Leftovers With Benefits: An Interracial Contemporary Romance

by C. L. Donley

  “Everyone, this is my boyfriend Terius.”

  “Terius, welcome,” their father cordially said, shaking his hand. Lindsey’s father could be dead and still would never pass up the opportunity to show an open display of virtue.

  Kevin could feel Henley’s glee, watching Lindsey squirm. Watching Lindsey squirm made him want to squirm. Henley was a bitch and Lindsey wanted whatever she didn’t have.

  He hated himself already, and had at least two hours to go before they could politely leave.

  How many speeches had he given Lindsey to rival every “us against the world” love song from the 80’s, 90’s and today?

  “Fuck these people,” he would say to her with conviction, his intense hazel eyes flecked with green pleading. She would look off in the distance, eyes wet and emotional.

  “You don’t get it,” she would say.

  He understood well enough now. Everyone in the family was trying to win some competition, one for love. And everyone was always the loser, because everyone was always out to prove they were the most worthy. In fact, he was pretty sure none of them wanted to be there, aside from the fact that they were each other’s audience. This time, Lindsey was going through a turmoil she probably never had before.

  “Well, we can’t stay long, we’re going to his parents’ house in Spring Hill,” Henley announced.

  “That’s fine. Dinner’s already on the table,” their mother announced.

  As they all gathered around the massive table, Lindsey’s mood slowly began to topple. Kevin looked at the beautiful china plate piled with food, none of it touching. He poked at the stuffing, only vaguely aware of the vapid conversation going on around him.

  “Lindsey, honey, you’ve barely touched your food,” her mother said.

  “Everything makes me nauseous,” she exaggerated.

  “Kev, what’s your excuse?” her father teased him.

  “Sympathy pains, I suppose.” The table laughed.

  “You know, when I was pregnant with Lindsey, I was bedridden for six months almost,” their mother randomly interjected.

  “We know, mom,” Henley rolled her eyes.

  “I know that you know, but we have a guest. Terius, would you like some more turkey?”

  “Please,” he said, holding out his plate.

  “Terius is stationed in Toledo.”

  “My goodness, so many servicemen!”

  “You served?” he directed at Kevin.

  “I did. Marines. Air Force, I take it?”

  “Yeah. I tried the Marines first,” Terius relayed. “I failed basic training. Twice.”

  “Marines are douchebags anyway, right Linds? No offense, Kevin,” Henley said.

  “None taken.”

  “So, everything’s cool? Between you and Linds now?” Henley chewed curiously.

  Everyone squirmed except Terius, who ate his turkey in oblivion.

  “We’re committed to working things out,” Kevin admitted, refusing to be baited.

  “For the baby.”

  “For… the future.”

  “You’re a good guy, Kevin,” Henley volunteered. Kevin didn’t answer, as he in no way considered a comment from Henley a compliment.

  “I take it that thing with his ex didn’t work out?” she blurted. Lindsey’s silverware clanged against her plate.

  “Excuse me?”

  “Cecil’s ex,” Henley clarified. “The two of you looked pretty cozy at the Farmer’s Market a few weeks ago. I thought maybe something happened.”

  Kevin felt his appetite dwindle even further.

  “Lindsey, honey, you really should eat something,” Lindsey’s mother interjected, genuinely oblivious to Henley.

  How the hell… Kevin was quiet a moment while he played it cool.

  “You should’ve come and said hi,” he replied.

  “Oh, I didn’t want to interrupt.”

  “No, you just wanted to be a bitch on Thanksgiving,” Kevin blurted. The entire table bristled. Henley smiled.

  “She must’ve been pretty disappointed to find out you were getting back with the woman who ruined her marriage.”

  Kevin abruptly scooted his chair out and stood up.

  “Lindsey, come on. This was a mistake.”

  Lindsey stayed seated, looking glassy eyed and wincing.

  “Oh my God, Lindsey! You’re bleeding!” her mother exclaimed, inspecting at Lindsey’s discoloring jeans from where she sat at the head of the table.

