by Mary Monroe
“Val, I don’t care what you are doing. I have to see you right now. I need to talk to you.”
“Well, whatever it is, I hope it can wait.” Valerie paused and started whispering in an excited voice into the telephone. “Listen up. Two of TV’s biggest stars strutted up in here a little while ago. As we speak, they are huddled in a booth, carrying on like newlyweds. They are married, but not to each other. I just left a message for my contact at Star magazine.” Valerie cleared her throat, and the excitement in her voice increased. She hissed the next few words. “Anybody that famous and married ought to know better! Dude is a primetime asshole and Miss Thing calls herself a Christian!”
“Valerie, I don’t care if you’ve got Jesus, Joseph, and Mary sitting in your bar right now. I need to talk to you,” I insisted. “Now.”
I could tell that Valerie was caught off guard and taken aback by the way she gasped. “Dolores, I’ve got a business to run. . . .”
“I know that!” I snapped. It bothered me that Valerie considered something as frivolous as gossip about two TV stars more important than what I had to talk to her about.
“And aren’t you at work yourself?”
“We are, uh, we are in dock for the next two hours. Then the ship will be heading out for Puerto Vallarta again, but I won’t be on it.” Then I burst into tears. My breakdown was so sudden and aggressive, I squawked like a parrot for the first minute. Then I sobbed softly for the next two minutes while Valerie yelled and begged me to tell her what was wrong.
“Oh shit! Girl, is it that serious?” I was glad to hear some real concern in Valerie’s voice now. “You sound like a woman on the verge of a nervous breakdown.”
“I’m fine,” I told her. I actually managed to laugh. It was not the way I usually laughed. I was braying like a jackass.
“Well, you don’t sound fine to me. You sound like a fucking creature. What in the hell is going on?”
I held my breath and vigorously rubbed my chest. But the only thing that did was make my chest ache. “Can you get away from the bar for a little while?” I croaked. Even though I was breathing through my mouth, it felt like I was letting air out through every opening on my body, including my stupid black ass.
“I could, but I don’t really want to. Can’t we talk here? I’ve got a bachelorette party coming in a couple of hours, and I want to be in on the festivities. Who knows, one of those heifers just might have a man that’s got a buddy I might like.”
“Can you meet me at The Ivy in an hour?”
“You want me to drive over to Beverly Hills? Girl, what is this all about? Is this about your husband?”
“Uh, you could say that.”
CHAPTER 44
It was over. I had confessed to Valerie everything that there was to confess about myself, Paul, and Floyd. Each word had rolled out of my mouth like a rock and now my lips felt bruised. But I felt so much better! Whoever it was that said “confession is good for the soul” was right. Not only did it seem like I had just shed my skin, it felt like a huge stone had been lifted off my chest, too. I felt ten pounds lighter.
I knew it was my imagination, but now it seemed like everybody at The Ivy was looking at me. Even Ryan Seacrest from the TV show American Idol, sitting two tables away. I lowered my voice even lower. “Valerie, I don’t think I can get through this without your help,” I admitted.
She agreed with me by nodding. “I know I owe you big time for, uh, being there that night for me. Whatever it is you need me to do to help you pull this thing off, I’ll do,” Valerie told me. “I guess I can live with having a bigamist for a best friend.” She laughed. I didn’t. She cleared her throat and gave me a serious look. “Just tell me what you want me to do.”
“Well, like I already said, I need to move back into your house. I don’t know for how long, but that’s the most important thing I can think of right now. I will need to use you for alibis from time to time,” I said in a stiff tone of voice. “Another thing is I can’t have you sharing this information with anybody else.”
“Look, with that cold case of mine that I’ve got to deal with every day of my life, blabbing somebody else’s crime is not on my agenda. You feel me?”
I nodded.
