Confessions

by Sasha Campbell

  Knock! Knock!

  I jumped off the couch. My heart was pumping like crazy as I moved to the door. “W-Who is it?” I asked. Nervousness was definitely apparent in my voice.

  “It’s your husband.”

  I opened the door and he barely got inside before I was in his arms holding him, and he held me back tightly. “Hey, Netta,” he cooed.

  Leon moved over to the couch with me and took a seat. I couldn’t let go. The tears started coming and kept on falling. I didn’t care if he saw me cry over him. I loved this man. He leaned back and I saw he had a few tears of his own. He pulled me to him again, and I held on. And for the first time I felt like things were going to be all right.

  “Why are you shaking?” he asked.

  “Because I was scared. I-I didn’t know. I didn’t know if you would still feel the same way about me.”

  “Baby, I can’t get over eight years that quickly.” Leon leaned in and kissed me, and I kissed him back. “You are my soul mate.”

  “I-I missed you so much.” I started bawling, and he hugged and rocked me like a baby.

  “Come on, let’s lay down,” he suggested. “I’ve been up since five and that was a long flight.”

  I nodded and we got undressed and slid under the covers. He rolled beside me and held me in his arms and for the longest time we just kissed.

  Leon was the first to break the silence. “I can’t believe you’re here with me. I thought I’d never see you again.”

  I tried to smile but my lips quivered. “Boo, I…I thought the same thing.”

  We continued to kiss and express our feelings, and we fell asleep in each other’s arms. Everything was going to be all right between us. I could feel it.

  37

  Nikki

  “You’re listening to Truth Hurts, and I am your host, Nikki Truth. I’ve got another hot show lined up. Tonight we’re gonna kick off the evening with a story I saw earlier this morning on ABC News. This female got her tail beat over a no-good man. Apparently this woman who owned a beauty shop was messing around with this other female’s husband. Instead of the wife confronting her husband, she and her friends went to the female’s shop and beat her butt. Not only that, while they took turns whooping on her, one of the stupid friends filmed the whole thing and like a fool placed it on the Internet. Just dumb. Now they’re going to jail. I saw the entire video, and it was so sad. The female didn’t even fight back. Instead, she allowed them to whoop her. Ladies, when will we learn? It is not that serious. The phones are open. I want to hear what you think.” Before I was even done, the phone lines lit up like Times Square. I took a few calls, then Tristan signaled for me to pick up line two. “Caller, you’re on the air.”

  “Hi, Ms. Nikki, this is Jennifer, and well…I disagree. I do believe some women deserve a beat down for knowingly messing with someone else’s man.”

  I adjusted my microphone as I spoke. “Jennifer, I get the impression your husband messed around on you.”

  “Well, uh, I—”

  “And I guess you confronted the female instead of confronting your man.”

  “Yes, because she knew he was married.”

  “And so did he, but that didn’t stop him, did it?”

  There was a brief pause before she finally answered, “No.”

  “Just what I thought. Wake up, girlfriend.” I depressed the button. “Next caller.”

  “Hi, Ms. Nikki, this is Keisha, and I saw that video myself. My heart went out to that female. That was so totally uncalled for. I couldn’t believe they locked her in her shop and whooped her tail. I was embarrassed for black women.”

  “Keisha, I agree. Next caller.”

  “Hi, Ms. Nikki, this is Tracy. When will women learn no man is worth all that drama. If he is cheating on you, most likely he did it to the woman before you, and when he gets tired he will do the same to the next. Let that good for nothing man go on about his business and be someone else’s headache.”

  “Well said, Tracy. If he loved you, he wouldn’t cheat. Women, we need to grow up and act our age. Is it really worth going to jail and being away from your kids for a man? Trust and believe, while you’re locked up, he has moved on to the next.”

  The rest of the night was wild. We were flooded with phone calls and I read a few crazy e-mails, and by midnight I was happy to sign off for the night.

  I climbed into my car, then reached down for my cell phone. I had a couple of missed calls, including one from an unknown number. On the drive home, I checked my messages and was actually surprised to find that one was from Kenyon. For the last week, he had been good about just e-mailing and calling me in the morning. The evening calls had stopped.

  “Baby, I’m sorry to bother you b-but my daughter was in a bad car accident. Her car is totaled. They’re taking her into surgery.” I could hear the fear and uncertainty in his voice. He was scared for his daughter’s life.

  I put the phone aside and drove home with the radio off, deep in my thoughts. The memories of Mimi’s last day came flooding back. I remembered riding in the back of the ambulance with her and waiting outside the operating room while they tried to save her life. Unfortunately, the internal injuries were too severe. Kenyon had been there for me when I needed someone most. He held my hand and allowed me to cry in his arms when Big Mama passed. Part of me felt like turning the car around and joining him at the hospital. He was probably scared out of his mind. Already, he had lost his wife. The only thing he had left of her was the child they had created. But as much as I wanted to be there for him, I knew if I went down to the hospital, he would confuse my support for something else.

  Once home, I parked in the driveway, headed inside and let Rudy out in the backyard. He hated being confined inside the privacy fence, but too bad.

