The Joneses

by Shelia M. Goss

  Tyler rubbed his arm. “Feisty, aren’t we?”

  “Somebody tell me what the hell is going on here.” Hope looked at both of us.

  I poked Tyler with my finger. “It looks like your man has been playing the both of us. This is the guy I’ve been having my sexual escapades with.”

  It broke my heart to see the tears flowing down Hope’s face. “Everybody told me not to trust you. This whole time you’ve been sleeping with Charity.”

  “How long did you think you would be able to get away with it?” I asked.

  “As long as I could.” He sounded like he had no remorse.

  “Why, Tyler? Why?” I asked.

  “If y’all stop badgering me, I’ll tell you. You might want to sit down for this.”

  “I’ll stand,” I responded.

  “Me, too,” Hope said.

  “Suit yourselves.” Tyler sat down and looked up at us.

  “I didn’t mean for things to get out of hand, but there’s something you both should know.”

  “Just get to the point, because you’ve already wasted enough of our time.” I shifted from side to side.

  “Your dad killed my mom.”

  Hope blurted out, “Liar. My dad’s not a murderer.”

  “He might as well be. He broke her heart.”

  “Don’t tell me you think you’re our brother. Aw man, this is some sick psycho type stuff here.” My hand flew up to my forehead.

  “No, he’s not my daddy.”

  I exhaled. “Whew. You had me scared for a minute.”

  “Your dad had an affair with my mom.”

  “I don’t believe you,” Hope said.

  I added, “Our dad loves our mom. He would never do something like that.”

  Tyler picked up a photo album on a nearby table and handed it to me. “See for yourself.”

  Hope, with clenched teeth, remained standing in the same spot and stared at Tyler. I turned the pages, and for once it didn’t appear Tyler was lying. The evidence stared me straight in the face. The man I’d trusted all of my life was in intimate pictures with Tyler’s mom. “How do I know these weren’t taken before my parents were married?”

  “Back then, dates were imprinted on the photos. Take a look.”

  I removed several of the photos, and the dates coincided with a time where it was clear my parents were married. Lovie would have been about one or two years old. It was possible that my mom could even have been pregnant with me.

  I held the photos out toward Hope. “Seems like this is the only thing Tyler isn’t lying about.”

  Hope looked at the pictures and then threw them at Tyler. “I hate you.”

  Tyler reached for Hope. Hope jerked away. “Don’t you ever touch me again.”

  “Hope, I’m sorry. But you’re just a casualty of your dad’s affair. If he hadn’t hurt my mom, I never would have hurt you.”

  “You are a piece of work.” I threw the photo album at him. It missed his hand and fell on the floor. I grabbed Hope by the arm. “Come on, Hope, let’s go.”

  “I’ll be there in a minute. I need to talk to Tyler.”

  I released her arm. “Fine, I’ll be in the car.”

  This revelation was a lot to digest. I wondered if my mom knew. My dad had a lot of explaining to do. No wonder he didn’t like Tyler. He didn’t want him to spill his little secret. Well, the secret was out.

  CHAPTER 39

  Hope

  I stood there and stared at Tyler for a minute. My emotions were all over the place. I closed my fists and held them by my side. I wanted to hit him again. I’d just introduced him to my family as the man I loved. I’d never felt so humiliated.

  I could feel the tears about to fall from my eyes, but I willed them to stop. I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of seeing me cry again.

  “I hate you. I hate the fact that I let you get in here.” I patted myself on the chest near my heart. “You’re evil, and as sure as my name is Hope Jones, you will pay for hurting me.”

  “Hope, now that things are out in the open, it doesn’t have to mean the end of us.”

  “Are you delusional? There’s no way in the world I can be with you now.”

  I turned to walk away. Tyler came up behind me and wrapped his arm around my waist. “Don’t leave like this. Come on. We can get through this.”

  I wiggled my way out of his grip. “There will never be a we. In fact, we never existed. You’ve been playing me this entire time.” I waved my hand back and forth in front of him. “Silly me, making the mistake of falling in love with your ass.”

