Page 94 of Best In Class
“Good. Good. I hear Savannah Lace is building Tommy Minton’s hospital.”
“Dad, I’m busy,” Lev cuts in before I can respond.
I get volatile when our father is around, and my brother plays peacemaker.
Well, heisolder than me by eleven months.
“And, I also hear you’re seeing thatboyagain,” Dad continues.
I clench my fists. The man knows how to push every goddamn button I have. “You know, Dad,” I say, voice like ice, “you wear your racism so boldly, it’s almost…quaint.Andpathetic.”
He waves a hand, as if I’m making something out of nothing. “You’re so sensitive. I call him boy…’cause heisa boy.”
“No,” I snap. “He’s a man. A man who’s accomplished more on his own than you ever did with your silver spoon and legacy name. And you know exactly what you mean when you say ‘boy.’”
He tilts his head, feigning confusion. “I think you’re reading too much into it.”
“Am I?” I step forward now, voice low but sharp. “You only call black men ‘boy.’ Never Lev. Never your colleagues. Never anyone who looks like you. You don’t mean it as ‘youthful’. You mean it as ‘lesser.’”
He stiffens, jaw tightening, but I keep going.
“Let me spell it out so you get it through your scotch-laden stupor. In the South, you call a grown black man ‘boy’to put him in his place. It’s a slur dressed in civility. It’s the oldest kind of insult—a reminder of when people like you thought people like Dom should fetch your shoes and keep their eyes lowered. So don’t pretend it’s innocent.”
“Christ!” Dad flings his hands up in exasperation.
“Luna, why don’t you go? I’ll see you later,” Lev suggests. I can see he’s getting ready to explode just as I am. Hell, I’m almost there, he’s still got a good ten-fifteen minutes to go. Lev does a slow simmer.
“I helped clean upyourmess, and this is the thanks I get?” Dad flings at me.
I raise both eyebrows. “My mess? What on earth are you talking about?”
“Dad,” Lev warns like he knows something I don’t.
My father is enjoying this now. “You remember when Dom suddenly left you high and dry? Ran off to New York and never looked back?”
Ice slides down my spine.
“He didn’t run.” He smiles, all teeth. “He made a choice.”
I narrow my eyes.
“Dad, you need the shut the hell up,” Lev orders.
“A choice I helped him make,” Dad speaks over Lev.
The room stills.
I get into my father’s face. I’m getting an idea as to what he means. I’m connecting the dots.
“You cheated on me.”
“What if I didn’t?”
“What did you do?” I ask my father.
Dad pushes his chair away from me. It rolls smoothly.
Lev has his eyes downcast.
