Society Wives

by Renee Flagler

  The bell rang and at first they wouldn’t release each other. After the second ring, they reluctantly pulled away. Vonnie pressed imaginary wrinkles out of her apron while she caught her breath. When she looked up at Mike, he was staring at her with hunger in his eyes.

  “Go get the door, fool!” she yelled and then laughed as she made her way back to the kitchen, knowing Mike would be watching her as she walked out. She heard him grunt and then listened as he made tracks toward the door.

  “Daddy!” their daughter, Noelle screamed and hugged Mike. “Mommy!” She ran through the house at top speed toward the kitchen and began telling her story to Vonnie before she was even in there. “This old fat man in the supermarket by auntie’s house tried to hit on Lena. It was so funny. He was like, ‘Hey suga! What you cookin’ ta’day. Can I ha some?’” she said in her version of an old man’s voice. She barely got the rest of her words out before she started cracking up.

  Vonnie’s niece, Lena, walked into the kitchen behind her carrying bags and rolling her eyes. “Hush, Noelle. That wasn’t funny. That man was gross! We should have gone to the supermarket over here. That kind of stuff never happens in this neighborhood.”

  “Who’s messing with my niece?” Mike said walking in the kitchen behind her.

  Vonnie laughed and waved him away. “Noelle, go make sure your room is clean. Lena, do me a favor and finish setting the table in the dining room, and then do the one in the kitchen. The adults will eat in the dining room and the kids can eat here. That should be enough room for everyone.”

  “Okay, Auntie,” Lena said and got to work.

  Vonnie smiled at Lena’s unwavering obedience and thought about how proud she was of her only niece, whom she treated like her daughter.

  When Mike’s data preservation business, Cyber Vault, took off, becoming successful beyond what they ever imagined, Vonnie made sure that her niece had the best of everything.

  Coming from very humble beginnings, growing up in Jamaica, Queens, Vonnie and her sister, Nadine didn’t have much, especially after losing their parents. Vonnie did everything she could to help her sister provide for Lena.

  Vonnie was too proud when Lena received a scholarship to Columbia University and when she announced that she wanted to become a doctor. Vonnie made sure she had nothing to worry about but her studies, providing her with a car and condo near school.

  Vonnie shook away thoughts from the past and for the next hour everyone sunk knee deep into getting ready for Thanksgiving dinner as holiday music flowed through each room from the intercom speakers. Mike had managed to shake off the rest of his hangover and was now finely dressed and ready to entertain.

  Vonnie was used to hosting her family and friends for the holidays, but the thought of having the Days, the Lees and the Madisons joining them for the first time made her anxious. As she dressed, she wasn’t sure how her friends would take to her down home family. She was by no means embarrassed by them, but she knew how pretentious the wives were and imagined them giggling behind her back.

  She took a deep breath, twisted in the mirror and assessed her clothing, a comfortable knee-length sweater dress that careened her curves and displayed a rich collage of fall colors. She patted her bob, which she just had cut a little lower on one side on her last visit to the hairdresser.

  “I will not let Nadine get on my nerves today, even if she comes late. I will not cry about my mother not being able to be here. I will not get annoyed at Uncle Eddie for trying to dig in the food before it’s time,” she said to her reflection.

  Despite how long ago her mother had passed, the void of her absence loomed over every holiday. She also thought about keeping a watchful eye on Mike, knowing he’d try to hide the pain of his mother not being able to attend Thanksgiving dinner for the first time. He had to put her in a nursing home a few months back.

  Vonnie took a deep breath and turned from the mirror. “Come on, people,” she said and clapped when she heard the doorbell. “Our guests are arriving. It’s go time!” Vonnie headed to the door.

  “Hey Ryan!” Vonnie kissed her before leaning toward Andy for a snug hug.

  “Hey Vonnie,” Ryan said, holding her eyes on Vonnie a little longer than normal. Vonnie nodded. She got the message. Andy still didn’t know about the miscarriage.

  “Uh hmm.” Frannie, Ryan’s overly tanned mother cleared her throat.

