A Sister's Secret

by Cydney Rax

  “What’s up?” she asked him.

  “I heard my name . . . twice.”

  “Seriously? You’re listening in on my conversation with Coco?”

  “Sound travels, Dru.”

  Tyrique offered her a hug from behind. His squeeze felt nice and comforting. She felt a little guilty that she’d shut him out and escaped downstairs for some privacy. Why did love mean having to give up parts of herself that she wanted to keep?

  “I’m good, Tyrique. We’re not finished talking yet, but we should be done soon.”

  “Just checking. As long as you’re okay.”

  “I’m fine, really. Go back to bed. I’ll be there in no time.” He gave Dru a droopy smile, kissed her on the mouth, then disappeared up the stairs. When she heard the sound of their bedroom door close, she took the call off mute.

  “Hello? Coco?” Dru said. The call was still connected, but her sister failed to answer.

  Dru felt guilty and hoped she hadn’t made things worse. She knew Coco acted hard, but the girl could still be supersensitive. Maybe she felt like Dru treated her like she was bothering her.

  “Sis, you’re scaring me again; please answer and let me know you’re still on the phone.”

  “I’m here,” she finally heard Coco say.

  Dru glanced at her watch. It was really getting late, and she needed to go to sleep so she could wake up for work in a few hours.

  “Coco, where are you now? Please tell me you’re almost home.”

  “No, I’m not.”

  “Fine. How long will it take for you to get home? I really hate to picture you dragging my nieces and nephew around this late.”

  “Mmm, yeah. I know.”

  “Coco?”

  “What?” she snapped.

  “W-what are you doing? Where are you again?” Dru demanded.

  “Huh?”

  “Stop acting like you don’t know what street you’re on. You aren’t that stupid. Now tell me!”

  Coco paid no attention to her sister’s jabbering. Her eyes were now free of tears. Her mind was fuzzy, but she needed to get focused. She continued driving until she arrived at a familiar spot. That’s when she finally saw Calhoun’s Dodge.

  Coco slowly pulled up behind her man’s car. Her mind began to race.

  Why didn’t he come home? Is he all right? Is he up to no good?

  Calhoun was over at Q’s, one of his partners. His given name was Quantavius Mitchell. Q hardly ever got any sleep because he preferred to be up all night and mostly slept during the day.

  Coco turned off the ignition and waited. Her heart pounded so wildly she could hear it. She felt relieved that she found her man, but was pissed off to see that he’d rather hang out at Q’s instead of being with her and the kids.

  Coco unlocked the door and stood next to her car. She heard the loud yelps of several neighborhood dogs. Part of her felt ridiculous and low-life, but when it came to her man, she was way past acting dignified and sensible.

  After a long period of silence, Dru finally asked, “What are you doing? Are you still there?”

  “Yeah, I’m here. I need a big favor, though.”

  “What?” Dru said, sounding annoyed.

  “I need you to do a three-way. Call Calhoun for me.”

  “No way.”

  “Please, Dru, this is urgent.”

  “Girl, do you know what time it is? I’m not calling that man at one-thirty in the morning.”

  “Come on, Dru. Damn, just do it. It ain’t no big deal. I just need to holler at him for a sec. He won’t answer if he sees that it’s me calling. I don’t know why he does me so dirty. I’m getting sick of his shit, but I need to talk to him.”

  Coco wondered if he was making love to another woman. Maybe that’s why he wouldn’t pick up. Or maybe he hadn’t forgiven her for having sex with another man and he wanted to pay her back by stepping out on her. As she imagined Calhoun’s tongue licking another woman, a manic pitch dominated Coco’s voice. “Go on and call him real quick. I’d do it for you.”

  Feeling sympathetic yet livid at the same time, Dru hesitated. “Okay, Sis, hold on,” she said.

  Coco closed her eyes and snapped them open the second she heard Calhoun answer his phone.

  “Hi, Calhoun,” Dru said. “I’m sorry to bother you but—”

  “Yo, wassup, Mommy?”

  “Um, uh.” Dru didn’t know what else to say.

