She's No Angel

by Janine A. Morris

  “Did you tell him yet?” Paige asked.

  “What?” Charlene asked.

  “Did you tell him?” Paige repeated, giving her the “you know what I’m talking about” face.

  “No,” Charlene replied in somewhat of a snappy tone. “Why would you bring that up now?” she asked as she placed her drink in the sink and began to end her moment away.

  “I’m just asking. You better hurry and tell him now, don’t you think?”

  “Paige, go somewhere with that right now ... dang.”

  “Excuse me, I was just asking,” Paige said with a slight attitude back.

  Charlene had already begun opening the screen door by then and was walking out. Just like most older sisters, sometimes Paige really got on Charlene’s nerves. Always thinking they know everything, or that because they’re older they can do whatever they want. Paige’s intentions were in the right place, but she definitely didn’t consider the concept of bad timing. Paige was good for blurting something out in front of the wrong person, or bringing up something touchy at the most inopportune times. So it didn’t surprise Charlene that Paige didn’t consider that just maybe she didn’t want to think about anything negative on the night of her engagement party. Most people would understand that she had waited for this for so long, she just wanted to enjoy it. Charlene couldn’t blame Paige for wondering, though. Paige, being one of the only people who knew, was curious about what was on Charlene’s mind, now that this time had come and she hadn’t mentioned it to Isaac. Charlene honestly didn’t even know what she was thinking herself.

  As much as she tried to brush off Paige’s question, she walked out of the kitchen with a different facial expression. Charlene had really tried not to think about any of the issues that she knew were going to arise eventually. The regular stuff, like the size of the guest list, was nothing compared to the real issues that she expected to occur as the engagement moved forward. Charlene figured the real drama was going to come from truths revealed, true colors being shown and of course her uptight mother losing her cool. It was to be expected with all weddings and relationships, but Charlene knew that hers was going to have some additional elements.

  Speaking of the drama, as soon as she stepped outside into the backyard, there she was. Lacy was just coming in the gate holding a gift box in her hand.

  Oh, great, Charlene thought to herself. All at once, the event had hit its downside for Charlene. First Paige’s question, which had dampened her mood, and now having to be in pretend mode ’cause Lacy showed up. As she headed toward Lacy, Charlene noticed Isaac a few steps ahead of her, en route to greet Lacy. She walked up beside them as they were hugging, and chimed in.

  “Don’t mean to interrupt here, but just came over to say hello,” Charlene said as Isaac and Lacy released their embrace.

  “Hey, Charlene,” Lacy said in an overly excited voice.

  “Hey, miss,” Charlene said back as they hugged hello.

  “Here, this is for you guys,” Lacy said as she handed Charlene the gift box in her hand.

  “Oh, you didn’t have to bring anything,” Charlene said.

  “No problem, it’s just a token of my happiness for you guys ... It’s a bottle of wine.”

  Charlene wanted to say, “No, you really didn’t have to ... hell, nobody else did.” Except Charlene was well aware that this was just one of Lacy’s ploys; trying to be deemed good old, sweet Lacy. Charlene saw right through her.

  To an outsider it would appear that Charlene and Lacy got along just fine, but there was a lot seething beneath the surface. Although Charlene had been pretending for a long time now that Lacy was a friend, she didn’t trust Lacy—not one bit. Lacy knew both Charlene and Isaac, they had each met Lacy at different times prior to their relationship. In high school Charlene used to spend time with one of Lacy’s brother’s friends, and she and Lacy associated at some social events. Then, years later Isaac and Lacy met while freshmen at Iona College. Obviously, Lacy was closer to Isaac, since they’d been friends for more than a decade, whereas Charlene and Lacy had barely gotten to know each other. However, since Charlene and Isaac had been dating, Lacy had grown closer to Charlene, except Charlene would never let her get but so close.

