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“I’ll think about it,” I lied. I wasn’t against the idea of going to church. Eli and I used to go together sometimes. What I didn’t want was my sister trying to hook me up between hymns.
“Don’t just think about it,” Nikki said. “Do it.”
“Later, sis.”
“’Bye.”
Once I hung up with Nikki, I called Carla and asked if she wanted to go to the zoo with the kids.
“Oooh,” she said. “That sounds like fun.”
“Meet you at your place for noon?”
“You’re on.”
2
I was just about ready to head to Carla’s place when my phone rang. Leaving Rayna in the doorway, I ran into the living room to answer the phone.
I snatched up the receiver. “Hello?”
Nothing.
“Hello?” I repeated.
A few more beats of nothing passed, and then I heard the dial tone in my ear.
I replaced the receiver, figuring someone had dialed the wrong number. No sooner was the receiver back on the hook than the phone rang again. I picked it up before it could ring a second time and said an exasperated, “Hello?”
Again, nothing.
“Stop calling me and get a life,” I said to whomever was on the other end of my line. Really…prank phone calls? Twice in a row wasn’t an accident—it was an asshole.
I was just about to pull the receiver from my ear when I heard a faint voice. A whisper of something, but so low that I couldn’t make out what the person had said.
“Who’s there?” Was it actually not a prank call and simply a bad connection?
And then I heard the voice again. Definitely a whisper, but loud enough this time that I could make out what the person had said.
Bitch.
“Who the hell is this?” I demanded. But even as I asked the question, I realized I knew who it was.
Tassie Johnson.
“If that’s you, Tassie—” I began, but the dial tone suddenly blared in my ear.
I slammed down the receiver, convinced that the person who’d called had been none other than Tassie “The Bitch” Johnson. The woman had to be close to forty, but it was clear that she got off on behaving like she was still in junior high.
Oh, I hated her. Hated her with a passion. Instead of Tassie trying to understand that Eli had lied to me about her existence, and accepting the fact that I hadn’t “stolen” him from her, the woman was out for blood. She was living in the multimillion-dollar mansion that Eli had bought while he’d played for the Atlanta Braves. I’m sure she had cars, expensive jewelry and expensive art. Along with her Atlanta home, there were no doubt second and third homes in other cities.
Tassie Johnson didn’t need my condo.
The only reason she was interested in it was because she wanted to make me miserable. Punish me for having been with the man who no longer loved her.
If her petty behavior with me was any indication, it was no wonder she had pushed Eli away. Of course, that didn’t justify Eli’s not telling me about her or the children they’d had together.
I checked the caller ID for the number of the person who had called, certain I’d see a 404 area code. But all it showed was Private Name, Private Number.
That wasn’t surprising. And it didn’t matter. I knew it was Tassie trying to get under my skin. And because I knew that, I didn’t let the phone call bother me.
I headed back to Rayna, who was waiting patiently in the foyer. At two-and-a-half, she rarely waited patiently, which only proved how excited she was to get on with our outing.
“Okay, sweetie,” I said. “Mommy’s ready.”
The phone rang again.
“For crying out loud,” I muttered. I debated not answering it, but if it was Tassie again, I wanted to give her an earful before she had the chance to hang up.
I charged into the living room. Before picking up the receiver, I checked out the caller ID. Seeing my sister’s cell phone number, my anger dissipated and was replaced by confusion. It was minutes to noon. Hadn’t she gone to church?
I put the receiver to my ear and said, “Nikki?”
“What do you mean, I’m unbearable?” my sister asked, and now my eyebrows shot up.
“What?” I said, not at all understanding what was going on.
“Are you forgetting why we have to renew our vows in the first place?” she went on.
I got it then. She obviously wasn’t talking to me. “Hello? Nikki?”
Nikki groaned in frustration. “Vanessa, will you talk some sense into Morris?”
“Nikki, what’s going on?”
Nikki didn’t answer. I heard some shuffling sounds and the faint sound of gospel music. But I also heard the sounds of traffic, making me wonder if they were in the car. If so, the music had to be coming from the radio.
“Hello?” I said.
“Hello?” Morris’s voice.
“What’s going on, Morris?”
“Your sister and I can’t agree on this whole second wedding thing.”
“It’s not a thing,” my sister said in the background. “It’s about our reaffirming of our vows because you fucked up!”
“Nice post-church talk,” I muttered. The minister must not have reminded the parishioners to abstain from cursing, I thought wryly. Morris didn’t hear me, however, because he and Nikki were now bickering back and forth. I caught snippets of, “We’ve been through this,” and “So in your mind everything’s fine?”
