Free Fridays (8 page)

Riley twisted his lips. He mulled over what Bill was talking about for a second. He leaned in and said, “So lemme get this straight. I hear you out and we can finally put an end to all these emotional discussions you always wanna have?”

“Yeah, something like that,” Bill said. “I mean, that's only if you man enough; since you got so much faith in your woman and all.”

Riley shrugged. “Shit, if I'm man enough? Well, we don't need to go any further because everybody knows, I'm the man, and I'm game.”

“Okay. Bet that.”

L
eela felt like a fool as she walked around her massive, elegant home. With her hair freshly done, and experiencing a slight buzz, she regretted opting to go home versus out on the town with Samantha. The house was completely empty and she was alone.

She had rushed through drinks and appetizers with Samantha because she didn't want her husband to return to an empty home and he hadn't even made an appearance.

What was most frustrating was the fact that he never even called to let her know he'd be out through the night. The few times that she called him, voicemail kicked in immediately.

She was hesitant to call her mother or even Samantha. She knew that a call to Samantha would turn into one big
I told you so.

Earlier, it was all she could do to get out of the restaurant and not be dragged into Samantha's Saturday night plans, although it was tempting.

She walked into the kitchen in hopes of being inspired to fix something to eat, but the phone rang before she could get started. It was Linda. Leela sighed, but she took the call.

“Hey, you talk to Big Mama this evening?”

Leela's heart sank. “No, why? What's wrong? Did something happen?” This wasn't the kind of excitement she needed on a Saturday night.

“Nothing, just wondering why she ain't answering the phone, that's all. It's nothing. What you and Riley doing tonight?”

Leela pulled the phone from her ear and looked at it. Was her mother bored or something?

“Ah, actually, he's not here. So I'm gonna meet up with Samantha later.”

“Oh… you know I never did get all the goods on what went down with those two. So he really cheated on her, huh?”

It was the way Linda asked that gave Leela pause. They were all there together, and it was Linda who helped clear the house, so she knew for sure that Linda saw the same video.

“Yeah, you know he did. You were at the party.”

“Umph. Well, all I've gotta say is, if that video was accurate, she may have wanted to hang on to that one,” Linda remarked.

Leela wanted the conversation to end, but she wasn't that fortunate.

“From what I could see, they don't make 'em like him anymore,” Linda said.

Leela was disgusted. She was more than relieved when Linda put her on hold to take another call. The instant Linda clicked over, Leela ended the call and decided she wouldn't answer when her mother called back.

As she thought back to her time with Samantha, regret began to seep in. Why didn't she throw caution to the wind and go out with her? She should've done the unexpected.

“What's stopping me from doing it now?” she asked aloud.

Leela grabbed her cell and dialed Samantha.

“Hey, girl, is everything okay?!” Samantha yelled. She finally answered on the third phone call. The music in the background was so loud and so overpowering, Leela struggled to hear her.

“Everything is fine. I've changed my mind; where are you?” Leela asked.

“Hmm?”

“I said, where are you?”

“Where am I? Why? Are you gonna come out tonight?”

“Yes, where are you?”

“Oh. I'm at Belvedere!” Samantha yelled over the music. It took her repeating it a few times before Leela finally understood.

“Okay. I'll see you soon.”

Leela had never been to Belvedere, but she looked forward to going out instead of staying home alone. Leela walked into the closet and pulled out a white, slinky, sleeveless sweater dress that fit like a second layer of skin. She put on a pair of sky-high, nude-colored stilettos and grabbed a multicolored wristlet on her way out.

After she punched the address to Belvedere into her car's navigation system, she took off. To get herself into a party mood, she turned on the latest hip-hop station and started to groove to the music.

Leela pulled up to valet parking and stepped out of her car when the young guy extended a hand to her.

“Welcome to Belvedere,” he said. “You look lovely this evening.”

