But they generally got over it soon enough. And they were usually right back doing it again with seemingly less guilt, even though they promised him and themselves it would never happen again. He’d just never worked with a woman he’d cheated with. He didn’t know how something like that might work out. So Paris’s absence from work was giving him time to work things out in his head.
He found Tiffany sitting at the kitchen table.
“Hey, babe.” He leaned down and kissed her on her cheek. “Something smells good in here. It’s good to be home at this time of day for a change. So what’s for dinner?”
“Nothing,” she said, devoid of any feelings or emotion.
He walked over to the stove and lifted the top off the black iron skillet to find cooked spaghetti sauce. He then lifted the top off a pot only to find nothing but a pot of water. “You haven’t cooked the spaghetti noodles yet?” He put the top back on the pot. “And it’s eerily quiet around here. So where are the kids?”
“Fatima has them.”
He quickly turned to Tiffany. “Fatima? You mean Fatima Adams?”
Tiffany was being robotic. “Fatima Howard.”
“Yeah, yeah. That’s right. She married that computer geek . . . the nerd and became Mrs. Howard,” Darius said. “So how is it that our kids are with her? She’s never kept them before, has she?”
Tiffany stood up. “Darius, we need to talk.”
“About what?”
“About what you’re doing,” Tiffany said.
“I’m working and coming home to you, that’s what I’m doing. I’m out there busting my tail pretty much seven days a week without a day off just to pay the bills and take care of my family, that’s what I’m doing.”
“You’re working with a woman named Paris?”
“You already know that. I’ve told you that Paris and I are co-chairs over getting out the youth vote for Lawrence Simmons’s reelection campaign.”
“The same Paris that’s trying to take Gabrielle’s child from her,” Tiffany said as though someone had turned on a tape and it was playing regardless of the present direction of the conversation.
“I don’t know anything about her personal business. I’m just there trying to get a paycheck like anybody else working there.” He stepped away from Tiffany and decided to head upstairs.
Tiffany followed behind him. “So are you sleeping with her?”
Darius stopped on the first step and turned toward Tiffany. “Am I sleeping with her? Am I sleeping with whom?”
“Paris Simmons-Holyfield. Are you sleeping with her?”
He chuckled. “Now you’re tripping. Paris is married just like I am.” He turned back around and continued up the stairs and into their bedroom.
Tiffany came in right behind him. “You haven’t answered the question.”
Darius turned to her. “Am I sleeping with her? That’s your question?”
“Yes.”
“Then the answer is no; I’m not sleeping with her.” He didn’t feel like he was lying. He wasn’t sleeping with her.
“Have you been telling her things I’ve told you concerning Gabrielle?”
Darius chuckled again. “You’re tripping for real now. Paris and I have no reason to talk about Gabrielle. We’re professionals. Pro . . . fes . . . sion . . . als. I get paid to work in getting her father reelected. That’s what I do.”
Tiffany nodded. “Okay, then have you ever hit on Gabrielle?”
“Are you talking about the professional stripper whose sole job was to get men all excited so she could rake in more money? That Gabrielle?”
“That’s not who she is now,” Tiffany said.
Darius smiled. “You know what they say: Once a stripper, always a stripper.”
“She’s a Christian now. All of that is behind her.”
“So says her. But then, I suppose people can believe folks like her have changed, but somebody like me, I get judged by my past all the time at every turn. Why is there such a double standard? Huh? I cheated on you one time.” He held up his index finger to emphasize the number one. “We talked about it. I told you it was nothing, but here you are in my face accusing me of my past behavior once again.”
“I’m still waiting on an answer to my question.” Tiffany folded her arms.
“Have I ever hit on Gabrielle?” He rubbed his chin as he looked at the ceiling. “I guess that would be a yes. But that was when she was getting paid to have men throw themselves at her. I didn’t mean anything seriously by it. I told you that I was merely going along with the other guys so they wouldn’t think I wasn’t interested in women. You know how men like to test other men just to be sure.”
“And that’s the only time you’ve hit on her? When she was working at that place? You haven’t tried anything since she became a member of our church?”
Darius walked over and gently gathered Tiffany up by her shoulders. “Gabrielle is not my type. Trust me: I have all that I want right here. I don’t know what she may have told you. But if you told her that I was working with Paris and she figured out it was the same person you say is trying to take that child from her, then wouldn’t it stand to reason she’d say something to put doubt in your mind? Gabrielle is merely working you, baby. She was likely trying to get you so worked up you’d say something you might not normally say when your mind is not clouded with anger.”
“What about Fatima?”
“What about her?”
“Have you ever hit on her? Have you ever had an affair with her?”
Darius laughed as he released her. “Okay. Now this is getting crazy around here. How many more women do you have on your list? Are you going to ask me about every woman I’ve come in contact with on my job and at church?”
“No. Just the ones you’ve had an affair with in let’s say, the past ten years.”
