by Carl Weber
“Well, you don’t mind if I’m a little early, do you?” I smiled, hoping to relax some of the tension. I held up a box of Krispy Kreme donuts. “I brought breakfast. Your favorite. Apple crumb.”
“That’s real nice, Travis.”
I stepped away from the truck and headed toward the house. I expected her to follow, but she stood in her spot and called after me. “It’s nice, but . . .”
“But what?”
“But I gotta pick up Big Momma and take her to the doctors. Why don’t you come back this afternoon?”
“Why don’t I just go with you?” I had no place else to go, anyway. And after setting eyes on Stephanie and the house that was supposed to hold our happy little family, I wanted it all back. I wanted to work things out. I took hold of her hand and stared straight in her eyes. “I’m ready to come home, Stephanie. What better way to start that than letting Big Momma know we’re back together?”
“And I’m ready for you to come home, Travis.” She was talking real fast, her voice was all business. She didn’t seem to be moved by my little speech at all. “But I don’t think Big Momma would feel comfortable having you go with us to her gynecologist.”
“Oh, yeah. You’re probably right.” I didn’t exactly wanna be there for that, either. “So why don’t I just stay here with the kids until you come back?”
“No. That’s not gonna work. Big Momma asked me to bring the kids, ’cause she promised to get Maleka some shoes. You know how she is. She’s gonna wanna get T. J. some, too.”
“Yeah, I guess you’re right. Lemme just go say hi to the kids before you all leave.” I stepped away from her, and Stephanie grabbed my hand in a panic.
“You can’t go in there. I got a surprise in there.” She had quite a grip on my arm. “And, um, it won’t be ready till tonight.”
“What kind of surprise?” I asked suspiciously.
Something was wrong. She was acting way too funny. I was nervous, too, but this was something else. She had begged me to come home and now she hadn’t even given me a kiss. And she was doing her damnedest to keep me out of the house. Desperate, just like she’d been that night Malek was on the phone. My heart sank. Here I was hoping for reconciliation, and Stephanie was still playing games. I was afraid I already knew the rest of the story.
“Look, Stephanie. I’m gonna go kiss my kids; then I’m gonna go make me some breakfast. Whatever surprise you have for me is no big deal, because I’m home.” I pulled my arm away from her and headed for the house.
“Travis, don’t!” She ran behind me.
“What do you mean, don’t? What’s going on, Stephanie?”
“I mean, don’t go in the house.”
“Why?” I halted in my tracks and turned to face her. My arms were crossed tightly over my chest, because I was afraid of how I might use them if she said what I thought she would.
“Because Malek is in the house,” she said quietly. I felt like I was gonna explode. My muscles tensed, and it took everything I had not to slap her.
With tears in her eyes, she tried to explain. “It’s not what you think, Travis. Not at all. He just—”
My hands flew up in the air and she flinched. I took a few steps back to put some distance between us.
“He’s in my house with my kids. With my son! You fucking bitch! You have fucked me over for the very last time.” I took a step toward the house, then stopped myself. If I kept going, I’m sure I would have killed Malek and possibly Stephanie. “I want you out my house. You got exactly one month to get all your shit out my house.”
Her eyes were wide and her voice trembled. “No, Travis! Please don’t do this. Please let me explain. We can work this out. You just have to listen to me.”
“Ain’t nothing you could say that would make me change my mind.” I headed for the truck. “I mean it, Stephanie. You got one fucking month. After that, I’m throwing your shit out.”
“What about T. J.? I thought you didn’t want him to grow up in the projects.”
“I didn’t want his mother to be a whore, either, but she is. I’ll have my lawyer contact you about custody.” I started the engine and watched her crumple to the ground in hysterical sobs as I drove away.
I made it back to Brittany’s in record time. When I got to the door, I let myself back in with the key she’d let me keep. She was standing in the kitchen making breakfast.
“You’re back? Did you forget something?” She turned away from the stove to face me. Her tone told me she wasn’t expecting me—and wasn’t too happy to see me. I couldn’t blame her, after the way we’d left things this morning. I knew she must be pissed.
