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the house.
They stopped off at Safeway on their way back from Brighton. They
had arrived at the same time as a couple of buses of elderly people
from the nearby assisted living facilities. The checkout lines were
now long and filled with curmudgeons. There was a long line of
people to her left and her right.
    Taking a step forward,
Tanesha was close enough to the magazine rack to see the gossip
magazine. Looking to see if Valerie was on any of the covers, her
eyes flicked from one magazine to the next until she saw a picture
of herself. She blinked. Why in the world would there be a picture
of her on those magazines? Her eyes flicked back to the magazine.
She was standing on the sidewalk outside the penthouse wearing her
running gear. Jeraine was stepping toward her. She remembered that
day. It was . . . Sunday after their interview. In
red block print over their heads, it said: “Miss T gives Mr. It a
last chance” in smaller print it said: “Can this cheater change?”
Tanesha scowled. She walked to the magazine rack and turned over
the magazine.
    “ They’re right you know,”
the elderly woman standing in line in front of her said. “That man
will break your heart.”
    “ And what’s that to you?”
Tanesha shook her head and went back to her basket.
    “ I’m just saying,” the
woman in front of her continued. “He’s bad news. Now I know you
don’t have a Mama and maybe you don’t know
better . . . ”
    “ Delores is right, Miss
T,” the woman standing in line behind her said. “Once a cheater
always a cheater. As far as you know, he off screwing some young
thing right now.”
    “ In the grocery store?”
Tanesha asked. “What? And using the bananas as a sex
toy?”
    “ You don’t have to be
foul, young lady.” An elderly man a few people behind in the line
said. “You should listen to these ladies. Not all men are good. And
you done found yourself a bad seed.”
    “ You mean to tell me that
Dr. Bumpy’s boy is bad?” the woman behind him asked. “You better
watch your mouth Malcolm or I’ll tell Nurse Dionne what you said
about her son.”
    “ Well I think you’re a
damned fool for taking him back,” a younger woman from the line to
the right said. “I would’ve divorced him and taken everything I
could get my hands on. Who’s crying now?”
    “ Mmmm-hmmm,” a knowing
agreement came from the elderly woman standing around
her.
    “ She’s right,” the woman
in front of her said. “And you deserve every penny for your years
of heartbreak.”
    “ And then some,” the woman
behind her touched her shoulder. “It’s only a matter of time before
that man breaks your heart again.”
    “ You know, they’re right,”
a grey-haired woman from the line next to hers spoke up.
    “ So remind
me . . . ” Tanesha said in a voice loud enough
for everyone to hear. “How is my life any of your business? I don’t
remember even a one of you stepping forward when Jer was in trouble
in high school. Boys will be boys; that’s what everyone said. So
you can shut your traps now.”
    “ I’m just
saying . . . ” the woman in front of her gave
her a sour look and turned around.
    “ There he is,” a woman
from a line of grocery shoppers two people over said. “Look at the
grin on his face.”
    “ Mmm-hmm, I told you so,”
the woman in line behind her said. “Screwing some young thing,
right here.”
    The shoppers’ heads moved
up and down like bobble-head dolls. Tanesha groaned. Jeraine took
in her face and the awkward silence. He put three containers of ice
cream, whipped cream, and chocolate syrup in the cart.
    “ What’s going on?” he
leaned in to say in her ear.
    “ The good folks of this
Safeway would like to know if you were screwing some sweet young
thing,” Tanesha said.
    “ When?”
    “ Just now,” she
said.
    “ In the ice cream aisle?”
Jeraine looked from face to face. No one would meet his eye. “Just
now?”
    He laughed and they stepped
closer to the