Did children have a sixth sense about what was going on around them? Ariel was acting a little clingier than usual. He contemplated that as he got her ready for school.
He went away for business trips all the time. The last time it was for a whole week. He had left the children with his parents but even so, Ariel hadn't acted like this.
"Listen to me, honey." He looked into her golden eyes. "I love you, okay?"
"Love you, Daddy." Ariel hugged him again. He brushed her curly hair and gave her two ponytails while she chatted away about her day yesterday and her friend Chelsea.
They were eating when Ashley came downstairs, hurriedly. "Oh, you are here." She looked at Brandon, a wide, scared look in her eyes. "I looked for them and couldn't find them in bed. I knew it was late..."
"Daddy's back!" Alisha said smugly, as if all was well with her world again.
"So I see." Ashley looked at him tentatively. "Are you back for good?"
"Not in front of the children," Brandon said abruptly and turned his back to her. He couldn't bear to see her now.
It really was too soon and if it weren't for the children, he didn't know if he could have forced himself back to what he was considering in his mind the scene of the crime.
"You really have to wake up earlier, you know." He glanced at her after a short silence, during which Ashley was hanging her head like a whipped child.
"Yes, I know." She looked up at him with tears in her eyes. "Brandon, I..."
Brandon shook his head. "No..."
He glanced at the clock. He had time to get some clothes and other things. He headed up the stairs. He felt Ashley's eyes burning in his back. He took down a medium-sized suitcase from the storage closet and headed to his closet, where he started packing.
"Brandon," Ashley hissed from the doorway, "we have to talk."
"Yes," Brandon said, not looking up, "but not today, maybe not even this year."
"I think we should get a divorce," Ashley blurted out, her voice trembling. "I know that is where we are headed anyway, and I don't want to prolong this."
She waited for some reaction from him with bated breath. She waited for him to protest. Brandon hated the word divorce.
Brandon looked at her, his eyes flashing. "I don't care. Do whatever, but I want the children to live with me."
Ashley shook her head in denial. A part of her had hoped that Brandon would just forgive her. He was the forgiving type; he had done so over and over through the years, but he was still angrily putting his clothes in the suitcase.
"I can't let you have the kids." They were her only bargaining chips. Brandon could not hold a grudge for long when she had his children, could he?
"Then it won't be an easy divorce, will it?" Brandon said waspishly. "It will be war, Ashley. I am not Mr. Nice Guy when it comes to the girls. Got it?"
Ashley swallowed. "Okay, I understand. Maybe we can come to some sort of arrangement until you calm down and come back home. Where are you staying?"
"Smoky Vale Terrace. Apartment 3," Brandon said. "I'll be there for a while."
"Is it too late?" She licked her lips. "Can't you forgive me and forget that this whole thing happened?"
"I would be mad to get back into this marriage the way it was," Brandon said, "and I don't know if I can forget that I caught you cheating on me in the marital bed with your friend Regina."
Ashley backed away from the door. "I am not a lesbian or anything, it was just...I was just..."
"Sexually confused?" Brandon supplied for her.
"I can explain." Ashley inhaled and then exhaled deeply. "Regina and I go way back but we were never lovers in the early days; it was only my final year of university. I needed money. My scholarship was halved and I...I..."
"I can't listen to this." Brandon zipped up his packed suitcase.
"She helped me with my school fees in my final year and in exchange I slept with her." Ashley started talking hurriedly. "At the time I reasoned that it wasn't really terrible. She was a girl; it wasn't like she was a guy or anything. So anyway, I ended my relationship with her when I met you, but she blackmailed me."
Brandon looked up. "Blackmail, that's your defense? I saw you on top of Regina when I got here. You looked like you were enjoying yourself. That did not look like blackmail."
"No, it’s not that..." Ashley shook her head. "She threatens me if I don't make her happy. I had to make her happy."
"And how long have you been making Regina happy?" Brandon snarled.
