by King,Imani
I knew what he was thinking. There were probably very few eight-year-olds that would show up in front of him and know as much about football as Scarlet did now. She absorbed everything that Shane told her and probably knew more than I did about the game.
She turned and looked at me with a triumphant smile as I entered the store and walked up behind her. The man behind the counter smiled at me. “So what does your mom have to say about this?”
“About what?” I asked.
“Your little girl here said that she wants to get an autographed Jerry Rice football for her daddy. She said he was her daddy’s favorite football player to watch every Sunday when he was growing up. That true?”
Honestly, I had no idea. But if Scarlet said so, I believed her. “I’d say you should believe her.”
He tapped some keys on his computer looking at the screen. “I don’t have one here in the store, but I can get one. What you think?”
I saw the intense look of hope on Scarlet’s face. Then the man showed me the price on the computer screen. I felt a small drop in my stomach when I saw the price tag, but I knew that this was exactly what she wanted to get him. I would figure out how to make it work.
“Can we get it here before Christmas?” I asked.
“We can make it happen. A little extra for shipping, but it should be fine.”
I got out my credit card, and Scarlet clapped in delight. Knowing how excited she was made it worth every penny.
As we left the store, Scarlet tugged on my sleeve. “Don’t forget, Mom, we need to stop at Daddy’s before we go home. I left my PSP there.”
It had been a long day at the mall, and I had been looking forward to a hot bubble bath. My feet were killing me. Shane was spending the evening with Marvin reviewing tape for the game the next day. If the Redskins won, they were going to clench the division title championship and head into the playoffs. I knew it was a big game, and I didn’t want to distract him. I wasn’t exactly sure the coach would end the practice, and I assumed he would head home before going to Marvin’s.
“I don’t think that we should bother him,” I said. “You can wait until tomorrow.”
“But mom, I’m at this point in my game where I think I’ll win it, and I’ve been waiting all day. Please? You said we could.”
“I think that you forgot your PSP there on purpose just so you could use your new key,” I said.
The week before Shane had given Scarlet an early Christmas present. It had been a key to his place. I had shared a secret smile with him over Scarlet’s head. It was as if we were all taking another big step together in our relationship. She had been dying to try it out ever since she’d gotten it.
“Please, Mom. Please?”
“Fine,” I said. We both had known that I would give in eventually. “But then it’s straight home, and we’re going to make dinner and go to bed without a fuss.”
“Hooray!” she said. Fifteen minutes later, we were walking into Shane’s building. Scarlet couldn’t stop talking about her gift for Shane and how it was going to be hard to keep it a secret until Christmas. That was exactly the reason I wasn’t giving the slightest hint to her about my own surprise for Shane. Scarlet was terrible at keeping secrets.
As we approached his door, I waited for her to pull out the key out of her backpack. She presented it to me with a look of smug delight on her face, which again led me to believe that she had forgotten her PSP there on purpose. When I opened the door, I was surprised to smell food cooking.
“Shane?”
There was no answer. I pushed ahead of Scarlet as I walked deeper into the condo. I turned into the kitchen expecting to find Shane there cooking dinner, and then it was as if my world shattered around my feet.
“Who’s that?” Scarlet asked.
That was Olivia. She stood in the middle of Shane’s kitchen with an apron covering her body and little else. My mind barely registered the lacy thin gauze of garter belts and skimpy lingerie that was barely present underneath the apron. She looked like she was some kind of French maid with her blonde hair piled on top of her head falling around her face in long ringlets. She turned just in time so that Scarlet didn’t see her wholly exposed backside. I slapped my hand around Scarlet’s eyes.
Olivia saw us then and started to laugh. “Don’t you bitches know the schedule by now? Tonight is my night.”
I couldn’t believe that she had the nerve to refer to me and my daughter that way, but then all of the things that she had said to me over the months rang in my ears. That every time Shane wasn’t with me, he was with her. I felt my heart breaking, and I wanted to run across the room and smack the smug smile off of her face. But I wouldn’t do that. Not in front of Scarlet anyway.
I pushed Scarlet towards the hallway. “Get your game. Then we’re leaving.”
It looked at for a moment as if Scarlet wanted to argue with me, but then she saw the look on my face and scampered away.
“What are you doing here?”
Olivia looked around the room as if in confusion. “Shane will be hungry after practice today. I just wanted to make sure he could eat whatever he wanted to satisfy that hunger,” she said emphasizing the statement in a way that brought a horrible image of Shane nestled between Olivia’s thighs to mind. I could just imagine what he would do to her with her wearing that kind of get-up. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Scarlet emerge from the hallway.
“Do you want me to let him know you stopped by?” Olivia asked that batting her eyelashes at me.
I didn’t even bother with a smart retort because I had nothing. It was as if words could not be formed in my mind to say anything at all.
I felt numb as I pushed Scarlet out of the apartment. I didn’t bother locking the door. Obviously, Olivia had a key as well. In the elevator, Scarlet seemed to sense that something was incredibly wrong.
“Who was that naked lady? Why was she at Daddy’s?”
