Smiling, Dana told her, “You’ll probably be surprised to hear this, but I have finally allowed the Lord to guide my life as well. My husband, my children, and I, we all attend church regularly now. But it’s not about going to church for us; it’s about the relationship we are building with Christ.”

  Lisa’s eyes filled with tears. She reached over and hugged Dana. “I can’t believe you are sitting here telling me this.” Lisa then looked to heaven and said, “Thank You, Lord.” She turned back to Dana and told her, “Years ago, right after you were arrested, I felt so bad for you, so I started praying for the Lord to not only save your soul but to bring a good man into your life. I didn’t ever want you to fall prey to the Derricks of this world again.”

  Tears cascaded down Dana’s face. She looked up. God was so amazing to her. To think, even with all the years of struggle she had endured, God was always there guiding her home because someone bothered to pray for her. She looked back at Lisa and asked, “Can I tell you something?”

  “Of course. Anything.”

  Dana gulped back the shame of her past and said, “I meant what I said to you in court. I am truly sorry for everything I did to you. And I’m here with a proposal I hope might take a bit of the sting of my betrayal away.”

  Lisa put a hand on Dana’s shoulder. “Listen to me, old friend. God has already taken the sting away. I have forgiven you.”

  Dana lost her composure then. She sobbed as if those words out of Lisa’s mouth meant everything to her. “Th-thank y-you for f-forgiving me.” Dana finally pulled herself back together, wiped her face. She then took a tissue out of her handbag and blew her nose.

  There was another item in her handbag. It was Lisa’s proposal for after-school facilities to help the youth in the community with homework, study skills, and SAT exams and be a hangout spot where the children received positive reinforcement and encouragement to further their education.

  Dana handed the proposal to Lisa. “Senator Barnes wants to bring your vision to life, and he asked me to partner with him to create the first facility.”

  Lisa looked down at the proposal. “I wrote this thing about thirteen years ago. I thought Senator Barnes had only humored me by taking it from me. Nothing ever came of it.”

  “He told me he couldn’t get the funding, so he shelved it. But he thinks if we can open one facility, then it might lead to funding for other sites.” Dana stuck her hand out. “What do you say, Lisa? Are you up to working with me to bring your vision to life?”

  Lisa’s eyes widened. “Are you serious? You really want to do this . . . with me?”

  “I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t. But I need to know if your heart is still in this project.”

  “Oh my God. Yes! Yes, it is.” Lisa ignored Dana’s outstretched hand and hugged her. “I can’t believe this.”

  “Believe it, Lisa. This is an excellent idea. If we had a program like this when we were younger, maybe so many of us wouldn’t have gone down the wrong path.”

  When they finished discussing the program, Dana stood to leave. She turned back as if remembering something. “Which law school is your daughter planning to attend?”

  Lisa got a sorrowful look on her face. “Kennedy put off attending law school after I had my stroke. But since things have been better for me, she’s out looking for a job at a law office, hoping she can pay her way through law school that way.”

  “So she hasn’t applied to any colleges yet?”

  “Oh yes, she’s doing both. Kennedy applied at New York Law School and Columbia Law School. She’s waiting to hear from one of them to find out if there is a scholarship available.”

  “And if she doesn’t get the scholarship?” Dana asked.

  Lisa frowned. “Then I might have to sell this house. It would break my heart, but Kennedy’s dreams are the most important thing to John and me right now.”

  “I hope things work out for Kennedy. I’d hate if you had to sell this house.” Dana’s voice broke, and tears came to her eyes. “Your prayers turned my life around. If you hadn’t been here when I needed you, I don’t know where I would be. I’ll forever be grateful to you.”

  Chapter 40

  “Oh my goodness, this food is delicious.”

  “I told you. Jeff and I have been here a few times. We love it,” Dana told Lisa.

