Let Me Say This, Again

by B. Swangin Webster

  “Nothing.” She said while turning away from him and putting her hand to her face.

  “Really?” he said while walking towards her and pulling her hand away. Her lip was swollen and bruised. “Well it wasn’t like that last night when I was here, so either you hit your own self in the mouth or you got into a fight with someone, either way don’t lie to me and tell me that you did this to yourself. Who hit you Sherrie?”

  “Look, that’s not why you are here…move so I can get some water.” She said while pushing against him and pulled a glass from the overhead cabinet.

  “Look, did something happen last night when I left.”

  She pushed her hands into her hair and pulled a rubber band from her robe pocket and put it around her shoulder length hair. She sat down and suddenly she was in tears. She wiped her face hard and stood.

  “He hit me.”

  “Who?”

  “Malcolm.”

  “Who the fuck is Malcolm?” He said while beginning to pace back and forth.

  She stood and made her way to the sink and started rinsing out her cup.

  “You don’t need to raise your voice.” She said.

  “Like hell I don’t! Who in the fuck you got coming up in here and letting them put their fucking hands on you!”

  “Look if you gonna keep yelling, get the hell out! I am not in the mood for this shit this morning!”

  She walked past Matthew and took out another cup. He grabbed the cup from her hand and slammed it on the counter, causing it to break into small pieces all over the floor. She got the broom from the pantry and starting sweeping.

  “Look, stop cleaning and tell me what happened. Who is Malcolm and why would he hit you?”

  “I don’t think he meant…”

  “Wait, don’t start that bullshit with me. I deal with it from Cheryl, please don’t start defending a nigga putting his hands on you.”

  “I wasn’t. I was going to say he made a comment that I felt was inappropriate and I hit him and he swung back.”

  “What comment?”

  “That doesn’t matter. All that matters is, I won’t be seeing him again and he will most likely be sitting in jail later.”

  “Good. That’s all I want to hear.”

  “What do you think about Tamia coming to stay with me?”

  “Are you crazy! She ain’t going nowhere near that crazy ass bitch you are seeing.”

  “You need to slow your roll.”

  “You’re the one needing to slow your roll. You come up in here and tell me that you are taking Tamia. You are fucking crazy!”

  “I didn’t say anything about taking her from you. I am only suggesting that you let me take Tamia for a while. She says that…”

  “What! What does she say?”

  “Well, you got some nigga running up in here and putting their hands on you and then she isn’t that crazy about whatever your new man’s name is.”

  “Look nigga, you don’t run shit up in here and neither does she. So you can get that out of head.”

  “I’m just saying…”

  She got up from the table and slammed the cup on the counter, “You sure know how to spoil a nice visit with bullshit. Get the hell out!”

  “Wait. Why don’t we ask Tamia what she would like?”

  “Are you fucking kidding me? That bitch doesn’t make any fucking decisions in my house.”

  “Well, will you bring her over later and we can talk more about this.”

  “Aint shit to talk about. She aint coming to stay with you and that is final. Now, if you want her for the weekend, I’ll send her over, but don’t try anything, because I will have your ass back in court before you can blink.”

  “Well, are you going to bring her over, or should I send a car?”

  “I’ll bring her over when she gets back and I get a little more rest. Let yourself out.” She said as she walked back towards her room.

  “Good morning beautiful.” Matthew said as Cheryl sat on the edge of her bed.

  “Morning.” She muttered as she rose from the bed and walked to the bathroom. He heard the shower come on and after almost thirty minutes, she emerged with her hair pinned and water dripping down her legs. She pulled the towel around her tighter and sat on the bed while she poured oil in her hands and smoothed it over her caramel skin.

  “I talked to Sherrie.”

  “How did that go?”

  “Like I figured it would. She doesn’t want Tamia coming to stay with me.”

  “Why?”

  “Probably because she thinks she will lose the money I shell out in child support every month.”

  “How much do you pay?”

  “The court order says twelve hundred, but I give her an extra two hundred just in case Tamia needs things for school.”

  “Damn, well she has a money tree in Tamia.”

  “Yeah, well, if she doesn’t start taking better care of her then I will take her totally and not give a damn about her.”

  “Well, what is stopping you?”

  “I am trying to give Sherrie the benefit of the doubt. She keeps on pushing me though. Do you know she let some nigga beat the shit out of her last night?”

  “How do you know?”

  “Her mouth is jacked up. She said that they had some kind of argument and he hit her after she hit him. I’ll tell you what though, if I find out who did that to her, I’ll teach him a lesson.”

  “Well, she is a grown woman…”

  “What the hell does that mean?”

  Cheryl held her hands up, “Well, wait a minute. I was just saying that you can’t fight everyone’s battle for them.”

  “I’m not trying to fight everyone’s battle for them. I’m just sick of you women letting nigga’s beat up on you.”

  “What in the hell does that mean, you women?”

  “Nothing, damn, I didn’t come over here to argue with you too.”

  “Look, you are the one that got all indignant when I asked you a simple question.”

  “Why don’t we just end this conversation?”

