Bad Blood

by Mary Monroe

  “Uncle Albert, please stop crying! I know you don’t want me to come over there and give you something else to cry about. Everything is going to be all right.”

  Uncle Albert sniffed and blew his nose. “I don’t know what to do! This is the first time a man has ever hit me!”

  “Where is Kingston now?”

  “I don’t know where that fool is! He rode to the hospital with me and hung around until they patched me up, but before he left, he told me he wanted my black ass out of his life. That yellow motherfucker got some nerve calling me out my name! So, once they release me, I don’t have anyplace to go. And, with my leg in a cast, I’m going to have to take time off from work, so I can’t go out and look for another place to move into for a while. I’m going to be on crutches, so can I please stay with you and Seth?”

  As much as I wanted to hesitate and give this unexpected and intrusive request more consideration, I didn’t. There was no way I was going to turn my back on my uncle. There were times, like this one, when he made me so angry I wanted to slap him around myself. But he was probably the last person in the world I’d ever get violent with, no matter what he did or said.

  “You know you can stay with us. I’m sure Seth won’t mind. What about your stuff?”

  “That’s another thing. I need for you and Seth to go get every bit of my shit out of Kingston’s apartment and put it in storage for me. I know I’m asking for a lot, but I didn’t have anybody else to turn to. Can you come right away and pick me up?”

  “You can count on me and Seth. I’ll call you back as soon as I catch my breath. What hospital are you in?”

  After Uncle Albert gave me the name of the hospital, I hung up and called Seth at his office.

  “We’ve got a little problem,” I told him as soon as he answered.

  He hesitated for a few moments before he asked me, “What problem is that?”

  “Uncle Albert and his boyfriend got into a serious confrontation. Kingston got violent with my uncle and kicked him out of the apartment.”

  “And how is that a problem for us?”

  “Uncle Albert fell during the fight and broke his leg.”

  “Your uncle is over six feet tall and weighs close to two hundred pounds. He let that hundred-and-twenty-pound Japanese dude whup his ass?”

  “That hundred-and-twenty-pound Japanese dude is into all kinds of martial arts. Anyway, Uncle Albert is going to need a place to recuperate until he can find another place to live. Is it okay if he stays with us?” One thing I had managed to do since I’d met Seth was to keep my volatile temper in check. I prayed that I would never show him, or anybody else, the side of myself that I had been hiding so well. If he disagreed with what I’d just said, I might lose it, and then he and I would have a serious confrontation of our own.

  Seth responded immediately and favorably, even though it was with a heavy, worried tone of voice. “Well, if Albert needs a place to stay, we have to help him. You do know that a broken leg can take several weeks to heal, right? Maybe even a couple of months.”

  “I know. And he wants us to go to the apartment and pack up his stuff and put it in storage. He gave away his furniture when he moved in with Kingston, so all he has is clothes, books, and his computer. We can put everything in our spare bedroom.”

  “You mean the room we have set up as an office?”

  “I can move my computer into our bedroom or into the kitchen, so I don’t have a problem with that. But I know that with all your files and other things, you really need the space. So, uh, could you use your old bedroom in your mama’s house as an office for a while?”

  “I suppose I could,” Seth said dryly. “What about his expenses? He drinks like a fish, so his alcohol bill must be mighty high. He eats like a mule, and I know he’ll be using a lot of utilities and whatnot.”

  “I’ll make sure he pays his way. I don’t know how much he’ll be getting from disability, but I’m sure he’ll get enough to cover his food and other expenses.”

  “What about his car note?”

  “Oh. I forgot about that new SUV he just bought.”

  “I’m sure he’ll want to pay that and his insurance before he thinks about paying a light bill.”

  “I’ll take care of his car note and insurance myself if I have to,” I said. “He’s family, Seth.”

  “And another thing. Albert is a party animal. I’m sure he’ll be having a lot of company running in and out.”

  “I know. We’ll set some rules, which he’ll have to follow,” I said firmly. “I just don’t want to let him down after all he did for me when I moved out here. And if it gets too crowded, or if his presence gets to be too much for you, well, I’ll think of something else.”

  “Let’s finish this conversation when I get home. I’ll be leaving in about half an hour.”

  “I’m going to change clothes and go to the hospital where they took Uncle Albert and bring him here. I’ll get one of my neighbors to drive me over to get his SUV and park it over here. Do you want me to wait until you get home so you can go with me?”

  Seth didn’t waste any time answering my question. “No!” he boomed. “Excuse me for hollering. . . .”

  “To tell you the truth, I feel like doing some hollering myself. I know it’s not going to be easy having Uncle Albert under the same roof, following our house rules and such, but I can’t turn him away.”

  “I know you can’t, Rachel.”

  “Is there anything you want me to tell him before I bring him here? I don’t want the first day to be too awkward for him, or you.”

  “Tell him we’ve got his back,” Seth said gently.

  “Thanks, baby. I knew you’d understand. I promise you that this will be a very temporary arrangement, and I’ll make sure it’s as painless as possible.”

