Behind Closed Doors (6 page)

“Hello,” Sheila answered.

“Hey, Sheila. What are you doing at home?”

“I live here, don’t I?” Sheila said and laughed.

“Keep getting smart, okay?”

“What are you and John up to?”

“Not much. John just went out to pick up a pizza, and I’m sitting here flipping through this month’s
Ebony.
”

“Picking up a pizza? Not the John I know?”

Karen smiled. “I didn’t believe it either at first, but he’s going along with anything I want right now because I got so upset with him for losing his whole paycheck at the track. Didn’t Mom tell you about it?”

“No, but I haven’t talked to her today, either.”

Somehow, that didn’t surprise Karen. Sheila was living right there in the same town with their mother, but she hardly ever bothered to pick up the phone to see how
Lucinda was doing. Sheila had somehow gotten it in her head that if Lucinda had been a better wife, their father would have never deserted them—something that couldn’t have been further from the truth.

“Why haven’t you?” Karen asked.

“You know I get my check on the twenty-fourth, and I’ve been running around here and there all day.”

Karen didn’t say anything, so Sheila continued the conversation. “I’ll bet you went off on him, didn’t you?”

“You know I did. Things like that have to be nipped in the bud right away before they spin too far out of control.”

“You probably told him he was getting out if he lost any more money, didn’t you,” Sheila said, laughing.

Karen laughed with her and changed the phone from her left ear to the right. “I did not.”

“Yes, you did. Girl, I know you better than you know yourself.”

Actually, Sheila did know her pretty well, but Karen had no idea why, because Lord knows their personalities were as different as June and December.

Karen was about to ask Sheila how the kids were doing, but she paused when she thought she heard a deep, heavy voice in the background. She just knew it wasn’t Terrance’s no-good ass. “Who is that talking to the kids?”

“All you’re going to do is get mad, so I’m not even going to tell you.”

Sheila was right, because Karen was already scowling.
“Why is it that Terrance always spends the entire day with you when you get your check but only shows up long enough for you to spread your legs during the rest of the month?”

“Look, Karen. I can’t believe you even went there. I love Terrance, and whether you believe it or not, he loves me.”

Love
? Oh, now she understood. It must have been love he was showing her when he’d knocked up Sheila and two other women at the same time. Little William was probably the only kid around who had two half brothers the same age as he was. “Whatever, Sheila. I don’t feel like arguing with you about this tired situation again, so I’ll talk to you later. Okay?”

“See ya.” Click.

Sheila was pissed.

Karen couldn’t believe that girl. Here she was, twenty-eight, on welfare, a resident of one of the Housing Authority’s worst projects, and yes, after eight long years, still screwing the same irresponsible, unemployed asshole that never gave her one dime to support his children. Karen loved her sister, but, damn, how stupid could one woman be? The idea of taking college courses or getting a job never seemed to enter her mind, and whenever Karen suggested it, all she would say was, “Girl, I’ve got to raise my children, and I can’t do that from some penny-ante job or some boring classroom.” As far as she was concerned, she didn’t have to lift a finger until her children were completely grown, which would
be a long time from now, since Shaniqua was the oldest and had just turned eight. It was a miracle how that poor little thing was a straight-A student, considering her household environment. Then there was Jason, who was six going on twenty-five. Just last week his first-grade teacher had told him to go sit down at his desk, but instead, he’d grabbed the little thing between his legs and told her to “get up on it.” But had Sheila chewed his little butt out, or put him on punishment? Or better yet, whipped his little behind? Of course not. All she’d said was, “Jason, you know better than that.” The woman obviously needed to be admitted somewhere, because any mother who would say some lame mess like that about something that serious couldn’t possibly have it all upstairs.

Then there was three-year-old William, who could perfectly pronounce the words
shit, damn,
and
fuck
but had a blank look on his face when it was time for him to recite his ABCs. At the rate he was going, he’d be lucky if he passed kindergarten.

Dwelling on her sister’s situation always pissed Karen off. She was sick and tired of giving Sheila money for food and buying clothes for her pitiful niece and two nephews. Hell, she didn’t even have any children of her own, and here she was satisfying the responsibility of some deadbeat father who clearly didn’t give a damn.

