Easier Said Than Done (26 page)

“This will make you feel a little better,” I said, handing Keela the cup, then grabbing a plaid, woven throw from the arm of the couch and wrapping it around her. This time when the phone rang, I crossed the room to pick it up and switched the ringer to off.

“Is it her again?” Keela asked.

“Looks like this is the fifth time she's called.”

“I don't know what to say, Kingston. I don't know what to do.” Her voice broke and she pressed a ball of tissue to her nose as if that would contain the sadness.

“Well,” I began. “We need to figure out what's going on and not jump to conclusions. Any more than we have already,” I amended as she trained her sorrow-filled eyes on me. “Have you actually talked to Brandon or Essence?”

“They've been calling non-stop, but I haven't been answering.” She pulled her cell phone from the pocket of her sweater and showed me the number of missed calls. Sixteen.

“That might be the first step, Keela.”

“I know, but who do I talk to first and who do I believe? They're not going to tell me the same thing. Hell, I may never get the truth. I already know Brandon's a liar and a cheat, but I never thought Essence would stoop this low.”

“That's my point. We don't know that she's done anything wrong yet.” I lifted my hands. “ We don't know what's going on, which is exactly why you need to get both versions of the story. ”

“I don't want to talk to either one of them ever again.” Her lips pouted, her voice as small as a two-year-old's. “Love shouldn't hurt like this.”

“Love doesn't hurt,” I said, studying a recently-bought painting hanging right above the fireplace. Shadowy outlines of a muscle-bound man and a robustly curved woman twined
together. The longer you stared, the more the couple became one. That was what love is all about.

“This is really messed up.”

“It is. I'll give you that much. Listen, Keela, I know you're upset, but there may be a good explanation behind all of this. We won't know until you talk to them. I understand that it's difficult, but you are going to have to at least hear what they have to say.”

The internal struggle of emotions played across Keela's tear-swollen face—her eyes sparked with bitterness, darkened with intense anger, finally just looked empty.

“You're right.” She reached for a fresh napkin. “But for the record, I don't buy that there is a ‘perfectly good explanation.' You know as well as I do that something very foul is going on. And no matter what they say, I don't think I'm ever going to get the truth.”

I agreed. The situation stank, but I couldn't believe Essence would betray Keela or our friendship. After all this time, she deserved the benefit of the doubt.

“So?” I asked as her phone began beeping. “You gonna answer it?”

She frowned. “I'm not sure who this is? I don't recognize the number.” Her brow furrowed into the shape of an M, but she pushed the Talk button and said hello. Rolling her eyes, she held the phone away from her ear and mouthed “Brandon,” then pressed the speakerphone
button and the sound of a voice begging mid-sentence blasted into the room. “Baby, you just gotta listen to me.” A long pause. “Are you still there? Baby?”

Keela exploded. “I'm still here, you cheating son-of-a-bitch and I'm listening; but maybe not for too much longer, so you'd better start talking fast. I need to know what you're doing calling Essence? And no more lies. I'm fed up.” Tapping her finger on the phone, she looked at me through hooded eyes, her mouth pulled into a smirk. “Baby, it's like this-"

“Don't tell me what it's like, okay? I want to know what it actually is. Maybe this question will be easier for you: Are you and Essence sleeping together?”

As Brandon stammered some more, I crossed my legs Indian style, picked up a pillow and pressed it to my chest. I was ready for another cup of tea, but didn't want to miss a minute of the conversation.

“It was a mistake, Keela.” His voice dropped to a whisper. “I didn't mean for it to go down the way it did. It just happened.”

If I didn't know Brandon, I might have believed him, fallen for what he was saying, thought that he actually was sorry. But I did know Brandon; and I wasn't buying his story, and apparently neither was Keela.

“Just so we're clear, you're admitting that you slept with her?”

Brandon released a harsh sigh. “Yes, Keela, I slept with her.”

