Agnes set two cups of coffee down on the table, one in front of Curtis and one near Charlotte. “I really am sorry to hear about your sister, Mr. Curtis, and my prayers are with her. My prayers are with all of you.”
It was the following morning, and Curtis had just told her what was going on and why he was heading back over to Chicago.
“I really appreciate that, Agnes, because prayer is exactly what we need.”
“Can I be excused?” Curtina blurted out.
Curtis stared at her. “Why? Because it’s not like your ride is here yet.”
Charlotte lifted her cup, sipped some of her coffee, and looked at Curtina. And while Curtis knew Charlotte wanted to say something, she didn’t.
Curtina folded her arms. “I just want to go to my room until Miss Jackie gets here.”
“Why can’t you just sit here with us?” he asked. “Why do you need to go back upstairs?”
“No reason. I just want to go to my room.”
Charlotte half laughed, shook her head, and drank more of her coffee, and it was at this moment that Curtis knew his wife was completely fed up with Curtina. He’d known she was beyond frustrated and tired of their daughter’s attitude, but now she seemed totally put out about it.
Now Curtis picked up his own cup of coffee. “No, just stay right where you are.”
Curtina leaned back in her chair with more force than normal, pouting and pretending to watch one of the news programs.
“And I’ll tell you something else,” Curtis told her. “From now on, when either of your carpool moms drops you off, we expect you to come inside and stay inside. Do I make myself clear?”
“Yeah.”
Curtis raised his eyebrows. “What did you say?”
“Yes.”
“That’s what I thought, and if you know what’s good for you, you’ll fix that face of yours.”
Curtis and Charlotte looked at each other, and then at their housekeeper.
Agnes walked over and wrapped her arm around Curtina’s shoulders. “Young lady, what’s gotten into you? What’s wrong with you these days?”
“Nothing, Miss Agnes,” she said in a much more pleasant tone than she had to Curtis, something he wasn’t that surprised about, because for some reason, Curtina had the utmost respect for Agnes.
“Well, it sure doesn’t seem like it’s nothing. You spend all your time in your room, and you pretty much never talk to your mom or dad unless you have to.”
Curtina didn’t say anything, but now Charlotte did.
“She acts like she hates us. Like we’re the most awful parents in the world. Like she’s twenty-one years old, living on her own, and paying her own bills.”
“I never said I hated anyone.”
“You didn’t have to,” Charlotte exclaimed. “Your actions say everything.”
“They really do, baby girl,” Curtis said. “You’re not the same, and we’re just trying to find out what the problem is.”
“You guys treat me like a baby. You keep me locked up in this house like some prisoner.”
Charlotte laughed out loud. “Wow, you can’t be serious. I mean, what is it that you expect to be doing, Curtina—and at twelve years old, no less?”
“Go visit my friends whenever I want, spend the night with them, and stay up past midnight on the weekends.”
“We already let you go visit your friends, and sometimes you do stay overnight with them,” Curtis reminded her.
“Very rarely, and only when you feel like it.”
“No young girl needs to be away from home all the time,” Curtis said.
“Or staying up past midnight,” Charlotte added. “Not on a weekday or the weekend.”
Curtina looked at her mother. “And why not? All my friends get to stay up as late as they want. On Fridays and Saturdays. And their parents don’t say a word to them about it.’
Curtis was finally through debating this topic. “Look, we’re not your friends’ parents. We’re yours. And as long as you live in this house, you’ll do what we tell you.”
Curtina cast her eyes back toward the television, ignoring him.
Agnes shook her head with disappointment. “Curtina, you really don’t know how good you have it, sweetheart. Your parents love you with all their heart, they take care of you in ways that some children can only imagine, and you have brothers and a sister who love you, too. You’re a very blessed young lady, and it’s time you remember that. Okay?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Curtis and Charlotte made small talk, and twenty minutes later, Curtina left for school and Agnes went upstairs to change their bedding.
“It just doesn’t make sense,” Curtis said to Charlotte.
“What? The way Curtina’s acting?”
“Yes. I fully understand that most children go through that I-don’t-want-my-parents-telling-me-what-to-do stage, but Curtina seems irritated and angry all the time. And for no reason.”
“And she’s getting worse by the day.”
“Well, if she disobeys either of us again, I meant what I said. I’m taking her phone and she can forget doing any outside activities.”
“I agree.”
“And hey,” he said, sounding as though something had dawned on him out of nowhere. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine, why?”
“I don’t know. You look tired, and you didn’t have much to say when Curtina was sitting here, either.”
“I’m just sick of talking about the same thing with her, and then nothing changes. And if I look tired, it’s only because all this drama with her is really starting to take a toll. I’m to the point where I wake up in the middle of the night thinking about it and wondering where we went wrong with her.”
“I feel the same way, and all I can hope is that she settles down soon.”
“So, how was your sister when you left yesterday? We were so focused on Curtina last night that I never got to ask you.”
“I don’t know. She seemed a little weaker than she was on Sunday, but I’m sure some days will be worse than others. She wasn’t in any pain, though.”
“That’s good.”
“But you know what?”
“What’s that?”
“The one thing I’m most happy about right now is that she was finally able to forgive me. Because otherwise I never would’ve been able to spend this kind of time with her. We talk about things we didn’t know about each other, and we also talk about our past. Although, I will admit, some of my conversations with her are hard to have.”
“Really? Why?”
“They force me to think about the awful things that happened to me when I was a child. Some of those things I’d buried so deep, I really had forgotten about them. Some things I’ve never even told you, yet now I’m having to relive them.”
Charlotte caressed his back. “Sweetheart, I’m so sorry to hear that, and I hope you can eventually find peace with all of it.”
“I do, too,” he said, and then he smiled at Charlotte.
“What?” she said, smiling back at him.
“I have no idea what I would do without you. You know that?”
“I don’t know what I’d do without you, either. Which is the reason I don’t like thinking about it.”
“Over the years, you and I went through a lot. We made a lot of mistakes, and we did and said hurtful things to each other. Yet, in just a couple of months, we’ll be celebrating twenty years of marriage.”
Charlotte nodded. “I know. Two whole decades, and it’s hard to believe that so much time has passed. We finally got things right, though.”
“That’s the best part of all…but I still regret the way I treated my sister and mother,” he said, suddenly wanting to cry.
And he did.
Charlotte rested her hand under Curtis’s chin. “Baby, what’s wrong?”
“I lost so many precious moments with them. Special times with my sister that I’ll never be able to get back. I lost years and years, and there’s nothing I can do about it.”
Charlotte stood up from her chair and held him in her arms.
Curtis wrapped his arms around her waist and laid his head against her chest.
“I know this is tough,” she said, “but everything is going to be fine. I know you lost a lot of years with Trina, but God has still given you an opportunity to spend time with her. He’s allowed the two of you to come together again, and that’s what counts.”
Curtis wept and didn’t say another word. He just didn’t have the will or desire to do so.