Karen picked up the cordless phone again and punched in her mother’s phone number.

“Hello,” Lucinda answered.

“Hey, Mom, how are you doing?”

“I’m fine. Richard and I were just sitting here watching
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.
What are you and John doing?”

“John is out getting a pizza, and I just finished talking to Sheila.”

“I haven’t heard from that girl in over a week.”

“She said she hadn’t talked to you today, but she didn’t say it had been a whole week.”

“What was she up to when you called her? Were the kids okay?”

“I guess they were doing fine, but I really didn’t get a chance to ask her. She got highly upset because I made some comments about Terrance being at her apartment.”

“She got her check today, didn’t she?”

“You know she did, or he wouldn’t have had his butt over there.”

“Mmm, mmm, mmm. It’s just a crying shame how she lets that boy use her like that. I wish that girl would open her eyes. I’ve talked to her over and over again, but she just won’t listen. I don’t know what else to do.”

“Well, Mom, I know that’s your baby girl, but you’ve got to stop worrying yourself about her. I’m starting to accept the fact that you can’t make a grown person do anything they don’t want to do, and I’m leaving it alone from here on out. All we can do now is pray about it.”

“I’ve been doing that all along. I just hope our prayers are answered before she messes around and gets herself pregnant again.”

“I know, Ma, but there’s nothing we can do if she
won’t listen to us. Well, I know you have company, but I just wanted to call and check on you, since I didn’t get to talk to you too long this morning when I was at work. Tell Richard I said hi.”

“I will. You tell John I said hello, and I love both of you.”

“We love you too, Mom. I’ll call you either tomorrow or Wednesday.”

Karen was glad her mother had found a good man like Richard, and it put her mind at ease knowing he was there by Lucinda’s side. She deserved someone like him. The man treated her with more love and respect than any woman could ever hope for and was like a second father to Karen. He’d asked Lucinda more than once to be his wife, but she had never agreed to it. And Karen knew it was only because she was terribly afraid of being hurt again. The same way she had been hurt by her first husband, Karen’s father.

John put the pizza on the kitchen counter, removed his stone-washed jacket, and threw it on the chair closest to the sink. Karen was sitting at the one adjacent, watching him.

“Don’t worry, I’m not gonna leave it lying there. I’m taking it upstairs as soon as I finish eating.”

Karen had heard comments like that a hundred times. “What took you so long?” she asked.

“Nothing. I wasn’t gone that long, was I?”

Karen reached over to the drawer, pulled out a miniature-sized steak knife and separated two slices of pizza. “No, but it doesn’t take forty-five minutes to drive over to Golf Road.”

“It couldn’t have taken me that long,” John said with a smirky grin on his face.

“You went to some convenience store to play the lottery, didn’t you?”

“I won’t even deny it, baby. I’ve got a good feeling about that Little Lotto tonight, and I only played five dollars.”

Karen picked off each piece of pepperoni and set it to the edge of the pizza box. Cheese and sausage were more than enough for her. “That’s five dollars you’d still have if you hadn’t gambled it away. You’re never going to learn, are you?”

John smiled with a mouth full of pizza. “Don’t be mad. It’s only the lottery, and you’ve got my promise about not going back to the track.”

Karen didn’t like this at all, but she genuinely understood how hard it was going cold turkey. It had taken her three months to give up chocolate muffins and sixty days more before she’d successfully weaned herself off those sinful Twix bars. But then, gaining weight and losing bill money were hardly one and the same. There was a lot more at risk with the latter, and that meant she had to get down on her knees and pray more this week than she had in a long time. Faith was the only chance she had with this gambling situation, and it was time for her to start acting like it. She hadn’t been to church in a long time, not because she’d become some horrible, backsliding sinner, but mostly because she was too lazy to get all doodied up, especially since she was already having to
do that five other days in the week. The Sabbath day had become her rest day, and she felt guilty. It seemed as though this problem she and John were having was God’s way of reminding her that she needed to be prayerful at all times and not just when things were heading for destruction. Her grandma Claire used to say, “Get down on your knees and pray, even if it’s just to give the Lord thanks.” And starting tonight, that’s exactly what she was going to do.

