WHO IS JACKIE RAY TYLER?

““Millie Rocks?” The voice was all too familiar to be anyone else’s after nearly 25 years. To hear it after all of this time, mixed emotions flooded into Millie’s total being. ?How she responded at this moment in time, would be a choice between ignoring the voice’s owner who dared to call her by a nickname reserved only for someone whom she once loved, or, she could turn around with the school-girl affection that may have never died for one, Jackie Ray Tyler. She could choose at this moment to look lovingly into the eyes of a man whom she knew would always come back to her. Just like in the movies. The problem for this man, and his voice, is that at this time, this is not that kind of movie. “Is that you, Millie Rocks?”

While everyone at the table knew that the man was speaking to Millie, Millie chose not to look up, or respond. Because he was wearing what appeared to be a waiter’s uniform with black pants, a bow tie, a white button-down shirt, and a black vest, one could assume that he was a waiter. But he was not their waiter. Their waitress was Amanda, and she had already served them well.

“Miss Millie?” Cole was the first to speak. “I believe that waiter is speaking to you.”

Millie continued to eat her lasagna, fresh peas, and salad. She did not even take one moment to glance towards the man who was no less than 4 feet from her right side at the crowded Center City restaurant.

“Miss Millie?” Sarah spoke up. “That man thinks he knows you, tell him he’s got the wrong person.”

“No, mam,” The man responded to Sarah. “She knows me! She’s just never forgiven me!” His previously broad smile and big shiny eyes went dull and hopeless from the probability that Millie would be glad to see him. He was wrong.

“I’m sorry Millie Rocks, for hurting you.” He stood motionless as he looked at Millie’s side eating and looking anywhere in the restaurant but at him. “I’m sorry for what I did to hurt you. All I can do is ask for your forgiveness.”

“Pass me that role, Cole,” Millie spoke for the first time since the man approached the table. Her tone suggested that she was angry. It was notable because before the gentleman appeared at their table, Millie was in deep thought, and was oblivious to her employees’ table gossiping. “I’m sorry guys, our lunch was ruined by someone whom I had hoped to never see, nor hear from, ever again. He’s not our waiter anyway, he should have just kept on walking.”

The man that she once knew as Jackie Ray Tyler, began walking away when he heard Millie speak to her employees at the table. He stopped to hear her as dinners nearby glanced occasionally to see how the commotion would play out.

“Miss Millie, would you like to leave?” Cole asked. “I can bring the van around to the front.”

“No, I don’t need to leave!” Millie said angrily. “He needs to leave! The way he left me 25 years ago!” Tears were welling up in Millie’s eyes.

Lenny, who was the closest to Millie, slowly handed her his napkin, not sure what to do in the current situation. Millie did not accept it. She picked up her own napkin and dabbed at her eyes trying not to ruin her makeup.

“Look what you made me do, Jackie Ray!” Millie scolded him, even though they had not made eye contact. “You made me mess up my makeup!”

“I’m sorry, Millie Rocks,” He quickly came back to the table and kneeled by her side. “I’ll buy you all the makeup you want and need.

“Hey, guys, let’s go powder our noses,” Sarah said to Lenny and Cole. “Maybe Miss Millie would like a moment to set Mr. Jackie Roy straight.”

“Jackie Ray,” Millie corrected as tears fell from her eyes. “Don’t be long getting back!”

“I don’t have to powder my nose,” Cole said. “Lenny, do you have to powder your nose?”

“Come on, guys,” Sarah ordered them.

“Mr. Tyler, would you like a private room set aside for your guest?” Amanda, their waitress who had been waiting at Millie’s table whispered just loud enough to Jackie Ray to call him ‘Mr. Tyler’.

?“Yes, Amanda, if Miss Millie and her guests would like to join me?”

Millie shook her head to have her table moved to a private dining room in the restaurant. “And don’t worry about your tip, I’ll cover it for the table and the room, Amanda.”

As she maneuvered her wheelchair through the lunchtime crowd, Millie bumped into a few chairs and tables along the way. The only one expressing any apologies for the inconvenience was Jackie Ray, even as he was leading the way to the private dining area.

