“Yes, I am. I need your help with something.”

  “Do you have a mailbox at this location?” Gary asked.

  “No,” Lisa answered, then immediately corrected herself. “I mean, yes, sort of.”

  Gary’s eyebrows dipped as creases in his forehead appeared. “I don’t understand.”

  “Let me explain.” Lisa glanced back at John, then turned back to Gary. “What I’m trying to say is, someone opened a mailbox at this location using my name, but it wasn’t me.”

  He held up a hand. “We require identification before opening a mailbox.”

  Lisa was almost giddy as she clapped her hands. “That’s what I was hoping for. You see, whoever used my name for the mailbox also used my name to purchase things on credit that I’m now on the hook for. So my husband and I were hoping you’d be able to provide us with some information so we can find this person.”

  He scratched his chin. “Can you give me your ID, please?”

  Lisa opened her purse, took out her state ID. She’d never had need of a driver’s license since she didn’t drive. John, however, couldn’t imagine not having one.

  Pointing toward the name on the ID, Lisa said, “My married name is Coleman. The name on the mailbox would be Lisa D. Whitaker.”

  Gary went to the computer, which was directly behind the checkout counter, and began typing on it. After a few seconds he turned back to Lisa. “The mailbox was closed last year for nonpayment.”

  “Figures,” Lisa said to John. Then she asked Gary, “Can we have the home address for the person who opened the account with you?”

  Gary shook his head. “I feel for you, if this person did what you said, but I can’t give out personal information.”

  “Then what am I supposed to do? If I can’t find this person, then there’s no way I will be able to clear my name.”

  John put a hand on Lisa’s shoulder as he asked Gary, “Is there anything we can do to get this information? There has to be some way. People can’t go around posing as others and have no repercussions.”

  Gary nodded. “You need to get the police involved. File a report and have them request her records. We will then turn over our files to the police.”

  “So I have to go through all these extra steps because someone created a whole new identity using my information?”

  “I hate to say it, but yeah,” Gary said.

  Her shoulders slumped. “Well, thank you for your help.” If she needed to get the police involved in order to get answers, then she was headed to the precinct.

  Chapter 16

  Jeff was becoming everything to Dana. She could hardly believe she had let another man into her life and had actually grown comfortable with the idea of loving someone again. They had been dating only three months, but they had been inseparable after the first month, and she was ready for a lifetime with this man. He was good to her.

  Today she was meeting his parents, and Dana was a little nervous They were meeting up with them at church before they went to his family’s home for dinner. She put on a formfitting aqua-blue dress, but as she looked at herself in her full-length mirror, Dana’s eyes zeroed in on her boobs.

  She couldn’t meet Jeff’s parents in a dress like this. Dana was headed back to her closet when the doorbell rang. She’d told Jeff she would meet him at the church. Why was he ringing her doorbell instead of waiting for her at Brooklyn Tabernacle Church?

  But when she opened the door, she was surprised to see Vida standing on her stoop looking like a good wind could blow her away at any minute. And she smelled as if she’d never had a soap-meet-Vida, Vida-meet-soap moment in her entire life. “Ma! Oh my goodness, I haven’t heard from you in months. Where have you been?”

  Vida started crying. Her voice caught as she said, “It’s good to see you, Dana. You’re so beautiful. I can’t believe how well you’ve turned out.”

  Dana waved her in. She wanted to hug her mother, but Vida’s clothes were filthy. “Come in, Ma. You need to change out of those clothes and take a bath.”

  “I haven’t eaten. I’m hungry,” Vida told her, still standing on the stoop.

  “I have food. Come in and let me take care of you.”

  Vida wiped her feet on the mat and stepped into the house. She didn’t make eye contact with her daughter. “I’m sorry I came here looking like this, but I didn’t have anywhere else to go.”

  “I’m glad you came to me. I have something for you, but first I need you to go run yourself a bath. I’ll fix you some breakfast.”

  Vida stared at Dana a moment, then pointed at her dress. “Looks like you’re getting ready to head out.”

  Dana glanced down at herself. “I was going to church with Jeff, but I can cancel.”