  “Where you been, you slimy motherfucka?” Coco yelled out, feeling irritated. As she pressed her phone closer to her ear, she could hear the thunderous sound of music playing in the background, as if her man was having a good old time partying without her.

  “Coco?” Calhoun asked. “What the fuck?”

  “Don’t ‘what-the-fuck’ me! Why didn’t you answer when I called your bum ass a hundred times, but when my sister called you picked up? What type of shit is that?”

  “Look, woman, calm down. I ain’t doing nothing. I got off work and headed straight over to Q’s, since you want to know my every move.”

  “Oh, really?” Coco felt herself calming down. She felt good that he told the truth. Yet Calhoun had one of those convincing voices that she did not want to completely trust. “Hmm. That’s where you been posted up all this time?”

  “Yeah, fool. I already told you. What the fuck?”

  “Okay, then. I hear you.” She paused. “Is it just y’all two or does Q have company up in there?” Coco squinted in the darkness. She could clearly see Q’s apartment window from where she was standing. The lights were on. But that in itself did not mean much.

  “Why the hell you asking me if anybody else up here?

  “ ’Cause I wanna know, that’s why. Who else is there? Just Q?”

  “Hold on. This ain’t yo fucking house. So whoever else is up here, even if was King Kong, it ain’t your damn business.”

  “It damn well is my business. We are in a relationship, Calhoun. I won’t have you disrespecting me, and I know you. I know how you do.”

  “You bugging, Coco. Not disrespecting you, man.”

  “I know one thing. You better not have no bum bitches up there with you in Q’s spot.”

  “Hey, Q,” Calhoun yelled over the loud music. “Any bum bitches up in here?” Coco listened while Calhoun and Q laughed hysterically.

  Their degrading reaction made Coco’s cheeks burn with anger. She felt silly checking her man, but she was used to acting like a female James Bond when it came to Calhoun. He could be conniving and blow her off, and she hated when he did that. Her love wasn’t a game, and her heart wasn’t to be toyed with.

  Right then, Coco began yawning; her eyes felt so heavy she could barely keep them open.

  She wanted to go get some rest. And from all outward appearances it seemed like Calhoun was telling the truth for a rare change.

  “Well, baby,” she said, trying to sound sweet and repentant, “I’m really sorry for blowing up your phone like I did. But you saw I called you, but you didn’t holler back. So I was worried. And I just wanted to check on you.”

  “We know all about that checking on me shit. What else is new?”

  She thought she heard the sound of a female’s voice.

  “When you gon’ be home, baby?” Coco wanted to know. “My kitty cat is purring and it’s ready to be licked.”

  At hearing her seductive words, Calhoun moaned appreciatively.

  “I’ll be home soon, baby girl. And I’ma take care of you real good. Get that kitty cat good and wet for me, and I’ll lick it all night long for you.”

  Coco grinned widely as if Calhoun was standing right in front of her and could see her pleased expression. Her heart gradually softened, and Calhoun’s raspy voice easily tore down all the hostility and coldness she’d been harboring for him. Every day she questioned why she was with him, and each time the answer was the same. She loved her man to death. Rough neck and all, Coco wanted to be the only woman in Calhoun Humphries’s life.

  “Ok
ay, then. I’ll head home and get ready for you. Bye, Calhoun.” She paused, still feeling stupid as hell. “I-I only do these things ’cause I love your ass.”

  “I know, Ma. Stop stressing so much. You need to start trusting me.”

  Coco promised him she’d try to trust him more.

  “I love you, Calhoun,” she said again.

  She heard him cough, a laugh, and then the sound of music blaring even louder.

  “Aw shit,” Coco remarked. “My man is too lit to hang up.”

  Coco felt alarmed when she saw “CONFERENCE CALL” still displayed on her phone. “Dru, you can end the call now.”

  Dru happily disconnected Calhoun.

  “Damn, that was extremely difficult to listen to,” Dru responded in a daze. Her eyes were very droopy; it felt like she was in a dream state. She drank some more Coke and forced herself to stay alert.

  “I’m sorry!” Coco said. “I didn’t mean for you to hear all that.”