"I stopped when we got married, and then a couple of years later she started blackmailing me again."
Brandon had an instant headache. He looked at Ashley dispassionately. "This is rubbish. You could have told me this before we got married. See, Ashley, communication… Then Regina wouldn't have had the need to blackmail you and I would not have had the surprise of my life, coming home to find you in bed with her. That's all I have been lobbying for throughout this sham of a marriage. Communication!" he yelled and then yanked the zipper on the suitcase so hard he marveled that it didn’t break.
"Listen, Brandon, I will go to the counselor again. This time I will participate. I will show up for meetings; it won't be like the last time."
"Too late. We saw the counselor for two whole years and it didn’t help," Brandon said bitingly. "Now I know why. You had another relationship and you were feeling guilty."
He left her standing in the hallway.
He ended up going to work late. He had to explain to the girls that Daddy would not be living at the house but on the other side of town. Ariel didn't understand, really, but Alisha certainly did and she hadn't wanted to get out of the car when he reached the school gate.
"Ali honey, I will be by every morning for school and you can spend weekends with me for now."
"You promise?" Alisha asked, her wan little voice tearing at him.
"Yes, I promise," he said. He was the one who spent weekends with them anyway; he made sure that they had a family outing every weekend and of course, church activities.
Ashley had long weaseled her way out of their weekends, so he shouldn't have a problem getting them.
Chapter Seven
"That play was so funny," Nadine laughed.
They were heading out to the parking lot after the show. "I can't stop laughing even though it's over."
"It was funny." Brandon half smiled. "The henpecked husband and the demanding wife. Quite an interesting story line."
Nadine looked at him, sobering up. "Uh-oh, you look like you didn't enjoy it as much. Is that why you and Ashley broke up?"
"No." Brandon opened her side of the car and watched as she got in and then went around to his side. "Well, maybe a variation of it."
He looked at her in the half-light. "The wife in the play wanted her husband around all the time. I think Ashley and I had the opposite of that; we grew apart. I wasn't henpecked, but she was demanding. I don't think we even know each other that well. Eight years and I don't know how it has came to this...at least we have the kids."
Nadine nodded. "I have never had a bad breakup. I have no idea what it feels like to be with somebody for that long and then, nothing. Sanjay and I had a thing…he was the rising track star and me the upcoming producer and boy, the media loved it. I barely saw Sanjay in our one-year relationship."
Brandon glanced at her. "Really?"
"Yup." Nadine laughed, "I was on tour for most of last year and it was also a track and field world championship year, so he had to train. What really irks me is that when we agreed that we would part for good, he started getting gold medals in his races."
Brandon grinned. "They said you jinxed him."
Nadine laughed. "Yup. I guess I did."
"Well, you may be somebody else's lucky charm," Brandon murmured. "Don't give up hope."
Nadine leaned back in her seat and smiled. "Thanks Brandon."
The thought that maybe she could be his lucky charm churned in her mind and wouldn't quit. She tried to s
quash it and turned to him jerkily. "Do you want us to get something to eat? I think I am in the mood for a taco."
Brandon nodded. "Sure. I can't recall the last time I did something like this."
"What?" Nadine asked.
"Just talk, go to a play or even a restaurant. I have been too busy living life to actually live life. You understand what I am saying?"
"Only too well. I went to a concert last year and I said the same thing to Gramps. I go to so many parties and I sing and perform at so many gigs but I haven’t really attended a party as a guest for a while."
Brandon nodded. "Both of us need a life."
Nadine grinned. "I am game if you are. We can experience life together and not just be bystanders."
Brandon was about to start the car and then he paused and looked over at Nadine. "We can only do this as friends. No romantic involvement whatsoever. That would be too much of a complication right now."
"Fine. I know." Nadine looked at him lazily. "Totally platonic. I know you are married and you might get back together with your wife."
Brandon shook his head. "I don't think so."
"You don't?" Nadine's heart started hammering. That’s what she secretly wanted to hear. "You sure you won't miss her one day and decide to get back with her?"
