by H.H. Fowler
****
Phillip searched from room to room, desperate to tell his wife the truth – not about his infertility problem, of course, but about Shaniece's wicked plan to take over the church. He would tell her everything, from start to finish: how Shaniece had forced him to marry her and had given him money to keep his mouth shut. He would spare no details. As far as he was concerned, his sister had gone too far. He rubbed his jaw, still reeling from shock that she'd almost slapped his head off his body. When a woman got to that point, she was looking to have her life cut short. Not many men would allow a woman to hit them in the face and then let them get away with it. That’s why he had to put Tayah in her place. Shaniece was lucky that she was his sister, because if she weren’t, he would have broken her nose in three places.
He'd made up his mind to free himself from the burden he'd been carrying the last three years. He hadn't a clue as to what would happen after he told Tayah the truth. Obviously, she would be upset, but eventually she would get over it. He stood still for a moment and tried to pinpoint where his wife would be at nine o'clock at night. His best bet was to call her BlackBerry and save himself the headache.
He dialed her number several times, but her phone just kept ringing and going to her voicemail. He was tempted to think that she was avoiding him. But as he moved around, he faintly heard the actual ring of her phone, as if it were near him, somewhere. He swiftly spun around and headed to the bedroom where the sound appeared to be coming from. A short search revealed what he'd expected. Tayah had left her BlackBerry at home, which was something she would never dream of doing. His only solution was that she had left in a rush and hadn’t realized it until it was too late.
He held her phone in his hand, inspecting it, staring at the blinking red light, which indicated a missed call or a text message. He didn't need to figure out that the missed call had come from his phone, but as that red light blinked in silence, it began to stir his curiosity, and soon he found himself eager to peek into his wife's private affairs. But he thought, nothing should be private between them anyway, because as husband and wife they shared everything. He had a right to inspect her phone if he wanted to. The first text he stumbled across was from a guy name Ian Laing:
We're about to start the event. Where are you?
Work related, he concluded. He scrolled to the top, which showed all recent text messages from her contacts. When Dominic's name came into view, he immediately clicked on it. One advantage of BlackBerry messenger was that it organized all new and old texts unique to each contact's name. The only thing he had to do was read their conversation, which was still in progress. The history hadn't been cleared and he believed Tayah simply had forgotten to do it in her carelessness. Then again, she wasn’t expecting her husband to search through her phone. He got comfortable and read everything; line for line:
I'll be a few minutes late. Missed my exit.
I'm near the Straz center, but the traffic is crazy.
Haven’t heard from you lately, but I hope your night be as radiant and as breathtaking as you are. Only thing though, I wish it was me next to you and not Phillip.
So far, all were from Dominic. He wanted to see how Tayah responded, which was the very next one he read:
Thank you. And it seems you just might get your wish. Phillip will not be able to make it tonight.
He kept strolling.
Hey girl, I hope you’re smiling right now. I know lilies are your favorite. Let’s meet for lunch somewhere.
The lilies are nice. Thanks, but you shouldn’t have gone overboard like that. Phillip will have a fit if I take them home. Sorry, but we can’t do lunch today. My presentation is due to present in an hour. I’ll try to call you later…
Phillip gently rested the BlackBerry on the bed, exactly in the place where he’d found it. He stripped down to his boxers, and in his black tube socks, he walked the short distance to the kitchen. He took down a shot glass from the shelf and then retrieved the bottle of tequila from its hiding place. His friend from Mexico had bought it for him as a gift.
He sat in the middle of the floor, and filled the shot glass to the brim. He brought it up to his mouth and swallowed it in one gulp. His Nokia rested on the sofa in front of him, and after a few minutes of drinking, he pushed himself up to retrieve it. He stuck his thumb against the speed dial button and then released it after a brief hold. His fingers trembled violently, preventing him from putting the phone against his ear. So he activated the speaker and listened as the ring disturbed his quietude.
“Yes, Phillip. What you want?”
“Do you have four thousand dollars?”
“What?” Dee almost bit her tongue out of her mouth. “You are kidding, right? You know I don’t have that kind of money. And furthermore, I don’t want you callin’ here anymore. You almost got my blinking scalp split in half the other night. I don’t want to have anything to do with you. Four thousand dollars? You’ve got to be trippin’ out your–”
“Well, you better find it,” Phillip said, not fazed at all by Dee’s big mouth. “Because you’re gonna need it to bail me out of jail in the morning.”
Dee took her voice up to earsplitting levels. “Boy, what you got yourself mixed up with now? You never catch sense! Just dumb and stupid! And full of liquor! Phillip! Phil–”
He cut the connection, relieved to have his quietude returned to him. Dee made a lot of crazy noise, but he knew she would find a way to come up with the money. She owed him for keeping her home from being repossessed by the bank. He held the bottle of tequila to his face, and noticed it was already half empty. The longer Tayah took to come home would be to her detriment, because every moment that ticked by, he became more and more furious. There’s no telling what he would do when she walked her cheating behind through that front door.
Chapter Thirty-Three
