by Mary Monroe
“You’re not fine, my brother. And I’m not letting you leave here alone. I’ll drive you home and I’ll have one of my assistants follow us in your car.”
“Yes, please do that for me, Tim. I really appreciate having a friend like you,” I told him, shaking his hand. “Thank you for all you’ve done for me.” I let out an eerie laugh. “You can scratch Vera’s name off your next Christmas party guest list.”
“It’s already done.” Tim gave me a sharp nod.
I was glad that Tim had insisted on taking me home. I knew my body well enough to know that it was finally going to shut down for a while, maybe even permanently. I just had to hold on until I got all my affairs in order.
I had a heart attack in Tim’s car, just three blocks from my house. He made a U-turn and rushed me to San Francisco General. I passed out as soon as they loaded me onto a gurney. When I opened my eyes, the first person I saw was Vera, hovering over me like a vulture. Seeing her was so ironic I wanted to laugh because she was the reason I was knocking on death’s door. Had I been able, I would have sprung up out of that bed and choked her.
“Baby, you’re going to be just fine,” she told me, looking at me with her lying eyes blinking and her eyeballs rolling from side to side. As usual, her makeup was impeccable, which told me she had not shed a single tear. She was also dressed like she was on her way to a party at the White House. She even had on white gloves and some of her best jewelry. “The doctor will be back in a few minutes, so you just lie there and rest.”
That heifer had a white silk scarf wrapped around her neck. But when she leaned down to kiss me, it slipped. She quickly adjusted it, but I had already seen the purple sucker bite on her neck. It looked like a goddamn tattoo! I couldn’t get the images of her and her lover out of my mind.
“Where’s Sarah?” I whispered.
“She’s on her way,” Vera replied. “Bo and Cash were here a few minutes ago, but they had to get back to the store to meet with those vendors from Sacramento. They’ll be back in a little while. Collette called to say she was praying for you. So did all the rest of your staff in all five stores. Your friend Tim brought you in.” I noticed how the worried look on Vera’s face intensified when she mentioned Tim’s name. She knew he had done a lot of investigative work for people we socialized with, so she was probably wondering why I had been with him.
“Tim said you got sick while he was having lunch with you,” she told me, giving me a guarded look. “And he also told me he had come to the store to get a birthday gift for one of his grandsons and invited you to have lunch with him.”
“That’s right.” I went along with Tim’s version of events. It sounded reasonable. Had he told Vera the truth, that I’d been in his office on business, she would have figured out what I had really been up to.
“Oh. What restaurant did he take you to?”
“Uh . . . some hole-in-the-wall I can’t remember the name of. Those places all look the same to me. You know how cheap Tim is.”
“Yeah, I know. I’ll never forget that time he took us to Wendy’s for lunch and paid for our burgers with coupons!” Vera laughed. I didn’t. Then she got real serious. “Uh, he told me that he and Sherry are going through a divorce.”
“She was cheating on him.”
“What? Why, that’s a damn shame! Tim was so good to Sherry!”
“Yeah, he was good to her,” I agreed with a sneer. “But to some women being good to them is not enough.”
“Uh, is he still doing private investigative work?” Vera rotated her neck a couple of times and tied the scarf around it even tighter.
“Uh-huh. And he’s got more business than ever.” I blinked at Vera a few times. That must have made her nervous because she started to shift her weight from one foot to the other. She smoothed down the sides of her dress and clutched the handle on her purse like she was afraid somebody was going to run up behind her and snatch it. I couldn’t remember the last time she’d looked this nervous.
“Well, like I just told you, you’re going to be fine. And I can’t wait to get you home!” she squealed, forcing a smile. She lowered her voice to a whisper. “I have a big surprise in store for you.”
Another surprise was the one thing I didn’t need. “I have one in store for you, too, Vera.” That slipped out, but it was very effective. She looked like she had just seen Caesar’s ghost.
“That’s nice, Kenneth. I can’t wait to see what it is.” I saw tears in her eyes for the first time since she had entered my room.
“I need to see my daughter,” I said, attempting to sit up.
“Honey, be still and please don’t try to talk or stir around too much.” Vera gently pushed me back down on the bed.
