Becoming Mrs. Right

by Sherri L. Lewis

“Shauntae, I don’t understand. Did he say he was gonna marry Darla?”

  “Not yet, but it’s just a matter of time.”

  “Girl, is you overreacting again?”

  Shauntae couldn’t take no more. “I ain’t overreacting,” she screamed into the phone. “Is you my girl or not? You got my back or not? COME . . . GET . . . ME.” Shauntae let out a loud scream and hung up the phone.

  Twenty-three

  Sherice could be an aggravating big mouth some times, and then other times she could catch some sense. She arrived about forty minutes after Shauntae hung up on her. She didn’t say a word, just helped Shauntae put her suitcases in the trunk, got back in the car, and they pulled off. She didn’t say a word the whole time they were driving, which made Shauntae happy because she needed some quiet to think about what she was gonna do next.

  When they got off I-285 and made the left to start heading toward her old neighborhood, Shauntae could feel it. She could feel the difference between the high life she had started to get used to and the low life she had always lived. She had never realized how different the neighborhoods were.

  Even though she hadn’t been out much in Sandy Springs, she knew she wouldn’t see no cheap strip malls, beauty supply stores, cheap, greasy Chinese joints, chicken wing joints, or broken-down gas stations that hadn’t been open for years. She wouldn’t see no cheap apartment complexes and she sure wouldn’t see Pookie ’nem on the corner with they pants sagging and lagging. She had been living at Gary’s house one day shy of a month, and already her old stomping grounds felt funny to her.

  “Home, sweet home,” Sherice said as they were getting closer to her street. “Don’t you miss it?”

  Shauntae couldn’t tell if she was trying to be smart. She sucked her teeth.

  “Should I stop and get you some chicken wings and a 40 or do you want some roasted duck and asparagus with some Perrier?”

  Shauntae shot Sherice an evil look.

  “I’m trying to make you laugh. You look like you ’bout to pop.”

  Shauntae stared straight ahead and didn’t say nothing until they pulled up in front of Sherice’s apartment. When she got out of the car, the first person to see her was Tyrel, this dude who was always trying to holla at her when she came to visit Sherice. She would flirt with him for fun, but never gave him any attention past that. He was broker than she was and the last thing she had time for was a broke man.

  When she got out of the car, he jumped off the steps and headed to the car. “Well, well. My girl is back in town. Did you miss me?”

  Shauntae didn’t feel like flirting with him. She let her coat fall open. With the jeans and fitted T-shirt she had on, her bulging belly was obvious.

  Tyrel’s mouth dropped open. “Girl, you been cheating on me? I can’t believe it.”

  “Stop playing, Tyrel. Help me get these bags in Sherice’s house.”

  “Well, he can’t be all that if you bringing your bags to Sherice’s place. Guess I still got a chance then, huh? Don’t worry, girl. I’ll take care of you and the baby. Forget about that dude.”

  “Whatever, boy. Get these bags.”

  Tyrel lugged the heavy bags up two flights of steps to Sherice’s apartment. Shauntae headed straight back to Sherice’s bedroom so she wouldn’t have to make no more small talk with him. He didn’t have no shame and would keep hitting on her until she hurt his feelings.

  Sherice followed her to the bedroom. “I know you don’t think you staying in here. I don’t care nothing about you being pregnant. You sleeping on the couch, heffa.”

  Shauntae finally broke down and laughed. “You gon’ put your pregnant friend on the couch?”

  “My pregnant friend could be sleeping in a king-sized bed in a mansion in Sandy Springs, but she decided to bring her silly tail back to the ghetto. So yeah, she gon’ sleep on the couch. Maybe that’ll make her catch some sense and take her tail home.”

  Shauntae settled herself in the middle of Sherice’s bed. “Not in a king-sized bed in the master bedroom, but the queen-sized bed in the guest room because he won’t marry me because his ex-wife is trying to steal him back.” Shauntae ran down everything that had happened over the past few days.

  Sherice stood with her hands on her hips for a while and finally she sat down on the edge of the bed. “Humph. Them tricks ain’t playing, huh? They trying to take that man back, ain’t they?”

