“You’re pretty. Not the prettiest, but pretty.”
Charly glanced at Babs. “Thank you, sir,” she said.
“Got meat on your bones like a lady supposed to have. I like that.”
“Meat. No meat,” said Babs. “ When did that matter to you?”
Duke laughed. “You got that right! But if I had a preference, it’ll be a dame just like you, sweetheart,” he said to his wife and pinched her chubby arm.
Babs swatted his hand away, but Charly could see her smiling.
“So what are you doing at my kitchen table?” Duke asked Charly.
It sounded so harsh, but Charly didn’t flinch. “Boone brought me,” she started saying, but Babs cut her off.
“That’s Boone’s girlfriend,” Babs said.
“Actually, I’m not,” Charly started saying, but Duke cut her off.
“His girlfriend, eh?” Duke said. “I’ve never in his entire life known him to bring a girlfriend around us.”
“Me either,” said Babs.
“You must have something awfully special between those two legs of yours,” said Duke.
“Duke!” Babs yelled.
Charly couldn’t believe he would be that disrespectful. “Please don’t talk to me like that, sir,” she said to him.
“You’re at my kitchen table telling me how to talk?” Duke shot back at her.
“Yes, sir,” Charly said. “If you’re going to talk that way to me, I am. And I can certainly get away from your table, and your house, too, if you prefer.”
Babs smiled. That was how to handle a joker like her husband!
Duke stared at Charly. “Got gumption, do you? Good. That’s what Boone needs. We raised him to be hard because we had a hard life at that time. We raised all our kids to be hard. Not hard-hearted, but hard.”
He continued to stare at Charly. “I like gumption,” he said. “Boone needs that. But don’t take it too far, young lady, or I’ll have to rein you in. And it won’t be pretty. Nobody in this county talks to me any kind of way. You won’t either.”
Charly stared at him. She was about to get up and leave, but she didn’t want to disrespect Babs.
“But you’re right,” Duke said. “I shouldn’t have been so honest. I apologize. I assumed you were accustomed to brutal honesty if you’re my son’s girlfriend.”
“I’m not his girlfriend,” Charly said firmly. “Boone and I have only known each other for a couple months.”
“So what?” Duke asked. “Guys and gals are having cyber relationships these days. They’re getting married the same day they meet face-to-face for the first time!”
“I understand all of that, sir, but Boone and I--”
“Make an interesting couple,” Duke said. “You aren’t his usual type, I’ll tell you that. I thought he liked them younger, and smaller, and, if I may be brutally honest again, whiter.”
Charly found herself smiling. “Yes, that’s true,” she said. She reached that very same conclusion when those two women came to their table at that restaurant. “But I’m not his type because I’m not his girlfriend.”
“You are his girlfriend,” said Babs. “You just don’t know it yet.”
Charly couldn’t believe she said that. She didn’t know it yet? What was that supposed to mean? But then the front door crashed open again, and a loud, unfamiliar voice was heard.
“Where’s everybody?”
“Back here, Freddy,” yelled Duke.
When Freddy Ryan entered the kitchen, all Charly saw was a nice-looking man in a nice-looking suit. “How’s everybody?” he asked as he hugged Duke’s neck and walked over and kissed Babs on the cheek.
“What are you doing here?” Babs asked him.
“I thought you’d have breakfast on the table by now,” Freddy responded as he took a chair, turned it backwards, and sat down in a straddling manner, facing the table. “Where’s the beef, Babs?”
“On your be-hind,” said Babs, and Freddy and Duke laughed.
Then Freddy looked at Charly. “It doesn’t take a genius to know that you must be that new dean,” he said, extending his hand.
“Yes, I’m Charlene Johnson,” Charly said, shaking his hand. Finally a normal guy, she thought.
“I’m Freddy,” Freddy said. “These two knuckleheads are my aunt and uncle. Don’t let them scare you away, alright?”
“It’ll take more than our tongues to scare her away,” said Duke. “She’s got gumption.”
“She’s going to need it hanging around you two,” Freddy said. “How do you like Saint Chris so far, Charlene? Can I call you Charlene?”
“Or Charly if you prefer,” said Babs. “Charly’s her nickname.”
“Charly?” Freddy asked, getting permission from the source herself.
“Yes, that’ll be fine,” Charly said. She liked Freddy immediately.
“He’s the mayor,” said Duke.
“Oh, really?” said Charly. “That’s very impressive.”
“Don’t be too impressed,” said Duke. “He might be the mayor, but he’s not a very good one.”
Freddy laughed. “Still getting my sea legs,” he said. “I’ll improve.”
“He’s the reason you’re here,” said Babs to Charly.
Charly was confused. “He’s on Saint Chris’s board of directors you mean?”
“Don’t remind me about that board,” said Babs. “But no. He told that board, however, that this town had to diversify.”
“They needed more blacks in positions of power, in other words,” said Duke. “The blacks in town were Freddy’s margin of victory, mainly because all of his women voted.”
Charly found that an odd reference. “Excuse me?”
“Don’t mind him, Charly,” Freddy said.
“He likes black women,” Duke said.
“And you don’t?” asked Babs. “That’s news to your son and daughter.”
Duke gave Babs a hard look. Even Freddy seemed to tense up. Charly didn’t know what that reference meant, but it was apparently a low blow to Duke.
“You didn’t have to go there,” Duke said.
“You didn’t, either, all those years ago,” said Babs. “But you went there. Not once, but twice. A son and a daughter. Don’t you talk to me about where I didn’t have to go. You’ve already been!”
Duke looked at Charly. “As I was saying,” he said to her, “Freddy here as a thing for black women. He just loves them. And they have a thing for him. He’s in bed with the blacks, literally and figuratively, and he wants more of them in leadership roles. Not his women, per se, but black women in general. He’s in bed with the blacks you see.”
Charly wasn’t sure if she loved Duke’s use of the term the blacks, as if they were a monolith community, but he said he was brutally honest and she most definitely believed him.
Then he looked at Charly again. “I heard about what happened,” he said. “I’m glad you weren’t harmed.”