by Mary Monroe
When he opened the door to his suite wearing only a pair of tight Speedo shorts, he didn’t say a word. He just smiled and nodded, closed the door, then pulled me into his arms and gave me a passionate kiss. I was already turned on, but the kiss was so good, it made me tingle. His dark brown hair was thin, and he had a few wrinkles on his slightly handsome face. He was a little plump around his middle, and his arms were flabby. But I could tell from the hard bulge between his legs pressing against me that at least one part of his body was in pretty good shape. He clamped his hand around my wrist and led me toward the huge bed in the middle of the room.
“My, my, my. And you’re so pretty!” Darrin whispered in my ear as he patted my crotch. “This is what every man deserves.”
“Thank you,” I said, as we eased down on the bed. “I was glad to see your message last night.”
“I’m glad you saw it too. There were a few other young ladies in your area that appealed to me tonight, but you were my first choice.”
I was pleased to see a huge bottle of champagne on top of the dresser. “Do you mind if I have a drink so I can loosen up a bit? Today was pretty tense.”
“Of course!” Darrin made a sweeping gesture with his hand toward the dresser. “The wine will help, but I promise you’ll be nice and loose by the time you leave this room!” He looked at his watch and whistled. “I hope you don’t mind if we put off dinner until after we’d gotten cozy. . . .”
“That’ll be fine. I’m not that hungry anyway.” My stomach felt as if it had been empty for days. I hadn’t eaten anything since the Big Mac I’d gobbled up for lunch. Now I wished I had grabbed a few of those rolls Bertha had baked for me and eaten them in the cab.
“My wife’s appetite for sex is not what it used to be. And the lady friend I’ve been seeing on the side for years wasn’t available to see me before I left Florida, so I’m hornier than I care to be right now,” Darrin told me. He cleared his throat and a very serious look crossed his face. “I want you to know that it’s a true delight for me to be with you tonight. The reviews on the club’s board about you are spectacular.”
“Um, thank you,” I said shyly. “I’ve been on a lot of dates with club members. That’s the extent of my sex life for now.”
“Hmmm. Well, I don’t plan on staying in the club too much longer. As soon as I can work out a good settlement with my soon-to-be ex-wife, I’m going to marry my lady friend. She wants me to retire and buy a house for us in Miami. She keeps me on a fairly short leash, so if I do retire, I won’t be able to get away as often as I do now. By the way, BrownSugar—you don’t mind if I call you that, do you? I think it’s such a cute screen name. And, if you don’t mind me saying so, Lola doesn’t really suit you.”
“You can call me whatever you want. What would you like for me to call you?”
Darrin gave me an amused look before he laughed. He started removing my clothes and talking at the same time. “When I joined Discreet Encounters two years ago, my screen name was COCKaDoodleDo. The first club member I had a rendezvous with advised me to change it to BIGDaddy. She felt it was more appropriate and certainly more attractive.”
“It does sound more attractive,” I eagerly agreed.
“And certainly more appropriate. In a few moments, I’m going to show you why.”
Chapter 31
Joan
SUNDAY MORNING GOT OFF TO A GOOD START FOR ME. I HAD JUST turned on the bedroom desktop computer, which I kept on a stand next to the dresser. I needed to order a few things from Amazon and check my e-mail messages. Before I could even enter my username and password, I heard somebody slam the living-room door. It was a few minutes past eleven. Reed had left at ten-thirty to go get a haircut, so I knew it wasn’t him. And Junior was at Mama’s house. I cringed because I already knew who had dropped in uninvited: my mother-in-law.
I cussed under my breath and turned off my computer. I could already feel a major headache coming on, so I opened the bottle of Advil I kept on the nightstand and swallowed a couple.
“ANYBODY HOME?” Mother Riley roared. “JOAN! JOAN! UU-UUHHH, JOAN!” My mother-in-law had a fairly pleasant voice when she spoke in a normal volume, but today she sounded like a carnival barker. “JOAN, I’M HERE!” Of all the people in the world I didn’t want to talk to or see on a Sunday morning, she was the main one.
