Forever An Ex

by Victoria Christopher Murray

  “How did you do all of this?”

  He shrugged. “I have money.”

  I laughed. “I can’t believe this.”

  “Well, believe it ’cause it’s all for you.” Then he sealed those words with a kiss. When he pulled back, breathless, he added, “I’ve really missed you.”

  He put his arm around my waist and gave me a tour of the rooftop heaven. “There’s the Hollywood sign.” He pointed and then we walked around the perimeter.

  As he chatted and pointed out Palos Verdes, then downtown and Century City, I didn’t say a word. I just held on to him and gave thanks for the six years that we’d been apart. Because if this was where we were ending up, those years of separation had been worth it.

  After the tour, he sat me at the table and the freight elevator opened again. It was another concierge, this time rolling a tray with two stainless-steel dome covers. When he sat the dishes on the table, I moaned with pleasure. My favorite: herb-crusted tilapia and jasmine rice.

  Bobby popped a bottle of wine. “Sauvignon blanc,” he said, as if he was schooling me. And he was. In the week that we’d spent together, he knew I’d developed this “personal relationship” with my Moscato.

  After he filled our glasses, Bobby blessed the food, and as he said grace, I prayed that God would give me all the desires of my heart.

  Bless us, Lord, I said inside. Bless this relationship and all that we’re meant to be.

  When I lifted my head, Bobby was smiling. “What’re you thinking?”

  There was so much that I wanted to tell him. But I knew when to speak and what to say. So, I just glanced around the roof again. “How perfect this night is.”

  He nodded. “Just like you.”

  We ate and chatted like we were the only two in the world. And once we pushed our plates aside, Bobby held my hand and led me to the edge of the roof, where we stood just staring at the lights twinkling from the Hollywood Hills.

  “I’m so happy right now.” I smiled, but at the same time I shuddered.

  “You cold?”

  “Just a little.” I rubbed my hands up and down my arms. My leather blazer had been warm enough, but I guess not for sitting outside as the clock ticked closer to nine.

  “I think I can help with that.”

  I was thinking that Bobby was going to take off his jacket and give it to me, but then he moved toward the sofa, picked up a huge box that I hadn’t noticed before, and in just a few steps, he was back in front of me. “This is for you, baby.”

  My lips were stretched to my ears. Over the years, Bobby had given me jewelry, cars, even my condo. But this was special because this was the first gift, this time around.

  I placed the box on the table, pulled open the cover, and gasped. “Oh, my God,” I said, lifting the heavy coat. “A mink!”

  “Not mink, baby . . . sable,” Bobby said as if sable were one hundred times better.

  I shrugged my blazer from my shoulders, then let Bobby wrap the coat around me. Can I tell you how good that coat felt? It was thick and warm and made me feel like a million dollars.

  “A fur coat, Bobby?” I said. “When am I going to wear this in Los Angeles?”

  “I think it works tonight.” From behind, he wrapped his arms around me and held me close.

  I closed my eyes, wishing I could stay right there forever. When Bobby turned me around and kissed me, I returned his kiss with all the passion within me. “These have been some of the best days of my life,” I told him. “You’ve made me so happy.”

  He nodded as if he had the same sentiment. “I didn’t realize how much I’d missed you until we got back together.”

  Back together!

  “I really love being with you, Asia. It’s so easy. When I’m around you, I don’t feel the stress of the world. You just make me laugh and have a good time.”

  Those words right there . . . were great. But I couldn’t get past him saying we were back together!

  He pressed his lips to mine once again, and then, slowly, led me back toward the sofa. Gently, he pushed me down onto the cushions that felt like clouds and he laid his weight on top of me as we explored each other like this was our first time. When he pulled away, I begged for mercy. “Please!” I held my arms out to him.

  He smiled, then slipped my boots off. Next came my jeans, and then he took the sable off, but only for a moment. I tried to help him unbutton my blouse, but he pushed my hands away. He wanted to do it all, removing each piece and fondling me in the process. By the time I was naked, I was beyond ready.

