The Million Dollar Divorce

by RM Johnson

  When Lewis walked in Selena’s door later that evening, Selena looked much calmer, more relaxed.

  “Did she act okay?” Selena asked about Layla.

  “Yeah, she was fine,” Lewis said, holding his daughter out for Selena to take.

  “Why don’t you put her in her crib in the bedroom?”

  Lewis did as he was asked, kissing Layla, then lowering her into the crib and giving her one of her toys.

  “Daddy loves you, okay? And remember what I said.”

  When he walked back out into the living room, Selena was waiting for him.

  “Well, thanks for letting me take Layla. I hope you’ll let me do it again sometime.”

  “Okay,” Selena agreed.

  Lewis walked over to kiss her good-bye, but Selena leaned away from him. “Do you have to leave this minute? I want to talk to you.”

  “What’s up?”

  Selena walked around the coffee table, had a seat on the sofa, and placed her hand on the cushion next to her, gesturing for Lewis to take a seat.

  He sat, feeling as though something strange was going on. “So…”

  “I’m gonna come straight out with it. I miss you, Lewis.”

  Lewis shook his head, stood up from the couch, and was about to leave, but Selena grabbed his arm, pulled him back down.

  “I miss you, and I still love you. I mean that.”

  “You weren’t loving me when I was working at the barbershop. You weren’t loving me when you had that man in here, fucking him in front of my baby. Where was all the damn love then, Selena!”

  “I told you. I needed that money.”

  “But now that I got money to give you, then everything is cool, we can be one big happy family again.”

  “Yeah.”

  “It’ll never happen. Do you hear me?” he said, leaning in closer so there was no room for misunderstanding. “That will never happen again, so just get it out of your head,” Lewis said, standing and moving toward the door.

  “So you want to take a chance on never seeing your daughter again?”

  Lewis stopped, slowly turned around. “What are you saying? You threatening to not let me see Layla again?” He felt himself becoming infuriated.

  “I ain’t threatening nothing.”

  Lewis raced over to her, grabbed her by her shoulders, shaking her. “Is that what you doing!”

  “Lewis, stop!” Selena said. “I ain’t sayin’ that!”

  Lewis stopped, pulled his hands from Selena. “I’m just saying, if it gets too tough for me to afford this place, then I don’t know where me and Layla going to go.”

  Lewis knew this was Selena making another attempt to get him to come back there. He thought about it, only briefly, imagining himself able to be with his daughter all the time; but knowing Selena, the moment things got rough again, she’d be trying to put him out.

  No. He wouldn’t fall for it, he thought, looking down at how pathetic Selena appeared to him now.

  “I’m just gonna have to take that chance,” Lewis said, turning toward the door again, knowing he would have to do something soon to get his daughter away from the woman.

  40

  In the storeroom at work, Monica was checking inventory when she heard Tabatha calling her.

  When she came out, Tabatha was standing behind the store’s counter, holding a bouquet of a dozen roses.

  “Aw, for me? You shouldn’t have,” Monica said, taking them from Tabatha.

  “I didn’t and you know it. It’s from Lewis, again,” Tabatha said, flipping over the envelope and seeing his name on it. “It’s the third time this week. What are you doing to that boy?”

  Monica headed back to the break room with the roses, Tabatha following her.

  “Nothing more than he’s doing to me,” Monica said, placing the flowers on a counter, tearing away the paper.

  “And that’s all right with you?” Tabatha asked, having a seat at the table.

  “Tabatha, please don’t start again with that.”

  “You’ve been bouncing around here all week like you just won the damn lottery, and—”

  “And what?” Monica said, turning to face Tabatha. “Can’t I be happy? Is there anything wrong with that? You know everything I’ve been going through, how Nate has been acting toward me. Now that I found something to take my mind off that, give me a little happiness, I gotta get speeches from you every day.”

  “You said you were going to sleep with him one time, get back at Nate, and that’s it. Now it’s practically an everyday thing.”

  “What, are you jealous?” Monica said.

  “Of that?” Tabatha said, shaking her head, chuckling sarcastically. “You live in a penthouse. Your husband is worth millions of dollars. You work this job just because you want to, when I have to. If I’m not jealous of those things, why would I be jealous of you fucking some strange man just because he dropped a line on you? I could have that anytime I want.”

  Monica didn’t respond at first, then finally said, “That wasn’t nice.”

  “I know. I’m sorry,” Tabatha apologized. “But neither is what you’re doing to Nate.”

  “You’re the one that suggested I go out with Lewis, because you kept saying Nate was cheating.”

  “You never proved he was, and even if he was, you said once with this guy. It looks like it’s turning into something more than that. You aren’t falling for him, are you, Monica?”

  “No, don’t be ridiculous,” Monica said, even though she had become quite fond of him. “We have fun when we see each other, that’s it.”

  “How about him for you?”

  “No. I don’t think so.”

  “Are you sure?” Tabatha said.

  “Yeah. I’m pretty sure.”

  “Then it should be pretty easy to break off.”

  “I guess,” Monica said. “If I was ready to do that.”