“But even with my help, do you seriously think you can pull this off?” Valerie asked. “Have you given any thought to the fact that you might slip up sooner or later? What if you run into one husband while you’re out with the other? What if you leave some incriminating shit in the wrong place one day? Like a letter or some other document. What if a friend of one husband sees you out with the other husband? And what if you get—”
I held up my hand and cut Valerie off in mid sentence and gave her a frustrated look. “I’ve thought about all of that. I’ve thought about everything else that could happen, too. But if I’m smart and lucky, it won’t. At least not until I come up with another plan. I will figure this shit out as I go along. Like I said, I am going to remain in the condo on Manchester for when Paul comes to visit. But I am going to give up my job.”
“What? You love that job. Listen, you are talking crazy. Other than being Miss America, what other job could be more fun and exciting than yours?”
“I can’t keep the job and both husbands. I can for a while, but eventually my job would get in the way. I’ll use the time that I’m supposed to be at my job to do some serious juggling. If I don’t, I’m bound to get caught. Until I come up with a better plan, I have to let them both think I still work on the Encantadora. They both know about my down time. Now all of my time will be down time. When I’m up in Alameda with Paul, Floyd will think I’m out to sea. When I spend some time with Floyd, in your house, Paul will think I’m out to sea. It can work, but I need your help now. Please, Valerie. I never ask you for much, and I wouldn’t ask for your help now if I didn’t really need it.”
“Girl, I already told you that you can move back if you want to. To be honest with you, I’m glad you’re coming back. I love your company. If you think Floyd is such a prize, he must not be that bad,” Valerie said, looking and sounding so serious it made me squirm. Then her expression and her voice softened. “And as long as Floyd doesn’t start any mess up in my house, and respects me, he can come, too. I really mean that, and under any other circumstances, I wouldn’t even charge you and him the same rent I’d charge anybody else. But with him about to get paid big time when his settlement comes through, I expect to get paid, every first of the month.”
“Thanks, girl. I really appreciate this, and it will only be for a little while. Maybe it’ll be just a couple of weeks or months—only until we can get a place of our own.”
“What? Fuck that ‘couple of weeks’ shit. Look, you know I don’t like to live alone, and I’ve been trying to get you back in my house for years. You got me all worked up and now you’re telling me you’ll only be there for a minute?”
“Valerie, I just need a place to bring Floyd to until I know what he wants to do. You know that if it was up to me, I’d stay on with you forever. And that just might happen. But with him getting that settlement, and it must be fat if his lawyer said that nobody—especially Floyd—wants the amount made public. He’ll want a place eventually, and I will have to go with him.”
“You are making me dizzy. Let me try to get all this shit straight in my head.” Valerie ordered another drink. “You have a home up in Alameda with Paul. You spend a few days a month up there with him. When he has business down here, he stays with you at the Manchester address. You will move back to my place and then you want to eventually move to some other location with Floyd. And, you want to quit that fantastic job? Did I leave anything out?”
I shook my head. “One more thing, tell me again you won’t ever tell anybody about any of this.” I was teasing Valerie at this point, but I knew that she knew I was also very serious.
Valerie’s mouth dropped open for about the tenth time since we’d entered The Ivy. “Why would I? What would I have to gain by blabbing your
business?”
“Well, with all due respect, girlfriend, I know how you like to chat while you’re working that bar. And even when you are not behind that bar, you do talk out both sides of your mouth.”
“If you don’t think you can trust me to keep quiet about all this, why the hell did you tell me? Yeah, I’ve got a big-assed mouth, but I know when to keep it shut.”
“I know, I know. I’m just so fucking nervous! I don’t know what to say to Floyd when I see him.” I sighed, shook my head, and rolled my eyes. “The first thing he’s going to want to do when I get him home is fuck the hell out of me!” A strange look slid across Valerie’s face like a dark shadow. “Why are you looking at me like that?” I wanted to know.
“Maybe I shouldn’t say this . . .”
“Say it!”
