can say the same for you, Brenda. You named your little girl Asia.” They laughed.
“Wow, that was a long time ago. So tell me about Raphael. I thought you only had eyes for…for…John…what was his last name, Mimi?”
“John Carroll.”
“Oh, John Carroll. You say his name like you’ve never stopped being friends. I thought that boy was going to die after you left without as much as a goodbye.”
“Life is funny, Brenda. I ran into John a few days ago. I went to Lake Johnson to jog, and who should I run into?”
“You’re kidding me. Just like that. It’s been a while since I’ve seen John. He’s got a bald head now.”
“Yeah, but it’s becoming.” Mimi needed to steer the conversation away from John. Not that she was obsessed with him; it was that he had now become a part of her new story. And again, she wanted to furnish the story in her own time.
“Now, Raphael, he’s the love of my life. He’s tall, a carbon copy of Vin Diesel, but darker. He has a bald head, too. When I saw him in his ROTC uniform back when we were at Hampton, I realized that I wanted a military man. All that precision built up in one body, saluting and marching to their own frat beat. But we fell in love, and Brenda, I’ve been in love with him ever since. We complete one another, and my husband feels the same about me.”
“I’m happy for you, Mimi. I really am.” Brenda looked away and down at her hands that were folded in her lap. She got up and went to the mantel and picked up Brenda’s family picture, although it had been taken when Afrika was small. “A beautiful family.”
“Thank you,” Mimi said.
Brenda put the picture back on the mantel and sat back down in her seat. She looked at Mimi, who was smiling at her. “I wish that I’d listened to you.”
“What do you mean?”
“I wish that I had never married Victor. I thought that having his child would endear him to me. Yes, he claims that he loves me and we’ve had a respectable life together, but he can’t keep his thing in his pants. He’s like a maggot when he sees a beautiful woman. He’s got to get in bed with them, blow on them, and do all kinds of filthy things, and then comes back to me expecting me to be his bitch. You just don’t know, Mimi.”
“Maybe I do.”
Brenda jumped to her feet. “I hate that son-of-a-bitch, Mimi. He’s sucked me dry. Yes, I have two wonderful children and I’ve got my practice, but at what cost? I’m constantly having to bail out his sorry ass because he’s indebted himself to his whores and my name happens to be dangling next to his when the creditors come calling. He used to be fine back in the day, but he’s a cheap imitation…like a fake Rembrandt. He’s so fake that only the old women want him now.”
“So why didn’t you leave him, Brenda? Why are you still with him if you’re so miserable?”
Brenda wiped water from her face. “Because like a fool, I still love him. For some unfathomable reason, I thought I could change him…make him love only me. I have these two children he adores without a doubt and as a couple, we’ve become limelights in our community. Partially, that’s due to Victor, but he didn’t get that job as director because he was all of that. No, it was my father who knew the university president and put in a good word for his son-in-law so that he wouldn’t look like a college graduate who couldn’t find a job and couldn’t take care of his family.”
“So how long has Victor been a director?”
“For the past fifteen years. Victor got in there and learned the job and is pretty darn good as an administrator. It’s all the extracurricular activities he has under the guise of administrator. I’m sure that Victor is having some tryst with his secretary at this very minute. They say the wife is always last to know, but I’m a psychologist, and not much gets by me. Which brings up my initial question, which is…why does Victor hate you? Why has he forbidden me to see you?”
Mimi’s eyes widened. “Forbidden, huh. Brenda you’re not going to laugh at the answer; in fact, I’m not sure how you’ll respond. I knew this moment would come, and I’m going to lay it all