  Vonnie greeted the woman with the hard facial lines, limp blond hair and thin lips with deep creases. “How are you, Ms. Stemson?”

  Before Frannie could respond, Andy excused himself in search of Mike.

  “Don’t mind him.” Frannie waved her hand dismissively. “Nice to see you again and call me Frannie,” she croaked out with a thick Brooklyn accent. Her voice sounded like she’d been drinking hard liquor and smoking cigarettes since infancy. “This is a beautiful home you have here,” Frannie said loudly. She looked around in wonder. “I swear Ryan sure managed to snag her some fancy friends. This is beautiful!” she yelled.

  “Nice to see you too, Frannie.” Vonnie extended her hand for a shake as Ryan cast another warning glance. Vonnie smiled inwardly. Ryan would soon find out that their families were similar in many ways. “Make yourselves at home,” Vonnie said, waving them in.

  Just then, Lena approached with flutes of champagne, with a strawberry settled at the bottom of the bubbly.

  “Ooo. Nice!” Frannie took her and Ryan’s glass. “You don’t really drink, Rye, so I’ll take yours.”

  Vonnie tried to keep from laughing aloud.

  Within the next half hour, all the guests had arrived except for Vonnie’s sister, Nadine.

  Lena eased up beside her and touched her arm. “Mom’s not here yet. Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine. And we’re not waiting for her, either,” she said, giving her a reassuring wink.

  Vonnie looked out the window one last time before calling their guests to the dining room to say grace. As she suspected, Uncle Eddie was making his way around the room, flirting with all the women, young and old while Aunt Bobbi discredited every wild claim he made.

  “Those women don’t want your old butt. We all know at your age, things don’t work the way they used to,” Bobbi said.

  “I got Viagra!” Eddie said as if that was the answer to every problem in the world.

  “Don’t pay my brother any mind, y’all hear?”

  “That’s all I need in this world. That and a Benz. We would drive all the ladies wild.”

  “You ain’t got no Benz,” Bobbi chided with a hand on her hip.

  “I didn’t say I got a Benz. I said I could drive a Benz—and would look damn good doing it, too. Shoot! I had a lil young thang with a Benz once. I even drove it a few times—gave her a hell of a ride, too, if you know what I mean!” Eddie cackled and slapped his knee. “I could have a Benz if I wanted. My nephew would buy it for me. Right, Mike?”

  “Sure,” Mike said sarcastically.

  The antics continued around the table throughout the evening. Nadine showed up just before dessert was presented.

  “Hey! The party has officially started! Nadine’s here!” she announced.

  Vonnie could tell she had already started drinking. The other obvious drunks, Frannie and Pearson, laughed the loudest. “And who is this here?” Uncle Eddie asked, standing and looking over Nadine’s flavor of the week, while shaking his whiskey on the rocks.

  “Oh!” Nadine giggled. “This is Tony.”

  Tony wore a half-cocked smile.

  “Well, looka here! How long you been ‘round, boy? Two...three weeks?” Uncle Eddie asked.

  “Eddie!” Aunt Bobbi scolded.

  “I’m just checking to see how much time he got left. Y’all know Nadine change men like she change shoes!” Eddie cracked himself up.

  Vonnie caught Nadalia stretch her eyes and grab Sage’s hand while the others laughed.

  “Don’t mind my uncle,” Nadine said to her date and pulled him along as she dropped her bag. “Oh
yes! We’re just in time for dessert.”

  Mike eased beside Vonnie and held her hand. “You okay?”

  Vonnie laughed. “I’m fine. I knew she’d be late.”

  The men disappeared into the den to watch the game, the young people made their way downstairs to watch movies, and the women were left to gather in the travel-themed sitting room, donned with comfortable chairs, art and other collectibles from their trysts across the world.

  Nadalia finally loosened up and chatted with Ryan, who seemed to shrink in her presence. Pearson was chopping it up with Aunt Bobbi, laughing and having a grand ole time. Nadine said goodbye to her ‘friend’ and within a half hour, another showed up. She introduced Kevin to everyone as if they hadn’t just broken bread with Tony.