  Henley looked on in disbelief as Lindsey turned bright red, tears cascading down her cheeks.

  “Call an ambulance!”

  “Honestly, Charlotte, an ambulance?” her father said.

  “Lindsey, do you think you can handle a car ride?” Kevin asked.

  “Why? So you can see your girlfriend??” she loudly sobbed.

  Lindsey’s mother ran to the kitchen and frantically called 911. Her father came around the table and consoled an inconsolable Lindsey as Kevin stood feeling out of body.

  Henley folded her arms and shook her head, knowing she’d been outfoxed yet again.

  “Come on, Terius, I’m ready to leave,” she said, grabbing his arm. Henley screamed as she got up from the table, “This is fucking bullshit!”

  * * *

  Gwen sauntered to the nurse’s station while Kenya was between patients, looking as though she had something to tell her.

  Kenya was all ears. Even though it was Thanksgiving, things were unusually slow.

  “One of us should go home,” Kenya ventured.

  “Not me.”

  “You could’ve at least told me you were working today anyway,” Kenya broached the subject.

  “Would you have taken the day off?”

  “No, but still.”

  “I guess I owe you some gossip,” Gwen sighed. “Jude lost his job. They cut back his hours and he just up and quit.”

  “Friggin’ husbands,” Kenya scoffed.

  “So, here I am. Couldn’t pass up double time.”

  “Well, at least you got another babysitter.”

  “That’s supposed to be my silver lining?”

  “Sorry,” Kenya wrinkled her nose.

  “Speaking of gossip, I think your insurance guy is downstairs in Exam Room 12.”

  Kenya’s pulse quickened but she didn’t look up. Odds were, Gwen was probably mistaken.

  “What?”

  “Hayes, right? I thought he was here to see you, but he’s in Exam Room 12.”

  Kenya’s mind raced as she spoke.

  What the hell?!

  “He’s not ‘my insurance guy,’”she insisted. “Why? What’s going on, what happened?”

  “It’s not him, it’s his sister, or something. Arrived in the ambulance.”

  Sister? Didn’t he only have a brother?

  “What’d she come in with?”

  “No idea. I think Bernie is their on-duty nurse.”

  Kenya couldn’t contain her curiosity. Of all the emergencies, of all the days, of all the hospitals. It was a hell of a coincidence.

  But still. She wasn’t going to put herself through an awkward Thanksgiving drama just to say, “hey.”

  Right?

  No. If he wanted to see her, he’d have to come find her.

  “Was she super blonde? Short, blue eyes?” Kenya continued to investigate.

  “Yeah.”

  “Pretty sure that’s his wife,” Kenya deduced, feeding the gossip monster. Gwen sat in potent silence.

  “Oh…”

  “Yeah,” Kenya stoked the curiosity fires. “Please tell me she’s dead.”

  “He’s married, Kenya?!” Gwen exclaimed.

  “Oh, but he’s not just any married man, Gwen,” Kenya began, “His wife? That’s the hussy that fucked my husband.”

  Gwen’s mouth gaped open.

  Kenya slowly nodded. She shrugged and Gwen broke out into a chuckle.

  “Zero fucks given,” Kenya filled in.

  “So what happened, she d
ecided to take him back?” Gwen deduced.

  She?!

  Kenya’s blood pressure soared. She decided Gwen needed context. Fuck decorum.

  “Would you like to hear the whole hot mess?”

  “Yes,” Gwen answered confidently.

  “Apparently… she was pregnant when she left.”

  Gwen’s mouth gaped open again.

  “What’s going on in here?” one of the CNA’s said, Gwen’s juicy gossip face drawing more flies.

  “My ridiculous life is on display yet again,” Kenya replied.

  “Remember the insurance guy that Kenya fucked in the utility closet?”

  “I did not….” Kenya denied, tickled at their speculation.

  “Well, he’s married, and it was his that wife fucked her husband.”

  “Holy Jerry Springer, Batman.”

  “And he just came in with the wife.”

  “Exam Room 12?”

