by Mary Monroe
“Baby, let’s take things slowly,” I advised. From the smile on her face, I could tell that she was in agreement with me. What more could I ask for in a woman? This one was perfect for a man like me. . . .
Chapter 33
Seth
I KNEW THAT THINGS WERE GOING TOO WELL FOR ME. JUST WHEN I thought I had my life on track and the only direction I could go was up, my son’s mother started giving me hell again. That brought me back down several notches. I loved my son, but I regretted the day I’d laid eyes on his mother. Caroline was now even more disgusting and mean-spirited than before. At least back in the day, she’d had a nice body and a cute face, but her hard living ways and four more babies had taken a toll on her. The last time I saw her, she looked ten years older than she really was, and her body was sagging in every direction. I was surprised that she was still able to attract men.
“Nigger, how come you don’t return my calls?” Caroline shrieked as soon as I answered the phone. Her voice was so loud, I could have set the telephone down and still heard her from across the room. I was glad Rachel was at the market, picking up some steaks for our dinner.
It was the day after the Fourth of July. Rachel and I had been together almost two years. We had just returned a few hours ago from a romantic holiday in Reno.
“I didn’t know you’d called,” I snarled. I unbuttoned my shirt, kicked off my shoes, and got comfortable on the couch. But I couldn’t sit still. I kept crossing and uncrossing my legs and wiping sweat off my face and glancing toward the door, praying that Rachel wouldn’t get back before I got Caroline off the phone. “And I don’t appreciate you calling me names, God damn it!”
I didn’t like to sound mean, but whenever I talked to Caroline these days, she provoked me to do so. Despite the fact that she was such a thorn in my side, she was still my child’s mother, and that meant a lot to me, so I decided to soften my demeanor. “I’m sorry I missed your calls, but I went out of town, and I forgot to take my cell phone with me,” I explained, speaking in such a gentle tone of voice now, you would have thought I was talking to a child.
“Uh-huh! I heard about your happy ass and how you been gallivanting all over the place with your new whore—”
“Don’t call her that! You don’t even know the woman,” I interrupted.
“I don’t need to know her to know that if she’s involved with a dick-headed motherfucker like you, she has to be a straight-up whore. Fucking was all you ever cared about when I was with you, and I know you ain’t changed.”
“I have news for you. Rachel is not a whore. As a matter of fact, she’s worth about five of you. How is my son?”
“My son is just fine, as if you care.”
“Caroline, you know I care about Darnell.”
“Yeah, right.”
I shuddered when I imagined some of the nasty things Caroline had probably told Darnell about me and some of the reasons she’d given him for why I didn’t see him that often. I kept attempting to see him more, anyway. I called her place on a regular basis, and she would almost always tell me he was “out with his friends.” Or she’d say, “He’s busy. Call back later.” One week I called ten different times and didn’t get to talk to him. Finally, when I called on a Saturday morning and he answered the telephone, he cried, as he was so happy and surprised to hear from me. I didn’t even bother to tell him how hard I had been trying. One thing I was not going to do was trash his mother. I was sure that he knew what kind of woman she really was by the company she kept and the things she did and said. Every man she got involved with was into some shady activity, and I had heard that from members of her own family who still lived in the Bay Area. One thing was for sure, as soon as I got myself into a comfortable position, I was going to do all I could to get custody of my son.
“What’s wrong? Is Darnell in trouble at school again?”
“Is that all you think about? Do you ever not think that the boy is acting a fool in school?”
I hated talking to this woman. No matter what the subject was, we would always say something to piss one another off. “You call only when there is a problem with him or when you want more money. Is he all right?”
“He ain’t dead, so I guess he’s doing all right. I am, too, in case you care.” Caroline snorted and coughed to clear her throat. “I called because I need to send him to you for a couple of weeks.”
“You what? All this time, my trying to get you to let me see him more has been like pulling teeth. Now you want to let me have him for a whole two weeks?”
“I’m going on a cruise, and I don’t have nobody else to leave him with. My other kids will be staying with their daddies,” she hissed. “Letting Darnell stay with you is the least you can do since you too busy to come down here to see him, like you should.”
“Caroline, the last time I came down there, you didn’t answer your fucking door or your phone. The time before that, when I got there after driving for six hours straight in the rain, you told me Darnell had gone camping with his friends—when you knew I was coming to see him.”
“What . . . ever!” she huffed. I could picture the neck rolling and finger snapping that went along with that comment.
“I’d love to have Darnell with me for two weeks. As a matter of fact, I’d love to have him with me permanently. That way you can do whatever else you want to do and not have to worry about him.”
“Ha! Let you have him? That’ll be the day. My mama didn’t raise no fool. I know you want to get out of giving me my money every month, but you can forget about that. I will get paid until that boy turns eighteen.”
“I know that, Caroline. I’ve never been late making the support payments, and I’ve never said no when you asked me for extra money.”
“Speaking of extra money, can you wire me an extra grand this month? I’ll even pay it back to you . . . if you want me to.”
“What do you need an ‘extra grand’ for? And how is it you’re able to afford a two-week cruise?”
