Candace had the door open just as he was coming up the stairs.
“Hello, pretty lady. You must be Tiffany’s roommate.”
She was grinning with a hand at her hip.” Actually, she’s my roommate.”
Frowning, I pushed her aside and stared up into his smiling face. “Hi.”
“Hello, Tiffany. I see you are prettier than I remembered.”
He pulled me into an embrace like he missed me and I found myself squeezing back. It was hard to believe I was with him again. “And you’re still looking fine as hell.”
He escorted me to the car and held the door open for me. Something Kimbel had never done. The car was even more impressive on the inside—buttercream interior, heated seats. When he started the engine, it purred just like a kitten. Low and controlled. The smell of his cologne traveled over to me. It wasn’t invading at all, just a hint of the masculine man that he was.
“What would you like to do?” he asked. He took his eyes off the road long enough to smile in my direction. He was such a cutie.
I shrugged. “I don’t know, you’re the one who asked me out.”
“I was hoping you would want to see a movie and then go get someting to eat.”
“Sounds like a plan.”
Baughn treated me to snacks and afterward we headed to have dinner at a new club, All That Jazz, that had opened the weekend before. I had planned on going with Candace, but since tonight a reggae band was scheduled to go on stage, I thought Baughn might enjoy a taste of home. We had a seat close to the bar and both ordered a drink and catfish platters.
“How long have you lived in the States?” I asked. Tonight I was determined to learn everything I could about him.
“I’ve lived here off and on all my life. I have dual citizenship. My father was in the military.”
“Oh.” I loved listening to his accent.
“He was killed when I was five and my mudda and I returned to Jamaica, but I always knew I wanted to get my education in the States. My father’s parents live in Indianapolis. My grandfather’s a lawyer and a partner at a large law firm. I hope someday to work for him.”
A lawyer? I was definitely impressed. “I would have never guessed you as a lawyer.”
“Yeah, mon. I’ve never wanted anything else.” I had pegged him so wrong. “I was hurt that such a pretty lady ran off without saying good-bye,” he said as he reached for his drink.
“I just assumed that what we had was just for one night.” It wasn’t the complete truth, but it would do.
Baughn shook his head. “You were dead wrong. Everyting was irie and I had hoped to see you again.”
I leaned over the table and whispered, “I’m so glad you tracked me down.”
“So am I.” Our food arrived and we were enjoying our meal when I spotted Kimbel coming into the restaurant with another female. As soon as he saw me, I kid you not, he about messed his pants and took a seat near the back, making sure he was far enough away so I couldn’t see his date, yet close enough he could see me. I guess he didn’t want a repeat of last time. For the first time in weeks, I could honestly say that I wasn’t thinking about him. Now that I knew I hadn’t contracted herpes, I was ready to put him behind me and get on with my life.
I laughed and was having such a good time listening to a live reggae band and talking with Baughn that after a while, I forgot all about Kimbel. I excused myself and went to the restroom; on the way out, I found that asshole waiting for me. I pretended I didn’t see him and tried to walk past him, but he blocked my path.
“I just wanted to let you know I’m taking you to court.”
I decided to play dumb. “For what?”
“For half the wedding expenses,” he said with a confident smirk. “You stole my wallet.”
I crossed my arms over my chest. “Do you have any proof that I stole your wallet?” He was quiet. “Yep, take me to court, because that’s the least of your worries. I can’t wait to see what the judge says when I tell him why I canceled the wedding.”
“You wouldn’t.”
“Oh, but yes I will; just watch me. I’ll make sure it’s on every blog, MySpace, Facebook . . . you name it. Maybe you don’t have any respect for yourself, but at least show some for the women you are with. So please, do me a favor and take my black ass to court, because I’m about to put on a show for you.” I paused for dramatic effect and looked him up and down in slacks and a crisp white shirt. I was no longer impressed. “Like I said, that’s the least of your worries. I hear the funeral homes are in trouble and rumor has it you’re about to go down.”
“What are you talking about?”
“The ring, Kimbel. The ring you wanted back so badly. I was watching the news and I finally figured out where you got it from . . . you stole it from a dead woman’s body.”
I never saw a light-skinned man turn that white before. “What . . . what did you do with the ring?”
“What do you think I did? I gave it to the police. I’m hoping to be a thousand dollars richer any day now,” I added with a smirk and noticed the muscle at his jaw tick.
“I still love you,” he suddenly said, like I would be stupid enough to believe anything he said.
I laughed in his face. “Whatever I felt for you died a long time ago.” With that I pivoted on my heels and walked away, making sure he saw how good I looked from the rear.
“Can we at least sit and talk about this?”
I swung around. “When I wanted to talk, you had some stripper bent over touching her toes. So, nooo, there’s nothing you can say to me.” I started to leave, then swung around again. “Oh, and by the way, I just want to let you know that I’ve been tested and I don’t have the package.”
What Kimbel said surprised me. “I’m glad, Tiffany. I’m glad you didn’t get it. Do you think maybe we can go out to dinner and talk? I’d really like to start over.”