  I reached for my cordless phone and curled up on the couch in the family room while I made the phone call.

  “Hello? Baby?”

  I groaned inwardly. Was he ever going to stop calling me baby? Just let it slide, I thought. “Hey, I got your message.”

  “Thanks…thanks for calling me back.” His voice was shaky, and it was easy to figure out he was nervous. “They just took Rachel into surgery.”

  I glanced out at Rudy, peeing on my rose bush. “What happened?”

  “She was in a car accident. The officer said she ran a red light and an oncoming truck hit her from the side.”

  “I’m so sorry.”

  “I didn’t even recognize her car. It was so smashed I…I don’t know how she survived.” He sounded so sad, and my heart went out to him.

  “Don’t think like that. You’ve got to think positive. Is she conscious?”

  “Barely…in and out. They gave her something that knocked her out before they wheeled her into surgery.”

  “Did they say what was wrong with her?” I asked.

  “An arm is broken and there are some internal injuries.”

  Just like Mimi. “I’m so sorry. Everything is gonna be fine…. Wait and see.”

  He released a long breath. “I sure hope so. My daughter is all I got left.”

  “She’s gonna be fine. Watch.”

  There was silence on the phone, and that was rare for Kenyon. That man didn’t know when to shut up. But I could understand he was worried about Rachel.

  “Tell me something about your daughter.”

  “Well…she’s stubborn as hell.”

  I chuckled and moved over to the door and let Rudy in. “Most women are.”

  “But she’s always been stubborn. I remember when I was trying to potty train her. She refused to let me dump her pot. She had to do it herself.”

  “Really?” I said with amusement.

  “Yep, she was the same way when she started walking. She used to push my hand away, wanted to do it all on her own. Now that she’s grown, she hasn’t changed.”

  “Sounds like my kinda woman.”

  “Yeah, she gets that independent spirit from her mother,” he replied, s
ounding slightly amused.

  “Were they close?”

  He took a moment to think about his answer. “I guess about as close as a mother and daughter can be. She took her mother’s death hard, but Rachel mourned in her own way.”

  “How so?”

  Kenyon gave a defeated sigh. “Drinking…a lot of drinking and partying. I’ve picked her up from the club a couple of times because she was too drunk to drive.”

  I curled one leg beneath me on the couch, getting comfortable. “At least she had sense enough to call you.”

  “Yeah, but I can’t help but wonder if she was drunk when she ran through that light.”

  I nibbled on my lips, considering what he said. “Have they taken her blood?”

  “Yeah…but the tox screen isn’t back.”

  “Try not to think about that right now. Just focus on being there for your daughter. Stubborn or not, she’s gonna need you.” A thought came to mind. “Who’s at the hospital with you?”

  “No one. I didn’t want to call and worry my sisters. I figured I’d call them after surgery.” He cleared his throat. “I told you I don’t have too many friends.”

  “What about Jay?”

  He chuckled. “Uh…Jay and I are club buddies. We go out drinking and talk about women, but outside of that we don’t hang out much.”

  “That’s too bad. I thought you were closer than that. I’m glad I’ve got Trinette. We’ve been friends forever.”

  “You’re lucky.”

  I smiled. “I know.” There was silence, and I figured it was time to get off the phone and get ready for bed before Donovan called. “Hey, I’ve gotta go. Please keep me posted, okay?”

  “You know I will,” he answered urgently.

  “Yes, I know,” I whispered, and hung up the phone.

  38

  Trinette

  “Trinette.”

  I could tell by the tone of Nikki’s voice something was bothering her. “Hey, whassup?”

  “Have you heard from Kenyon?”

  Oh, my goodness. “Why in the world would I hear from him?”

  “I don’t know. I thought maybe Jay had mentioned him.”

  Reaching inside my desk drawer, I removed a fingernail file. “I stopped messing with Jay, remember?”

  “Good for you.” There was a pause. “Do me a favor and send Kenyon an e-mail.”

  “For what?”

  “To make sure he’s okay. I’m worried about him. Last time we spoke was two nights ago. He was throwing up and his stomach was all in knots.”

  Rudely, I sucked my teeth. “Maybe he ate some bad Mexican.”

  “No. He only acts like that when he’s upset. His daughter’s accident and our breakup really has him upset.”

  I don’t know why my girl thought she’s all that. Kenyon would be okay. He had a woman before her, and he’d find another.

  “Just do me this favor. Send him one of your daily jokes or tell him you were just e-mailing to see how he was doing.”

  “Nikki, just leave him alone. Donovan will be home soon, and the two of you can live happily ever after.” I tried not to sound like I didn’t care, but the truth of the matter was, I didn’t.

  “Trinette, even though it’s over between us, I do care about him. The last week we have worked on just being friends.”

  I blew out a long breath because she wasn’t going to quit until I agreed. “All right, send me his e-mail and I’ll send him something, but you’re gonna owe me big time for this one.”

  “Thanks. I just wanna make sure he’s all right.”

  “Yeah, yeah.”

  I went to meet with another client, and by the time I got back to my desk, Nikki had sent me his address. I opened a new message and tried to think of what to say to him. He was psycho—I didn’t care what Nikki said—and smothering and desperate, and needed to get a life.