  “Baby, I’m sorry you got caught up in all of this. You’re really a nice girl. This here—it was just collateral damage,” Tyler said, without blinking an eye.

  “Screw you, Tyler. I hate you. Please lose my number because I don’t want to talk to you ever again.”

  I stormed out of the door. Tyler stood in the doorway. “Hope!” he called out several times.

  I ignored him. I hopped in the passenger side of Charity’s car. Without exchanging words, she drove us home.

  When we got home, I went straight to my bedroom. Charity was fast on my heels. She sat on the edge of my bed.

  “We need to talk,” she said.

  “I don’t feel like talking,” I responded. I picked up one of my fluffy pillows and squeezed it.

  “I know you’re hurting right now. Truth be told, I am too. Although I’m not in love with Tyler, I did care about him a little. I mean, we’ve been kicking it these past few months, and I thought at the very least we were friends.”

  “No, you two were fuck buddies. Get it right.”

  “He fucked me royally, too.”

  I looked at Charity. “I don’t know if I should be pissed at him, you, or myself.”

  “I tried to warn you, but I’m not the one to say ‘I told you so.’ ”

  “You just did.” I hit the pillow to let out some steam.

  “At least we both know the truth and we can move on from here.”

  “Easy for you to say. How does one heal a broken heart?” I fell down on the bed.

  “One day at a time.” Charity rubbed my back to comfort me.

  I couldn’t give in to the pity party I wanted to have for myself. I needed to pull it together. I wiped the tears from my face and sat up in the bed. “I can’t believe Dad had an affair. There’s no telling what Mom is going to do when she finds out,” I said, in between sniffles.

  “I’m hoping she doesn’t find out,” Charity responded.

  “Somebody has to tell her. If it was me, I would want to know.”

  “I’m going to talk to Dad and get his side of the story. Tyler’s lied to us so much I don’t know what to believe.”

  “But pictures don’t lie. You saw them. We both did. They were more than just friends.” I couldn’t get the image of my dad with this other woman out of my head.

  “Well, let’s talk to Dad first. Then again, maybe we should just let it go, and pretend like we don’t know.”

  “I don’t know if I can do that,” I admitted.

  Charity pulled out her cell phone and dialed a number. “Lovie don’t ever answer his phone when I need him.” She placed the phone on the bed.

  My phone rang. I didn’t have to look at the caller ID because I knew the ringtone. It was Tyler, and he could go to hell as far as I was concerned. When he should have been calling, he wasn’t. Now that I don’t want to talk to him, he’s blowing my phone up.

  Charity’s phone rang. “It’s the devil.”

  “Yeah. He called me, too.”

  Charity pulled me into a hug. I lay on her shoulder and cried.

  CHAPTER 40

  Lovie

  It felt good to be able to restore the company’s money. The sense of pride I felt from giving my father back what he’d lost was bittersweet. After dinner last night, I showed him the proof he wanted to see. The look of despair in my father’s eyes when he came face-to-face with his friend’s betrayal
made me want to strangle Jason with my bare hands.

  I drove around all night before deciding to go home. I’d planned to confront Jason, but at his office. I tried to be patient as I sat in front of the receptionist’s desk.

  She glanced at me. “He should be through with his phone call in just a moment, and then I’ll let him know you’re here.”

  “No problem. I have a little time.” I picked up one of the magazines and thumbed through it.

  The receptionist called out, “Mr. Jones, he’ll see you now.”

  “Thank you.” I placed the magazine on the chair and went inside Jason’s office.

  My mouth flew open in shock. “Dad, what are you doing here?”

  My dad sat in one of the seats across from Jason. “I needed to talk to Jason face-to-face in a neutral zone.”

  “Great minds think alike.” I sat in the chair next to my father.

  Jason tapped on his desk. “I see what this is. You trying to double team me. Well, you got your money. What more do you want from me?”

