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He’d better leave me a nice big tip, she thought to herself.
She returned to Wade’s table a few minutes later with his water. Pearl sat it down in front of him, saying, “Your food should be up shortly.”
Their gazes met and held, making her uneasy.
“Thank you,” he murmured after a moment.
Pearl moved without haste but with hurried purpose. She had no idea why Wade affected her the way he did, but instead of dwelling on the thought, she pushed it to the back of her mind as she wrote down more dinner orders.
She smiled at the two men entering her station, acknowledging them. As soon as they took their seats, Pearl went over to introduce herself.
She stole a peek over her shoulder at the table where Wade was sitting.
He was watching her. Pearl thought she detected a flicker in his intense eyes, causing her pulse to skitter alarmingly.
She drew her attention back to her customers and managed to get through the specials and take their drink order without fumbling. Having Wade seated in her station made her nervous.
But why? she wondered.
Pearl had been completely caught unawares seeing him. Wade was just as surprised to see her standing at his table. She looked as stunning in her uniform as she did any other time. All of the Lockhart siblings were beautiful, but Wade thought Pearl the prettiest.
She was also the most outgoing, it seemed. And the most opinionated, for sure.
His eyes traveled to the two men sitting at the table across from his. They shared similar features, so much that they had to be related to each other. Probably brothers, Wade decided.
Pearl paused at his table to refresh his glass of water, her appearance distracting him briefly from his thoughts.
He cast another smile her way. “Thank you.”
“Would you like something else to drink with your dinner besides water?” she inquired.
Wade shook his head. “This is fine.”
“Your food should be ready.”
While Wade waited for Pearl to come back with his meal, he reflected back over his life. His journey to the pulpit had not been one without heartache. His gaze landed on the two men laughing and talking nearby, his heart breaking all over again.
I miss you so much, Jeff.
Memories of his dead brother rushed to the forefront, bringing tears to Wade’s eyes. Ten years had passed since Jeff’s death, but to him, it still felt like it had happened yesterday. Wade didn’t know if he would ever be able to escape that particular heartache or be free of the guilt.
It’s my fault that Jeff is dead.
Wade had joined the Chicago Kings, one of the city’s largest and most violent street gangs, when he was fifteen. Two years later, when his younger brother, Jeff, wanted to join, Wade didn’t do anything to dissuade him, despite the constant pleas of their mother.
He knew the dangers, but back then, it was nothing more than a way of life to Wade. It took Jeff being killed in a drive-by shooting a year later to change Wade’s way of thinking and to change his life.
Wade went through the motions of eating but not really tasting his food. Seeing families together, enjoying each other, was a constant reminder of everything that he’d lost.
Suddenly needing to get out of there, he dropped two twenty-dollar bills on the table and rose to his feet. He spotted Pearl coming his way and met her.
“I’m sorry but I need to leave,” he blurted. “I left money on the table. Keep the change.” Wade didn’t give her a chance to respond. He walked briskly to the door.
Outside, he took a deep breath and climbed into his car.
Wade pushed his thoughts to the back of his mind as he drove down I-75, en route to his house in Auburn Hills.
At home, Wade went straight to the dresser in his bedroom. From the top drawer he pulled a yellow bandana and a necklace made of gold and black beads—the items Jeff was wearing when he was killed. The faded brownish stains on it were his brother’s blood. Wade kept the bandana and necklace because it was all he had left of Jeff.
But the items couldn’t help him remember the exact details of what happened that day. Wade had tried over the years to piece together everything, but there was a huge gap in his mind from the time they were walking to a nearby store to his holding Jeff’s bullet-ridden body.
Holding the bandana to his chest, Wade sat down on the edge of the king-sized bed, lost in the memories of his brother and the precious little time they’d spent together.
The images Wade dreaded most were of Jeff wearing the bandana and the necklace, and the day Wade took him to get a royal crown tattooed on his shoulder. Wade had since gone through the expensive process of having the Kings’s symbol removed via laser treatment. Even now, the faint image of a crown still remained as a permanent link to his past.
“I’m so sorry, Jeff,” he whispered, his voice breaking.
Wade would never forget the look on his poor mother’s face when she was told that her sixteen-year-old son was dead. She was in denial initially until she looked into Wade’s eyes. Her expression changed from grief to pure hatred. She charged at him, beating him with her fists and calling him a murderer.
He winced at the memory.
After they’d buried Jeff, his mother had told him at the cemetery that he no longer had a home or a mother. A close family friend who’d been in town for the funeral had invited Wade to live with his family in Indiana—but only if he was ready to leave the gang.
Harold Green and Wade’s father had been in the military together. Afterward they’d both decided to go into law enforcement. Wade’s father had been killed five years later when he went to check on a domestic dispute. Uncle Harold had stayed in law enforcement until retiring a few years ago. He’d tried to counsel Wade against gangs, but his words had gone unheard.
Until Jeff’s death.
When Jeff died, life with the Chicago Kings no longer appealed to Wade. It had cost him all that had ever mattered to him—his family.
Wade had moved in with the Green family and surprised everyone when he not only accepted Christ into his life, but finished high school and announced that he felt led to ministry. When Harold accepted a position with the Detroit police department, Wade opted to stay in Indianapolis to finish school at the Christian Theological Seminary.
He received a master’s of divinity degree with the Green family in attendance. Although he didn’t really expect his mother to be in the audience, Wade kept hoping she would come to see him graduate. He missed her dearly.
Wade had not spoken to her in ten years—not since the day they buried Jeff. His death was a wound that would continue to fester and never heal.
