On the Rebound

by Brenda Barrett

  He waved to her casually with a drink in his hand and she waved back. They had parted amicably the year before she went to university.

  She didn't know what he was doing at her birthday bash but usually birthday bashes in her father's community were an excuse to make some money. They charged for an entry fee and charged for drinks.

  Jason looked like he was pondering coming over to talk but she turned away. She didn't want him to come talking to her and try to resurrect anything. Last time she heard Jason was a drug dealer.

  It was ironic; when they were in high school they had thought that they were so in love. Now, they couldn't be more different, and she wondered what on earth she had seen in him then. He was not her type.

  Her boyfriends now tended to be ambitious guys who were going places. She hadn't quite managed to catch that wealthy guy that she had been looking for, that millionaire who would sweep her off her feet and out of poverty and into the rarified world of the rich and famous.

  Recently she had gotten tired of the dating scene. She was tired of the empty feeling that she got when she spoke to the guys around her.

  She felt more for Regina than she did with any guy and that was saying something, because she had a love-hate relationship with Regina.

  After years of Regina badgering her about sex, she had done the unthinkable and slept with Regina in her last year of university because she had been cash strapped and desperate. Her scholarship had been halved that year, and she had lost her job at the school library.

  Regina had offered to help her, on the condition that they become lovers. She had agreed. She hadn't been bi-curious or anything; she was just desperate for the money.

  She still considered herself to be a straight woman. She still loved men. It was just that she hadn't seen a way out then.

  Regina was currently paying her rent uptown, making up for her shortfall, so she still slept with her. These days she did it reluctantly; she felt like she was a prostitute somehow. She had become Regina's unwilling slave, and Regina reminded her of her debt to her every day.

  She passed the endless zinc fences and headed to Regina's car. She sat in the front seat and breathed a sigh of relief. Maybe she could get some sleep and completely blot out her raging and conflicting thoughts. She wished she could make a new start—wipe her slate clean, have a different life.

  She hadn't realized that she had fallen asleep until she heard the car start up and Regina giggle.

  "Man, that was a nice party."

  "What time is it?" Ashley looked at her watch groggily.

  "Time to take you home, Miss Anti-social." Regina backed out of her parking space and onto the road. "Don't bother looking at the car clock. I think it’s broken. You slept through your own birthday bash."

  Ashley realized that Regina was driving faster than usual but didn't comment.

  When they reached stoplights Regina drove through them, whether they were red or green.

  "Should you be doing that?" Ashley asked fearfully.

  "Nobody follows stop signs in the downtown district at this time of the night," Regina said carelessly. "Close your eyes and go back to sleep."

  Ashley closed her eyes and then flew them open again when she heard a loud thud and then felt a sickening jolt.

  They had crashed under a truck.

  And so she found herself at church the next weekend. Her flat mate's boyfriend invited them to music day at his church, and she was feeling so grateful to God for saving her from certain death that she had gone. Maybe that was why God spared her. What she knew for sure was that somebody somewhere must have been praying for her because she had walked out of the totaled car with only a scratch on her leg. Regina had gotten a couple of deep cuts and broke her hand.

  It was a miracle! The firefighters who had come on the scene before the police had asked her what happened, not knowing that she was in the accident.

  She sorted through her meager collection of clothes that could be considered modest church wear and had gone to Vintage Road Church in the middle of the town. Her roommate’s boyfriend had to find parking quite farther down the road. The church was very well attended and had almost been jam-packed because of the music day. She hadn't felt out of place because there were so many visitors from other churches as well.

  It was a good service and she found herself wondering why she didn't do the church thing on a regular basis. She found that she actually felt good. She loved the songs about God and his goodness, his love and his mercy. She found herself pondering after one song that surely God would be merciful to her and deliver her from Regina. She wanted to escape that part of her life. For the first time in a long time, she felt a sort of peace. Maybe Christianity was the answer. Maybe God had chosen the accident to show her what to do.

  She had been contemplating that when they had the offertory reading for the collection of the offering and a guy stood up. She must have made a sound because the lady beside her chuckled quietly.

  "He always gets that reaction. He looks good, doesn't he?"

  "Well, yes," Ashley replied, pretending nonchalance while she stared at him in a sort of trance.

  "Don't let his good looks fool you," the lady said, a friendly twinkle in her eye. "He is a genuine good salt of the earth kind of Christian guy. You stand no chance if you are not as holy as he is. He has pretty high standards that don't involve looks, so even though you are pretty, I wouldn't automatically think you have a chance. I know because I have tried. I think almost all the females in this church have tried."

  Ashley stared at the guy and then murmured so that only the lady could hear, "What's his name?"

  "Brandon Blake" was the prompt response.

  Ashley had then gone into makeover mode. She had been a girl on a mission. First, she had found out that Brandon taught a Bible class every Wednesday evening with the new converts of the church or people who were thinking of becoming baptized. Then she had bought a Bible and started to studiously attend the class. She had devoured the Bible like a maniac, bringing herself up to speed on many of its stories so that she didn't appear ignorant before her new Bible studies teacher.