“I
’
LL HAVE A
half-pound cheeseburger, small fries, and large Coke,” Larry said. Regina had just ordered a grilled chicken sandwich and a medium pink lemonade. It was the quarter-pound burger that she wanted, but she’d decided against it. She’d made entirely too much progress with this weight thing to fall off the wagon now.

Regina made her way to the other end of Fuddruckers, a popular restaurant located right in the heart of Schaumburg, and secured a table, while Larry stood at the pop machine filling their cups with drinks. Afterward, he walked over to their table and seated himself directly across from Regina. Usually he sat kitty-corner from her whenever they ate out, wanting to be close to her, but not today. Maybe there was no substance to her thinking, but she was starting to feel para
noid again. He’d seemed so distant lately, as if he didn’t enjoy being in her company. And yesterday, he’d phoned her at the last minute to cancel lunch, claiming his Monday morning staff meeting was going to run into his lunch hour.

“So, how’s your day going?” Regina asked.

“Busy, but fine. I really should be working instead of having lunch, but I knew how much you were looking forward to this.”

Damn. He was sounding like he’d been forced there against his precious little will. “Well, if you were that busy, you shouldn’t have come. All you had to do was tell me,” Regina said with a bit of salt in her voice.

Larry took a sip from his cola. “So you could accuse me of God knows what? Listen to you. You’ve got an attitude already.”

Regina reached across the table and grabbed Larry’s hand. Her feelings were clearly hurt, but she was hiding it well. “Let’s not argue. Okay? I know you’re busy, and I’m sorry for pressuring you about it.”

He let out a sigh and turned his head toward the window. Why couldn’t he look her straight in the eye? Her mother always said that when a person shied away from direct eye contact, it usually meant they were guilty of something. She hoped that wasn’t Larry’s case.

“So when do you plan on recruiting those supervisors you talked about over the weekend?” Regina asked, trying to smooth things over.

“When I met with two of the other division managers
yesterday, we thought we’d be able to start interviewing by next week, but I just found out today that I’ll be down at our training facility in Atlanta for five days.”

“Atlanta? When do you leave?”

“Probably Sunday evening, since the training session begins first thing Monday morning.”

“Maybe I could take a vacation week and join you. We haven’t gone away one single time this year, and you know how much I love Atlanta.” She was excited.

They had gone there during their engagement and were absolutely impressed. Atlanta was a big city and just as exciting as Chicago but not nearly as congested. Down there, it was common to find successful black families living in two- and three-hundred-thousand dollar houses. As a matter of fact, entire subdivisions of them. Something that was basically foreign to most other areas of the country.

“I’ll be in training every day from nine to four-thirty, so we wouldn’t be able to spend any real time together. It wouldn’t be much of a vacation for you at all, the way I see it.”

What was he talking about? That was the same reason he hadn’t wanted her to go with him to Philadelphia in January or to D.C. just over a month ago. Whether he was in training all day or not, how could she not have a good time in Atlanta, Georgia? “That’s not a problem. I can find things to do during the day and spend time with you in the evening.”

“Why don’t you wait until July for the New Orleans
conference? It’s only two months away, and it’ll be easier for me to skip out on some of the workshops. I mean, I just can’t see you wasting a whole week of your vacation when all you’d be doing is spending it alone.”

“Then what if I just take off a couple of days and fly down on Thursday? That way we can stay on through Sunday.”

“Four days won’t be a vacation at all. If you wait until July, like I keep suggesting, we’ll have an entire week.”

Obviously, he wasn’t going to budge. Why was he trying to sell her on this New Orleans trip, anyway? It just didn’t make any sense. Regina thought the Quarters were nice and all, but girlfriend was rearing to go to Atlanta. Especially now, when the only weather Illinois was experiencing was constant rain, day after day, week after week.