He shook his head. “I’m not going to dignify that with an answer. I’m going to take a shower. And when I’m done, I hope you’ve taken off your head and screwed it back on right. My patience can only take so much.” He headed for the bathroom.
“I’ve talked to Fatima,” Tiffany said to his back.
He stopped and turned around. “I would hope so if you’re going to take our children over there and leave them. What is she doing? Having some kind of a party and she needed our children to help make up the numbers or something?”
“I’m going to ask you this one more time, and I’d appreciate if you’d just tell the truth without us having to circle this mountain more than once.”
He came close and tapped her on her nose. “You do have a way with words.”
“Have you had an affair with Fatima at any time during our marriage?”
Darius twisted his mouth a few times, then made a popping sound. “No.”
Tiffany nodded her head nippily a few times. “So if I were to tell you that she says differently, you would contend to me that she’s the one lying and not you?”
“Look, Tiffany. You need to stop this mess. Can’t you see? Fatima and Gabrielle are friends. I don’t know why, but it seems like the two of them have gotten together and decided to target me. Actually, it looks like they’re targeting you, because what they’re doing is trying to hurt you. They can’t really hurt me. But going after you . . . well, all I can say is: With those kinds of friends, who needs enemies?”
“Okay. So you’re telling me that if Fatima were to have said that you and she once had an affair . . . that would not be the truth?”
“Fatima would never tell you anything like that.”
“Why? Because you think she loves you that much? Because she’s married now and she wouldn’t want something like that to get out at this point in her life?”
“Because you and Fatima are friends. And real friends wouldn’t do something like that to hurt a friend. Not a real friend they cared about.”
“Oh, but if this affair happened before we were friends, then that wouldn’t count, now would it? I mean, it wouldn’t count as
a friend hurting another friend.”
“What did Fatima tell you?”
“You’re my husband. I’m asking you. And if you respect and love me as you claim to, you would come clean and tell me the truth. All of your tricky play on words has gotten real old.”
Darius snickered. “Play on words, huh? I told you that you’re tripping. How do I make a play on words?”
“I ask have you slept with this person, and you say that you’re not sleeping with them. That to me means that you’re not doing it right now at this exact moment, but it doesn’t address whether you’ve ever done it.”
Darius scratched his head. “Well, you do give me a whole lot of credit for seemingly being much smarter and way more clever than I really am.”
“Okay, Darius: last time. Have you ever had an affair with Fatima? Have you ever slept with her? Have you ever broken your marriage vow between me and you with her?”
“And for the last time: no, no, and no. No! I don’t know how to say it any plainer than that. The answer is no.”
“Okay, Darius. If that’s how you want to play this, then I want you to leave.”
Darius laughed. “You want me to do what?”
“I want you to pack your things and get out.”
“Over somebody conspiring against me? You want me to leave here?” He pointed his finger at the floor. “You want me to leave my home.”
“Yes.”
“Well, that’s too bad, because I’m not going anywhere.” He stepped up close to her. “And you know what? You can’t make me. This is my house. And if you don’t want to be together, then you can pack up your stuff and get to stepping.”
Tiffany nodded. “Did you have an affair with Fatima? That’s all I’m asking. You’re so tough. You’re so big and bad. Why can’t you stand up and be a man about what you’ve done? You did it. If you’re man enough to sleep with other women, then you should be man enough to look me in my eyes and tell me the truth.”
Darius was so mad, his top lip quivered. “All right. Since you can’t leave well enough alone. Yes! I did have a brief affair with Fatima. It was before you ever met her. It was when you and I were having trouble in our marriage. Things haven’t always been rosy around here; you know it and I know it. So are you happy now? Did I confirm what your little buddy apparently couldn’t wait to tell you? She doesn’t care about you, because if she did, she never would have told you this in the first place.”
Tiffany started laughing, not in an amused way, but one of craze.
“What’s so funny?”
Tiffany kept laughing.
He placed one hand on his hip. “What is so funny?”
“Fatima didn’t tell me anything. But thank you. You just told me everything.”
“Well, if she didn’t tell you, then why were you doing all of this?”
Tiffany stepped up to him. “I asked her if you had ever come on to her. She told me if I wanted to know the answer to that I should ask you myself. I asked her had the two of you ever had an affair. And again, she told me if I wanted to know the answer to that, I should talk to my husband. She didn’t tell me because it’s like you just said: She cares too much to want me hurt. She wasn’t going to lie to me, but she wasn’t going to tell me even though, to me, a real friend would tell it.”
“And you don’t have a problem with her? She had an affair with your husband, she became your friend, and she never told you what she’d done or asked for your forgiveness, but you don’t have a problem with her. But you do, naturally, have a problem with me. Well, I’m asking for forgiveness. Although this happened years ago and has been over with for five, I’m asking you to forgive me now.”
“Sure, Darius. I forgive you. But, dear husband of mine who needs to learn the true meaning of repent, I still want you out of this house.”