  And she loved the studies. She realized that Brandon was a patient and intelligent teacher. Eventually he started to notice her because she asked various challenging questions. He seemed to like that.

  She knew she had hit the jackpot when one Wednesday night Brandon asked her, after Bible studies class, if she wanted to go with him to a basketball game: Vintage Road church versus Eastwood Church.

  "It is going to be epic." He had smiled at her, his straight white teeth almost dazzling.

  After that game she knew that she would love him. It was that simple and that profound. He was fun, he had a brilliant sense of humor and he was as disciplined and as straight shooting a guy as she would ever meet.

  She got baptized because of him. She knew that Brandon would not take her as seriously if she was not a church sister. He spoke often about being unequally yoked with unbelievers, and she wanted to have a fighting chance with him. She would have done anything. She had changed her dressing, her hair, her whole demeanor because of him. After he introduced her to his mother, she had tried to emulate her to the point where she was really feeling as if she could be different. She started walking the walk.

  She had hunted the church's most eligible bachelor and had succeeded. The night he proposed she had felt as if she were on cloud nine, but she had come thumping down to the ground when she saw Regina at her doorstep waiting for her.

  "You can't get married to this guy," Regina had pleaded with her. "It's not right. You belong to me."

  "I don't belong to anyone!" Ashley had shouted. "I am no one’s possession. Leave me alone!"

  "If you marry him, I'll tell him about us." Regina threatened.

  "I'll tell him first," Ashley said boldly.

  "And will your holier than thou guy understand it?" Regina rasped.

  "Shut up," Ashley said, opening her door. "If you say y
ou love me so much, why won't you just let me be happy?"

  She slammed the door in Regina's face. Regina had left her alone, only resurfacing after she found out that Ashley had been having an affair with Carlos King at the bank where they both worked.

  Regina had always been on the periphery of her life, watching her in fascination as she failed to live up to the ideal woman for Brandon.

  It was ironic that after marrying Brandon she had started to resent his gentle, upstanding Christian ways. She had resented him for being so good. His life, his whole demeanor, was like a rebuke to her. Her facade had begun to slip. She had stopped going to church after year one. She just couldn't do the pretense anymore; besides, there had been the affair with Carlos and she had been feeling so guilty every sermon at church seemed as if the preacher were targeting her.

  Most days she woke up she felt like a fake and a failure, and she was constantly afraid that one day Brandon would see through her and know. She could see his frustration with her but he had never lost his cool to the extent that she had seen the other night. She shivered uncontrollably. She had gone from the girl who wanted Brandon at all cost to the girl who broke him.

  Tears came to her eyes. What had she done? A tight pain wrapped itself around her heart. What on earth had she done?

  "Ashley!" Jaya called from the door. "Are you all right?"

  Ashley raised her head from her arm. "What is it?"

  "Your phone has been ringing and you aren't answering."

  "Oh." Ashley glanced at the phone. She didn't hear it ring, so caught up was she in her reminiscing.

  "Are you okay?" Jaya asked again.

  "No, headache." Ashley shook her head and then winced. "Give me some time."

  Jaya nodded sympathetically and left the office.

  Ashley breathed in and out raggedly. Maybe she should do the right thing and cut herself out of Brandon's life. She shouldn't have married him in the first place. She hadn't been worthy of him then, and she definitely wasn't worthy of him now. It was time to set him free.

  Chapter Six

  Brandon stopped by his parents’ house on his way from work. Today had been one of the toughest days for him, and he wondered if he should have even gone to work with the way he was feeling.

  He was counting down the weeks until the Christmas break and the ending of the contract and then...He didn't know. His whole future felt liquid now. But that wasn't really true, was it? His life had been hanging in the balance for years now, with the constant ups and downs with Ashley. For years he had been overwhelmed by the feeling that his future with her was uncertain.

  When he thought about it he realized that he was not as surprised as he should be that Ashley was cheating on him. He had long resigned himself to the fact that the virtuous woman that he thought he had married had all been in his head. It was laughable now that he had gone through Proverbs 30 before they got married and thought that the verses applied to Ashley.

  His pastor at the time, Pastor Wiggan, had taken him aside one day after counseling and reminded him, "Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised."

  He had asked the pastor why he said that and he had replied, "I don't know, Brandon. I have this feeling; maybe it is a prompting from the Holy Spirit. I don't know, but I think that you should reconsider this whole marriage to Ashley."

  Too bad Pastor Wiggan had told him that two weeks before the wedding, and he had been so in love, with his head in the clouds. He hadn't had a drop of doubt about Ashley; she had been perfect for him.

  They liked the same things; they shared the same sense of humor. They were compatible to a tee and she loved the Lord. Ashley was at every Bible study, every night meeting, sometimes rushing there after work. She prayed like a woman who knew God and loved him.

  But it had all been a farce. Pastor Wiggan had prophetic gifts and he didn't even know it. He should look him up and tell him that it was indeed a prompting from the Holy Spirit and it had been a warning for him, one that he hadn't heeded.

  He drove into his parents’ yard; it was one of the oldest houses on the block in a quiet cul-de-sac near Cherry Gardens. His father had built the house in the sixties. They had added on an extra two bedrooms through the years and the modern and the old blended seamlessly together. It was his very first building project: to blend the old design with a fresh modern one.