Regina was about to take one more stand on this vacation issue when she noticed a look of frustration on Larry’s face. “Fine. I’ll wait until July, if you think it’s best.”

“I really do. We’ll have a much better time. Just wait and see.”

Better time? How? By July, the temperatures in the South would be so unbearable, that all they would be able to do was lie in some hotel suite trying their best to stay cool.

Regina looked at her watch. Shoot. She only had fifteen minutes to make it back to work, and the drive to Hoffman Estates would take no less than twenty. Normally, she could be a little late returning from lunch, but today she’d scheduled an interview right at one-
thirty, and it was unprofessional to keep someone waiting. Especially when that someone was a top female engineering graduate from Yale University.

At the request of Regina’s boss, the vice president of Human Resources, she had tried to recruit this young, Asian woman before but had been unsuccessful due to the woman’s salary and perk requirements. The offer would be more to her liking this time, though. Regina was going to see to it.

“I really hate to cut this short, but I need to get back. I’ve got an appointment this afternoon,” she said, then patted her lips with her napkin.

Larry slid his chair back from the table, stood up, and buttoned his blazer. “I’ve got to get going myself.”

Regina took out her bronze-colored Fashion Fair lipstick and ran it across her lips. She stood up, and they walked toward the exit. Larry grabbed her by her waist as they started toward their respective cars.

He walked over to Regina’s car, opened the door on the driver’s side, and waited for her to get in. “I hope you’re not disappointed about Atlanta. New Orleans is a much better idea. You’ll see.”

Yeah, she was going to see all right. See him down in Atlanta next week.

R
EGINA PUSHED
her office door shut, walked across the teal plush carpet, and sat down. The interview had gone well. The electrical engineering manageri
al position was finally filled, and the young woman was starting at the end of the month. As anticipated, the salary issue had come up, but shortly after Regina had disclosed an offer of $85,000 per year, the engineering graduate had quickly accepted and suddenly had had no further questions. It just went to show, money didn’t mean everything, but it certainly came pretty damn close.

Regina glanced over at her wedding photo and smiled. She and Larry looked good together, were the perfect couple, and that’s how it was going to stay. Regina was going to use everything in her power to transform this Atlanta business trip into a second honeymoon. Of course Larry was against the idea right now, but his feelings would be different once she got down there.

She reached for the phone at the edge of her desk and called Larry’s office. Doris, his secretary, would have his complete travel itinerary and would gladly aid her in modifying his hotel reservations.

“Larry Moore’s office,” a woman said.

Who was this answering the phone? Doris was middle-aged and Caucasian, but this particular voice belonged to a sister. As far as she knew, there were no African-American secretaries in Larry’s department, but then, maybe they had hired one and he’d just forgotten to mention it. “Is this Larry Moore’s office?” Regina asked, then realized how stupid she sounded, since the woman had already announced that it was.

“Yes, it is.”

“Actually, I’m looking for his secretary. Is she in?”

“Yes. May I tell her who’s calling?”

“This is Mrs. Moore.”

“Please hold.”

Regina leaned back, rested her elbows on each arm of the chair, and waited.

“This is Doris. May I help you?”

“Hey, Doris, it’s Regina.”

“Hi, Regina. How are you? You just missed Larry.”

Doris spoke fast and to the point but, as always, with a pleasant tone of voice. Which is why Regina loved talking to her. “As a matter of fact, I was calling for you. I need to find out which hotel Larry is staying at in Atlanta, so I can extend the reservations through Sunday. I’m planning to fly down there and surprise him on next Thursday.”

“Well, good for you. Now let me see here…he’s staying at the Marriott Marquis.”

“Good. That’s a supernice hotel. We stayed there last year and loved it.”

“I remember Larry talking about it when you guys got back. Have you made your flight reservations yet?”

“No. He just told me about the trip at lunchtime, and I’m just now getting an opportunity to make a few phone calls.”

“I can call and book it for you, if you want.”

Regina smiled. It was just like Doris to offer to help someone else. “I don’t want to bother you with that, and anyway, I can make one phone call to the corporate trav
el division here at my company and they’ll take care of everything. But thanks for offering.”