  “Who’s Jeff?”

  The last time she had seen her mother was about three months ago. Dana ran into one of Vida’s old friends at the grocery store and the woman told her where her mother was living.

  Horrified at the condition of the house she was told her mother was in, Dana stiffened as she knocked on the door and then side-eyed the two men who were sitting on the porch. They smelled like they didn’t have access to running water. The men had unruly beards and knotted afros.

  One of them laughed as he told her, “You don’t have to knock. Open the door and go inside.”

  Dana looked over her shoulder at the man who spoke to her. “You own this place?”

  He laughed again, showing his rotting teeth. “Nah. We all sort of stay here.”

  Rolling her eyes heavenward, Dana wondered what her mother had gotten herself into now. She pushed open the door. Her hand went to her nose as a whoosh of hot, smelly air assaulted her senses.

  She stepped into a room with brown carpet. It had black patches of dirt in so many spots it looked like they had skinned a leopard and laid the skin on the floor as a rug. A woman was sitting on the couch nodding. Two other women were sitting on the floor passing a pipe.

  Dana’s skin crawled as she walked through the house. She wanted to leave and forget this whole experience. But as she was contemplating walking back out the front door, she tripped over something, looked down, and widened her eyes in horror at the dark circles around her mother’s eyes and the bruises on her cheek.

  She bent down on the dirty floor. She shook Vida. “Ma! Ma! Wake up!”

  Vida moaned as if in pain as she turned over. Dana saw the dried blood on the other side of her face. Her mind flip-flopped, as if she was seeing Derrick lying on the ground bleeding out. Screaming, she backed up against the wall.

  She was shaking like the wind from outside had swept through the house and sent a chill through her body.

  Pictures of Derrick’s lifeless body kept flashing through her mind. Her trembling hands were in front of her face as she tried to calm herself so she could think. Her mother was on the floor. She pulled out her brand-spanking-new cell phone and called 911. “I need an ambulance. My mom has been beaten.” Dana had wondered if she was wasting money when she decided to purchase her cell phone. She was so used to having only a house phone, but she was thankful she made the purchase and didn’t have to run around looking for a phone to call an ambulance for her mother as she had years ago.

  The paramedics took Vida to the hospital. When Vida came to and discovered where she was, she tried to get out of bed.

  Dana stopped her. “Mom, I found you on the floor in a dirty house. You had been beaten unconscious. Do you know how scared I was?”

  Vida dipped her head in embarrassment. “I didn’t mean to scare you. Things got a little out of control.”

  “You could have been killed.” Dana stood next to her mother’s bed. “I’ve asked the hospital to put you on a seventy-two-hour hold so I can find you a rehab.” A tear trickled down Dana’s face. She was so tired of fighting her mother’s demons. “I need you to go to rehab.”

  Vida scratched her arms, twisted her lips. “I’ve tried rehab. It doesn’t work for me.”

  “Ma, listen to me. My business is taking off. I can get you a place to live. You don’t have to be in that, that . . . house. But I need you to get clean.” Tears dripped from Dana’s face and fell onto her mother’s blanket. “You get clean, and I’ll take care of you, okay? Do it for me, Ma. We deserve a chance to restore our relationship. Don’t we?”

  Vida nodded. Dana thought Vida would finally do something for her, but when she arrived at the hospital forty-eight hours later to tell Vida about the rehab she’d found for her, she discovered her mother had checked herself out of the hospital.

  Dana hadn’t gone in search of Vida after that. She had been focused on her business and getting her own life on track. And if she was being honest with herself, she was tired of being disappointed. But as she looked at her mother and saw defeat in her eyes, she realized how wrong she had been to concentrate on the things that mattered to her while forgetting about the people who mattered. “I’m sorry I didn’t try to find you this time, Ma. You don’t look well.”

  Vida waved a hand as she headed toward the bathroom. “Girl, you got your own life to live. I used to have a life, too, so I know how it is.”

  Dana rushed to the linen closet, pulled out a washcloth, towel, and bar of soap. She handed them to her mother, then went into her bedroom and searched through her closet to find some clothes that would fit her mother.