  “You know, you’re right. Let’s end this before someone gets their feelings hurt.” Cheryl said as she folded her arms.

  “Yeah, because I don’t want to hurt yours.” he mumbled under his breath.

  “What the hell did you just say?”

  “Calm the hell down. I didn’t say anything.” He opened her balcony door and stepped outside the warm room.

  “No…you explain to me what the hell you meant, you don’t want to hurt my feelings. Oh, so when you say some fucked up shit, you get to walk away. If I was to do the same thing, you would be all up in my damn face.”

  “Ok, you want to hear it!” He said while whirling around to face her. “You are the one with the ex-husband still beating the shit out of you whenever he feels like it. You are the one with the fucking daughter who is so fucking disrespectful, she should have a full set of false teeth in her mouth, because she sure as hell wouldn’t be talking to me any kind of way. You are the one with the son who is as gay as all outdoors, and screwing some damn transvestite and you are the one with your head in the clouds like everything is ok. I try and help you and all I get is slapped in the fucking face for it. I try…”

  “No! What you’re trying to do is re-live your life through me by “saving” me from myself. I guess I should be grateful that you took time from your boring ass life to come and help little ole me! You know what, you’re right, maybe you need to roll on, because you definitely have started my day off wrong!” she started to walk away but came back, “and no, my head is not in the clouds! I know my son is gay, but that is my business. I don’t need to announce that to everyone, and how I take care of my daughter is my business, not yours. So if my children are a problem for you, then you should have said so, way before now. Not everyone can have a child that is stuck up and snobbish like you!” She quickly walked away and he was right behind her.

  He followed her to the kitchen as she poured h
erself more coffee. She sat the carafe back into the coffeemaker and turned around. He stood so close to her that she bumped into him.

  “If you don’t mind, I need to get ready. I have a busy day. You can let yourself out.” she walked upstairs and slammed her bedroom door shut.

  Just then the phone rang and she let out a stream of curse words that would have made her mother blush.

  Chapter 31

  She got to Red Feather Charter School in about thirty minutes and saw the familiar grey Mercedes SUV with the vanity plates BLKSXS. Cheryl walked down to the hall to the main office and signed in on the computer and showed her id to Mrs. Briscoe.

  “Good morning honey. How are things going?” said the chirpy young woman watering the plants behind the counter.

  “Things would be better if I didn’t have a little delinquent.” She said with a sad smile and quick laugh. “How long has her dad been here?”

  “You just missed him. He just walked around the corner to Ms. Christie’s office.”

  As Cheryl rounded the corner, she heard him before she saw him.

  “Look, I am about sick of being called because you can’t seem to find your way to school. Where do you think you were going?”

  Cheryl opened the door and all eyes were on her. “Yes I would like to know the answer to that question also.”

  Kayla didn’t speak to either of them, instead directing her question to the principal, “Am I going to be suspended? It’s not like I am the only one leaving school.”

  Cheryl yanked her daughter from the chair.

  “You look here young lady, we are not talking about your little friends, we are talking about you and right now, you need to worry about whether you will be here next year, or in public school, since you don’t seem to appreciate that your dad is paying for you to get the best education you can.”

  Kayla snatched her arm from her mother and backed up against the file cabinet in the corner. Kevin took a step and Ms. Christie came from behind her desk.

  “Why don’t we all just have a seat and let’s talk about this calmly.” She led Kayla to the chair on the left side of her desk, Cheryl took the seat in front of the desk and Kevin stood in the spot Kayla vacated.

  “Although she is frequently late, this is the first time that we have caught Kayla trying to leave school grounds, so this would only be a half day suspension, however, I also wanted to talk to you about her grades.”

  Kayla rolled her eyes to the top of her head.

  Ms. Christie continued, “She never turned in her signed report card.”

  “What report card?” Cheryl asked, “I remember signing the last one.”

  She started flipping through the files on her desk and pulled out the paper.

  “This is her home room folder. In here are the copies and the day they were signed. I do not see one for her.”

  “What did you do with it?” Cheryl asked her daughter.

  Kayla shrugged her shoulders.

  “Can I see the copy?” Her father asked.

  She put the copy on the desk in front of them.

  “There has to be a mistake. Did they just get this?”

  “As you can see by the date, they were issued last Monday, but she hasn’t brought back the copy, and I can guess why.”

  “What in the hell is this?” Kevin shouted.

  “My report card.” Kayla whispered.

  “I can’t hear you.”

  “My report card.” Kayla said a little louder.

  “Why in the hell do you have three F’s and a D young lady?”

  “I don’t know.” Kayla said with attitude.

  “Don’t you dare…” Kevin was pulling her up out of the chair.

  “Uh, Mr. Goldman, please, let’s talk about this.” Ms. Christie said while jumping up from her seat.

  “Oh, we will be talking about this, at home!” Kevin pulled her from the office and pushed her in the hallway.

  Cheryl grabbed the report card and tried not looking at Ms. Christie.

  Ms. Christie spoke softly, “Is everything going to be ok when you get home? I mean, are you and Kayla going to be safe?”