“Don’t worry about what I need the extra money for. Will you send it to me or not? And for your information, my man is footing the bill for my cruise.”
“I don’t have an extra thousand to spare right now,” I admitted.
“When can you get it?”
“I can’t say. I just borrowed more money from Josh, and I have to pay him back before I ask for more.”
“What about that woman?”
“What woman?”
“What’s her name? Uh, I heard it was Raquel . . . or Rochelle . . . or Rasputin, or some shitty name that starts with an R.”
“Her name is Rachel,” I said flatly.
“Whatever. I heard she’s making some pretty sweet money working at that white-ass private school.”
I couldn’t believe this woman’s nerve! But then again, Caroline always had worked both sides of the street. She had shown me that the day she and her mother showed up at my parents’ house and claimed that I had raped her.
“You know something, Caroline. For you to be several hundred miles away, you sure know a lot about what’s going on up here in Berkeley.”
“I still have friends and family up there. They tell me what’s going on.”
“Hmmm. Well, you don’t need to have anybody keeping an eye on me or Rachel. What we do is none of your business. And I can’t believe you would even think that I’d borrow money from her to give to you! My mama didn’t raise no fool, either!”
“Don’t worry about it, then. I’ll get it from somebody else.”
“What do you need the money for, Caroline? Maybe if you tell me that, I’ll figure out some way to get it to you.”
“I got jumped by a bunch of Mexicans a couple of nights ago. They took everything I had,” she sobbed, sniffling to add more emphasis to her words. “If you don’t believe me, I can send you the newspaper clipping.”
“I believe you. Did they hurt you?”
“I got a few scrapes and bruises. Other than that, I’m fine.” Carol
ine blew her nose and continued. She began to speak in a voice that was so low and weak, I could barely hear her. “It was the money that I was going to use to pay my rent and to get the rest of Darnell’s school clothes out of layaway at Kmart. . . .”
My son was the most important thing in the world to me. And even though I was certain Caroline lied more than any woman I knew, she might have been telling the truth this time. But I still didn’t want her to think she was dealing with a fool. “If your new honey can afford to take you on a cruise, why can’t he help you out with your financial situation?”
“I tell you what. Don’t worry about the money. And don’t worry about watching Darnell while I’m on vacation. I can leave him with my sister Lorna.”
“No!”
“No, what?”
“Your sister lives in one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in L.A., with a drug dealer. I don’t want my son in that environment!”
“Since when did you care? You ain’t trying to put us in a better neighborhood.”
“Look, Caroline. I’ll get the money for you, and you can still let Darnell spend the two weeks with me. I’ll drive down to pick him up, or I’ll pay his airfare to come up here.”
“You got money for a plane ticket, huh?”
“I’ll get the money to help pay your rent, and I’ll get the money to pay for Darnell’s plane ticket.”
“I need it by tomorrow.”
“Your rent is due on the fifteenth, and this is not even the middle of the month.”
“Didn’t I tell you I was going on a cruise? I need to pay my rent before I go away. And I have to get them clothes for Darnell out of layaway before I leave, or I’ll lose that money, too.”
“I don’t know if I can get it by tomorrow. My parents don’t like to loan money too often, and I already told you I’m still in the hole with my brother. I owe most of my friends, too, so I can’t go to any of them. And my credit cards are all maxed out!”
“Then you’d better find some other way to get that money to me by tomorrow. Do you hear me?”
“I hear you,” I muttered. “What about Darnell? Do you want me to drive down to pick him up?”
“My sister Maggie is down here. She’ll bring him back up there with her tomorrow. But I tell you what you can do. The money you was going to get to pay for his flight, you can include that with the money you wire to me tomorrow. Do you hear me?”
“I hear you.”
“I’d like my money no later than noon.”
“I’ll send it.” I let out a sour breath and rubbed the side of my throbbing head. “Anything else?”
“Just one more thing. If that woman mistreats my child, I’m going to come up there and whup her—”
I didn’t let Caroline finish her threat. I hung up and turned the telephone off.
Chapter 34
Rachel
“YOU NEED TO BORROW SIXTEEN HUNDRED DOLLARS FROM ME to get your car fixed? That’s a mighty big loan, Seth.”
“I know it is, but I hope you’ll help me out. I’ll pay you back. I don’t like to borrow money, but this time I have no choice. I’ll sign a promissory note if you want me to.”
“Well, I’ll let you have it this time, and if you don’t pay me back when you’re supposed to, I’ll sue you,” I teased. I didn’t like to loan money to anybody, especially friends and lovers. But I decided to help Seth this time. “I know how hard you’ve been struggling to get out of debt and take care of your son. And if your son is going to spend two weeks with us, you’ll need a car that you can depend on to get around in, since you refuse to borrow mine that often.” I chuckled. “And you don’t have to sign a promissory note.”
Had the situation been in reverse, I knew I could have borrowed money from Seth. He had told me that more than once. At the end of the day, I was glad that I was in a position to help my man. But despite my generous nature, I was a very frugal woman. Yes, I spent money on nice things like my friends, but what they didn’t know was that the designer clothes I wore and some of the fancy things in my apartment came from upscale consignment shops, flea markets, Goodwill, and estate sales. After I paid my rent and other bills, most of my monthly pay went into my bank accounts. And thanks to Uncle Albert, I had learned how to invest in the stock market, so I made money that way, too.
