In Need of You

Chapter Ten

"So when are you going to tell your pops about Sabrina?" Kevin said, taking a bite of his sausage biscuit.

Elisha glanced at Kevin as he took a sip of coffee from a mug Madeline bought him a month ago. Several constellations were plastered about the black cup in white designs. "Honestly, I don't know, man. The only people who know about Sabrina and Madeline are my mom and sister. They promised they wouldn't tell dad until he met them for himself."

Looking at a picture frame sitting next to his computer, Elisha picked it up and smiled. Sabrina and Madeline wore matching yellow dresses for church that Sunday. Three months, he thought. Three whole months and his father had no clue that his son had been dating a black woman with a child. 

Several people walked through the brightly lit precinct. To Elisha, it looked more like a web developer's paradise. Frosted glass doors surrounded by polished oak wooden frames highlighted the captain's office. Even the glass doors to the precinct's entrance were frosted. Several of his co-workers walked past his desk and gawked at the picture of Sabrina and Madeline.  

"Well, man, all I know is that you've got a lot on your plate. Dating a black woman ain't easy." Kevin crumpled the wrapper paper where the last remnants of the sausage biscuit rested on and tossed it into the garbage can next to the captain's office. He rose his hands in the air, then pumped one fist.

"She's still a person, Kev," Elisha said. A young woman with a stack of papers walked in his direction. Her long brunette hair cascaded past her shoulders and hung near her waist. She looked at him with wide hazel brown eyes and smiled, handing Elisha a file. "Thanks."

"You're very welcome," she said, keeping her eyes locked with his. "I'm Ava. Ava Richards."

"It's nice to meet you, Ava."

"It's really great to meet you too," she said as she walked away.

"Damn, yo'," Kevin said with a wide grin. "New girl is on to you now."

"I'm good, man," Elisha said. He glanced at Sabrina and Madeline's picture. "I've got what I need."

Kevin grinned, then shook his head. "Listen man, I ain't tryin' to play the race card here, but as a brotha, I can tell you that sistas like the one you got belong on the arm of a strong black man such as myself."

Elisha frowned. "Oh really?" He noticed the captain looking directly at him through the large window of his office as he looked away from Kevin. A frown rested on Captain Alders's brow. 

"Really, man," Kevin said. He smiled and winked his eye at a group of women making their way to lunch.  "Look, I'm not tryin' to get your panties in a bunch. Though, what I am telling you is that Sabrina is a strong black woman who needs strong support."

Elisha laughed, then stood from his desk. "So, since I'm not black, I can't support her. Is that what you are saying?"

"Naw, man. I ain't--"

"Kevin, I may not have dated a black woman before, but the women I have dated weren't all white either," he said. He opened the drawer to his desk and took out his squad car key. "Whether she was white, Asian, Hispanic, I would still be in love with her as I am now."

Kevin ran his hand over his face and stood from his desk. "Look, man, I didn't mean it like that," he said. He watched Elisha walked toward the door and out of the building. He scoffed, then shook his head. 

Captain Alders walked out of his office with one hand in his pocket and made his way toward Kevin. 

"Where'd your partner go?" Captain Alders asked. He glanced at the picture sitting next to Elisha's computer and smiled.