  Although in her heart Charlene knew that Lacy would snatch up Isaac the first chance she got, she couldn’t blame Lacy. Most women did want him, especially the Lacy type, who saw Isaac as their ideal man. Isaac was every woman’s ideal man, Charlene thought, but only a few deserved a man like him, and Lacy felt she was one of those few. Not that Charlene was prepared to admit it, but her fear was that Lacy or anyone else in their crowd would think that she wasn’t one of them. Charlene figured that regardless of what Lacy thought of her, Lacy still considered herself the better woman for Isaac.

  As time went on, Charlene and Lacy began to play this silent game with each other. Lacy was well aware that her relationship with Isaac made Charlene uncomfortable. She could tell from Charlene’s facial expressions, demeanor and occasional comments. However, like most women Charlene didn’t want to appear insecure so she didn’t say anything, she just waited for Lacy to show her true intentions so she could point them out to Isaac. Lacy, aware that Charlene was biting her tongue, played it very carefully—always making sure that her actions came across as friendly—even though she knew that Charlene could tell they were not.

  For example, Lacy would offer to take Isaac to the airport for his business trips, or pick him up from the airport. Lacy would claim she was doing it so Isaac wouldn’t have to pay for airport parking and Charlene wouldn’t have to go in late to work, but Charlene knew better. So although Charlene never could say it, her silent communication meant, “I see what you’re up to, but since it can’t be proven, it would sound silly to say anything, but one of these days ...”

  Charlene was hip to the game; she actually played it herself on both sides of the board quite a few times. The game is all about doing things that can seem innocent to the naive, but to the skilled and aware, it’s obvious what those actions are. Making the game even more frustrating for Charlene was that she couldn’t warn Isaac, who would see Lacy’s acts as innocent and genuine, and so Charlene would seem deceitful, paranoid and jealous.

  So Charlene was better off playing along and waiting for Lacy’s actions to become more obvious or just downright blatant. It could take forever, but usually when you give someone an inch they take a mile, and that’s what Charlene was waiting on. Especially now, with the engagement, she expected Lacy to pull some tricks from her sleeve. But Charlene wasn’t too worried.

  “Well, I’m going to put this inside and I’ll be right back,” Charlene said as she walked away from where Isaac and Lacy were standing.

  As Charlene walked toward the kitchen, approaching from the side entrance of the house was someone else she hadn’t been prepared to see. It was her brother’s best friend, Torian, who had been her high school sweetheart. Charlene and Torian had never lost contact, but she didn’t think he would come to the engagement party. Although it had been years since they had been together he always made her feel vulnerable. It wasn’t because she was still attracted to him or had strong feelings for him, it was because of all that he knew about the real Charlene. Torian was probably the closest a guy had ever gotten to her. She assumed that was because he knew her brother, and because of that he didn’t treat her like the rest of the guys did. At the time Charlene had wanted her relationship with Torian to last, but her ways had eventually caught up with her and became too much for him. Charlene was no angel back then, and Torian took all that he could stand before he ended it.

  Isaac was able to tell that Charlene and Torian shared something he didn’t see in their own relationship, and he had let her know that. So, although she was happy to see Torian, she knew that the saga definitely had just begun. With all the surprise guests in attendance, there would be numerous awkward moments throughout the night. She blamed Paige, her untimely question had jinxed the celebration.


  Chapter 4

  The birds were chirping on the tree branches outside, but in Charlene’s head it sounded like screaming. She struggled to open her eyes, surrendering to the morning’s callings. She tried to place her hand over her eyes so the light wouldn’t hurt them as much. The minute she began to shake off last night’s dreams, she felt the pain of her mild hangover.

  She looked over to the other side of the bed and Isaac wasn’t there. She glanced around the room at the royal and sky blue with brown décor. She was nestled in his sky blue down comforter, and was still resting her head on his down brown and blue pillows. She happened to love the blue color in his room, because she always felt like she was in heaven in there. The room was just as well designed as the rest of the place. The interior designer that Isaac had hired when he moved in did an awesome job with the entire place, even the bathrooms. Isaac gave the designer the extra loot that was needed to go ahead and get a Jacuzzi and heated tiles installed in the upstairs bathroom. He even had the television sitting over the Jacuzzi, a nice-sized flat screen, too. Isaac’s place could have been covered by one of those crib shows on MTV, it was that nice.

