Single Ladies

by Blake Karrington

  “Man, fuck dat! Look, I need to holla at you about something. When can we meet up?”

  “That’s cool, ’cause I need to talk to you about something as well,” Lisa said. “I can’t see you right now because I got some shit I need to take care of. Just give me a couple of days and I’ll call you so we can meet up.” She was about to hang up when she heard Dre’s voice change into a softer tone when he started singing “I Miss You” by Aaron Hall.

  Lisa found herself sinking back into her seat, listening to him blow. Hearing him sing brought back so many good memories. For a hardcore thug, Dre could sing his ass off, especially when he used to sing to her. Those were the good old days, times both Lisa and Dre missed but knew that it was almost impossible for them to get back to. So much had changed since then; and, now, somebody else’s heart was involved. It was a heart that Lisa didn’t want to break, and it belonged to Ralphy.

  Lisa sat there for a few more minutes listening to Dre before she finally hung up the phone and went into the house. When she walked in, she was shocked to see Ms. D sitting on her couch with Naomi, watching TV.

  “Mommy!” Naomi yelled when she saw Lisa walk through the door.

  “Now you know I don’t do house calls, but yo’ crazy-ass husband insisted on it,” Ms. D said while rubbing the top of Naomi’s head. “We was about to eat dinner. Are you hungry?”

  “Wait! Hold up! Where did Ralphy go?” Lisa asked, and whipped out her cell phone to call him.

  “I don’t think calling him is a good idea. He left his phone here,” Ms. D said, nodding toward Ralphy’s phone sitting on the table in front of her.

  Lisa took a deep breath, then exhaled, shaking her head as she walked over and grabbed his phone. This was the first time that he ever did something like this. “A’ight, Ms. D. Thanks for watching her. How much do I owe you?” she said, digging into her bag for her wallet.

  “Little girl, didn’t you just hear what I said? We’re about to eat dinner. I cooked an hour ago,” Ms. D told her. “Besides, yo’ husband already paid me.” She then got up off the couch and headed to the kitchen with Naomi in tow. “Now, I don’t know what you did to that boy, but he left out of here wit’ an attitude!”

  Lisa kicked her shoes off and took a seat at the dinner table with Naomi, and listened to Ms. D as she began serving the food. Ms. D went on with 101 suggestions on how to fix a broken home. Most of her ideas involved kinky, sexual favors, which gave Lisa a laugh more than anything. She knew none of that stuff was going to work for this particular problem. This was going to require something more, and Lisa didn’t have the slightest idea what that was. This was drama . . . real drama. And one way or another, she was going to have to deal with it.

  Chapter 10

  “Now look. You’re gonna be the first person in the hood who knows where I work,” Lamar told Falisha as he threw his duffel bag into the trunk.

  Falisha stood at the passenger side door. She was excited that she was going to finally find out where Lamar worked. It was like uncovering an ancient Chinese secret, except that Lamar made her promise not to tell anybody. It took a minute for her to agree to those terms, but in the end, she did. “So, what’s in the bag?” she asked, smiling from ear to ear and hoping to get an idea of where they were going.

  “You’ll see when we get there,” he teased, slamming the trunk closed and walking over to the driver side.

  Just as he was about to get into the car, a cream-colored Cadillac Escalade turned onto the block. Lamar caught an instant attitude because he knew that it was Big Fox, and he was there for none other than Falisha.

  Falisha noticed the truck too, and inched away from Lamar’s car so that it didn’t look like she was about to go anywhere with him.

  Lamar peeped her move. “Oh, yeah?” he said to Falisha as she started to walk across the street.

  “Don’t do this, Lamar. Just give me a minute,” she replied right before the truck came to a stop in front of her.

  Lamar just stood there and waited to see what she was going to do.

  Fox rolled his window down and sat up in his seat. “I see you out here wit’ ya li’l boyfriend,” he said, looking over at Lamar, and then smiling.

  “You play too much!” Falisha shot back, and playfully pushed his arm. “I thought you was taking ya daughter out today,” she said, looking into the truck to see if the little girl was with him.