  Chapter 8

  Rachel

  I ALREADY KNEW THAT MAMA THOUGHT I HAD MADE A LOT OF STUPID decisions, so when she told me what a fool I was for moving Uncle Albert in with me and Seth, I was not surprised.

  “Girl, you are a straight-up fool! Do you want to lose Seth? How long do you think he’s going tolerate having Albert in that apartment with you and him?” Mama yelled. I had waited until Uncle Albert had been with us for two weeks before I’d even told her about his dilemma. “As long as he’s been out there, don’t he have friends he could move in with?”

  “Mama, he’s got a lot of friends, and I’m sure he’ll probably go stay with one of them as soon as he can. He just needs a place to stay in the meantime.”

  “What if one of his friends don’t take him in? What if he’s still there when you and Seth get married?”

  “Mama, I am not sure when Seth and I are going to get married. Uh, we’ve changed the date twice.”

  “Uh-huh. And with Albert in the mix, you might have to change it again.”

  “If we change the date again, I’m sure it won’t be because of Uncle Albert, Mama. Uncle Albert has already been here a couple of weeks, and Seth has not complained about him one time.”

  “Well, like I been telling you all your life, you sure make a lot of dumb decisions.”

  “I know I do, Mama.”

  Unfortunately, my meddlesome girlfriends felt the same way. Right after my conversation with Mama last night, I called up Lucille “Lucy” Foster, my best friend and coworker, and told her about my new living arrangement.

  “What’s wrong with you, girl? And what’s wrong with Seth for letting you move Albert in?”

  “In case you forgot, it’s my apartment. My name is the only one on the lease. Seth has no right to tell me who I can move in here and who I can’t,” I snapped. “And for your information, Seth agreed to this arrangement.”

  “I’m just afraid you bit off more than you can chew. You have enough stress in your life. I mean, you’re busier than ever at work. You have a wedding coming up. Now you’ve moved your hard-partying, hard-drinking gay uncle into your apartment. I honestly don’t see how it’s going to work out
.”

  “Uncle Albert is going to stay only a little while, and Seth and I will be at work during the day, every day.”

  “All right now. You know I’m here for you, so if you need somebody to talk to, just give me a call.”

  “Thanks, Lucy.”

  An hour after my conversation with Lucy, my other two close friends, Paulette and Patrice, stormed my apartment. I was glad I had dropped Uncle Albert off at the salon around the corner to get his nails done.

  “Girl, Lucy told us you’ve moved Albert in with you and Seth. Have you lost your mind?” Patrice hollered before I could even close the door behind them.

  “You are not responsible for your uncle. He’s a grown man,” Paulette added, already heading for the portable bar.

  Since neither one allowed me enough time to respond, I just stood in the middle of the floor with my arms folded.

  “How long do you think Seth is going to put up with Albert’s antics?” Patrice asked, joining Paulette at the bar.

  “It’s going to be for only a few more weeks,” I finally said.

  “Then what?” they asked at the same time.

  “Then Uncle Albert will move out.”

  “Baby girl, once he’s able to get around without those crutches, he’ll have to go out and look for another place. That could take some time. It took me almost three months to find the place I just moved into,” Paulette said, rubbing the side of her cute heart-shaped face. A knitted cap covered her thick brown hair.

  “I’m going to start looking for a new place for him myself tomorrow. That way he’ll already have a place to go to when his leg heals,” I replied.

  “Who is going to be responsible for his moving expenses?” Patrice asked.

  “I will take care of that if I have to. I’ve already agreed to keep up his car payment and insurance.”

  My two friends gulped at the same time.

  “You can both stop looking so stunned. It’s no big deal. Seth doesn’t have a problem with me doing that. It’s all coming out of my savings. Besides, I know my uncle would do the same for me.”

  “Seth must be a saint,” Patrice continued. “Speaking of the saint, I noticed he’s not with you as much lately. You must be slacking up on your job. . . .”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked.

  Patrice often made remarks that made me bristle. She was the least attractive of the four of us, and she had the hardest time attracting and keeping men. She blamed it on the fact that she was almost six feet tall. She also had plain features and a head full of coarse black hair, which she usually wore in braids. But when the four of us got together, her bitterness always seemed to be aimed at me.

  “What it means is you’re probably not as hot as you think, after all. The last three times I called over here and the last five times I visited, Seth was nowhere around. Is everything all right? I can never tell when you’re stressed, because you always look so calm. Giving up your privacy and your quality time alone with Seth must be taking a toll on you.”

  Paulette always came to my rescue in a tense situation. “Honey, Rachel is so on top of her game, she could teach classes on it. If anything is wrong, it’s with Seth,” she said, giving me a conspiratorial nod.

  “Everything is fine. Seth’s just spending more time at his parents’ house these days. His mother has had some minor health issues, so he needs to help look after her. And he’s using his old bedroom as an off-site office,” I reported.

  I didn’t like the fact that I saw less of Seth now. As a matter of fact, he had spent the last two nights at his parents’ house, to get some extra work done, he had claimed. I had noticed the exasperated looks on his face when he saw my uncle stretched out on our couch, with a drink in his hand, for hours at a time. In a way I was glad Seth spent a lot of time away so he wouldn’t have to look at Uncle Albert and I wouldn’t have to look at him. I kept telling myself that since he and I would be spending the next forty or fifty years together, a little time apart wouldn’t hurt us.