I took several deep breaths and scurried out of the bedroom. The way my stomach was flipping and flopping, I felt like I was about to face a firing squad. I was glad I wasn’t still in my bathrobe, because Mother Riley would certainly complain about that. By the time I got to the living room, she had already parked her big butt on the couch and kicked off her shoes. Bunions on each of her long, flat feet stuck out like elbows.
There was an exasperated expression on her face. She blew out a loud breath and shook her head. “In the first place, with all the shopping you do, why do you wear pants so often?” she grumbled. “And with the generous allowance Reed gives to you, you ought to dress the way the other women in his social circle dress. Pants, especially as tight as the ones you have on now, make a woman look cheap. You don’t live in the ghetto anymore, Joan.”
These pants, which I had plucked off a clearance rack in an upscale boutique, had cost over six hundred dollars. Michelle Obama, Hillary Clinton, and Oprah had worn the same brand in some recent magazine articles. “I’m going to change into a dress later today,” I said. “Reed went to get a haircut,” I continued, wringing my hands, wishing it was my mother-in-law’s neck I was wringing.
Mother Riley always dressed to the nines. Today she wore a green tweed suit with gold buttons. The red scarf she had looped around her thick neck resembled a noose. Her tight, black velvet hat reminded me of a stocking cap. She looked like a cross between a Christmas tree and a plump elf. She sniffed and shifted in her seat. Then she put her feet up on the coffee table and crossed them at the ankles, as if she was at home. “I know where my baby is, young lady. Reed calls me two or three times a day to let me know where he’ll be in case I need to get in touch with him. He called me on my cell phone a few minutes ago.” She stopped talking and stared at me with a weary look. “I wanted to talk to you without him being present.” She patted the spot on the couch next to her. “Maybe you should sit down for this.”
I shook my head. “I’d rather stand for whatever it is you have to talk to me about,” I said firmly. Even though my mother-in-law drove me to distraction, I always tried to treat her with respect. However, there were times when I stood my ground and challenged her in some way. “Whatever you have to say, please say it now so we can get it over with.”
Mother Riley’s eyes got big and she removed her feet from the coffee table. There was a wounded look on her face, but then a couple of seconds later she shot me a hot look. “Joan, you know I don’t like it when you sass me. Where I come from, young people don’t sass their elders.”
“I’m sorry if it sounded like I was sassing you. I didn’t mean to.”
“Well, it sounded like it to me. I guess you can’t help yourself, though.” She shifted in her seat again and returned her feet to the coffee table. Most of the time, I didn’t even like being in the same room with Mother Riley, so I was not about to join her on the couch. My legs felt heavy, and I wanted to sit down. But I had more control on my feet. And the thing I wanted to control the most was my temper. A lot of other women would have cussed out a mother-in-law like mine a long time ago. And some of the ones from my hood would have banned her from visiting them and maybe even kicked her ass. I was not crude enough to go that far, but she was pushing me in that direction.
“I don’t like to get in your business,” she went on, pausing to roll her eyes around the room. From her pinched look, I thought she was gearing up to criticize my housekeeping skills again. Then she looked back at me with her eyes narrowed. “I noticed how depressed my baby sounded when I talked to him this morning.”
“Well, I don’t know why your ‘baby’ is depressed.”
“There is no easy way to say this, so I won’t beat around the bush. I’m going to tell it like it is. Please don’t tell Reed what we talked about.”
I took a deep breath and held it for a few seconds. “What are we talking about?”
“When Reed was a little boy, he was often very unhappy. I know a lot of it had to do with the fact that he never had any siblings to interact with. I assumed that marriage would give him something to hope for. . . .”
“What are you trying to tell me?” It took a lot of effort for me to hide my impatience.
“He wants more children.”
