Married Men

by Carl Weber

  “Yes, they were kissing!” Willow looked up at us, waiting for us to back her up. When neither one of us said a word, she followed behind her sister, looking confused.

  “So what brought that on?” I was a little confused about that kiss myself.

  “I don’t know. I just wanted to thank you for taking me and the girls out today.” She smiled and took two steps closer. Her lips were less than eight inches from mine, and I have to admit I was expecting her to kiss me at any moment. Hell, I wanted her to kiss me again. “The girls and I had a great time, Kyle. Thanks.” She brought her lips closer.

  “I had a great time too, but I can’t take the credit for inviting you. The girls were the ones who wanted you to come,” I admitted.

  “Yeah, but you could have said no.”

  I smiled. She was right. I could have said no, but I didn’t. I’d promised the girls I would take them to Sesame Place this weekend, but our plans were nearly canceled when Jay begged me to watch Tiffany again. I neglected to remind him that Tiffany needed a bathing suit to go to the park. So I called Lisa and asked if Tiffany could use one of Jade’s swimsuits. She told me to come on over and pick it up, ’cuz she wanted to talk to me about something anyway. So we drove over to the house. The second the girls saw their mom, they wanted her to go to Sesame Place too. Thinking it would be a nice gesture, I asked Lisa if she’d like to go, and to my surprise she agreed. I’m really glad she did, too, because we had a terrific time. To be honest, it made me realize what a great marriage we used to have. But of course, that just made the fact that our divorce would be final in five days a little more painful. I cared about Val, but deep down I’ll always love my wife.

  “Look, Lisa, just because we’re getting divorced doesn’t mean we can’t do family things together. It’s good for the girls to see us working together. So why don’t we plan some more things to do as a family? What do you think?”

  She smiled. “I think that’s a great idea. Matter of fact, that’s what I wanted to talk to you about. Our family.”

  “What about our family?”

  She smiled at me again, then pressed her lips against mine. We kissed for a few seconds then she spoke.

  “Well, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking and well, I’m not sure if we should get div—” She never had a chance to finish her sentence because the deadbolt on the front door of my apartment was being unlocked and the sound made me step away from her in a panic. I checked my watch.

  “Ahhh, shit,” I mumbled under my breath when I realized how late it was. A meeting I’d been trying to avoid for almost six months was about to happen. Usually on Sunday nights I’d take the girls home by nine then come back to the apartment and watch TV until Val would come over around ten. But today was different. Jay had fucked me over again and was late picking up Tiffany. He was supposed to pick her up at seven o’clock so that I could take Lisa and the girls home at a reasonable hour, but now thanks to him, it was 10: 10 and there was no doubt that it was Val coming through the door. Damn, why does this kinda shit always seem to happen to me?

  My daughter Jewel confirmed my suspicions when she yelled. “Hey, Aunt Val, Mommy and Daddy are in the bedroom kissing.” If she wasn’t a kid, I’d swear she did that shit on purpose.

  “Aunt Val?” Lisa glared at me with an attitude, taking a step back herself. “She has a key to your place?”

  I didn’t say a word. I just nodded. Lisa was about to say something, but Val’s entrance interrupted her.

  “Kyle!” When I turned toward her voice, Val was standing at the bedroom door with a hand on her hip. She didn’t look pleased at all. “Oh, I’m sorry. Did I interrupt something? I didn’t realize you had unexpected company. Or maybe I’m the one who’s unexpected.”

  Yeah, right. She didn’t act like she was sorry. Matter of fact, by her tone she had probably been expecting to catch us doing the nasty. Thank God we weren’t, ’cause with the look she was giving us, she mighta tried to kill us. To her credit, she just walked in, took hold of my arm, and kissed my cheek. I breathed a sigh of relief, happy she was taking the high road in this awkward situation. I think she was waiting for an introduction, but I must not’ve been moving fast enough for her, ’cause she took matters into her own hands, and I guess she decided not to be as nice as I thought.

  “Hi. I don’t think we’ve met. I’m Valerie. I’m Kyle’s girlfriend.” Val gave Lisa a superior smile as she stuck her free hand out, leaning her head on my shoulder. I think she had sensed the uneasiness in the room and decided to take advantage of a very uncomfortable situation. What she didn’t know was that Lisa wasn’t the type to let anyone take advantage of her.

