His First Lady (29 page)

Mimi looked at him curiously. “Don’t get defensive. It’s not like that. Nobody runs to tell me anything but you know how word always gets around in a church.” She placed a fork full of casserole in her mouth.

“No, I don’t know,” he said. And he didn’t know because he wasn’t used to going to church and he definitely didn’t like it if that was what was going on in there. He bit off a piece of a roll and looked at the television as the movie started. He was being defensive but it had nothing to do with Mimi. He was nervous and jittery. He wished he had never crossed paths with Leon Ladson. He also wished he had never met Mimi; it would have been so much easier than having loved her and then having to walk away from her.

Aaron put down his fork. “Why do you work at that church…for that pastor? You’re smart, got degrees and stuff. Why don’t you go work somewhere else?”

Aaron knew that his question was out of the blue and probably took her off guard but he just had to know. Mimi stopped chewing and reached for the remote to pause the movie.

She turned to face him. “What’s going on?”

Aaron looked at her then took a deep breath. “You’re not bored at the church?”

“No, I’m not bored at that church. I love working at the church. Of course, it doesn’t pay like my old job but I love being there.”

“What do you know about the pastor?”

Mimi placed her plate on the table and turned her body toward him. “Okay, where’s this coming from?”

“What do you know about him, Mimi?”

Mimi looked annoyed with Aaron’s line of questioning. “I know that he’s my best friend’s husband and although I never cared much for him, he gave me a chance when I needed one. I guess when I get down to it; he’s not all that bad.”

“He’s not all that good either.”

“Why do you say that?” Mimi asked with a baffled look on her face.

Aaron felt himself becoming anxious. “I don’t really like him.”

Mimi looked at him oddly. “That surprises me because you seem to be around him an awful lot and he’s given you quite a few jobs.”

Aaron looked down at his plate. “I’m a man. I find work where it’s at.”

There was an awkward silence between the two of them. Aaron regretted that he was spoiling the meal with her.

“I didn’t mean any harm,” Mimi said picking her plate back up.

Aaron knew that he’d responded harshly. “It’s not anything you said. I apologize for questioning you like that but he just ain’t right and I just wish that you wouldn’t be around him like that.”

Mimi smiled a little bit. “Are you jealous? I can assure you that there’s absolutely nothing going on between me and the pastor.”

“No,” Aaron said, “not like that.”

Mimi seemed surprised. “Okay Aaron, like what then? Because I’ve never seen you like this before?”

Aaron placed his plate down and turned completely to face her on the couch. He grabbed her hands. “Mimi, we’ve seen each other a lot but what do you even know about me?”

“About as much as you know about me.”

“I know that you’re transparent and there’s no pretending with you and I love that about you.”

Mimi sighed. “Is this about Leon or about me and you? Are you trying to find a way to end it with me nicely because I’m not that sensitive?”

Aaron squeezed her hands gently. “Please believe that I’m not trying to end it with you at all. I just want to protect you.”

Mimi raised an eyebrow. “From Leon?”

Aaron knew that he couldn’t be honest with her so he shouldn’t have said anything at all. “I don’t know. I’m just talking, I guess. Just don’t trust everybody,” Aaron said.

“I don’t trust everybody.”

“Make people earn trust before you give it to them so freely.”

Mimi gazed at him. “I’m always straight forward with you but you’re not being straight forward right now.”

Before Aaron could respond to Mimi, a text came to his cell phone. He knew he had to go. He was delaying the inevitable.

“Who’s that?” Mimi asked.

“Pastor Leon,” Aaron said hating that he had to leave especially like this. “I told you that I had to leave early. I promised him that I’d work something out for him.” He stood up. “I thought I had some time for dinner. I’m sorry.”

The atmosphere in the room changed. He felt that Mimi wanted more of an explanation from him but he couldn’t offer her any other explanation than the one he had given. He felt like a man cheating only he wasn’t.

Mimi took a deep breath then seemed to force a smile.

“I hate to cut out like this.” Aaron couldn’t think of anything else to say. “I really do.”