  Both nurses looked at each other and back at the CNA, who now had an audience.

  “Well that explains that,” the CNA divulged, her demeanor demanding further questioning.

  “Give it up, girl,” Gwen demanded.

  “Patient went into full princess mode as soon as Bernie got there,” she tattled. “Apparently, Denise was given strict orders to keep you away from Exam Room 12, or ‘I’m gonna sue!’” the nurse repeated to Kenya.

  Kenya rolled her eyes.

  “I should not have come in today,” Kenya sighed.

  “And the entire family just came in, so it’s a fucking circus. Dad friggin’ made Emma cry at reception.”

  “For what?” asked Gwen.

  “Who the hell knows,” the CNA rolled her eyes.

  “What the hell’s she in here about anyway?”

  “Abdominal pain and bleeding.”

  Gwen’s jaw dropped yet again, not sure whether to be happy or sad, so she settled for dumbstruck.

  Kenya’s heart went into overdrive as hope mercilessly leapt within her.

  Had she lost the baby? Had life taken pity on Kenya? She began to have morbid fantasies that Kevin was searching the halls looking for her while his asshat hussy wife cried and bled in Exam Room 12.

  About that time, Denise came in looking for her missing CNA.

  “Go help Bernice. Princess is screaming for all the complimentary things we can give her.”

  “On it,” the CNA said as she hurried back to the floor. Denise eyed Kenya.

  “So I guess you already know?”

  Kenya nodded.

  “You may as well go home. These assholes are rich and apparently daddy used to be a Congressman or something. They’re on one hell of a soapbox right now.”

  Kenya didn’t like the sound of it. It was only 3pm, which means she would have to go to her mother’s. The men would still be watching the game. Her dad and his ridiculous wife would still have yet to arrive.

  “Sending me home is no joy. Put me upstairs. I’ll wash every bedpan in this place.”

  Denise sighed, a twinge of empathy went through her as she nodded.

  “I swear it Kenya, if hellfire rains down on me because some family member caught the two of you in the closet—”

  “Enough with the closet, guys, nothing happened!”

  “Custodial crew begs to differ,” Gwen smirked.

  “I don’t wanna see him anyway,” Kenya fibbed. “He made his choice, and I’m sure he doesn’t wanna see me either.”

  “If it makes you feel any better, I don’t see them lasting much longer. Poor guy looked miserable. Downright ill.”

  “It doesn’t.”

  “Patient just got out of X-Ray. Care to hear the diagnosis?”

  Kenya froze. Did she?

  “Complications from a miscarriage, I assume?”

  Denise couldn’t divulge personal details. But detailing a patient’s diagnosis was entirely legal. Hell it was necessary. Encouraged. Medical terms may as well have been tabloid headlines.

  “Doctor Garr says perforated uterus.”

  “Oh shit,” Gwen blurted, looking over at Kenya.

  Without a word, Kenya was out the door, leaving it open behind her. Gwen adopted a worried look. Denise didn’t hesitate.

  “Oh no, for fuck’s sake Gwen, get her out of here. Hurry.”

  14

  Chapter 14

  Kevin occupied the waiting chairs outside Lindsey’s room, lifeless as Lindsey’s family crowded around her hospital bed. He felt queasy.

  Lindsey had kicked them all out of her room. Then her parents were allowed in, but not Kevin. Looking at his face was “too painful,” she’d said.

  For some reason, he had no right to the information being passed back and forth between her and the doctor.

  By that, he gathered a few things. Namely that he wasn’t a father anymore, so he no longer had any right to the information. And that for some reason, Lindsey had specifically requested confidentiality.

  He had nothing. Same as before. Only now there was bitter resentment and mistrust.

  Kevin was sweaty and feverish. He’d never felt more horrible, both emotionally or physically.

  He’d made the wrong call.

  How? Was he being punished?

  Everything in him wanted to get up and search the halls for Kenya. And yet, if she turned the corner right now and appeared in front of him, he’d probably find something to hide behind. Murray Regional had been a mile and a half closer than the next nearest hospital.