  “Ohhh. so you’re his girlfriend, huh?” Lisa smiled sweetly, taking Val’s hand before adding some attitude to her voice. “Well, isn’t that special? My name’s Lisa and I’m his wife, and those three little darlings playing in the living room are our children.”

  “Well,” I said abruptly, putting on a fake smile. “Now that we’ve all been properly introduced, why don’t I drive you and the girls home, Lisa? And Val, why don’t you watch Tiffany until I get back in case Jay shows up. Okay?” Lisa didn’t look pleased, but she was probably about to agree. She’d finish whatever she had to say in the car, probably using a lot of curse words.

  Unfortunately Val wouldn’t leave well enough alone. She had to go there. The problem is, Lisa wasn’t the one to go there with. On the outside she gave the appearance of a shy and quiet white woman that the average sister could walk right over. But in reality, she was a very strong woman who could have a very sharp tongue when it came to protecting what was hers. And right now I think she felt that I was still hers.

  “So, Lisa. Isn’t your divorce gonna be final soon? I hope you don’t mind, but I’m thinking about coming down to the courthouse. It’s going to be such a special day for us. Kyle and I have so many plans for the future. Would you believe we’re actually talking about getting married?” She smirked at Lisa as she lied, then winked at me. I glared at her to let her know I didn’t think she was funny.

  “Is that so? You’re gonna get married, huh? Well, I hope you’ve checked with Kyle on that, ’cause we were just discussing whether or not we were even going to get divorced. You know what they say, it’s cheaper to keep her, and I’m very expensive. Isn’t that right, Kyle?” Lisa turned to me with a grin. I glanced at Val, who looked furious. Not that I cared. I still couldn’t believe she’d come out with a lie like she did about us getting married. We never talked about marriage. Shit, we hadn’t even said “I love you” to each other yet.

  I didn’t say a word, but Lisa continued to grin, and that pissed Val off even more. She tightened her grip on my arm and pulled me closer. Believe it or not, Lisa grabbed my other arm and pulled me toward her. Of course, Val automatically pulled me in the other direction. Things were really starting to heat up and I didn’t know what I was gonna do.

  “Y’know, I really don’t appreciate you pulling on my man.” Val rolled her eyes at Lisa.

  “Hmmph. Your man?” Lisa laughed, pulling me toward her again. “You mean my husband!”

  There I was. Torn between two lovers, feeling like a fool. My wife on one side and my girlfriend on the other, both of them pulling on me like I was the last Twinkie at a fat farm. Now at this point they really weren’t paying as much attention to me as they were to each other. But I didn’t mind that. If one of these two remembered I had a part in all of this before they came to blows, they might ask me to make a decision. And I think I woulda preferred they pull my arms off. The only decision I was ready to make was to get the hell outta there. And that decision had been made as soon as Val had walked in the door.

  “Dammmn! Y‘all got some bona fide Jerry Springer shit goin’ on up in here! Don’t ya?” I don’t know when he showed up, but as usual, Jay wasn’t helping things at all. In fact, I think his comment incited Val to take things to the next level.

  “Look, bitch! I told you to stop pullin’ on m
y man,” Val told Lisa with finality. She let go of my arm and reached for her earrings.

  “Who you callin’ a bitch? And he’s not your man.” Lisa rolled her head and shoulders around like she was a sister, then stuck her face out toward Val. “He’s my husband and I’m not letting him go ’til I’m ready.” Lisa didn’t let go of my arm, but she was tensing up for whatever Val was about to bring. I decided it was time to step in between them and put an end to this, but Val had other ideas.

  “Yeah? Well, from what I hear, your husband couldn’t even get it up when he was with you. That’s why y’all getting divorced, isn’t it?” Val laughed at Lisa, whose face was crimson with anger.

  “He didn’t have a problem getting it up ten minutes ago. Did you, Kyle?” Lisa turned to me, but still kept an eye on Val. “Tell her, Kyle,” she hissed.

  “Yeah, tell me, Kyle. ’Cause I’m about two seconds off both your asses.”

  “Mommy! Why are you and Aunt Val yelling at each other?” My daughter Jade had come into the room. She, her sisters, and Tiffany were standing behind Jay in the doorway, watching this mess. Now I didn’t care who got pissed off. It was time to put an end to this.

