The Devil You Know

by Mary Monroe

  “I guess she didn’t know that part when she called,” Elaine answered with an incredulous look on her face. “Basically, all she told us was that Kandy told her Reed’s mama broke the news that you and Reed had called it quits. Losing a husband is bad enough, but it’s doubly bad when you lose him to another woman.”

  “I can’t wait to find out who the other woman is,” I hissed.

  “You mean to say you don’t know? Lord have mercy!” Mama boomed with a horrified look on her face.

  I shook my head.

  “When you find out who she is, kick her ass and maybe your husband will bring his tail back home,” Elmo suggested.

  “The hell I will! I’ve never fought over a man and I’m not going to start now!” I shot back.

  My sister blinked and gave me a look that was so full of pity, I wanted to cry. But I didn’t want to shed any more tears for now, especially in front of my family. “I was on the phone with Rena Henderson a little while ago. That big mouth knows everybody’s business,” Elaine said gruffly.

  “What news did you get from Rena?” Mama asked, giving Elaine a sharp look.

  From the grim expression on Elaine’s face, I knew she was going to report even more bad news. “You know the psychologist that Reed plays golf with?” she said.

  “Of course I know Lincoln Wheeler. He lived in a unit on our floor until he bought that big house in the hills last year. His wife used to be a Vegas showgirl back in the day. I heard she had a reputation that wouldn’t quit—even after they got married. Reed told me a couple of years ago that Dr. Wheeler caught her in bed with another man.” I stopped talking and looked from one face to another with my mouth hanging open. “Is that tramp the woman Reed left me for?”

  “Naw! She ain’t the one!” Elaine boomed. Then she sat down on the couch arm closer to me and lowered her voice. “Dr. Wheeler has three daughters.”

  Mama blinked and fanned her face with her hand. Elmo took another drink from his beer can. And then they all looked at me at the same time.

  “I know. One married one of Reed’s interns. The other two are students at UC Berkeley. Grace, the youngest one, used to babysit Junior a few years ago.” I knew more devastating news was coming, so I swallowed hard and braced myself.

  “Grace is the one,” Elaine announced in a tone so harsh each word sounded obscene.

  “What? Reed left me so he could marry a teenager?”

  “You was just seventeen when he got you pregnant and married you,” Mama pointed out. “Tsk, tsk, tsk. He was in his twenties then, so it wasn’t too bad. He’s in his forties now, and I can’t imagine why a man his age would want to marry a girl that young.”

  I was so dumbstruck, I couldn’t speak for a few moments. My head was pounding and my stomach was cramping. I didn’t know what to say, and I didn’t want to hear whatever my folks had to say next. I stood up and started backing toward the door. “I’m going home, but I’ll probably be back tomorrow,” I muttered.

  “How is Junior taking the news about this mess?” Elmo asked in a gruff tone.

  “He’s upset, but he’s holding up all right. I picked him up from school before I came over here. He told me that Reed had called him right after his math class and told him he was leaving me. Junior didn’t even want to come back home with me, so I dropped him off at Aunt Becky’s house to spend the night with his cousins.” I exhaled and forced myself to smile as I opened the door. “Mama, I might call you later,” I said. Then I couldn’t get to my car fast enough.

  * * *

  My head was throbbing as I drove, cussing and slapping my steering wheel. Words could not describe how angry I was now, but I knew my anger was going to get much worse.

  I cussed some more when I got to my block and saw Reed’s Lexus parked in front of our building. I was afraid to go inside, more for his sake than mine. Knowing that he had been cheating on me with the same girl that I had thought of as the little sister I’d always wanted made me sick!

  I parked behind his car and called his cell phone. I didn’t like his tone when he answered. He sounded impatient. “What is it, Joan?” he barked.

  “I’m sitting outside and I’m going to stay here until you leave,” I said evenly.

  “You won’t have to sit out there long. I just came back to pick up some of my belongings. And you didn’t have to dump my custom-made suits onto the floor! I’m surprised your ghetto ass didn’t cut them to shreds or douse them with bleach.”