“I didn’t forget anything.” I sat down at the kitchen table. “Except maybe that Stephanie was no good. I should’ve known not to bother giving her another chance.”
“What are you talking about, Travis?” She turned off the stove and came to sit at the table with me.
“She had Malek there. I can’t fucking believe it. He was in my house, Brittany, with my kids.”
“You didn’t hurt anybody, did you?” she asked nervously.
“No. But I’m through trying to make it work with her. I told Stephanie she had a month to get her shit out my house.”
“Where’s she gonna go?”
“Probably back to her grandmother’s house. I really don’t give a shit. We’re through.”
“What about the kids?”
“I ain’t worried about that. Stephanie might be a ho, but she loves them kids. She knows I love them, and she knows they love me. If she’s got one decent bone in her body, she’ll do the right thing.”
Brittany sat silently for a minute. I waited to see what she would say. It could go either way right now. I might’ve been bringing more drama than she could handle. I wouldn’t blame her if she put my ass out, told me to find another place to stay.
“So why’d you come back here? This ain’t about you looking for revenge, is it? I don’t want you comin’ back here just to make Stephanie mad for a while, then I end up kicked to the curb so you can make up with her again.”
“I meant what I said, Brittany. You know I’ve never lied to you. I won’t ever be going back to her. I mean, shit, there’s only so much a man can take.”
Again, she didn’t answer right away. Got a faraway look in her eyes as, I guess, she imagined the possibilities.
“Look. I’m ready to move on. If you want, I’ll move back onto base. Just don’t shut me out. We can take it as slow as you want, but I want you to give me a chance. Let me show - you that I mean what I say.”
Brittany reached across the table and took my hand in hers. Finally, she gave me a real smile. She pulled me up from my chair and started leading me through the living room, toward her bedroom.
“Well, then. Let’s rewind back to last night. Pretend this morning never happened. You wanna start over? Come on in here and show me what you mean.”
35
Jasmine
“Jasmine! Jasmine!”
It was Thursday evening, and my whole family was over to celebrate my mother’s fiftieth birthday. My aunt Mary made pigs’ feet and collard greens, and Big Momma made my favorite homemade sweet potato pie with the coconut on top. We were havin’ a real good time. Well, at least I was until Big Momma started yelling my name.
“What you want, Big Momma? I’m right here.” She was sitting at the kitchen table with my momma and a few other relatives. I was standing right behind her, slicing the pie at the kitchen counter.
“Whatever happened to that good-looking Dylan Taylor? Lord knows he’s the man you should be getting married to next week. Not that no-good, drug-dealin’ Derrick. I bet it was his idea to have this heathen wedding in Sin City you planning to have.”
That’s when I knew Big Momma wasn’t happy at all with the fact that Derrick and I had planned to elope to Las Vegas next week. She was never one to hide her feelings. And believe me, she let it be known that she did not approve of me getting married away
from my family and friends to a man she thought was beneath me. And the fact that I wasn’t getting married in church made things even worse.
I knew Big Momma would be mad when she found out I was marrying Derrick, so I tried to keep the wedding a secret until we came back from Vegas. I was doing pretty good, too, until big-mouth Sabrina started yapping about how she couldn’t believe I was getting married next week. And she didn’t do it in private. My whole family was there when she opened her damn trap. Next thing I knew, everyone in the house was asking me fifty million questions.
I must admit, though, my momma made me feel good. Whatever she thought of Derrick, she kept her opinions to herself. She kissed me and offered to let me use her wedding dress. But Big Momma wasn’t about to let me off so easy. She let it be known, loud and clear, that she thought I was making the biggest mistake of my life. Why couldn’t I find a good man, like Stephanie had found Travis? I had to bite my tongue when she said that. Everyone in the room knew how Stephanie had handled her good man. But I wasn’t about to bring that up, even if it might’ve taken the heat off me. So I just shut my mouth tight, hoping that it would all just pass, but Big Momma brought up the one person I was trying to forget. She hadn’t stopped reminding me since.
