His Last Name

by Daaimah S. Poole

  “I knew we had a connection. We both have daddy issues.”

  She was somewhat right, but I didn’t want to relate.

  “That’s why I picked the best father I thought I could for my child. RJ was a good man—until about two years ago. Once upon a time, I couldn’t pay him to leave my side. When I had Alexandria, he slept in the hospital bed with me. He would go on the road, do his shows, film his movies, and then he’d rush home. He would practice in the mirror with me. I helped him come up with his catchphrase ‘You know know.’ I’m the one who told him to get t-shirts made and sweatshirts with all his sayings on it, and now this little chihuahua is living my life. And he treats me like his enemy, like we were never in love.” She began to cry, and I tried to comfort her.

  “Morgan, you will find someone like that again. Or maybe he will come back.”

  She stopped crying and then became so angry she began to throw things. “I hoped and prayed he would come back home and he hasn’t, and now I don’t care. I don’t want him back, and I don’t like any of these weird men in L.A. Most of these men out here are gay or only like blondes. If it was up to me, I would go home to Detroit, but my custody agreement requires me to keep residency in Los Angeles.”

  I understood her pain, but I was certain she was crazy after that rant.

  “Tina,” Morgan called.

  Ms. Tina, her personal chef and housekeeper, came running upstairs.

  “Yes, Mrs. Coleman.”

  “I’m hungry. I want a turkey and cheese on rye. Cut off the corners. I want mustard on it, and make sure all of the meat is folded neatly facing left on my sandwich.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “Do you want her to fix you anything, Adrienne?”

  “No, I’m okay.”

  Tina walked back down the stairs to prepare spoiled-rotten Morgan’s food.

  “Oh, Adrienne, I didn’t get my invitation for the CGA Gala. Contact them immediately.” Morgan’s phone was sitting right beside her, but it made her feel important to have someone else making her phone calls for her.

  “Okay.” I called the number written on the slip of paper she handed me. “Good afternoon. I’m Morgan Coleman’s assistant and she hasn’t received her invitation for your annual gala . . .”

  “Let me check,” the voice on the other end said.

  She placed me on hold and then returned back to the call. “Yes. Unfortunately, her ex-husband has reserved his table. He is the guest speaker, and we didn’t want a conflict of interest. However, she is still welcome to donate. Take care.”

  “Okay. Thank you.” I hung up from the call, and Morgan was looking directly in my face.

  “So, what did they say?”

  “It is a conflict of interest because your ex-husband is their guest speaker this year.”

  “See? I told you. He wants to ruin me. He owns everything and everybody. I hate him.”

  CHAPTER 36

  Monique

  “Dele, I’m not hiding you. It is just a certain level of respect I have to have for my son. I’m single. I can do whatever I want . . . but that’s my child. He’s not going to be able to understand that his mommy is having sex with his teammate . . .”

  “You will have to tell him. I’m not going to tolerate all of this hiding for much longer. Monique, I want to be with you.”

  “No, I am not telling him anything. First of all, I didn’t know London was going to turn into all of this.”

  “Well, it has. Now what are you going to do? Are you going to keep hiding me and leaving me in the middle of the night? Or will you allow me to present you to the world as my woman?”

  “I don’t know what to say. Yeah, you want to be with me right now. This week, on Thursday, maybe even in three months . . . but who’s to say that you will want to be with me in two years? This is new, it’s temporary; my relationship with Kadir is forever.”

  “I am temporary? Really?” Dele shot out of the bed and cursed in French—something he always did when he was upset. He looked sexy when he was upset. It actually turned me on. I let him vent. He waved his hand at me dismissively and walked into his bathroom. I heard the shower turn on, and I wanted to get in with him. Instead, I started to get dressed, because I had to beat Kadir home. I was a grown woman who couldn’t even spend the night with her lover. I didn’t have a choice, because he was already suspicious of my late nights and early mornings.