Had he lost his mind? “No, not in a million years. I hope the two of you have a wonderful life together. And I’m not talking about that female sitting at the table either. Now, excuse me. I’ve got a real man waiting for me.”
45
Noelle
“Would you like me to fix you something to eat?”
I stared at my husband, the man who had pledged to love, honor, and be faithful to me for the rest of my life, and rolled my eyes. “No.”
He had been kissing ass for a week. But no amount of butt kissing was going to undo the damage he had done to our relationship. I still couldn’t believe it. He had conceived a child with another woman. It was heartbreaking. I was angry and hurt at the same time. Nineteen years ago, when our relationship was at its worst, Grant had an affair with Lucy. Not once in all the years we’ve been together did he mention the affair or the baby that was a result of their time in bed together. It brought tears to my eyes every time I thought about my husband being with another woman. No matter how bad our marriage had been, I never once strayed.
“Noelle, we need to talk about this.”
“No, we don’t. You never wanted to talk before. Why start now?”
“Because I love you and I’m willing to do whatever we have to do to make things work.”
“Then I guess you should have thought about that before stepping out on me. Tell me at least . . . did you wear a condom?” The blank look on his face explained everything loud and clear. Like father, like son. “Of course not. If you had, Amber wouldn’t be here.”
“How many times do I have to tell you, I never knew she had the baby. Last time we talked she was planning to have an abortion. I had even given her the money.”
“Guess the joke’s on you. She kept your money and had the baby.”
“I didn’t know.”
Okay, I can accept that and probably look past the fact that he had a baby girl with someone else, but he had an affair. While we were separated, he was sleeping with someone else.
Lucy had confirmed that Grant ended the relationship the moment we got back together. But
was that supposed to make me feel better? How am I supposed to know whether every time we had an argument he had run into the arms of another female? For all I know there might be some other babies running around. My life was a mess. My best friend had given birth to my grandson, and at some point I was going to have to come to terms with that so that I could be a part of my grandchild’s life when he was finally released from the hospital. At the same time I had to decide if I could deal with knowing my husband had a child with another woman. It was sad enough Amber had taken Sierra back, but at least she had been nice enough to bring her by to see me and told me I can see her as often as I liked. Thank God for small favors. I love Sierra too much to lose her.
“Baby, please talk to me.” I was so sick of his begging.
“Why? You weren’t willing to talk to me any time during these last nineteen years about your affair, so why start now?”
“That was nineteen years ago. We’ve moved past that time in our lives. I love you. I have been committed to our marriage ever since.” He sounded so sad, but there was no way I was caving in.
“How do I know that was the only time?”
“Because I have been faithful to you. Does my word not mean anything to you?” At one time he could have told me he created the sun and the moon and I would have believed him. Now I wasn’t so sure. My life wasn’t the same anymore. I needed some time and space to think.
“What’s happening to our marriage?” he asked. I could see the fear in his eyes. Good. Let him be afraid.
I rose from the couch. “I’m not sure yet. All I know is I deserve time to think.”
46
Candace
“Tiffany! Guess what? While you were sleeping, the cops hauled Kimbel’s ass off the jail!”
She came racing to the kitchen wearing an oversize T-shirt and fluffy slippers. Her eyes practically bugged outta her head. “What! I just saw that fool last night.” I got ready to tell her the story when she cut me off. “Hold up. Let me run to the bathroom first.”
I laughed as she hurried back down the hall, then sat back in the chair and brought my coffee to my lips. Last night I told Tyree I couldn’t marry him. The look on his face said he was crushed, but he was good with it. He broke me off a couple of hundred, promised to scoop up Miasha after church on Sunday so they could go visit his mother, then left. As much as I wanted stability in my daughter’s life, I knew Tyree was not at all where my heart was at. I kept telling myself to take things one day at a time. And all things shall pass. At least I had a new job at a prestigious law firm with a heck of a salary that I truly loved. I would know by the end of the week if I was going to be offered a permanent spot. My life was slowly shaping up, yet I felt like there was a big hole in my chest.
“Okay, okay!” Tiffany waved her hands, grinning from ear to ear as she hurried into the kitchen. “Now tell me, what happened?”
Laughing, I shook my head. Thank the Lord for small favors. My best friend had come a long way in a few short weeks. “Well, it seems some female came forward with a necklace Kimbel had given her three years ago. I guess they’ve been slowly building a case against him. The police finally got a search warrant for his house and found all kinds of items he’d been stealing.” I shook my head. “You lived with that man all that time and had no idea what was going on.”
“I know. It’s crazy!” Leaning against the counter, Tiffany told me about the exchange the two had outside the bathroom. I almost fell out my seat. Did he really think she would be stupid enough to take him back?
“That man is like a character off one of those soap operas. Thank goodness you weren’t still living there, because the police would have gone through all your stuff.” I guess herpes wasn’t the only thing Kimbel was giving females. Thank goodness she didn’t marry that fool. “Sooooo . . . how was your date with Baughn?”
“Our date was wonderful.” Tiffany took a seat at the kitchen table across from me and gave the intimate details of her evening. I could tell by the smile on her face she really liked this Jamaican dude, and that was definitely a good thing. After that fiasco with Kimbel’s STD-carrying ass, my girl deserved to be happy.