“I need to see my daughter!” I said again in a much harsher tone of voice. “And I want to see her alone.”
CHAPTER 56
SARAH
A S SOON AS I ENTERED DADDY’S HOSPITAL ROOM, I COULD FEEL THE tension. He lay on his back looking up at the ceiling. Vera stood by the side of the bed with her hands on her hips.
“Hi, Daddy,” I said meekly, still standing in the doorway.
Daddy turned sharply and looked at me. Then he looked at Vera and snapped his fingers in her face. “Vera, leave this room so I can talk to my child,” he ordered.
“What the f—” she began, but Daddy cut her off.
“Get out before I have them throw you out!” Daddy boomed, pointing toward the door.
With a horrified look on her face, Vera scurried out like a scared rabbit.
“Sarah Louise, you get your tail in here and shut that door! I need to talk to you!” he bellowed.
I didn’t like the tone of his voice and the angry look on his face. He had never spoken to me or looked at me this way before. I knew that whatever he needed to talk to me about, it was serious—especially since he’d ordered Vera to leave the room in such a brutal manner.
I closed the door and walked slowly toward the bed, dragging my feet like I was on my way to my own execution. I swallowed hard and clutched the strap of my purse. “What’s wrong, Daddy? Are you mad at me?” I asked, hoping I didn’t look as dumb as I sounded.
“I know you’ve been seeing Curtis!” he barked. “I know you’ve been rolling around in bed with that man! That’s what’s wrong, Jezebel!”
“Now, Daddy, just let me explain—”
“Explain what? Don’t even bother lying or trying to make up excuses!”
“Daddy, don’t holler like that. I don’t want other people to know my business.” I glanced toward the door, wondering if Vera was outside with her ear pressed against it.
“You didn’t care about other people knowing your business before now! I’ve got pictures of you out in public with Curtis all hugged up with strangers looking at you from every angle! Shame on you, Sarah Louise!”
I almost choked on some air before I could speak again. “You had somebody following me around?” My voice sounded shrill and frightened.
“Yes, I had somebody following you around!”
“Oh,” I mumbled. I sighed and offered Daddy a weak smile, hoping it would defuse the situation a little. My smile didn’t even faze him. The angry look was still on his face. “Well, I’m not going to lie about it. I’m tired of keeping it to myself. I love him, Daddy. I have never loved a man as much as I love Curtis. Not even Bo.”
Daddy looked at me like I was speaking Gaelic. He shook his head and clucked like a rooster. “Why in the world do you want to hurt me and your husband like this?”
“I don’t think I love Bo anymore.”
“What? What do you mean you don’t ‘think’ you love Bo anymore? When did you realize that?”
I looked away because I didn’t want to see the pain in Daddy’s eyes when he heard what I said next. I stared at the wall and said, “I know Bo was with his ex when he went to L.A. with you.” When I turned to face Daddy again, he looked like a pillar of salt.
“Say what?” As weak as he was, he m
anaged to sit bolt upright with his back as straight as a broom handle. “Who told you Bo was with his ex in L.A.?”
“I found a letter in his pocket that she had sent to him in care of Cash asking him to meet up with her when he got to L.A.”
“Did he tell you he met with her? Bo was with me most of the time, so I don’t know how he could have spent any time with her without me knowing about it.”
“Did you and Bo sleep in the same room?”
“Hell no! What’s wrong with you, girl? You know I don’t hang like that!”
“Then how would you know what he did when he wasn’t with you? I called the hotel and she’d checked in.”
Daddy’s jaw dropped and the pupils in his eyes got so dark, they looked like ink spots. “What are you telling me? Is Bo thinking about going back to that wench?”
“He claims he only agreed to talk to her so he could tell her to her face that he didn’t want to be with her again.”
“Did you believe him?”
“It doesn’t matter now, Daddy. I’m going to divorce him no matter what.”
“Lord have mercy!”
“He can still work for you and he can still live in the house if you want him to. I’m going to move in with Curtis anyway.”
“Have you lost your mind, Sarah Louise?”