  He had been ridiculously proud to have done it for his parents, showing off his newly acquired civil engineering skills. The lawn looked immaculate, as usual, and his mother's prized flowers, which she dutifully trotted out to the yearly horticultural shows all over the island, were looking healthy. She still had her first prize Bonsai trees on display on the porch.

  A car drove up behind his, and he saw that it was Latoya’s.

  She jumped out of the vehicle and pointed at him. "Brandon Blake, you had me worried. You left the house the other night and didn't tell me that you were going to leave. I spent all night fretting that I had sent you to the dirty flat when you hadn't stayed there."

  "Sorry, wasn't thinking straight." Brandon pushed his hands in his pockets. "Listen, don't tell Mom and Dad about me showing up at your place, okay?"

  Latoya laughed. "Really? Don't tell them that you finally had the sense to leave Ashley? You didn't go back to her, did you?"

  "No." Brandon sighed. "No, I didn't."

  "What did she do that was so bad that you would give up your long-suffering, your door matting, your turn the other cheek until she milks you dry stance?"

  Brandon wished that he hadn't gone to Latoya's place the night before. She had always encouraged him to leave the marriage. She thought that working things out had been totally one-sided and that he should quit trying to make the relationship work.

  She had been right. He looked at her now in her power suit, her hair pulled back in a ponytail that emphasized her sharp cheekbones and her smooth brown skin. Her eyes were shooting sparks.

  She was ready to fight on his behalf, as she had always done when they were children. She was just two years older than he was but she was a warrior at heart, usually on his behalf. Judging now from her flashing eyes and her folded arms, she was preparing to do Ashley some harm.

  He didn't want her involved. He didn't want anybody to be involved in this. He had to think about Alisha and Ariel. Whatever Ashley was or had done, she was still the mother of his children.

  Brandon shrugged. "It's nothing, the regular tiff."

  "Liar!" Latoya snorted. "You either caught her in bed with somebody or found her snorting drugs or found out that she was the head of a coven. But I know it's something bad. You have been so busy turning the other cheek for years it has to be something mammoth."

  "A coven, though?" Brandon asked. "As in a witch coven? Where do you get these things from, Latty? I thought Ashley was your friend."

  "She was, for exactly six months when you first got married, until I realized that she was a pretender. I have been cordial because she is the mother of my nieces, not friendly. Friendly and being friends are two different things. Gosh, Brandy, I can't believe that it took you eight long, long, long years to figure out that she is a fraud. So which one was it? Was it drugs? You caught her snorting cocaine, didn't you?"

  "Why does it have to be any of them?" Brandon hedged, turning to lock the car.

  Latoya smiled at him knowingly. "So it wasn't drugs, and it's not a coven. She had an affair, didn't she? I always knew she was good for that."

  Brandon shrugged.

  "You are not going to leave me in the dark," Latoya said threateningly. "I am your big sister. I have to know."

  "You two," his mother called from the veranda. "Come look what your father did for me." She headed back inside, a bounce to her steps.

  Latoya looked at Brandon. "So you haven't told the parents yet, have you? Because Mommy would not be so happy if you had told her. She likes Ashley for some unfathomable reason."

  Brandon shook his head
. "Latoya, it was one night. I came to your place to escape. There is nothing much to read into it. Okay?"

  Latoya frowned and she walked behind him all the way into the spacious living room, where their mother was standing beside a life-size sculpture of herself. The face of the statue was just like her, in nitty-gritty detail, with a squarish face and wide, deep brown eyes. Even the statue’s eyes looked alive.

  "It's naked," Latoya was the first one to gasp.

  Brandon’ eyes hadn't reached the rest of the sculpture yet but when he saw that the statue was indeed naked, with a roundish shape like his mother’s, he closed his eyes.

  Beatrice beamed. "And he got the proportions right, too."

  "I don't think we should be seeing this," Brandon said, struggling not to laugh.

  "Oh shut it, you two," Beatrice said, standing back and looking at it. "I did tell him to embellish the bust area a bit. Make it a bit bigger and upright."

  "For heaven's sake!" Latoya sat on a nearby settee. "I can't be seeing or hearing this. I am still in my thirties; I could be scarred for the rest of my life. I still have some living yet to do, if God spares my life. I have gone through the first thirty-five years relatively scar-free. Please don't start scarring me now."

  "I think that should be scaring not scarring," Brandon muttered.

  Beatrice laughed. "I am going to put a dress on it, maybe a long one, or maybe I should just put it in the bedroom."

  "Yes, do that," Latoya said. "Keep it far away from prying eyes. It looks so lifelike. I had no idea that Daddy was so good. Where is he?"

  "In the basement doing one of the grandkids holding hands. It is going to be awesome."

  "I hope they will be clothed," Brandon said worriedly.

  "Most definitely," Beatrice laughed and then she looked at Brandon, a serious expression on her face. "I have never in all of my years seen Ariel as miserable as she was this morning when Ashley came to get her. Is everything okay?"