  Vonnie sailed around the house checking on everyone, and then realized that Ryan’s mother and Uncle Eddie were missing. Discreetly, she called Mike out of the den. They went in search of the two. She had to say something to Ryan. Surely she’d realized her mother had gone missing, too.

  Before she could say something, Aunt Bobbi asked, “Is Eddie watching the game with the guys? I want to get ready to head back to Queens and he drove.”

  “No,” Vonnie said offering no speculation.

  Ryan looked up.

  “I was just looking for him so I can introduce him to Kevin. I can’t find him anywhere,” Nadine said.

  “Maybe he’s in the bathroom,” Aunt Bobbi said dismissively.

  “I checked all three of them. He’s not in any of them, but somebody dropped a load in the one downstairs. Um!” Nadine waved her hand in front of her nose.

  Ryan fidgeted, pulled out her phone and started texting. Vonnie knew she suspected the same thing.

  “Wait!” Nadine looked around at the women in the room. “Where’s that cool white lady?” She looked at Ryan, whose face was turning red. “Oh. No offense.” She pardoned herself before continuing. “Did Uncle Eddie run off with the white woman?”

  Vonnie closed her eyes and took another deep breath.

  “Lord, please tell me Eddie didn’t run off with that girl’s mama!” Aunt Bobbi sighed.

  Pearson giggled, took a sip of wine and sat up as if she didn’t want to miss the action. Nadalia looked like she was embarrassed for Ryan, who was texting frantically, her fingers flashing across the screen at lightning speed.

  After a moment she stood up, straightened her pencil skirt, which made her look even more narrow, and headed toward the den. Vonnie followed behind and watched her engage in a quick, but discreet discussion with Andy.

  “Vonnie,” Ryan said with a nervous chuckle, “thanks for inviting us. I’m going to head home. Andy will catch a ride with Nadalia and Sage.”

  All the women watched as Ryan put on her coat, grabbed her purse and keys and rushed out.

  Minutes later, Uncle Eddie waltzed through the front door, humming and patting his pot belly as an unlit cigar hung from his mouth. He smiled through lipstick stains.

  Now Vonnie was more connected to Ryan than she’d ever imagined.

  Chapter 9

  Nadalia

  The wind whirled as a car whipped down the street. Again—it wasn’t Sage. Nadalia stood in the window of her boudoir in a silk nightie and glanced back toward that clock. It was now after ten and she hadn’t heard from her husband since around lunchtime. He’d been working late for weeks while Nadalia was at home longing for even a smidgen of his attention.

  Fur season was here and business was booming for her too, but at least she managed to make it home at a reasonable time each night. She moved from the window—tore herself away from anticipating his arrival. When he did get home, he was usually too tired to bother anyway. Coming home, jumping in the shower, and passing out on the bed in boxers had become his routine. Back up at dawn, he’d shower again, splash a peck across her cheek on his way out and then, close the door on her loneliness. Nadalia would be lucky to get in a 10 minute phone conversation during the day, without hearing, “I’m running into a meeting,” or the emptiness of, “Can I call you back, babe?”

  It was the same each year, but this time she had trouble dealing.

  “I’m not going to cry!” she coached herself, holding her head high as she climbed into the bed that had grown cold. Unable to fall asleep, Nadalia pulled back the covers, sat up and looked around: The soft lighting, French linens, sheers hanging alongside the custom bed, and the painting of her in a white flowing nightie with Sage positioned behind her, topless wearing silk lounge pants as he stared into her eyes—all seemed for naught.

  Nadalia pushed the covers aside, stood up, and with her arms folded across her chest, she paced.

  “Think, Dali.” She referred to herself by her mother’s pet name for her. “You can control anything—even the direction of your marriage.” She paced more before an idea struck her and settled her angst enough for her to get back to bed.

  Another car pushed through the night air and slowed. This time she knew it was Sage. The garage door groaned, and then shut its mouth. She scooted under the covers, closed her eyes and pretended to be asleep.

  Minutes later, she heard his muffled steps as he ascended the stairs and entered their bedroom. She could feel him standing over her for a moment, then, he walked into the bathroom.