  “I just dropped her off. I had her all afternoon. I thought me and you could catch a movie or something tonight,” he said while rubbing his freshly groomed beard. “Come on,” he calmly told her with a nod of his head.

  Falisha didn’t want to go, but at the same time she couldn’t deny him either. It wouldn’t look right with Lamar standing in front of his car waiting for her. Also, she didn’t want to give Fox the impression that she was about to go somewhere with Lamar. Finally, she walked around to the passenger side of the truck and got in. She didn’t look at Lamar, nor did she say bye.

  Lamar and Fox made eye contact before he was about to pull off. No words were exchanged, but Fox did manage to crack a slick grin at him.

  Lamar only replied with a simple nod of his head to let Fox know that he won this round. Among men, it was the gentlemanly thing to do. Lamar could only respect the OG’s game. One or two things could happen at this point, and that was for Lamar to either bow out gracefully and let Fox take his bitch, or step his game up a notch.

  * * *

  The last thing a female would want was for her man to get to snooping around, if she in fact was a cheater. It’s easy for women to cheat and not get caught. That’s a well-known fact.

  But if a man has any indication that the love of his life is sleeping around on him and there’s a good chance that it’s true, he can become a problem. Just like women, men have their ways of finding out whether their woman is being faithful. Men can become bloodhounds and won’t stop until they find what they are looking for, and the most crucial mistake Lisa made was leaving a scent for Ralphy to follow.

  Dre was a name Lisa used to throw around in the beginning of their relationship, so Ralphy knew exactly who he was. But he was a little confused, because the last word on him was that he had gotten a life sentence for murder. Thinking that Lisa might still be in contact with him, Ralphy checked into it.

  First he had to get Dre’s real name, which was easy seeing as how his cousin still lived on the block. Annet was more than willing to give up Dre’s full name and his state ID number, thinking that Ralphy knew him and was going to put some money on his books. It was crazy, because Dre’s release came so suddenly that hardly anybody knew that he had been home for almost three months. Ralphy was about to find out, though.

  Ralphy had taken refuge in a local bar, away from home. He didn’t feel like dealing with Lisa right now, nor did he want her to know that he was digging into her past.

  You can pretty much get any information off the Internet, especially pertaining to convicted felons. When he typed in Dre’s real name, Andre Tucker, his case popped up on the screen. He read that the case had been overturned, but it was pending further prosecution. It didn’t state whether he was released, but Ralphy had his fair share in the criminal system to know that once you win your appeal, you either get released or get a lesser amount of time.

  Reading further, he saw that the law firm that represented him on his appeal was Duncannon and Associates. The name sounded familiar and it took awhile, but he finally remembered that it was the law firm that Kim worked for. He remembered because Lisa always bragged about it, saying that if she ever had a problem with the law, Kim would get her out of trouble. It was starting to look like one big conspiracy, and everybody was in on it but him.

  He looked around the bar and then down at his watch. It was a little after four o’clock, which meant that he still had a little more time to investigate further. Without wasting any more time, he packed up and left the bar with one thing on his mind. He was going to get to the bottom of things if it wa
s the last thing he did.

  * * *

  Ralphy made it down to Duncannon and Associates law firm right before everyone was about to leave. As soon as he walked through the door the receptionist was packing up her things. “May I help you?” she asked when Ralphy walked up to the desk.

  “Yes. Is Kim in? I need to talk to her about an appeal,” Ralphy responded as he looked around.

  The receptionist picked up her phone, and moments later Kim came walking down the hallway. She was kind of surprised to see Ralphy standing there when she came out into the lobby area. “Hey, Ralph. Is everything all right? Where’s Lisa?” she asked, seeing that he looked stressed.

  “I need to talk to you,” he responded. “It’s kind of important.”

  “Yeah? Okay, follow me,” Kim told him. She had a gut feeling that she knew what this was about. She led him to the back and into an office that wasn’t being occupied.

