by Mary Monroe
“That’s easy for you to say. She didn’t hurt you,” I protested.
“But she’s still hurting you, and as long as you carry that anger, she will.”
“Look, Louis, I do know what you are trying to say, and someday I will let go of my anger toward Jade. But what she did to me is still too fresh in my mind. Now that she is back in town and has already pissed me off, it’s going to be that much harder to get over my anger.”
“Don’t let her win, Annette. Don’t let her destroy you. That’s what she wants. I know just how you feel. Trust me. I know what I’m talking about.” Louis paused and let out some air. “You see, I’ve been betrayed, too,” he continued, his voice cracking. “Like you, somebody I once loved hurt me clean to the bone.”
“You? What happened?” The more Louis revealed about himself, the more comfortable I felt about him.
“Hold on, baby. Let me get a glass of water. Just thinking about this shit gives me a bad taste in my mouth. It feels like I’ve been chewing on an old sock.”
He left me on hold for five minutes. I could hear soft music playing in the background. And I could hear Sadie, his cross-eyed cat, mewing up a storm.
“Baby, are you still there? I’m sorry I took so long. I had to feed Sadie. She’s the only feline I know who would rather eat chicken wings than cat food.” We both laughed.
“I’m still here.”
“The girl I was going to marry ran off with my cousin. We called him Sticky because everything he touched stuck to him. Especially females. They’ve been married for five years.”
“Oh. Now that’s a pretty low-down thing for your girl and your cousin to do to you. Do you still talk to him, or her?”
“Naw. They moved to Atlanta right after they got married.”
“Oh, Louis, I’m so sorry to hear that.”
“That’s not the half of it. The son that she had a year before, who I thought was mine, belongs to Sticky. A few months ago they came back to Greensboro for our family reunion. I had to leave the premises to keep from killing him. That’s how I ended up here. That and the fact that I came up here to be with my uncle.”
“I’m sorry about what happened to you, but I’m glad you ended up in Richland.”
“After I moved here, every time I called home, Granny was on my case about finding myself a church home. I joined New Hope Baptist, and even though I don’t go that often, all my spiritual needs are taken care of.”
“I’m glad you’re in the church, Louis,” I said with a proud sniff. “Most of the men I know would rather go fishing or to a bar than come to church. Do you have a lot of friends?”
“A few. I play cards with the white dudes in the apartment below me. We get together and drink a few beers and talk shit. I keep myself busy.”
“What about lady friends?” I held my breath.
“What about them?”
“Do you have any?” I was still holding my breath.
“Oh, sure I have lady friends. But if you mean serious relationships, there was just one before I met you.”
I exhaled.
“Her name was Barbara Cundiff. She’s a nurse at Richland General. We dated for a few weeks, until she decided she’d rather be with somebody else.”
“You don’t seem to have much luck with women, do you?”
“I do now,” he said, speaking in a very seductive tone of voice.
“Thank you for saying that,” I mumbled. “I hope you don’t hold anything against women because of what the girl back home did to you, and the one you met here.” I laughed when I realized how stupid that sounded. “I mean, there must have been other women between them and me that didn’t hurt you.”
“Not really. I have very high standards. I wouldn’t feed my dragon to just any woman,” he said quickly.
“Excuse me?”
“What I mean is, I am very particular about what I stick my dick in. I don’t even fool around with jockstraps from discount stores.”
“Now you’re trying to be funny,” I said, then chuckled.
“Seriously, I never had much time to do a lot of fooling around. My focus has always been my business. But that all changed as soon as I laid eyes on you.”
“Louis, I really like you, and I couldn’t have met you at a better time. But I still love my husband, and I plan to spend the rest of my life with him. I hope you understand that what we have is…uh, just an affair.”
“I know you are not serious about me—”
“That’s not what I meant! I love spending time with you!” I said defensively. “If a woman’s going to cheat on her husband, it should always be with a man like you.” I bit my tongue. It seemed like the more I talked, the more ridiculous I sounded. “I don’t know what I’m saying!” I laughed so hard, my chest hurt. “But I think you know what I’m trying to say.”
