If Your Wife Only Knew

by Cydney Rax

  “I think I know how to handle this. Get ready. We’re about to come over to your place right now.”

  He woke up Myles and fixed him a quick bowl of cereal. Then they were on their way. But instead of going up to Alexis’s door and knocking, he stayed in the car as it idled a few houses away from hers. When she was ready to leave in her own ride, he discreetly started driving to the far north side. He made a phone call as Alexis drove behind him.

  When Rashad arrived at Glynis’s house, he took Myles with him and rang her doorbell. Rashad was so nervous. He knew how Glynis felt about him, but he needed a huge favor.

  “Hello there, Glynis. I know this is short notice, but can you please watch my child today? Just for half a day.”

  She observed Myles and smiled. “He’s a cutie. Go on in, son.”

  “Thank you. You are so cool to do this—”

  She rolled her eyes and snapped. “It’s gonna cost you extra.”

  “Name your price.”

  He went into the house to find Myles and explained that the nice stranger would be his sitter for the day. He could barely look the boy in his eyes. He felt like crap but didn’t have time to figure out a better plan. When Rashad got his son preoccupied with Glynis in a back room filled with toys, he quietly picked up his baby girl, gathered her things, and hurried out the house.

  He was going to tuck Hayley into his car but decided against it. He let Alexis do the usual securing of their daughter. Then they were on their way.

  All while he was driving, he kept thinking of Myles. He decided to use his main cell phone to make another quick call.

  “Hello? Are my eyes deceiving me?” she said.

  “Very funny.”

  “You never call me on Sunday morning like this. What’s up? Have you decided what to do with Myles?”

  “Um, yeah. That’s what I wanted to talk to you about.” He hesitated. “Kiara, I really am gonna be tied up today. So I found a sitter for him.”

  “A sitter? Who?”

  “It’s this lady I know.”

  “You left my child with a strange woman? What the hell, Rashad? Are you out your mind?”

  “Uh, naw.”

  “Who is she? Do I know her?”

  “No, but she watches kids. She has an in-house day care.” Already he felt like he had told his wife too much. He instantly regretted telling her.

  “But don’t worry. He’s in good hands. And it’s just for this one time.”

  “Rashad, I swear to God I don’t know what the hell is going on with you but I smell something foul. I know one thing, you better not be fucking this woman, whoever she is.”

  Kiara felt that even if they both had to work on Sunday, Rashad could do his part in taking care of Myles occasionally if she had to work too. She was trying to trust him, but she never would’ve guessed he’d leave their child with a ‘sitter’ that she didn’t know.

  “I swear to God I’m not doing anything with her,” he explained. “It’s nothing like that.”

  “Then I want to meet her. I want to know who the hell you got—”

  He hung up. He texted her.

  Sorry, I’m in a dead zone.

  Kiara texted back.

  U gone be dead all right

  An hour or so later, Kiara was busy at work when her phone rang again. She looked at the caller ID. It was Rashad.

  “Hello?”

  She didn’t hear him say anything. All she heard was a loud sloshing noise.

  She kept listening and saying hello. She quickly realized his cell phone had accidentally dialed her. From the noise it was making, it sounded like his phone was in his pocket.

  “At least I know I’m the last person he talked to since he butt-dialed me.” Kiara started to disconnect the call, but she kept holding on. She worked and listened. After a while, she heard voices.

  A little kid squealing and chirping.

  “What the hell?”

  Her stomach hollowed out as if she were riding a roller coaster. “What the hell is he doing? Whose kid is that?”

  The more she listened, the more she felt like she couldn’t breathe. She listened until she heard him speaking into his phone.

  “Hello? Hello?”

  “Where are you, Rashad?”

  “Did you call me?”

  “No, fool. Your phone called me.” She paused. “I heard everything.”

  “So?”

  “Rashad, I’m going to ask you one more time. Where are you?”

  “You heard kids’ voices?”

  “Yes, and it wasn’t Myles.”