  “Do you still love Nate?” Tabatha asked. “Still think your marriage is worth saving?”

  “Of course I do.”

  “But you’re willing to give up all that you have with your husband, regardless how rocky things are right now, for this other man?”

  Monica took only a moment to think about that. “No. I’m not.”

  “That’s exactly what you’ll be doing if you get caught.”

  Monica appreciated what her friend was trying to do. But Tabatha wasn’t in Monica’s shoes, so she truly couldn’t understand.

  “Then I’ll make sure and try not to get caught when I’m with Lewis tonight,” Monica said, smiling.

  When Lewis’s front door opened, immediately upon seeing Monica, he took her in his arms and gave her a long, passionate kiss.

  “What was that for?” Monica said, when the kiss was over.

  “I missed you,” Lewis said, taking her hand and leading her toward the stairs.

  “You just saw me yesterday.”

  “That’s a long time.” Lewis was unbuttoning his shirt as he climbed the stairs, Monica starting to undo her clothes as well.

  It was a beautiful evening, so they made love outside on Lewis’s deck. She was worried that someone would see them. She gazed out at the old buildings in the distance around them, and wondered if anyone stood behind their windows watching them.

  As Lewis kissed her neck, and slowly finished undressing her, he reassured her that the buildings were vacant, abandoned, that nobody would be paying attention to her but him.

  And that was exactly what he did, making her body feel so much pleasure that tears came to her eyes.

  The way he made love to her, it was more than just the act of having sex. Every now and then she would open her eyes to see him staring almost lovingly down at her. Just below her own moans, she could hear him whispering things in her ear, but was never able to make them out.

  Afterward, as they lay, their bodies intertwined on his bed, she wondered what those things were, and just what the look he oftentimes gave her meant.

  Monica also
couldn’t stop herself from thinking about what Tabatha said. She wondered what her husband was doing that moment, wondered what he would do if he could see her lying with this man the way she was.

  Then Monica told herself she would not think those things. Tabatha was just jealous of what Monica was experiencing now, regardless of what she said, and she would not let her talk her into giving it up.

  “Hey. You okay?” Lewis said, bringing a finger to her forehead and rubbing the furrowed space between her eyebrows. “Is something bothering you?”

  “Just hungry,” Monica lied. “Let’s go out and get something to eat.”

  They went to a small restaurant in Chinatown. It was far enough from Nate’s office that Monica felt comfortable in not worrying whether she risked getting caught by him. Besides, it was only a few minutes past 7 P.M., and she knew he was still in some office or pricey restaurant doing business with his client.

  Monica and Lewis were seated at a booth, Lewis’s back to the door, Monica facing it. They had already ordered, for it was not busy. Only one other couple was dining there tonight.

  “Excuse me if I’m mistaken,” Lewis said, reaching across the table and taking Monica’s hands in his, “but were there tears coming from your eyes earlier?”

  “And why would you have thought that?”

  “Because I was giving it to you so good, that the only way you could express yourself was with tears.”

  Monica laughed. “Baby, if anyone was shedding tears it would’ve been you,” Monica said, briefly looking up, her attention taken by someone walking by the storefront’s slightly smoked window.

  “Baby, I’ve never shed a tear in my life. I’m a real man,” Lewis said, beating one of his fists into his chest.

  “Okay, maybe you weren’t shedding tears,” Monica said, looking up toward the window again. “Maybe there was just an owl perched somewhere above us, because I kept hearing someone crying out, ‘Whoooooooo, whooooooo! It feels so good! Whooooooo!’” Monica said, mocking Lewis making agonizing faces of extreme pleasure.

  “No I wasn’t.”

  “Yes you were,” Monica said, and then all of a sudden, her eyes deceived her, telling her brain that she had seen something that she knew she couldn’t have. It was Nate. It couldn’t have been, but she saw him, walking past the front window, toward the door of the restaurant.

  Her heart automatically started pounding in her chest.

  The front door opened, a tiny bell ringing above it, and Monica thought she was going to die right there. There was a crosshatched wooden partition that separated the front door from the restaurant, so she didn’t think she had been seen.

  She still didn’t think it was him—it had to be someone that looked just like him—till she heard his voice.

  “Yes, pickup for Kenny.”

  And then Monica was sure. She started whipping her head around, her eyes huge, looking for a way out. But running across the restaurant would surely get her spotted.

  “What’s wrong?” Lewis said, seeing her strange behavior.

  “Shhh!” Monica whispered loudly. “Don’t say anything!”

  Her eyes were focused keenly on the front door, when she heard her husband ask, “Do you have a rest room?”

  “In back of restaurant,” Monica heard the owner answer.

  Now Nate would see her for sure, Monica knew. He would turn the corner any moment now and see her. She looked around desperately, one final time, then all of a sudden dropped under the surface of the table. She didn’t know what good that would do, for there was no tablecloth.

  The only way her husband wouldn’t see her was if he walked by and didn’t even glance in her direction; otherwise, she was as easy to see as Lewis was, sitting above the table’s surface.

