Faye couldn’t hold water when it came to news like this, and as soon as Kari hit town and picked up Jordan, Faye and Benny invited themselves over for dinner, and brought Lucinda with them!  To say that her friends, not to mention her son, were overjoyed, would be an understatement.  They were over the moon!

“So, when’s the date?” Lucinda asked.

“Can I be your wedding planner?” asked Faye.

“No date yet,” Kari said to Lucinda.  “Girl no,” she said to Faye.  “You’ve never planned a wedding in your life, except your own.”

“And we eloped,” said Benny, and they all laughed.

It remained that festive for the entire dinner.  Until Kari, tired of so many questions she couldn’t answer about the wedding itself when she didn’t even have the ring yet, changed the subject.  “I’m buying a car, guys,” she said as they all sat around the dinner table.

“A car?” Lucinda asked.

“It’s about time,” Faye said.

“That’s what I’m saying,” said Jordan.  “She acts as if she’ll be committing a sin if she bought a new car.”

Benny and Faye laughed.

“That is so not true,” Kari said, smiling.  “And you know it, boy,” she added, to her son.  “The only reason I haven’t bought another car is because I couldn’t afford to buy another car.  Let’s just put that out there.”

“Or let’s not,” said Lucinda as she chopped down on the delicious spaghetti dinner Kari had prepared.

Kari looked at her.  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Come on, Kare,” Faye said.  “You know what Lou means.  Let’s just keep it one-hundred.  You know good and well if you wanted a new car, all you have to do is ask.”

“The Lord will provide,” Kari said.  “I know that.”

“She’s not talking about the Lord,” Lucinda said.  “Although that’s true too.”

“She’s talking about Mr. Drakos,” said Jordan.  “All you have to do is ask him to buy you a new car, and you know he will.”

But Kari was already shaking her head and rolling spaghetti on her fork.  “Nope,” she said.

“But why not, Kare?” asked Faye.

“Because she’s got sense enough to know,” Benny said, “that you don’t get indebted to a man who’s not your husband yet.”

Kari smiled.  “Thank you, Benjamin!”

“But he’s asked her to marry him.  That’s as good as being married.”

“No, it’s not,” said Kari.  “He could change his mind, or she could change hers.  No.  Kari knows what she’s doing.”

Faye felt a twinge of jealousy.  She’d heard those rumors about her husband having a thing for Kari, although most of her friends found such rumors outrageous.  Faye was considered one of the most beautiful women in the town bar none.  But she knew Kari.  And Kari had something that certain men, from a Greek billionaire venture capitalist like Alex Drakos, to a local African-American attorney like Benny Church, found irresistible.  She had true grit, as John Wayne might call it, Faye inwardly thought.  Something, she also knew, she didn’t have.

“I’m not asking her to become his whore,” Faye said bluntly to her husband, “so I don’t feel you needed to even go there.”

Benny smiled.  “Go where?”

“All that talk about how Kari’s got all of this good sense as if I don’t have any to my name.”

Benny frowned.  “Who said anything like that?” he asked.  “I didn’t say any such thing.  Did I mention anything about Faye not having any sense, Lou?  Kari?” he asked.

But Kari had enough sense to stay out of a husband-and-wife squabble.  “My name is Bennett,” Kari said, repeating an age-old saying. “I ain’t in it!”

“My name is Cher,” said Lucinda.  “I don’t care!”

“The point I was trying to make,” Faye said, “is that Kari has choices now.  She doesn’t have to struggle alone.  Alex is ready, willing, and able to help her.  That’s all I was trying to say.”

“And I know you’re right,” Kari said.  “But I don’t need his help like that.”

“You just said you would have gotten another car a long time ago if you could have afforded it.”

“Yes,” Kari said.  “If I could have afforded it.  Not if Alex could have afforded it.”

Faye sat her fork down and looked at her best friend.  “Why are you so against letting him help you?”

“Because what if it doesn’t work out with him, Faye?  Ever thought about that?”

“You mean other than the hundred times when you aren’t telling me about that?” Faye asked with a smile.  Jordan grinned.

“If it doesn’t work out,” Kari continued, “I don’t want to owe him anything.  I went down that road with Vito.  I’m not ever going down that road again.  I know I say it over and over, but you and Jordan act like I’m not serious.  And I am.”

“Okay, Ma, we get it,” Jordan said.  “You’re serious.  But what I want to know is what kind.”

Kari looked at him.

“What kind of car are you getting to replace your Tercel?” Jordan asked.

“Oh,” Kari said.  Then she smiled.  “I saw this car at Walt’s Auto Sales that he says he’ll let me have for fifteen-hundred dollars cash.  And I had my mechanic check it out too. He says it’s an excellent car in excellent shape.  An old lady used to drive it, according to Walt.”

Faye laughed.  “That’s what those used car salesmen always says!”

“I know,” said Kari.  “But my mechanic says in this case, given how well-preserved the car is, Walt might be telling the truth.”

“What kind of car is it?” Jordan asked.

“It’s a 2003 Mercury Mystique,” said Kari.

Jordan, amazed, hit his forehead with the palm of his hand.  Lucinda, Faye, and Benny laughed.

“What?” Kari asked, surprised by their reactions.

“A 2003 Mercury Mystique, Ma?” Jordan asked.  “That’s the special new car you’re buying?”

“But I’m paying cash for my car,” Kari said.  “How many people can say they paid cash for their car?”

“People who buys a 2003 Mercury Mystique!” Jordan said.  “That’s who!”

Faye and Benny couldn’t stop laughing.  “Never change, Kari,” Benny said.  “You are truly one of a kind.”

“But I don’t see what’s wrong with what I’m doing,” Kari said.  “It’s a good car.”

“But it’s old and ugly, Ma!” Jordan said.

“The exterior might not be beautiful, but the innerworkings of that car are excellent.”

“But it’s the exterior people see,” said Jordan.

“You mean like those same people at your school, who only see my exterior?” Kari asked.

And Jordan went still.  His mother, just like that, had just exposed his own bias.  And it was the same bias those boys in his school had about his own mother!  On the inside she might be smart and have a good heart and all of that, one of them even said, but on the outside, she’s just okay.

Jordan had prejudged his mother’s car just like those boys were prejudging his mother.  “You’re right, Ma,” he said seriously, which caused, not just Kari, but Benny, Faye, and Lucinda also, to look at him.

“I’m right?” Kari asked.

“Yes, ma’am,” said Jordan.  “I shouldn’t judge the car based on how pretty it is on the outside.  Pretty cars break down on the road all the time.”

“Ugly ones do too,” Faye said.

“Not if their innerworkings are good,” Jordan said, echoing his mother.

Kari’s heart swelled with pride.  She hadn’t done a lot right in her life.  Having a baby at fifteen for one.  Fooling around with a lowdown dirty dog like Vito for another one.   But she was raising Jordan right. 

“Wow,” Benny said, impressed with his godson.  “Out of the mouth of babes.  You got it right, J.  You got it right!  It’s the inside that counts.”

Jordan smiled.  He’d never admit it, but he just loved their positive reinforcements.