I wondered if either of them would notice if I hung up the phone.
I didn’t. Instead, I said, “Morris? Are you still there?”
“Yeah.”
Rayna wandered into the living room and went straight for the box of crayons and pad of paper on the coffee table. One of her favorite things to do was draw pictures.
“I thought you were going to church,” I said.
“We did. But we…had a disagreement.”
“In church?”
“About the wedding,” Morris clarified.
How had they had time to discuss the wedding during the ceremony, much less get into a disagreement? “What exactly is the issue, Morris?”
“I don’t see why we can’t take a trip to Key West with our closest friends. That way, Nikki gets to have her wedding on the beach. And we both get to save a ton of money. She watched some show where a couple got married in Thailand, and suddenly she’s got it in her mind that that’s the only place in the world good enough to renew our vows.”
“You’re lucky I even want to marry you again!” Nikki spat out. “After what you did.”
“Where are the kids?” I asked.
“In the backseat,” Morris replied. “Watching a DVD.”
Good grief. “Put my sister back on the phone.”
After a couple seconds, Nikki came on the line, saying, “You see what I have to deal with? Not only does he cheat, now he’s got to make this difficult, too.”
“Nikki, I understand you’re upset,” I said in a calm voice. “But you have the boys in the car. This kind of fighting in front of them is…well, it’s crazy. You don’t want them all involved in grown folks’ business. Especially not this. Talk to Morris when you get home.”
Nikki didn’t say anything for a moment, which I took to be a good sign. Hopefully I was getting through to her.
“Be glad you’re not in a relationship,” she finally said. “Because men suck.”
“Right, they totally suck,” I said, feigning agreement. Rayna held up a picture with green and blue strokes, and I smiled encouragingly at her. “But please calm down until you get home. Don’t let planning your second wedding send you to divorce court.”
“Vanessa, I’m coming over.”
“What?”
“I can’t deal with Morris right now,” my sister said, her voice cracking. “I just need to be away from him for a while.”
“But I’m on my way out—”
“I’m gonna drop him off and head straight to your place.”
No, not this. Please, God. “Why don’t you call me back when you’ve gotten home?” I suggested. “Make sure the kids are fed or whatever, take a moment to calm down—”
Nikki started to cry.
“Nikki,” I said after several seconds. “Nikki?”
“Morris thinks I’m overreacting,” she sniffed. “Do you think I’m overreacting?”
I didn’t want to answer the question. I didn’t want to answer it truthfully, that is—not with my sister bawling on the other end of my phone line.
So I said, “You’re emotional. That’s understandable. But like I said, you have to calm down. If not for your sake, then for your kids. This can’t be good for them.”
“Okay,” Nikki said, and I heard her inhaling some deep breaths. “You’re right. Mommy’s sorry,” she said to the boys. “I’m just a little bit mad at your dad right now.”
Understatement of the century. “Call me when you get home,” I said. “We’ll talk some more.”
“We’re almost home, so I’ll drop Morris off, then head straight to your place.”
“You’ll what?”
“I really need you right now, Vanessa.” Nikki’s voice broke. “I really need my sister.”
“Yes, but, I made plans. How about later?”
The dial tone sounded in my ear.
Oh, for God’s sake. Had my sister heard me? Was she going to go home and stay there—or would she soon be on her way?
With any luck, Nikki’s spat with Morris would be resolved by the time she got home, and she’d call to tell me that she was no longer coming over.
I reached forward and pulled Rayna into my arms, frowning as I did. Nikki being Nikki, if she did come here and I wasn’t around, I wouldn’t hear the end of it.
“Let’s go zoo!” Rayna said.
Damn, this wasn’t fair. I had a fun day planned for my daughter, and now it was ruined. “Maybe we can go see the monkeys and all the animals another time,” I suggested. “Your cousins are coming over, so you can play with them.”
“Monkeys,” Rayna said, pouting. “Zebras.”
“I know. But, your Auntie Nikki is coming over. And she’s on her way right now, which means we can’t leave.” I kissed Rayna’s temple. “Next weekend, I promise.”
Rayna’s pout grew larger.
Beside me on the sofa were two of her ponies, her favorite toys to play with. I lifted both and gave her one. “How about we play ponies? Is this one Rainbow Dash?” I asked as I held up the green one, knowing full well that this one’s name was not Rainbow Dash.
“No,” Rayna admonished with a smile, happy to be able to correct me. “That’s Minty.”
“That’s right. Green tea.”
“No! Minty.”
“Ohh. Minty.”