  Nadalia lay awake and listened to him shower until his phone rang. The caller tried again. She lifted her head, listening for the shower water; Sage didn’t seem to hear the phone.

  Nadalia looked at the clock – it was almost midnight. Who would be calling at this time? Tipping toward the items he’d just discarded, Nadalia fumbled through the dark and pulled his cell phone from his pants.

  Coffey Davis lit up the screen and Nadalia released the breath that she was holding as her hand went to her heart. Alarm struck her again, assuming that if Coffey was calling at this time, there might be an emergency. Nadalia ran with the phone and burst into the bathroom, startling Sage.

  “Babe. Coffey’s calling. He called more than once. It woke me up,” she stammered. “I thought it might be important.”

  Sage sighed with relief. “I thought something had happened.” He waved his hand dismissively. “I can call Coffey back when I get out of the shower.”

  “It’s late. Something could be wrong.”

  “I just left him. He’s probably just calling to make sure I got in okay.”

  Nadalia stood stark straight. “I was sitting here waiting on you all night, thinking you were working and you were out gallivanting with Coffey? You could have called or something.” Nadalia stood with one hand on her hip and his phone dangling from the other. She felt like throwing it into the commode.

  “I was working, babe.” Sage turned the shower off and stepped out. “Coffey is being courted by some other networks so he’s in town for negotiations.” Toweling off, Sage headed back to the bedroom with Nadalia in tow. “My company is working with his team on his branding to get the best set up for him. We discussed the plans over dinner and had a few drinks. Not to mention, they shut down one of the tubes on the Midtown tunnel for overnight construction so traffic was horrendous. That’s what took me so long to get home.”

  Nadalia narrowed her eyes. She wasn’t sure she believed him.

  “I was the only one who had to drive a distance, so I told them I’d call Coffey when I got in. He’s probably wondering what happened.”

  Nadalia continued to eye him as he dried off and then stepped into his boxers. She looked for any signs that would indicate whether he was lying. “Well call him back and let him know you’re fine,” she said, holding out the phone.

  Sage looked at her with creased brows, reached for the phone and dialed Coffey’s number. “What’s up, man?” He kept his eyes on Nadalia, standing with her hands on both hips. “Traffic was crazy…yeah.” Sage laughed. “Yeah man…I know…” Nadalia was still staring in his face. “Well, Nadalia said to tell you hello…I will…cool…later, man.” Sage ended the call, walked into the bedroom, and toss
ed the phone into the fluffy pile of covers on the bed. “You happy now?” he said to Nadalia.

  Nadalia rolled her eyes and got in bed. Sage snuggled behind her and fell right off to sleep.

  Chapter 10

  Nadalia

  As expected, Sage was gone before dawn. Again, Nadalia pretended to be sleeping when he kissed her goodbye. Between Sage’s snoring and her mulling over their lack of romance, Nadalia had tossed the entire night. Her sleeplessness showed up in the deep crevices around her eyes. It had been years since she’d taken a day off, but today, she needed the break.

  “Hey, Sweetie,” her mother, Mina, sang into the phone when she called.

  Mina had rid her tongue of her Armenian accent a long time ago when she started the company. Mina and her sister, Sona, wanted to be taken seriously when they launched their business rather than risk sounding like naïve immigrants.

  “Hey, Mom! I’m exhausted I’m going to take a day off.”

  “Dali! Are you sick?”

  “No.” She thought about telling her mother more, but refrained. “Just tired. I’ve got a lot on my plate.”

  “Yeah. It gets so busy around the holidays. Get your rest. We will be fine. You know, some famous reverend is bringing his wife in today to be fitted for a coat. He heard about us through Sanders. You know, Dayton, who used to play for the Cowboys?” She didn’t give Nadalia a chance to answer. “She loved the coat we did for Dayton’s wife last winter, and now she wants something designed for herself.”

  “That’s cool! I have the girls working on a coat for one of the wives for Christmas.”

  “Oh! Nice. Which one?”

  “Ryan.”

  “That’s the petite one, right? Her husband is that actor?”

  “Yes. That’s the one.”

  “Oh! He’s a real looker.”