  “Monica!” Lewis whispered.

  She quickly struck him in the shin, and thought her cover had been blown, but she watched as Nate slowly walked through the restaurant. It was unreal to Monica, as she crouched below that table, sweating, trembling, watching her husband only twenty or so feet away from her.

  He would turn, she knew it. He would turn any moment, see her, and she would be found out. But he never did. He pushed through the men’s room door, and Monica quickly popped up from under the table.

  “We gotta go!” she said, grabbing Lewis’s hand.

  “Why?”

  “That was my husband that just walked by,” she still whispered. “We gotta go!”

  “No. Just stay.”

  “No! He’ll see us!”

  “He won’t. I promise!” Lewis said. “Trust me.”

  “Stay if you want. I’m leaving.”

  Just then, Monica heard the bathroom door swinging open, and once again, she had no choice but to retreat back under the table.

  Again Nate walked by, his eyes facing directly forward. And again, Monica knew she would be busted.

  Amazingly enough, he walked by once more without spotting her, paid for his food at the front of the restaurant, then Monica heard the tinkle of the bell as Nate left.

  The movement of Lewis’s legs let her know he was checking to make sure he was gone, and then she heard him say, “All right. He left.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Positive. He’s gone. You can come up.”

  Monica slowly raised herself up, on Lewis’s side of the booth now, sitting beside him. She fell next to him, feeling drained, as though she had just physically exerted herself. Her chest was heaving, her body still trembling nervously.

  Lewis put his arm around her, comforting her. “So that was him,” he said.

  “Yes,” Monica said, feeling beads of sweat still forming on her brow. “That was him.”

  41

  Nate’s car sat in the parking lot of a convenience store, him slumped inside it, staring at the clock, waiting for it to change from 9:59 P.M. to 10:00 P.M. At that time he punched numbers into the cell phone he was already holding in his hand.

  “Hello,” Nate said, when the phone was answered. “Is this a bad time?”

  It was Lewis on the other line.

  When Nate finished work this evening, he didn’t feel like being bothered with Tori telling him what he should be doing about the private investigator, or asking him what entree they should serve at their wedding reception, so he decided he wouldn’t go over there tonight.

  Instead, he would get carry-out from somewhere, and maybe eat it in the park, enjoy the evening’s weather, and do some serious thinking.

  After the Chinese man behind the counter told him it would be five more minutes, Nate had asked where the rest room was. He directed him to the rear of the restaurant. Nate headed back there, and upon turning the corner, immediately he saw Lewis sitting at one of the booths.

  Nate was about to go over, talk to him, but Lewis caught sight of Nate as well, and quickly waved him off, frantically pointing down at the table.

  Nate directed his eyes forward, and walked straight to the men’s room. Inside, he no longer had the urge to go, and just stood before the mirror, his hands resting on the corners of the sink. He lifted his head to look at himself.

  He didn’t know if it was his wife under that table, hadn’t seen her with his own eyes, but what other reason would Lewis have to divert him from coming over there?

  Nate raised his head, looked sadly at himself, and asked his reflection just what in the hell he was doing. Putting his own wife in a situation that had her ducking under tables, hiding in between some man’s legs like some on-the-run street ho. Why? And was it worth it?

  At first, that question was so much easier to answer, but now…

  Nate turned on the faucet, splashed cold water in his face, snatched a paper towel from the dispenser, and dried off.

  On his way out, he didn’t dare look in Lewis’s direction, although he caught a glimpse of him out of the corner of his eye. The boy was sitting straight up in the booth, his hands dropped beneath the table.

  Nate wanted so badly to look back, to se
e that it was his wife there, but he continued walking, grabbed his food, and left the restaurant.

  “No, it’s not a bad time,” Lewis said, interrupting Nate’s thoughts.

  “Where’s my wife?”

  “She left here ten minutes ago.”

  “That was her at the restaurant…under the table, wasn’t it?” The thought still pained Nate some.

  “Yes.”

  “Why did you have her out like that?” Nate said, anger in his voice. “If she hadn’t seen me first, you could’ve ruined everything.”

  “I didn’t know you were going there. We just went out to get something to eat. How was I supposed to know?” Lewis said in defense.

  The boy was right, Nate knew, but it did nothing to relieve his anger with him. “Was she shaken up?”

  “Yeah. She thought you saw her.”

  “Did you convince her that I hadn’t?”

  “Yeah. I did,” Lewis said.

  “Did she say anything about not seeing you anymore?’

  “No, but—”

  “There is no but,” Nate interrupted. “I’ve put too much work and effort into this thing to let it go now. You do what ever you have to do to keep her seeing you until I can get it documented that you’ve slept with her. Do you understand?”

  “Yes.”

  “That is…if you haven’t already slept with my wife.”

  “No!” Lewis quickly objected.

  “Are you certain? Because you were supposed to tell me before you even tried.”

  “Yes, Mr. Kenny. I’m certain.”

  “Good. There are some things I have to look into, then I think we’ll move forward, let you do what needs to be done, so we can end this mess.”