Can I Get a Witness?

by ReShonda Tate Billingsley

“I was with her before I got married.” He ran his hands over his closely shaven head. He looked at the door, then back at Dionne.

  “But you said you got married in 2002.”

  “I did.” He squeezed his eyes closed like he was in pain. “I don’t believe this. She is going to kill us both.”

  “Open this door, Roland! I ain’t playin’ with you!”

  Tasha kicked the door so hard it seemed like the hinges would come off, and Dionne jumped. “So you mean to tell me the woman on the other side of the door has been your girlfriend the whole time you were married?” she asked in disbelief.

  “Something like that,” Roland admitted.

  “I do not believe this.” It was Dionne’s turn to start pacing. What had she done wrong in her life? Why was God punishing her so when it came to men? Her last boyfriend had turned out to swing both ways, and the boyfriend before that dumped her to “focus on his rap career.” All she wanted to do was find a decent man and settle down.

  Suddenly a sour memory came to her. Roland had explained to Dionne how Liz had caught him with another woman, which was why she was so bitter toward him. But he’d definitely left out the part about the other woman being a long-term girlfriend. “Is that who Liz caught you with?”

  Roland nervously bit his lip. “That’s her.”

  Dionne was astonished. “But we spend almost every night together.” This wasn’t making sense. How could Roland have a girlfriend?

  “She lives in Dallas,” Roland said, as if he were reading her mind. “Sh-she hung in there because she thought we’d get married. She put up with my wife, but she’s gonna go ballistic if she sees you here.” Roland grabbed Dionne’s hand. “Go hide just until I can get rid of her. Please?”

  Dionne snatched her hand away, then crossed her arms defiantly to let him know she wasn’t about to hide anywhere. She jumped when another crash came from the door. Roland looked like he wanted to curse her out before he turned and sprinted down the hallway into his bedroom.

  “Open this door, Roland!” Tasha screamed again. “I’m not goin’ anywhere, so you might as well open the door!”

  Dionne shook her head in disgust. This was ridiculous. She was not about to fight some woman over a two-timing dog. She felt a headache coming on. She wasn’t in the mood for a confrontation, but she wasn’t about to hide out in Roland’s house either.

  Dionne stomped to the door and unlocked it.

  The woman burst in before she could even get the door open. “Roland, get your sorry behind out here!” She spun toward Dionne like she was just noticing her presence. She didn’t look as ghetto as she sounded. Her fiery red hair sat in a bushy ponytail on top of her head. She was very pretty and had to be a good five nine, her thick frame towering over Dionne. “I knew I heard a woman in here. Who are you?” Tasha snapped, one of her hands going to her hip.

  “I’m the other girlfriend—the one who didn’t know you existed,” Dionne said, shaking her head.

  “Oh, really?” Tasha responded, looking around the room. “Where is Roland?”

  “Cowering in the bedroom, I suppose.” Dionne pointed, hard, toward the back. It was taking everything in her power to contain her anger.

  Tasha ran her eyes up and down Dionne before taking off to the bedroom. “Oh, it’s about to be on,” she spat.

  Dionne quickly followed her down the hall. They both stopped in the doorway to Roland’s bedroom, which was empty. The flimsy gold curtain was flapping through the open window. Dionne and Tasha both raced over to the window just in time to see Roland reach the fence in the back of the apartment building and begin to climb.

  “Oh, you wanna run like a little punk, huh?” Tasha screamed out the window after him.

  Roland looked back just as he made it over the fence.

  “You forget I ran track in high school!” Tasha kicked off her shoes and swung one leg over the windowsill. She stopped with her body halfway out and turned to Dionne. “And if you know what’s good for you, you’d better be gone when I get back.”

  The next thing Dionne knew, Tasha had climbed out of the second-story window and taken off after Roland.

  The whole thing was like a scene out of a bad movie. She didn’t know exactly what, if anything, Tasha would do to her when she returned. But she did know one thing—she wasn’t about to stick around and find out.

  She and Roland were through.

  Chapter 4

  “So let me get this straight,” Ida said as she leaned back in Rosolyn’s recliner. “Not only was the man two-timing you, but he took off like a little pansy and left you in his apartment with his girlfriend?”

