Page 20 of A Lifetime in 30 Days
Vanna chuckled as she walked toward the stairs.
“That shit was not funny at all,” Jamaica said. She was sitting in the corner of Vanna’s royal blue sectional with her legs stretched out on the long portion of the furniture. “Every time I watch this part, it makes me angrier and angrier.”
Which was why Vanna had saved this movie for last. She’d known exactly what Jamaica’s reaction was going to be and figured it would be better to send her home pissed off to Davon instead of having her sit through another movie here. This was the third and final Madea movie they would watch tonight, since it was already ten forty and they were only five minutes into it.
“If Davon ever thought he was going to drag me out of my house and toss me on the porch, I would burn that shit down with him in it,” Jamaica proclaimed.
Nobody responded because everyone in the room believed her. Vanna sat at the other end of the sectional with her legs curled at her side. Ronni had set up a blanket and pillows she’d retrieved from the couch in the basement on the floor at the foot of the sectional where Jamaica was stretched out. Granny, who was laid out on the recliner Vanna had bought especially for her, had asked Ronni if she thought she was having a picnic with her children.
“Men like him need to be shot in the balls,” Granny said, and crossed one ankle over the other.
“Exactly!” Jamaica chimed. “And I’m the right one to do it.”
“I always feel so bad for her in this movie,” Ronni said. “It took her so long to recover from everything he did to her, and then he goes and gets shot and he guilt-trips her into taking care of him.”
“She should’ve pushed his ass into oncoming traffic while he was in that wheelchair,” Jamaica snapped.
“Well, she did get her lick back,” Vanna added, before forking another piece of the lemon meringue pie Granny had bought from the bakery.
“I guess that’s worth something,” Jamaica replied. “Speaking of which, you ready to talk about what happened last night?”
For the second time this evening, Vanna settled into a sense of dread over a conversation she knew she would have to have sooner or later.
“Don’t look at me,” Granny said. “I already said my piece. These two been hanging tight with you for a long time. I don’t know why you didn’t think they’d want the details too.”
She had looked to Granny without noticing it. Had she thought her grandmother would say or do something to deflect this conversation? She should’ve known better.
“So, wait, you were really planning not to tell us?” Ronni turned her attention to Vanna, her brow creased. “I thought we were giving you space.”
“That space thing was your idea,” Jamaica said. “I wanted to call her when I went on my break earlier today. But since I knew we would be here tonight, I waited.”
“Well, now I know why the two of you didn’t bail on me tonight,” Vanna said. She leaned over and set her small paper plate with the last chunk of her pie on the end table.
“Not fair—your nephew was sick last week. And besides, we did the spa day and church. Plus, we promised not to miss any more of the birthday activities,” Ronni replied, her tone almost a whine.
“She’s avoiding the question,” Jamaica said through pursed lips. “Spill it.”
Vanna sighed. “Since we’re obviously not interested in this last movie ...,” she began.
“We’ve all seen this movie a dozen times, and I told you it wasn’t that good the first time,” Granny said, and smacked a hand to the button on the side of the recliner until it brought her up to a sitting position. “I need something else to drink.”
And since she and Vanna had already had this conversation earlier, Granny wasn’t trying to stay for a replay.
“Again,” Jamaica said, “spill.”
“Okay, okay,” Vanna replied. “I don’t really know that much. The charge was embezzlement, which you heard at the cemetery. You know I was gonna take advantage of my right to remain silent, so my conversation with the cops was quick. There’s a bank account with a crazy amount of money in it. They say it’s in me and Caleb’s name. They asked me when was the last time I saw Caleb, and I requested my lawyer.” She shrugged. “And that’s it.”
“Wait, you and Caleb still have a joint account?” Ronni asked.
“No,” Vanna replied quickly. “We don’t. The checking and savings accounts we had together at my bank, I closed before I even told him to leave. All the money in those accounts was mine, so I just opened new solo accounts. He had credit union accounts from when he worked for the city, but I filled out all the paperwork to have my name removed a few months after he moved out. So I don’t know what they’re talking about.”
“Sounds fishy,” Jamaica said.
“Real fishy,” Ronni echoed.
“Right. So I talked to the lawyer this morning, and he said he was looking into it and that we’d talk about it in more detail on Monday and make a plan.” She shrugged. “That’s it. I’ve been fingerprinted, had a mug shot taken, sat in a cell with Kita and some of her friends, and have some papers upstairs with a next court date printed on them. All in the same twenty-four hours that I buried my estranged husband.”
Ronni got up from where she was sitting and came over to drop down onto the couch beside Vanna, who quickly moved her legs out of the way. Ronni pulled her into a hug. “Oh, sweetie. I’m so sorry this happened.”