Surprised at how forthcoming he was, I wrote “That was too easy” on a piece of paper and showed it to Keela. I had been prepared for at least five minutes of begging before the “truth” came out

She nodded at my note, then said to him, “Of all the women in Chicago, why my best friend?” Keela took a deep breath. “How long, Brandon? How long have you been sleeping with my best friend right under my nose?”

“Calm down, Keela,” Brandon said as if he was talking to a toddler throwing a tantrum. He was struggling to control the anger that simmered like lava just beneath the surface, but he wasn't about to unleash and risk messing up a chance of getting through to Keela. “It hasn't been that long and doesn't mean anything. You know that you're the one I love. We have a baby on the way. I want us to be a family.”

I stuck my finger in my mouth and pretended to gag. Keela's stern expression broke into a slight smile.

“No, Brandon, I have a baby on the way. You don't have anything to do with this anymore. The only person you know how to love is yourself, so the baby and I are better off without you. I don't give a damn what you try to say or do. You won't be a part of our lives.
Leave me alone or I'll disappear so fast it'll make your head spin. Don't call, don't come by. It's over.”

I gave her the thumb's up and nodded encouragingly. Brandon's game was good, but Keela was proving to be stronger.

“Keela, you're mad and it's understandable. But don't say things you're going to regret later. I'll make this up to you, I promise,” Brandon pleaded, his voice at a dangerously seductive level.

“You've made too many promises and haven't kept any of them. Why should I believe you now? It's a whole new ballgame and I have more to worry about than just me. It's taken me a long time to realize it, but you're no good for me, Brandon.”

Brandon's tone darkened and his fury seeped through the phone. “Get off your fucking high horse, Keela. You're getting exactly what you want—me forever.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Neck rolling, the strain was beginning to show—Keela was approaching the end of her rope.

“I'm saying that getting pregnant on purpose is not going to get you nominated for Angel of the Year!”

“Brandon, you're starting to sound like a badly written soap opera. Why would I get pregnant on purpose?”

Brandon snorted, “So you would have me tied to you for the rest of my life. In your twisted mind, you probably thought I would drop to one knee, place a diamond on your finger, and beg you to marry me.”

“Marry you?” Keela laughed. “That's rich. I deserve better than a fifty-year life sentence to a no-good man that can't keep his pants zipped up. Times are not that damn hard. This baby deserves the best of everything and I plan on providing it.”

“I'll take you to court and have you declared an unfit mother,” Brandon growled—the threat an empty one, but Keela paled nonetheless.

I gave her hand a reassuring squeeze and she forged ahead with false bravado. “Mothers are always given preferential treatment. I'm a substitute teacher, active in my church. Do you think the courts are going to believe you over me? Trying to smear my character isn't going to work, so don't mess with me, Brandon.”

“No, don't you mess with me. I'll make your life a living hell. And for the record—Essence was a much better in bed than you ever were. And unlike you, she loved sexing me. No
wonder you could never keep a man,” he hissed. “Ask her about her technique, maybe she'll teach you a few things.” His comments were mean, but the laugh that followed was pure evil.

"You can't hurt me anymore,” Keela said. “It's over and I'm hanging up now.” Keela calmly ended the call, but she was shaking like a leaf. I put my arm around her and pulled her in tight.

She let her head drop on my shoulder and sighed. “That's the real him,” she said. “ Everybody saw it but me. I wanted to think the best of him. That he may treat other people like crap, but never me. I was just fooling myself.” Keela looked at me, then placed her hand over my mouth. “Don't say I told you so.”

“I wasn't, but you still need to talk to Essence. Are you okay?”

“I'm fabulous, Kingston.” And to my surprise, she beamed up at me. “I've never felt so good in my life.” I looked at her skeptically. “All right, that's a lie; I feel like I've been hit by a train, but breaking up with an asshole can be a pretty empowering experience.” She took a sip of her lukewarm tea and smiled at me over the brim of the cup.

I was worried. “Keela, are you sure you're okay? You're not going to freak out on me or anything, are you? I mean you're kinda' scaring me.”