“You’re a married woman, and you want to stay that way. I won’t even try to change your marital status. But I want you to know, and I want you to know it now, if you ever do decide to leave your husband, I’d be glad to have you to myself. And to tell you the truth, from what you’ve told me, you and I have a lot more in common than you and what’s-his-name.”
“What’s-his-name is the father of my child. He will always be in my life. Listen, I think we should end this call now before one of us says something they will regret.” I had to force myself to laugh this time.
“Baby, you have a blessed evening. If I don’t talk to you any more this week, I will see you at this coming Monday’s luncheon at your office, or at the Do Drop Inn on Thursday, if I’m lucky, or at that so-called wedding next Saturday. That is, if that crazy-ass Jade doesn’t piss you off again enough for you to change your mind and not show up.”
I sucked in a mouthful of air before I replied. “There is nothing else that Jade can do or say that she hasn’t already done or said that would make me change my mind now. I will be at that wedding,” I vowed.
CHAPTER 42
I hated what Jade had done to me in the past, but I did not hate Jade. And so, I had not become that bitter toward her, and I prayed that I never would. I had no use for her, and if she left town and never returned, I wouldn’t care one way or the other. I didn’t think that I was being too harsh. And despite her evil ways, I didn’t sit around wishing something bad would happen to her, like some of the people I knew would have. That would have made me more like her than I cared to be. I had learned a long time ago that God don’t like ugly, and that people like Jade eventually got what they deserved. I was confident that her downfall was already in the making.
I had not planned to buy a new outfit for the wedding. Nobody would care what I wore, anyway. For one thing, I didn’t want to spend any money on something else I didn’t need. I had plenty of clothes in my closet suitable to wear to a wedding. Jade was going to be the center of attention, anyway. She’d make sure of that.
The following Thursday I spent a few hours with Louis at the motel. It was the shot in the arm that I needed, because that damn wedding was scheduled to take place the following Saturday.
That Friday I ran into Scary Mary while I was on my lunch hour. I had just got my nails done and was coming out of the nail shop. She was going in, hobbling on her cane. Most of the elderly women I knew had nails bitten down to the quick, but this old woman made weekly trips to the nail shop. Had she not seen me first, I would have ducked between two of the cars parked on the street and remained crouched until she’d passed.
It was a nice, warm, sunny day, but you never would have thought that by the way that old woman was dressed. She wore one of her quilt-looking, floor-length plaid skirts with a matching jacket, had a thick black wool shawl around her shoulders, and was slightly humpedbacked. She had on a pair of black suede boots with the most pointed toes I’d ever seen. She could have stabbed somebody with them.
“Annette, is that you?” she asked, shading her eyes with her hand to look at me. She gave the side of my leg a tap with her cane.
“
Yes, ma’am,” I said, with a muffled moan. Had Scary Mary not blocked my path like Wyrita had done in the convenience store, I would have kept walking.
“Where’s Louis?” she asked, looking behind me.
“I have no idea where that man is,” I replied, rolling my eyes. “Why do you ask?”
“Why do I ask? What’s wrong with you, girl? You know I’m one nosy-ass bitch.”
I nodded.
She glanced at my nails, smiled her approval, and then looked back at my face. She stared at me for so long, with a questioning look on her face, I got nervous.
“Uh, I guess I’ll be on my way,” I said, attempting to leave.
“You ain’t gwine no place,” she calmly told me, giving me a stern look.
“Oh, did you want something?”
“Jade told me she hope you don’t upstage her on her big day by showin’ up in one of them tentlike flowered muumuus of yours.” Scary Mary was good about cutting to the chase, no matter what it was. “I told her I felt the same way,” she added, patting my shoulder. We laughed at the same time. Despite her meddlesome ways, this old biddy had a sense of humor. And even though she was about as blunt as a sledgehammer, her comments were not meant to be malicious.