  “You see what I’m saying?”

  Sherice nodded. “Especially them girls. They know they the key to they daddy’s heart.” She made her thinking face for a while and then turned to Shauntae. “So what you gon’ do?”

  Shauntae shrugged. “I don’t know. I’m tired. I need a break from the whole thing.”

  “So you mean you gon’ walk away from that house and a new car and a credit card and—”

  “What new car? Didn’t I have to call you to come get me? Ain’t the clothes in that suitcase the same ones you and Candy bought me at Goodwill? He said when I got off bed rest we was gon’ get married.” Shauntae didn’t mean to, but she was yelling again. “Do you even see a engagement ring on my finger?”

  “A’ight, heffa. Don’t be yelling at me. I ain’t Gary. Chill.”

  “I’m tired, Sherice. Tired of this hustling game. Ain’t you tired, girl?”

  “Humph. What else we gon’ do?”

  Shauntae lay back on Sherice’s bed. It was so lumpy Shauntae decided it might be better to sleep on the couch. “I don’t know. Ain’t you never thought of doing something different?”

  “Shauntae, please don’t start all that mess again about what we coulda been. I ain’t in the mood for no shoulda, coulda, woulda. You made my head hurt with that mess.”

  Shauntae knew she had gotten to Sherice. “We ain’t got to talk about it now, but you might wanna think about it. I think I’ma do hair. You can braid real good. I could do all the perms and cuts and you could do twists, braids, and locs and all that stuff. You always say it’s good money.”

  Sherice had been doing natural hair in her kitchen for years. Especially when she was between sponsors.

  Shauntae continued, “Maybe Candy might want to do nails and stuff. We could be a full-service salon.”

  “And where you think we gonna get money for all that? You know how much it costs to rent a shop and buy products? You need chairs and dryers and sinks and blow dryers and flat irons and curling irons. You got all these great ideas, but have you thought them through? Ain’t nobody got that kind of money. I told you I don’t feel like talking all that craziness.” Sherice stood up and went out to the living room.

  Shauntae stayed on the bed. She kept moving and shifting and turning, but she couldn’t find any comfortable spot on the bed. She finally sat up. After being in the bed for the past few days, that was the last place she wanted to be. She wandered into the living room and found Sherice watching DVR episodes of Real Housewives of Atlanta. Sherice talked to the characters on television like they could actually hear her. She’d be yelling and pointing and cussing and saying all sorts of stuff to them. It used to make Shauntae laugh, but today it was getting on her nerves.

  She went to Sherice’s refrigerator to find something to eat. All she saw were some old Chinese containers that looked like they might have been in there for a while, a couple of beers, and a pack of bologna. Shauntae went to the cabinets and found some Ritz crackers. She took them and the bologna back into the living room.

  Sherice turned away from the television for a second to say, “Heffa, don’t eat up all my food.”

  Shauntae shot her a look. “Seriously, heffa?”

  Sherice went back to yelling at the TV. Sherice’s apartment was so small that there wasn’t anywhere that Shauntae could go to get away from all that loud cussing. She thought of going back out to sit on the step but didn’t feel like being bothered by Tyrel. Plus, this was the time of the day he and his friends would be smoking weed. She rubbed her belly. She didn’t want to take her baby around that.

>   Sherice turned from the television. “What’s wrong with you? Why you acting all shifty? Ain’t this your favorite show?”

  “I need to get my head straight, Sherice. You know I got a lot going on.”

  “Well, go back in the bedroom. You gettin’ on my nerves.” Sherice turned back to the television.

  Shauntae went back to the bedroom and sat on the floor by the bed. She knew she should get up if she didn’t want nothing crawling on her, but she didn’t feel like sitting on the lumpy bed.

  She kept eating the meat and crackers. After a while, the baby started moving in her belly. The flutters were stronger than they had been and she knew it wouldn’t be long before she was feeling real kicks. “Sorry, li’l baby. I been starving you all day.” She rubbed her belly. “I got mad at your daddy and forgot to eat. I’m sorry. I gotta get you to the doctor soon so we can see how you doing and when you coming.”

