Hot Girlz: Hot Boyz Sequel (27 page)

“Well now, you may be seated.”
Everyone did. “Aren’t you glad you didn’t let that little voice within win this
morning? The voice that said, ‘I’ll go to church next week, I’ll sleep in a
little longer, I’m too tired to get up, there’s a sale at the mall, I can’t
miss that, I’m gonna watch football, some kind of football, it’s Sunday, I
think I’ll wash my car or wash the dog, or wash down the driveway.’ You need to
wash your soul and come on and go to church, because you sure would’ve missed that
song. The choir is on fire today, God bless their beautiful souls. I’m telling
you. I’m so glad to see you here this morning.” The Rev glanced around at the
many rows of churchgoers, and his eyes spied Mason and Mercedes. He pointed and
smiled, and kept his glance moving.

“The topic for today is
Turning
Your Pain Into Power
. When you’re hurting and broken, in labor, going
through growing pains, having contractions and you feel like you just can’t go
on, don’t quit. Push. Push on and give birth to your vision, your family, and
your dreams.

“God will hold up when you’re broken.
He loves to take away your shame. The payment for our sin is the precious life
He gave. You must ask the Lord to let the light from the lighthouse shine on
you. It will. There’s light in the morning, just as sure as the sun rises, the
darkness doesn’t last long. Today’s a new day. In your life, in your business,
with your children, with your health, and in your marriage. You stand together,
accept the differences, and realize the grass ain’t always greener. Sometimes
you think you’re sleeping with a cubic zirconium, and you get out there and
sleep with the so-called diamonds, and suddenly that CZ at home starts looking
like a brilliant twenty-carat diamond just like that. You’d better realize
you’ve got the rock now. Somebody else might wanna step up and buy that diamond
you thought was a dud. As soon as you step away, the infiltrators will be right
there. Your trash will gladly be their treasure.”

Mercedes took in every word, smiling.

The Rev continued and nearly forty
minutes later, the pianist began to play ever so subtly, signaling the wind
down.

“Don’t risk it all by allowing
temptation to tempt you. Sometimes what seems like the end is only a disguised
blessing to test the heart. Sometimes you won’t be given to until you’re broken
down. Your bank account, your relationship, your back. God makes the broken
masters at mending. See your brokenness as a blessing. Without it you won’t
grow. You can’t endure being married thirty, forty, fifty years without being
broken. Ask an older couple who’ve been together for decades have they ever
wanted to leave. Did someone cheat? Did someone lie? Did someone hurt them?
Yes. Yes. Yes. But they’ll say they forgave and stayed. The reward comes in the
morning to those who don’t walk away. Leaving is the easy part. The hard part
is to just stand. Stand for your union, stand for your children, stand for your
vows, stand for your life. Stand,” he yelled.

Most of the congregation stood and
applauded. Mercedes fed off of Mason’s reaction and they sat, clapping in their
seats.

As the Rev stepped away from the
podium, a woman came down from where the choir sat and stood at a microphone.
Her voice was loud and deep. “Can’t give up now, ladies and gentlemen. Can’t
give up now.”

The music from the song by Mary Mary
began and Mercedes nodded her head to the beat and sang the intros and the
first few stanzas. “I just can’t give up now. I’ve come too far from where I
started from.” By the time the third chorus was sung, most were on their feet
and this time it was Mason who stood, clapping his hands to the beat, singing
along, “Nobody told me the road would be easy. I don’t believe He brought me
this far to leave me.” This was a song that Mattie sang to her sons while growing
up. It was also the song that Mattie reminded Mason of when he first started
playing professionally.

Mercedes knew it. She stood, her face
flushed, blinking a mile a minute to fan off her emotions, clapping as the
chorus was repeated, and they sang together. Mason paused from clapping and he
took Mercedes’s hand into his. They continued to sing. Hand in hand. Husband
and wife.

~~

After church they did not wait around
to talk to the Rev or go to their usual breakfast at the local Dinah’s or Pann’s
restaurants near their home like they always did before. They both remained
quiet, only making small comments, like, “When did they build that CVS
pharmacy?” and “Wow, isn’t it a pretty day?” Most of the time Mercedes just
stared out of the passenger side window as Mason drove fast in his fancy car.

Before Mercedes realized it, Mason
pulled through the iron gates of the Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, and up
the winding road to Jesse and Mattie’s graveside in the Way of the Cross
section. She took in the view of the sprawling, park-like setting, courtyards,
and lush vegetation. It was quiet and serene and beautiful and holy.

They said nothing to each other as he
parked. He came around to help Mercedes out of the car, extending his hand, and
they walked across the green grass over to the spot where Jessie and Mattie
were buried. The black granite companion headstone had both names, Jessie K.
Wilson, Mattie B. Wilson, with their respective birth and death dates and a
scripted message of
Forever One
. There was a vase that was filled with
white tulips.

Mercedes asked, “Did you bring those?”

“Yes.” He only looked down.

They knelt together, Mercedes on one
knee using her hand to secure the hem of her skirt to her knees and placing the
other hand on Mason’s back. They began to pray silently. As Mason’s eyes were
closed, Mercedes looked over to the next section called Resurrection, and saw
her brother-in-law, Claude, standing over Fatima’s grave . . . alone.

Mercedes did not make another move or
say anything about it. They just prayed.

~~

By two-o’clock in the afternoon they
were back home.

Mason went into the office.

Mercedes went into the bedroom.

They basically still said nothing.

~~

A while later, around nine o’clock
that evening, while Mercedes sat in the backyard on a patio chair sipping
chamomile tea, Mason came out and stood in front of her. “Cedes, I’m not
leaving tonight. But I need to know how to get this vision out of my head.”

