Sisters and Husbands (10 page)

“There’s always been this competition between Kenny and Tiffany, especially for Tyrone’s attention,” Charmaine continued as
soon as the waitress left. “Tiffany misses her dad no doubt, and Kenny is starved for a father figure. A little competition
between them is understandable. So yesterday I suggested that the kids decide on a restaurant for dinner, to try and get them
to work together on something that would be fun. But they couldn’t come to an agreement, so after a lot of back-and-forth,
I suggested an alternative. That’s when Tyrone stepped in and overruled me right in front of them. He decided that we would
go to the restaurant that Tiffany picked.”

“Uh-oh,” Evelyn murmured.

“He didn’t,” Beverly said, shaking her head.

“Yep, sure did. I said no, I don’t think so. I explained that it wasn’t right to overrule me in front of the kids and that
this wouldn’t be fair to Kenny, not to mention that it sends the wrong signal to Tiffany. He got mad and they went on without
us.”

“That’s so over-the-top,” Beverly said with disapproval. “It sounds like he doesn’t even care how it affects Kenny.”

“You talked about this problem a little when Tiffany was here last summer,” Evelyn said. “I had no idea it was this serious.
A lot of absentee fathers have some guilt, but it sounds like Tyrone has it bad.”

“I think it’s worse than it was last summer,” Charmaine said. “Or maybe I’m less patient now. We had only been married about
a month then, and I wanted to make Tyrone happy and get to know his daughter. But I’m past the need to please no matter what,
thank you.”

“Have you tried sitting down and talking to him about it, away from the kids?” Evelyn asked. “It’s not good for them to see
you two arguing. They will milk that for all they can get out of it.”

“Of course I have,” Charmaine said, a little exasperated to have Evelyn lecturing her. She was a mother too, and a damn good
one at that. She knew what was and wasn’t good for children. “I tried to talk to him after Tiffany left last summer, but it
was going in one ear and out the other. So I dropped it.”

“That’s too bad,” Beverly said.

“She visited us for only two weeks during summer and another week at Christmas,” Charmaine continued. “And I figured I could
live with him indulging her for such a short time, you know? Now that she’s staying all summer, I can’t overlook it. If it
was just me, I might, but not with Kenny. Hell no. I worry about what it will do to his psyche.”

Evelyn nodded. “You have to speak up and protect Kenny. I’m with you on that.”

“No question,” Charmaine said.

“At the same time, I can kind of understand where Tyrone is coming from,” Evelyn added. “It can be hard on absentee dads.
It’s natural for him to want to coddle her.”

“Up to a point,” Charmaine said. “But like Beverly just mentioned, this is way over-the-top. I can’t excuse this.”

“You still have to try and strike a balance with him,” Evelyn said.

“Don’t you think I am?” Charmaine said indignantly. “But that’s much easier said than done. When it comes to this man and
his daughter, it’s like he has tunnel vision.”

“Just try to be patient,” Evelyn said. “That’s all I’m saying.”

“Maybe he’ll come around with time,” Beverly said before Charmaine could respond. The talk between her sisters was heating
up, and she wanted to try and lower the temperature.

“I hope so, ’cause Lord knows I’m trying to be patient,” Charmaine said.

“I’m sure you are,” Beverly said.

“It got ugly yesterday, and I do mean ugly,” Charmaine said. “We haven’t spoken since it happened.” Charmaine twisted her
lips. “Why do I have such rotten luck with men?”

“Oh, Charm,” Beverly said. “You just hit a wall. Tyrone seems like a decent guy. I’m sure you two will work it out.”

“That’s what I kept telling myself with Clarence,” Charmaine said, thinking back on those turbulent days with her second ex-husband.
“He was the one I thought I would make it with, but we all know where that went.”

“Tyrone is nothing like Clarence,” Evelyn said. “And Tyrone is a father. Clarence wasn’t.”

“That’s why I can’t imagine that Tyrone won’t come to his senses soon,” Beverly said. “He knows how important Kenny is to
you.”

“What I don’t understand is why he isn’t more balanced with them,” Charmaine said. “He’s a parent. He should understand that
you never favor one child over the other, never. He’s such a good father figure to Kenny when his daughter isn’t around. They
hang out together watching movies at home and go out and shoot hoops. All that goes out the window when she comes to visit,
and I don’t understand it for the life of me. I just hope to God this doesn’t ruin my marriage.”