  The engagement party had been quite an event, and between the drinks and the late night Charlene wanted to do nothing but lie around all afternoon. Charlene slowly staggered out of the bedroom and down the hall, and still there was no sign of Isaac. She walked past the flight of stairs and went into the bathroom and decided to freshen up. She brushed her teeth and wiped her face clean with a washcloth. Once she was done she popped two Excedrins that she got out of the medicine cabinet and washed them down with some tap water. After she took a morning pee, she wrapped up in the bedroom and headed back on her quest to see where Isaac was. With very little energy, she made her way down the stairs toward the living room where she heard the television. There he was with the remote in one hand, holding the phone to his ear with the other. He seemed startled when he saw her but remained calm. Of course, like most females, her innate detective skills emerged. She nonchalantly walked over by him to see how he would react and whether she could hear a voice through the phone. He kept his cool, but he also started talking, so there was no voice to hear on the other end. Charlene knew that men were hip to most of the female tricks, and they knew how to counter slick with slick. Still, she thought, as usual we can outsmart them. She pretended to be in the mood for some attention, and sat in his lap and planted a kiss on his cheek.

  He ended his thought and threw her a “Good morning, baby.”

  That surprised her a bit. That’s when she heard the voice through the phone; it was the voice of a male.

  She said, “Good morning,” back and stood up. She walked into the kitchen, thinking to herself, Why do I always imagine some stuff up in my mind and half the time I end up looking stupid? Charlene had to admit that she was good for jumping to conclusions with Isaac. She wasn’t sure if it stemmed from her insecurity and her thinking that she wasn’t worthy of Isaac, or her paranoia about her own secrets.

  She started to get a glass of orange juice when she thought she should probably make their breakfast. She knew she had some domestic tweaking to do and she better get used to it. So, she pulled out some eggs, bacon and grits and began preparing breakfast. She put on the little radio in the kitchen and started dancing around to the R&B hits that were playing. An old Toni Braxton song had just gone off, and a classic Barry White started playing when Isaac came into the kitchen. He walked up to Charlene and stood directly behind her as she stirred the egg batter. He cupped her frame inside of his large frame and held her. He started to sing the words of the song into her ear as he swayed from side to side. She lit up as she hummed along and finished stirring the eggs. She wanted to stir until the song was over because she didn’t want it to end, but she also didn’t want to mess up the meal and the pan had already melted the butter.

  Once she moved away to pour the raw eggs in the skillet, Isaac said, “I have to run out real quick, I’ll be right back.”

  “Where you going?” she snapped.

  “Have to run and get something for my father real quick.”

  “Babe, I’m making breakfast, it can’t wait?”

  “Oh, you’re making that for both of us? I thought that was for you.”

  “Isaac ... Yes, it’s for both of us ... You think I would just make myself breakfast without asking you first?”

  “Umm ... Yeah. You’ve done it before ... Besides, I’ll be right back. He needs his prescription picked up.”

  “Whatever, Isaac, just go, I’ll see you when you get back.”

  He began singing the last few lines of the Barry White song to her, as he reached over and picked up a piece of the already-done bacon off the plate.

  “Get out of here,” she said.

  “Babe, stop that. I’ll be right back. I told my dad I’d get the medication first thing this morning.”

  “Whatever, just go. I’ll see you when you get back.”

  Isaac walked out of the kitchen on that note. Charlene knew she shouldn’t be so upset. It was his father’s medication, and he was terminally ill. Isaac’s father had been diagnosed with cancer and the doctor said he could live anywhere from a year to three years, but no guarantees. This was the weight on Isaac’s heart that he tried not to speak about much. Phillip Milton was Isaac’s hero, and the thought of his death was too much for Isaac to bear. Isaac was his only son, and so the only one to carry on the Milton name. This meant the world to both Isaac and his dad, and his illness had tainted their dreams tremendously, so if there was one touchy topic it was that. Besides, how evil could she be to complain about Isaac bringing him medicine?

