“Here,” he said as he pushed the paper in my direction. “I’ll need you to initial that you understand the attendance policy and sign at the bottom, acknowledging this as your written warning.”
I could feel the heat radiating under my shirt collar. I wanted to yell and scream at my boss, but I knew better. He was so angry with me that he would’ve fired me on the spot if I dared speak up for myself. I hastily signed the papers before walking out onto the floor to begin my shift. Unfortunately, business was still slow. I was hoping it would pick up soon; I desperately needed the money.
That night, after Nevaeh was in bed, I called my mom. Terrance answered the phone, but other than saying “Hello” to me, he didn’t speak to me. I heard him throw the phone down as he muttered something about the honkey-lover being on the phone. I rolled my eyes. If I had been there in person when he called me that, I probably would’ve smacked him across the face.
“Hello, Kimberly,” my mother answered.
“Hi, mom,” I said. “I know that you were all pretty upset when you left the other day, and I wanted to talk to you about it.”
“Kimberly, I don’t think we have much to say to each other right now. You know what you’re doing is wrong,” she hissed.
“No, momma, I don’t. I don’t think it’s wrong to give a good man a chance. He’s so good to us. I wish you would give him a chance and see it for yourself.”
“Baby, if your daddy were alive, he’d beat you with his belt. Do you know that?”
“No, mom, he wouldn’t. Before daddy died, he always taught us equality. He’d be proud that I found a good man who wasn’t a bigot!”
“That’s because he let his heart talk too much, but you know what happened. The white man killed your daddy, just like they killed all of our ancestors in slavery!”
“I’m not going to listen to this, ma. Dale’s good to us and you’ll see that you’re wrong,” I yelled at her.
“I love you, Kimberly, but sometimes you’re as dumb as a box of rocks.”
Chapter Eight
Over the course of the summer, Nevaeh slowly began to see an improvement in her symptoms. I was elated to see that the medications seemed to help her. It was nice watching her run and play again. Nothing made me happier than seeing my daughter back to her old self. Additionally, mine and Dale’s relationship really began to take off and blossom. Though, I was still working on my mom and brothers. Our relationship was still a bit estranged.
When Nevaeh finally started experiencing relief from her arthritis symptoms and could eventually move like a typical eight-year-old again, Lorraine began watching her regularly. With the help of my best friend, I was finally able to start dating Dale more and spending one-on-one time with him. Throughout the summer, he treated me to top-notch restaurants, took me to fancy clubs and he even flew me to an island he owned off the Florida coast during my time off work.
The first time Dale took me to his house, I was blown away by the size of his mansion. Embarrassment swept over me as I began to walk through his living room foyer. The size of his living room and the study was roughly the size of my entire house! Though he’d never commented on my tiny two-bedroom house, which was once her grandparent’s, I began to feel inadequate. Dale could tell that something was wrong by the way I behaved.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
“Nothing.” I didn’t want to tell him how suddenly inadequate I felt standing in the living room of his mansion.
“I can tell something’s wrong. We were having such a great time after dinner, what changed?”
I didn’t know how to answer his question. I hated the fact that he could read me like a book. I shyly looked at my feet, only my mind was focused on the marble floors and how expensive just the flooring must have been in this house!
“Kimberly?” he cupped my chin in his hand and lifted my head.
“What’s wrong?” he asked again.
Staring into his eyes I said, “It’s just…you’ve been over to my house many times and never once made a comment about how tiny it was, and you live in a mansion.”
“So?” he asked. “What’s the problem?”
“I don’t know…I feel like,” I swallowed. “Maybe I’m not good enough for you.”
“Not good enough for me?” he questioned. “Kimberly, you’re perfect for me. You’re the first and only woman I’ve ever met who was down-to-Earth, didn’t look at me like a cash cow and shown me what a real relationship is like.”