“Whoa, Charmaine,” Beverly said. “You aren’t thinking of leaving him for this, are you? That’s crazy. She’s only here a few
weeks out of the year.”

“That’s a bit dramatic, Charm,” Evelyn said.

“I’m not about to walk out tomorrow,” Charmaine said. “But no one is going to take advantage of my son or overrule me in front
of him, even for just a few weeks out of the year. Hell no. That’s disrespectful.”

Beverly and Evelyn exchanged glances as the waitress brought the drinks. After she had taken their orders, Charmaine turned
to Evelyn. “Now tell us what’s going on with you.” Charmaine wanted to hear about Evelyn’s problems, but she also wanted to
get off the subject of Tyrone and Tiffany and all this talk about patience. She knew that she would have to tread carefully
in the days ahead and not do something she’d later regret. But she also knew that she had her limits when it came to what
she would tolerate with Kenny, and no one was going to change her mind about that.

Evelyn carefully placed her drink down and smoothed her hands over the tablecloth. She had been mulling over how much to tell
her sisters ever since she left her house. She wasn’t ready to admit that Kevin had left until she was sure it was going to
be a permanent deal, and she prayed it wouldn’t come to that. But she couldn’t pretend everything was hunky-dory between them
either, when it was probably written all over her face that something was troubling her.

“We’re having some problems,” Evelyn said softly.

“Who’s having problems?” Beverly asked. “Not you and Kevin?”

Evelyn smiled awkwardly. “Yes, Kevin and I, believe it or not. He’s been acting strange for several months now.”

“This is
Kevin
we’re talking about?” Charmaine said with disbelief. “My brother-in-law? The straitlaced, buttoned-up attorney?”

“He’s about to turn fifty, isn’t he?” Beverly asked.

“In about six months,” Evelyn said, nodding. “I think he’s having a midlife crisis.”

Charmaine smiled thinly. “What did he do? Go out and buy a sports car?”

“I wish,” Evelyn said. “It’s a lot more serious than that.”

“I wondered why he stopped coming to family get-togethers,” Beverly said. “But you always told us he was busy.”

“I wasn’t exactly forthcoming,” Evelyn admitted.

“I have to say, I thought something was fishy,” Charmaine said.

“The truth is, he started acting like I was asking him to go to a funeral or something whenever I asked,” Evelyn said. “So
I stopped asking.”

“You’re not about to tell us that Kevin is cheating on you, are you?” Charmaine asked.

“No, it’s nothing like that. At least not that I’m aware of.” Evelyn thought that she wouldn’t put anything past Kevin these
days. But Kevin said he wasn’t having an affair, and she was going to believe that until she had evidence otherwise. She was
miserable enough as it was. She didn’t need to drag more crap into this situation unless it was absolutely necessary.

“Then what is it?” Charmaine asked anxiously.

Beverly listened quietly. She realized that if Evelyn had brought this up, it was probably serious. In all the years Evelyn
had been married, she had never discussed any real problems with Kevin. The biggest crisis was when Kevin wanted to start
his own law firm, and Evelyn was reluctant to go along with it. Although that whole episode dragged out for months, it never
looked to be marriage threatening, and they had worked it out in the end. So if Evelyn was looking a bit disheveled and saying
that she and Kevin were having problems, things must be grave. And that made Beverly nervous.

“I’m not sure what’s going on with him, to tell you the truth, which is part of the reason I haven’t said anything about it,”
Evelyn said cautiously. “I don’t want people to worry about me. I really hoped that Kevin would come to his senses sooner
rather than later, but that hasn’t happened. In fact he quit his job last fall and turned the business over to his partners.”

“What did you just say?” Beverly asked, eyes wide with amazement.

“Damn!” Charmaine said. “You mean he left his law firm? After all the work he put into it?”

Evelyn nodded. “You heard me right.” She was determined not to cry, but hell if she didn’t feel like it.

Beverly stared at Evelyn, mouth hanging open. She couldn’t believe Kevin would do something so radical. But more than that,
she couldn’t believe that Evelyn had hidden something this big all these months.

Charmaine whistled. “I thought something was up with you two, but I honestly never expected anything like this. Where is he
working now? Another law firm?”