“Thank you, Mr. Tyler,” Amanda said with a big smile. As she began cleaning off the table, other patrons were left in wonder as to what was happening.

Later in the private dining room

Sarah, Cole, and Lenny had found themselves sitting at the end of a long table, feasting on the spoils of Millie’s conquest of Jackie Ray Tyler.

“I thought he was a waiter,” Lenny whispered to Sarah and Cole. “He sure has a lot of pull to get all of this for us.”

“It’s not for us, Lenny,” Sarah corrected. “It’s for Miss Millie!”

“Yeah, Lenny,” Cole added. “We’re just along for the ride, and a great one at that!”

The trio enjoyed steak, potatoes, and a second helping of whatever they had ordered in the main dining area.

At a smaller table in the corner of the private dining area sat Millie and Jackie Ray. Millie could be seen cracking a lobster tail and dipping it in a Hollandaise sauce.

“Millie, you don’t know how many times I dreamt of having you back in my life,” Jackie Ray said as he watched with suppressed glee as Millie seemed to enjoy her food.

“Why would you dream about me?” Millie asked dryly. “You could have had me over 25 years ago, but you dropped me for that twig, Lydia Bigfoot.” Millie wanted to make it known to ?Jackie Ray that this exquisite noon-time meal was not going to buy her forgiveness through her and her crew.

“Millie Rocks,” Jackie Ray shifted in his seat. Before he could speak to her, someone knocked softly on the door before entering. “Yes, what is it?”

“Mr. Tyler, we need your signature on this check!” It was another restaurant employee who referred to him as ‘Mr. Tyler.’

“Please ask the Ma?tre D to sign it for me,” he instructed. “I am in a very important meeting right now, thank you.”

“‘Mr. Tyler?’” Millie smiled as she repeated what the restaurant employee called him. “What are you, a little manager or something like that?”

“Yeah, ’something like that,’ Millie,” He agreed. “Now, continue scolding me for not choosing you in my immature years.”

“You know, Jackie Ray,” Millie put down her fork, and wiped her mouth and her hands before putting down her napkin. “This was really nice of you. But this isn’t going to win me back!”

She pushed her wheelchair back from the table. “When you called me by that nickname today, you added salt to a closed wound. I had not only forgiven you for your immaturity, but I had also forgotten you, for your stupidity. I forgave and forgot how you treated me, even though I was the only one to come and cheer you up when you threw 3 interceptions in the homecoming game that ?we lost.”

Jackie shook his head as he was reminded of that fateful time.

“That was the first time you called me ‘Millie Rocks’ because you said I stood by you, like a rock.”

“I forgave and forgot you even though it was me who came to visit you every day in the hospital with your broken leg and a concussion when your own momma didn’t come to check on you. ?I forgave and forgot that you and I were supposed to go off to the same college, but you decided to go to college with Lydia Backstabber, who was never there for you. Do you remember all those times, Jackie Ray?”

“Yes, Millie, I remember,” Jackie Ray was trying to endure the painful recalls of Millie, but she added a dagger that possibly sealed his fate:

“But those times were nothing, Jackie Ray,” Millie sat back in her wheelchair and took a breath. She raised her hand and pointed it at Jackie Ray. “On the last day of high school. I forgave and forgot how you left me looking like a fool for a ride home in your new car for your graduation present. I was left standing in the rain while, Lydia Bad-Breath Hayes jumped into my seat, and you left with her. That was the last time I was your ‘rock’, Jackie Ray.”

Jackie Ray stood up and walked to the back corner of the room. He was rubbing his head, his chest, and his arms. Whatever he wanted to say, or do, could not come to him fast enough to blunt the impact to Millie’s dressing down for his behavior, 25 years ago.

“Yeah, I may still have one or two small feelings for you now, Jackie Ray Tyler, but you can never come back into my life!”

Millie leaned forward in her wheelchair. “I have had 3 husbands since you left me that day, and you know what?”

“What, Millie?” He tried to reach across the table for her hand, but she pulled it back.

