Corey listened and let the repetition sink in. Nothing too hard for God.
As the choir held its last note, First Lady joined Corey and Pill in front of her desk. She sat down on the edge where she looked down on them. Her question was pointed. “Do you believe that there is nothing too hard for God?”
Corey nodded, and he felt Pill do the same, but First Lady wanted more. “Do you?”
This time they spoke their affirmations. In that one word, Pill’s voice seemed strained—angry. He wondered if he had done the right thing. You don’t turn your back on a woman like her. He had left her, and she was obviously furious.
“We are not going to make this hard. Relationships may be complicated, but not everything about being in a relationship has to be hard. You saw your wife come in after being separated for a few days and didn’t even speak. Talk to her. Tell your wife she looks nice,” First Lady insisted.
“She’s always going to be beautiful to me,” Corey said to both of them. He started to qualify his statement, That’s not the issue, but First Lady cut him off with a wave of her hand.
“She needs to hear that. She also needs to know that no matter what she does you’re going to be as fast to love her as you are to chastise her. Our last session was very telling—very telling. Miss Thang, right here, really opened up. If only her husband had been there to hear it.” She glared at Corey. “I’m not going to mention what she told me about your sex life. What’s the term you used to describe it—mind-blowing?”
Pill shook her head. “Oh my gooooosh, no, you didn’t, First Lady!”
Corey stared at the two of them to make sure they weren’t playing with him.
“But look at how his face lit up, sister friend. You both are blushing like you’re in grade school and I just read a note aloud to the class that says she likes you,” First Lady said, pointing at Corey. “He needs to hear that. Heck, he wants to feel that all the time, I bet. This is your husband. You enjoy having sex with him. Work that, girlfriend. This is the basics. This is not the hard part.”
Corey resisted the urge to say, “Amen.” He was relieved and foolishly allowed his mind to anticipate their next interlude until he thought of their circumstances. You have to live at or at least meet up at the same house to have sex.
“One day, Miss Thang will share the ill conceived notions that made her keep herself under wraps and unavailable to you. Something, unfortunately, you have perpetuated and reinforced the day you moved out.” She said the last part through clenched teeth. “The two of you could be working on that and mending that part of your relationship very easily if you were still under the same roof.”
First Lady’s indignation was apparent, and Corey felt his head was on the chopping block for leaving. He was relieved when she asked them to stand for prayer. They formed a minicircle, and he took his wife’s limp but supple hand in his. First Lady, on the other hand, held on like a vice grip.
“Our Father, you are the Wonderful Counselor, and I am merely your vessel. In keeping with my calling, use me to make sense of and create harmony in the lives of this young couple. They’ve lost time in these sessions with me, but are in need of much more that unfortunately we can’t provide. They are living apart and out of your will, Lord. Help them grow exponentially through this session. Make them more than willing to love and share. Unbridle their tongues about what’s really troubling them individually. Leave no stone unturned collectively. This is their time; we have reserved time for them to get it straight. Let them know divorce is not an option, and nothing gets solved in separation. Most important, there is nothing too hard for you, in Jesus’ name.”
They seemed to all exhale at “Amen.” Corey was intimidated by the lofty expectations First Lady laid before them in prayer but reminded himself of their new mantra. Nothing was too hard for God.
Before he could sit down, Pill spoke up. “I want to start.”
Corey and First Lady looked at her in disbelief for the moment. He had a feeling something had been eating at her ever since she got there. He crouched again as if to sit, but realized Pill preferred to stand, so he kept his stance.
“That’s what I’m talking ’bout,” First Lady cheered. She took a step back to yield the way. “Go ahead, girlfriend.”
Corey found his wife’s five-foot frame intimidating as she approached him. He had to take a step back too. “I want to know if my husband’s dealing dirt. Who’s the woman you left me for, Corey?”
“Who? Wait a minute. What are you talking about?” Corey was caught off guard by her inquiry.
