No Perfect Affair

by Charmaine Galloway

  My mom met Rodney, and she thought he was a sweet guy, but she warned me that he was a little manipulative. I couldn’t tell her that I was pregnant again without being married. But soon I would be married to Rodney, so I decided that I wouldn’t tell her about the new baby coming until then.

  “Nana, I’m all packed and ready to go,” Rayn said, running down the stairs with glee. She had her duffle bag in her hand.

  * * *

  When we got to the resort we checked in to our room, and Rayn couldn’t wait to go where the action was, so she put on her swimsuit, and Mom and I did the same.

  “Now, Melody, we came here so you could relieve some stress. So we will not be bringing any negative thoughts or people into our conversations while were here, are we clear?” My mom gave me a reassuring smile.

  “Yes, we are clear.” I smiled back. I definitely didn’t want to ruin my getaway thinking about the stuff I had been through.

  Rayn was having a ball. She even met a few girls here, and they set it off. There were a few big waterslides and wave pools, and regular pools. I was glad that Rayn knew how to swim because some of the slides looked scary. I couldn’t swim, so I knew I wasn’t getting on them. After staying in the water for about three hours, we went to our room and ordered room service. It was really nice to lounge around with my mom and daughter for the weekend. I was enjoying myself.

  “I’m so glad you two accepted my invitation to join me at this lovely resort,” my mom said while lying in the bed resting.

  “Nana, I wouldn’t have missed it for anything in the world,” Rayn said, and we all laughed.

  “Mom, this was a great idea. Look at you . . . You still got it!” We all laughed again. I loved my family, and this is what we do. We pull each other out when they are going through something. We take care of each other. I just wished that Sasha and Melody would get their selves together. We had been tight all our lives; we are family, and they needed to forgive each other and move on. Life is too short to be acting the way they were acting.

  Let me stop thinking about them. I don’t want to mess up my vibe.

  26

  Sasha

  I really didn’t want to be here. But I was sitting in Amazing Grace Baptist Church, in a small room that was connected to the women’s restroom with Asia’s wedding party. We were all getting our makeup done by an independent consultant from Mary Kay Cosmetics. The chick knew what she was doing. Our finishing touches were flawless. She matched all the ladies up with the foundation that complemented our complexion perfectly, and she also added a light shade of fuchsia eye shadow on our brows. It went perfect with the fuchsia that was in our dresses that we wore for Asia’s special day.

  I had to give it to her. Asia did pick out some gorgeous dresses. They were tight fitted, long fuchsia halter dresses, with a thin black piece of fabric that draped in the front of the dress and was tied in the back in a bow. We all wore the same type of silver open toe stilettos. Asia was in another room getting ready. I hadn’t seen her dress, but Melody was quick to tell me that she was going to look like a princess and that her dress was to die for. Melody had helped her pick out the dress. Asia knew she had better not ask me to meet up and help her with any of her plans. She should just be happy that I actually made it to join her wedding party. I so wanted to call Melody and tell her I was abducted by aliens, and I was on another planet, and I wouldn’t be able to make it for the festivities.

  Asia and I were still not on speaking terms. The last time I saw her was a few months back when I got fitted for my dress. She looked like a totally different person. That girl had always been overweight, and her body had always been disproportionate. But when I saw her, it looked like she had lost a good thirty pounds, and her face was filled with bags and stress lines. Maybe it was her kids giving her problems, or maybe she was jittery from all that she had to do with the wedding, but there was something going on with her. I wanted to give Asia a piece of my mind then, but she already looked busted and disgusted, so I didn’t say anything to her, but best believe, there would be a time and place where I would confront her and tell her what a triflin’ skank she really was.

  Nevertheless, if I was not a part of this event, I would’ve never heard the end of it from my family. I was just trying to keep the peace, so I slowed up, and I’m staying out of the way. She’ll be lucky if I get the urge to smile on her wedding picture. But since Melody is the photographer, she will probably not snap the photo if I don’t smile. I wasn’t looking forward to it. Speaking of Melody, that girl had been thorough hell and back over the past year. But I ain’t gonna talk about her, because that will take up too much of my time. But let me tell you that shit hit the fan, babyyyy. Just wait until she speaks her truth.