  Dionne let out a disgusted sigh and took another sip of her wine. “And I haven’t heard from him since.”

  Ida shook her head. “And this happened when?”

  “Day before yesterday,” Dionne replied.

  “I told you there was something sneaky about that boy,” Ida replied, shaking her Bible at Dionne. She’d only met Roland a couple of times, but like the rest of the family, she didn’t particularly care for him.

  Vanessa watched her aunt and sister go around and around. She hadn’t really felt like visiting tonight, but it was her older sister Rosolyn’s birthday, and Vanessa knew she couldn’t bail on her birthday dinner, which they had been planning for months. They were all at Rosolyn’s house, a three-thousand-square-foot cookie-cutter home that Rosolyn had decorated to look like something out of Better Homes and Gardens.

  They’d just finished dinner and were now sitting around the living room talking, eating cake, and drinking tea, except for Dionne, who was on her third glass of wine.

  “I thought we were going to get married,” Dionne whined. “I can’t believe he was playing me all along.”

  “I can. Shoot, the boy didn’t make nothing but booty calls.”

  “Aunt Ida!” Vanessa admonished.

  “What?” She flashed a stare at her grandniece. “It’s the truth and you know it’s the truth. In my day, if a man couldn’t call me before six, he didn’t need to call me at all.” She turned toward Dionne. “You let that boy come over whenever he felt like it. Hmmph. He was probably coming over your house so late because he was at her house at a decent hour.”

  “She doesn’t even live here. She lives in Dallas,” Dionne said defensively.

  “Well, maybe he has yet another girlfriend because he sure wasn’t giving you his time,” Ida muttered. “Except after hours.”

  “I knew I shouldn’t have told you all that.”

  Just last week Dionne had shared with them that she didn’t get to spend as much time with Roland as she would like because he was always working. In fact, she’d said the only real time they spent together was late at night.

  “You had to talk to somebody,” Vanessa said. She was actually worried about her little sister. Both she and Rosolyn had a protective nature when it came to Dionne, the baby of the family.

  “Yeah, but I didn’t expect y’all to throw it back in my face.” She pouted like a little girl.

  “Don’t nobody care about you sticking your lips out,” Ida continued. “It’s bad enough that you get with him before his divorce was even final. But a man’s only gonna do what you allow him to do, and you allowed him to play you, as you young folks like to say.”

  Vanessa contemplated telling her aunt to chill since it was obvious she was getting to Dionne. The last thing Vanessa needed when she was feeling blue was a big family argument.

  Dionne sank in her seat. “Gee, thanks, Aunt Ida. You sure do have a way of making me feel better,” she said sarcastically.

  “I’m just trying to tell you. Then you want to talk about how y’all were supposed to be getting married,” Ida said, shaking her head. “You probably were the only one talking about getting married. You know how desperate you are.”

  At this mean comment Dionne grabbed the wine and poured herself another glass. She stopped when she noticed Ida eyeing the bottle.

  “And I surely h
ope you don’t think you’re going to find the answer to your troubles in there.” She pointed toward the wine.

  Dionne obeyed, putting the bottle back down. “What’s so wrong with wanting to be married?”

  “Nothing when you allow it to be done in God’s time. Not your time,” Ida responded.

  “Well, God needs to come on because I’m ready.”

  “Maybe God wants you to get yourself together before He sends you a man,” Ida said, wagging her finger.

  Dionne rolled her eyes and Vanessa chuckled. Her aunt might as well be talking to a brick wall. Dionne had been obsessed with finding a husband since she was twenty-three. The funny thing was, she couldn’t keep a decent boyfriend for more than six months, let alone find somebody to marry. She’d been needy all of her life and her men only exacerbated the problem, catering to her temper tantrums and childish demands. Since Dionne was just a baby when their parents died, everyone tried to overcompensate for her.

  “Don’t get Aunt Ida started on God,” Vanessa warned.

  Aunt Ida peered over her wide-rimmed glasses at Vanessa.

  “What?” Vanessa asked, not really wanting an answer.

  “I didn’t say a word,” Ida said, smiling thinly.