  I shivered, though I knew it wasn’t just from the cool air. It was the way Bobby looked at me. As if he had never wanted a woman as much as he wanted me. After he wrapped me inside the fur once again, it didn’t even take him a few seconds to be as naked as I was.

  There, beneath the Los Angeles night, we made slow, long love. The kind of love that covered every inch of my body. The kind of love that, from the inside, sent chills to the outside. The kind of love that made me shudder and shiver and quiver over and over again.

  It was the kind of love that, as I lay in his arms, made me say, “I love you, Bobby.”

  Then I froze. Because I hadn’t meant to say that. I closed my eyes and waited.

  Bobby held me closer. And when he said, “I love you, too, Asia,” I breathed.

  For the first time in six years, I took long, deep, life-filled breaths.

  Chapter

  Thirteen

  Girl, look at you!” Noon said as I trotted down the stairs. “Bouncing off the wall and sh—”

  “Don’t you say that!” I held up my hand, warning Noon before she could even get the whole curse out of her mouth. “Don’t bring that kind of talk in my house.”

  “Excuse you,” she said, and folded her arms. “I guess now that you’re back with Bobby, you gotta be all straight and sh—” This time Noon stopped herself as I glared at her. “Okay, okay.”

  I looked at Noon from the corner of my eye. “When did you start cursing so much?”

  She grinned. “It’s because of Brett. He loves it when I curse. You know, all part of the exotic-African-girl thing.”

  I shook my head, but then my smile was back when Noon said, “Girl, you are really lookin’ good!”

  I strutted in front of her like I was on a fashion-show runway, even though I was only wearing a jogging suit.

  “Uh-huh, girl, Bobby must be laying it all on and over you.” She snapped her fingers with each word.

  “Shhh.” I looked over my shoulder as I grabbed Noon’s arm, dragging her into the living room. “Ms. Martinez is in her room,” I whispered.

  “She doesn’t know you’re back with Bobby?”

  I shook my head. “No. He hasn’t been here at all, except when Angel and Caroline were away.”

  “Why?” Then she held up her hands. “Wait,” she said as she dropped onto the sofa, kicked off her sneakers, then tucked her legs underneath her. “Now start at the beginning.”

  The way Noon snuggled back onto the sofa, it didn’t look like she was planning to move for a while. “Is this your way of getting out of jogging with me?”

  She waved her hand. “No, but we can’t talk while running, right? And, I won’t be able to concentrate on working out if I don’t know everything that’s going on.”

  I laughed. I’d been talking to Noon every day, but there was nothing like sitting down with my girl. As I sank onto the sofa next to her, I released a long, happy sigh. “I’m telling you, Noon, being with Bobby is way better than before.” Then I went into detail, telling her all the things that I’d told her before: about our rooftop rendezvous, the Rodeo Drive shopping spree that he’d taken me on the next day. Then, how we’d spent Friday going to museums, and dinner at Rendezvous on Saturday. And of course, I told her about our midnight FaceTime get-togethers.
r />   “Wow!” Noon said when I finished. “All of that time with you? What about Caroline? I mean, the last time you guys were together, she lived in Dallas, but now she’s right here. How’s he getting away with it?”

  “I don’t think he cares. He says being with me sets him free. It’s clear that I’m number one. Bobby wants to build a life with me.”

  She leaned back. “He said that?”

  “He said something even better . . . he said that he loved me.”

  That may have impressed me, but it did little for Noon. She waved her hand as if the words meant nothing. “Girl, do you know how many times I made Brett say that last night?”

  “And you don’t believe him?” I asked.

  “No, because he was naked, and when a man’s naked, he’ll say anything.”

  I thought back to when Bobby had said the words to me. On the roof. When he was naked. “Well, it’s not just his words, it’s his actions. We’re more connected. I’m telling you, this time it’s for real, it’s for good, it’s forever.”