  “I told you the babysitter owns a day care.”

  She fell silent, wondering if he was telling the truth and questioning if he wasn’t, what was the truth?

  “I hope you aren’t lying to me.”

  “I’m not. For real. She does own a day care.” He paused. “How much did you hear?”

  “Rashad, something isn’t right. Why don’t I know about this lady? What’s her name?”

  “That ain’t important.”

  “Why do you continually hide things from me?” She felt like a hypocrite when she said those words, but her fear made her not care. “Rashad, there you go again; leaving out everything about you that I need to know.”

  “Look, woman. The only person that should know everything about me . . . is God.”

  And he hung up. If Kiara had no proof about his actions, she shouldn’t be so pissed off.

  That’s why Rashad made sure to give himself a little bit of physical distance between himself and Alexis while they were at the park.

  Alexis stood nearby listening to the entire conversation. She could tell Hayley was having fun because of her screams of laughter whenever she played with her in the water.

  She was glad for her daughter. But she noticed that Rashad seemed so distracted. His body was there, his mind was elsewhere.

  “So you had to lie and make up something to Kiara about what you’re doing, Rashad?”

  “You know how it goes. We’ve been doing it this way all along.”

  Alexis nodded. She could hear a voice telling her, Be careful what you sign up for. Mona Hooker constantly reminded her to know her worth as a woman. She begged Alexis to understand that she never had to settle for less than what she could be having with a better man, a gentleman. The seeds her mother had planted inside her were starting to develop.

  “I know it looks like you’re ashamed of your flesh and blood. You barely played with Hayley while you’re here, and you dumped your son off so you could hide him from his sister. And you keep walking two steps ahead of me at this fucking water park.” She stared at the man whom she felt she loved. “In this arrangement, none of us are getting the respect we deserve.”

  “Oh, okay, how about this?” Rashad pointedly grabbed her hand. He let little Hayley walk in the middle of her parents. He grabbed her hand, too. They all started walking down the gravel sidewalk, enjoying the breeze of the palm trees.

  “Better now? You like this?”

  She gave him a weak smile. “Better now. I like that.”

  But Alexis spoke words she did not feel. She began imagining a life with a man who acted proud to be seen with her. One who didn’t have to hide her and one who openly celebrated her and Hayley.

  Soon Rashad was ready to go. He and Alexis had driven in separate cars, so he left her with Hayley at the water park while he went to pick up Myles. Afterward, he drove his son to the toy store and bought him everything he wanted as long as he didn’t spend more than two hundred dollars.

  “You my little man, you know that, right?”

  “I know, Daddy.”

  “And I have been the best father I can be and I plan to be even better.”

  “Okay, Daddy,” Myles answered Rashad, but he was more interested in observing his new toys, especially the radio-controlled quadcopter which looked as much fun as the helicopter he already owned.

  When they arrived home, Kiara was quietly sitting in the d
arkness of the family room. The air was stiff with tension. Once Myles ran upstairs to his room, Rashad came and sat beside Kiara.

  “I apologize for how the day went. I’m not good with handling last-minute surprises, Kiara. I had to make do.”

  “You don’t ‘make do’ with your flesh and blood, Rashad.”

  “I know that. But I did the second best thing.”

  “Who is that woman?”

  “All I can say is she is a registered day care operator that I came to meet when I did some work in that area.”

  “What’s her name?”

  “Do we really need to go there?”

  “Unless you’re fucking this babysitter, I don’t see why I can’t know her name.”

  “She’s not a babysitter. We-we call her Glynn.”

  “We? Who is we?”

  “Me, Kiara. Me.”

  She gave him the side-eye. “Rashad, what is happening to us?” Although her husband told her Alexis was a fling, her gut told her what her husband wouldn’t and it scared her. But her love for him and her family compelled her to give the union another try.

  “Babe, it’s called rough patches. But the rough can turn smooth. If you chill out and just keep being a good mother, a great wife, everything will work itself out.”

  “One more question, why did I hear kids’ voices in the background?”