“I don’t know, sweetie. We’re not going to talk about it anymore right now.” I felt sick as bile rose in my throat. I had been so stupid. I had to make it home before I fell apart. I tucked my arm protectively around my stomach. I had no idea what I was going to do.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
My plan was to stop at home just long enough to change clothes after practice and then head over to Marvin’s. It had been an incredibly long day, and I knew that I should be resting, but I felt keyed up and anxious. It had been three years since the Redskins had taken the divisional title home. Tomorrow we were poised for the victory. Everything the team had been working all season for would be wrapped up in a nice little bow just in time for Christmas.
It was as if everything in my life was perfect at the moment. It felt too good to be true. Maddy and I were getting along great. We were both okay with taking it slow, but even with baby steps we were progressing forward at a rate that thrilled me to think about what was going to come next. Our family was complete with Scarlet between us. I loved being a dad and everything about my little girl. There was truly no one else in the world who could make me light up like her, except perhaps for her mother. I felt like the luckiest man in the world to have both of them with me.
I smiled as I thought about the small velvet box hiding in my underwear drawer. I had a big surprise for Maddy on Christmas. I couldn’t wait to ask her the question that had been in the back of my mind since the moment that I had first seen her again, and I wanted her to know I was completely onboard with taking things to the next level. We’d had our troubles, but we had worked through them and come out together, stronger and better than ever on the other side. There would be no more secrets and lies between us.
As I walked into the condo whistling a random Christmas carol that was stuck in my head, my nose caught the aromas of garlic and tomato sauce. I heard movement in the kitchen and smiled. “Maddy? My cooking lessons are clearly paying off,” I said as I entered the kitchen. I stopped short when I saw who was standing there.
I had no idea w
hat to make of Olivia’s get-up even as my stunned mind tried to process why she was wearing it in the middle of my kitchen. It was obviously meant to entice, but as I looked over her body, it did nothing but repulse me. There wasn’t a thing about Olivia that I found attractive anymore. “What the fuck are you doing here?”
Olivia smiled at me as she removed the apron and dropped it to the floor. The flimsy, transparent material that was left covering her body did nothing to hide anything underneath. Six months ago, I might’ve been tempted, but now seeing her naked assets did nothing for me
“I thought you’d be hungry after practice. We can eat food or you are welcome to eat anything else you would like. Everything you see is on the menu,” she said as she leaned seductively against my breakfast island. I was going to have to sanitize that as soon as I got her the hell out of my condo.
“I don’t know how else to tell you that we are through,” I said through clenched teeth. The woman was obviously bat shit crazy.
Her lips turned into what I supposed she thought was a seductive pout. Instead, it made her face look ugly and at least ten years older. “We aren’t through until I say we’re through, baby. And right now I know that you can barely contain yourself from dropping to your knees and doing all kinds of wicked things to me. And I’ll let you. I forgive you for everything with that twit doctor.”
“Get out. Get out now. If I catch you in my condo again, not only will I call the police, but I will tell your father as well. I’m tired of this shit, Olivia. You are a good for nothing piece of trash who clearly doesn’t understand the meaning of the word ‘no.’ You need to leave before this gets any uglier.”
I saw the rise in heat of color in her cheeks as I emphatically emphasized the word trash. It wasn’t something that I would normally say to any woman, but she had pushed me beyond my limits, and she was lucky it wasn’t something worse. I stepped aside and pointed at the door. “Don’t let it hit you in the ass on the way out. I mean it. If I catch you in here again, there will be nothing but problems for you. I’m the one that will get you fired.”
She took a trench coat off the back of the stool at the island and slid it around her shoulders. I could tell that she was boiling inside, and that was good. Maybe she had finally gotten the message that this was over.
As she breezed past me, she stopped for just a moment. “Before I go, I suppose that I should let you know that your little bitch stopped by. She got a good look at everything that I was planning to do here. I have to say, she looked like she was pretty upset when she left.”
Everything inside of me wanted to strike that triumphant smile off of her face as I realized what her words meant.
“Get out,” I said in a snarl.
She sauntered to the door appearing as if she wasn’t in any hurry at all but turned just as she opened it. “Just so you know, we’re through. This was my decision, not yours. It’s your loss.”
Then she slammed the door behind her. I was left staring at her wondering how I had ever managed to get involved with the psychotic pitch. I dialed Maddy’s number as soon as I could, but it rang and rang before going to voicemail. I felt a sense of panic inside. If Maddy had seen Olivia standing like that in my kitchen, I could just imagine what she was thinking. That didn’t even come close to what I’m sure Olivia might have said to further upset her.
I looked at my watch. There was no time for changing. I needed to make things right as soon as possible.
In the car all the way to Maddy’s apartment, I kept trying to call her cell. I even tried Scarlet’s. No one answered. My mind spun with different possibilities. Maybe Olivia was lying. Maybe it was her way of getting back at me by making me believe Maddy had stopped by. Of course, it would be this afternoon of all afternoons that there was a surprise stop in. She could have been trying to surprise me with something, and instead, she had been the one who gotten the surprise of her life.
