“What was that for?” I said softly when he backed away from me. He sat back down, then released a deep sigh.
“As expected, you failed the test, and my point should be much easier to grasp now. The new you won’t be discovered until you hit rock bottom. You’re not there yet. I assure you that you’re not there. You’re just trying to say and do all the right things to get me to change my mind. Allowing me to have my way with you is not the route to go. Throwing your pussy at me won’t work, Evelyn, and you need to stop believing that it can get you whatever you want.”
“I did not just attempt to throw anything at you. You’re the one who kissed me. I went with the flow because I’m always happy to see you and I do have some feelings for you. What’s the big deal here?”
“I’m sorry if you’re too blind to see what it is, and I don’t have much time to help you figure it out. The bottom line is, no matter what you say or do, my decision stands. I will not change my mind, but I do have a few suggestions for you. Don’t spend the next several months of freedom worrying about where Bryson is. Like you, he was given an opportunity to correct himself, and he didn’t. He’s somewhere thinking real hard about his mistakes, and I’m going to give you a chance to do the same.
“Until then, make a bucket list and tackle some of the things you have always wanted to do. Spend time with your friends and enjoy your freedom, while you have it. Don’t waste another day by following me around, and if you’re really a changed woman, get on your knees every day, afternoon and night, and thank God for your friends. Thank Him that you’re still alive after all the dirt that you’ve done. None of us are perfect, Evelyn, but you still have a lot of soul-searching to do. Good luck, and be sure to choose your battles wisely while you’re incarcerated. Doing so will help you stay alive.”
Charles exited the booth, then left the restaurant. I sat there, as if cement had been poured over me. In that moment, it finally hit me that this was, indeed, a done deal.
* * *
The next several months played out exactly as Charles wanted them to. An attorney was hired to represent me, and he coached me on everything to say, especially when I was put on the witness stand to defend my actions. During the trial several ladies whom I didn’t even know and had never seen in my life got on that stand and cried their hearts out about what Cedric had done to them. Charles even went to the extreme of putting Paula Daniels on the stand. She really put on an act. She had the jury in awe when she cried as she told the courtroom about how badly Cedric had beaten her one day.
“My entire body was black and blue,” she said. Her lips quivered as she spoke. “He tried to stomp the life out of me, and if it wasn’t for my neighbor, I would be six feet under.”
Some of the jury members, the ones who hadn’t been bought, had tears trapped in their eyes. Paula became so overwhelmed while telling how things had gone down between her and Cedric that a police officer was asked to carry her out of the courtroom.
Kayla was then asked to take the stand. She spoke about how loving Cedric was and then confessed to him beating her too. “I didn’t know what was going on,” she said. “He turned into a man that I hadn’t witnessed the whole time I was married to him. I truly believe that my ex-husband would’ve killed me that day, because something inside of him snapped. I don’t know what it was, but he snapped.”
“Did he ever threaten you or put his hands on you after that?” my attorney asked Kayla.
“No, but he called to threaten my son. I was also worried about Cedric hurting my son.”
“Thank you, Mrs. Thompson. Thanks for your time.”
The arrogant prosecutor approached Kayla with a spiral notebook in his hand. We already knew how all of this was going to play out, and he did his best to make it look good for the jury members who weren’t part of the plan and simply for the record.
“Mrs. Thompson, you sit there and act as if you hated your husband. But the fact is, even up until he was murdered by your best friend, you still loved him, didn’t you?”
“I loved him as a person, but I wasn’t in love with him anymore.”
“Really now? I read from a journal that you wrote in prior to his murder, and you say right here that you love him with all your heart. That you wished the two of you had stayed married, and that’s why you would never give up your married name.”
“That’s not true. I decided to keep that name for financial reasons and other reasons that have nothing to do with still being in love with him.”
“Maybe that’s not true, but it is true that you and your friend shared your husband, isn’t it?”
“At one point in the marriage, yes, I did share, without knowing it.”
“And that same friend killed your husband, didn’t she?”
“Yes.”
His voice got stern and louder. “Mrs. Cedric Thompson, did you have anything to do with your husband’s murder? Did you pay your friend to pump three bullets into his chest, bash his head, and kill him!”
Kayla remained as calm as ever, just as she’d been advised. “No. No, I didn’t have anything to do with my ex-husband being killed. And in future, please do not address me by his name.”
The prosecutor rolled his eyes, then looked at the judge. “No further questions.”