  Before I was fully dressed, a calmer Dele emerged from the bathroom with an extra wide mint-green towel wrapped around his waist. He sat next to me on the bed and pulled me into his arms. His body was still warm and damp from the shower. I couldn’t lie to myself. I was falling in love with Dele, too. I just didn’t know what to do about it.

  “I just don’t like hiding, Monique. It is not right. We have nothing to be ashamed of.”

  “Put yourself in his shoes, Dele. How would you feel if your teammate was dating your mother?”

  “My mother is much older and still married to my father, so it would not happen. Our situation is very different.”

  I shook my head at him. No matter how many times I explained it to him, he did not get it. I was frustrated and ready to leave until he held me down on the bed and pulled my pants down and snatched my panties off. He pushed his thick moist tongue along and inside of every crease and opening of my pussy.

  “Take your hands off of me,” I demanded. “Let me up, Dele. Stop. We have to talk about this.”

  “Don’t tell me what to do. There is nothing to discuss. It’s mine. You’re mine, and I’m not hiding anymore.” I tried to sit up. But he cupped my butt cheeks with his hands and forced me back down. I could not resist him anymore. I grabbed his head then the pillow to muffle my scream of ecstasy.

  After, I released into his mouth. He flipped me over and plowed himself into my juicy pussy. I think he tried to fuck me into submission. Honestly, it almost may have worked, but I knew I had to go home no matter what.

  Kadir’s car wasn’t in the driveway, but Carl’s was. I walked into my house, and I saw boxes and a bunch of his clothes. I ran up the steps, walked into my bedroom, and saw he was stretched out in my bed, asleep.

  I shook him and shouted, “Carl, get up! What are you doing here?”

  He jumped up. I hadn’t meant to startle him, but he needed to get up out of my bed.

  “I wanted to talk to you. I’ve been thinking a lot about us.” I hoped he couldn’t smell the scent of another man on me.

  “Have you?”

  “Mo, you were right. I should be enjoying life. I was at my job earlier today listening to people complaining about bills and their kids. Then I started thinking to myself. I don’t have those problems. My son is great, and I’m blessed. I called Kadir and he told me he wanted me to be down here with y’all and to just to quit and go fish every day and take vacations. The truth is, we don’t know when we’re going to go, so we should live every day like it’s our last. That’s why I want to move back in. I love you and want to work it out with you.”

  “You do?” I asked, surprised. “I don’t know, Carl.”

  I was trying to find the right words. How was I going to tell him that I didn’t want to be with him anymore?

  “I think you should stay in Philly. I mean, if you want to come down here and visit, you can. But you said we should take a break and I agreed. Now you can’t just come back and say you want me.”

  “I do want you.”

  “Well, I want you to sleep in the guest room.”

  “What’s up with you, Mo? What, have you met someone else already?”

  “No, but I don’t want to rush back into anything. I need my space. Everything you said was right. We aren’t a couple anymore. You can stay here, but I’m going to bed.”

  * * *

  The next morning CeCe called me. I was halfway asleep, but I still answered the phone, only to hear CeCe say, “I talked to Carl. He’s upset. He called me and my mom this morning. And he said you won’t take him back.�
��

  “What? He broke up with me. Why is he calling y’all?”

  “My mom is upset and wants you two to be together and finally get married.”

  “I’ll call Mom Laura later. What did he say?”

  “That he quit his job to be with you and Kadir, and you told him to go back to Philly.”

  “CeCe, it’s too late.”

  “Too late? What’s going on? Why?”

  I detected a bit of anger in CeCe’s voice.

  “It’s my turn to live my life. Cee, I’m thirty-eight years old, and I have been tied down for more than half of my life. Carl said he wants to live in Philly and he wanted us to be apart. I didn’t want that, but I agreed. Now, I come home and all his stuff is in my house. What type of craziness is this?”

  “Not too long ago, you wanted him there . . . but now you don’t. So, who is he? Or is it a she?”

  “CeCe, stop playing. It’s not funny . . .”

  “I’m serious, you are dealing with someone. It’s obvious. You’re never home and you don’t return my calls. You have plans, but can’t tell me who it is with. Now Carl quit his job and you don’t want him to stay. Tell me who it is.”