  “Humph! I have too much class to do something that tacky. I peed on your ‘custom-made suits,’ ” I said with a smirk.

  “Joan, there is nothing you can do that would surprise me. My only regret is that I didn’t leave you sooner!”

  “Why you . . . you punk-ass motherfucker! That’s my regret too! But I guess you had to wait until your little girl whore turned eighteen, huh?”

  Several seconds went by before he responded. “You know about Grace?”

  “Yes, I know she’s the other woman. It’s a damn shame you weren’t man enough to tell me yourself.”

  “Whatever!” he snapped. “I’m glad you know. Come on in so we can talk like civilized adults about a settlement.”

  “Isn’t that something we should be discussing in the presence of our lawyers?”

  “Yes, but there are a few things we can sort out now.”

  “I’m not sorting out a damn thing until I talk to a lawyer!”

  Reed groaned and mumbled under his breath. And then he started talking in a slow, patronizing tone. “I’m going to say a few things now anyway. You can have the condo, half of my stocks, and half of the money in our bank accounts. You’ll receive a very generous financial settlement in addition to alimony. I’ll continue to pay for the health insurance premium for you and Junior, and we’ll have joint custody. That should be enough for you. Happy?”

  “Hell yes! Are you?”

  “Very much so. I’ll have my freedom and peace of mind.” He paused and sucked on his teeth. “And I’ll be with the woman who really loves me. That’s all I want.”

  “I don’t want to continue this conversation here. Can you meet me at Mama’s house after you finish packing your things? I want somebody to be present in case—”

  Reed cut me off so fast, it made my head spin. “In case what?” He stopped and coughed a few times to catch his breath.

  “In case things get ugly,” I said calmly. I was tempted to cuss at him some more, but I wanted to deliver my best insults in person.

  “Look, I am not going to stoop to your level and go off on a tangent, so if things do get ugly, it’ll be on your end!”

  “If you can’t meet me at Mama’s house this evening, I don’t want to see your face again until we sit down with our lawyers.”

  “All right. I should be there in half an hour.”

  Chapter 49

  Joan

  I IMMEDIATELY TURNED AROUND AND DROVE BACK TO MAMA’S house. Elmo’s old jalopy was not parked in the driveway, and Elaine’s car was missing too. The lights in the house were on, but they were always left on when everybody was only going to be away for a short time.

  I rushed inside and flopped down on the living room couch. I was in such a fog by now, I didn’t realize I had removed my cell phone from my purse. Without giving it much thought, I hit Lola’s number. “It’s me,” I muttered when she answered.

  “Where are you? I was worried about you.”

  “Don’t worry about me. I’m at Mama’s house. Reed is on his way over here so we can talk about a few things. Guess who the other woman is?” I didn’t give Lola time to answer. “Grace Wheeler.”

  She gasped so hard, I thought she was going to hyperventilate. “That cute young girl who used to babysit Junior?”

  “Uh-huh.”

  “Isn’t she still in high school?”

  “She graduated last year. She’s nineteen now and studying at Berkeley.”

  “I can’t believe that she’s the one!”

  “You can
believe she’s the one, because Reed confirmed it,” I said, squirting the words out like spit. “He even had the nerve to call her a ‘lovely woman.’ ”

  “I would have bet a month’s salary that Reed had hooked up with one of his staff or one of his patients. When and where did they get together?”

  “I’m not sure when and where. What I do know is, he hasn’t been hiking and having drinks with Dr. Weinstein, working late, helping people write speeches, and all the other alibis he’s been claiming lately. Those were lies he told so he could be with Grace.”

  “Well, Dr. Weinstein is his closest friend, so he probably knows everything Reed’s been up to lately. Dr. Weinstein drinks like a damn whale and drunks like to run off at the mouth. I’m sure he’s blabbed a few things to his wife about his associates. Why don’t you give Meg a call and pick her brain? She might be able to tell you a few things.”

