Through the Fire by Donna Hill

Author:Donna Hill
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Kimani Press
Published: 2010-05-02T22:00:00+00:00

After his trip to the men’s room, he came back to the table with an odd expression on his face, which Rae noticed and asked if everything was alright. He nodded and motioned to the waiter for another refill of Jack Daniel’s.

“Do you really think you should have another one if you’re going to drive, Quinn?” she asked, placing her slender hand over his big one.

“Hey, lighten up,” he snapped. “I can handle it.”

Stung, Rae pulled her hand away.

Both of them looked at the stage to hear Amir introduce his last number, “Take the A-Train,” which got the crowd revved up again. He danced around the well-known melody on the keys, dissecting it, teasing it, twisting it into an even grander version of itself. If that was possible. Its passages now carried a bluesy feel, then a majestic shouting gospel mood and finally it morphed back into its original shape. And that brought the crowd to its feet cheering.

Quinn was still trying to get the attention of a waiter to get another drink. The waiters were huddled in a corner, talking among themselves and clapping like everyone else. What the hell is wrong with everybody? Can’t a man get served properly?

Before Rae knew it, he was up and marching angrily through the tables. She watched him with the waiters gesturing wildly back toward the table, his mouth moving a mile a minute. What could he be so mad about? One of the waiters began walking away from Quinn and he followed, still talking and motioning with his hands. Finally, Quinn returned.

Once back at the table, he sat quietly fuming until Amir left the stage and the lights came up. The waiter brought his drink, serving him but rolling his eyes the entire time. Quinn said nothing. His mind seemed somewhere else. Rae watched him silently, watching the storm of emotions swirl across his face. She wanted to ask him what was wrong. Wanted to get into his head. But she wasn’t sure if she was ready to handle what she might find there.

He killed half the drink in one swig. He glanced at her sideways, and blurted out something. The noise in the place was deafening. You couldn’t hear yourself think.

“What did you say, Quinn?”

“You said you had a daughter…and I said I have a son.” He almost shouted it so she could hear him above the noise of the drinkers and laughers.

A son? “I didn’t know you and Nikita had a child,” she said warily. “How old is he?”

He was determined to get it all out. “Nikita’s not the mother. Someone else is the mother, another woman.”

“Another woman?” she asked in confusion. “Who?”

“Maxine. It didn’t work out.”

What had she walked into? Another woman with his child. Where were they? What was his relationship with this Maxine he alluded to so casually? She had a million questions but couldn’t get them together to ask.

He was staring at his drink, looking down into the glass. “My son’s name is Jamel. He lives on the West Coast with his mother.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.