  “Of course you didn’t.” Her sister sure had it bad. The dysfunctionality that Dru witnessed in other people’s relationships made her question if being in “love” was even worth the trouble.

  “Glad it’s all over,” Dru continued. “You finally got to talk to your man, and you know exactly where he is at this very second. Feel better now, Sis?”

  “Much better.” Coco sighed then giggled. She slapped her cheeks several times and was ready to end the night.

  “Excellent!” Dru stood, about to hang up.

  “I guess I need to drive my drowsy ass on to the house.” Coco began shuffling toward her car. Then she abruptly decided to lay her hand on top of the Dodge’s hood. She lightly touched the hood, which felt cold to the touch.

  “Good,” she said and smiled. “That means he’s been posted up here a good minute. Maybe he’s telling the truth for a change.”

  “What did you say?” Dru asked.

  “Nothing. Don’t even worry about it.” Feeling lighthearted and joyful, Coco had just started walking toward her own vehicle. Then a sudden movement caught her eye. Coco went and stood close to the driver’s-side window of Calhoun’s Dodge. She retrieved her key ring and flicked on the mini flashlight. She shined the light on his front seat. She squinted some more and detected a long-haired, light-skinned female crouched down in the seat.

  “What the fuck?” Coco was fully awake now. She banged her fist against the window. “Who the fuck is you?”

  The woman cowered further in the seat and covered her face with her hands.

  “Ain’t that a bitch?” Coco said. She let go of her purse and it hit the concrete. She grabbed the door handle. It was locked. Coco violently yanked on it; her fingers burned with pain.

  “Open up this door, bitch. What you doing in my man’s car?”

  The woman squeezed her eyes shut even tighter, resisting the urge to acknowledge Coco.

  Coco fished around in her purse for her phone. She dialed Calhoun’s number, but the call went straight to voice mail.

  Screaming, Coco raised her foot and kicked Calhoun’s car several times. A small dent was left in the side door.

  “See, this what I’m talkin’ ’bout,” she wailed.

  “What in the world is going on?” Dru asked. She went and opened a new bottle of Coke and took a few sips. “Why are you crying again?”

  “This dude ain’t right. But he gon’ get right, you best believe that,” Coco declared. “Bye.” She abruptly hung up from Dru and tried to think. She debated standing outside till the sun came up. Then she would be able to see clearly who the woman was. But Coco’s mind forced her to envision her kids. It had been almost two hours since she’d left them. As much as she didn’t want to leave, she knew she had to go check on her babies.

  Coco wept all the way home. When she arrived at her house and emerged from the car, her neighbor, Silvia, was standing outside her front door.

  Coco hesitated and then said, “Hey, Silvie.”

  Silvie glared at her. Coco tried to ignore the woman and went to insert her key into the door.

  “Um, Coco. Next time you wanna desert your babies, you better think twice about it.”

  “What? What are you talking about?”

  “You know good and well what I’m talking about. About an hour ago I came outside to walk my dog. We start going down the block. I get a few houses down and see something white running toward me. Something so small it looks like a little ghost. And guess who I run into at twelve-thirty in the morning? A little boy with no shoes on. No clothes. Just a big white dirty diaper . . . His eyes were big and scary looking. He’d been crying. He—”

  Coco held her breath. It felt like oxygen was leaving her body. She bolted her big self toward the door and managed to turn the key.

  “Chance?” she screamed as she pushed open her front door. “Where you at, baby?”

  Silvie followed Coco inside.

  “Coco—”

  Coco’s big feet pounded across the floor; she made a left and galloped to the kids’ bedroom. He wasn’t in his bed.

  “Your baby is at my place. I fed him, he fell asleep, and he’s safe. Good thing my dog kept barking like he had to go use it or else . . .”

  Coco nodded. What if Chance had gotten hit by a car? What if someone snatched him up and she never saw her baby again? The entire night weighed on her. She covered her face with her hands and burst into tears.

  “I didn’t mean to do it, I swear to God. I love my baby. I love my son.” Coco Reeves, big belly and all, clumsily fell into Silvie’s arms. Silvie could barely breathe as she tried to comfort the anguished woman.

