Sisters and Husbands (12 page)

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 the 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 made 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.

If he didn’t come back home soon, she would have to start telling family members and close friends that Kevin had walked out
on her. She dreaded having to do that. Everyone had always looked up to them as the perfect couple, the ideal husband and
wife. They would be shocked to find out it was a big fat lie.

She squeezed the pillow and stared at the phone on the night-stand. Should she give in? Maybe call him just this once? He
was her husband. She shouldn’t have to act coy or modest with him. She shouldn’t have to wait for him to call. She sat up
on the edge of the chair and glanced at her watch. It was twelve-thirty. Kevin worked on Sundays but was probably on his lunch
break now. Why the hell not?

She bit her bottom lip, grabbed the phone, and dialed his cell number. She slammed the receiver down before the first ring.
What the hell was wrong with her? Was she a glutton for self-punishment? Obviously, if Kevin wanted to talk to her he would
pick up the phone. That he hadn’t done so yet spoke volumes.

She jumped up and paced the bedroom floor. It was pitiful not to be wanted by your husband. She wouldn’t wish the feeling
on anyone. But she was determined not to be one of those despondent, groveling women, breathlessly chasing after a man who
didn’t want to be caught.

She had spent all these years helping women get through divorce. Until now she hadn’t really understood how utterly devastating
it could be. She had seen the tears and the crestfallen faces of women who had lost a loved one. She had heard the whining,
fussing, and cussing. But she had never really known the pain until Kevin walked out on her.

She had to do everything in her power to fix this marriage. Kevin had once loved her; maybe a part of him still did. If there
was a way back for them, she had to find it.

She snatched the receiver up again and hastily dialed Kevin’s number. But she wasn’t going to grovel. She was going to be
more creative than that. She would tell him that she needed him to help her move some furniture around the house before the
bridal shower she was holding for Beverly the following weekend.

In a way this was true. She was expecting almost thirty women for the affair and she wanted to place the dining room table
up against a wall to allow more space for mingling. She had planned to get a neighbor to assist her, but this was the perfect
excuse to call Kevin without seeming desperate. She thought that if she could somehow get him over here and talk to him calmly
in person, it would help both of them get a grip and come to their senses.