"Almost sure. Not a hundred percent sure. I really don't know." Brandon started the car. "I haven't prayed about this yet. So far I have been literally just reacting but I’ll tell you this: it would be a minor miracle if I got back with Ashley. The past few years haven’t been happy ones for me. Who knows what God will say? Maybe he has a different answer."
I hope not, Nadine whispered in her head. I really hope not.
*****
"You are acting strange, my girl," Gramps Langley said as soon as Nadine entered the studio, two weeks later. "You are so chirpy and happy these days. I am going to give it a wild guess and say that you found yourself a guy."
"I have," Nadine said, smiling and putting down her backpack in the lounge area of the studio. She looked at her grandfather, who didn't look grandfatherly by any regular standards. He was tall and slim and his face smooth and unlined. He was a Rastafarian whose locks reached his knees. He currently had it in a turban. He had gone completely raw with his diet, and many people swore that he didn't look a day over forty.
Gramps was sixty. He was eating an orange now and preparing to quiz her. She could see the questions in his eyes but her friend and manager, Tenaj King, came into the lobby at the same time.
"Okay you two, it is two weeks to the tour and you haven't confirmed Jay Steele." She looked at the two of them. "One of you with clout needs to call him; apparently I am too ordinary for his team to talk to me. I am not doing last-minute arrangements for anybody, no matter how famous they are."
"Got you," Gramps said lazily. "But more importantly than confirming with Jay Steele is the momentous news that Nadine has found herself a man."
"Well," Nadine shrugged, "he's a friend. We are friends. Just friends."
Tenaj looked at her knowingly. "Yes, like I was just friends with Leroy and then we got married."
"Well, my... er, friend is already married," Nadine said, avoiding her grandfather's eyes, "and he is... er... going through a bad breakup."
"Mmmh." Tenaj folded her arms. "So you are his rebound girl."
"Married is still married," her grandfather said after a pause. "What is with this rebound nonsense? If I leave Selena tomorrow and leave the marital house, I am still married to her. Any new relationships I may have will still be cheating."
"Yup." Tenaj nodded. "I agree. Don't be the other woman. Don't date a married man unless he is free…completely."
"Jeez. You guys are a bundle of fun today. I just said the guy is a friend, and now I am getting a lecture on being the other woman and the rebound girl. I did not snatch him from his wife, people. I met him after he had an issue with her. We are just... read my lips, just friends. We do fun, innocent things together. We go to plays, watch movies, talk. Is there a rulebook somewhere that says that once a man is married you can't be his friend? Gramps, don't you have female friends?"
Gramps snorted. "You like him as more than a friend. If I had female friends who liked me as more than just a friend, it would have to end. I have been faithful to your grandmother for more than forty years and a big part of that has to do with avoiding female friends." He finished his orange with a flourish. "You are flirting with trouble."
Nadine got up. "Well, thank you for that enlightening conversation. Can we talk about the tour? Equipment, et cetera, hotels booked, bands booked, business things--things that do not relate to my private life. You guys are implying that I am a home-wrecker and I don't like it."
"Defensive much?" Tenaj said huffily. "I want to meet this guy that you are so hung up on."
Gramps got up. "Me too. I have never seen Nadine get so hot under the collar about a man before and I mean, even with the track star, she was a little subdued but this married guy has her in knots."
"Argh!" Nadine ran her fingers through her hair. "I can't stand you two."
"Seriously." Her grandfather raised his brows. "Invite him over to the studio. Let him see where you work. Bring him to meet us."
Nadine frowned. "Why would I do that? Why would I subject him to the scrutiny of the two of you?"
"Why not?" her grandfather smirked. "He's just a friend, isn't he? You bring your friends here all the time."
"Okay. Whatever. Fine," Nadine said. "I'll invite him over."