  “Lindsey wants to see you,” her father announced, opening the door.

  Kevin hung his head in fatigue. He knew exactly what was coming next. And yet he still wasn’t ready.

  When he returned to the room, Lindsey was undressed and in a gown, facing the window stoically in dramatic fashion.

  “Can we talk?” she asked.

  “Alone?” he added.

  Lindsey grasped her mother’s hand tightly. She responded by placing her other hand on top of Lindsey’s.

  “I think it’s best if we stay here with her, Kevin,” her father said.

  Oh, for fuck’s sake.

  “Okay,” he responded, waiting for the rest.

  “The baby. I lost it.”

  Bingo.

  A fist hit his gut, the combination of words causing him to crash to Earth. Had he been flying?

  His baby stayed high in the sky, out of his reach as he fell. His face remained emotionless.

  “Okay,” he replied.

  “They said I only had a little of the pregnancy hormone in my bloodstream and even less in my urine. So they say I must’ve miscarried.”

  “Okay.”

  “Is that all you’re going to say?”

  “No.”

  Lindsey’s brow was wrinkled as she looked at him.

  “You’re like an alien. You’ve completely changed.”

  “No shit.”

  Lindsey shook her head.

  “I swallowed every single ounce of pride I had to come back home. But you don’t see that. I’m trying to make you happy again, but how can I, if you’re going to make it impossible?”

  Somewhere along the way, Kevin had completely lost his tolerance for the abuse.

  The manipulation in her language was like tentacles trying to find their way back into his intestines. The door leading to their love was barricaded.

  “Is that all? Can I go now?”

  Lindsey was stunned.

  “There’s someone else isn’t there?”

  Here we go.

  Kevin just laughed. He couldn’t believe he ever mistook her shameless self-absorption for actual emotions.

  “So that’s what all this is about? The lack of my full, undivided attention is sending you into convulsions isn’t it?”

  “Please tell me it’s not who I think it is.”

  Kevin went rigid. She had a repulsed tone and he had a sinking fear that he might have to go to jail on Thanksgiving.

  “Who do you think it is?”

  “That…
woman? Who vandalised our car? When Henley told me, I thought I was in a parallel fucking universe.”

  Her mother clutched her imaginary pearls, her father was incredulous but he felt no palpable energy from them.

  Did her parents know why he and Lindsey were even separated?

  He got the sinking feeling that every single person in the room had been fed a different story.

  “I contacted her and she offered to pay for the damage,” he generously explained himself, getting angrier by the second. “And then we began a friendship. She’s actually a reasonable and well-mannered person, which is more than I can say for you.”

  “Did you sleep with her?” Lindsey accused, more interested in his admission than his insults.

  Kevin’s jaw was clenched. He could’ve launched into a tirade about her infidelities but he didn’t. Somewhere, some part of him didn’t want to see her humiliated. Or at least, not be the one to inflict it.

  “You’ve now brought her up more times than I have. And then Henley at dinner. What is this?” Kevin squarely asked, “Some contest between you and your horrible sister? To see how many lives you can ruin? Is that why you showed up on my door out of the blue?”

  “How dare you,” Lindsey riled herself up.

  “Kevin, you’re on thin ice,” her father warned.

  Kevin wasn’t the least bit afraid of Lindsey’s father, and the respect he had for him hung on by a thread. But he at least knew how to pretend to protect his daughter’s honor while everyone was watching. He got the feeling he was begging Kevin not to put him in a headlock and reveal him as the faker he was. Kevin complied, answering calmly.

  “What I did while we were separated is absolutely, positively, none of your business. ”

  Lindsey tried to ignore the tension in the air. She took a breath, made a gesture with her hand as if waving the drama away from her face.

  “Well, I can’t judge you for anything you did then, anyway. We were both… out of sorts. Completely. I don’t blame you for reaching out to the closest person you could find.”

  His body tensed even more, but Lindsey continued without trepidation.

  “I bet the two of you had quite the bitchfest at my expense.”