“Okay, but you know it wouldn’t be a problem.”

“While you’re worrying about me, you should be planning your own vacation,” Regina said and then laughed.

“Actually, I’m training someone right now, because I’ll be leaving day after tomorrow for two weeks. My husband and I are flying out to California to visit my daughter and son-in-law.”

Well, that explained why the sister had answered the phone. She was probably from one of those temporary agencies.

“I’m really glad to hear you’re taking a break, because I know how busy you guys have been,” Regina said.

“Yeah, we were flooded with work in January, but things have been pretty slow since then. To tell you the truth, I’m glad, because this way I won’t have to worry about getting so far behind in my work while I’m gone.”

Slow? Since January? Hell, that was three months ago. If they were so slow, why did Larry keep insisting he needed to work through lunch and after normal working hours? She didn’t understand and wanted more information, but she didn’t want Doris to know what she was thinking.

“Well, if I don’t talk with you before you leave, have a safe and enjoyable trip,” Regina said.

“We will, and you do the same. I can just see the look on Larry’s face now. He’ll be so surprised.”

“Thanks again, Doris.”

“You’re welcome, Regina. Good-bye.”

Regina placed the phone on its ivory-colored base, kicked her black pumps under her desk, and discharged a deep sigh. For every bright side she tried to look on, there was a dark and gloomy one peeking around the corner. She was trying so hard to understand Larry. Trying to make him happy. But now he was lying.

First it was the working through lunch hour thing, then came the working after hours, and now it was these Friday night card game extravaganzas. Before long, he’d have an excuse for not coming home at all.

She sat in her chair with her eyes shut and tried to calm herself down. Maybe her imagination was out of control again, the same way it had been on Friday night. And anyway, it didn’t automatically mean Larry’s workload was down just because Doris’s was. He was a manager with a lot more responsibility and really couldn’t be compared with his secretary.

Once again she convinced herself. If Larry said he had a lot of work, then he did. She had always been able to trust him in the past, and now was no different. He’d always been a dedicated employee, and she was foolish for thinking anything else. She told herself that everything was fine.

R
EGINA HADN'T WANTED
to go shopping alone, and since Karen and John had already made plans for the evening, she phoned Marilyn and asked her to meet
her at the mall right after work. She wouldn’t be leaving for Atlanta for another week, but she wanted to get a head start on buying some new apparel for the trip. They’d already browsed through two major department stores but, for some reason, hadn’t found anything worth writing home about. Finally, they’d decided to check out Nordstrom’s lingerie department.

“Girl, I know you’re not serious about spending sixty dollars on that skimpy little nightgown,” Marilyn said. “You must be out of your mind.”

“Actually, sixty dollars isn’t a whole lot for this, because I’ve seen some a lot higher than that,” Regina said.

“That’s just plain ridiculous. You would never catch me spending that type of money on something like that. Even if I had the money to do it.”

Regina carried the flame red negligee around to the other side of the rack so she could pick out a silk robe to match it. “Larry and I haven’t gone away together since last year, and I want to make this Atlanta trip as special as I can. Sometimes you have to add some spice to a marriage so it won’t become so monotonous. Besides, I haven’t charged anything on my Nordstrom account in over two months, so it really doesn’t matter how much it costs.”

“What difference does that make? You still have to pay for it one way or the other. Not to mention those ridiculous finance charges you’ll be stuck with.”

“But I won’t have to pay for it all at once, and that’s what makes the difference as far as I’m concerned.”

“I guess, but I still think it’s priced way too high. There’s just no way I could fork out that kind of money for something you can’t even wear outside of a bedroom. But then, it’s your money.”

Exactly, Regina thought. And as long as Marilyn wasn’t spending any of her precious little money, she shouldn’t be worrying about how much it cost in the first place. Marilyn sure was being overly critical tonight. Maybe she was just having a bad day, but Regina wished she would cut it out. “You should be buying one yourself. You never know when Mr. Right might come along.”

“Girl, please. It’s like I told you a couple of days ago, that’s never going to happen.”