  Well, enough about Melody and Asia. I had finally met me a man that can take care of my sexual needs, and it’s not Asia’s leftover, David. Lamel and I have been dating for eight months, and he has really proved to me that a young man knows how to put in work. He is eight years younger than me. But age ain’t nothing but a number. We have an open relationship, something like what Rodney and Melody had, but she just could never come to grips with it. I was cool with how our relationship was. We had an arrangement. I just made sure I used protection every time. I didn’t want another marriage, baby, or any STDs.

  I was living out my fantasy with Lamel. My erotica novel would be released in a matter of time. So look out, Fifty Shades of Grey! No, I had never read that book, nor had I watched the movie. But I had watched a few interviews that the author had done on YouTube. The author talked about how she needed to do research for the book. E. L. James, let me show ya how a sista gets down. I don’t need to do research, because Lamel gets my creative juices flowing on paper and in the bedroom. What am I thinking about! We never “did it” in the bedroom. Yes, we were some freaks. We did not have “routine sex,” like I had with Jonathan. We were spontaneous, and there was never a dull moment with us.

  Lamel was sitting in the sanctuary. He told me when the wedding was over we were going to take a trip to the islands like we were the married couple going on their honeymoon. We were going to get our freak on in every room in the hotel and every beach on the island. Did I forget to mention that the brotha was paid? His family owns the highest-paid law firm in the area. Melody kept telling me that I should have tried harder to work on Jonathan and my marriage. She told me all I was thinking about was myself, and I should have respected him more. He kept telling me the same thing, but I didn’t care what they thought, ’cause it was all about me.

  After I saw my ex-husband (yes, I signed those papers) with another chick, I was done. She wasn’t even cute, and she had a really bad shape. What was he going to do with that? Not a darn thang. I would have thought he would have got him a fly chick on his arm to make me jealous. But the Pop-Tart he was flaunting around like his trophy, his dime piece, looked like Halle Berry. Naw, fool, not the Halle Berry you see in magazine. I’m talking about when she played in the movie B.A.P.S., that Halle Berry. She was tore up from the floor up.

  My mother had come in from out of town to be at the wedding. She kept calling me, but I kept dodging her calls. I wasn’t ready to talk to her. I had to make sure I had a couple of shots of some very strong liquor before I could even think about giving her a minute of my time.

  “Asia, come on, let me get a picture of you before you get in line to go out to the sanctuary,” Melody said, pulling me from my thoughts. She was holding her camera, ready to shoot.

  “Dang, hold up. I forgot my shoes in the car,” I huffed. How could I forget my darn shoes?

  “Girl, you better hurry up and get them before they start the music,” she snapped.

  I walked slowly out of the room on purpose. She knew I didn’t care about being a part of this disarray. As I walked to my car, I saw Asia’s soon-to-be husband arguing with some guy. He was fine. I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but they were mad. I watched as they went back and forth with each other. It would
be crazy if they would have got into a scuffle and the groom walked in the church with a black eye. I laughed to myself from that thought.

  Then just like a feuding married couple, they stopped arguing and started chatting like the of best friends. I got my shoes out of my car and was about to go back in the church before Melody came looking for me. I gave the two guys one last gaze, and my shoes slipped from my grip because my whole body had gone limp. I couldn’t believe my eyes. I had to blink twice and shake my head, hoping that would fix my impaired vision. But that didn’t work because what I saw was really happening. Asia’s soon-to-be husband, Steve, the man that she would be marrying within the hour, was tonguing down a man right in the church parking lot—in broad daylight.

