God's Gift to Women (17 page)

I continued down the hallway until I came to the master bedroom. The door was slightly open. I peeked inside to make sure Olivia was still asleep. To my surprise she wasn’t there, but I did spot my cell phone on her nightstand. I quickly grabbed it and headed for the front door.

Just when I thought I was home free, I heard what sounded like a woman singing. It was coming from the room adjacent to the foyer. I crept up and peered inside to see who it was. It was Olivia. She was sitting naked on a stool with her back to the door. I noticed her hand moving in a stroking motion. As I leaned in further, I saw that she was painting on a canvas. From what I could see, it was a picture of a little girl holding hands with her mother. It was very detailed—down to the yellow barrettes in the girl’s hair.

As I glanced around the room, I realized that it had been converted to an art gallery. Colorful paintings covered the walls from top to bottom. There were abstracts, portraits, and even a couple of expensive-looking sculptures. As I continued to admire the paintings they took on a more disturbing tone, especially the ones in the corner. There was a painting of a man’s tongue with a bullet hole in it. There was another with a penis being nailed to a crucifix. The testicles, which had fallen to the ground, were being eaten by jackals. Right next to it was a bloody painting of a man hanging upside down with his heart being ripped from his chest and tossed into hell.

Suddenly my cell phone started to vibrate. Olivia stopped singing and turned around. I jerked my head back and prayed that she hadn’t heard me. “Julian, is that you?”

I waited for a few seconds to see if she would come out, but she didn’t. When she began singing again, I looked around the corner to see if her back was still turned. When I saw that it was, I crawled on my knees until I was past the door. Once I was clear, I quietly walked toward the door. I was about to go
outside with nothing on except my drawers when I spotted my clothes on the kitchen counter. I rushed over and started getting dressed as fast as I could. While I was slipping on my shoes, I lost my balance and grabbed the kitchen counter to break my fall, accidentally knocking over a stack of mail. Olivia was still singing, so I was sure she didn’t hear me.

The first two letters I picked up were an electric bill and a bright yellow envelope with a clover symbol on it. When I looked closely at the name on the electric bill I was horrified. The type in the address window read:

Olivia R. Brown

244 Jefferson Parkway

Houston, Texas 77000

“Oh my God, this is
her
house!” I quickly slipped on my shoes and headed for the door. Just as I grabbed the knob, Olivia walked out of the room.

“You’re not leaving without saying good-bye, are you?”

She was naked and holding a palette and brush. A few drops of red paint fell off the brush and onto the carpet.

“I was just goin’ outside to see what’s happening with my car.”

“Stop worrying about that stupid car and sit down. I’ve got something to show you!” She ran past me into the kitchen and pulled something out of the top cabinet. “Remember that surprise I told you about last night? Well, here it is!”

She stuffed a small jewelry box into my pants pocket. “Promise me you won’t open it until you get home.”

“What’s the special occasion?”

“It’s our four-week anniversary, silly!”

“Olivia, I can’t accept this.”

“Julian, I don’t take rejection well.” She grabbed my hand before I could take the box out my pocket. “Please take it. I insist!”

There was a large box cutter on the table next to her, and I
didn’t want her to get any crazy ideas. I figured the fastest and safest way to get out of there was to go along with her little presentation.

“Fine, Olivia.” I pushed it back into my pants. “Now I’ve got to get going.”

“Why do you have to leave all of a sudden? Can we at least go out for breakfast?”

“The only place I’m goin’ is home!” I told her. “I’ve been out all night and I have to pick up my daughter from the babysitter’s.”

“That’s perfect! I’ll get dressed and go with you. I’ve been dying to meet her!” She rushed toward her bedroom, leaving a trail of paint. “It’ll only take me a couple of minutes.”

“Olivia, stop it! Just stop it!” I yelled. “You’re not going anywhere, especially not to meet my daughter! Now, I’ve tried to be polite because I know you mean well, but this shit has got to stop!”

She walked toward me slowly with a deranged expression on her face.

“So, I’m not good enough to meet your nappy-headed child, huh?”

“What did you say?”