  “They’re not yelling, sweetheart. They were just having a discussion. You girls go get your stuff out your room. Daddy’s gonna take you guys home.”

  “Okay, Daddy.” The girls ran to the spare bedroom.

  “Ohhh, hell no! I know you don’t think you’re taking her ass somewhere and leaving me here,” Val huffed.

  “You know I’ve got to take the girls home, Val, so stop trippin’.”

  “Stop trippin’? I walk up in here and you and her are all up close and personal in the bedroom. And now you want me to stop trippin’? Fuck you, Kyle!”

  “Hey, dawg. Why don’t I take Lisa and the girls home? I gotta go that way to get LaShawn from Ma Jackson’s house anyway,” Jay offered.

  Lisa shot Jay one of those looks to tell him to mind his own business. But Val, she never took her eyes off of me. I could tell our entire relationship was resting on my reply. Once again Jay had put me in a situation I didn’t wanna be in. My plan was to take Lisa home so I could talk to her and find out if she was serious about calling off the divorce. Yeah, we’d probably argue a little after what just happened, but at least that way I would know how to handle things with Val. I liked Val a lot, and a few times I had even thought I was falling in love with her. But Lisa was my wife, and I never thought there would be a chance of us getting back together. After tonight, things weren’t so clear. If there was a possibility I could get my family back together, I’d be willing to let Val go. But I needed to know for sure, and that meant talking to Lisa.

  “You know what, Kyle? You leave this apartment with her and I swear I’m gonna get rid of this baby first thing tomorrow morning,” Val said with a growl.

  “Baby?” Lisa shouted.

  “Yes. Baby.” Val said seriously, rubbing both her hands on her stomach. Her eyes never left Lisa’s face.

  “Damn, not you too, dawg,” Jay sputtered in disbelief.

  “What baby?” I looked at Val, then immediately broke out in a cold sweat. She couldn’t be pregnant, could she?

  “Jay, I think you need to give me that ride now.” Lisa walked toward the door. I grabbed her arm.

  “Lisa, don’t go yet. We need to talk. I’m not even sure she’s pregnant,” I pleaded. After Val’s lie about us getting married, I wouldn’t put it past her to lie about a pregnancy.

  “Kyle, I think Val’s the one you need to talk to,” Lisa sneered as she pulled her arm away from me. “She’s the one having your baby. But don’t worry. I’ll make sure your other babies are taken care of. So make sure your ass is in court in three weeks.”

  “Lisa ...” I tried to plead, but she raised her hand to shut me up.

  “What, Kyle? What could you possibly say to make this better? You don’t know how disappointed I am in you.” She turned to Val with a fake smile. “Congratulations on your new addition. Send me an invitation to the wedding. I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

  “And I wouldn’t want you to,” Val smirked, rubbing her stomach again.

  Lisa shook her head and rolled her eyes at me as she stomped out of the bedroom. She shouted at Jay to hurry and get her out of there.

  “Yo, I’ll call you after I drop her off, aw’ight?” When I didn’t respond, Jay shrugged his shoulders and followed behind my wife. Not too long after that I heard my daughters yelling “Bye, Daddy,” then the front door slammed shut.

  Val walked over to the dresser and opened what had become her drawer.

  “What the fuck was that all about, Val?” I had more attitude now than I’d had all night. “I know your ass ain’t pregnant. You just had your period last week.”

  Val reached over to the end of the dresser and picked up her overnight bag. She placed it on the bed and unzipped it.

  “Did you hear me?” I yelled. “I wanna know if you’re really pregnant.”

  “Hell no, I’m not fuckin’ pregnant. Who the hell would wanna be pregnant by some bastard like you?” She grabbed her clothes out of the dresser drawer.

  “Bastard like me? You the one lying your ass off, bitch.” Val turned around and gave me a heavy-handed smack.

  “Don’t you ever call me a bitch after the way you treated me.”

  “How I treated you? You the one coming in here lying about us getting married and having a baby. I ain’t do shit.”

  “Oh, don’t you dare act like this is my fault. You the one who got caught in the bedroom with her, not me.”

  “Stop exaggerating, Val. We didn’t even do anything but talk.”