  Their eyes met and Cheryl tried to break the gaze, but Ms. Christie held her eyes hostage.

  She spoke a little louder this time, “Cheryl, are you and Kayla going to be safe?”

  “We don’t live with him anymore.”

  “I didn’t ask you that.”

  “Don’t worry. We will be ok.” She said and patted the woman’s arm.

  “Wait.” She said and walked back to her desk. “Take this, it’s my cell phone number, if you need it.” She pressed her card into her hand and squeezed.

  Cheryl assured the woman that they would be fine, but if she needed it, she would call. As Cheryl walked into the hallway, she saw her daughter flinch and quickened her pace towards them.

  “You ungrateful little bitch, you have the fucking nerve to have an attitude and you are standing here with F’s on your report card. You just wait until you get home, if your mother wasn’t out here tramping around, she would have known what in the hell you were doing. That’s ok though, because after today, you will think twice about coming to school late, leaving early or getting bad grades.” Kevin said while grabbing her by the upper arm.

  “Keep your damn hands off of her.” Cheryl said, trying to keep her voice low. “I will deal with her myself and call you later.”

  She pulled Kayla through the front doors of the school and towards her vehicle. They climbed in, in silence and drove home. They walked into the house and Kayla started for the steps

  “You have a lot of explaining to do!”

  “Whatever.” Kayla said and starting walking up the stairs.

  “What did you just say to me?”

  “You heard me!” Kayla said while turning around on the third step.

  “You better watch your tone young lady. I am about sick of your mess! You are getting disrespectful.”

  Kayla turned and continued walking up the stairs.

  “I didn’t tell you to go anywhere.” Cheryl said as she started up the steps behind her daughter and grabbed her shirt.

  “Get your hands off of me!” Kayla said as she turned around.

  Chapter 32

  Monday came and the office was busier than ever. Alpine Spa and M & T Limo Service had been on board for about two months now and they had steered more business their way than the commercials they shelled twelve hundred dollars a month out for.

  Rebecca was on the phone all morning talking to the people in Atlanta. She got off of the phone and he overheard her telling Ashley to have her itinerary ready in the next few minutes.

  “I’ll be taking Toni with me when I go to Atlanta.” She said as she walked into his office, unannounced.

  “Good morning to you too.” he said while turning his chair away from the window.

  “Did you hear what I said?”

  “I did, and who said that Toni would be going to Atlanta? I didn’t approve her travel.”

  “Oh, so now travel has to be approved? Since when did this little arrangement start?”

  “I think you came in here with the wrong attitude. What is your problem?” he said while rising from his chair and walking towards his door.

  Rebecca rolled her eyes and blew out a hard breath, “I guess you change the rules whenever you feel like it, huh? This is my office and I don’t need to check with you for anything.”

  At the reference of ‘her’ office, he corrected her, “you mean my office.”

  “Oh, it’s like that?” she said while shifting her weight from one foot to the other.

  “It’s always been like that, and I think we had this discussion before.” he said while picking up his glass and sitting down on the caramel colored chair.

  “No, we didn’t discuss anything. As far as I knew, that office was mine. You said it before it was open, you said it at the grand opening and you said it when I managed to sign that artist from DC. Do you think
I would have spent all of that time in Atlanta, doing all that work, if I didn’t think that office was mine?”

  “Yes, because you work for me. Just like Corey is in New York running that office, you are running the office in Atlanta, and I am running the office here in DC. You never hear Corey say that the New York office is his, do you?”

  “Did you tell him the office wasn’t his?”

  “This is my company and I don’t have to answer to you, nor him.”

  “I thought you and Corey owned it fifty, fifty?”

  “We do, and Corey knows his place in this company. When we started this company, twenty years ago we knew we would eventually expand.”

  “So does Corey know that he doesn’t own any stock in the other two offices?”

  “Ok, and again, let me say this, that is none of your business. You are running the Atlanta office and since you don’t like doing that, then maybe I need to look at making a change.”

  “What the hell does that mean?”

  “You might want to back up and slow your roll or you might need to find yourself…”

  “Let me tell you one fucking thing, Mr. Goldman. Don’t you ever fucking threaten me. I won’t need to find shit because this is where I plan on staying. Now you might want to rethink your position, because that little incident we had a few weeks ago, has not been forgotten. Remember I told you that I had spoken with someone about it, well what I didn’t tell you, I also have documented the injuries that you caused. Now don’t for one fucking minute believe that what you did to that bitch ex-wife of yours will be happening with me. My name isn’t Cheryl and I don’t play that shit! Now like I said earlier, Toni and I will be going to Atlanta on Wednesday. I’ll have Ashley give you the itinerary as soon as I have it finalized.” She said as she turned on her red bottom shoes and marched out of his office. Kevin was left sitting in his office with his jaws tight and a major headache moving in.

  Chapter 33

  Cheryl adjusted her sunglasses and walked in. Matthew was hovering over the realtor’s shoulder. She didn’t know that she could be jealous but in that instance she was.