She exhaled deeply first. Then she started talking fast, but in a low voice. “Well, the man has been cooped up behind bars for a bunch of years. I never got to know Floyd that well, but he didn’t strike me as the type to spread his ass. I doubt if his dick has felt any real pleasure since he got locked up, other than his hand. Even so, his dick must be like cobalt steel by now!” Valerie took a sip of her wine and gave me a look that could only be described as envy. “Hell yeah, he’s going to want to fuck the living hell out of you. And don’t worry about embarrassing or disturbing me. I’ll be in my room, wishing I was in your shoes.”
I gave Valerie a sad look and shook my head. “No, you don’t want to be in my shoes. Even I don’t want to be in my shoes these days,” I told her.
CHAPTER 45
When I got back to the condo on Manchester, the first thing I did was stumble to the wine rack in the den to pop open a fresh bottle. I drank half of it straight from the bottle. I still had on my sweater and my purse in my hand.
After a series of long, loud burps, I dropped my purse on the table and listened to some of my voice mail messages. Floyd’s voice made my skin scrawl as he yelled his good news. “Dolores, baby, it’s finally over! I’m coming home! We can finally be together as man and wife!”
After I listened to three more messages from Floyd, each one making my flesh crawl even more, I listened to two from the warden. There were three from his lawyer. I was sorry that I did not share their enthusiasm about Floyd’s release. I was happy for Floyd. I prayed that he would be able to get over what had happened to him and live a normal life. What scared the shit out of me was the fact that as Floyd’s wife, I’d be expected to help him restore his life. Under the circumstances, I didn’t know how the hell I was going to do that and still keep everything intact with Paul.
I had to finish that bottle of wine before I checked the voice mail messages on the telephone in my living room. Paul had called twice. I screamed, between belches, when he told me that he would be in L.A. in a couple of days for just a few hours to attend a business meeting. Then I checked my primary cell phone for messages. Paul had also left me a message on it, too, telling me the same news. I didn’t know what to do next, but I knew what I had to do. I called Floyd’s lawyer. Even with all the alcohol in my system and the false courage that came with it, my voice was so weak, shaky, and hoarse that he asked me if I needed to see a doctor.
“I . . . I’m fine,” I stammered, rubbing my nose. I felt myself about to belch some more, but I held that off by taking a few deep breaths. I was glad that I had a buzz, but drinking so much wine in such a short time did me more harm than good. There was the taste of sour grapes in my mouth and a painful, throbbing sensation on both sides of my head. And since I had not eaten much, my stomach felt queasy. I tried to picture all of that wine sloshing around in my nearly empty stomach, pickling my insides.
“I was beginning to wonder if I’d hear from you today, Mrs. Watson. Floyd is champing at the bit to fly out of that cuckoo’s nest, so to speak. For a man who has gone through the hell he’s gone through, he’s in a remarkably good mood. However, he wants absolutely nothing to do with the media. Not after the way they had tried and convicted him before he even went to trial. And I can certainly understand that. I’ve turned down three local TV station interviews, four newspaper interviews, and offers are still coming in. I’ve heard from everybody but Oprah. I just told my secretary that when and if they call, she’s to tell Oprah’s people the same thing we’re telling everyone else: no interviews.”
I froze. All of this shit being public was another can of worms! I hadn’t even thought about that! I knew how relentless reporters and photographers were. If they wanted a story bad enough, they didn’t stop until they got it. If worse came to worst, the whole world would know what I’d done. I could end up behind bars next! I had to keep my name and picture out of this mess. “Brian, I don’t care what you have to do; you have to keep the media out of this. I don’t want anybody to know about me and Floyd.”
“Well, like I just said, Floyd will not give any interviews, and I am behind him one hundred percent. Even though I personally think that this would make an incredible human interest story. The public needs to know about these things. It could give some other wrongfully convicted individual hope. I believe that there are a lot more ‘Floyds’ rotting away in prison for crimes they did not commit.”