Evelyn cleared her throat. “At Blockbuster.” She said it so softly she could barely hear her own voice.

“ ’Scuse me?” Charmaine asked, straining across the table to hear Evelyn.

“I said at Blockbuster!” Evelyn snapped in frustration at having to repeat such vile words.

“Get out!” Charmaine said.

Beverly was still silent when the waitress appeared with their fondues. She took a big sip of her martini as her mind raced
back over the past months for clues of all this, other than Kevin being a no-show at family gatherings.

“I’m as shocked as both of you are,” Evelyn said when the waitress left. “None of it makes any sense whatsoever. He seems
to be going through an antimaterialistic life-is-too-short-to-worry phase, and he wants nothing to do with anything middle
class. He says that’s trying to be white. And last weekend he shaved his head. All of it.”

Beverly gasped.

“Un-fucking-believable!” Charmaine said in a whisper so as not to stun the other patrons.

Beverly put her martini glass on the table and took a deep breath. “How are you dealing with all of this, Evelyn?”

“There’s not much I can do except try and wait it out. I’m sure it’s temporary. At least I hope it is.”

“Has he explained to you why he’s doing this?” Beverly asked.

“Hell, Beverly,” Charmaine said. “He probably doesn’t understand why he’s doing half this crap himself.”

“Charmaine’s right,” Evelyn said. “Talking to him does no good. He doesn’t even make sense most of the time. He’s still upset
that he let me talk him into updating the kitchen. Claims I spend too much money on frivolous things. That I care too much
about appearances and so on.”

Evelyn leaned back. She felt better now that she had opened up a bit. It was good to share her woes with her sisters, to get
some of the burden she was carrying alone off her mind. Still, she wasn’t ready to go all out and admit that Kevin had left
her. She hoped he would come back home soon and she would never have to tell a soul.

“Earth to Kevin,” Charmaine said, hoisting her margarita glass. “Actually that should be earth to all husbands, period. They’re
all nuts.”

“Don’t say that,” Beverly said. “They could still work things out. You
do
think you’ll work it out, don’t you, Evelyn?”

“I’m trying to stay positive. Yes.”

“At least you’d be able to make ends meet if your marriage fails,” Charmaine said. “Not that it will, but I know that if I
left Tyrone I wouldn’t be able to afford the house we just bought by myself. We’d have to sell it, and I’d probably have to
get an apartment somewhere in—”

“Why in the world are you even talking like that Charmaine?” Beverly interjected. “You just got married a year ago.”

“I’m not saying anything is going to happen,” Charmaine said. “I’m just being realistic, and it doesn’t take much thought
to realize that I couldn’t afford our house all by myself. I love living here, but it’s so damn expensive.”

“That’s because you have a brand-new mortgage,” Evelyn said. “We bought our house so long ago, the mortgage is low now, and
I could pay it on my own. But please, I haven’t started thinking about those things. And I don’t plan to start. This is a
phase that Kevin is going through.”

“Of course it is,” Beverly said. “I’m having a hard time imagining Kevin even acting like this.” She shook her head. “Shaving
his head. Jeez!”

Evelyn laughed nervously. “I know, I know.”

“A lot of men look sexy with shaved heads,” Charmaine said.

“I have to admit that it looks good on him,” Evelyn said. “It was just a shock to walk in and see him like that when I wasn’t
expecting it.”

Beverly forced a smile on her face. This was all so weird. Kevin, attorney-at-law, now working at Blockbuster. Maybe if he
and Evelyn had been married for just a few years, all of this would be less startling. But couples who had been married for
more than two decades were not supposed to act this way. Their lives were supposed to be routine and predictable—boring, even.

Charmaine’s problems with Tyrone were disappointing, but they had been married only a year, and Charmaine changed husbands
about as often as she changed hairdos. Evelyn’s problems with Kevin were truly mind-bending.

Beverly smiled wistfully. “And here I am holding you two up as examples when I tell Valerie to dump that bum Otis and wait
for someone better to come along.”

Charmaine snickered. “You should have known better.”

“What’s going on with Valerie and Otis these days, Bev?” Evelyn asked. “Is she still with him?”

“Unfortunately, yes,” Beverly responded. “She forgave him for hitting her or shoving her or whatever he did.”

“She said he shoved her, not that he hit her,” Charmaine said.