  She clasped her hands under her chin. “Awww, that sounds so nice.”

  I grinned.

  She said, “But you know great-sounding words ain’t enough, right? What I want to know is how is Plan B going? ’Cause that’s the only way you’re really gonna get him.”

  Noon could’ve just picked up a bucket and tossed cold water on me.

  When I didn’t say anything, she asked, “You’re still doing Plan B, right?,” sounding like she was trying to check me.

  “Yeah, I mean, I’m not taking my pills . . .”

  “Look,” Noon began as if she could sense my doubts. “All I know is everybody needs insurance. Ask President Obama.”

  She laughed and I chuckled with her. I knew Noon was trying to take a bit of the bite off of her warning. Maybe she was right. Everybody did need insurance.

  Before I could tell her that, there was a knock on my door, and right away I jumped up from the couch. “That’s probably Bobby,” I said. Not that I was expecting him, but he was the only one the concierge let up without a call.

  I really hoped it was him. Maybe if Noon saw me and Bobby together, she would see that I didn’t need to trick Bobby; I didn’t need to get pregnant.

  I shouted to Ms. Martinez that I would get the door right as I pulled it open.

  And then I stood there. Shocked!

  “Caroline!”

  “May I come in?”

  She’d asked the question but was already walking past me. It took me a moment to even shut the door as I tried to connect all of my thoughts and questions.

  But even though her presence rattled me, once I faced her, I was cool and collected.

  She said, “I hope this is a good time.”

  I had to take an extra breath before I said, “A good time for what?”

  Her eyes moved from side to side as if she was checking out my place. “Is there somewhere we can talk?”

  I shrugged and gestured toward the living room. When I walked in with Caroline, Noon’s eyes got wide, but she didn’t budge. My bestie had never met Bobby’s wife, but we’d both seen enough pictures of the youngest child of the richest black oilman in Texas.

  Facing Caroline, I crossed my arms. “What do you want to talk about?” I asked, though I was sure this had something to do with Angel. Where did she want to take my daughter now? To China? Well, I’d let this France thing happen, but Angel wasn’t going anywhere else with Caroline. Trust that.

  She glanced at Noon, then turned back to me. “I’d like to speak to you . . . in private.”

  I might have been trying to act cool, but I was so shaken by this surprise visit that it took a moment to figure out what she was talking about. It wasn’t until she kept looking at Noon that I got it, but I still didn’t make a move. Noon was my ride or die and I was going to end up telling her everything anyway.

  But then Caroline added, “Please,” and I knew she wasn’t gonna talk until Noon was gone. I was too curious to tell Caroline to get out of my house, so I looked at Noon and nodded.

  Now, the thing about my girl was that she couldn’t just get up and walk out. No, she had to make it dramatic: she stood slowly, kept her glare on Caroline as if she was the number one enemy. (Which, I guess, she was.) Then she held her hands together and cracked her knuckles. (Really, she actually cracked her knuckles.) Then she did some kind of crazy, pimp-step-strut, the whole time still looking at Caroline.

  When Noon got closer to Caroline, she said, “I’ll be right upstairs . . . if you need me,” in a tone that was at least three octaves lower than her normal voice.

  I wanted to bust out laughing as she pimp-step-strutted out of the room.

  When Noon was finally out of our sight, Caroline shook her head a little, then faced me. “May I sit down?”

  At first, I was gonna tell her no. Just treat her the way she’d treated me at her house on Christmas. But then I noticed . . . she was looking at the couch. That’s where she wanted to sit. And that’s where Bobby and I had made love just a few weeks ago.

  With a big ol’ smile, I said, “Sure,” and then motioned for her to sit right in the center of the sofa. When she sat down, I sat in the chair across from her so that I could look in her eyes and imagine what would happen if she knew what had happened on that couch.