Mimi stood up, picked up Aaron’s plate from the table and walked over to the trash can where she dumped it. Aaron closed his eyes and threw his head back knowing that she had finally reached a breaking point with him. The night had turned out as awful as he knew it would. He deserved it but Mimi didn’t.

Aaron felt awkward. “I’m sorry.”

Mimi kept her head high and a stiff smile on her face but said nothing as she walked over to the door and opened it.

Aaron fumbled with his hands. “I just have to take care of this and maybe I can come back over or call you later?”

Mimi stood at the door without making eye contact with him. He leaned in to kiss her but she turned her head. He walked out and turned around to look at her but she closed the door. He wanted to tell her how much he wanted to marry her, how he wanted to have kids with her, and wanted to take care of her. He knew that it wasn’t even a possibility with the life he led.

“I’ll call you,” He shouted through the closed door.

Ariel stood up slowly from the floor where she had been leaning over the toilet bowl for about ten minutes. She hadn’t been able to keep much down. This pregnancy was unlike the other ones. She had expected morning sickness as with her previous pregnancies but she hadn’t expected to still be this sick this often. She was tired of this pregnancy and tired of the situation that she found herself. She was ready to get this baby out of her body and get on with her life.

Ariel splashed water on her face then dabbed it with a towel from the rack. As she opened her eyes, she caught a glimpse of her reflection. She stared in the mirror and looked closer at her face. She placed her hands to her face and gently pushed her cheeks back. She remembered such a time when there would have been nothing to push back. This pregnancy was taking her looks away from her; she hated it.

She looked around the bathroom. Although the apartment was beautiful, the bathroom was like all the other areas of the apartment, small and cramped feeling. She was annoyed that Leon had her there; he knew that she liked her space. She powdered her face then reached in her cosmetic bag for her gloss. Zipping her bag, she looked in the mirror one more time. Although she hadn’t moved in yet and she was still living at home, she needed to call Rick to give him an update on her uncle’s status like she said she would.

She walked out of the bathroom and over to Leon who was standing by the kitchen table looking at his cellphone. He looked up at her before placing it back in the clip on his side. He looked worried.

“What’s wrong with you?” She asked.

“Why does something have to be wrong with me?”

“Maybe because you’ve barely said anything to me since we’ve been here,” Ariel said sitting down at the dining room table.

“We’re here to work on the campaign and that’s my primary focus right now.” He frowned before placing his hand to his chin looking over at the campaign signs that leaned up against the wall. “I don’t like the color of the signs. Why would you think I like this color?”

Ariel frowned looking at the sign and seeing absolutely nothing wrong with it. “Purple is royalty and I thought you’d at least appreciate the irony.”

Leon glared at her. “I want them red. Red is power.”

Ariel frowned and crossed her arms. “Leon, it’s a little late now.”

“Tell them that if they can’t correct it then I’ll go with someone else and I’ll remember this.”

“Leon,” Ariel said massaging her temples. She wasn’t in the mood for this especially when battling this morning sickness.

“You’re to run my campaign the way I want it ran,” Leon said sitting down at the table.

“What’s with you today?” She asked throwing her hands up. “Who were you talking to earlier, the First lady?”

Leon began flipping through the campaign documents on the table. “Actually no. I’ve got some work that has to be done today and I was trying to get in touch with the guy to get the status.”

“What kind of work?”

Leon looked up from the papers on the table. “Demolition.”

“Oh? A new project?” She asked.

“You ask too many questions. I’m here for you to prep me for this rally. I don’t have time for anything else.”

“You used to.”

Leon nodded. “You’re right, used to.” He flipped through some papers. “Have you taken care of the venue, the food, the music? I don’t want this to look like my first time.”

“You know I did Leon. I hired a DJ, the best caterer in the state, and I’ll contact the printer about the signs later.”

“A DJ? This isn’t the club Ariel,” Leon snarled at her.

“No, it isn’t but I thought you were trying to reach a younger hipper voter.”

Leon shook his head as if not in the mood to even argue with her and that disturbed her. If he didn’t give his energy to even argue with her then it meant that he didn’t care enough.