  “Wow, Karma is a bi—” I stopped myself because of where I was. Would I go in the church and tell my cousin, the one that I was mad at for introducing me to a man that she screwed, that her husband-to-be is on the down low, and that he is outside locking lips with a man? “Nah, now I think we’re even. She had the nerve to try to drop the bomb on me. She just don’t know that I am the bomb. I’m going to watch as her mess explodes in her face,” I said out loud to myself. I then let out a devious laugh, picked up my shoes, and went into the church and took my spot in the line where the wedding party stood behind the closed doors of the sanctuary. The doors opened, the music started on time, and I smiled like a Cheshire cat as I strode down the aisle to the front of the church, where the pastor would soon wed the dysfunctional couple.

  Part 2

  27

  Asia

  It was an hour before my wedding. As I sat in the church’s powder room getting my makeup done, I could feel the butterflies in my stomach. I was trying hard not to move while my beauty consultant finished the job. I was finally happy with the relationship I was in; I loved Steve and knew he loved me too. I would no longer be on the market, and I would no longer have to go around saying that I was single, because I was getting married.

  “Asia, you can get up and see if you like it,” Monica said after she applied lipstick to my thin lips.

  I got up from the metal folding chair and walked over to check out my makeup. That particular mirror hung on a wall in the small powder room that was adjacent to the room where I would soon be changing into my gorgeous wedding dress. My makeup was flawless; my friend Monica had volunteered to give me and the bridal party a makeover.

  I stared in the mirror in shock. I was speechless.

  “Asia, do you like it?” she squeaked.

  “Monica, I love it. I look so . . . beautiful,” I cried out.

  I was in awe. She had done a really good job. My eye shadow was a soft fuchsia pigment, the same color as my bridesmaids’ dresses, and it covered the lids of my almond-shaped eyes. The blush on my cheeks really accentuated my cheekbones, and the plum color on my lips was gorgeous. In the past, the only makeup I wore was lip gloss, so this was a big change for me, and I loved it.

  “I’m glad you like it. You’re gonna be a beautiful bride.” Monica’s eyes sparkled as she looked at the work she’d done to my face.

  I turned away from the mirror, let out a joyful smile, and gave her a warm hug. “I appreciate you.”

  “Yeah yeah yeah. I know you do. Now, let’s get you into that beautiful dress.” She grabbed my arm gently.

  “Okay, let’s go,” I said as joy washed over me.

  I couldn’t stop smiling. This was my day, and I was going to marry the man I loved very much. He was my daughter’s father. I was proud that I would finally be tying the knot and with a great, positive role model that all my kids could look up to.

  Steve had been doing really well with the kids, considering the fact that we only conceived one of my three children together. My baby girl, Alexa, was conceived while he’d been locked up in jail. Even though he’d been upset when he got out, he understood that I didn’t have to wait on him while he did time for his wrongdoing.

  “Asia, your makeup is stunning,” my mom said when I walked into the room where I would get dressed.

  “Thanks, Mom,” I smiled broadly.

  “We only have thirty minutes, so let’s get you in this dress,” Mom said as she lifted the plastic from the gown.

  Mom and Melody had been by my side, helping me to pick out the white chiffon, tight-fitted dress. The gown flared out at the bottom and had a jeweled collar that wrapped around my neck. It was also adorned with elegant jewels that wrapped around my waistline like a belt.

  “Baby, that dress looks even more beautiful today than it did the day you tried it on.” My mom’s eyes glistened as she spoke.

  “Yes, it really does fit nicely,” I said, trying to hold the tears back.

  I’d lost a few pounds because I was stressed out, hoping that the affair I’d been having with Lance didn’t backfire during the time I was planning my wedding with Steve. Besides the car accident where Lance drove me off the road and the few unexpected phone threats he’d made about blowing up my house with me and my kids in it, I hadn’t heard from him in a few months. I hoped it stayed that way. Even though shedding the extra pounds was very necessary, I didn’t want to lose it that way.

  “You are beautiful, but you better not cry and mess up the face I just took time to perfect,” Monica snapped playfully, but I knew she was serious.

