“Uh-huh,” she said when he paused. “English translation, please?”
“Oh.” Julian chuckled as he poured the drinks he had just mixed into the margarita glasses. “Sometimes I forget to turn the geekiness volume down when I leave work.”
“Don’t worry. I think your inner geek is sexy.”
He laughed and took his time to explain motion capture to her in language she could understand. Then they clinked their glasses together. “How was dinner with the girls?” he asked as he took a sip.
“Fun enough.”
He frowned. “That’s it?”
“Well, they’re both having marriage problems. With Charmaine it’s maybe not so surprising, since she’s on her fourth marriage. But Evelyn and Kevin are going through some stuff. It was a real shock to hear that.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever heard you talk about them having problems. Still, all couples do, now and then. It’s probably not serious.”
Beverly grimaced, unconvinced. “Things are more iffy than I’ve ever seen with them. Kevin is acting strange. It’s like he’s going through some kind of dude menopause.”
Julian frowned. “Example?”
“He quit his job.”
“Whoa. For real?”
“Yep. He’s working at Blockbuster.”
Julian whistled sharply. “Sounds like he’s burned out or something if he took a job at Blockbuster.”
Beverly shrugged. “Maybe. Evelyn didn’t go into a lot of detail and I didn’t want to push. But yeah, that’s a pretty drastic change, whatever the reason.”
Julian nodded thoughtfully. “I can’t imagine doing something like that.”
“And that’s not all. He shaved his head. As in bald. You know, naked up there.” Beverly pointed to her head.
“Okay, so something is going on with him. Wonder what it is.”
Beverly shrugged. “I have no idea, but don’t you ever get stupid like that on me.”
Julian blinked. “What does that mean?”
“You heard me. Don’t you ever go getting all weird on me like that. I don’t care how old you get.”
“Where is this coming from? And what makes you think I’d do that?”
“If it can happen to Evelyn and Kevin, it could happen to anyone.”
“It won’t happen to us,” he said firmly.
“I’m not saying it will, but I’m putting you on notice now.” She shook her forefinger at him. “You ain’t allowed to do stuff like that after we’re married.”
“If Kevin really is going through some kind of midlife crisis, as serious as it sounds, it could be chemical or hormonal, you know? Not much you can do about that.”
Beverly shook her head in disagreement. “You can do plenty about the way you handle it. You don’t have to be an ass. Women go through physical and emotional stuff when they get older, but we don’t pull crazy stunts like quitting our jobs and shaving our heads, do we? I would never do something like that.”
Julian was silent for a moment. Then he walked up to her slowly, took her drink out of her hand, and placed both drinks on the kitchen table. He took Beverly by the hands and pulled her up out of her seat and into his arms.
“What do you say we take our drinks upstairs and jump in the shower together. Let me take your mind off all this.”
The last thing Beverly was thinking about at that very second was anything having to do with sex. She pushed his arms away. “Stop treating me like a child. You’re not even paying attention to what I’m saying.”
“No, I’m not.”
“So you admit you’re ignoring me.”
“Yeah, I do. Because this isn’t about us. That’s Evelyn and Kevin and their stuff. And I’m sorry about it and I hope they work things out and all, but it’s not going to happen to us. So there’s no point in obsessing about it.”
“I’m not obsessing. I’m just talking. There are some valuable lessons for us to learn in this.”
“Okay, fine. So we learned something, and you made your point. Can we please move past it?” He put his arms back around her. “Those cutoff jeans you’re wearing always turn me on.”
Beverly felt her muscles relax as she stood in Julian’s arms. He had a point. She was all worked up about something that hadn’t even happened to them, and maybe it never would. For all she knew, Evelyn and Kevin could have made up by now.
She allowed herself a small sly smile as she reached up and removed Julian’s eyeglasses. “That’s why I wore them,” she said as she placed the glasses on the table beside her. “That’s exactly what I wanted to do.”
“Now that’s how I like to hear my woman talk.” He kissed her on the side of the neck and tickled her behind the ear with the tip of his tongue. She moaned softly.
“What you got on under them shorts?” he whispered. “One of my little thong numbers?”
She reached around, guided his hand down toward her waistline, and whispered back. “Why don’t you make it your business to find out?”
“I don’t think I’m going to make it upstairs at this point,” he said as he undid the button and zipper to her jeans. He eased her toward the countertop. “You good right here?”
“I’m good anywhere,” she whispered hoarsely.
He deftly slid her shorts and underwear off and hoisted her up. Before Beverly knew what was happening, he was sliding in. She couldn’t even remember when he had shed his jeans. All she could think about was how good it felt and how all her worries had quickly vanished. She wrapped her legs around him and moaned loudly.
They dropped to the floor with him on top of her. Whether it was the drinks, her frustration with the news coming from her sisters, his long day at work, or other things entirely, they both came fast and hard. Beverly trembled and gasped for air, the release as welcome as a cold splash of water on a blistering summer day.
He rolled off her and they lay side by side. He reached out, pulled her toward him, and wrapped his arm around her. She snuggled against his chest. She loved the natural musky scent of his body.