  Rashad could have had a ‘these are my confessions’ moment, but the truth would’ve killed his wife. He didn’t want her to feel that pain.

  “She runs a twenty-four-hour day care.”

  “Really? How fucking convenient for your ass.”

  “Another thing, Kiara, you heard what you heard because you were snooping when my phone accidentally called you. You should’ve just hung up.”

  “Are you serious? That’s bull.”

  “When you look for trouble you will find it. Stop looking for it, Kiara. Stop making things worse than what they ought to be.”

  He left his wife alone in the silence of her thoughts, and in the uncertainty of their marriage.

  That night, when Rashad went to sleep, he knew that he was in deep trouble. His heart was now attached to three different women, four if his little girl was included. And even though there was no way he could give quality time to all of them, he knew he lacked the ability and desire to give up any of them.

  Chapter 10

  The next Tuesday afternoon when Kiara wasn’t expected to be in the office for hours, Shyla and Nicole strolled back into the workplace after enjoying a two-hour lunch. They took their sweet time parading past Alexis like they didn’t have a care in the world.

  The gorgeous beauty sat solemnly at her desk dreamily staring into space. And she had no idea her coworkers had drunk a little alcohol during their lunch break and were in some type of mood.

  The two ladies stood directly in front of Alexis, making sure she could see them. Nicole dramatically boosted up her smart phone and aimed it. Shyla and Nicole stood cheek-to-cheek and poked out their lips in a sexy Marilyn Monroe pout.

  Alexis heard the camera click several times.

  “This one is going on my IG,” Nicole said. “Give the haters something to hate about.”

  “Yeah, girl,” Shyla was saying. “I know what you mean. Like when I posted my engagement photos on social media, haters came out the woodwork. These birds can’t stand to see another chick happy. But hey, I can’t help but spread my joy. My baby takes real good care of me. That is why I know I have met my soul mate. He courted me the right way. The way you start out is the way you’ll end up.”

  Shyla admired her engagement ring. “And he paid three months’ worth of salary for this bad boy. That’s a lotta paper. My man hustles hard for me. Sometimes I feel so unworthy.” She cackled until Alexis couldn’t stand it anymore.

  “You know I’ve been thinking the same thing,” she replied. “Sometimes when I find out that certain women get engaged, I immediately question how the hell did that happen? She ain’t even worth all that. These days basic bitches on the come-up while real bosses gotta wait. Somehow, that shit don’t add up.”

  Nicole said, “Ooh, I didn’t know she talked ratchet. She always tries to act like she is so sophisticated and we’re soooo beneath her.”

  “Oh, this one can go from thinking she white to acting black real quick. I told you, you gotta watch the fake ones,” Shyla remarked.

  “There’s nothing fake about me,” Alexis responded.

  “‘There’s nothing fake about me’ claims the chick with twenty-two inches of horse strands glued to her scalp.”

  “Nicole, you’re one to talk. I see you started wearing colored contacts. That’s about as phony as you can get.”

  “But no one would ever know I wear contacts unless I tell them. Your head of bone-straight Indian hair is screaming, ‘Faaaaaaaaaaaake.’”

  “That’s dumb,” Alexis responded. “I knew you wore contacts and you never told me.”

  “Excuse me? Did we become best friends and no one ever told me?”

  Shyla almost fell over laughing. “I love this new you, girl.”

  Alexis was stunned. Nicole didn’t seem like the same chick that she met less than two months ago. She’d become much feistier, like she was feeling herself.

  “And you’re hating on me because you think you can size up folks,” Nicole continued, “but you got it wrong when it comes to me. I may seem quiet, but don’t try me. Because if I have my way, they’ll be calling you Sexless Alexis.”

  Alexis couldn’t believe it. There was nothing worse than getting dissed by a basic bitch in front of a basic bitch.

  “Nicole, at least I look fierce, which is more than I can say about you with your irrelevant Dogzilla-looking ass.”

