“I’m serious. She really is a hottie.”
“Anyway,” I said, “on a real serious note, Kyle, you were amazing in there this afternoon. Just obviously made for this thing. I see why First Baptist has grown so much under you.”
“Thank you.” He looked surprised.
“Yeah, I was just really taken aback. I can only imagine the fire your father has.”
“Oh, Daddy’s a bad man,” he said. “He won’t turn you loose ’til you have the spirit.”
“Well, the apple didn’t fall too far from the tree.”
“Apparently not, but I wasn’t that good. I didn’t see Ms. Troy coming up to the altar when I opened the doors of the church.” He grinned and tapped me on the nose playfully.
“I was on my way, shoot, with all the crying I was doing up there. I was definitely on my way.” I wasn’t lying; there hadn’t been a dry eye in the place during Kyle’s calling. Even the children had seemed to be touched by his words.
“We’ll see next time.”
“Sure.”
“Well, have a nice time in Los Angeles,” Kyle said as I turned on the car. “Don’t have too much fun.”
“I won’t,” I said. Kyle stepped away from the car so I could see the smirk he had on his face. “I swear I won’t.” I laughed. We both knew it was a lie.
“Now, I may be a man of God, but I’m also an Omega man, so I know what happens on those vacations.”
“Oh, Lord. I’m not like that. Me and my girls don’t get all crazy,” I lied again to a man of God in front of a church on Sunday.
“Well, we’ll pray over you next Sunday anyway…just in case the demons got to you.”
“Fine.” I laughed. If the trip went as planed, I would need it. Kyle stepped away from the car and waved goodbye. I watched him grow smaller and smaller in my rearview mirror as I jetted into traffic. I wondered when he was going back inside the church, but something told me he wasn’t going anywhere until I was safely on my way.
Four short days later, it was Thursday, the night before I was to get on to the plane en route to Los Angeles for a weekend with my girls. I’d dropped Pookie off at her usual weekend kennel earlier that afternoon, so I didn’t have to worry about getting her situated the day of my flight. I was alone in my apartment trying to figure out just what I was going to put into the one suitcase I’d committed to carrying with me. I usually packed about three cases full of things I knew I would never wear during my trip, but I thought better than that this time.
The phone rang just when I’d finally managed to stash an extra pair of shoes in my suitcase and mash it closed.
“Don’t worry, I’ll make my flight tomorrow, Tamia,” I said, answering the phone. I saw her name on the caller ID and I was sure she was calling again to make sure I was prepared for my flight. I had a bad history of missing flights. She’d already called me three times that day.
There was silence on the other end of the phone.
“Mia?” I called again. “You there?” I was about to hang up, thinking she’d mistakenly hit the Call button on the phone. It was already after 2 A.M. in New York, so I knew it was long past what should have been her bedtime in Los Angeles.
“Yeah, I’m here,” a whisper said on the other end. It was Tamia’s voice but it was soft and low like a child’s.
“I can hardly hear you,” I said.
“I’m scared, Troy. I’m really scared.”
“What? Did you say you’re scared?” I sat down next to my suitcase. “Are you crying, Tamia?”
“Yes…” She paused. “I just don’t know what to do. I’m so scared.” Her voice was shaking.
“Scared of what?”
“I can’t sleep,” Tamia said.
“You’re still taking those pills?” I couldn’t believe what she was saying. “Please say you’re not.”
“No, I stopped. That’s not it. I’m just scared. I don’t know what to do here. I don’t know why I’m here. I just don’t know if I can do this.” She sounded erratic.