Moments like these made Beverly feel that all was right with their little corner of the world. Julian was so special that together the two of them could conquer anything that might come their way. She knew that the feelings they shared for each other would change over time, but she could look forward to the future with a good man like Julian at her side.
Bring it on, she thought with a smile. Together we can handle it.
Chapter 13
Sunday was church day for Charmaine and her family, and following the service, she decided to have a leisurely soak in the tub. That was something she rarely did, preferring instead to hop in and out quickly. But the previous week had been a rarity in itself, and she needed a moment to relax and reflect quietly. The bathroom was the only room in the house where she could be sure she wouldn’t be interrupted.
She leaned back in the tub and thought about Tyrone’s behavior on Friday. It had really thrown Charmaine off guard. And when he took off with Tiffany yesterday afternoon with a simple “See you later,” this had knocked her silly. They hadn’t said much more to each other when he and Tiffany returned home from their shopping spree well after dark. Ditto all through church that morning.
Still, she had arrived home from dinner with Beverly and Evelyn in fairly good spirits and was feeling much more introspective. Even though she didn’t like some of the things Evelyn had said about seeing Tyrone’s side in all of this, she found herself questioning some of her actions. Had she been understanding, patient, and forgiving enough? Maybe not. And if she wanted her marriage to have a chance, she needed to do and be all of those things.
She sat up straight in the tub and decided that she would get dressed and go down to the study where Tyrone likely was at that moment and suggest to him that they bury their differences from the past couple of days and start fresh. She was willing to forgive and forget if he was.
Before she could even stand up, Tyrone opened the door, marched into th
e bathroom, and stood in the middle of the floor.
“We’re going to the roller skating rink,” he said, looking down at her.
Whoa, Charmaine thought. What was with all the attitude? “Who’s we?” she asked, frowning up at him in puzzlement.
“Me and Tiffany.”
Charmaine blinked. He hadn’t thought to ask what she might have planned for today after church, or what she might have in mind for this evening. There was no family discussion, no husband-and-wife chat, no compromising, no nothing. Skating was likely what Tiffany and Daddy had decided they wanted, and skating was what Tiffany and Daddy were going to get. Everyone else be damned.
“What about Kenny?” Charmaine asked, trying to tamp down the rage building inside her.
“You’re both welcome to join us if you’d like,” Tyrone said stiffly.
Charmaine gritted her teeth. And she was supposed to be patient with this? She didn’t say a word, not trusting herself to speak without exploding. She just sat and stared at the water. How the hell did he think he could just walk in here and tell her what they were going to do after church? Not suggest. Tell. And he had the nerve to act as if he was doing her a favor to invite Kenny and her to join them.
During that long pause, Charmaine remembered her sisters’ advice, remembered church that morning, and found a smidgen of tolerance from deep within her soul. After all, Tyrone was a good husband and stepfather most of the time. Somehow she had to reach the better part of this man.
She cleared her throat and spoke softly. “Maybe you aren’t aware of it, but Kenny isn’t crazy about roller skating. Why don’t we do something both of the kids will enjoy? Like a movie?”
“I already promised Tiffany that we would go skating and I don’t like to break my promises to her.”
“Well, what the hell did you go and do that for without even talking to your wife and stepson to see what we wanted? Aren’t we supposed to be a family?” Charmaine could feel every ounce of patience evaporating from her pores.
Tyrone sighed. “Why can’t you understand where I’m coming from? I only get to see Tiffany a few times a year. When she’s here, I like to indulge her. That’s what I always did when it was just the two of us. That’s what she’s used to.”
“Well, it’s not just the two of you anymore. Don’t you get that? We’re all part of a family now. And families plan things together. They compromise. It can’t be all about one person every day for two months.”
“The relationship between you and me is so new for her. She needs time to accept that her daddy is married to someone besides her mom. I worry what too much change to our routine could do to her mentally and emotionally. Maybe I shouldn’t but—”
“Do you ever think about what catering to her all the time will do to her mentally and emotionally?” Charmaine interjected. “Or what ignoring Kenny will do to him?”
Tyrone threw his arms in the air. “Kenny is fine. He’s with us all year round.”
She stood abruptly and reached for her bath towel. That was it. To hell with being patient. She tied the towel around herself and stepped out of the tub. “Did you give any thought to how Kenny feels about having a new stepfather move in on him and his family? Huh? Have you thought about that? He’s had to make adjustments too, and I resent that you’re so quick to brush his feelings aside.”
Tyrone took an angry step toward her. “Don’t you fucking tell me I’m brushing his feelings aside. I worked hard to develop a good relationship with him and Russell. Even you said that they’ve done a good job of adjusting to me.”
“Part of the reason they have is that I insisted on it,” she snapped back as she walked away from him and into the bedroom. “I insisted that they accept you at our family outings and think of you as a part of us. Tiffany will never make that adjustment if you let her think she doesn’t need to accept us. Or let her pretend that things haven’t changed in your life when they have.”
“I don’t have all the answers,” he said, following her out of the bath. “I just know that it’s hard for her because she’s away from home.”
