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Excerpt – Sundown
“Coffee?” the young pretty waitress asked, holding a pot of coffee.
“Oh, yes, thank you, Shelby,” Jay said and she turned his cup over for her to fill.
“Do you want your usual?” Shelby asked, smiling brightly.
“Please,” Jay said, smiling back.
Shelby turned and looked towards Shea, and without smiling at her, said, “And you?”
Just coffee please,” Shea said, feeling a little uncomfortable. “Uncle Jeb made me eat a big breakfast before I left.”
“Shelby, you remember my sister, Shea?” Jay said.
“Your sister?” Shelby said, finally looking at the young woman sitting in the booth across from Jay. “Oh my God! Shea! Honey, I didn’t recognize you. Get up here and give me a hug.” Shea stood up and hugged her.
“Hi, Shelby,” Shea said. “It’s good to see you.”
“It’s good to see you. How long are you back for?”
“Till tomorrow. I will be leaving after the funeral,” Shea replied.
“Oh, yes, I am so sorry about your brother. Everyone loved Donovan,” Shelby said. “He truly was a good man.”
“Thank you,” Shea said, then Jay cleared his throat intentionally.
“Ok, Mr. Mayor, I hear ya. Let me go and put this order in and I’ll let you guys visit.
We’ll talk later,” Shelby said and walked away.
“You know, I think she has a crush on you,” Shea said slyly.
“You think? I hope so since we have been dating for the past year,” Jay said, laughing.
“Really!? That’s wonderful. I always liked her,” she said.
“She always liked you too,” Jay said.
“So, do you see this going somewhere? I mean, you’re getting a little long in the tooth, don’t ya think?” she said jokingly.
“Yeah, maybe,” he said, smiling. Then his smile faded. “But we’re not here to talk about my love life. We’re here to talk about your husband and kids.”
“Oh, so your love life is off the table but mine is the topic of conversation?” Shea asked sternly, looking at him with a hardened look.
“Don’t look at me like that, Shea. I am just trying to say that maybe it’s not the best idea for them to come to the funeral,” he said.
“Why? Because my husband is white and my kids are mixed?” she asked coldly.
“Yes,” he stated bluntly. He had never approved of her marrying a white guy. Daniel was nice enough but he was white and Jay could not let that go, especially after who killed their parents and now who killed Donovan.
“Uh-huh, I see,” she said. “You have hated Daniel since the very first time you saw him.”
“I didn’t hate him, but you have to understand how wrong it is,” Jay said, trying to reason with her. It was difficult to reason with her when she got mad and, even after all these years, he could tell she was getting angry.
“Oh, you’re so full of shit. I had been dating Daniel for almost a year. I never brought him home because I knew how you would react to him, and then one day, you and Marcus show up at my school unannounced. You yell at me and get in my face because you caught me kissing a white man, and Marcus gets in Daniel’s face and threatens him. You embarrassed yourself, me, this family, and this whole damn town that day. I never forgave either of you for that and I hoped that maybe because of Donovan, we could get past that and become family again, but I guess not.”
“Well, we wouldn’t have had to come to your school to find out what or who you were hiding if you would have just told us,” Jay said. “I still can’t believe you would even consider dating a white guy after what happened to Mom and Dad.”
“Told you? Why, so you could come up there and threaten to kick his ass if he didn’t leave me alone? Oh, wait, you did that anyways. Besides, what happened to Mom and Dad was an accident. It could have been anybody driving that other car drunk, it just happened to be a white guy. You can’t hold Daniel responsible for that,” Shea said.
“A white guy that got what… two years’ probation and a stint in a rehab?” Jay said, getting angry himself now. “And every white person is responsible for that.”
“The white guy didn’t pick his punishment, that was the system and the system is broken. We all know that,” Shea said.
“And who set up the broken system? White guys.”
“And we are trying to fix it. Daniel and Donovan were—are—trying to fix and change the system and ya know Donovan liked Daniel and loved those kids. He would want them there, and maybe if you got over your racist bullshit, you’d see how wonderful they are.” She stood, getting ready to leave.
“It ain’t about that. You know how this town is and you know what could happen,” he said.
“I know what could happen, huh?” she said. “I know what should happen. This town you so dearly love should join the rest of us in the 21st motherfucking century. That’s what should fucking happen!” Shea said, turning to head for the door.
“Shea!” Jay tried to say.
“Nah, fuck you. You don’t get to threaten my family and try to justify it,” Shea said. “Fuck you and fuck this town. This kind of shit is why I stayed away for so long, and after tomorrow, I ain’t never coming back again.” She turned and walked away.
“Shea! Shea!” he called after her as she left the diner.
“I don’t know what happened, but I am pretty sure you need to apologize,” Shelby said
“Yeah, I know, and I will after she gets back home. I promise,” Jay said as he sat back down. Everyone in the diner had stopped to watch them and now they turned their attention back to their food and their conversations.
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