  “You didn’t have to,” Vanessa responded, glancing toward the kitchen. “And what’s taking Rosolyn so long to make some tea?” She turned back to see her aunt staring at her. “Why are you looking at me crazy?”

  “Sounds like to me somebody else needs to be turning their relationship over to God as well.”

  Vanessa held up her hands to block off the onslaught. “Don’t start with me. My relationship is fine.”

  “Mmmm-hmmm. How was your anniversary?” Ida pointed out.

  It was Vanessa’s turn to roll her eyes. “Of course, Thomas was upset. He left the house.” She shuddered slightly, remembering the look of hatred he flashed before he left. “But he’s just overreacting, being his usual childish self. I apologized for missing dinner, but it wasn’t enough.” She frowned, knowing she didn’t deserve to be shut out like this. “He knows this is an election year.”

  “Ummph.” Ida tsked. “Wonder if them polls keep you warm at night?” She turned toward Rosolyn, who had just walked out of the kitchen back into the living room. She was carrying another tray of tea and looked like the all-American housewife in a peach floral cotton dress that tied around the waist.

  “You think them polls can take her to the hospital when she ain’t feeling well? You think them voters gon’ sit by her side as she lies on her deathbed, waiting to meet her Maker?”

  Rosolyn smiled, displaying her deep dimples. A sea of curls framed her pear-shaped face. As usual, she wore only a hint of lip gloss. Vanessa was always after her to wear more makeup to bring out her natural beauty. “Uh-uh. Don’t put me in the middle of that.” She set the tray down and poured each of them some more hot tea. Dionne declined, instead raising her glass for more wine.

  “You better tell your sister,” Ida said as she eased up in her seat, picked up the bottle of wine, and firmly moved it next to her on the table.

  “Auntie, you know Vanessa isn’t tryin’ to hear anything anybody says,” Rosolyn said. “Her or Dionne.”

  Vanessa groaned. Dionne was the hothead of the family and Vanessa herself was so ambitious that she could be stubborn sometimes as well. But Rosolyn was the perfect one. The one who went to church, married the right man, had a child, and lived the life that would make a mother or great-aunt proud. She was even the director of The Mason House, an agency where the state sent kids who had been abused or abandoned.

  “They need to be listening to you,” Ida chastised. “You been married to a wonderful man for twelve years. You got a beautiful little boy. They could learn a thing or two from you.”

  “Hel-lo.” Vanessa waved her hand, thrusting out her chin. “We can hear you guys, you know?”

  Ida turned up her nose. “That would be the purpose of the conversation.”

  Vanessa sucked her teeth and picked up her teacup. As if she’d want her sister’s boring life. Vanessa loved her older sister, but Rosolyn was content being a mother and a preacher’s wife. No, thanks. Settling for the domestic life simply wasn’t in the cards for her. Thomas knew that when he married her. So why he was all of a sudden trippin’ was beyond her.

  “Your husband done up and left you, and instead of going after him, begging him to forgive you, what are you doing? Sitting up here sippin’ tea. Lord, have mercy.” Ida shook her head like she was amazed at Vanessa’s stupidity. “To be so smart, you sure can be dumb.”

  “Auntie!” Rosolyn cried, coming to her sister’s defense.

  Dionne giggled, grateful that her aunt had gotten off her case.

  Vanessa wanted to tell her aunt a thing or two, but since Ida was prone to throwing whatever was near her at whoever was near her, she kept her mouth closed.

  “All I’m saying is the man ain’t asking for nothing no other husband would want. No other man would want,” Ida declared.

  “Auntie, Thomas will be fine. He’s just mad right now,” Vanessa said, growing exasperated. “He didn’t leave me. He just probably spent the last two nights over at one of his friends’ house or at his sister’s place.”

  Ida bolted upright in her chair, shock registering on her face. “He’s been gone for two days? And you don’t know where he’s staying?”

  Vanessa shook her head. Although she was trying to act nonchalant, the uneasy feeling in her stomach was intensifying. She’d tried to call Thomas when he didn’t come home last night, but he hadn’t answered his phone.

  “And you’re not out looking for him?” Ida looked at Vanessa like she’d lost her mind.

  “Aunt Ida, it’s not even like that. Thomas just likes to go off and clear his head when he gets upset.”