“Kids are stronger than you give them credit for, Tyrone. She’s tougher than you realize.” Charmaine picked up a bottle of lotion from the dresser and applied some to her arms.
“I think I know my daughter,” he snapped. “I know what she can deal with.”
“Is this about your daughter or is it about you and your guilt?”
He frowned. “What do you mean, my guilt?”
“Oh, come on,” she said. “It’s obvious that you feel guilty for letting her mother move back to Oakland to be with her family when Tiffany was two and you-all broke up.”
“Is that so horrible?”
“No, I just wonder why you didn’t move to Oakland a long time ago if you miss her so much.”
“It just didn’t work out that way.”
“Fine, but to put me and Kenny through all this now is wrong. If it was just me, maybe I could go along with it, even though I still wouldn’t agree with the way you indulge her all the time. But not when Kenny is involved.”
Tyrone stomped toward the door. “Suit yourself. I’m done trying to get you to understand. Like I said, we’re going to the rink.”
“Do what you want. We won’t be joining you.”
He walked out and slammed the door, and she stared after him, eyes wide with dismay. She couldn’t believe how stubborn and irrational he was being. It was as if an evil force had entered their home, snatched her husband away, and left this strange being in his place.
She grabbed the bottle of lotion from her dresser, dumped a generous amount in the palms of her hands, and sat on the bed to apply it to her legs. All she could think about was the horrible luck she had at picking men. Her first marriage had lasted less than a year. They were both in their early twenties—young and horny—and when the sex began to get dull, so did their lives together. Then came Kenny’s father. She had never married him, and he ran faster than a professional sprinter when she told him she was pregnant.
After that it was the lying, mooching waste of human flesh named Clarence. Clarence could be funny and charming when he wanted, and she had stayed with him longer than anyone else. But he couldn’t keep a job, and she soon realized that he was lying almost every time he opened his mouth. She ended up kicking his ass out when she couldn’t take his trifling ways any longer.
Following her divorce from Clarence she married Oliver, and quickly realized that he had about as much financial sense as a baboon. The man couldn’t keep a buck in his pocket, and financial security was important to Charmaine. That marriage also lasted barely a year. She thought she had finally gotten it right with Tyrone. Now she had to wonder.
Evelyn paced the floor of her bedroom in shorts and her gardening shoes as she listened patiently to Rebecca on her cordless telephone. Against her wishes, the night before, Kevin had called the kids and told them about the separation, and Rebecca was taking the news hard. When she had spoken to Andre that morning just before church, he claimed that he could see it coming months ago, and maybe that was the truth, since he lived nearby in Baltimore. But Rebecca was at college several hundred miles away in Atlanta and had been attending summer school there. She was completely blindsided.
When Evelyn arrived home from church and checked her voice mail after changing into her gardening clothes, there were three frantic messages from her daughter asking what was going on. Evelyn had called Rebecca back immediately and now could barely get a word in edgewise. It had been years since she’d heard Rebecca whine like a child. And although Rebecca didn’t come right out and say it, Evelyn sensed that her daughter blamed her mom more than she did her dad.
“You can be so rigid sometimes,” Rebecca said, her voice thick with frustration. “You want everything to be perfect.”
Evelyn listened in silence. Inside she was seething. How dare Kevin go ahead and tell the children about the separation when he had agreed to wait. And on top of that, he had ma
de it seem like the separation was all her fault.
She tightened her lips as Rebecca continued to rant. As soon as Rebecca paused, Evelyn assured her that she had been extremely tolerant as Kevin changed over the past several months. She tried to avoid making Kevin look bad, since she knew that Rebecca adored her father. But it was tough not to cast some blame on the man when he was being a total asshole about their problems every chance he got.
She hung up after she had calmed Rebecca down, then sank into the armchair next to the bed and leaned back on the small silken pillow. It had been a week since Kevin walked out of the house. This was the first time that she had gone for so long without seeing her husband. When one of them had traveled on business in the past, it had never been for more than a few days at a time, and they were in constant contact with each other, calling and e-mailing daily. Even over the past several rough weeks, there had been daily contact, however scant. To go without any contact whatsoever for days at a time left her feeling unbalanced.
As exasperated as she was with Kevin’s strange and inconsiderate behavior, she was used to having him around and missed him something awful. Whenever she allowed herself a moment to think what it would be like as a single or divorced woman, a part of her panicked. She had gotten married in her twenties and it was all she had ever known as a woman. She liked being a Mrs. She liked seeing the wedding ring on her finger.
She held her hand out at arm’s length and studied the platinum and diamond jewel gracing her finger. She thought about how happy she was when they went to pick it out. She rarely noticed the ring after the first year or so of her marriage. Now it seemed like a treasure chest full of memories.
She lowered her hand and reached back for the pillow. She clutched it tightly in her arms and reminded herself that she had agreed to wait for him to contact her. Of all the things Kevin had done lately, probably the oddest was his reluctance to call. It was as if he had developed a sudden aversion to her. As if he didn’t want to have anything to do with her for fear that she would somehow tarnish him. She didn’t understand it at all, and it hurt her so much.
Sisters and Husbands Page 9