  I found out the following week that Seth felt the same way.

  We always had our discussions about my uncle in our bedroom if he was somewhere close enough to overhear us. We had left him in the living room, with a drink in his hand, his feet propped up on the hassock, watching a Cheers rerun.

  “I think I’m going to move back home for a while,” Seth told me less than a minute after we’d entered the bedroom.

  I whirled around to face him with my mouth hanging open. “What? For how long?”

  “Uh, maybe just until Albert leaves. I think it would be easier on everybody involved.” This was the second time in two days that Seth had come home and discovered that Uncle Albert had drunk up the last of his scotch. A few days ago, he had come home and found Uncle Albert in his favorite bathrobe.

  “My uncle will be back on his own soon,” I defended with a whisper. Having to whisper in our own bedroom was another thing that bothered Seth.

  This time he didn’t care, I guessed, because he spoke in a very loud voice. “I can’t spend another week living with that man!” he roared.

  My jaw dropped. I ran to the door and cracked it open. I waited for a few seconds, and when I heard my uncle snoring in the living room, I knew he had not heard Seth’s outburst.

  “Are you trying to tell me something?” I demanded.

  “Baby, all I’m trying to tell you is that I can’t spend much more time with your uncle in this apartment.” Seth pulled me into his arms and planted a kiss on my lips. “My feelings for you are still the same, so everything else will remain the same.”

  I blinked. “Seth, your mama called me at work today and asked me when I was going to send out the wedding announcements. I told her we’d moved the date back again.”

  “Uh, let me think a little more about setting a date.”

  “Okay. If we don’t do it this year, how about early January? That’ll give us several more months to complete our plans.”

  “That might work. I’ll let you know when I make up my mind. Give me a few more weeks. . . .”

  “If we wait until January, that’ll give me enough time to get rid of all the weight I’ve gained since Uncle Albert’s started cooking all that fattening food.” I gave Seth a thoughtful look. “I’m going to join a gym and start working out in the evenings, after work. You want me to be in good shape when we take the plunge, don’t you?”

  “Uh-huh.”

  “Then November or early January it is. And it’s about time! I was beginning to think you didn’t really want to marry me at all.” I laughed. Seth didn’t.

  Chapter 9

  Seth

  I HATED LIVING UNDER THE SAME ROOF WITH ALBERT! I HAD KNOWN before he moved in that the arrangement was not going to be a walk in the park, but since it was Rachel’s apartment, I really had had no say in her decision, even though she’d asked for my approval.

  The arrangement had begun to get on my last nerve after Darla complained one time too many about not being able to see me more often.

  “I know you still have feelings for that woman and you don’t want to move out of her place, because she might hurt herself, but seeing you every now and then is not working for me,” Darla told me one night, as we lay in bed in her cute loft on Alcatraz Avenue.

  I didn’t want to lose her, so it was time for me to bring out the “big gun” and move to the next level. “Baby, let’s get married,” I said, sitting up in bed.

  She gasped, and I felt her body stiffen. And I was not surprised. We had known each other only since last April. “What? Do you mean it?”

  “I know we haven’t known each other that long, but I know what I want, and I hope you do, too.”

  “I . . . I didn’t expect you to . . . I mean . . . what about that woman you still live with?”

  “Rachel is still depressed about me wanting to end our relationship, but she’s seeing a therapist now, so she’s doing somewhat better. I’m sure it won’t upset her too much when I tell
her I’m moving back home. I’ll stay there until you and I can get married. The house I want to buy won’t be vacant for a while, anyway.”

  “Do you think it’s all right to leave her alone? You don’t think she’ll attempt suicide or something?”

  “Uh, her gay uncle is living with us right now. He’s a real pain in the ass, let me tell you! His Japanese boyfriend whupped his ass and broke his leg and kicked him out of his apartment. He’s also depressed, so he and his niece are in the same boat. Since they have a similar problem, they can console each other. He loves her, and I know he’ll make sure she doesn’t do anything to hurt herself. When I see she’s over me, I’ll tell her the wedding is off.”

  I was not sure when I was going to break up with Rachel. I needed more time to give my plan a little more thought. In the meantime, I used Albert’s intrusion to my advantage. He was the perfect excuse for me to move back in with my parents. When I told Mother and Father how disruptive Albert’s presence was, they insisted that I move back home until Rachel and I got married. And Rachel fell for it, too, hook, line, and sinker.

  “I love you to death, baby, and I think it’s a good idea for you to move back home for a while,” she said. “My apartment is kind of small, and Uncle Albert needs a whole lot of space. But even before he moved in, I felt cramped. We’ll have so much more room after we get married and move into our dream house.”

  I was so relieved! It looked like my plan was going to work better than I had thought it would. All I had to worry about now was the excuse I was going to use to call off the wedding. “You’re right. And I’ve decided that I’ll arrange to meet with Albert’s real estate friend and tell him that we want to look at some properties just before we get married.”