  Dana was five feet five and 135 pounds. She and her mother were about the same height, but Vida was bone thin. Any of her size 6 or 8 clothing would probably fall off her mother. She finally settled on a nightgown and white terry-cloth robe, which she hung on the outside doorknob of the bathroom.

  She heard the bathwater running. Knocked on the door. “I left a nightgown on the doorknob for you. You can wear it and the robe for now. I’ll put your clothes in the washing machine.”

  “Okay, thank you!” Vida yelled her thanks over the sound of running water.

  Dana went to the kitchen and fried some eggs and bacon and turned on the coffee maker.

  When Vida came out of the bathroom wearing Dana’s robe and smelling fresh and clean, she looked like she had scrubbed ten pounds of road off of her. Dana handed the breakfast plate to her mother. “How do you like your coffee?” It felt strange to Dana having to ask her mother that question. But she honestly didn’t remember.

  “I gave up on coffee years ago. It gets me too wired and then I can’t sleep.”

  Dana’s cell phone rang. She picked it up and accepted the call. Putting the phone to her ear, she said, “Jeff, baby, I’m so sorry. My mom stopped by, and I forgot to call you.”

  “You haven’t talked much about your mother. Is she doing okay?”

  Glancing over at Vida, she said, “We can talk later, okay? But I’m so sorry I won’t be able to meet your parents today.”

  Vida waved her fork in the air. “Uh-uh, you are not canceling your date on my account.”

  Dana turned toward Vida. “I can’t leave you here by yourself.”

  Vida waved the notion off. “Thank you for the bath and the food, but I’m exhausted. I want to lay down and sleep for a while.”

  “But we need to talk.” Dana was ashamed to admit she was also concerned about leaving her mother alone in her apartment. But she knew how important it was to Jeff for her to meet his parents.

  “I’ll be here when you get back,” Vida said, then went back to eating her breakfast.

  Dana told Jeff, “I guess I can meet your parents after all. I’ll get a cab and be there as fast as I can.” She ended the call, then turned back to her mother. “Are you sure you’ll be okay?”

  Vida used her right index finger to draw a cross over her heart. “I’m okay. Wake me up when you get back.”

  Since she was building her business and had investors to pay, Dana still lived in her one-bedroom apartment. She let her mom take her bed, then she changed into a brown-and-tan swing dress and headed out the door. She caught a cab to 292 Flatbush Avenue. The church was on the corner of Flatbush and Seventh Avenue. But from what Jeff told her, Brooklyn Tabernacle had purchased the old Loew’s Metropolitan Theatre in downtown Brooklyn and would be moving into it once the renovations were complete.

  Before Dana spent four years in prison, she and her friends loved going to the movies in downtown Brooklyn. She had been to Loew’s on numerous occasions and couldn’t imagine the place as a church. But if she and Jeff were still together when the church made their move, she might attend with him so she could see the changes to the place.

  Jeff was waiting for her at the front of the church when she arrived. He hugged her as if he hadn’t seen her in weeks, then took her hand as they headed into the sanctuary. “I’m so glad you made it.”

  Every single time she was with this man, he made her feel special. Like she was the only woman in the world who mattered to him. She hoped his parents would like her but was terrified they might see her for who she used to be and decide she wasn’t good enough for their son.

  They stopped at an aisle where there were two empty seats. Jeff looked at her before they sat. “Your hands are trembling. Don’t be nervous.”

  “Can’t help it,” she mouthed as they sat down.

  The lady next to Jeff reminded her of Mrs. Brenda Whitaker. They had the same arch in the eyebrow, the same caramel complexion, and the same kind of smile. It made Dana feel warm all over. The woman leaned toward Dana and stuck her hand out. “I’m Patricia.”

  Dana was full-grown, had experienced a lot of life’s ups and downs, but she was not prepared to call Jeff’s mom by her first name. She shook her hand. “Nice to meet you, Mrs. Williams.”