“Well, you can let her know that I haven’t worn muumuus at all in a while.” I tilted my head to the side and placed a hand on my hip, like I was about to prance down a catwalk. “And I’m the last person she should be worried about upstaging her.”
“That little hussy! I’m gwine to fix her little red wagon. Just for her bein’ so scandalous, I’m gwine to give her a used blender for her weddin’ gift,” Scary Mary chortled. “I bet you can’t top that.”
“I bet I can. She won’t get a present from me, period.”
For years I’d given presents to people I didn’t like for one occasion or another. But the difference between them and Jade was, they had not betrayed me in as profound a way as Jade had. This girl was in a category by herself. And for that, I felt sorry for her. But I was not sorry enough to forgive her yet. I knew that my bitterness was probably causing me more pain than it was Jade, but I was working on reducing it and eventually eliminating it altogether. And, since Louis had brought so much joy into my life, I had made a little more progress.
“Oh? Now that don’t sound like you. You ain’t givin’ Jade nothin’?”
“Nothing,” I stated with a prim sniff.
“Well, now! She ain’t gwine to like that!”
I simply shrugged.
“You sure enough done changed, Annette.”
“Let’s just say that I’m not the woman I used to be.”
“You sure ain’t. You was always the kind of gal that tried to make everybody you knew happy. Including that motherfucking, dead-ass Boatwright, who took advantage of your little pussy when you was a youngin’.” Scary Mary paused long enough to catch her breath. “If I was you, I’d go pee on his grave on the anniversary of his death every year.”
“I’ve thought about doing just that,” I told her. After listening to a list of complaints about her business and health, I gave her a mighty hug, then went on my way.
I worked late that day, and when I got home around seven, Pee Wee was already sleeping like a dead man. He had not changed his mind about going to the wedding. In fact, he and I had not even discussed it again since I first told him.
I got up early that dreaded Saturday morning and made breakfast for Pee Wee. He had planned to spend the day hanging out with his friends. When I asked him which friends, he couldn’t even look me in the eye or give me a straight answer. I left it at that.
Around ten I started to get ready for the wedding, even though it was scheduled for one in the afternoon. I had offered to help Louis set things up, but he had declined my offer. Around eleven Rhoda called me up.
“Annette, I would appreciate it if you’d come a little early. I just need you here for moral support,” she told me.
Since she thought that Jade’s wedding was a one-time event, I agreed. However, I had a feeling that Jade would go through several husbands in her lifetime. But I had already decided that I was going to limit myself to just one wedding in her honor.
I arrived at Rhoda’s house a little later than I had planned, and I was surprised that the only vehicles parked in the vicinity belonged to Scary Mary and Louis. Both vans occupied the driveway, right behind Rhoda’s SUV. Rhoda had hired several valets to take care of the parking, but I parked my car on the street myself.
The front door to Rhoda’s beautiful one-story brick house was open, so I let myself in. A handsome, light-skinned man in a black tux smiled at me as I entered. He stood in front of the fireplace in the living room, with a saxophone in one hand and a half-empty wineglass in the other. I looked to his left and was surprised to see another man, also in a tux, sitting at Rhoda’s white baby grand piano. The furniture had been rearranged throughout the house to allow the guests to move about more comfortably. The most delicate pieces had been covered in thick, clear plastic. The same type of plastic also covered Rhoda’s wall-to-wall white shag carpet.
Bully and Otis were also in the living room, sprawled on the sofa, which had been pushed up against the wall facing the large-screen TV. They were drinking beer straight from the can. The way they were dressed, in jeans and dingy T-shirts, you would have thought that they were preparing to watch some ball game, not attend a wedding.
Lizel and Wyrita had sent out the invitations and run from one mall to another to purchase all the decorations. They had also helped Rhoda decorate her living room with pastel-colored balloons, streamers, and flowers. Those festive items went well with Rhoda’s black leather sofa and love seats, gold and red brocade drapes, and glass-top tables.