I could see my life going up in flames all around me. I had to make this right, and I had to do it fast. It felt as if it took forever before I arrived at Maddy’s apartment. It occurred to me that I had only been there a couple of times to pick Scarlet up on nights when Maddy had to work late. The building had a shoddy look about it, but I knew it was cheap and what she could afford.
That was another thing I had been planning to change as soon as Christmas rolled around. I wanted Maddy and Scarlet to move in with me. I had talked to her parents already about having them assume the lease on her apartment. I promised to help them with a short-term loan until they got back on their feet to take pressure off of Maddy feeling like she had to be the one to help them. I knew it would make her feel better to have her parents close by, and they were planning to tell her soon about their decision to move.
Christmas was supposed to be a magical time for our new family. Now, I had a feeling that our Christmas might not even happen.
I buzzed the intercom for her apartment. It took several long moments before I heard a weary voice come through the speaker. “Hello?”
“Maddy, it’s me.”
There was a pause. Then the intercom clicked again. “Go away, Shane. I don’t want to talk to you.”
“Maddy, there has been a huge misunderstanding. I need to talk to you. Please let me in,” I said.
I heard Scarlet’s voice in the background. “Is that Daddy?”
I had a feeling that Maddy would have rejected my request again, but Scarlet’s presence made it difficult. She wasn’t going to say or do anything in front of our daughter. That wasn’t Maddy’s way. She did everything she could to shield Scarlet from the awful realities of the world. It was part of what made her a great mother.
The buzzer sounded to let me in. I quickly shot up the stairs to her apartment door. It cracked open, and I saw Scarlet standing there. She opened it wide and threw her arms open when she saw me. “Daddy!”
I scooped her up into a big hug. “How are you, pumpkin?” My eyes searched the apartment for her mother. I saw Maddy sitting on the couch. She looked as if she had aged several years, and it was all the confirmation I needed that she had indeed stopped by my apartment. She had seen Olivia in my kitchen and assumed the worst. Although I had wanted her to trust that I would never do something like that to her, I knew that it looked bad.
I set Scarlet down. “We found the best gift for you today, Daddy. I can’t wait to give it to you,” she said.
Her innocent words made me smile. It was short-lived, however. Maddy wouldn’t even look in my direction. “That’s great, sweetie. Can you give me and Mommy a minute? I have a couple things that I want to talk to her about.”
“Adult stuff.” She rolled her eyes.
“Yes,” I said gently. “Adult stuff.”
Scarlet gave me a shrug and skipped off to her room. I took another step into the room and closed the door. I had no idea what where to start.
“Maddy?”
She looked at me then with a look of raw pain on her face. “What are you doing here? It’s her night after all, right?”
I wanted to strangle Olivia. I didn’t understand why she had been so intent on ruining my life. But I couldn’t let her win. I approached Maddy tentatively. Then I turned off the TV. It forced her to look at me. I didn’t sit down next to her because she looked like a deer that would bolt at the nearest sound of danger. I had to take this slow.
“I got done with practice, and I went to my place to change before going over to Marvin’s. You remember I told you that I was going to go watch tape with Marvin tonight.”
“That’s what you said.” I could tell by the tone of her voice that she didn’t believe me now.
“I did not invite anyone to my apartment tonight. There is no one woman in my life other than you.”
“You could have surprised me considering there was a half-naked woman in your kitchen,” she said tersely. She wrapped her arms around herself and looked like she was going to be ill. I knew exactly how she felt. I felt the same way.
; I continued to close the gap between us carefully. I slowly drew my phone out of my pocket. I sat down on the chair across from her. I positioned myself right on the edge. “Remember I told you that I thought my cleaning lady was stealing money from me?” I asked her.
Her eyes darted toward me. I could tell that she was taken aback by this change of direction in the conversation. She slowly nodded. “You fired her.”
“I did but not before I took a few extra measures to make sure that didn’t happen again. Fool me once and all that. I installed a few cameras around the apartment.”
I saw a look on her face then. It was hope. I showed her my phone and then opened the screen. I found the app I was looking for and opened it. “I forgot all about it honestly. I have it set so it only turns on when it’s during the day, and I’m not home. I have it shut off when I get home. It’s just a common security measure. But it also records footage. I want you to see this.
“You recorded what exactly?”
I had reviewed the whole thing after I parked the car before I knocked on her door. I found the place on the footage that I was looking for. Olivia had entered my condo about thirty minutes before Madeleine and Scarlet arrived. They were only there a few minutes, and I felt like strangling Olivia for what she had said to them. I missed them by only ten minutes. I fast-forwarded to the point that I wanted. The point where I came through the front door. Then I handed my phone to Madeleine. “Press play.”
She did as I asked. The first thing I heard was my own voice coming from the phone’s speaker. I was relieved to hear that the very first word she heard was her own name. “Maddy?” She briefly looked up at me and then back at the screen.
I watched her listen to the rest of the replay that had happened once I discovered Olivia. I didn’t have to see it again to know what Madeleine was seeing; I had lived it. I kicked the woman to the curb with no hesitation whatsoever. I thanked my lucky stars that my maid had decided to rip me off to the tune of over $1000, otherwise, I never would’ve gotten the cameras. Today, that saved me.