  The man sitting next to Jeff’s mom nodded in her direction. Dana figured he was Jeff’s father and was about to speak, but then Sheri, Jeff’s sister, poked her head out from the other side of Jeff’s father. “Hey, girl.”

  Dana smiled at Sheri. Jeff’s dad smiled at her. The preacher stepped behind the podium, then everyone stood. The last time Dana attended church was the Sunday she attended with Lisa when she was eighteen. Dana would have liked to think she would have gone again if prison hadn’t gotten in her way.

  The preacher’s message was about better days. Dana liked what she was hearing. She was stepping into those better days and feeling like she was making some boss moves. But if she was being honest, her attention waned a bit about halfway through the message.

  When service was finally over and they stood to leave, she noted Jeff’s father was several inches taller than Jeff. Which was fine with Dana. At five feet five, when she put on her three-inch heels, Jeff was still a couple of inches taller than her. He didn’t need to be six feet—as long as he was taller than her in heels, she was happy.

  When they stepped outside the church, Jeff’s father came over to Dana and put an arm on her shoulder. “Well, I guess we know why Junior has been missing around our house lately.”

  “Leave Junior alone, Jeffrey. He brought this nice young woman to meet us, and I for one don’t want to run her off,” Patricia said.

  But Jeff wouldn’t let it go. “Dad, can you blame me? She’s beautiful and savvy in business. I was in love at first sight.”

  Dana blushed. But then her mind went back to what Jeff said. Did he use the L word? He’d never told her he loved her. Was that what this was? Were they in love? Dana knew one thing for sure, she wasn’t going to have this conversation in front of his parents. “Okay, Jeff, now stop it, please.”

  “You’re making her blush.” Patricia pulled Dana to her side. “Come with me, dear. Instead of cooking, we are going to make these men pay for our meals. Do you like Junior’s?”

  “Love it,” Dana admitted.

  “Then Junior’s it is.” Patricia patted Dana’s hand.

  Dana couldn’t help it; she stood there staring at the woman. She was dressed in a lime-green jacket and skirt set. The skirt came down to her knees. The color went well with her complexion. This woman looked regal and of substance, nothing at all like Vida.

  Jeff put an arm around his mother and then the other arm around Dana’s shoulder. “I would be happy to take my two favorite ladies to Junior’s.”

  Sheri stepped over to them. She had on a red dress with a pillbox hat. “What about me, big brother? I thought I was your favorite girl.”

  “Not anymore.”

  Jeffrey Senior put an arm around his daughter. “You’ll have to be thankful you’re still your old man’s favorite girl.”

  Sheri playfully shoved Dana in the back. “You’re not right. You can’t come up in here and steal my big brother’s heart like that.”

  “It’s not stealing if I willingly give it to her.” Jeff planted a kiss on Dana’s forehead. “Ignore my bratty sister.”

  Dana turned in Sheri’s direction and stuck her tongue out. “You’re the one who introduced us in the first place. Don’t blame me if you made a business connection as well as a love connection.”

  Jeff waved a hand as cabs passed by. Two stopped in front of the church; she and Jeff got in one while his parents and sister got in the other.

  She snuggled up next to Jeff as they rode in the back of the cab on their way to Junior’s. For the first time in her life, Dana was truly happy.

  Her business was doing well. She was about to lease a building to streamline production and delivery of her products. She was beginning to be recognized in the business world. But she found herself wondering whether this churchgoing family with their easygoing smiles would welcome her dating their son if they knew her mom had showed up at her apartment with a month’s worth of dirt on her, smelling like a dumpster, and was at this very moment sleeping off a bender at her apartment.

  There were many things she wished she could talk to Jeff about. But Dana didn’t know whether he would use the L word again if she was to sit him down and tell him her truth. So she kept silent. She would have to tell him her story one day but didn’t know when she would find the right time for such a conversation.

  Chapter 17

  Dana was having a good time conversing with Jeff’s family over a meal. Jeff’s parents were easy to listen and talk to. And Sheri was even funnier than her brother. Dana would never know what it was like to grow up in a two-parent household or to have a sibling. But from the outside looking in, it seemed like a Disneyland trip compared to what she had experienced.