“I am aware of that.” Reed had told me several times over the years that he wanted at least two more children. And each time I’d told him I wasn’t ready. It had been about three years since he’d brought up the subject. But he knew how hard I tried to please his mother, so I wondered if he’d put her up to approaching me. “We’ve discussed it.”
“Well?”
“Well what?”
“Is there some reason why you haven’t had another child after all these years?”
“Excuse me?”
“I’ve discussed it with Mr. Reed several times, and he suspects there is a medical reason.” Mother Riley gave me a pitiful look. “Is that it, dearie?”
“A medical reason? Well, yeah. It’s something like that,” I said with a smirk.
“Something like what?” Her eyes, which were already big, got even bigger.
“Something like birth control pills.”
“Oh my God!” she shrieked.
“I started taking them right after Junior was born, and I’ve been on them ever since. Reed knows I’m not ready to have another baby. I’ve told him that more than once. One is enough for now.”
“Why not?” Mother Riley started fanning her face with her clutch purse. “The boy is practically grown!” she hollered.
“The boy is fourteen!” I hollered back.
“Joan, you are in your thirties. Before you know it, you’ll be in your forties. What if you wake up one day in your fifties and wish you had had more children? It’ll be too late then. I’m sure your mother is anxious to have another grandchild. After all, she did have seven children of her own.”
“All my mother cares about is me being happy. I am happy with just one child.”
“Joan, this is not about just you and what you want. Why are you being so selfish?”
I could have gotten a lot of mileage out of that comment, but I decided to let it slide. The conversation was already ugly enough. “Mother Riley, raising a child is hard work. I love my son, but like I just said, he’s enough for now. When and if I decide to have more children, I’ll do so way before I get too old.” I paused long enough to catch my breath, which felt hot and tasted sour. “And for your information, the number of children Reed and I have is our business.”
“My grandchildren are my business!”
There was so much profanity trying to get out of my mouth, I had to press my lips together to hold it in. “What . . . ever,” was the best response I could come up with, because I knew that if I started cussing, I wouldn’t stop.
“Joan, what do you think marriage is for?” I couldn’t figure out why Mother Riley asked me this question, because she answered it herself. “It’s to make a home for a man and raise his children. Reed probably would not have married you in the first place if you hadn’t got yourself pregnant. . . .”
“If you think I got pregnant on purpose so Reed would marry me, you’re wrong. I didn’t have to marry him.”
“Well, if you didn’t want to raise a family, why did you marry my son?”
“I married your son because I thought I loved him,” I said with my voice cracking.
Mother Riley yelped and covered her mouth with her hand. She glared at me for a few seconds before she continued. “You thought you loved him? Well, do you love him now? Girl, Reed loves you, and you should be thanking your lucky stars every day. If he hadn’t come along, you’d be with some low-income snaggle-puss like the rest of the women in your family.”
“Now, don’t even go there!” I shouted with one hand in the air and the other on my hip. “You can trash me all you want, but please leave my family out of this. They’ve never done or said anything mean about you.”
“Humph! Well, I’m your family now, Joan. I was not happy that Reed settled for you, but I’ve learned to live with it. You still have a lot of good years left, but Reed is ten years older than you. The least you can do is give him more children like he wants and deserves before he gets too old to enjoy them.”
I didn’t know why I was wasting my time debating with a woman whose mind was about as nimble as a slab of concrete. It wouldn’t have done any good for me to leave the room. The last time I did that, she followed me and we spent ten more minutes yelling at one another in the kitchen. She’d started the conversation this time, but I was going to finish it. “I wish you wouldn’t twist things. I never said I didn’t want to raise a family. All I said was one child is enough for me, for now. Junior is a handful. Anyway, you had only one child.”
“I also had to have a hysterectomy six months after I gave birth to Reed. Had I not, I would have had several more children. I’m surprised and disappointed to hear that you think one child is enough.”
“Well, it is—for now,” I insisted again. “I barely have time to myself these days.”