  They were doing brunch at a restaurant called Martha on DeKalb Avenue. It was an American with Pan-Asian influences style of restaurant with milk bottles hanging overhead serving as lamps. Lisa liked the cozy wood-and-tile interior and eclectic decor. It felt friendly. “John and I had talked about doing dinner, but then I got sick.”

  Dana put her fork down. A frown crept across her face. “I hate I wasn’t here for you during those months.”

  Lisa waved that off. “You’re here now, and I’m thankful. She dug back into her cast-iron cooked pancakes topped with créme fraîche and apple compote. The cakes were soft and delicious. “Mmm. How’s your food?”

  Dana was having the fried chicken, crispy Brussels sprouts doused with fish sauce, peanuts, and pickled jalapeños. She also had the duck-fat biscuits with sweet butter and fruit compote.

  “It’s amazing. The chicken has a sweet and nutty flavor.” Dana’s fork jutted back and forth toward her plate. “But these Brussels sprouts are my jam.”

  “Are they good?”

  “I wouldn’t tell you lies. Take one.”

  Lisa wasn’t a Brussels sprouts kind of woman, but those things were looking good on Dana’s plate, so she took one and bit into it. Her eyes widened in surprise. “Is this what I’ve been missing all the years I refused to eat these things?”

  “Don’t get inspired and try to cook them at home. I can tell you from personal experience, they won’t be the same.”

  Lisa laughed, but then her eyebrow lifted. “You cook? I pictured you with maids and cooks in that fancy penthouse you told me about.”

  “You’d be surprised. We live a normal life.” Dana took a bite of her Brussels sprouts and then added, “Now, I do pay a cleaning service for bimonthly cleanings.”

  “Who doesn’t,” Lisa said with a giggle. “Must be nice over there on easy street.”

  Leaning back in her seat, Dana said, “To tell you the truth, it hasn’t been easy. Losing my mother was one of the worst things I’ve ever experienced. I started drinking after she died and didn’t quit until the Lord rescued me.”

  This moment taught Lisa something. For years she regretted praying for Dana. She thought her old friend had everything while she was constantly losing the things she wanted most in life. But now she knew Dana had suffered also.

  “I wish I had prayed for you more.” Shaking her head, Lisa admitted, “I was so selfish.”

  “Nope. You’re not going to do that. It’s all water under the bridge. I don’t want to think about yesterday. I want to enjoy this good meal with a good friend—if I can still consider you a friend.”

  Lisa nodded. “I missed your friendship.”

  They finished eating, then got back to the reason they were hanging out. Dana wiped her mouth with her napkin. “Okay, we toured three buildings this morning. Did you like any of them?”

  Lisa took out her notebook. “I really liked the one close to downtown, but there were too many thugs hanging around on the block. I don’t want to bring kids into a dangerous environment.”

  Dana agreed. “They might not be able to concentrate on learning if they’re worried about their safety.”

  Lisa’s cell phone rang. It was Kennedy. She answered and started smiling as Kennedy screamed, “I got the job! I am now a paralegal for Fitch and Hoffs.”

  “Oh my goodness. Congratulations, hon. I’m so proud of you. I knew one of those law firms would hire you.”

  “I wasn’t sure, but I’m so excited, Mom. I really am.”

  “I’m glad. Let’s celebrate when I get home. I’m still out with Ms. Dana right now.”

  “Tell her I said hello.”

  They hung up. Lisa told Dana, “Kennedy said hello.”

  “Did I hear you say a law firm hired her?”

  Lisa put her napkin on her plate. “Yes, ma’am. She’s going to do paralegal work for Fitch and Hoffs.”

  “I’m happy for her.”

  Later, Lisa walked a bit slower with her cane than Dana when they left the restaurant. But honestly, Lisa was happy to be able to get out of the house, so she didn’t mind the tiredness leaning heavy on her shoulders. They got in the back of the cab and headed back to Halsey Street.

  “How old are your kids?” Lisa asked.

  Dana took out her phone and showed pictures of her children. “Judah is twelve, and Ebony is seven. And they’re the most precious kids in the whole wide world.”