  “What good would that do? Meg Weinstein is so desperate to hang on to that mule-faced devil, she’d lie to Jesus for him if he asked her to. And another thing—hold on! Somebody just drove up. I think Reed’s here.” I ran to the window and parted the drapes. He had parked in front of the house and was trotting up the walkway. “It’s him! I’ll call you later!” I turned off my phone and put it back in my purse. Then I sprinted to the door and snatched it open. He strutted in with a scowl already on his face. It didn’t faze me, because next to mine his looked more like a smile.

  “Start talking,” I ordered with my arms folded and my foot tapping.

  “Jesus Christ, Joan. Can’t you at least give me time to get inside? And I’m thirsty, so I wouldn’t mind a shot of vodka or anything else potent. Something tells me I’ll probably need it.”

  “This is not a social visit, so you can forget about wetting your whistle with my stepfather’s alcohol! Now you can sit your crusty black ass down and say whatever you have to say and then get the hell up out of here!”

  Reed stared at me as if I was speaking gangster rap. I waved him to the couch, and he sat down with a thud and a loud groan. “I have a few more items to remove from the condo, and I’ll try to get that done by next week,” he said, looking around. “Where is everybody?”

  “I don’t know. The house was empty when I got back here.”

  “Well, I deserve—”

  I wagged my finger and cut him off. “Deserve? Guess what, Dr. Booger Bear? You will definitely get everything you deserve.”

  “Humph! And so will you. One thing you won’t get is another man who’ll treat you the way I did.”

  His last comment almost made me throw up. “I sure as hell hope not! I don’t want another cheating-ass punk in my life!”

  He held up his hand and gave me a harsh look. “Slow down now before you say something you’ll regret. Don’t talk to me as if you’ve lost what’s left of your mind. Be a real woman for once in your life.”

  “I will with the next man I get involved with. And I’m going to make sure he’s more of a man than you are.”

  He raised his eyebrows and gazed at me from the corner of his eye. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “You weren’t even man enough to tell your own son to his face that you were leaving me.”

  A pitiful look crossed Reed’s face, which was now covered in sweat. “Well, I wanted to but I thought it would be less painful if I told him over the phone.”

  “Less painful for him or you?”

  “Joan, I am a good father and you can’t deny that. I’ve made mistakes, but I was good to you and Junior in every way! Yes, I was a little on the jealous side and I tried to keep close tabs on you, but we still had a damn good thing going!”

  “Oh yeah? Then why did you cheat?”

  He shrugged and took a deep breath. “I can’t answer that, and I’m sure no other person can either. Maybe it’s part of the game of life.”

  “It didn’t sound like you thought it was ‘part of the game of life’ all those times you accused me of being with other men!” I shouted.

  “Look, what’s done is done. I fell in love with another woman, but I didn’t mean for it to happen. I’m not perfect. I’m just . . . I guess I needed something different in my life and you couldn’t give it to me. I tried to make do with you, but I couldn’t keep up the pretense.”

  I did a dramatic neck roll and gave Reed a look of disbelief. “You tried to ‘make do’ with me?” I laughed so hard, tears pooled in my eyes. The next look I gave him was so menacing, he trembled. “Let me tell you what I had to make do with: lousy sex. I cringed every time you climbed on top of me.”

  If I had sprouted horns, Reed could not have looked more stupefied. “Oh really? Well, you sure never acted like I was bad in bed. If I was that bad, I would have figured out a long time ago that I wasn’t satisfying you. You can keep that lie in your mouth, because I know you’re just trying to make me feel worse. Other than our son, the only good thing we had left was a good sex life!”

  “You’re half right.” This time I laughed so hard my lungs felt as if they were going to explode. “I had a very good sex life and it wasn’t with you!”

  Reed stood up so abruptly he almost fell. The blood drained from his face and his eyes bulged. “So you did cheat on me?”

  “For years! One week I slept with three different men!”

  There was so much rage in Reed’s eyes they sparkled like glitter. “Why you despicable, deceitful, low-down, whorish little heifer!” he blasted with his nostrils flaring like a bull’s. The next thing I knew, he lunged at me. He slapped my face so hard I hit the floor with the weight of a boulder. It hurt like hell, but I didn’t even scream. I wobbled up and grabbed my purse off the coffee table. And then I pulled out the pepper spray that I had been saving just for him.