“Maybe if you slowed down and spent less time roaming around with that footloose Lola woman, shopping, and going to book club meetings, you’d have a lot more time. Oh! Speaking of Lola, I’ve been meaning to tell you something I found out about her! She’s getting quite a reputation these days, and I don’t mean a good one.”
It was hard for me to get the next sentence out of my mouth. “What do you mean?”
“I think that woman is up to some serious hanky-panky. You being her so-called best friend, her antics could make you look worse than you already do, if folks find out. . . .”
“As long as Lola is not breaking the law, I don’t think there’s anything she can do that would make me look bad. What did you find out about her?”
“When I was at a luncheon with my flower garden club members at the Hyatt hotel in downtown San Jose last month, I saw her prancing out of the elevator with a man in an expensive-looking suit. It was a Saturday and the middle of the day.”
“So?”
“Uh-huh. ‘So’ is right! There was no telling what she’d been up to. That man, who looked like a foreigner to me, was all over her and she was all over him. She was dressed like a floozy, like she is every time I see her.”
Chapter 32
Joan
A PERSON HAD TO BE DAMN CAREFUL AND LUCKY IF THEY DIDN’T want to get caught in an embarrassing or suspicious situation these days. The world was smaller than I thought, because I was stunned to hear that Mother Riley had been in the same hotel on the same day that Lola was there with one of her dates.
I was glad it wasn’t me she had seen in that hotel with a man. I made a mental note to start altering my appearance for my future dates. I wouldn’t use anything as elaborate as a wig and a floppy hat, just some dark glasses and a scarf on my head.
“So what? Lola is a single woman. She has a lot of men friends.”
“I’m sure she does. She has her own place, so why would she be holing up with one in a hotel? I’ll bet that man she was with has a wife. But then again, after the way Lola’s daddy flaunted his affairs in her mother’s face, Lola’s behavior must seem normal to her.”
“She lives in her stepmother’s house. She has too much respect for Bertha to be bringing men home to . . . uh . . . have relations with.”
“Well, at least Lola’s taste is not all in her mouth. The man I saw her with was quite handsome. And from the way he was carrying himself, he had a lot of class. But like I just said, I’ll bet he’s married and that was the reason he couldn’t take Lola to his place—in the middle of a Saturday afternoon.”
I didn’t know what to say next, so I remained silent, hoping it would prompt Mother Riley to change the subject or leave.
“Are you still coming to our barbecue next weekend? Or will you be too busy like you were the last time?”
“We’ll be there,” I confirmed.
“Reverend Sharpe and his wife will be joining us, so I advise that you wear something suitable.” After a raspy sigh, Mother Riley looked at her watch and shrieked, “My goodness! Look what time it is!” She slid her feet back into her shoes. With a groan she wobbled up off the couch, fanning her face as she walked toward me. “I hate to run, but I’m having lunch with Maybelline Hanson today, and she hates it when I’m late. I had planned to come talk to you afterward, but it’s so hard to catch you at home. I wish I had a dollar for all the times you were out and about when I came by.” An extremely serious look suddenly crossed Mother Riley’s face. “I want you to think real hard about what we talked about—you having more children, I mean. We’ll discuss it again in the near future.” She took a deep breath and patted my shoulder. “You have a nice day, honey.”
“I’m sure I will,” I responded, each word dripping with sarcasm.
Immediately after Mother Riley waddled back out the door, I snatched up the telephone by the couch and punched in Lola’s cell number.
“Where did you go last night?” I asked when she answered on the third ring.
“How did you know I went out last night?”
“You didn’t answer your cell phone when I called, so I tried the landline and Libby picked up. She told me you went to visit Liza Mae.”
“Oh. I would have called you, but I was in a hurry to get out of the house.”
“What’s up?”
“Libby is already on my nerves big time and they’ve been here only one day. My head was throbbing from the inside out last night, and I had to go somewhere because I didn’t want to lose what’s left of my sanity.”
“Where did you go and who were you really with last night?”