Expensive oil paintings of Rhoda and her family covered almost every wall in the living room, which was a story within itself. The paintings made the O’Toole family look as normal and happy as Bill Cosby’s TV family. Few people knew that that was not the case. Behind the toothy smiles and blissful scenes, Rhoda and her clan were as dysfunctional as a living family could be.
Even though she had not had time to do much planning, I could tell that this shindig was going to be as eventful as a coronation.
But I still couldn’t wait for it to end.
CHAPTER 43
There were a lot of other people on the guest list that Jade had slighted on some level at one time or another. They included her so-called best friends, who did as much backstabbing as she did. It was no secret that a lot of people didn’t like Jade and avoided her as much as they could. But I didn’t know too many people in Richland who’d turn down an invitation to a wedding that would include a lavishly catered meal, a band, and a chance to show off a new outfit.
“De wife is in de bedroom,” Otis told me, slurring his words. “You look d’licious, m’lady.” He jabbed Bully in the side with his elbow. “Eh, mon? Irie?”
“Irie!” Bully yelled, smiling, nodding, and looking me up and down. “Irieeeeee…”
“Thank you,” I mumbled. I didn’t have a clue as to what irie meant. But from the way Bully and Otis were eyeballing me, it had to mean something good. “And irie to you both, too,” I added, smiling and nodding back at them.
I had met a lot of Otis’s Jamaican relatives and other island friends. I had to admit that the men from that part of the world held women in very high regard. Even women who didn’t deserve to be held in any regard at all. I knew that because when I was a muu-muu-wearing plain Jane at my heaviest, Jamaican men still treated me like I was something good to eat.
I was glad to find Rhoda alone in the master bedroom. Like every other room in Rhoda’s house, the bedroom looked like a showroom. Since Otis still slept in the same bed with her, I wondered how he felt about everything in the room being frilly and pink and white. It wouldn’t have mattered what he thought. Everybody who knew Rhoda knew that she could crack the whip as well as Captain Hook.
I stopped in the middle of the room and ad
mired her. “Girl, you look fantastic,” I offered.
“So do you. Is that outfit new?”
“Something like that,” I muttered.
She was dazzling in a light blue silk dress, with her hair in a French roll. But she looked completely flustered as she sat on the edge of her bed, sliding her feet into her panty hose. A pair of low-heeled blue pumps sat on the floor in front of her tiny, beautifully pedicured feet.
“Oh, I’m so glad you’re here,” she squealed, giving me a desperate look. “Girl, I had to send the tablecloths back to that fool of a dry cleaner twice to get them as white as they are supposed to be. And then that damn fool spilled some blue shit on the damn things—after he’d cleaned them! Holy moly! I swear to God, people just don’t take any pride in doin’ a good job anymore! He finally cleaned them right, though.” Rhoda waved her hands above her head.
“Is there anything you want me to do?” I asked, hoping she’d say no. I folded my arms and shifted my weight from one foot to the other. My fear was that I’d have to deal with Jade more than I wanted to before everything was over. While I wanted to be at the wedding to support Rhoda and Otis, I had almost changed my mind at the last minute.
“Could you please do me a favor? Go to the dinin’ room and check to make sure that everything is goin’ well with Louis, uh, our sexy caterer.” She paused and gave me a conspiratorial wink. Then she let out a loud sigh, looked at her watch, and groaned. “He’s been here for an hour, and I haven’t had a chance to spend much time supervisin’ him and his people. Oh! I just want to make sure we are all on the same page!”
“Rhoda, you need to calm down some. This is only a wedding,” I whimpered.
“Yes, it is only a weddin’, but it’s for my only daughter,” she reminded me, giving me a hot look. Then she got quiet, and a pensive look crossed her face. I bowed my head submissively as she continued. “Jade’s my only chance to be a grandmother,” she said, almost whispering. Rhoda’s twenty-eight-year-old son, Julian, who lived in Alabama with his partner, was gay. And he had always made it clear that he wanted nothing to do with raising kids. Her other son, David, had died when he was a baby. I was the only person who knew that Bully had fathered that child. It was easy for me to understand why Jade’s wedding was so important to her.