  The entire time, Ralphy kept his cool, not getting mad or aggressive. He spoke in a calm manner, too. “Kim, I know your loyalty is with my wife, and I don’t expect for this to be easy for you, either. But I just need to know one thing and, I’m begging you, don’t lie to me,” he began after closing the door and leaning his back against it.

  “I don’t understand, Ralphy. What are you talking about?” Kim asked, now becoming a little nervous.

  “Did that nigga come home?”

  “I don’t know who you’re talking about. What nigga?” she asked.

  “Andre Tucker; or should I say Dre,” Ralphy said, raising his voice a little in frustration. “Don’t lie to me. I already know that your office represented him on his appeal.”

  Ralphy was right when he said that Kim’s loyalty was with Lisa. They grew up together, whereas Ralphy came into the picture just a few years ago. She wasn’t trying to give her friend up to a nigga, but he wasn’t going for anything. “Look, I’m not trying to get involved in this—”

  “You’re already involved. The only thing you can do now is minimize your part in this,” he said, cutting her off. “Trust me, Kim. You don’t wanna be on the opposite side when this shit hits the fan. I’m trying to give you a way out. All you gotta do is answer the question.”

  His threats were becoming a little more serious, which made Kim a little more afraid of what he might do to her if he didn’t get an answer to his question. She thought about it long enough, and there wasn’t any harm in telling him that Dre was home . . . or, at least, that’s what she hoped. “Dre’s been home for a little more than two months now. But, I swear, that’s all I know,” she said.

  Ralphy shook his head, and then balled up his fist. He didn’t even think about it when he turned around and punched the door. Kim jumped from the loud bang. She backed up to the desk and looked around for something to use as a weapon. She prayed that she wasn’t to be punched next.

  Without any further questions or comments, Ralphy flung the door open and stormed out of the office.

  Kim was relieved that he had left, but she was more concerned for Lisa. She knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that Ralphy was on his way home to confront her, and the outcome didn’t look good.

  Kim quickly whipped out her cell phone to call and warn Lisa that she had some serious drama coming her way. Hopefully she’d be smart enough to leave before he got there.

  * * *

  “What time are you picking me up tomorrow?” Falisha asked Fox as he pulled up to her house.

  “I don’t know. I got some shit I need to take care of. I’ll call you and let you know,” he said while watching the small crowd of young females sitting on the porch across the street from Falisha’s house.

  “A’ight, boo. Call me,” Falisha said, and leaned over and poked her lips out for a kiss.

  Fox looked over at the young females who were looking into the truck. He turned to Falisha, raised his hand, and playfully mugged her away. “You know I ain’t good wit’ dat public affection shit.” He chuckled.

  Falisha cocked her head back and frowned at the comment. She looked over and saw Annet and her girlfriends sitting there watching. She looked back at Fox, and then rolled her eyes at him before getting out of the truck. He wasn’t the perfect gentleman at all that night, and was being disrespectful when he pulled off before Falisha even got to her steps.

  She was so bothered by his behavior that she didn’t even feel like sitting outside with the girls tonight. A simple, “Hi!” to everyone sufficed before she disappeared into the house.

  “Hey, Mom!” Falisha called out as she walked over and kissed Ms. Angie on her head. “Did I get any mail?”

  “No, baby. No mail. But ya plate is in the microwave whenever you feel like eating.”

  Falisha could never deny her mom’s cooking no matter what she had already eaten. She grabbed her plate then shot up the steps to her bedroom.

  “It’s almost twelve o’clock, Mom! Get off dat couch and go to bed!” she yelled back downstairs before entering her room.

  When she opened her bedroom door, she was startled and almost dropped her plate when she saw Lamar sitting on the edge of her bed with his elbows on his lap and his hands crossed. “Boy, you scared da shit out of me!” she said, placing her plate on her nightstand. “How did you get up here anyway?”

  “You know ya mom loves me. This is just one of the many advantages I have. I’m dat nigga!” he said, getting up and walking over to Falisha, who was standing up against the wall and smiling at what he said.