  “You know something, Kyle? Even if I believed you didn’t do anything, and I don’t, you did something all right. You hurt me, Kyle. You used me.”

  “I didn’t use you,” I insisted.

  “Yes you did, you fuckin’ bastard. How many times did I ask you if you still loved her?” I couldn’t look her in the face because she had just asked me that question a few days before. “All you had to do was tell me the truth. I could have dealt with the truth. At least then if I got hurt, it would have been my own fault. So let’s not talk about some lies I told your wife, ’cause you been lying to me for six months, and payback is a bitch.” Val threw the last of her belongings in the suitcase and zipped it.

  “Val ...” I didn’t know what to say. She was right. I had been lying to her, and after what she just did to fuck things up with Lisa, payback was a bitch. A bitch named Val. Val picked up her suitcase and walked to the door.

  “You know what, Kyle? Lisa was right about one thing.”

  “What’s that?”

  “You don’t know what a disappointment you are.”

  32

  Allen

  I stopped by Ma’s house on Thursday evening to check on her since I’d only seen her once since I returned from my weekend at Niagara Falls. With the baby on the way in another three months, Rose had demanded that I help her redecorate our apartment and start painting what would soon be the baby’s nursery. I think I finally understood why everyone warned me marriage would be hard work. My back was killing me from all the physical labor she had me doing.

  When I walked into the house, I was more than a little surprised that Ma wasn’t laid out on the den sofa watching her favorite show, WWE Smackdown. Boy, did she love her some wrestling, especially that guy they called The Rock.

  “Ma?” I called, but there was no answer.

  I called again, this time up the stairs. I figured she must have been in her bedroom watching her show. I walked up the stairs and became a little nervous when she didn’t answer. Her bedroom door was closed and I didn’t hear the TV I can’t ever remember Ma missing Smackdown. Before I opened that door, I said a silent prayer that I wouldn’t find my ma in there in need of an ambulance. I thanked Him when I opened the door and saw the empty bed. Now I wasn’t scared, I was worried. Where the heck could she have gone to? I sat on the
bed and reached for the phone, dialing her best friend, Mrs. Wright.

  “Hello,” a man answered.

  “Hello, Mr. Wright? This is Allen. Audrey Jackson’s son.”

  “Hey, how you doin’, Allen? I saw your wife the other day with your mama. She’s gettin’ pretty big.”

  “Yeah, she sure is,” I laughed.

  “From the way she’s carrying that baby, I bet she’s gonna have it any day now.”

  “Yeah, that’s what Ma says, too. But she’s only six months pregnant.”

  “Well, don’t pay any attention to me, then. Only thing I know about babies is how to make ’em.” He laughed, and so did I.

  “You crazy. You know that, Mr. Wright?”

  “Yeah, I know,” he laughed again. “So what do you want, a girl or a boy?”

  “Doesn’t matter to me. I just want a healthy child.”

  “Amen, to that.” Mr. Wright used his best minister tone.

  “Look, Mr. Wright. I’m at the house and I was wondering if my ma was over there?”

  “Nah, her and Sarah went out to Nassau Coliseum to see that rasslin’. They got a whole busload a people goin’ out there from the senior citizens center. I don’t know what they see in that stuff, though. It ain’t nothin’ but fake.”

  “Yeah, well it’s good entertainment.”

  “I guess. I’ll tell your mama you called if she comes by here first.”

  “I’d appreciate that, Mr. Wright. Bye.” I hung the phone up and lay down on Ma’s bed. It felt good to have a little peace for once. I’d been married to Rose about four months and it already felt like twenty years. I stayed there in that peace and quiet for nearly an hour before I got ready to head back to all of the jobs I knew Rose had waiting for me. I opened Ma’s night table drawer to find a pen to write her a note. But it wasn’t a pen I found in that drawer. It was an unopened Mail Express envelope addressed to me.

  I wondered why Ma would have my mail in her nightstand instead of on the kitchen table where she’d remember to give it to me. It only took a glance at the name on the return address to answer my question. An answer that left me in stunned silence as I ripped open the package. It had been seven years since I’d seen Cinnamon Lindsey. Seven long years since the woman of my dreams walked out of my life and moved to Virginia. Yet it all seemed like it was yesterday.