  Silvie angrily hugged her. “You ought to know better than that. You better have had a good excuse for leaving your kid like that. A damned good excuse.”

  Coco had no good excuse to offer. She opened her purse and tried to give Silvie a ten-dollar bill. Silvie refused.

  Coco thanked her, pulled herself together, and went and got her son.

  CHAPTER 9

  You Must Think I’m Psycho

  A few days later, Alita called Coco on the phone. She waited until she knew Calhoun would be at work.

  “Hey, Sis,” she said. “You got a minute?”

  “Whassup, Alita?”

  “Dru told me how you got her caught up in the middle of your shit the other night.”

  “Wasn’t no shit.”

  “Excuse me, Dark Skin? You out past midnight driving through the streets of Houston looking for this fool like you the police working the graveyard shift? Sounds exactly like a whole bunch of shit if you ask me.”

  “And that’s the problem. ’Cause nobody asked you. I can’t stand Dru with her big-ass mouth.”

  “She doesn’t have a big mouth. But she did tell me how you cursed out some chick that you found in Calhoun’s car. What was up with that?”

  “Oh, girl. That was so crazy. His mama happened to be peeking through the window the night I drove past her house. I guess she put two and two together.”

  “And she gave her son the heads-up? That Henrietta Humphries is a hot mess . . . just like her son.”

  “My future mother-in-law.”

  “You need to stop saying that. Based on everything Dru told me about what happened, you two clowns won’t be getting married anytime soon. That’s for sure.”

  “Dru don’t know what the hell she talkin’ about. She needs to stay in her lane.”

  “Are you seriously getting an attitude, Coco?” Alita wanted to reach through the phone line and choke her sister. “And stop blaming Dru for your nonsense. You drug her into that mess and got the nerve to get mad because she wanted to talk to me about it.”

  “Ugh.” Coco felt impatient and annoyed. She’d just gotten Cadee off to school, and she wanted the other two kids to lie down for a nap so she could get some rest. When you were a mother with young kids and had a man that acted like a kid, life tended to be overwhelming.

  “What you calling my phone for, Alita?”

  “Why
you chasing a man? Don’t chase. Replace.”

  “Oh, girl, please. Until you replace the one you had with a better one, you ain’t in the position to lecture me. So save it.”

  “I don’t even have to have a good man to know what’s going with you. I’m just saying, as usual, you making yourself look like a fool.”

  “Okay, it’s official. I’m a fool. I do what fools do, remember?”

  “Dark Skin, I’m not trying to crack on you, but—”

  “The name is Coco!”

  “All right . . . Coco. As I was saying, I don’t want to crack on you, but—”

  “But what?”

  “Okay.” Alita paused. “I’m going to try real hard to be nice as I can as I say this.”

  “What, Lita, what?”

  “You better stop leaving your kids alone in the house while you running them fucking streets with your retarded ass.”

  “Why you talking to me like that?” Coco was screeching by now. “Don’t you dare talk to me crazy, Alita.”

  “Trust me, I could have talked to you a lot worse. And how I talk to you ain’t the main issue. Like I said, stop leaving your kids alone or something bad will happen. Don’t tempt the Lord with your bullshit. Just like he blessed you to have those kids, that same Lord can take your blessings away.” Alita slammed down the phone before Coco could hang up on her first.

  * * *

  It was a Saturday afternoon in mid-October, a couple of weeks after Leno had been caught in his little sex scandal. Alita managed to convince her son to be more responsible with his life, and he promised to do better as long as she lightened up with the threats of punishment.

  Once things calmed down with that situation, Alita let Burgundy in on what had happened with Leno. Burgundy decided her sister needed a nice little diversion from her parenting issues. Quite frankly, she knew Alita needed a man. And she nagged her sister until she gave in and agreed to meet the man she’d heard so much about.

  The sisters were in the car and on their way to see if they could bring some positivity, and some good companionship, into Alita’s life. During the drive, Alita barked questions at Burgundy, who was driving frantically during mid-afternoon traffic.