“Child, did you hear me?” she asked again. “Whatever happened to Dylan?”
“We don’t speak anymore, Big Momma.” I tried to sound matter-of-fact, even though it hurt just saying those words out loud. I really missed Dylan.
“I thought you said he was one of your best friends.”
“He was, Big Momma. But things have changed a lot in the past few months, and well . . .” I hesitated. “Dylan and I are better off this way.”
“She’s lying, Mrs. Washington.” Sabrina had come into the kitchen and interrupted. “Derrick and his friends beat Dylan up so bad that he hasn’t been around since.”
My mother, who was sitting at the kitchen table with one of my aunts, stared at me. In fact, it felt like all eyes in the room were on me. Well, except for Sabrina’s. She was avoiding eye contact with me. But what else should I expect from a sister who had just sold me out?
“Is that true, Jasmine?” Big Momma turned to face me. I wiped my hands on my apron.
“He didn’t mean it, Big Momma,” I explained. “He thought Dylan was trying to break into my car. That’s all. Tell her, Sabrina.”
Sabrina didn’t say a word.
“Don’t be making no excuses for him, child. I told you before, that boy ain’t no good. Where the hell is he, anyway?”
I couldn’t answer her. Derrick and I had had a big fight earlier, because he didn’t want to be around my family. He knew how Big Momma felt about him, and he said he didn’t need to be treated like shit by my grandmother. I begged him to stick around for my sake, hoping that they could make peace. Derrick just needed to show Big Momma what a great man he really was. But he wasn’t having it. He said he didn’t need to prove nothin’ to no one, and then he stormed out. I had no idea where he was.
“How you gonna call yourself marrying somebody that can’t even come to your mother’s birthday party?”
“Momma,” my mother interrupted the discussion that was about to turn into an argument. I was tired of Big Momma constantly disrespecting Derrick. “Why don’t we have our dessert and watch the video of T. J.’s christening?”
“Okay, Betty Jean.” Big Momma took her voice down a few notches. “But Jasmine, me and you gonna have a nice, long talk tomorrow. You hear? So just be prepared.”
As everybody else took their slices of pie and headed for the living room, I could feel my head starting to ache. I went upstairs to the bathroom and pulled out the Tylenol. This was slowly but surely turning into one of those days.
“There’s a lot of pills in that bottle. You’re not gonna do anything stupid just because Big Momma pissed you off, are you?” Stephanie had followed me upstairs. I sighed as I opened the bottle and answered her.
“No, I’m not gonna do anything stupid. I just got a headache.” I took out two pills and shoved them in my mouth.
“Can you believe Sabrina told Big Momma about Dylan getting beat up? I thought that wench was my friend.”
“Well, you never know who your friends are these days.”
“That’s for sure.” I placed the bottle back in the medicine cabinet and turned to face Stephanie. She looked so concerned.
“What I wanna know, Jasmine, is why the hell you’re marrying Derrick so soon. He’s just got outta jail two months ago. Are you just tryin’ to rub it in my face ’cause I never made it to the altar?”
“What? Please, this ain’t got nothing to do with you. I’m marrying him because I love him, Stephanie. I been waiting for him to get outta prison for three years.”
I knew Stephanie was going to be jealous about my engagement. Especially since she and Travis weren’t together anymore. But I never thought she’d be judging me for choosing Derrick. Shit, it wasn’t like he was any worse than Malek.
“Big Momma’s right, Jasmine. He’s not a good guy at all.” Stephanie was pissing me off with her holier-than-thou attitude. I had Big Momma downstairs to give all the lectures I needed. I did not need one from her. Besides, who was she to give anyone advice after the way she messed things up with Travis?
“How the hell would you know if he’s a good man, Stephanie? You haven’t spent more than five minutes with Derrick since he’s been home.”
Stephanie folded her arms across her chest and stared at me, hard and long.