  “I am a lot of things, but ugly ain’t one of them.”

  “You have a nasty attitude and yes, you are one ugly-ass bitch. Plus you have no personality. You are about as charming as Ebola spit.”

  “At least somebody likes this spit.”

  “Tell her, girl.” Shyla laughed.

  Dislike oozed from Nicole’s face. Alexis didn’t understand where the hate was coming from. She barely knew her. But she rationalized that Nicole was intimidated because Alexis was so stunningly pretty. Alexis McNeil had been treated rudely a thousand times by insecure chicks ever since middle school. But just because she was used to it didn’t mean she liked it or would stand for it.

  “I don’t give two shits about your pretend boyfriend, Nicole. You are really a joke.”

  At this point, Shyla was shrieking and wiping tears from her eyes.

  “Shyla, if I can recall, you used to boohoo to me about how you couldn’t get a man to save your life. And now that you have one, you’re always trying to give other women advice. You better hope y’all even make it down the aisle.”

  “Oh, don’t you worry about that. I am secure in my relationship. And don’t hate on me because Wesley put a ring on it. If a man wants you, there is no stringing a woman along for years. Won’t be no ‘Twelve Years an Old Maid.’” Shyla placed her hand on her back. She started walking bent over like she was ninety-nine years old. “A real man’ll snatch a real woman’s ass up and wife her in no time, just like bae did me,” Shyla said. “And I do not apologize for that.”

  “I may not be wifed up today, but my time will come. I have no worries.”

  Before they could go in on her again, Alexis turned around and grabbed her purse from a desk drawer. She reached in and removed her pack of Capri Indigo cigarettes.

  “See there, Nicole. This woman pretends to have it together, but she is weak. She depends on cigarettes to cope. What’s next, crack?”

  Alexis merely ignored the comment.

  “The only ring Alexis McNeil can get . . . is a smoke ring.” Nicole pretended to hold a cigarette, inhale, and blow invisible smoke rings. Shyla burst into giggles.

  Alexis knew that someday, somehow she was going to make these women regret ever fucking with her.

>   The next day was Hump Day. And Rashad blew off Alexis for lunch. She knew she wouldn’t have sex with him, but she still needed to see and talk to him.

  “Busy. Can’t do it. I’m working hard. But I will see you again soon. I promise.”

  “You know what you can do with your promises.”

  “You sound so cute when you’re mad.”

  She hung up on him. Then she went to the bathroom. She made sure no one else was in there. She entered the last stall. She wouldn’t be long; she just wanted to have a ten-minute moment to herself before she went back to her desk.

  While Alexis sat on the commode, she heard a voice as someone entered the ladies’ room.

  “Hey, sexy.” The voice was Rashad’s. He was on speaker phone. She figured he was checking in with Kiara and that she had come to use the restroom just then.

  “Hiiiiii.”

  That woman didn’t sound like Kiara.

  “What you doing for lunch today?” she heard Rashad say.

  “You asking me out to lunch? That’s a first.”

  “I like to try new things.”

  “How we gone do this? I only get thirty minutes, remember?”

  “Tell her you had a little emergency and had to take thirty minutes extra.”

  “You sure that’s okay? I’m still on probation.”

  “It’ll be fine. Kiara will approve it.”

  “Okay.”

  Alexis covered her mouth with her hands as she shook uncontrollably. She couldn’t believe her lover was on the phone making plans with a coworker that she couldn’t stand.

  Nicole giggled and laughed as Rashad flirted with her. She told him she had to go. But before she hung up, she made kissing noises as she left the restroom.

  Alexis remained on the commode. When she could think clearly, she made up her mind.

  Alexis washed her hands and went back to her desk. Lunch would begin in thirty minutes.

  She checked her boss’s schedule. Kiara was away at a meeting and also had a lunch meeting directly after it. She’d never know she was gone.

  Alexis discreetly left the office and drove to the spot. Her and Rashad’s spot. She slid her body way down in the front seat of her car so no one could see her.