  She sat on the edge, crossed her ankles, cupped her hands, and rested them in her lap. The way she sat, all that was missing was her crown. Then she asked, “How’s Angel?”

  “She’s fine; she’s in school. But I’m sure you know that.”

  She nodded. “Angel called me this morning.”

  My inside voice said, Then why are you here, heffa? But aloud, I repeated what I’d asked her before, “What do you want?”

  I guess she caught my tone, because she said, “Well, I guess this isn’t going to be a friendly visit.”

  “Why would it be friendly when we’re not friends?”

  “Touché. Then I’ll get right to the point.” She took a second to pause and straighten her back even more. “Are you sleeping with my husband?”

  At that moment, if Caroline had slipped out a feather from her Gucci purse, she could have knocked me over and knocked me out.

  “What?” I said, not because I hadn’t heard her, but because I needed some time to think through how I wanted to play this.

  She repeated her question and I only had three seconds to react.

  This was my chance. I could just break up Bobby’s marriage and never look back. I mean, how could he blame me when she showed up at my door?

  But as badly as I wanted to knock her off her throne, she wasn’t going to hear it from me.

  “Why would you ask me that?”

  “I have my reasons and I would appreciate you answering the question.” She remained cool and casual like she was talking to me about some charity event.

  “Suppose I don’t want to answer your question.”

  It was only the tiniest of movement; her shoulders slumped. But Caroline couldn’t be broken this easily. She looked dead in my eyes when she said, “If you don’t want to answer, that’s an answer in itself.”

  I shook my head. “The only thing that would mean is that I don’t want to, nor do I have to answer anything.”

  She tilted her head. “And why not? If you’re not . . .” She stopped as if she’d said enough.

  Okay, this needed to be over because the truth was rising up inside of me. Oh, my God. How I wanted to tell her. But all I did was look square in her eyes. “No. I’m not sleeping with Bobby.”

  She smiled just a little. And then she shocked me with, “I don’t believe you.”

  “Then why did you even bother coming over here?”

  She shrugged as she stood up. “Maybe I was hoping that you would tell me the truth.”

&nb
sp; “I did.”

  She chuckled, looked down at the floor, but when she looked up at me, her hazel eyes were hard and cold. “Stay away from Bobby,” she said with a little extra in her tone like that was gonna scare me.

  Really? Did this chick think she could step to me like this?

  I laughed in her face before I walked toward the front door.

  She was smart enough to follow me, but before she stepped into the hall, she said, “I don’t usually repeat myself because the type of person I’m used to speaking with is intelligent enough to understand the first time. But, you . . . well, you’re Chiquita from Compton.”

  Except for Noon and my aunt Beverly, Caroline was the only person who ever used my birth name. She’d found out my real name years ago when she’d done some “research” on me. But what did this trust-fund trick think? That she was intimidating me?

  She said, “Stay away from Bobby.”

  “Or what?”

  Her eyebrows rose just a little. “Is that an admission?”

  “No,” I said quickly. “I’m just saying that I’m trying to figure out why you’re threatening me.” I crossed my arms. “And, I’m sure Bobby will want to know, too.”

  Now her smile reached across her whole face. “Oh, no need to say anything to Bobby.”

  I smirked.

  She tilted her head slightly. “Just like I won’t be saying anything to Angel.”

  My arms dropped to my side.

  “You know, she’ll be spending the weekend with us, since it’s her birthday.”

  Was she threatening me with my own daughter?

  “So,” she began, “I’m sure you’ll agree . . . no need to say anything to anyone.”

  If Angel hadn’t been talking about this party for the last year, I would’ve made sure that Caroline never saw my daughter again in life. And after this weekend, I was gonna work on that.

  Caroline had pissed me off, so I went for the gusto. “You think you can use my daughter?” I got in her face. “Well, let me tell you something about your husband. I may not be sleeping with Bobby right now, but I can have him whenever and wherever I want. I can have him at any time and any place.”