“I go into the refrigerator yesterday just to find a Styrofoam carryout container in a bag with a cutesy note written on it to you. In my refrigerator,” Pill said incredulously. “Who is Crystal? Who is she?”
The mention of her name sent panic through him. “She’s my coworker,” Corey stammered.
“Jesus,” he could hear First Lady call out as she approached. They were back in a tight circle as Pill physically backed him up against the edge of the first lady’s sturdy desk.
“It’s as if he wanted me to find it. It said something like ‘These wings are sweet and spicy like you.’ I started to bring it with me, but I couldn’t even touch it after that, thinking, ‘Oh no, he didn’t.’ In my refrigerator,” she said again. This time she slapped him up against the chest. “Seriously, are you doing dirt, Corey, huh? This is what this is all about? You want to be with this other woman?”
“No, it’s not like that,” he tried to say confidently although he knew he had created a mess.
“You’re really leaving me too?” Pill dropped her guard momentarily, dropping her head in her chest as she heaved what seemed like heavy tears in arrears to long-ago pain. He wanted to console her, reassure her, but she got her second wind and began her assault again. This time he didn’t back away. He deserved whatever blows she served up.
“Stop,” First Lady said, stepping in between them like a peacemaker breaking up a neighborhood fight. “Hold on, now, I don’t promote violence of any kind, male on female, or female on male, as a way to deal with or solve problems in a marriage.”
Corey didn’t expect the slap he received next from the first lady. The echo could be heard throughout the office. “What were you thinking? Your wife asked you a question. Are you cheating on her with this woman Crystal? Don’t you dare lie in this church because God just showed your narrow behind what is done in the dark will come to light.”
“Gosh,” Corey said in response to that last blow. What kind of marriage referee are you? he thought as he rubbed his sore chest but didn’t dare speak, What happened to, what would Jesus do? “I said it wasn’t like that. Whose side are you on anyway?”
“I’m not on anyone’s side. I’m on the relationship’s side. I support the union. Whatsoever God put together, let no man put asunder—that goes for the man or woman in said union. You threaten the union, you got a problem with me and God.” She was the peacemaker-turned-prizefighter.
“It wasn’t like that. We never crossed the line—physically, I mean. She was my friend.” Corey didn’t know how to explain it, but he knew he wouldn’t get away with anything less than complete disclosure. “We talked at work. I had to tell her recently I was married before she got—before either of us got caught up. That’s the honestto-God truth.”
“So you were playing her too, waiting on her to fall in love with you. I know that game.” Pill crossed her arms across her chest as she shifted her weight from side to side. “Don’t tell me you were falling in—”
“Baby, no,” Corey said, moving in her direction but afraid to reach out for her. “Pill, I barely know her. You can’t love someone you don’t know.”
“I can’t believe any of this. I can’t believe you,” Pill said, sitting down on the couch dumbfounded. “Then you got a nerve to step to me about Rico?”
“Who’s Rico?” First Lady asked.
“A nonissue,” Pill was quick to say, rolling her eyes Corey’s way. “
Corey Taylor is the one with issues, about a year’s supply. Then I’m supposed to believe his leaving has nothing to do with this woman.” She turned to her husband. “You still work with this woman, right?”
He wasn’t going to waste his time trying to convince her there was really nothing between him and Crystal anymore. It was as futile as her repeatedly trying to convince him that she no longer had feelings for his cousin. Their problems went far beyond and started long before he ever knew Crystal.
Corey took a seat cautiously on the edge of the sofa. “You were it for me. You pulled me in. No woman could drive me away. Only you can do that.”
“I never wanted you to leave, though,” Pill said in her defense.
Corey was nodding his head. “Your stuff, your attitude—you pushed me out.”
“I guess that just opened the door for this woman to pull you in. Given more time and opportunity and you’d have been waking up in her bed.”