“No, I have not lost my mind. I want to be happy like everybody else. I want to have a long, strong relationship with somebody I love. Just like you and Vera.”
Daddy started to laugh so hard he choked. I slapped him on the back, but that didn’t help. He was gasping for air so hard I had to summon his doctor back into the room. Dr. Mason came right away, with Vera trotting along right behind him with a scared look on her face.
“What’s the matter?” she yelled as the doctor waved her out of his way.
“I’m fine, I’m fine,” Daddy groaned, pushing the doctor’s hand away.
“Mr. Lomax, I think you’ve had enough company for today,” Dr. Mason said gently, adjusting his stethoscope and then feeling Daddy’s pulse.
“What did you say to him, Sarah? He was doing fine until you got here!” Vera snapped, wiping her nose with one of her dozens of monogrammed silk handkerchiefs.
“I just told Daddy that I’m leaving Bo so I can move in with Curtis,” I told her, speaking in a firm, proud manner. I didn’t feel scared anymore. As a matter of fact, I’d never felt bolder and more determined in my life. My words must have really slammed into them. I couldn’t tell which one groaned louder, Vera or Daddy. Neither one said a word. They just stared at me and blinked, shook their heads, and groaned some more.
Dr. Mason cleared his throat and looked from me to Vera, shaking his head. “Okay, that’s enough! You two are upsetting my patient,” he barked, snapping his fingers. “I insist that you both leave this room at once.” From the stern look on his face, I knew this doctor meant business. The last thing Daddy needed to see was Vera and me being escorted out by hospital security.
“Daddy, I’ll come back as soon as the doctor says it’s okay,” I sputtered. I gave him a quick peck on the forehead and then I left. I had made it halfway down the hall when I heard the heels of Vera’s Jimmy Choos clip-clopping on the marble floor behind me.
“You wait a minute!” she snarled, grabbing me by the arm as soon as she caught up to me. “What the hell has gotten into you—besides Curtis’s slimy dick? What about all the dealers and gangsters and whatnot he told us about who want him dead for being such a snitch and a busybody? I’m surprised he hasn’t already been snuffed out! Do you want to get caught up in his mess and get yourself hurt too?”
“Curtis can take care of himself—and me too—if he has to. He’s no fraidy-cat punk!” I strongly declared. Curtis kept a baseball bat, a stun gun, and a can of mace for protection in his apartment and had only had to use them a few times. If he wasn’t too worried about getting “snuffed out,” I wasn’t going to worry about it either.
Vera was so exasperated she was trembling. “What’s wrong with you, girl? You can’t leave Bo for that scumbag security guard.” She made “security guard” sound like the two most obscene words in the English language.
“I can’t? Well, you just watch me!” I retorted, slapping and pinching her hand until she released my arm.
“Bo will never give you a divorce!” Vera yelled. “I’ll see to that myself. He listens to me more than he listens to you!”
“Yes, he does. I noticed that a long time ago, Vera. Maybe that’s why it was so easy for me to get involved with another man.” I sniffed and narrowed my eyes. “If he had been more of a man, women like you and his ex couldn’t have turned him into such a wimp, which is what he was by the time he got to me. Well, he can listen to you all he wants. Whether he agrees to a divorce or not, I’m leaving him anyway.”
Vera noticed how people were looking at us, so she lowered her voice. “Haven’t you caused everybody enough pain? And why now?”
“What do you mean, ‘why now?’ Now is as good a time as any for me to leave.”
“Can’t you wait until your daddy gets better? Can’t you see what all this drama is doing to him? You are the most selfish bitch—”
“Look, Miss Prissy! I don’t have to stand here and listen to that kind of talk coming from you. I’ve tried to put up with your snooty ways since I was a teenager, and I’m tired of trying to be nice to you. And you have some nerve calling me selfish. You are the most selfish bitch I’ve ever met! No wonder you don’t have any friends.”
“What? I . . . I have plenty of friends, little girl! You don’t know what you’re talking about!” Vera roared. Her eyes looked like two pieces of coal. Blood rushed up her face, settling mainly in her nose. It looked like a strawberry. It was a funny sight, but I was too angry to laugh.