My stomach was tight the whole time Kayla spoke. She did good, and I was so relieved. I awaited my time on the stand, and it happened later that day. At first I was nervous, but my attorney helped to put me at ease. He bombarded me with question after question. He asked me to explain how it all went down that day. He also asked me to speak about my ongoing relationship with Cedric. You’d better believe that I made it sound horrific. I saw one of the jury members clench her chest and another shake her head. Even though Charles had crafted this trial, I seriously thought that when all was said and done, the jury would find me not guilty of murder in the second degree. However, less than a week later, they did.
I still did not know my ultimate fate, and I guessed that Charles intended to put me on pins and needles as I stood before the judge, who was responsible for delivering my sentence. He gave his spiel, which went in one ear and out the other. All I wanted to hear was the number of years I would get for murdering Cedric.
“I sentence you to five years in the—”
After hearing the words five years, I fainted.
23
Trina
This past year had been interesting. Keith and I were taking things one day at a time, and I was so grateful to him for giving me another chance. He wasn’t completely over what I had done to him, but he was thankful, as well as excited, about his newborn son. I hadn’t seen Keith this happy in a long time, and it made me regret that I hadn’t gotten my act together sooner. I, too, was happy, and our little boy changed our lives in ways that neither of us had thought was possible. Our anniversary was in one month. I was one sista who was hoping and praying that my man would propose to me. I kind of sensed it, and you’d better believe I was keeping my fingers crossed.
As for Kayla, she had stuck with her Alcoholics Anonymous classes and had been sober for months. We were spending a lot of time together while Evelyn was away, and my bond with Kayla was stronger, as well as unbreakable. She and Jacoby had been getting along better too. He was trying to finish up school, and I suspected that he was ready to move out of Kayla’s house for good and live on his own. Kayla had said that he hadn’t mentioned much else about Cedric, and she had also mentioned that he wanted to have his last name changed. She felt some kind of way about it, but I reminded her that it was time for her to let go and let Jacoby do him.
Evelyn’s situation, however, had been turned out to be much more complicated than we had originally thought it would be. We were disappointed about the five-year sentence, especially since the bottom line in the case was that it was an act of self-defense. I’d felt that there was no way that I could sit back and let Evelyn do five years for something I’d had my hands in too, and so as soon as she was to have
visitors, I’d spoken to her and Kayla about coming clean and telling the police about my involvement.
“Hell, no,” Evelyn said, looking at me tearfully that day as she sat behind the thick glass. She was dressed in an orange jumpsuit, there were bags underneath her eyes, and stress was written all over her frowning face. “This is over with, Trina. It’s time for us to move on, and five years will come and go just like that.” She snapped her fingers, but I wasn’t buying what she was trying to sell me.
“You don’t have to put on your game face for me. All I’m saying is—”
She quickly cut me off. “All I’m saying is people are listening, so it’s best that we talk about something positive.” Her eyes traveled to my stomach. She cracked a tiny smile. “Have you decided what you’re going to name the baby yet? I’m good with picking names, and if it’s a girl, feel free to name her after me.”
Evelyn was trying to change the subject, but I needed her to be on the same page with me when I decided to go to the police and tell them what had really happened.
“I haven’t decided on a name yet, but I have decided to go to the police. We—”
“If you do, I’ll make you look like a liar. And if you say one more word about this, Trina, this conversation is done.”
I ignored Evelyn’s threat, and as I continued to make my case for wanting to tell the truth, she glared at me through the window before placing the phone on the hook. She swallowed hard, then moved away from the window. I sat, full of emotions, not knowing what else to do. Kayla was in the car, waiting for me. After her prior conversation with Evelyn, Kayla had advised me to stick with the plan.
“If she doesn’t want anyone to know the truth about what really happened that day, then let it go,” Kayla had said. “Going through another trial will be difficult for all of us, and the outcome could be even worse than it is now.”
That had, indeed, been a possibility, but remaining silent had been difficult to do, especially after I’d started getting letters from Evelyn that were nothing nice to read. She kept talking about wanting to kill herself, and about her ongoing arguments and fights with others. And after being in the hole so much, it appeared that she had begun to realize that she just wasn’t going to win in a place like that. There were too many women trying to be the boss, and she had to sit back and give them their crown. I had responded by telling her how much I regretted not telling the police the truth. I’d also mentioned that it was not too late for me to speak up, but after my third letter to her in which I declared my intentions to do something, her letters stopped, and the fourth one I wrote came back marked RETURN TO SENDER. I thought that something bad had happened to her, but it was obvious that she wasn’t down with my plan and had decided to ignore me. I had nowhere else to turn but to Keith. He had been against me going to the police, as well, and had kept reminding me of the dire consequences.