  Ida leaned back in her seat. “If you say so. But you mark my words, what you won’t do, another woman will.”

  Rosolyn cleared her throat as she shifted uncomfortably. “Well, I wasn’t going to say anything, but…”

  Everyone turned to her. “But what?” Dionne asked when Rosolyn didn’t continue.

  Rosolyn nervously sipped her tea. “Well, Henry said he saw Thomas pulling out of the gas station by the Galleria this morning. And…” She fumbled with her teacup.

  “And what?” Dionne asked, getting irritated.

  “And there was a woman in the car with him. A pretty young woman.” Rosolyn rushed the words out. “Henry tried to get his attention, but Thomas didn’t see him.” She forced a smile. “I’m sure it was nothing. Just one of his assistants or something.”

  Vanessa’s eyebrows rose. Thomas didn’t have any young female assistants.

  “An assistant, huh?” Dionne mumbled, obviously not buying that theory.

  “Yes, I’m sure that’s what it was,” Rosolyn said with a little more force in her voice.

  “Umph. I told you, what one woman treats like trash, another woman will treasure,” Ida said.

  Vanessa was getting tired of the homespun wisdom. “What is that supposed to mean?”

  “It means what it means,” Ida responded matter-of-factly.

  Vanessa rolled her eyes. That had to have been a client Henry saw Thomas with. His assistant was an elderly woman, but he did meet with clients from time to time. “Whatever. If I don’t know anything else, I know Thomas is faithful to me. Just like I’m faithful to him.”

  “You know this, huh?” Ida said. “Unless you got your man’s woody in your pocket, you don’t know nothing.”

  Vanessa and her sisters all frowned up. “You’re gross, Auntie,” Dionne said.

  “I’m just speaking the truth,” she replied.

  “Well, I know Thomas is faithful to me,” Vanessa replied, even though she was feeling less and less confident.

  “Yeah, just like I thought Roland was faithful to me,” Dionne muttered as she downed the rest of her drink.

  Vanessa smiled at her man-hunting little sister
. “Yeah, right. As if you can even compare Thomas to him.”

  Dionne was coming right back with a retort when suddenly she grabbed her stomach. “I gotta throw up,” she said, getting up and rushing off to the bathroom.

  “That’s all that wine you sat here and guzzled,” Ida called out after her. “Lush!”

  “Can you all please not go at each other’s throats on my birthday?” Rosolyn finally asked. “I didn’t get rid of my husband and son to sit up here and listen to you guys fuss.”

  Vanessa was glad her aunt let the conversation drop, although Ida and Dionne had now stirred up some doubt in her mind. Thomas wouldn’t cheat, would he? No, they’d been married five years and although they’d experienced their share of problems, outside women had never been one of them.

  She stood up. “Well, I have to get going. I have some work to do.” She leaned over and kissed Rosolyn on the cheek. “Happy birthday. Let me know when you want to use your gift certificate to The Root of You Salon and Day Spa and I’ll go with you.” She moved over to the next chair and kissed her aunt also. “Talk to you later, Aunt Ida. Tell Dionne I’ll catch up with her later.”

  As she headed to the door, Vanessa heard Ida mumble, “She ain’t foolin’ nobody. She’s goin’ to find her man.”

  She didn’t look back, but her aunt was right. That uneasy feeling was creating knots now, and Vanessa wouldn’t rest until she found her husband.

  Chapter 5

  “Henry said she was young and pretty.” Rosolyn’s words rang in her head. Vanessa had never doubted Thomas’s fidelity. But the fact that he hadn’t come home again and still wasn’t answering his cell phone was causing her mind to work overtime.

  Finally, after driving by Bernard’s house and seeing that Thomas’s truck wasn’t there, Vanessa decided to try a tactic she’d learned from one of the women who had come through her divorce court. She returned home, logged onto the computer, went to the American Express website and entered Thomas’s credit card information.

  “Old, predictable Thomas,” she noted in satisfaction as she successfully entered the same password he used for everything, LOVEJUST, after two of the founders of his fraternity. Vanessa liked to think he partly made it up because of her, too. She’d asked him once, and he said, “Of course,” which didn’t mean anything, but it made her feel better anyway.