Until Read Free

meet? Evander!”
    â€œYou mean my Evander?” Betty said with a smile in her voice.
    â€œOh, so it’s ‘my Evander’ now, huh? Excuse me. I haven’t heard you say that since you were strung out over Donnell. Two grown folks playing you-hang-up-first on the phone, but I ain’t gonna go there.”
    â€œJac, this man has got me wearing blinders. I don’t wanna even talk about another man, he’s so sweet. You know our office manager, Lisa? She keeps telling me about this football player she knows who has a financial consulting firm or something here in town. But I really don’t want to—”
    â€œTell her to give him my number. Now, as I was going to say, Evander wanted to get the restaurant’s business forhis bakery. He’d called me a few months ago and I told him to phone after the holidays, so I give him credit for following up. I like that. I told him about the problem I had with the other bread man f’ing up my bill, and he said he would handle our account personally if I gave my business to Ferguson. But I don’t know. Their prices are still a little higher than what we were paying before.”
    â€œSo what are you going to do?”
    â€œI guess I’ll help a brother out, but don’t tell him that. I’m still trying to get him to come down a little.”
    â€œHow much do you need him to drop?” Betty asked as she steered her car through midmorning traffic.
    â€œAbout three percent, at least.”
    â€œJacqui, did you say three percent?”
    â€œHell yeah. Every penny counts in business.” And then her voice lowered and Betty imagined her using her mental calculator. “If I could save three percent . . . on my bread cost . . . do you know what that would add up to . . . over a year? Just guess. Come on, guess.”
    â€œI don’t know,” Betty said, and slowed for the yellow light. “But I bet you got it down to the penny, don’tcha?”
    â€œTwo hundred and seventy-five dollars, thank you very much. That’s enough to cover a week’s pay for a waiter. Okay?”
    â€œYou’re a trip.”
    â€œNo, sweetie, I’m a tour. I don’t pay retail for anything. I negotiated down the price for a pair of black pumps in the mall just last Saturday night.”
    â€œI’m glad you don’t do that when I’m around.”
    â€œPlease. I asked if they would be going on sale in the future. The clerk said in three weeks. So I told her I’d buy three pairs if she’d give me the sale price now.”
    â€œAnd she did it?”
    â€œChild, please? I talked to the manager and got fifty percent off no less, and I only ended up buying two pairs. I just can’t bring myself to pay full price since the time I heard that old Jewish lady my momma worked for say only niggers pay retail.”
    â€œYou need help,” Betty whispered with a half smile as she thought about the irony of the last comment. “Hey, Igot a joke for you. I heard it during deliberation. You ready? This lawyer fails the bar examination because he thought an antitrust was a chastity belt! Get it? Anti . . . aw, never mind.”
    After a pause Jacqui laughed. “Child, you wouldn’t know a good lawyer joke if you tripped over it. How about this one. A man is walking through a graveyard. He sees this headstone that says, ‘Here lies a lawyer and a decent man,’ and the man says, ‘Dayumb! They got two men buried in the same hole’!”
    â€œOkay, okay, you got me,” Betty laughed. “That was pretty good. So tell me, what did you think about Vander ?”
    â€œHe’s cute! I didn’t know he was that big, though. How tall is he anyway?”
    â€œI think he said six four,” Betty said, and blushed like a teenager “I’m not sure, though. Six three or six four.”
    â€œGirl, it doesn’t matter. Six foot four? My, my, my. Driving