Chapter 10 - Seven Months
When Raymond returned that evening, Tanya had placed one chair in the middle of the kitchen.
Not for him.
For herself.
She wanted to sit because her knees had been shaking since the phone call.
Malik and Yvette waited nearby.
Raymond entered carrying takeout.
His eyes moved between them.
“What is this?”
Tanya asked, “Where do you work?”
He blinked.
“What?”
“Where do you work?”
“You know where.”
“Say it.”
“Coleman Logistics.”
“No.”
Raymond placed the food down.
“Tanya—”
“They said you haven’t worked there in seven months.”
Silence.
Malik watched Raymond calculate.
Not panic.
Calculate.
“They laid me off.”
“Seven months ago.”
“I was going to tell you.”
“When?”
“When I had something else.”
“You leave every morning.”
“I’ve been doing deliveries.”
“Then why lie?”
Raymond’s voice sharpened.
“Because look at you.”
He gestured toward the room.
“This is why.”
Tanya stared.
“This is my fault?”
“I knew you’d panic.”
“You let me pay your car.”
“I needed the car to work.”
“You let Malik pay me while I paid your car.”
“I didn’t make you charge him.”
That sentence cut through the kitchen.
Tanya became still.
Malik looked at his mother.
Raymond continued, unaware he had just removed the final excuse she had been carrying for him.
“You decided that.”
Tanya whispered, “You encouraged it.”
“I agreed with it.”
“You told me grown men contribute.”
“They should.”
Malik stepped forward.
“What did you contribute?”
Raymond turned.
“Stay out of grown folks’ business.”
Malik almost smiled.
“For two years you’ve been telling me I’m grown when money is due and a child when questions start.”
Raymond’s face darkened.
Yvette moved closer.
Tanya raised a hand.
“Did you take the two hundred dollars?”
“No.”
“Did you borrow it?”
“No.”
“Did you tell DeShawn you’d repay him with Malik’s rent?”
Raymond looked at Malik.
“You been talking to people about me?”
“He talked to me.”
“Because he’s bitter.”
“Because you owe him.”
“That’s between us.”
Tanya stood.
“Not anymore.”
Raymond looked at her.
Something changed.
Until then, he had treated the confrontation as noise.
Now he heard danger.
“Tanya.”
“I canceled the equity application.”
“I know.”
“I’m not reopening it.”
His jaw hardened.
“So that’s it?”
“Yes.”
“You’re throwing away a business over this?”
“There is no business.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I know you wanted me borrowing thirty-eight thousand dollars while giving me thirty percent.”
“It was negotiable.”
“Why didn’t you show me that page?”
“I thought you saw it.”
“No, you didn’t.”
Raymond looked toward Malik and Yvette.
“You really doing this in front of them?”
“Yes.”
“After everything I did?”
Tanya’s laugh broke into a sob.
“What did you do?”
“I was there.”
“So was Malik.”
“He’s your child.”
“Exactly.”
The word landed.
Malik looked at her.
Tanya turned toward him.
“He was my child,” she repeated quietly. “And I treated being there for him like it was some debt he owed me back.”
Malik did not know what to say.
Raymond scoffed.
“This is dramatic.”
Tanya looked at him.
“You lied about the money that saved my house.”
“I gave you money.”
“You gave me Yvette’s money.”
“Some of it.”
“And DeShawn’s.”
“I borrowed it.”
“You called it your savings.”
“I paid people back.”
“Did you?”
Raymond went silent.
Yvette folded her arms.
Tanya continued.
“You haven’t worked in seven months.”
“I hustled.”
“You bought three pairs of sneakers in that time.”
“My money.”
“What money?”
He slammed his hand on the counter.
“Stop counting my pockets!”
Malik flinched instinctively.
Tanya saw it.
The sight changed her.
“Don’t slam things.”
Raymond stared.
“This is my house too.”
“No.”
The word came immediately.
Raymond laughed.
“Oh, now it’s not?”
“My name is on the deed.”
“I live here.”
“So did Malik yesterday.”
Silence.
Tanya’s voice trembled.
“You changed the lock.”
“You agreed.”
“I was angry.”
“You told me to do it.”
“I said I didn’t want him walking in while we were fighting. You had the locksmith here before breakfast.”
Raymond spread his hands.
“Same difference.”
Tanya’s face went cold.
“No.”
Malik recognized the phrase.
It was what Raymond said whenever distinctions became inconvenient.
Loan versus gift.
Household money versus Malik’s money.
Help versus dependency.
Control versus love.
Same difference.
Except it never was.
Tanya pointed toward the staircase.
“I want space.”
Raymond stared.
“What does that mean?”
“It means pack a bag.”
“You kicking me out?”
“I’m asking you to stay somewhere else while I think.”
“This my home.”
Tanya hesitated.
Yvette immediately said, “Do not make legal declarations you don’t understand.”
Raymond laughed.
“Here comes Judge Yvette.”
“I’m saying if you have residency rights, Tanya needs to handle them properly. I’m not giving either of you bad legal advice.”
Tanya nodded.
“Fine.”
She looked at Raymond.
“I am asking you to leave voluntarily tonight.”
“And if I don’t?”
Tanya’s hands trembled.
Then she looked at Malik.
He expected her to fold.
For years, she had chosen quiet over confrontation.
Instead she faced Raymond again.
“Then I sleep at Yvette’s, and tomorrow I find out what I legally have to do.”
Raymond stared at her.
He had expected fear.
He found something else.
Consequences.
He grabbed the takeout bag and threw it in the trash.
Then went upstairs.
Twenty minutes later, he came down carrying a duffel.
At the front door he stopped beside Malik.
“You happy?”
Malik looked at him.
“No.”
That seemed to confuse Raymond.
Malik continued.
“I wanted my mother to be fair.”
He glanced toward Tanya.
“I didn’t want her humiliated.”
Raymond opened the door.
Before leaving, he said, “Ask her what she did with the tax refund.”
Then he walked out.
Tanya’s face collapsed.
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Malik slowly turned toward her.
“What tax refund?”
