Chuckling, Zach winked at the boys behind their mother’s back. The boys were wild but well-mannered
in public— Anne Marie had the same laser beam “eye” that his mother used to have, and it tickled him as he watched her employ it on her brood.
“Toys and food,” she said in a weary tone, coming into the kitchen and stopping in front of the sink to stare at him in disbelief. A combination of appreciation and worry haunted her dark brown eyes and creased her normally smooth, walnut-hued brow. Anne Marie lowered her gaze and went to the fridge to put away apple juice and butter and then sighed at the gallon jug of milk.
“I don’t have a bunch of growing boys to feed, and it wasn’t much . . . the way they eat, this little bit will be gone in two days anyway.” He tried to make a joke but was confused when she turned and glanced at him, tears in her eyes, holding boxes of cereal in each hand.
“Lowell . . . he’ll be upset if he thinks you’re . . . he’s so proud, Zach. I don’t have to tell you that.”
For a moment, silence eclipsed the sounds of kids’ laughter coming from the other room. He understood what she was trying to say; his buddy was proud and stubborn, no less than he was himself.
“Then don’t tell him,” Zach finally said. “He’s in bed with the flu, and the kids are just interested in the action figures that came in the bags.”
Anne Marie held up a roast. “Zach . . . a ten-pound pot roast, chicken, a ham, burgers, hot dogs, a Butterball turkey, collard greens?” She set the roast down on the counter, turned away, and sucked in a huge inhale that sounded like it contained a repressed sob.
“Okay, maybe I overstepped my boundaries a little . . . but I’m a single guy, I don’t know how to family food shop, so I was following this old lady around the store putting in my cart the kinds of stuff she put in hers. Then I just ran through the aisles like I was on a game show, because I really didn’t have a lot of time.”
Anne Marie wiped her face and then allowed a laugh to escape. “Stop lying, Zach.”
“Well, I did.” He shrugged and leaned against the wall. “I’m a bachelor and normally do takeout.”
“It’s almost Memorial Day . . . she was probably shopping for her entire extended family or a family reunion, man.”
He was glad to see the strain slip away from Anne Marie’s expression to be replaced by her warm smile. “Oh, well, I hadn’t thought of that— I’m just glad the old lady didn’t think I was stalking her and try to cut me or something.”
That made Anne Marie laugh in earnest and it took a ten-pound weight off his shoulders.
“But what are you doing here?” she finally said, glimpsing him over her shoulder. “Not that you aren’t always welcome, but . . .”
“I was in the neighborhood.” He took a toothpick out of the holder on the table and popped it in his mouth.
“You live in Detroit.”
He pushed off the wall and went to the fridge and grabbed a beer. “Technically, I live all over the world, wherever they send me— Detroit is just an address I use to vote, pay bills, and file taxes.”
She watched him turn the beer up and guzzle it. “I just spoke to you yesterday and you were in Detroit.” She placed her hands on her hips and smiled when he smiled around the bottle.
Zach swallowed with a wince. “Yesterday I didn’t know that my boy was down hard with the flu and had been battling it for the last week until we talked. I followed my gut and got on a plane to put my eyes on him for myself . . . and to see if I could talk some sense into him about going to the hospital like you’d asked me. This morning he called me and asked me to do a simple driving job— so it’s all good.”
“Lowell actually called you and told you he was too sick to do a driving job . . .” she said carefully, her smile fading.
“Ain’t it a little late in the season for the flu, the regular kind, anyway?” Zach rubbed his palms down his face. “This isn’t like Lowell to call me with something like this— but I want you to know that I’ve got his six . . . and he needs to go to the hospital. That’s the primary reason I’m here, to make sure he does.”
Again quiet stood between them as a silent observer.
“He’s been going through . . . a lot of changes, right now, Zach. The business isn’t doing as well as he’d imagined it would, not a lot of people are hiring unless you already have an in . . . and he swears it isn’t that bad— he just needs some rest. I’ve tried to get him to go, but you know Lowell.”
“Yeah, I know Lowell. That’s why I came to see what was going on with him for myself. You guys are the only family I’ve got,” Zach said in a quiet tone. “The man saved my life, least a brother can do is put his eye on the man, make sure his family is straight while he’s going through a lil’ something . . . make sure his boys are okay, you know? But I will get him to the hospital if I have to carry his ornery behind there myself.”
“Thank you for that,” Anne Marie said softly and then looked down at the floor. “I don’t know if it’s physical or emotional or a combination of both? After he came back, I never could be sure.” She looked up at Zach and then toward the kitchen door as though making sure the children were out of earshot. “He just won a major contract . . . one that could set him and his business partners straight for a long time. He got the bodyguard job for Queen B when she goes on her USO Tour this weekend— so I know it has to be the flu. She called this morning, and when that didn’t get him out of bed I knew he was bad.”
“You mean he just got the overseas tour contract, too, for Anita Brown?” Zach said, shocked.
“The one and only Miss Scandalous herself.”
Zach opened his mouth and closed it, and then smoothed his palm across his close-cropped hair. What could he say? It was clear that Anne Marie had the same opinion as ninety percent of the general public, thinking of Anita Brown as an off-the-hook music vixen who was notoriously in the news. Her family was wild and word in the media was that the woman was as crazy as a bedbug. Everything that was ever written about her portrayed her as a waste of raw beauty— that seemed to coincide with her fleeting rap career. After meeting her it was impossible to think of her that way. He now wondered if it was all PR hype.
But he tried to keep a poker face after the initial outburst while Anne Marie went back to her task of stashing groceries.