  “Of course they are. I think the same thing about Kennedy.” Lisa leaned back in her seat. She enjoyed being with Dana. It felt as if their friendship had never ended . . . conversation with her was easy.

  The cabdriver turned on Halsey and continued driving up the street. Lisa looked out the window, and all of a sudden she knew. “Wait! Stop the car! Pull over, please.”

  Dana glanced around. “But we’re not at your house yet.”

  “Right here, ma’am?”

  “Yes. Pull over right here.”

  When he stopped the car, Lisa opened the door and got out at the corner of Lewis and Halsey. She lifted her cane and pointed at the boarded-up building. Dana came up behind her. “This is it. This is where the first learning center should be.”

  “The old game room?” Dana scrunched her nose. “Don’t you remember all the guys who used to hang out on the side of the building?”

  “Yeah, but they don’t hang here anymore. This neighborhood is more laid back these days. At first I hated the new feel of our old hood, but now I’m thinking this is the perfect place to start.” Actually, the game room was a small storefront connected to the building. But Lisa wanted the entire building for the learning center.

  Looking up at the building, Dana nodded. “Basically, we’ll be taking a troublesome place and turning it into something good for the kids in this community. I like it.”

  “Me too. Now we need to find out who owns this building.”

  “Let me work on that,” Dana told her. “You start getting your plans in order.” Smiling she added, “We’re about to build our first learning center.”

  They shook on it, then looked at each other as if the handshake wasn’t enough, and they hugged.

  Dana took her cell phone out of her purse. “Wait. I’ve got to capture this with a photo.” The two women stood in front of the old game room where Dana got into mischief as a teen—the game room Lisa had always tried to steer clear of. Now they were getting ready to make something out of the place.

  “I see you’re still obsessed with taking pictures,” Lisa said as Dana snapped a selfie.

  “Gotta capture the moments. Never know when you might need something to remind you how beautiful life can be.”

  Lisa liked the sound of that. “Send the photo to me. I want to remember this moment also.” Then she turned and looked at the boarded-up building. “This place is hideous, isn’t it?”

  Dana cocked her head to the left, looking at the building. A smile crept across her face. “Open your eyes to the possibilities. It’s hideous now, but a few hammers, nails, paint . . . and once those kids start walking through these doors and becoming all God created them to be . . . we’ll see the beauty then.”

  Chapter 41

  Lisa now had a new mission in life. A reason to get up and get out of bed in the morning. Kennedy and John were as excited as she was.

  John purchased a scooter for her, which they kept locked at the bottom of the steps. After feeling as if she had been sealed away in the house for years, suddenly Lisa had wheels, even if it was only a scooter she drove down the street to check on the construction for the learning center.

  When John arrived home from work, his eyes were beaming with excitement. “It looks like they’ve done some more to the learning center. Come on. Let’s walk down there and see.”

  “I thought you didn’t like going down there every day. You told me to give it a rest, so I’ve stayed away all week.”

  “There wasn’t much progress last month when you kept going down there every single day.”

  “I couldn’t help it. It’s so exciting to see my vision come to life like this.”

  John smiled at her. “I love seeing you like this, so forget what I said before. I’ll walk down there with you three times a day if you want.”

  They went outside. Lisa laid her cane in the bed of her scooter, unlocked it, and got on. She and John then headed toward the learning center.

  It had been four months since Dana purchased the building, and the construction started a month after that. Lisa parked her scooter by the front entrance of the center and retrieved her cane. She and John then went inside the building.

  To the left was the space where they would have their version of a game room so kids could enjoy themselves once they finished studying or doing homework. The cafeteria was on the right side of the building, along with Lisa’s office. The elevator was next to Lisa’s office. It went to the second and third floors. The second floor would have study pods where kids with the same classes could study together. The third floor was for test prep. Each floor would have computers for research or test-taking.

  “The place is really coming along. Your office is ready for the furniture to be moved in,” John told her as they walked around.