  Hey, Kenyon, sorry to hear about you and Nikki. If you ever need an ear I’m here. When you see your boy tell him he owes me dinner.

  At least that way I was able to get a plug in for myself. Maybe I was no longer messing around, but Jay still meant a lot to me.

  It had been two weeks since Leon and I spent a wonderful weekend together and nothing or no one was going to ruin what we now had. If Jay no longer wanted to be friends, then fuck him. Smooth and Michael had been blowing up my phone, but I told them both I was no longer interested. Since then nobody has messed with my car. I still think the tires were a random act of violence, but the message in lipstick was pointed directly at me. And like I told Smooth, he better have a talk with Cimon and warn her to stay the fuck away from me.

  I worked on my cases for the rest of the morning. Two of my clients lost their EBT cards, so I had to go in and issue new ones. I didn’t know how they could lose them. It was just like having a credit card. More than likely they sold their food stamps to someone and let them use their cards and never had them returned. People were always trying to beat the system.

  “Trinette, you have a call on line three. Whoever it is talks so low you can barely hear him,” Patricia added with an exaggerated frown.

  I reached for the phone and pushed the blinking button. “Trinette, may I help you?”

  “Trinette, thank you so much for e-mailing me! I really need a friend right now.”

  I didn’t recognize the voice. “Who is this?”

  “Kenyon.”

  I groaned inwardly. I was gonna kill Nikki when I saw her.

  “Trinette, I love her so much.”

  “I thought y’all were working on being friends?”

  “I was, but I can no longer hide my feelings. I had hoped by not calling her for a few days she would start to miss me and want me back in her life.”

  I half listened while I searched the Internet. “Kenyon, Nikki loves her husband.”

  “I know she loves me too.”

  I had to laugh at his attempt at confidence. “It doesn’t matter. She’s married to Donovan and committed to him.”

  “There isn’t anything I wouldn’t do for her.”

  “I know,” I mumbled.

  “I’ll take whatever she’ll give me. One afternoon a week is better than nothing at all, because none of the women in this city compare to her.”

  Oh, my goodness. Is this dude for real? “Kenyon, please. You need to move on.”

  “I’m not ready to move on. A year from now I won’t be ready. I told her all she has to do is call me and I’ll be there for her.”

  I was trying hard not to laugh at his simple ass. How in the world had Nikki been screwing this pathetic negro?

  “Can you please ask her to give me another chance?”

  I slapped a frustrated palm against my forehead. This fool was worse than Cory’s worrisome ass. “I’m not doing that. Just let it go, Kenyon.” My friendly advice was met by silence. “Kenyon, you still there?”

  “You know…my mom told me the same thing last night…to let her go because if she’s mine, she’ll come back to me.”

  I frowned, remembering something Nikki had told me. “Isn’t your mother dead?”

  “Yeah, but she still talks to me.”

  “Ohhhkay, you know what, I’ve got to go.” I started to hang up, but Kenyon called out my name.

  “Trinette, wait! I-I appreciate you talking to me. Can you please give Nikki a message for me?”

  He was wearing my nerves. “What?”

  “Tell her I-I love her and if she needs anything, and I mean anything, she knows I-I got her back.”

  I hit the dial tone, because there was no way in the world I was going to listen to another second of that shit. What in the world was Nikki thinking even letting that fool crawl up between her thighs?

  Maureen came strolling into the office. She had taken the morning off. I watched her sashay across the room. Someone was still following my car. Part of me suspected it was her, but if she knew about me and Michael, I couldn’t tell. Since she’d moved into her new house, she’d been smil
ing in my face. Today she wasn’t.

  “Trinette, I need to talk to you.” She grabbed my hand and led me into the break room and shut the door. I had a bad feeling about whatever was on her mind.

  “Whassup?” I asked, crossing my arms.

  “Have you ever thought your husband was messing around?”

  I looked at her face, trying to see if she was running game. The pain I saw looked genuine, which I thought was strange since she was fucking around as well. Relaxing a little, I nodded. “Yep. Once.”

  “What did you do?”

  “Girl, I followed his ass.” I don’t know why I was telling her that, but I guess since I was done fucking Michael I didn’t have to worry about her finding him with me. Michael must be screwing someone else.

  “That’s a good idea. I’ll try that and I guarantee when I find out who the bitch is, she’s going to regret fucking with my man.” She rolled her eyes, then opened the door and walked back to her desk. I didn’t know if she was playing dumb or what. I knew I just needed to watch my back. You keep your enemies close and your so-called friends closer.

  39

  Nikki

  Okay. This shit was no longer funny.

  Kenyon had officially reached stalker mode. After Trinette called to let me know nothing was wrong with Kenyon except that he was crazy, I decided maybe it was best he wasn’t calling me. Then I went to the grocery store after work and spotted Kenyon at the end of the aisle, watching me. As soon as he spotted me, he waved and moved my way. I’d be blind to say he didn’t look good in chocolate dress slacks and a cream button-down shirt and blazer.

  “Don’t you look nice,” I complimented. Hey, there is nothing wrong with giving a man his props.