“You heard what I said, you arrogant bastard. I’m not good enough to meet your precious little princess, but I am good enough to suck your dick?” She was waving her brush violently. Red paint splattered onto the carpet and her face. She was so enraged she didn’t even flinch.

“Look, Olivia, we had an understanding. No expectations— remember?”

“That was
your
understanding, not mine!” She began to cry. “When a woman allows you inside of her, she’s emotionally involved, damnit! You of all people should know that—Mr. Relationship Expert!”

“Olivia, this conversation is over. Good-bye! And don’t ever call me again.” I headed for the door.

“Don’t turn your back on me, you son of a bitch!”

She picked up the box cutter and threw it at me with all her might. I shielded myself with the door just as the blade embedded itself in the oak frame.

“You could have killed me, you crazy bitch!”

“If I wanted to kill you, you’d already be dead!”

“You need help, Olivia,” I said as I walked out the door. “And I mean professional help.”

“You think you’re God’s gift to women but you’re nothing but a conniving dog, just like all the other men in my life. But every dog has its day—and your day is comin’!” Then she slammed the door shut.

As I walked down the driveway, my hands began to tremble. I covered them with my jacket as I approached the tow-truck driver. He was sitting on the trunk of my car filling out paperwork and listening to country music. When he saw me coming he stood up and handed me a clipboard.

“Here, sign on the dotted line,” he said with a strong Texas accent.

I wrote my name as fast as I could to conceal the shaking.

“So, what was wrong with the tire? Was it a slow leak?”

“A slow leak?” he laughed. “Down here in Texas we call that a
fast
leak.” He opened the trunk, where he had put the tire. There were jagged slash marks on the side, mostly near the rim. “I know this is none of my business, but if I were you, young fella, I’d get as far away from that gal as possible.”

He climbed into his truck and turned up the volume on his radio.

“Have a nice day!” He smiled. Then he sped off.

I closed the trunk and got into my car. I struggled to put the key in the ignition, because my hand was still shaking. As I was about to drive off, I noticed something stabbing me in the right side. It was the jewelry box Olivia had given me. I pulled it out of my pocket and opened it. Inside was a Rolex watch and a piece of paper that read:

Here’s the watch that you never could afford when you were struggling to make it. I hope you’ll always think of me each time you wear it.

Love,

Olivia Brown

—a.k.a. Sharon

It all began to make sense. Olivia was the woman who called in during my last show in Chicago. When I thought back on it, I never did disconnect her line before reading my poetry. Olivia was listening the whole time Mitch and I were talking. That’s how she knew I would be at Club Nimbus.

I tossed the watch onto the lawn and burned rubber out of her driveway. As I sped off down the street, I saw my pathetic reflection in the rearview mirror.

“Damnit, Julian! What the
hell
have you gotten yourself into?”

THE DOOR SLAMMED as Samantha left for school. I watched from my bedroom window as she boarded the bus. I tapped on the glass and waved good-bye, but she didn’t wave back. It had been five days since the incident with Terri in the kitchen, and she still wasn’t speaking to me. Every time I asked her a question she answered me casually with yes sir or no sir. Her attitude had begun to affect her conduct at school as well. Her homeroom teacher said that she hadn’t turned in a homework assignment all week. I decided to give her another week to get over it before I put my foot down.

After the bus pulled off I slipped into my gym shoes and prepared to get some exercise to relieve the stress. I had converted the spare bedroom into a mini gym, complete with a treadmill and universal weight machine. I set the treadmill to seven miles per hour and began jogging. Just as I was working up a good sweat, the phone rang.

“Hello?” I sounded irritated.

“Well, excuse the hell outta me! Maybe I should call back when you’re in a better mood.”

It was Denise. She never called me so early in the morning. I knew something had to be up.

“Sorry about that, Li’l Sis. I didn’t know it was you. Whassup?”

“Oh, nothing. I just thought I would call to see how things were working out.”

“Everything is fine. The show is doing great, the house is nearly furnished, Samantha is adjusting to her new school, and, believe it or not, I’m dating again.”