  My dad responded, “I want to know why. You’re the closest thing to a brother I have. Man, if you were strapped for cash, I would have given it to you.”

  “Like I wanted a handout from you.”

  “No, you would rather steal from him.” I hit my fist on his desk.

  “Look here son, you better watch your tone with me,” Jason said.

  “You have to earn respect to get respect. The moment I realized you were stealing from us is the day I lost all respect for you.”

  “Royce, you better keep him under control, because I’ve had it up to here.” Jason held his hand high off the desk.

  In a low, calm voice, my dad repeated himself. “Why, Jason? And then we’ll both be out of your hair.”

  “Because I could. You should never give that type of control of your finances to anyone.” Jason looked at me. “And that even includes your son.” He emphasized the word son.

  I could tell my dad hadn’t slept. “But me, of all people? We’ve been through some things. I was there when you lost your folks. You were there when I lost mine. Damn, man, you’re my kids’ godfather.”

  “I didn’t set out to steal from you, but I did it once and you didn’t notice. So, each time, I took a little more and more—”

  I interrupted him. “Until you drained us dry.”

  “Hey, I did leave y’all with something. You weren’t completely broke. You still had money to live on.” Jason didn’t sound like he had any remorse.

  My dad jumped out of his chair and over the desk. He grabbed Jason by the collar. I could see the veins popping out from my dad’s forehead. “I don’t ever want to see you again. If you see me first, walk in the opposite direction.”

  He pushed Jason a little as he released his collar. Jason fell back and coughed. “I understand you’re angry, but that wasn’t called for.”

  “You’re lucky that’s all I did. The only reason why you’re not in jail is because Lovie made a deal with you, and one thing about a Jones, we are men of our word.”

  “But are you sure he’s a Jones?”

  “What the hell is that supposed to mean?” My dad looked down at Jason and asked.

  “Mama’s Baby, Daddy’s Maybe.”

  My dad pushed the items on Jason’s desk at him and stormed out.

  I stood up. “You heard my dad. Stay away from my family.”

  Jason laughed. “You’ll be back, son. You’ll be back.”

  “I’m not your son, so stop calling me that.” I turned and walked away.

  Jason sang, “Mama’s Baby, Daddy’s Maybe.” He sang that over and over.

  His receptionist wasn’t at the desk or I’m sure she would have called Security on us with all of the noise coming out of Jason’s office.

  I don’t know why I didn’t recognize my Dad’s car when I first arrived, but it was parked near the front entrance. I tapped on the window. He rolled it down. “You okay?” I asked him.

  “The truth is, no. I have a funeral to do today, and my heart just isn’t in it.”

  “What all needs to be done? I can do it as long as it doesn’t require me to handle the body.”

  “No, some of the workers will handle that. You just need to make sure everything goes smoothly. Be there to comfort the family. You’ve seen me do it. You know what to do.”

  “I got it. I always got your back. You see that now, don’t you, Dad?”

  He looked up at me with love in his eyes. “Lovie, I know. Sorry I’ve given you a hard time. I just wanted to make you tough and able to stand on your own. Not depend on the family so much for your needs like your sisters do.”

  “I know, and I appreciate that. You better go before I lose some cool points because I’m getting all mushy.”

  We both laughed. After he’d pulled off, I sat in my car for a few minutes. The realization that I was about to facilitate my first funeral solo set in. What had I gotten myself into?

  CHAPTER 41

  Lexi

  Life for the Joneses was getting back on track. I couldn’t wait to get back to my normal routine of shopping and hanging out at the country club. I missed frequenting my favorite boutiques. “Mrs. Jones is back in action,” I said out loud, as I eased out of the bed.

  A day of shopping required a nice, casual outfit. I stared at the clothes that were color coordinated in my huge walk-in closet and found the perfect outfit. The teal pant outfit still had the tags on it.

  Twenty minutes later, I was slipping on the clothes and primping in the mirror. I saw a few gray strands trying to peek out around my edges. I made a mental note to make a hair appointment with my hairdresser Tameka, so she could get rid of them with a bottle of jet-black hair dye.