  Shauntae thought about it for a minute. She would need to go sign up for Medicaid to go to the doctor. She doubted Dr. Murray would take Medicaid and plus, her office was too far from where she was now.

  Shauntae looked around Sherice’s apartment. She knew she wouldn’t be able to stay here long and she was in no position to get her own apartment again. Maybe she should get Sherice to take her to the bus station in the morning. Maybe she could get Gary to take her more seriously from California.

  Shauntae’s cell phone rang. It was Gary.

  She didn’t answer it. It rang a couple of more times and went to voicemail, and then a text came through.

  Shauntae, please call me. I came home to check on you and you’re not here. I’m worried sick about you and the baby. I’m so sorry for not keeping my word. Please forgive me and come home.

  At least he had the good sense to be sorry. Shauntae looked down at the time. It was only 6:30. Which meant he had left his time with the girls to come check on her. Humph. If it took her leaving for him to pay her some attention, she shoulda called Sherice to come get her a few days ago.

  She thought for a few seconds about whether she should call him or let him sweat for a few hours. She decided to be nice and sent a text.

  I’m at my friend, Sherice’s. Spending the night. Me and the baby are fine. Have a nice night.

  She went back over the message twice to make sure she hadn’t spelled anything wrong. And then she decided not to put Sherice’s name in case Gary tried to look for her.

  A few minutes later, he texted her back.

  I’m sorry, honey. Please forgive me and come home. Tell me where you are and I’ll come get you. Let me make it up to you.

  Shauntae shut the phone off. She was pretty sure he would spend the rest of the night calling and texting her like crazy. He needed to be afraid that he had lost her and the baby. Even though she didn’t feel like staying the night at Sherice’s house, she had to make him suffer at least a little bit.

  Shauntae’s stomach rumbled real loud. She walked out to the living room and asked Sherice, “Can I borrow your car? I need to get some food.”

  Sherice looked up from the television. “I got some TV dinners and frozen chicken potpie in the freezer.”

  “I don’t want none of that. I want some real food. Where are the keys?”

  “You want me to take you?”

  “Naw, girl, I don’t want you to stop watching your show.” Shauntae spotted the keys on top of the television.

  Sherice barely looked up. “A’ight, but be careful. Don’t get stopped by the police or they’ll impound my car when they take you to jail.”

  Shauntae had almost forgotten about the warrant, since she no longer had to worry about Darla and the background check. “I’ll be careful. You got a EBT card?”

  Sherice looked up from the television. “You ain’t got no money? I spent mine for this month already.”

  Shauntae grabbed the keys and walked out the door.

  Sherice hollered after her, “Turn your phone on in case I want you to pick me up something.”

  Shauntae got in the car quick before Sherice decided she wanted to go. She needed some quiet for a while. She turned her phone back on. After a few seconds, a text came through.

  Please, baby. Don’t do this. Please come home and let me make it up to you.

  Shauntae sucked her teeth. “Whatever, Gary,” she said out loud like he could hear her. “Take care of your precious Darla and your daughters and leave me alone.”

  She didn’t feel like fast food or going to the nasty grocery store in their neighborhood. She rode Sherice’s raggedy car all the way down to the nice part of Flat Shoals Parkway. She could either go to Zaxby’s or get something good out of Publix’s deli.

  She pulled into the parking lot at the Publix. She opened her wallet and pulled out all her cash—fifty-nine dollars, when she counted the loose change. That was all she had left. Reality slammed her in the face. What would she do when this money ran out? How could she get a new sponsor with a pregnant belly?

  She decided to go to Publix and get some fried chicken. If Sherice didn’t get too greedy, she could eat off of it for a couple of days rather than spending the same money on one meal at Zaxby’s. If they had some kind of special, she could spend a little more and get some sides and Hawaiian rolls with it.

  She got out of the car and pulled her coat tighter around her. It was mid-March, so the temperature still dropped when the sun went down.