“So I’ve heard. Eddie told me about your sexy doctor friend. She sounds like a real keeper.”

“I’m not going to pop the question anytime soon, but she’s definitely special. Now that we’ve gotten the formalities out of the way, you wanna tell me why you really called?”

“I don’t know what you’re talkin’ about.”

“Denise, I’ve been knowing you for three years and you never call me this early in the morning unless something’s wrong.”

“You’re not gonna let me slide, are you?”

“Nope!”

“Okay, here it is. Maybe you should sit down for this one.”

“Stop with all the drama and just spit it out!”

“Okay—Eddie proposed to me.”

“Excuse me?” I said while tapping on the receiver. “We must have a bad connection.”

“Stop acting silly, Julian. You heard what I said. Eddie asked me to marry him. It happened right after we got home from dinner last night.”

“Well, congratulations! It’s about time that knucklehead woke up and realized he had a good thing! Now, put him on the phone so I can curse him out for not letting me in on the big surprise.”

“He’s not here. He left out early this morning for a photo shoot in Hyde Park.”

“Wait a minute, you mean to tell me that the most commitment-phobic
man in the universe proposed marriage and he couldn’t take five minutes to call his best friend last night or this morning? That doesn’t sound right.”

“Neither does this engagement,” she said, sounding upset. Then she began to cry. “It wasn’t supposed to be like this.”

“Calm down, Li’l Sis, and tell me what happened.”

I should’ve known this was too good to be true. Eddie was the last man on earth who needs to be married. He had just laid up with Janet five days ago, and I knew for a fact that he had two women in Chicago he was sleeping with. But I tried to keep an open mind and give him the benefit of the doubt.

“We had a big argument last night when we were on the way back from dinner,” Denise explained. “I caught him in a lie about some woman who called the house. I told him that if he couldn’t keep his dick in his pants he had to go. After we exchanged a few more unpleasant words, we went home and he started packing his stuff. Just before he walked out, he said he loved me. I told him that wasn’t enough—I couldn’t continue to play house without a commitment. That’s when he got down on one knee and proposed.”

I just sat there shaking my head while I listened. I knew Eddie was just doing what was expedient.

“Are you still there?”

“Yeah, I’m here,” I said as I exhaled. “I really don’t know what to say.”

“Julian Payne, speechless? Now that’s a first,” she laughed.

“Denise, Eddie is my best friend. I don’t want to get involved in his personal business.”

“I thought you were my friend, too. All I’m asking for is some friendly advice.”

“Don’t you understand? It’s impossible to do one without being guilty of the other.”

“Please, Julian, you’re the only person in the whole world I can talk to. My father’s gone and my two uncles are just as bad as Eddie. You’re the only decent man I know.”

“Denise, I told you I—”

“Julian, please!” she cut me off in midsentence. “I really need your help!”

I took a deep breath while strolling over toward the window. I looked up into the sky as if seeking guidance from a higher power.

“Okay, Li’l Sis, you asked for it! Ever since you and Eddie met, I tried to understand what you were doing together. He was irresponsible and reckless, you were organized and ambitious. He liked to be out in the streets, you were a homebody. He never wanted kids, and you always talked about having a family. Now after three long years of getting in and out of his bed, washing his dirty drawers, and handling his business, you get the proposal you’ve been waiting for. The only problem is, you only got it after you threatened to walk out of his life.”

“So what are you trying to say, Julian, that Eddie isn’t sincere and that I should leave him?”

“It’s not my place to tell you to stay or to go. But I will tell you this: When a man loves a woman, and I mean, really loves her, she won’t have to wait around for years or beg him to marry her. He’ll feel so blessed to have found her that
he’ll
be pursuing
her,
not the other way around. I know this because it happened to me when I met Carmen. I couldn’t wait to put a ring on her finger and let the whole world know she belonged to me!”

“Since we’re being so open and honest—I have a confession to make. I’ve always envied what you and Carmen had. The way you held her, the way you spoke to her, and the loving way you looked at each other. Your love for her was so strong,
so real
! So many times I thought to myself, ‘Why can’t Eddie be more like him?’