Corey shook his head vehemently although he wasn’t sure what more time with Crystal would have wrought. He forgot all about First Lady facilitating their session until he heard her desk drawer slam. She came over with a pair of black-handled scissors, then stood over them and offered Pill the handle. She saved him from having to reply to Pill’s last comment.
“Breathe. A lot has been said. Take a hold of one side,” First Lady said.
Corey automatically backed away as far as the armrest would allow. “Seriously, you’re giving her a pair of scissors after you saw how she hit me a minute ago?”
“Nobody’s going to hurt you. She’s got one side. Now you hold the other,” First Lady instructed. They stretched the blades apart and held on. “These scissors represent your marriage. You are the blades. It may appear you’re going in different directions pulled apart, but together, you work to cut whatever comes between the two of you. Understand that. This Crystal person must get taken out. Don’t just sit there, Mister Man, work your end. Show your wife you have no problem cutting it off if you haven’t already.”
At first it was nearly impossible for him to work one individual blade against Pill’s end. They had to work in concert and in a rhythm. He was pumping his side feverishly, but had to adjust to Pill’s sure and steady contractions.
“And this Rico character, he’s gone. Keep cutting,” First Lady coached with her hands on her knees as if in a huddle stance.
It was reassuring to feel Pill bear down on her end. She slid to the middle of the couch, but she held on. He could tell her hand was getting tired, so she used both hands in an attempt to pick up his original pace. When Corey did the same, they locked eyes, and he finally knew no traces of Rico remained.
“What else needs to get cut? C’mon, what’s still standing between you two? You’re making progress. Let’s keep it going.”
“Her constant spending,” Corey suggested, knowing full well it would take more than a symbolic slashing to tame her habit. He thought about their house and her storehouse of clothes. Suddenly, he was left holding the scissors, which just confirmed his dreadful feeling. He folded the blades together and extended them to First Lady.
“Oh, yeah, okay, we talked about this last time also, one diva to another. You want to let him in on what we came up with?” First Lady Rawls said to Pill, taking the scissors back to her desk.
Corey didn’t like the way Pill fingered her hairline. She shrugged, then began. “I got a credit card after you cut up the other one. This one is over the limit and past due. So to make it right, I got a loan.”
“Wait, wait, wait! That wasn’t our plan,” First Lady said, pleading her innocence.
“You said come up with a plan. Make it right,” Pill quoted from the edge of her seat.
Everyone seemed to be talking at once, but Corey demanded to know, “What kind of loan?”
“From Lend It. It’s a car title loan, so it’s not tied to my income or our bank account,” she offered.
Corey buried his head in his lap, then covered his head with his arms. Setback after setback. How much more, Lord? He emerged from his shell to ask, “Tell me you’re joking, right? I thought those places were closing down because of illegal business practices. You need to check your agreement.”
Of course Pill would find one of the few existing loan shark places still in business. He saw this as a sign. Once again, he was the bailout guy. She didn’t have to be playing him with Rico to be playing him. He stood.
First Lady stood also. “Wait. Now, I know you’re frustrated, but don’t even think about stomping out of here until we figure this out.”
“She should have come to me,” Corey said, speaking as if Pill weren’t sitting there.
“So you can yell and scream like you’re doing now?” Pill queried. “I admit I don’t know much about finances, but I’d rather struggle with the few bills I’m responsible for alone than to face his tyranny.”
Corey turned to her, ignoring her last statement. “Do you realize they can take the car from you? I just paid the buyout option on your lease, Pill. You just handed them your car? Do you even know the interest on that loan?”
“I, I, I,” Pill mocked. “Don’t you mean we? I wonder who was paying the bill before we met. You wanted to combine everything. That’s when you turned into Hitler.”
Corey’s mind was racing. “You know what? I can’t deal with this.”
He had other things to deal with, like his mother. They would always be swimming in debt at this rate. No use swabbing a sinking ship, he thought.