  “My keys, where are my keys?” I dumped the contents of my purse on the bed. Still no keys.

  “Are you looking for these?” Royce stood in the doorway dangling my car keys in his hands.

  I jumped. “Royce, you scared me.”

  He handed me the keys. “We need to talk.”

  “I got a busy day. Can it wait until later?”

  “No, it can’t.”

  I didn’t like the tone of his voice. “What is it? I thought you would be at work. Is it one of the kids? What’s going on?” I asked question after question.

  “You can say that. Come with me.”

  I followed Royce to the living room. He went straight to the bar and poured two glasses of bourbon. He handed one to me.

  “I’ll pass,” I said.

  “Suit yourself.” Royce carried both glasses with him. He sat one on the coffee table and held the other one while seated in his chair. He looked up at me. “You may want to sit down for this.”

  “Royce, you’re scaring me.”

  I took a seat on the couch. I rubbed my hand through my hair. He gulped down the first glass of bourbon, placed it on the coffee table, and then picked up the other glass. “I paid a visit to Jason. I came this close…” He held out his fingers as if measuring. “From choking the shit out of him.”

  “What happened?” Royce rarely cursed, so he had me on edge.

  “I grabbed him by the collar and told him what was on my mind. Before I could leave, he dropped a bombshell on me. I tried to ignore it, but I can’t get his words out of my head.”

  “Well…what did he say?” I stuttered.

  “ ‘Mama’s Baby, Daddy’s Maybe.’ Do you know what he means by that?”

  “What? What?” I immediately got on the defensive. “How am I supposed to know? I can’t explain the words of a crazy man.”

  “You sure you don’t have anything to tell me?”

  “Royce, you must have had more than those two glasses of bourbon. You’re sounding a little drunk to me.” I stared at Royce. I attempted to control my eyes from blinking more than usual. I clasped my hands to hide my sweaty palms.

  “You wouldn’t be lying to me, now would you?”

  I couldn’t look Royce in the eyes. I didn’t wa
nt him to see the truth. I jumped off the couch. “You are not going to take out the situation with Jason out on me. I’m going shopping, and I’m using the bank card. Do you have a problem with that?”

  Royce backed down. He slouched down in his seat. “No. After all I’ve allowed him to put our family through, you deserve a shopping spree. Just don’t go overboard.”

  “I won’t.” I leaned down and kissed him. “Baby, we got through the money woes, and we’ll get through this.”

  Royce gripped my hand. “You don’t know how hard this is. I loved him like a brother. I trusted him with my life.”

  I kneeled down in front of him. “Baby, you have me. You have the kids. We’re going to get through this together.”

  Shopping could wait. My husband needed me. I went upstairs and used my best aromatherapy bath gel to make Royce a hot, bubble bath. I led him into the bathroom and helped ease him out of his clothes. I didn’t bother to take off my designer outfit. I didn’t care about it getting wet. I picked up the sponge and gave Royce a sponge bath. He exhaled and released the tension from his body.

  Seeing Royce in this vulnerable state tugged at my heart. I wouldn’t dare confess to him about the one-night stand with Jason. The idea that Lovie may not be his would devastate him. That’s one secret I planned to take to my grave.

  CHAPTER 42

  Royce

  The last few hours were all a blur to me. I remembered coming home. I remembered confronting Lexi about Jason’s accusations. I remembered the feel of her hands over my body as she washed the tension away, but I don’t remember how my life ended up like this. Where did I go wrong? When did I turn a blind eye to things going on around me?

  Part of me knew Lexi wasn’t being completely honest with me, but the other part of me wanted to let sleeping dogs lie. Jason had taken enough from me. I wouldn’t allow him to take away anything else.

  I squeezed Lexi tight as she snuggled her body closer to me. She must really have been concerned about me because even after I encouraged her to go on a shopping spree, she stayed to make sure I was fine. I wasn’t about to let anything destroy this bond between me and the woman I loved.