Leon continued flipping through the documents. “Also make sure that we have everything to accommodate the mayor. Find out what he likes to eat, drink, if he likes women…whatever?”

“Women?” Ariel repeated.
What was going on here?

“I said find out what he likes,” Leon said with piercing eyes.

Ariel nodded dabbing the information down on her notepad. “So, he’s definitely speaking? I want to make certain before I add him to the program?” Ariel asked struggling to keep her focus on the campaign.

Leon cut his eyes over at her as if not appreciating the question. “He will be.”

She watched Leon continue to look through the campaign information she had put together for him. “How are you and the First lady doing?”

Leon didn’t look up at her. “Why are you so threatened by the First lady?”

“I’m not,” Ariel replied angrily. “Should I be?”

“Where’s the information on staffing?”

Ariel angrily shuffled through the papers in front of her. She shoved a piece in front of him. “This is the campaign’s staffing plan and your out of pocket.”

Leon looked at it and frowned. “What happened to the volunteers?”

Ariel glared at him, annoyed. “Leon, you have a ton of volunteers. But you have to pay somebody and I’m one of those somebody’s.”

Leon leaned back with the paper in his hand and looked at her. “Oh, I think you’re getting paid handsomely,” He said looking around the apartment.

“You think I should do flips over an 1800 square foot apartment? Get real.”

“No but you should flip over the check on the dresser in the bedroom, the once a week shopping sprees at Gucci, expensive lunch treats for your friends and this 1800 square foot apartment,” Leon said angrily.

Leon’s phone rang. He looked at it anxiously then stood up and walked out of the room. Ariel slammed her palm onto the table; there he was again making her the least of his priorities. She could hear him whispering in her bedroom. She couldn’t make out the conversation but she knew that he was speaking purposely low and the issue was deathly serious to him.

Hearing him end the conversation, she began looking over her rally notes lest he accuse her of being nosey. She looked up at him when he walked in appearing to have a look of satisfaction on his face.

“You look like you’re feeling better,” Ariel said.

“Actually, I am.” He rubbed his hands together and sat down.

“What’d you do, have the First lady killed?” Ariel laughed.

Leon looked at her then looked back down at the papers in front of him without an answer.

Daniela and Ariel didn’t wait long for Candy to open the large marble doors to her home after they rang the doorbell. It was almost as if Candy was waiting at the door for them to ring it. Dani’s eyes widened with surprise seeing that Candy was overly done up for a girl’s night with a short black sleeveless dress, a red bauble necklace and red heels.

“Did you ladies forget to give me the memo that this ladies night was going to be an elegant affair?” Daniela asked looking at Candy when she opened the door.

“I just never changed today,” Candy said stepping aside for the ladies to enter.

Daniela didn’t respond knowing Candy was lying. Seeing Candy’s exorbitance made Daniela smile awkwardly seeing that while she was dressed in simple jeans and a tee; Ariel and Candy chose to dress up like they were attending a dinner party. These ladies didn’t dress for a girl’s night, their dresses were meant for each other and only each other.

“Ladies, make yourselves at home,” Candy said throwing her arms around Daniela and air kissing her on the cheek.

She moved toward Ariel. “Ariel, sweetie, you look beautiful.” She hugged Ariel. “It’s been so long,” Candy laughed. “Then again so recent, I guess I should say.”

“Thank you for inviting me, sis,” Ariel said with a large smile. Her eyes grew wide as she continued walking through the foyer. “Candy, your house is ginormous. It’s absolutely beautiful!”

Candy’s house was enormous and beautifully decorated. To Daniela, all of the First ladies had beautiful homes but Candy’s was on a different scale altogether with huge staircases leading to the multiple levels in the house and cathedral ceilings that seemed to go up forever. Daniela’s home was considered modest but she didn’t complain; that’s not why they were in ministry.

“Thank you, sweetie. It was my gift from my hubby for having those babies.”

“It was clearly worth it, my dear.” Ariel responded looking around. “Do I need to remove my shoes?”

Candy shook her head. “Of course not, girl I’m not anal about those types of things.”