“When are you going to see him again?”
“I’m driving to Indianapolis to see him in two weeks.” She was grinning like she had just won the lottery. “It’s just hard to believe I flew all the way to Jamaica to meet a good man who lives right here in the States. He has no kids, a job, he’s educated, and his family is rich. What more can a girl ask for?”
“I think you covered it all.” I rose to refill my coffee cup. “You want some pancakes? I was gonna make some for me and Miasha.”
She nodded. “Yeah, that sounds good.”
I reached for the box of Aunt Jemima, then looked over and noticed Tiffany was looking at me funny. “What?”
“Are you ever going to forgive Chauncey?”
I frowned. Why did Tiffany have to ruin a wonderful morning by bringing his ass up? “Yeah . . . at the same time you decide to forgive Kimbel.”
She gave me a don’t-go-there look. “One doesn’t have anything to do with the other and you know it. Kimbel lied to me in a different way. He put my life in his hands.”
“And Chauncey put mine in his.”
She shook her head like I was the one being ridiculous. “I bet you never bothered to even find out what really happened. Did you?”
“I already know what happened. I read the charge. Chauncey raped some teenage girl.” Just thinking about it made me shiver. How could a man take something when there were so many hoochies out there giving it away for free?
“Candace, Chauncey had just turned twenty-one. He was out celebrating with his boys when he met this girl at the club. She told him she was twenty-one. It wasn’t until he was arrested that he discovered she was only sixteen.”
“And that’s supposed to make it okay?”
Tiffany shook her head. “No, I’m not saying it does. But you know good and damn well how many times we used to sneak in the club with fake IDs and pretend we were legal. I remember that one time we met those college basketball players and they bought us free drinks all night. Yo hot ass even went back to the dorm with one of them. The entire time he thought you were legal.”
I mixed the pancake batter and thought about what she said. Chauncey was starting to sound less like a rapist. If the girl had indeed lied, how was he supposed to have known? Why couldn’t he have just told me that? I lowered my eyelids and sighed. I guess I hadn’t given him a chance.
“Candy, just think about it, you could have ran home to Papa and told him ole boy raped you, and guess what? He would have been behind bars for sleeping with a minor. C’mon girl, it happens all the time. What’s a muthafucka to do . . . ask every woman he meets for ID? And even if he does, how’s he supposed to know if it’s real?”
Tiffany’s words hit me like a ton of brinks. The more I mixed the batter the worse I began to feel. Had I really made a mistake by ending my relationship with Chauncey without first giving him a chance to explain? Damn! He had tried so hard to get me to listen, but I refused to hear a word he had to say. “I guess I messed up.”
Nodding, she agreed with me. “Yep, you did. And you better get it together quick. This light-skinned chick who just started at the salon last week has been on him something tough. I think they went out for drinks last night.”
“What?” My head whipped around.
Tiffany sat back on her chair, the expression on her face serious. “You don’t want him and someone else does.”
I rolled my eyes. I knew I was being selfish, but I wasn’t ready yet for anyone else to have him. “I thought he was suspended?”
“Noelle let him have his job back. Not that she had much of a choice. Nobody does feet like he does,” she added, with a suggestive wiggle of her eyebrows.
I hated to admit Tiffany had been right all along. I was going to regret letting Chauncey go. Here I was jealous; jealous because everyone was spending time
with him but me. Now that I knew the truth, I was all set to track him down and tell him how sorry I was.
“He should be at the salon today.” Tiffany rose. “Make me two pancakes. I’m going to go and start getting ready.”
I watched her leave, then made breakfast. After I fed Miasha, I took a hot shower and got ready myself. Thank goodness it was the weekend, because I was on a mission. I dressed in a short pink Baby Phat dress, then slipped on white sandals and a matching white belt. Around ten, I dropped Miasha off at my parents. They were planning to take her to the zoo today, which was a good thing since I had something important I needed to do.
I stepped into the salon. It was loud in there as usual for a Saturday morning. Tiffany spotted me, smiled, then pointed to the back. It was now or never. I moved toward the break room. Noelle smiled and waved.
“Thanks so much for hooking me up with a babysitter. Your parents are wonderful!” she called over at me.
“No problem. They love doing what they do.” I kept it moving and stepped into the break room. Chauncey was sitting down and some tall chick was standing over him grinning. She had her chest stuck out and was puckering her greasy lips. Anybody could tell she liked what she saw. She might as well back the hell up because I came to claim mine.
Chauncey looked surprised, then disappointed to see me. “Whassup, Candy?”
Ol’ girl must have heard of me because her head whipped around and she gave me a you-move-you-lose kinda look. There was no way I was letting her have what was already mine.
“Hey, Chauncey. Can I holler at you for a sec . . . in private? ” In other words, hussy you need to get to stepping.
“Sure. Heaven, can you give us a minute?”
She looked like she wanted to say no and had straight attitude, but she did the right thing and left us alone. However, once she was gone and we were all alone, I started getting all nervous and shit.
Suspicions Page 26