Keela threw her head back and laughed, which concerned me even more. I'd read about the signs when someone was in danger of spiraling into a nervous breakdown and I wanted to head this one off at the pass.

She stood, stretched before starting to furiously pick up various pieces of scattered tissue. “I'm perfectly fine, Kingston. Honestly. Don't get me wrong, I'm itching to kick Essence's ass, Brandon's, too, but what would that solve? They say things happen for a reason. I needed this wake-up call.”

I cradled my head in my hand and watched her scurry about. “I don't know about all that. Brandon could have been honest with you and told you that he wasn't ready to be committed. If he wanted to be with someone else, he should have said so. Sleeping with Essence breaks all the rules. That's not a wake-up call. That's a stab in the back. And I'm disappointed that Essence would roll in the mud with that pig. All of this is so hard to believe.” I took a breath and added one more realization. “You're going to be a single mom.”

“Millions of women have done it. I'll just make it a million and one. Besides, I'm gonna have the best Godmother in the world to help me out. That's if she doesn't leave and go to Jamaica.”

I sighed. I'd forgotten all about that. “Too much is happening, Keela. I don't know which way is up.”

“It's going to work itself out,” Keela said, her hands perched on her widening hips.

“Now, I think we ought to invite Essence over. We have some things that need to be worked out.” She spotted more tissue on the floor and bent to pick it up. She reminded me of Mama Grace—always cleaning.

“Maybe tomorrow would be better,” I suggested, following Keela's lead, folding the blanket and fluffing the pillows back in place. “I still can't believe that she'd do something like this. Maybe Brandon's being vindictive.”

“Being vindictive about what?” Keela shook her head. “He's telling the truth. We need to get everything out in the open. Tonight. It can't wait until tomorrow.” She peeked around the corner into the living room and snapped her finger. “Call Essence and invite her over. There‘s a lot more truth that needs to be told.” I could hear her opening cabinets and rumbling through one after the other.

“There's more?” I asked, but Keela didn't respond to that, instead hollering, “Hey, Kingston you got any chocolate in here—cookies, donuts, anything? I need something to go with this tea.”

“In the cabinet over the refrigerator,” I answered, puzzled. This was not the response I expected, but I had a feeling that despite Keela's seemingly good mood, things could still get ugly. But despite the warning bells ringing in my head, I picked up the phone and called Essence while Keela jammed two Oreo Cookies in her mouth.

Chapter 21

Essence accepted a cup of tea, but didn't take a sip and didn't sit down. Hair uncombed and clothes uncharacteristically wrinkled, she seemed pinned to one spot by Keela's piercing brown eyes.

Cocoa circled nervously from the tension in the room, so I walked her upstairs and shut her in my bedroom. She scratched once on the closed door before jumping on the bed, making the springs squeak.

“I'm glad you called.” Essence was serving up the peace offering like a delicate pastry as I walked back downstairs, still standing by the staircase, trying to feel Keela out.

I was, too. While we waited for Essence, Keela would say nothing about the impending conversation. Talking about everything from baby booties to types of formula, not a word was said about Brandon or how she was feeling. No trace remained of the tears that had flowed in abundance before. Her make-up had been touched up and she glowed, with renewed fire in her eyes.

I still wasn't sure if the conversation with Essence was a good thing, but Keela was insistent that everything be “taken care of” tonight. “The air has to be cleared. And if what I think
is true, then things had been going on for way too long.” Never elaborating on what things she was talking about, I got the feeling it was more than the Brandon/Essence situation.

Keela paced back and forth, rubbing her tummy, and Essence shifted from foot to foot, while I sipped more tea. The snow was falling with tempestuous force now, the pitter-patter of it blowing against the windows.

“I'm glad you came,” Keela finally responded. “Not everyone would have been woman enough to face up to this mess. But I wanted to give you a chance to tell me your side. I've already talked to Brandon, so I know that you slept with my man,” she said evenly, but Essence still flinched. “All I wanna hear is why would you do this. You're my best friend. We've been to hell and back and I never thought we'd be having this conversation.”