Even after her last customer left, Pearl was still wondering what made Wade leave the restaurant in such a hurry. He’d seemed really upset about something.
She cleaned up her station, picked up her dinner and Paige’s, then left the restaurant.
She drove straight home, listening to Yolanda Adams’s new CD.
Her cousin was waiting for her in the living room. “I’m so glad you’re home. I’m starved.”
She got up and followed Pearl into the kitchen.
Pearl sat the bag of food on the Venetian gold-granite countertop. “Guess who had dinner tonight at Milton’s?”
“Who?” Paige retrieved two plates from one of the cherrywood cabinets.
“Pastor Wade Kendrick.”
Paige’s eyes widened in surprise. “Really? Was he alone?”
“Yeah. Why?” Pearl wanted to know. “Is he seeing someone?”
“Not that I know of. That’s why I was asking you if he was alone.”
The thought of Wade with another woman bothered Pearl more than it should’ve. There was no reason for her to be jealous. They couldn’t have a decent conversation much less get involved. Besides, she had absolutely no interest in Wade.
At least that’s what Pearl kept telling herself.
Chapter 3
When Wednesday rolled around, Pearl was ecstatic. Tonight the Chargers would play their first game of the season. This afternoon she was meeting Paige at Charlie’s Coney Dog Empire, one of Pearl’s favorite haunts.
After her errands she made her way to Charlie’s, conveniently located across from the hospital where Paige worked, so all her cousin had to do was walk across the street for lunch.
“I’ll have two with everything and a cherry Coke,” Pearl ordered with a smile. “And these,” she added, referring to the bag of potato chips she was holding.
She liked sitting at the counter in full view of the grill, where she could watch the cooks. Her standard order was always two Coney dogs with chili, mustard and raw onions, the toppings piled so high that half of it ended up on her plate.
Paige came up from behind Pearl, wearing a pair of royal blue scrubs beneath her coat. “Hey, girl,” she greeted. “How long have you been here?”
“Not very long.”
When the waitress came over, Paige ordered, then turned to Pearl. “After I eat this, I’m going to have to spend another hour on the treadmill tonight.”
Pearl laughed. “It’s so worth it. Besides you’ll work it off in the E.R. They usually have you running around like crazy.”
“How can you eat all those onions like that?” Paige asked when their food arrived. “You’re never going to meet a man walking around with onion breath.”
Pearl shrugged. “A little onion breath never killed anyone. Besides, I’m not looking for anyone. I’m content being carefree and single. It gives me a chance to focus on my career.”
She said a quick prayer of thanks before taking a bite of her Coney dog. “Mmm, this is so good.”
Paige nodded in agreement, her mouth full of food.
While Pearl ate her Coney dog, she contemplated her life. It was true, she was very content with her life but still, there was nothing wrong with some male companionship from time to time. And she wanted to get married one day.
A fleeting image of Wade entered Pearl’s mind, surprising her. Why am I thinking about him?
“You’re not saying much,” Paige stated. “Something bothering you?”
“I was just thinking about how it wouldn’t be so bad to have a man in my life. You know, it’s been a while since I’ve even been on a date.”
“A long while.”
Pearl nearly choked on her pop. “You didn’t have to say it like that. You make it sound like it’s been years.”
“Well, it has been a while.”
“Six months, four days and eight hours, but who’s counting?” Pearl responded with a chuckle.
Paige drank some of her pop. “So you’re saying that you’re ready to be involved in a relationship?”
“If the right person comes along.” Pearl picked up her second Coney dog. “I could eat two more of these.”
Shaking her head, Paige said, “You’re a heart attack waiting to happen. You should balance out all that junk food with some healthy foods.”
“I eat healthy most of the time, and you know it. It’s just that I have a thing for Coney dogs and pizza.”
“And white chocolate, and red-velvet cake and—”
“I have a sweet tooth, I admit it.”
They laughed, and finished their lunch.
“What time are you getting off tonight?” Pearl asked.
“Seven-thirty,” Paige responded. “I’ll pick up the pizza on my way home.”
“They’re playing Boston at home on Friday, right?”
Paige nodded. “D’marcus gave Opal our tickets already.”
“Great! I’m working the lunch shift but I should be home by five.” There was nothing she liked more than watching the game in person.
They talked a few minutes more before Paige went back across the street to Harper University Hospital.
Pearl headed home and spent the rest of the afternoon working on her music. She was composing the arrangements for a new song she’d written for the youth choir to sing. When she first took over as choir director, there was only a handful of teens coming to rehearsal. It wasn’t until she began incorporating some of her own original compositions to the playlist that other youth joined the choir. They were now thirty-eight strong, with others wanting to join almost weekly.
Pearl enjoyed working with the teens. They seemed to respect her and they listened to her. She even tutored a couple of them in history.
Detroit had its share of gang activity and Pearl knew that there was a lot of pressure for kids to join a gang. She hoped that by keeping them involved in church activities and stepping up as a role model and mentor she could save them from making a choice that would potentially ruin lives.
Although her father died when she was very young, Pearl had a happy and secure childhood. She grew up feeling safe and loved. But kids today were in crisis and Pearl was committed to doing whatever she could to help them make the right choices.
She was still working on the song when Paige walked into the apartment carrying the pizza.
“Hurry up,” Pearl said. “I’ll out it on pause until you get out.”
She set the pizza down on the counter and rushed off to take a shower.
Meanwhile, Pearl gathered paper plates, napkins and glasses, setting them on the coffee table.
She was seated cross-legged on the floor with the remote in her hand by the time Paige came running out of her bedroom.
“Did I miss anything?”