  Even though she was still annoyed that he wouldn’t tell her he was leaving as soon as he saw her making breakfast, she had to ask herself if she was somewhat to blame. It wasn’t like it was so farfetched for her to not have been making some for him, too. Was she that selfish—enough that he really didn’t even expect her to think of him? She knew she wasn’t the most domestic partner. That was partly because growing up her mother was such a family woman, she did everything and Charlene never learned to do much on her own. She hadn’t been in relationships where she needed to cater to anyone, and because she used to use her looks to get what she wanted she didn’t have to do much for herself. Regardless, she was trying to be better than that and so was making breakfast for both of them, and she didn’t appreciate her attempts being in vain. So, although she decided to not argue with him over it, she could feel she still had a slight attitude.

  She finished up with the eggs and was looking for a bowl to place them in when Isaac walked back in the kitchen. He began taking out plates and silverware.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Setting the table,” he replied.

  “I thought you had to go.”

  “I called my father and he said it can definitely wait until after breakfast,” he replied.

  With a slight smirk on her face, she said, “Thank you, baby.”

  “Not a problem ... It just better be good, that’s all I know,” he said, laughing.

  They set the table and made up the plates together. Once they were done, they sat down to eat and chat. Isaac wasn’t always a big talker, but he had his moments—like after business functions, if he was drinking, if there were people around, with his coworkers, and other scenarios like that. However, when it was just the two of them often he didn’t talk much. This was one of those times, though, that he was in a talkative mood.

  “So, did you have fun last night?” he asked.

  “Sure, did you?”

  “Yes, it was a good time. Good having everyone together.”

  “Well, just a taste of what the wedding will be like.”

  “I guess.”

  “Well, all those people won’t get invited, and there will be others that we will have to invite,” Charlene said.

  “Like who? Who wouldn’t we invite from last night?”

  Charlene wondered if she should
mention that she would love to exclude Lacy from the guest list, but she knew she hadn’t come up with a good enough answer to the question he would undoubtedly ask immediately after. So, she decided not to go there as of just yet.

  “I’m just saying, the guest list will look slightly different at our wedding.”

  “That’s rude, to invite someone to our engagement party and not the wedding,” Isaac replied.

  “Not really, people know weddings cost a lot and everyone can’t be invited.”

  “Well, we will discuss that at a later time, but I would think if anyone should be cut it should be those people that weren’t invited to the engagement party before the people that were close enough to us to be there last night.”

  There Isaac went again—being logical. Sometimes Charlene hated Isaac’s rational way of thinking; he was so in the box; so all about what’s right and wrong.

  “OK, Isaac, let’s discuss that later. I’m sure by the time our parents add names and we sit down we will see a better picture than we do now.”

  “All right, whatever,” Isaac replied.

  Charlene changed the topic to something less touchy. She brought up one of the drunk and embarrassing guests at the engagement party, which instantly started them both cracking up laughing. Charlene wanted to enjoy the morning without any deep, thought-provoking conversations. Besides, Charlene knew her reasoning was based on jealousy and fear, and that would probably get her nowhere.

  Chapter 5

  The third door to the left was shut. Charlene was relieved to see that her boss hadn’t made it in yet. Messing around with Isaac all weekend, Charlene just couldn’t get herself together this morning. A few coworkers were fiddling at their desks trying to get their day started as Charlene walked past them to her desk. As soon as she plopped down in her chair she emptied her hands of the bags she had been carrying. One was her lunch for the day—she had packed some leftover lasagna from the engagement party, but she told herself that after today she would watch her diet so she would be the size she wanted to be for her wedding. She tucked her work bag under her desk.