Darius laughed. “Repent? So what does that mean? You want me to go before the church and confess my sin? You want me to go to the good Pastor Landris, who by the way, may or may not have something in his own closet . . . possibly the same problem as me. Who knows? But you want me to go and ask him for forgiveness.”
“That’s not what I want. Repent means to change your ways. It means to turn and go in a different direction. It means to recognize what you’re doing is wrong and to stop doing it! Not just stop with the person you had been doing it with. It means those you’re doing that same thing with right now.” Tiffany took a step away from him. “All I know is: I’m not putting up with you treating me like this anymore. I deserve better, and I’m not going to allow you to do this and think that it’s okay. I am not your doormat. From this day forward, you will not be wiping your feet on me!”
“Well, if you want me out of your life, then I suggest you be the one to pack your stuff and leave, because I’m not going anywhere. And the last thing I’m going to do is vacate this house, because do you know what happens then?” He chuckled. “It’s called abandonment, and I lose my rights and claim to this place. So if you end up with this house, it won’t be because I forfeited my rightful claim by leaving first.”
Tiffany looked at him hard. “I’m going to Fatima’s to pick up our kids.” She grabbed her purse and walked out of the room.
“And I’ll be here when you get back!” he yelled. “You can count on that!”
Chapter 42
For we can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth.
—2 Corinthians 13:8
The next day when Darius got to work, he found a note laying on his desk telling him to see Lawrence as soon as he arrived. Darius thought Lawrence was out on the campaign trail. In fact, he’d almost not come in to work today, especially following the night he’d just had with Tiffany.
She’d gotten the kids from Fatima’s and come home, bringing with her a plate of food Fatima had given her. When he’d asked what was he supposed to do for food since the children had eaten at Fatima’s and she’d given Tiffany a plate for her, but apparently not one for him, Tiffany told him point blank, “What you do when you don’t eat here.”
That was the last words she spoke to him. He didn’t care. He preferred the silent treatment to her fussing any day of the week. There wasn’t much on television. But there was never much during the end of July except for baseball games, cheap reality shows, and reruns. He’d sat down with a plate of spaghetti sauce and watched a baseball game. When he tried to go into his bedroom, the door was locked. So he slept in the den on the couch, which was also fine with him. That way he didn’t have to deal with Tiffany’s cold body language while in the same bed. He’d been here before. He knew it would pass shortly.
“You wanted to see me?” Darius said after knocking on Lawrence’s door and being told to come in.
Lawrence stood and indicated for Darius to have a seat.
Darius was smiling. He knew he’d done a great job over the past few months. He was certain Lawrence realized now what a true asset he was to him. He might have blackmailed his way into the position, but his work had done the speaking as to who he was as an employee.
“I want to thank you for the work you’ve done on behalf of my reelection campaign,” Lawrence said.
Darius grinned even bigger as he situated his body better. “You’re welcome. It’s been a real joy. I never knew I’d be so good at something like this. But it’s like I’m a natural. I was born to do this. What can I say?”
Lawrence nodded a few times, then held out a white envelope to him.
Darius leaned forward and took it. “What’s this? A bonus or something? Because you know I can always use more money. Mo’ money, mo’ money. I’m not one of those who will dare turn down a blessing. Not Darius. No, sir.”
“There is a check inside.”
“Now we’re talking.” Darius began tearing open the sealed envelope. “He pulled out the check along with another piece of paper. He looked at the check. “What’s this?”
“What does it say that it is?”
“It says, ‘Final check for servi
ces rendered.’”
“Then it’s correct,” Lawrence said. “It should be completely up to date.”
Darius stood up. “How is it a final check if I’m still working?”
“You’re not still working. Today is your last day.”
Darius began shaking his head. “Oh, no. I don’t think so. I have a signed contract with four more months of pay left on it to be fulfilled.”
“Your services are no longer needed.”
“This is not going down like this. You’re messing with the wrong one.”
“Please close my door on your way out,” Lawrence said, now also standing.
“Why are you doing this? Have I not delivered on what we agreed on? What kind of a man are you? Do you not know the kind of havoc I can wreak on you?”
Lawrence walked around to face Darius. “Let’s see: Why am I doing this? For starters, I don’t take kindly to being blackmailed. But I also have learned down through the years to never turn my back on a snake. The best way to know what a snake is up to is to put him in a glass aquarium, feed him while keeping a tight lid on where he’s being held, and watch.”
Darius laughed. “You’re comparing me to a snake? You, Representative Copperhead, are calling me a snake?” Darius pointed at him. “That’s funny right there. Yeah, that’s a dump truckload of laughs right there.”
“Have you delivered on what we agreed upon?” Lawrence said as though Darius’s laugh wasn’t fazing him in the least. “The answer to that question is a resounding no. You were supposed to keep my daughter occupied enough with this reelection effort to keep her nose out of my other affairs. Instead, you were out there adding gasoline to what could have been a smothered-out fire.”
The Other Side of Dare Page 23