  It was dinnertime and the deli line was longer than Shauntae had patience for. But it wasn’t like she was gon’ cook and it was cheaper than fast food, so she waited. After fifteen minutes, she finally got her food. She took a big sniff of the chicken and her mouth started watering and her stomach grumbled.

  Maybe she would eat in the car so she wouldn’t have to share with Sherice. That heffa could eat and Shauntae needed to make her food last as long as possible. But she would have to put the leftovers in the refrigerator, and plus Sherice had spent some serious gas money coming to get her and she was sleeping in her house. The least she could do was share her food.

  Even the ten item fast lane had a lot of people in it. Shauntae thought about tearing off a chicken wing and eating it right there in the line. After a few minutes, she moved up in the line and was close enough to reach the candy selection near the register.

  Shauntae grabbed a Snickers bar and was about to rip the package open and take a big bite when she heard a voice—a squeaky, little girl voice she couldn’t help but recognize.

  “Daddy, can I push the basket?”

  Another voice she recognized answered, “Yes, Bree, but let me guide it. We don’t want to hit anybody or anything. You know you can’t drive too well.”

  Shauntae heard that familiar giggle. “I can drive, Daddy!”

  It was Brianna and Devon.

  Shauntae dropped the Snickers bar from one hand and the green basket carrying her precious dinner from the other. She ducked behind a magazine rack. She had to get out of there, but Devon and Brianna were still in the entrance of the store where the carts were. If she tried to leave, she’d run right into them.

  The dude standing in line behind her picked up the green shopping basket and tried to hand it to her. “You dropped your food.”

  Shauntae pushed past him and ran. She stopped behind each magazine rack on each aisle until she got far away enough that Devon couldn’t possibly see her. She waited until he got over to the produce section and started to run between magazine racks back toward the exit. She thought she was clear until he stopped to answer his cell phone.

  “Yeah, we’re inside already. Where are you?”

  Shauntae dashed out the front door. She ran toward Sherice’s car so fast that she didn’t see the woman on the cell phone coming toward her.

  “You’re in the produce section? I’ll meet you guys inside.” The woman turned off her cell phone and looked up.

  Shauntae froze in her tracks. There, standing right in front of her in the Publix parking lot was Devon’s girlfriend, Cassandra.r />
  Twenty-four

  Shauntae looked Cassandra right in the face. Cassandra frowned like she was trying to figure out why Shauntae looked familiar. Shauntae made a quick dip to the left and ran as fast as she could. She fumbled with the keys for a second, got in Sherice’s car, started the engine, and pulled out of the parking lot as fast as she could.

  The traffic was too heavy for her to turn left to go back to Sherice’s place, so she turned right and sped down Flat Shoals Parkway as fast as she could.

  Had Cassandra recognized her? They had only seen each other twice, but Shauntae knew she had shown her tail both times, so Cassandra probably remembered her face. And Brianna had a picture of Shauntae holding her right after she was born. It was a real pretty picture and Devon had got it framed real nice and put it on Brianna’s wall. As much time as Cassandra was spending with them, Shauntae was sure she had seen it. Unless Devon had took it down.

  If Cassandra recognized her, she had either dialed 911 in the parking lot or she had run inside and told Devon and he was dialing 911. Either way, the police were probably after her.

  Shauntae made a quick left on Kelley Chapel and then did a quick U-turn to get back to Flat Shoals. What was she thinking? That was the closest grocery store to Devon’s house. It was like she was trying to run into him. She could hear her mother’s voice in her head.

  Girl, you stupid. You make problems for yourself when there ain’t none. Your life ain’t never gon’ be nothing because you always be making stupid choices. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

  “Shut up, Mama! I’m not stupid. And if I make stupid choices it’s because it’s all I ever saw you do! You coulda raised me right. You coulda taught me right. You coulda gave me a better life than this.” Shauntae screamed like her mama was in the car with her.

  She pushed down hard on the gas pedal, looking in her rearview mirror, waiting to see those police lights coming after her. She drove as fast as she could but the stoplights kept catching her. And traffic was still heavy and people was driving slow.