The Pact by Monica McKayhan

it on the table. When she smiled my way, I began to blush again. Marianna had a strange effect on men, and I could tell that Leon felt it, too. It was as if the two of us were frozen in time as she took our orders. She disappeared, and I was glad because I needed to regain my composure before I lost all my cool points in front of the man I was supposed to be investigating.
    “Why do you live here instead of Maryland?” I asked. “What brought you to Texas?”
    “I came here to work for a law firm that made me a great offer, one that I couldn’t refuse.”
    “So you chose your career over being near your daughter?” I asked. “You sold out, huh?”
    “I didn’t sell out. I made a career choice that was best for both of us…my daughter and me. The more money I make, the better off Jasmine is.”
    “Even if it means you can’t see her that often?”
    “It’s really not that serious, Marcus,” Leon said. “I see Jasmine during the Christmas holidays and on spring break, and that’s plenty for us.”
    “Why did you break up with her mother?” I asked. I knew I was being nosy, but these were important questions that needed a response.
    “Well, Jasmine’s mother and I were divorced five years ago. She decided that my long hours did not work for her any longer. She accused me of being a workaholic,” he said. “That’s what I like about your mother. She’s a hard worker, too, and doesn’t mind my long hours.”
    I guess he had a point. Mom was definitely a workaholic. But in my opinion she needed someone to help her relax, not someone who was just like her. I sat there across the table from Leon trying to determine what it was that my mother saw in him. He was a normal-looking man—he wasn’t Denzel or anybody. It wasn’t his looks that attracted her to him, that was for sure. He was skinny, and didn’t appear to be someone who spent much time at the gym. He had money, but so did Mom. She was very successful and could buy just about anything she wanted. I had decided that Leon was a guy of mystery and it was up to me to crack the code.
    “Did your daughter have to go through therapy over your divorce?”
    “No. Over time, she was okay,” he said.
    “Well, I had to go to therapy when my parents got a divorce. My grades dropped and everything.”
    “But you snapped out of it eventually?”
    “Eventually, yeah.”
    “The important thing is, your parents are happier apart than they probably ever were together. I don’t believe that people should stay in unhealthy relationships just for the heck of it. Everybody loses in that situation.”
    I didn’t comment. I still believed that my parents could’ve made it work if they’d really wanted to. I think they gave up hope.
    “You play ball?” I asked, changing the subject.
    “I can play a little bit.” He smiled. “You wanna hit the courts later?”
    “Yeah, that would be cool.”
     
    I wondered if Leon could shoot hoops and couldn’t wait to get him out there on the court to find out. After dinner, we ended up at a local YMCA. In the locker room, Leon tossed me a pair of his old shorts and a T-shirt. Both of us changed quickly and rushed out onto the shiny buffed floor, where guys twice my age ran up and down the court. Some of them had bellies like Pop’s that hung over the elastic in their shorts. Leon’s legs were ashy and the size of light poles, and his shorts hung just past his knees. He ran out onto the court and joined his middle-aged buddies as they started running around and doing fancy moves like the Harlem Globetrotters.
    One of them yelled my way, “Hey, young blood, come on out here and get this whipping, boy.”
    He obviously didn’t know that I was Rufus Carter’s boy, the kid who’d played in every league there was since the time he was five years old. The one who could run rings around the best of them on a basketball court. The starting forward for his school’s basketball team. My right-hand layup was the prettiest