When DeShante left my place around midnight, he was walking on air. One week later, DeShante called me up when I was putting on my makeup. He said that we were invited to dinner that night with Jackson and his wife, and Klein and his wife. It happened that fast. DeShante told me to get dressed nice, and that we were meeting at the Kleins’ house for drinks and then going out to Tony’s. “Tony’s,” I said. “That’s right,” DeShante said. “Tonight?” “That’s what I said.” The thing that embarrasses me is that right away I thought about clothes. “I guess I can wear my little black dress with the green fringy shawl. No, that’s not right. I’ll have to think about this. But what are you going to wear, DeShante? Do you even have a jacket? Do you have a tie? They won’t let you in wearing trousers, no matter how nice they are. Those brown linen ones you got with me last spring are fine, I guess, but you need a jacket. You don’t want to have to use one from the cloakroom.” “Relax, sugar,” he said. “J.P. got something I can borrow.” “What about Dillard’s?” “You’ll just have to call in. Latrice, you need to calm yourself down. I had that conversation with Jackson you told me to have. Listen up. He told me he wanted to train me to train my own mind how to pick stocks and how to know when to make the trades. He told me he didn’t want no one who had finance ideas hard as rock in his head from the start. No backassed MBA, is what he said. So I told him I don’t see nothing wrong with giving this a try as long as I can do my GED somehow, and he say no problem to that. I also told him about you and me, and how you was the best thing I had going, you and J.P. I told him what you did and where you worked, and how you had plans. I guess he figures to get to know me he has to get to know you. This could be it, Latrice, so I’m asking you please to call in your manager and tell her that you will not be in tonight.” “Of course I’ll call in, but why Tony’s of all places? He must know you won’t be comfortable there.” That was a mistake, me saying that, and I knew it right away
inda schaenen | 81