“Thank you.” Leela accepted the claim ticket he gave her and walked into the sleek lounge. Immediately, she was pulled in by the space and its similarities to Miami. Its neon-lit rooms screamed South Beach and Leela loved it instantly.

She texted Samantha and let her know she was walking in. Three steps in and Samantha appeared.

“You did the damn thing!” Samantha screamed over the loud music. “You look hot.”

Samantha rushed Leela over to the section where she sat with several friends. Soon, the drinks were flowing and laughter floated all around.

Nearly two hours after she'd been partying, drinking and enjoying the ambiance, her cell phone vibrated. Leela looked down
and saw her husband's number flash across the screen. She ran a perfectly manicured finger across the screen and declined the call. As far as she was concerned, he was too late. It was her turn to let loose.

“Oh no! Put that phone down; it's time to party!” Samantha yelled as she grabbed Leela by the arm and pulled her up.

“Wait. Let me turn it off,” Leela said. She powered off her cell phone, stuffed it into her wristlet and followed Samantha to an area where they started to dance.

It wasn't long before two men showed up and started dancing along with them. Leela remembered her handsome partner from a few weeks ago when she and Samantha met for drinks.

Yes, she had made the right move when she decided to join Samantha at Belvedere.

•  •  •

“Ssssh!” Samantha tried to hush her friend as she struggled to keep her upright.

Hours later, the foreign sounds outside his front door alarmed Riley almost instantly. It was 3:45 in the morning and his wife was still not at home. Her cell phone was off because calls had gone directly to voicemail. Riley had been on high alert ever since he pulled into the garage and her car was not there.

He heard laughter and giggles. Then more shushing, followed by more conversation.

When he got up from his spot in the sitting room, he rushed to the door to see what all the commotion was about. He held his pistol behind his back. Cautiously, Riley opened his front door. The first thing that caught his eye was two men waiting in Samantha's car that was parked behind his wife's. Samantha helped Leela out of the car and struggled to walk her to the front door.

“Oh. Hey, Ry. She's had a li'l too much to drink. So my friends helped me get her and her car home,” Samantha said.

Riley tucked the gun into the back of his waistband and rushed outside to help Samantha. He gave Samantha the look of death as he took over to help keep his wife on her feet.

“You outta order for this shit,” he said, just as Samantha turned to leave. She stopped and looked back at him.

“Excuse me?”

“So now because you ain't got no man, you trying to hook my wife up with other men?” Riley asked. He motioned in the direction of the men who sat in her car.

Samantha followed his gaze to Malone and Kent and a scowl made its way to her face.

“Did you hear me say she was too drunk to drive? My friends were kind enough to offer to help us out,” she hissed. “Ah. You're welcome because she could've just crashed on my couch, but she insisted she had to go home.”

Riley's eyes narrowed as they took her in. “You know what. I get it now.”

“You get what, exactly?” Samantha asked.

“I get your situation. After Bill moved on, you probably felt like the clock was ticking on your pretty face and tiny waist, so you back out there in the rat race again. But look, just because you blew off your marriage, don't try to bring Leela down to where you are,” he said.

“Down?” Samantha chuckled. “Does anything about me say I am down and out? You'd better look again because I'm having the time of my life. Actually, life started when I left that loser friend of yours, and I don't sit and watch any clocks. Ain't a damn thing ticking over here! Believe that. And you're welcome for my friends and me bringing your wife home safely.”

Without another word, and her head held high, Samantha turned and strutted away.

Left alone, Riley struggled to get Leela up the stairs. She was so drunk her body felt heavier than dead weight. He was pissed, despite the fact that he had arrived home only twenty minutes before Leela. He felt she disrespected their marriage just by being out 'til sunup.

The fact that she had to be brought home by some dudes he didn't know was an even bigger dis. And neither one of them had the decency to get out of the car and say anything to him. That would've been the right thing for a real man to do.

Then look at what she had worn! No way in the world a married woman had any business being out in the streets in some mini-dress showing off all her damn assets.