  “I’m not going to cry,” I smiled and dabbed the tears away. My hands shook, and my throat became dry. “I need some water.” After a few sips, Monica retouched my lips and made sure that my tight Shirley Temple curls were placed just right.

  “Are you ready to say your ‘I dos’ to the man you will promise to spend the rest of your life with?” Monica said as she lifted the tail of my dress so I could walk.

  “Yes, I am.” I exhaled, and then let out a slow breath. “I’m as ready as I’ll ever be.”

  When I stepped out of my dressing room, my stepfather walked up to me, smiled, and said, “You are so beautiful.”

  “Thanks, Dad.” My face beamed as we connected at the arms.

  Dad wore a white tuxedo with a fuchsia vest and tie like the groomsmen. He was the only dad I knew. My mom told me that my biological father had died from a drug overdose when I was a young child. My stepfather had been very strict at times, but I knew he loved me.

  As the doors of the church opened, I stood there for a minute to take it all in. The pews were packed with both Steve’s and my family and friends. My heart smiled from all the support we had on our big day. All the bridesmaids and groomsmen were looking spectacular as they stood in the front of the church.

  The organist started to play, and at that very moment, my stomach contracted into a tight ball. Sweat trickled down from my armpit. I needed to get my nerves together.

  “Asia, that’s your cue to go,” Monica said, breaking me out of my trance as she tried to hide so that no one in the sanctuary could see her. I knew that was my cue. Even though we had practiced this a million times at rehearsal, my feet were suddenly stuck like they were in quicksand. I knew it was just last-minute jitters, but when everyone stood up, and all eyes were on me, I shook the nerves off. That was when I started to take quick steps toward Steve as his cousin Paul belted out the words to Brian McKnight’s song, “The Only One For Me.”

  “Slow down, baby, you’re walking too fast,” Dad said in my ear.

  I slowed my pace, smiled, and knocked the anxiety from my mind as I tried to concentrate on the lyrics of the song Steve had chosen, a song Paul sang beautifully. After walking past the gorgeous fuchsia and white flowers that were attached to the end of each pew, the smiles that were plastered on the people’s faces, and the lights that flickered from the cameras and cell phones as they captured images of me, I had finally made it to the altar. Standing next to Steve, I could tell he was as nervous as I was, but in his eyes, I could also see his love for me.

  After we looked into each other’s eyes and spoke our vows, we finally said I do. Then, we shared our first kiss as Mr. and Ms. Steve Goodwin. Un
locking lips, we turned toward the crowded sanctuary to walk out of the church—and that was when my heart fell from my chest to the floor, along with the bouquet of flowers that I’d been holding. I almost stopped breathing. From the way my husband looked at me, he must have thought I was stunned out of my mind. And he was right . . . because I was.

  “Baby, what’s the matter?” Steve asked with much concern.

  Sweat dotted my temple. I swallowed deeply. I couldn’t talk. My words were stuck in the back of my throat. My heart thumped hard in my chest as if it was about to burst. I blinked my eyes, hoping to clear my vision, praying that I wouldn’t still see Lance sitting in the back of the church, eyeballing me with an evil glare.

  28

  Sasha

  The deejay was playing “Let’s Get Married” by Jagged Edge as the wedding party strutted into the elegant hall where the reception was being held. Asia’s wedding had been really nice, but I was hoping some drama popped off. Especially after I’d seen her husband locking lips with a man in the parking lot right before they exchanged vows.

  I thought Steve’s lover boy would definitely be the one to stand up and object to the marriage, but unfortunately, everything went well. At least, until Asia looked as if she was having an asthma attack right before they exited the sanctuary—and the girl didn’t even have asthma. I didn’t know what was going on with her. All I knew was that she was bent over and having trouble breathing. I didn’t know what Steve said to get her to straighten up, but I knew I would find out the four-one-one after she told Melody, because Melody would tell me. Asia and I still weren’t on speaking terms, and I didn’t care. I wasn’t going to be fake and all up in her face.