“Then how come you asked me to take you to the hospital when you had to have that fibroid surgery?”
Vera looked so stunned and vulnerable at that moment I was surprised she was still able to stand on her own. I couldn’t wait to hear her response. I braced myself. But nothing could have prepared me for what she said next. “I hate you, Sarah. I have always hated your ass,” she told me with her lips trembling and her eyes pooled with tears.
It took a few seconds for my brain to register what she’d just admitted. I had always suspected that Vera didn’t really like me. But hearing her say she hated me made me feel unbearably sad. “I don’t hate you, Vera. But I hate what you say and do. I feel sorry for you.”
“Oh my God!” She covered her mouth with her hand and shook her head. This time the color drained from her face. Now she looked almost like a ghost. I actually did feel sorry for her, but just for a few moments. “I’m sorry I said that!” she choked. “You know I didn’t mean it! It’s just that I’m so worried about your daddy and . . . and I’m so stressed and confused! Let’s try to be more civil to one another, sweetie.” Vera grabbed my arm again and smiled. I slapped and pinched her hand again. People were still looking at us. She began to fan her face with her hand, but that didn’t stop the sweat from forming on her forehead. Her thick makeup began to slide down her face like mud sliding down the side of a hill. “We have to live under the same roof, so we need to try and get along.”
“Didn’t you hear what I just said? I’m going to leave Bo. There is nothing you, Daddy, or anybody else can say to make me change my mind.” A couple of nurses and a few other visitors walked by, looking and listening to our heated conversation. I was embarrassed and I attempted to leave again, but Vera grabbed my arm and held me in place. “I’m moving in with Curtis today!” As soon as she heard that, she released my arm on her own this time.
“All right, BITCH! You go on to that motherfucking security guard. But I can tell you now, Bo is going to make you regret it! I’ll make sure of that!”
“I know you will, Vera.” I trotted on down the hall with her still following me, panting like a coyote. I bypassed the elevator and ducked into the stairwell. I had on my Nikes, so it
was easy for me to run down three flights of steps. Somehow, Vera managed to run down the same steps, not even stumbling in her impossibly high heels. When I got to the ground floor, she was right behind me, holding her shoes in her hand.
“Sarah, we need to talk some more. Please let me talk some sense into your head. If you want to leave Bo, at least wait until your daddy is out of the hospital. Didn’t you see how upset he was?”
“All right,” I said. “I’ll wait until Daddy gets well and comes home.”
“And please don’t even mention that security guard to Bo until then.”
“Why? I think the sooner Bo knows what I’m planning to do, the better. He’s not stupid. He knows I’m sleeping with Curtis and have been for a long time. And I know you know it too!”
Vera nodded her head hard. Then she swept her hair back with her hand so far I could see the faint scars behind her ears from her last face-lift. “I suspected you were. Don’t you know that’s a sin and a shame, girl? I’m sorry I had to stand here in public and hear you admit that you’ve been cheating on your husband.”
“Don’t be sorry. Be glad that it’s finally out in the open now,” I said sharply.
“Lord, what a mess you’ve created, child. I’m . . . I’m feeling sicker by the second,” Vera whimpered, gulping for air. She sounded like a sick puppy now and looked like the hag she really was behind the mask she wore. Despite all of the surgeries that had been performed on her face, the vigorous workouts with her trainers, and the makeup, Vera looked every minute of her sixty-two years now. “Let me talk to Bo first so he won’t take it so hard,” she rasped. Even her voice now sounded like it belonged to an old woman.
“Woman, what’s wrong with you? I don’t need for you to talk to my husband! That’s my job! You and Daddy have been running our marriage long enough. That’s part of the problem.”
“Yes, we did interfere more than we should have. We can’t change that now. But I’d still like to prepare my poor cousin for the bombshell you’re going to hit him with. He’s still in pain from the breakup of his first marriage.” I enjoyed watching Vera squirm, but I was anxious to end this conversation. “Sarah, I helped raise Bo. I’m like a second mama to him. I know him a lot better than you do. Please let me talk to him before you do—for everybody’s sake. I won’t ever ask you for anything else as long as I live.”