"What does he do?" Tenaj asked when they were heading to the boardroom. "He is not a singer, is he? I really hope not. I don't know how on earth I am going to spin this for the press if they find out. You have a reputation as a good girl; a home-wrecker would be a bit much for the public to swallow."
"No. He's an engineer, and I am not a home-wrecker!"
"Nice, that's a nice career." Tenaj sat at the head of the table in the spacious boardroom. "What's his name? How old is he?"
"You do not question me about any of my other friends like this." Nadine smirked.
Gramps was pretending indifference but he sat down across from her at the twelve-seater table, his hands crossed contemplatively.
"Okay." Nadine leaned back in her chair. "His name is Brandon Blake; he is thirty-three. "
"Brandon Blake." Tenaj tapped her hand on her forehead contemplatively. "I always love a good first name as a last name, especially when it's a guy. I wonder if he is related to Ashley Blake? She owns Uptown Couture."
Nadine gasped. "His wife's name is Ashley."
"Small world." Tenaj looked at Nadine, a contemplative look on her face. "Very small world."
"What," Nadine asked, "do you know something about her?"
"Not really," Tenaj said slowly. "It's probably nothing. She's, er, how should I put it, really well-polished looking. She always looks like she has walked off the pages of a magazine."
"What do her looks have to do with anything?" Nadine asked. "I am not in competition with her."
"Sorry, I know," Tenaj said, repentantly. "Her husband is just your friend; I don't know why I said that. Anyway, I was thinking of getting some dresses for you for the show at her store."
"Seriously?" Nadine squeaked. "What about our usual places?"
"Nobody has clothes like Uptown Couture," Tenaj said emphatically. "And I mean nobody in all of Kingston, if not Jamaica. Now I wish I never said a thing because you are going to veto her store and I already have the outfits picked out for your opening night."
"No, I am not going to veto it," Nadine said, a half-smile on her face. "I want to go and try out those outfits. Would today be all right?"
Gramps sighed. "Women. There she goes to check out the competition, and she swears this guy is just a friend."
*****
Uptown Couture was on a cul-de-sac off Seventh Avenue at the very end of the road. There was a neat little sign at the gate with a picture of a lady with a bag.
"Where it's hard to be drab," Nadine read from the sign.
Tenaj laughed. "Yup. You do know that you coming here is unorthodox, right? She would have sent the pieces that I want and then you would try them on from the comfort of the studio, like we do with everybody else."
Nadine chuckled. "Relax. I just want to see her, the lady who is crazy enough to let Brandon slip through her fingers."
"Maybe Brandon is the one who let her slip out of his fingers," Tenaj countered. "You have not seen Ashley. Why would a man give up such a gorgeous woman?"
"Brandon seems like the person who is more about character than looks." Nadine slammed the car door shut. "He is lovely. He is the perfect man. He is warm and kind and considerate and handsome and perfect."
"And married." Tenaj injected into her list. "Don't forget that bit."
"I can hardly do that with you reminding me every two seconds, can I?"
"There are always two sides to every story," Tenaj said, a warning tone to her voice. "So Brandon maybe warm and kind and sound like an angel dropped from the skies for you, but has he told you why his wife kicked him out of the house?"
"No." Nadine sighed. "I don't think she kicked him out, I think he left."
"He hasn't told you and you are such good friends," Tenaj snorted. "Usually if they are not spouting off the faults of the wife, it's their fault."
"Oh, for goodness’ sake," Nadine hissed. "Brandon is not the kind of person to be talking bad about anybody, and he is not the type to confide in me about his private business. I like and respect that about him. Well, I kinda hate it too, because I really want to know what went down. He implied that they had grown apart."
"Yeah, right, 'grown apart’," Tenaj said. "Forgive the cynic in me, but nine out of ten times, marriages break up because of the man. And don't they have kids? Why would he leave the house with his wife to care for the kids alone, just because they are growing apart? Selfish beast, he should be concentrating on bridging the gap in his marriage, not out pretending to be a single man with you."
On the Rebound Page 7