“I know and I agree with you. But I don’t care about all that right now. I am more concerned about my privacy,” I hollered. “You can’t tell anybody about me. This kind of attention could cost me my job!”
“I don’t know how it could make you lose your job, but you don’t have to worry about me revealing any information about you to anyone. However, if news about his marriage to you leaks, you might have to make a statement, at the very least.”
“It’s my ass if I fix my lips to do any damn interviews! Hell no! I am not talking to any newspaper reporters or anybody else! You’re a lawyer. Can’t you put a stop to all this? I don’t want to talk to anybody, period. I don’t even want anybody to know that I’ve been visiting Floyd all these years,” I wailed.
“And you won’t have to if you don’t want to. Let me handle everything. Now, moving forward. It’s rather late in the day, but I don’t mind making the trip with you.”
“Trip? What trip?” I asked dumbly.
“Mrs. Watson, your husband is a free man now, and he wants to come home to be with you. He has nobody but you. I am sorry that I was not able to prepare you better, but it was not easy to get in touch with you. If you don’t feel up to it, I can collect Mr. Watson on my own. But under the circumstances, I think he deserves to spend his first hour back on the outside with his beautiful bride.”
I was speechless.
“Mrs. Watson, are you still there?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Did you hear what I just said?”
“Uh-huh. Well, okay. But first I have to take care of a few things. I will call you as soon as I’m ready,” I said. I hung up and called Valerie immediately. She must have been sitting by the telephone because she answered it two seconds into the first ring. “Get over here now and help me haul as much of my stuff to your house as we can.”
“We need to discuss something first.” Valerie sounded uncertain and a bit frightened. That made me even more nervous. She was the only person I could count on. Just like I was the only person who Floyd could count on.
“What?” I wanted to know, my hand over my heart. The way I was feeling, I was surprised that I was still able to talk, stand, or do anything else.
“Have you turned on the TV? Floyd is all over the news.”
“No. I don’t want to see it. I just got off the phone with his lawyer, and he promised me that we wouldn’t have to deal with the media. He also promised that he would do all he could to make sure that information regarding my jailhouse marriage to Floyd would not be made public. You know goddamn well I can’t do any interviews!”
“Well, you won’t have to, but that won’t stop those assholes from doing the story with whatever information they do have. They just showed a clip from the trial. There you were sitting in th
e courtroom. They also showed you going at the DA . . .”
“Shit. I forgot all about that damn shit. Well, did they say anything about me visiting Floyd all these years?”
“No, nobody has said anything about you and Floyd having any contact at all after the trial. Listen, maybe now is not the time for me to say this, but I don’t want any attention.”
“What do you mean?”
“You and Floyd can stay with me as long as you want, as long as I don’t get dragged into your mess. I don’t want any punk-ass reporters digging into my background. You know . . .”
“Valerie, I can understand why you don’t want any media attention. You can understand why I don’t want any either, so we don’t have anything to worry about.” I let out a heavy sigh and looked around the room. “Get over here as soon as you can.”
“Before we do anything, I need to let you know that your husband called my house a few minutes ago.”
“Which one?” I couldn’t believe what I was saying. Floyd knew nothing about me staying with Valerie these days. He thought I had my own place. It would be one of the first things I told him when I saw him. “Oh, Paul called there for me?”
“He said he left you a message or two.”
“I know.” My voice was trembling and getting hoarse. “Girl, he’s going to be down here in a couple of days.”
“No, he won’t. That’s what he called to tell me to tell you. There was some crisis up there in his office that he needed to take care of.”
I let out a huge sigh of relief. “That’s good. I can’t tell you how glad I am to hear that.”
“Listen up. There is one more thing we need to discuss before you bring Floyd into my house. If you don’t keep this shit under control, we could both suffer. I don’t want too many people, including Floyd, to know all my business . . .”
“Valerie, you should know by now that if anybody can keep a secret, it’s me. You wouldn’t know anything about me and Floyd being married all this time if I hadn’t told you.”
