for her to respond, and then he hightailed it back across the highway.
Wendy looked at Sam. “The Doc bailed you out?” She had shock in her voice. Wendy, and the rest of the prostitutes, knew Tony from his work at the jail.
But Sam didn’t respond to her question. She was too busy staring at the retreating psychologist.
But Wendy was relentless. “Sam? Doc was the one who bailed you out?”
Sam then exhaled. And nodded. “Yes. So what?”
“And he didn’t judge you doing what we doing on this street corner?” Wendy asked.
Sam again didn’t respond.
But that didn’t stop Wendy from grinning, as if her questions were rhetorical anyway. “Got yourself a sugar daddy!” she said gleefully. Then she looked over at the other prostitutes. “Sam Carmichael got herself a sugar daddy y’all!”
But the other prostitutes were more jealous than excited for Sam. Only black girl on the corner and all those johns were trying to be with her? They had no love for Sam.
“Why he got her on this corner if he so full of sugar?” asked one of the prostitutes.
“He needs to show her the money, if he’s so good to her,” said another one.
“That’s why she’s turning everybody else down like she’s some high-class hoe. She’s too busy putting it out for Doc.”
But Sam didn’t say a word. She was still too stunned. She was still too amazed that a man could actually do her a good turn not once, but twice in her life, and it was the same man!
But when Tony got back across the street and to his own group, he didn’t give them any explanations either. He just got into his Jag, which had arrived at the valet station, and took off. He wasn’t interested in answering questions.
But as he pulled out into the highway and sped away in the opposite direction from where Sam stood, he was still interested enough to glance at her through his rearview mirror. Sam was still staring at him.
But LeeAnna didn’t know what to make of any of it. She looked at Bobby and Rain. “Y’all told me he was good looking. That checked out,” she said. “Y’all told me he was phenomenally successful. I’m sure that’ll check out too. But y’all never told me he was crazy,” she said in a high-pitched voice, and Rain and Bobby laughed.
“He’s not crazy,” MaKayla said, defending her brother-in-law.
“Then how can you explain to me why he would go running all that way across that busy highway just to help some hooker back on her feet?” LeeAnna asked. “And then he just left like that. Without saying goodnight to any of us. Can you answer that?”
MaKayla couldn’t. She didn’t even try. She looked at Brent instead. Because she knew he was furious with Tony. Didn’t Tony realize those recall petitions were circulating around as it was? Why would he be so overly concerned for some run-of-the-mill prostitute at a time like that?
But big brother Brent had no answers either. Like Bobby, he would have to defend his office too if those recall petitions succeeded now that the police chief was no longer under the jurisdiction of the mayor but was now subject to election rather than appointment.
Brent shrugged his shoulders. “You know Tony,” he said. “He dances to a different tune than the rest of us.”
“Yeah, but not right now,” said Bobby. “He’d better get on the same page as the rest of us.”
“Amen,” said Rain.
Brent exhaled. “I’ll have Pop talk to him. He’s the only one he listens to anyway,” he added.
But Makayla was concerned about her brother-in-law. Mostly because that different tune Tony listened to usually ended up out of tune. And it was usually Tony who ended up hurt.
CHAPTER TEN
Sam woke up to birds chirping outside the window of the dilapidated RV. When she looked at the old-fashioned clock on the wall, she jumped up from the cushion-less couch she had been sleeping on and hurried to the tiny bathroom. It was already later than she had planned to get up.
While Wendy was in bed with Wilbur, the owner of the RV, Sam took a quick shower, brushed her teeth with the toothbrush and mouth wash she had gotten from the Dollar Tree, and dressed quickly in one of the three dresses Wendy was kind enough to give to her when she first got out of jail. But they were all short as short could get, and they were all leather. One was black. One was red. One was purple. She put on the black one again. She had business to attend to. She needed to be as understated as a short leather dress could be. Red and purple weren’t going to cut it.
But just as she had hurried out of the front door, careful to tiptoe in her high heels and to close the door back as softly as she could, she barely got down the steps and had taken only a few steps across the yard before Wendy was coming out of the RV behind her, wrapping the thin robe she wore around her tall, skinny body.
“Sam!” she called out.
“Gotta go, Wendy. I’m late.”
“Quit lying! That place don’t even open until eight.”
“But I want to be the first one in line. It’s first come, first serve.”
Wendy exhaled. “You know you can’t keep this shit up, girl.”
Sam stopped and looked at her blonde friend. Wendy had pulled a cigarette from the pack she kept in her bathrobe pocket and was lighting up.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Sam said.
“Wilbur ain’t gonna let you keep it up,” Wendy said. “And you saw how mad Mango was Friday night.”
“Mango’s always mad. And I don’t know why he’s coming back around anyway. You don’t even work for him anymore.”
“Yeah, well, he thinks I still do. And he thinks you do too.”
“Me? I don’t work for him. For Wilbur either.”
“Let’s cut the shit, alright?” Wendy blew smoke into the air. “This ain’t no charity we running. You think this a charity? You gots to start paying your own way and turning some tricks. I’m sorry to be so blunt, but that’s the way it’s got to be. Wilbur ain’t gonna let us stay here for free for much longer, and the tricks I’m turning don’t hardly wanna give me but ten bucks a pop. They’ll give you more because you got more breasts and ass and looks, too, let’s face it. But your ass keeps turning them down!”
“I’m not going with anybody that gives me a bad vibe,” said Sam.
“You haven’t turned one trick, Sam! Are you telling me every single john that wanted you gave you a bad vibe? Give me a fucking break! You think I’m stupid?”
“I been looking for work. I’ll find something eventually, Wen, you know me.”
Wendy always viewed Sam as a leader. She was the one who protected her from a face slashing when they both were incarcerated. And she knew she’d find a way out. But still! “I know you don’t wanna trick,” she said. “I know that, Sam. But unless you got something else up your sleeve you got to start pulling your weight around here or Wilbur will have both of us out on our rear. And I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of them stank-ass flophouses.”