  “All the furniture and computers are coming next week,” Dana said as she entered the building.

  Lisa and John turned to greet her. Lisa walked over to Dana and gave her a hug. “I didn’t know you were coming down here today.”

  “I had to,” Dana said with mischief dancing in her eyes. “The sign came today, and I wanted to be here when they put it on the building.”

  “Oh wow! I thought Senator Barnes was still deciding on the official name.” Lisa looked from John to Dana. “When did he make a decision?”

  “About a month ago,” Dana said nonchalantly. “I must have forgotten to tell you.” Then Dana pointed toward John. “But I did let John know the sign was going up today.”

  Lisa turned to her husband. “You knew?” She scrunched her nose. Of course he knew. That’s why he rushed her out of the house, pretending he was so excited about looking at drywall.

  Lisa was about to step outside, but Dana stopped her. “We have to wait until they get it affixed to the building. You don’t want to get in the way and have the sign fall on your head.”

  Lisa nodded. “All right. I’ll wait.”

  John took her hand and squeezed it, then Kennedy came running into the building. “Sorry I’m late. I almost missed it.”

  “How did you know about the sign?” Lisa asked.

  Kennedy pointed at John. “Dad called me.”

  “So who’s going to tell me the name of this new learning center I’m supposed to be running?” Lisa put her right hand on her hip and stared at all of them. The crane that was in front of the building pulled back after hoisting the sign to the top.

  “Why don’t we go outside and see?” Dana said.

  Lisa was beginning to feel some kind of way about this situation. If she was supposed to run the center, she would have thought they’d want her input on the name. How many other decisions would be made without her knowledge?

  She didn’t want to be ungrateful. Dana had put up a lot of money to bring her vision to life. But this was her vision, and she needed to be heard. Nonetheless, she decided to see the name they picked before expressing her displeasure. She, John, Kennedy, and Dana all turned around and looked up at the same time.

  Lisa Whitaker Coleman Learning Center were the words printed on the sign. Lisa turned around, looking from John to Kennedy and then to Dana. She didn’t know what to say. That they would name the center after her meant so much.

  Lisa lowered her head as tears sprang to her eyes.

  “Mom, don’t cry. This is good. I was ten years old when you worked on the proposal for this center. You’ve always had so much passion for this neighborhood. It is fitting for this center to be named after you.”

  Turning to Dana, Lisa could barely get the words out through her tears, but somehow she managed to say, “My father will be so happy that you put Whitaker on the sign.”

  There were men on the landing where the sign was. After they affixed the sign, they then adjusted the lights being placed above it. Lisa shook her head. “We don’t need those lights. It’s not like we’re going to be open at night.”

  But Dana smiled as she looked above. “They are perfect.” She turned to Lisa and said, “To me, you have always been the light on Halsey Street, and now everyone will be able to see it as clear as day.”

  Lisa touched her hand to her heart, gulped.

  She couldn’t believe Dana felt this way about her after all these years. “You being able to say such a thing after how horribly I treated you completely blows my mind.”

  “I did you wrong,” Dana said. “You had a right to hate me.”

  But Lisa wagged a finger. “I didn’t have a right to hate you. I chose vengeance rather than trusting that God was able to turn things around for my good. My husband and my father tried to warn me about what I was doing, but I wouldn’t listen.”

  John put a hand on Lisa’s shoulder. “Hon, you don’t have to rehash all of this. It’s okay.”

  Patting John’s hand, Lisa kept her eyes glued on Dana’s. “You thanked me for forgiving you. But today, I want to thank you for caring about me, even after I was so horrible to you.” She got choked up, tears flowing down her face. “Thank you for helping me bring my vision to life.”

  “Ahh.” Dana wrapped her arms around Lisa. “It’s an awesome vision. I can’t wait to see the kids’ faces when they come to this place.”

  Lisa wiped her face. “You and me both.” She stared at the building and then pointed at a door on the first floor. “I can’t believe this is the same game room my father warned me to stay away from.”