  “I can’t.”

  “So there is someone else.”

  “Maybe.”

  “Tell me.”

  “I can’t, Cee. I’ll talk to you soon.”

  CHAPTER 37

  Adrienne

  Morgan Coleman is Queen Cray. One moment, she was happy. Next, she was crying. Alexandria knew her routine. She would go into her room until Mommy got better and took her medicine. Tina makes her the food she wants, cleans, and does it all by tiptoeing around the house and walking under the radar. If Tina puts a little too much seasoning on her chicken or adds eight ice cubes instead of seven, Morgan will go off and cuss her out for days. I felt sorry for them.

  On this particular day, Morgan got up yelling, saying, “Fuck my life!” because she chipped her nail and her trainer cancelled on her.

  I picked up my phone immediately to find her another trainer who would come to the house. But then Alexandria came into her mother’s room and ruined the day even more.

  “Mom, I want to go Dad’s wedding.”

  And then it all made sense. Morgan was going psycho because her ex was getting married.

  “You want to go to what? How dare you want to be present for that snake and dog’s wedding?”

  “I already told him I was coming.”

  “Alexandria. Call him back right now and tell him you are not coming.”

  “But Mom, I’m in the wedding. And he’s on his way.”

  “You really want me to go crazy, right? Do you want to push me over the edge? He left me, and now you want to do the same damn thing? Leave if you want to go.”

  “Mom, I’m not leaving you,” she said.

  “You are, but it is okay. He is trying to take you from me. I know he is.”

  “I’m coming back. I’m going to go to the wedding and then come right back. Why do you want me to choose? Why can’t I love you and him?”

  “Why would you want to love a no-good motherfucker. He doesn’t love you. If he loved you, he wouldn’t have left your mother. He would respect your mother.”

  “He has respect for you.”

  “We don’t need him. It’s us against the world. Not just your dad. Everybody. I’m asking you not to leave me. Please.”

  Her guilt trip wasn’t effective on her daughter.

  Alexandria huffed as she left the room. “I can’t wait until I turn eighteen.”

  “What did you say?” Morgan asked as she followed Alexandria down the hall.

  “Nothing.”

  Alexandria called her father and put the call on speaker. “Hello, Daddy. Mommy said I can’t come. Sorry.”

  He started saying something, but Morgan instructed her to hang up on him, and she did.

  “Adrienne, call and book us a trip to Hawaii. I want five-star everything. My travel agent’s number is in my phone. Alexandria, we will go shopping when we get there.”

  I went downstairs and dialed the travel agent. She was so excited when I said I wanted to book a trip for Morgan Coleman. After I gave her Morgan’s credit card number, I walked down the steps only to see the infamous RJ Coleman in the flesh. He was the star of some funny movies, in which he always played a nice guy. The man who was standing in front of me was angry and considerably shorter in person. I had been waiting to casually run into him and slip him my script under different circumstances, but this wasn’t the time to slip him anything.

  “Who are you?”

  Before I could answer, Morgan came down the steps with her robe on.

  “Didn’t I tell you? You are not allowed in my home.”

  “I pay for this shit. I’ll come in if I want to. Where is my daughter, and who is this?’

  “That’s my assistant.”

  “You don’t have a job, so why do you need an assistant? And why did you tell my daughter she couldn’t come to my wedding?”

  “Because she is getting ready to go on vacation!” Morgan screamed. “So leave!”

  “I’m here, and I’m taking my daughter with me.”

  “Mom, can I please go with my dad?” Alexandria asked from the top of the steps.

  “No, because he will take you around that bitch and her bastard baby.”

  “Alexandria, come here, baby, come give Daddy a hug. Sorry you have to go through this.”

  Alexandria ran past her mom to go and hug her father.

  “You need to stop this dumb shit, Morgan. You are putting her through too much.”

  “That’s you. I hate your ass. I hate you. Get the hell out of my house.”

  She ran down the steps and snatched her daughter away from RJ. He was pulling her in one direction, and she pulled her in another.