I didn’t share that information with anybody. Mama had told me never to let the right hand know what the left hand was doing. I saw no reason to let my friends, or even Seth, know how shrewd I was and how much money I had in the bank. One thing I had learned about people was that if they knew you had extra money, they suddenly needed a “loan” for some random financial emergency. Lucy and Patrice made good money, but they were always broke, because they were so extravagant. Paulette and her husband lived high on the hog, too, and had recently filed for bankruptcy, so that told me a lot about them. None of my friends had ever asked me for a loan, and I didn’t want them to start. But they borrowed money from everybody else they knew. Seth often borrowed money from his family members and a few of his friends. This was the first time he’d asked me for a loan, and I didn’t hesitate, because it was for a good cause.
The more I saw Seth, the more I loved him. Our relationship could not have been better. I was convinced that we were going to have a relationship for a very long time.
I called home on a regular basis. During almost every conversation, Mama and Aunt Hattie made wild predictions about how Uncle Albert was going to catch something from one of his gay boyfriends and end up dead. Then they bombarded me with news about funerals, their health issues, and a few comments about Ernest and Janet, which were usually repeats of their previous conversations. They also wanted me to keep them in the loop about my personal life, and I was happy to oblige them. I was hopelessly in love with Seth, and I couldn’t stop thinking about him or talking about him to anybody who was willing to listen.
Every time I mentioned Seth to Mama and Aunt Hattie, I told them a little more about how good he was to me and for me.
“Seth is the best thing that’s ever happened to me. He’s handsome, funny, and smart. And he’s ambitious. He’s the kind of man I hope to marry someday,” I told Mama, clutching the telephone with both hands. Aunt Hattie was listening on the extension, something she often did when she was present during Mama’s telephone conversations with me. Just as I had expected, they put in their two cents’ worth—more like two dollars’ worth, I should say—and warned me not to act a fool with him, the way I had with Jeffrey.
“Uh-huh. I don’t care what this Seth do to you, you better not do nothing that’ll make him set the law on you,” Mama warned. “Them jails in California is like Hades compared to the ones back here. They always showing that on the Discovery Channel. And I ain’t going to beg around to borrow money to bail you out of jail like I done that other time. You got a bad temper, like your daddy’s mama had.”
“You don’t have to worry about me getting arrested again,” I insisted. “I haven’t lost my temper since I moved out here, and I’ve had more than one reason to do so! Besides, I love Seth. I’d never do anything to hurt him.”
Aunt Hattie jumped in with both feet. “Girl, love ain’t nothing but a four-letter word. Women your age don’t know menfolk like me and your mama’s generation. You see all the headaches men done caused us? We worked hard to keep our men happy, and what did it get us? Your daddy had to have another woman on the side and got hisself killed for doing it. After that thang I married died, I heard all kinds of rumors about women he was involved with. Stay single and have just a casual friend every once in a while. Come laundry day, you ain’t got to wash nobody’s funky, piss-stained drawers but your own. Besides that, you need to be focusing on another four-letter word. W-o-r-k.”
“I have a job, Aunt Hattie. A good job,” I said with a sigh.
“I ain’t talking about your job! Didn’t you say this new Romeo you done hooked up with is only working in a cannery, lifting boxes of canned goods and whatnot?”
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“He is. And he’s taking a business course a couple of nights a week.”
Aunt Hattie gasped. “Do you mean to tell me you done got involved with a man that ain’t even out of school yet?”
I was glad I hadn’t mentioned that the class Seth was taking now was a six-week on-line course on his laptop in the comfort of my apartment. “Well, he didn’t finish high school when he was supposed to, but he got his GED. He’s going to open his own ad agency eventually. He’d already taken a few courses before I met him, and this new one will benefit him even more.”
“Bah! Eventually, my foot. That’s a word folks use when they don’t know which way is up. In the meantime, you better ‘eventually’ watch your step with this man. For him to be from such an uptown family like you claim, he don’t sound too . . . uh . . . reliable to me.”
“Aunt Hattie, don’t worry about me and Seth,” I said. “When you meet him, you’ll see why I’m so crazy about him.”
I always expected my mama and my meddlesome aunt to say something off the wall when it involved my love life. But my girls were my support system, and so far all I had received from them was positive feedback when it came to Seth.
Until now.
“Do you think it’s a good idea to start lending money to a man you’ve known for such a short time?” Lucy asked during our latest after-work get-together.
It was casual Friday, and we were all dressed accordingly. I had worn my favorite running shoes and a light green sweat suit to work that day. The booth we occupied was near the front entrance at Dino’s, one of our favorite Italian restaurants. It was a small, dimly lit place near downtown Berkeley. The fireplace in the middle of the main floor, the wine bottles dangling from the ceiling, and one of the best menus in town attracted a lot of people. As usual, Dino’s was crowded with college students, the business crowd, and families that included cranky babies and cranky elders. My crew and I had finished off a large pepperoni pizza, and we were working on our third bottle of Chianti.