“None of them together, may God rest their souls, ever made me feel as special as you once did.” Millie paused as she waited for Jackie Ray to appreciate what she just said. “I thank you for trying to rekindle what once was, but you and Lydia Clubfeet Hayes and your family should go on with your lives. Forget about me! I’m doing fine, and I’m sure you are doing fine, too.”

“Millie, Lydia died.” Jackie Ray paused for those words to take effect on Millie.

“Well, that is a surprise!” Millie said without much thought. “My condolences for your loss, I’m really sorry that you lost your wife, Jackie Ray.”

“My condolences for your husbands as well,” Jackie repeated back to her. “3 husbands?”

“How did she die?” Millie kept the focus on Jackie Ray’s wife. “She was still and in her prime. How did she die?”

“It was a terrible accident!” Jackie Ray looked down sadly at the table of food as he recalled that horrendous night. “The police were unable to determine what caused the accident because her car exploded and caught fire. They weren’t able to identify the body it was so horrific.”

“Well, I’m sorry to hear that, Jackie Ray,” Millie pushed her plate away. “When did that happen?”

“About 15 years ago,” Jackie Ray recalled. “It was May 5th!”

“On my birthday?” Millie asked in surprise. “Oh my God! That must have been terrible! How are your children doing?”

“We just had one child, he is doing well, though,” Jackie Ray tried to put a positive spin on his life, after the loss of his wife. “He plays football across the river at Westbank High.”

“You must be doing a great job, Jackie Ray,” Millie looked around at the table where her crew was finishing up. “Do you guys want a to-go plate?”

“I do!” Lenny spoke up quickly, as though he was anticipating the question.

“Yeah,” Jackie Ray turned around to look at Millie’s employees. “How about you? Do you have any kids?”

“One, but he is a stepson of one of my deceased husbands.” Millie pointed her wheelchair towards her three employees. “He is in and out of jail, but he comes in handy when I need him to do special projects.”

“Millie Rocks,” Jackie Ray stood up and rushed up beside Millie as she managed her wheelchair alongside the table where her employees were waiting. “When can I see you again?”

She stopped her wheelchair and turned it to face him. “First of all,” she put her right hand up with the index finger in place. “You can never call me ‘Millie Rocks’ again.”

“Okay, that’ll take some getting used to, but I can make that happen,” Jackie Ray agreed as he anticipated Millie’s next point to be in his favor.

“Secondly,” Millie put up a second finger. “We can never see each other, ever again!

Jackie Ray’s face once again became the face of a man who had been defeated, in love.

“Thirdly,” She put up her third finger. “Send me the bill for all of this food from today. Including any complaints because of me allowing you to get to me by calling me out of my name.”

With that, she directed Sarah, Cole, and Lenny to pack up whatever they wanted, including any wine that was placed on the table.

“One more thing, Jackie Ray,” Millie said as she got to the door of the private dining room. She turned her wheelchair around, just enough for Jackie Ray to see how serious she was. “If I ever see you on the streets of New Orleans Westbank, I will instruct anyone of my drivers to run your ass over, and over, and over again. And if they don’t do it, I’ll crawl out of my wheelchair from the back of that van and do it myself. Do I make myself clear?”

Millie did not wait for Jackie Ray’s response. She turned her wheelchair around and bumped into several more tables and chairs as she headed for the front entrance. Some of the tables and chairs 3with patrons in place were pushed out of her way. No excuses were made by Millie, or Jackie Ray as she left.

“Thank you so much, Jackie Ray, for a wonderful time!” Millie shouted as she maneuvered her wheelchair through the door that Lenny managed to hold open with one foot while holding on to the trays of food that this little venture netted them.

“Thank you, Lenny! Cole, go bring the van around the front.”

#jackieraytyler

#millieroseevictions

?

Disclaimer: ?This is fictional information and is provided for entertainment purposes only. Any resemblance between these stories and actual events is purely coincidental and is not related to any event or person, living or dead. No agency relationship is established between the audience and agent unless in writing. If you are facing an eviction, please consult with an attorney.

Millie Rose Evictions ? 2024 W.D. Lewis

?