  “Stop, Mom! Stop it,” she cried. “I love you, and I love Daddy. I’m going, Mom, but that doesn’t mean I don’t love you.”

  “I’ll bring her back on Sunday.”

  Morgan ran up the stairs and began to cry. I didn’t know what to say; not only had the love of her life moved on, but her daughter had accepted the woman he did it with.

  Hours later all I heard my name being screamed by Morgan. I entered her room and she was slumped on the sofa. “Dial Alexandria’s number. I need to check on my child. I know she really doesn’t want to be at that wedding.” I dialed Alexandria’s cell phone and when she answered, I placed the phone up to Morgan’s ear.

  “Hey, how’s everything? I wanted to apologize.” She paused and then continued and said, “Is Grandmom Julia there? . . . And Uncle Fred? . . . Oh, tell them I said hello . . . So, where is everyone staying? . . . A private mansion? . . . Oh, is the wedding there, too? . . . Malibu? That’s nice . . . The Bel-Air Bay Club? . . . I love you, Alexandria. Have fun. I will see you when you come home . . .” She hung up wearing a sneaky grin and immediately made another call. She put the caller on speaker and I heard a woman answer, “TMZ tips.” Morgan told the gossip site the exact locations of RJ’s wedding. Then she was happy for about a minute and then began crying,

  “It is not fair. He’s an idiot. He’s marrying that woman and when he dies, he’s going to leave everything to her. And you know what happens to the first wife who was there from the beginning? We end up with nothing. That bitch will lock his own mother and father out of his house and leave my daughter penniless. That’s when everyone will say I was right. That she was nothing but a gold digger. And that’s what always happens. You notice that.” I looked at her tearstained face and agreed with her, and then decided it would probably be best to leave her alone with her thoughts. There was nothing I could say that would make her feel any better in that moment.

  I knew Morgan was tired and had a lot on her mind, but she hadn’t called my phone in a couple of hours, and that was very strange. I walked over to the main house from the guest house and it was eerily silent.

  “Hey, Ms. Tina. Has Morg
an been up?”

  “No, do you want me to wake her?”

  “Yeah, let’s check on her.” I hoped she hadn’t gone over the edge and swallowed an entire bottle of pills. The last thing I wanted to do was find her dead. I was scared to enter her room. Tina knocked three times and the door opened a little. I entered and shouted, “Morgan!”

  “Yes?” Morgan answered. She was sitting up curling her hair and smiling.

  “I knocked and you didn’t answer.”

  “Oh, yeah. Sorry. I was on the phone.”

  “Are you okay?” I asked.

  “You know, earlier was really difficult. It’s been the worst day of my life, actually. Yeah . . . but I’m over that. You know, it is just time for me to stop living in RJ’s shadow. It is time for me to declare to the world who I am. The last seventeen years I have been Mrs. RJ Coleman. I want to be Morgan Tucker again. Morgan Tucker was a motherfucker. Morgan Coleman? That bitch is weak, and well, that’s why I can’t be her anymore.”

  “Oh, okay,” I said, nodding along with Morgan’s insanity.

  “So I am going to announce to the world that I am Morgan Tucker. I want to have a celebration. I have a whole list, and I’m getting a team together to help change my life and let the world see me. I am my own star. I want to have a party in honor of me changing my last name from RJ’s back to my own. He can have it back. I’m going to make it on my own, and he will be so jealous.”

  Of course, Morgan was delusional. I highly doubted her ex would be jealous, but I followed her directions and began to plan her name change party.

  “You know, because he can have his last name back, I don’t want that shit. Fuck that last name, she can have that shit.” She paused and then said, “Do you ever hear that?”

  “Hear what?” I asked.

  “No, leave me alone.”

  I looked over at Tina she shook her head, crossed her heart, and mumbled something in Spanish.

  “Who do you want to leave you alone, Morgan?”

  “That voice. Don’t you hear it?” She stood up and said, “Stop laughing at me. I don’t care that he got married. I don’t give a fuck.” Then she swung at the air.