She noticed he had a tall can of beer
in his hand. “I don’t know. I ask you to forgive me. Honey, we have to move
on,” she said, holding her white teacup.

“No. We don’t. I don’t want to give
up, but I have no choice. I can’t accept the fact that he must’ve meant about
as much as our marriage did.”

“He didn’t.”

“I’m trying to figure out why it
almost seems like you have an attitude.” He looked resentful.

“I don’t. I just want you to forgive
me and learn to trust me again. That’s what I had to do.”

He told her, “This isn’t about you.
This is about me. You were allowed your time years ago to hurt and make your
decision. You make it seem like I owe you one. This isn’t tit-for-tat, like
when one cheats the other can just get even and that’s that. Like revenge sex.”
His voice was gruff.

She placed her teacup on the glass patio
table. She spoke in his same strong tone. “This was hardly sex and it was
hardly getting even. This was seven years later. If I wanted to get even I
would’ve done it back then. And how can a kiss even be compared to someone
having sex, repeatedly, with someone else who is not their spouse? I should be
the only one in the room with you when you have sex, Mason.”

“And I should be the only man you’re
alone with in a hotel room. I should be the only man you kiss.”

“It’s different.”

“It’s not.” He looked certain.

“I dealt with years of you being a
professional athlete, attracting women, those golf groupies, and I trusted you.
But you turned out to be a philanderer. A philandering professional athlete,
the stereotypical famous person who does it because they can. I lived with
that. And I think you forgot that maybe, just maybe, you’re not the only one of
the two of us who can attract people.” She cut her eyes and looked out toward
the view of the backyard.

He asked, speeding up his words, “Is
that what you were trying to prove, that you can still attract someone?”

“No.”

“I see men look at you all the time,
you think I don’t know that? I’m not blind.”

“I don’t want to argue. We had a great
day. An amazing day.” She picked up her tea again. “And I know how you are when
you get quiet. It means you’ve got something on your mind. So I left you to it.
But we need to get through this.” She looked up at his frowning face. “I’m
begging you please, let’s learn from this and not throw away over two decades
of us being a family.”

Mason then looked out at the view.
“You didn’t think about this before you returned his call and invited him up.”

She took it down a notch, saying, “I
know. I was wrong,” and then she took a sip.

He looked down at her. “And you’re
telling me nothing else happened?”

She looked up at him. “Nothing else
happened. He would’ve told you if you hadn’t left when he was on the phone.”

“What man in his right mind would talk
to another man on the phone to have him confirm what happened to him and the
man’s wife? That’s a punk ass move and very disrespectful to me as your
husband.”

She broke eye contact. “I’m sorry. I
didn’t know what else to do at that point. When you cheated you said she kissed
you goodbye and then the two of you walked to the bed together. With me and
Ryan, he kissed me goodbye and I walked him to the door. It’s still wrong, I
know.”

All Mason said was, “Kissed,” like his
mind was playing the tape of their forbidden actions. “What kind of kiss was
it?”

She moved her eyes away from the
backyard and up at him. “What kind of kiss did you and Natalie have?”

Mason stood in place.

She waited for his comeback and just
sat.

He looked to be simmering. Sweat
covered his nose.

She looked again at the can in his
hand, from which he hadn’t taken a sip. “And, honey, why are you drinking?” she
asked, as if she didn’t know.

“First things first.”

She put her now empty cup down.
“Mason. I know you’re mad. It’s up to you. I think you have to ask yourself is
this negotiable, or non-negotiable. That is what I had to ask myself back when
Dr. Little counseled us. It’s on you.” She stood up. “Now, I’m going to bed.
Are you coming?”

“I’ll sleep in Mom’s room.”

She nodded, taking the cup with her so
she could put it in the kitchen sink. “Okay. See you in the morning. I love
you.” She stood before him on her tiptoes and kissed him on the lips. She gave
him an unrequited peck, but still said what she needed to say. “Just remember,
we have a good life, but I’d rather have a life with you and no money, than a
life without you and be rich. And by the way, I’ve never slept with another man
in my entire life but you.”

He didn’t react.

As she walked away he sat down in the
seat she had vacated and took a long swig of his brew.

She watched him as he crossed one leg
over the other.

She was sad. But she was glad.

Glad at the moment because Mason was
home for now.

Sad because he brought a nasty bad
habit back with him that she prayed he had kicked long ago.

30

Venus

“. . . he kicked me out . . .”

We’re coming from my dad’s house. Skyy
and I have been with him for a week while Skyy had Fall Break. She’ll miss
school today, but I’ll take her back tomorrow. We’ve been sleeping on the sofa
bed,” Venus said while driving on the 405 southbound.

Mercedes was in her home office. She
had just returned from a committee meeting for the Alzheimer’s Association. “At
his apartment in Inglewood and you didn’t stop by?”

Venus talked slow. “Mercedes, a lot’s
been going on.”

“Okay. I guess first question is why
you two are sleeping on your dad’s sofa instead of in that beautiful new house
you have in Laguna?”

“It’s not so beautiful on the inside.
Claude and I have been going through it.”

“Is it still the problem you were
having with Cameron before, when I came by and Cameron was having trouble with
school? The school said he cheated or something.”

Venus merged into the fast lane. Skyy
was in the backseat with her earphones on, watching
The Princess and the
Frog
movie on the DVD player. “No. That was worked out. I mean he can’t go
back to that school, but he’s moved on. Turns out his ex-girlfriend copied info
from the Internet and used it in a paper she wrote for him. Cam has other
issues now.”