“You can deal with this, and you will. There is nothing too hard for God, remember? Put it between the blades, Mister Man,” First Lady said as if she were talking him off a ledge.
Corey thought it was unfair of First Lady to insinuate a lack of faith on his part when his wife clearly hadn’t included God or faith in her part of the equation.
“We will never be able to prosper, and everyone will be looking at me, wondering why I didn’t provide. There is stuff all over our house. I just let it pile up, wondering at what point she would get her fill. How much would it take to make her happy?” Corey rambled. “I know she wants the world, but I can’t give it to her if I can’t amass anything.”
“I don’t need the world,” Pill said with her legs crossed, nervously bobbing the top leg. “I certainly know now I don’t deserve it. I’m learning to be content.”
“Sounds like she realized she can’t buy security,” First Lady Rawls said, giving Pill a knowing smile. “If anything, your wife here needs to enroll in our financial series in the spring to learn some fundamentals. You can both do the class together once you move back in.”
“I don’t know,” Corey said. Returning home didn’t seem like a glorious proposition at this point.
“Don’t know what, Mister Man?” First Lady asked.
“He doesn’t want to come home,” Pill answered, and Corey, standing with his hands on his hips, didn’t confirm or deny it.
First Lady looked from Pill back to Corey. “Let me be clear. The devil desires to sift us like wheat. Can’t you see he’s on your path because you are meant to do something amazing together? He won’t stop with just breaking you apart. He will turn your world upside down while you’re living apart and out of God’s will.”
“He already has,” Pill admitted. Corey could see that her eyes were glazed over with fresh tears. She wobbled her legs together in time as if to console herself. “I lost my job on Saturday. Carmen fired me.”
That made First Lady Rawls leave her desk and walk around to confront Corey. She placed her hand on his shoulder. “Cover her, man of God. That’s what you’re called to do. Her world is caving in around her, and this time, she doesn’t have her husband’s hand to protect her pretty little head. She needs your presence in you all’s home. She needs your prayers.”
“I can’t do anymore,” Corey resigned. He held his outstretched hands in front of him in an attempt to show that his wife was bleeding him dry. “I’ve been praying, First Lady.”
“Have you been praying for what you want or what she needs? Are you more interested in your own pain and your own need to be right? Or are you going to summon all the power God has given you on this earth and pray for your spouse’s deliverance, her healing, her protection? This is work, children. This is the hard part. It’s called spiritual warfare.”
Corey covered his face with his hands and began praying silently. His emotions trailed down his face in the form of a single, solitary tear as his prayer turned from Pill and his marriage dilemma to his mother. When he opened his eyes, First Lady was positioning Pill in front of him.
“Tell her,” First Lady commanded. “Tell your wife why you’re not ready to come back home and work on this relationship. Make her understand.”
Corey looked into Pill’s onyx crystal eyes, so dark but so pure. He hesitated. There was no easy way to say what he had not fully digested yet. “My mom has breast cancer. She told me and Dani this weekend. Just hearing that from her felt as if she had died already. The doctors said she needs aggressive therapy of chemo and radiation. She’s worried about losing her hair and how she looks covering that up, and losing her . . .” he fanned his hand toward his own chest. “She needs me, and right now, that’s more important. I know the holidays are coming up, and we had planned to go to your sister’s, but I can’t do us right now. I can’t bear the weight. I just can’t.”
Corey remembered how he and his sister reacted in shock to the news from their mother. When asked if other members of the family knew, particularly Pop and Rico, his mother told him that Uncle Rico suggested she take her spa vacation now, as if Maureville was her dying wish or had a healing spring. Rico Jr. couldn’t be reached. So much for the sacrifices she made for them, Corey had thought. As always, she made excuses for them. His mom didn’t need celebrities; she needed family. For all those years he felt neglected, and the other times where he rebelled, this was the time to show his mother how much he loved her. He intended on being there, and he didn’t want to be distracted by the pressures of his home life.
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