  When he saw what I had in my hand, he yelped and shot across the floor toward the door with me right behind him, spraying the back of his head. “Oh shit! Get away from me, Joan!” He snatched open the door and bolted, and I was still right behind him. He was moving too erratically and covering part of his face with his hand for me to get a good aim. When he reached his car, he took his keys out of his pocket and ducked, but I managed to splatter one side of his face. “AARRGGHH!” he screamed. His legs buckled and he collapsed. “Joan, please! Please stop!” He was kicking, farting, coughing, blinking, and fanning his eyes with both hands. I stood over him and gave him another hefty spurt. He covered his eyes again, so most of the spray landed on his chin and neck. “AARRGGHH!”

  The pepper spray was so potent, I felt some of its effect. I had to hold my breath, blink my burning eyes, and cough a few times before I was able to speak again. “Get out of my sight before I call one of my brothers or uncles over here to finish what I started!” I threatened. “Compared to what they’ll do to your ass, this pepper spraying episode will seem like a Baptism!”

  Reed staggered to his feet, still wiping his eyes and gagging as he fumbled with his keys and opened his car door. Within seconds, he got in and started the motor. Whimpering and fanning, he took off like a bat flying out of hell.

  Chapter 50

  Joan

  I DIDN’T WANT TO DEAL WITH MY FAMILY AGAIN WHEN THEY RETURNED, so I left right after Reed. My eyes and nose were still burning from the pepper spray fumes. I couldn’t imagine how much damage it had done to Reed. As long as he got the message that he couldn’t slap me and get away with it, that was all that mattered. I drove around long enough to cool off, and without giving it a second thought I went back to Lola’s house.

  She was horrified when I told her what I’d done to Reed. “You pepper sprayed your husband?”

  “My soon-to-be ex-husband. He slapped me, so I was only defending myself.”

  “Why didn’t you just slap him back? Pepper spray is nothing to play with.”

  “I wasn’t playing. And I finally told him what a lousy fuck he is.”

  “I don’t think it was a good idea to pepper spray him, but I’m glad you finally told him he’s lousy in bed. You shoul
d have told him years ago. Maybe he would have found another woman and divorced you then and you’d be happily married to somebody else by now. Can I fix you a margarita or a glass of wine? I just got back from the liquor store, so there’s plenty to drink.” Lola waved me to the couch and I sat down with a thud.

  “Thanks for asking,” I said as I kicked off my shoes. I had to get comfortable, because I knew this was going to be a long visit. “You know that I’d love to have a few, but I won’t. Because if I do, I won’t stop until I pass out. I just want to sit here and talk for a while.”

  Lola sat down at the other end of the couch and gave me a pensive look. “You know I’m here for you, and I know you’re here for me.” She dropped her head, and when she looked up again she looked unbearably sad. “I’m feeling kind of shell-shocked by all that’s happened lately. I never thought that Bertha and Reed would get out of the picture around the same time.”

  “I still can’t believe what Reed did to me,” I said, with my voice dropping almost to a whisper. “He’d better pray that I never bump into him and his whore in public! There might be a bloodbath!”

  The sad look on Lola’s face intensified. “I don’t blame you for being so pissed off, Joan, but you need to get over it.”

  “That’s easy for you to say.”

  “No, it’s not. We’re both going through a crisis right now, and I can’t say mine is worse than yours or yours is worse than mine. At the end of the day, we’re both in pain. Yeah, I’d like to beat Libby down, but what good would that do? And even if I did get violent with her, I might be the one to get beaten down. I’m not going to bother her, even if I run into her at the beauty salon or anyplace else we both go to.”

  “What if she calls you out in public? Are you going to stand there and let her whup your ass without defending yourself?”

  “That’s a different story. If she starts something with me in public, or anywhere else, I will defend myself. I’ve done it before and I’ll do it again. I hope it never comes to that. Violence never solves anything.”