  “What do you want, boy?” she asked in a low but submissive way while crossing her arms over her stomach.

  Lamar reached in his pocket and pulled out the remote control to her stereo system. He pushed a couple of buttons, and then tossed the remote onto the bed. The sounds of Jagged Edge’s “I Gotta Be” softly serenaded the room, changing the whole mood. “Come ’ere,” he said, and gently grabbed Falisha’s arm and pulled her to the middle of the room.

  She went without putting up a fuss. Lamar wrapped his hands around her waist and pulled her up against his body. She reached up, placed her hands over his shoulders, and rested her head against his chest.

  * * *

  Is it real, what I feel? Could it be you and me,

  ’Til the end of time, never part?

  Take my heart, hold it tight; it’s true love,

  You know I gotta be.

  Lamar didn’t have to say a word. The song was saying it all. The way he felt about Falisha was obvious, and she knew it. She could feel it, too, by the way he looked at her, the way he touched her, and by the way he spoke gently to her. Even at this very moment, she was intoxicated by the way her body fit perfectly and snugly in his grasp. “What are you doin’ to me, Lamar!” she spoke as she continued to dance slowly with him.

  “I’m only tryin’ to be here for you. I’m not goin’ anywhere, Falisha. I don’t care how long I gotta wait for you, I’ma be right here at the end of the day. And if Big Fox thinks for one second that this shit’s gonna be sweet, he got another think coming. He better be ready to fight for you, ’cause I am!” he said, and wrapped his arms around her tighter.

  A fight was exactly the thing Lamar was putting up. But he wasn’t fighting with his fists or in a yelling match. His weapon of choice was something that Fox didn’t have, something Fox couldn’t give Falisha, which was love and affection: a combination only Lamar introduced into her life so far. The battle for Falisha’s love was on and poppin’.

  * * *

  By the time Tammy got home, she didn’t feel like going back out to pick the kids up from her mom’s house, so she called and asked her mom to bring them to her, which she didn’t have a problem with. Tammy was tired, but it didn’t come from work. It came from depression. The stress of being a single mother made her want to just lie in bed all day.

  Sifting through the mail she picked up when she walked through the door, she came across a letter from Chris. She was hesitant about opening it, thinking all he did was curse her out in it, but she decided to r
ead it anyway just to see what he had to say. It read:

  Dear Tam,

  I have a couple of issues to address, so let me just get right to it. You are absolutely right; I do have seven more years to do, as of right now. They gave me a total of ten years for the crack that I got caught with, and in the feds you only do 85 percent of your time, which brought me down to seven and a half years, including the time I already been locked up.

  I know it’s hard to accept. I too struggle with the numbers. I don’t blame you for being mad at me for not telling you. I really didn’t know how to break that kind of news to you. I knew how much it was going to hurt you, and that’s the last thing I ever wanted to do. I guess a part of me was being selfish, too. I thought that once you found out, you would leave me. I didn’t want to lose you.

  I love you so much. I love our kids, too, and I miss y’all with every day that goes by. I really don’t know how I’m going to manage the next seven years. My family is all I ever lived for when I was home, so to sit back and watch you struggle is hurtful in itself. To lose you is like losing everything, and I completely understand if you want to move on with your life. You deserve to be happy even if it’s with someone other than me.

  At the end of the day, I brought this all on myself. I made choices and sacrifices that ultimately got me taken away from you. I fucked up, so I can only blame me. I take full responsibility.

  As far as our children are concerned, all I ask is that you allow me to continue to be a part of their lives. If you want to leave, that’s fine, but don’t take my kids away from me. Everything I did out there on those streets was to give them and you a better life. The sacrifices I made would be in vain if you took them away. I know I can’t do much financially for them, but let me try to be the best father I can be. If you got any love left in your heart for me, then let me at least do that.

  In closing, I just want to apologize for putting you through these difficult times. For now, I’ma fall back and get out of your way. I wish nothing but the best for you, and I’ll continue to keep you in my prayers.