Once he got her upstairs and into bed, he closed the door and went down to his man-cave to try and calm down. He needed to tell her about the foul behavior and he was gonna take it a step further, too.

Instead of going to sleep, Riley's mind raced with thoughts of how he needed to put his foot down and get his household back in order.

The more he thought about it, the more he convinced himself that he probably didn't need to go in too hard on his wife. If he had to think about some of the things that had happened while he was out with Bill, he knew there would be enough to raise an eyebrow. But, hell, he was a man! That was different. Wives were held to a higher standard, especially his, and Leela knew that.

The next day, it was noon before Leela emerged from the room.

Riley was in the kitchen marinating pork chops to grill.

“Hey,” he said as his wife walked into the kitchen.

“Ssshhh. My head,” Leela complained. She pointed a finger toward her temple.

Riley slammed a pot on the counter top and his wife cringed.

“That's wrong on so many levels,” she complained.

“Hey, you should know when to say when,” he said loudly.

“Quiet! Use your inside voice, please,” Leela begged.

She eased onto one of the high stool chairs and watched as her husband seasoned the meat. He used melted butter to brush over vegetables in a dish, then wrapped baking potatoes in aluminum foil.

When he was finished, he turned to his wife. “This shit has got to stop. If you want to save this marriage, then I think it's time we have a serious and long overdue talk.”

T
he modest, four-bedroom Meyerland area home was nothing like Leela remembered. Visible repairs were needed, and the lawn was overgrown and neglected.

“Pah-pah. Why do you want to come by here?” Leela asked.

It had been a month since she'd defied her mother and checked in on her grandfather. He now called a senior apartment complex home, but he still wanted her to pass by the house he once owned.

“I was so proud when we found that house. Your grandmother was on top of the world. This was one of Houston's original uppity neighborhoods,” he boasted.

Leela looked around at the aging houses and marveled at how plain and simple they looked.

“Now, it ain't nothing compared to that mini-mansion you and Riley gots, but it was the first thing me and your grands ever owned outright. I worked hard to pay off that mortgage. Wheew! Them was the days for sure,” he said.

“Pah-pah. Let's go,” Leela whined.

“I just don't like living up in that building. It's like e'erybody always up in ya' business. You can't get a moment of peace. Then, they wanna be tryin' to tell you who can come and go in ya own place,” he said.

“Pah-pah. The lady at the front desk is quite nice. When she realized I was your granddaughter, she pulled me to the side and
asked me to explain the rules so you'd understand. You have to let the maids in to clean the place. That's part of the perks of living there.”

“Rubbish!” he spat. “Let's go. But I wanna go to Golden Corral or Luby's. I'm not ready to go back there.”

Leela pulled away from the curb and drove out of the subdivision where her grandparents once lived. For a long while, her grandfather didn't speak. She could tell he was deep in thought and she felt sorry for him.

“You wanna tell me what happened?” she asked softly.

“Ah. It ain't nothin',” he said and swatted the air in front of him.

“It
is
something, Pah-pah. But we don't have to talk about it now if you don't want to.”

“Your mama still mad at me, hmm?” he asked.

Leela nodded. She didn't want to get into a conversation about her mother because she didn't want to think about all the awful things her mother had said.

“We can go grab lunch, but if we do, you have to promise to tell me what I want to know,” Leela said.

Her grandfather turned to look at her. “What is it you wanna know?”

“I wanna know who you got living up in your apartment with you. And I wanna know how your finances are going,” Leela said.

Her grandfather frowned and mumbled something under his breath. He tugged on the strap of the seat belt that crossed his chest.

“So, what's it gonna be? Are we going to Luby's or Corral?” she asked. “Or, are you going back to your apartment?”

“Why can't we just enjoy a nice quiet lunch?” he asked.

Leela wasn't about to back down. She felt like there was no other way to get to the bottom of what was going on with her grandfather.