“Are you sure about that? You do a lot of overtime, don’t you? How do you know how much time I spend with Derrick? How do you know how much time anyone spends with him and that big old johnson of his?” Stephanie sucked her teeth and smirked at me like she had a secret. What the hell was she up to? And how the hell did she know how big Derrick was? Suddenly, my headache was worse.
“Look, Steph, if you got something to say, then say it. Otherwise, don’t play with me about my man. Keep it up and you and I will be fighting, party or no party.” I put my finger in her face for effect.
“Look, you don’t have to act all shitty with me. Like you used to tell me, I’m your sister. I just don’t wanna see you get hurt. All I’m saying is, watch your back. Derrick’s not the man you think he is.”
“You better not be fucking my man, Stephanie.” What the hell was she trying to tell me? Could my own sister really have sunk so low as to sleep with my man?
“You got a lot bigger problems than me fucking him. At least I’d give him back.” She turned around and walked down the stairs. “You may not know it, Jasmine, but I love you. Remember that.”
She loved me. I sure didn’t hear that too often from her. But right now I was more concerned with what else she had told me. I wasn’t quite sure what she was warning me about, but I was sure as hell going to find out when Derrick got home. Maybe Stephanie was just making this up so I could join her club of losers who couldn’t get married. Or maybe, just maybe, my sister knew a hell of a lot more about Derrick than she was telling me. I was going to have to keep a close eye on both of them.
I went down the stairs a few minutes after Steph and was amazed at how quiet the house was. There were at least fifteen adults in the house and five kids, but I didn’t hear a sound except for a few of the kids out back. It was highly unusual to have a party with my family where Big Momma’s mouth couldn’t be heard from every corner of the house. I was getting nervous and then confused, when I walked into the living room and saw everyone just sitting there. Momma had her hand over her mouth, and her eyes were wet. A million things ran through my mind as I looked around and realized everyone in the room was staring at me.
“What is it?” I asked, afraid of the answer.
“Jasmine, baby, come here.” Big Momma put out her cigarette and reached her hand out to me. I went to her chair and sat on the arm. She slipped her arm around my waist.
“Gerald, move out the way.”
My uncle Ger
ald was a big, fat, jolly man who was always smiling. Except for now. His face was as scary-serious as everyone else’s in the room.
“Momma, I don’t know if this is such a good idea,” he said.
“I told you to move, boy!” Big Momma raised her cane as if she were about to knock Gerald out. He moved out the way reluctantly, and I got a view of the TV That’s when my entire life came crashing down on me. There on the television was a video of Derrick in our bedroom. Some woman’s head was bobbing up and down in his crotch area, and the two of them were just moanin’ away. I tried to make out who the woman was, but the camera was showing more of her ass than her face. One thing was for sure: it wasn’t Stephanie. She had a big old birthmark on her ass I remembered ever since we were kids. It was probably that bitch Wendy, but I couldn’t be sure.
My eyes were glued to the TV screen, and I started to cry. That’s when I felt Big Momma squeeze me, and I remembered I wasn’t alone watching this horror. It had to be the most embarrassing moment of my life. I started screaming.
“Get the fuck out my house! All of you, get the fuck out my house!” I pointed toward the door.
“Now, baby, don’t get mad at us.” Big Momma was the only one bold enough to speak. “We your family. We gonna be here no matter what.”
“I don’t give a damn about that, Big Momma. All I want is for you to get the hell outta my house. Can’t you understand that? Just get!”
They started to scatter at that point Even Big Momma gave up and headed for the door. A few people put a hand on my shoulder and tried to comfort me as they walked by, but I wasn’t going for it. I just pointed them toward the door.
“You gonna be ah’ ight, Jasmine?” Stephanie was the last one to leave.
“What the fuck you think?” I was nearly hysterical by this point, but Stephanie wasn’t giving up. She kept talking.
“After all the mistakes I made with Travis, Jasmine, I don’t know what to think anymore. I just hope you leave him.”