* * *
“This is one time I will have to agree with Evelyn,” he said as we discussed my options one day. “What’s done is done. Evelyn will be okay, but you won’t be if you keep stressing yourself like this. You’ve got to take care of yourself, baby. And what about us? We deserve to be happy, and for once, I want you to think about how important it is for you to be at your best for our child.”
I squeezed my aching forehead, trying to soothe a headache that wouldn’t go away. “I’m trying to be the best person I can be, but this is hard, Keith. I wish there was something I could do to get her out of there sooner. I don’t think nobody understands how painful this has been for all of us. Kayla and I both feel as if we haven’t done enough. Yes, Evelyn brought a lot of this on herself, but the truth is, we’re like family. They are my family, Keith, and we have been through so much.”
Keith could see how wounded I was. He embraced me, then planted a soft kiss on my forehead. “I do understand. Some bonds can never be broken, but I want you to make me a promise. If you promise to start taking care of yourself, and our child, I’ll reach out to my father and see if there is anything he can do. I don’t know if he can do anything, but we’ll see.”
I rested my head against Keith’s chest, praying for some kind of miracle.
* * *
The miracle arrived almost a year and a half later, when Kayla and I were informed that Evelyn would be released. With much enthusiasm, we drove to the prison to get her and parked right outside the gates through which she would soon walk free. I couldn’t wait to see my BFF, and as we stood outside my car, waiting for Evelyn, we tried to guess how she would look.
“I bet she done cut off all her hair,” Kayla said while holding out her pinkie finger. “How much do you want to bet?”
“No way. Evelyn’s hair is probably somewhere down her back. I’m sure her nails are all polished, and she may come out here with a suit on.”
“See, I disagree. I think she done gave all that up.”
“Girl, this is Evelyn we’re talking about. I don’t care where she’s at. You know she is going to do her best to look good.”
We laughed, but as time ticked away, Kayla bit her nails, all the while keeping her eyes on the door through which we expected Evelyn to exit. She was getting just as nervous as I was, especially since another prisoner had made an exit about thirty minutes ago. We were so sure that Evelyn would be coming soon. But after fifteen or so more minutes, we started to get worried. I didn’t know who to call in order to find out why this was taking so long, but just as I was reaching for my phone to call Keith, the steel door to the prison came open. I could see Evelyn from a distance, and just as I had predicted, her hair was parted down the middle and she sported a long ponytail that stopped midway down her back. She wore a white T-shirt and a pair of baggy jeans that did nothing for her figure. She also looked as if she had picked up some weight, but it wasn’t a lot. A smile was on her face, and as she got closer, she started to laugh while strutting on the pavement.
“I’s free!” she shouted as the gates parted. “Y’all hear me, ladies? I’s free!”
She started skipping her way to us, and then she stopped to do the cabbage patch. We could see that her sense of humor had improved. That made us feel good, and the smiles on our faces showed it. She held out her arms, then grabbed me and Kayla around our necks when she reached us. She kissed my cheek first, then Kayla’s.
“I missed the hell out of y’all,” she said tearfully. “I dreamed night after night about this day, and all I wanted to do was wrap my arms around my BFF’s again.”
Totally relieved, we knew exactly how she felt. Our arms were wrapped tightly around her, as well, and what an amazing day this was for us. I mean, if our friendship could be mended after all that we had endured, surely, other friendships could be too. Not all, but certainly some....
Book Club Questions
1. Is it okay to forgive someone for cheating, or should you just abandon the relationship or friendship?
2. Do you think that Evelyn has changed by the end of the novel?
3. Should Kayla have told Cedric that Jacoby paid Paula Daniels to kill him?
4. Should friends be held to the same standards as someone you date? Why or why not?
5. How do you feel about forgiving people? Were Trina and Kayla right or wrong for forgiving Evelyn?
6. How do you feel about Trina’s relationship with Keith? Was he right to forgive her?
7. Could you see yourself involved with a man like Charles Washington, if he wasn’t married? Why or why not?
8. Who is your favorite character?
9. Could you ever see yourself taking the fall for a friend? Why or why not?
10. What is one of the worst things a friend has done to you, and how did you overcome it?
11. What message did you get from reading this book?
Urban Books, LLC
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BFF’S 3: Best Frenemies Forever Series
Copyright © 2016 Brenda Hampton
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ISBN: 978-1-6228-6962-6
This is a work of fiction. Any references or similarities to actual events, real people, living or dead, or to real locales are intended to give the novel a sense of reality. Any similarity in other names, characters, places, and incidents is entirely coincidental.
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