Exposed (Free Falling) (30 page)

I shot her a look and smiled so hard that it hur
t.  “Straight to the point, huh?”

Sh
e shrugged.  “No sense in beating around the bush.”

I shook my head and let out a sigh.

She nudged me.  “For real, though.  You have some explaining to do, ma’am.  Clearly you’ve been keeping secrets and I don’t like it.”

I smiled again and lowered my head.  “What is there to tell?”

Angel shot me a look that I could feel without even glancing her way.  “Sammy…don’t play games with me.  I’m sitting up all night worrying about
you
, wondering why you’re not picking up the phone, then I walk in to find your stuff in pieces on the floor, cushions hanging all off the couch, and you don’t think there’s anything to tell?”

I laughed a little when she let out an irritated
‘Hmph…’

“I mean…I don’t know what to say!  We’ve just been hanging out since he moved here.”

“That looked like more than hanging out,” she said, raising her eyebrows accusatorily. 

Laughing, I looked away when I felt my cheeks get hot.  “Can we please not talk about that?”

“Oh,
hell
no!
We’re talkin’ about it!  I’m traumatized!”

I put my finger over my lips to hush her when the salesman came back to the front of the store.

“Here you are, Miss,” he said with a smile, handing me my phone from across the display counter.  I looked at the price on the cash register and then opened my purse.  When I unzipped the inner pocket, a folded hundred dollar bill that I hadn’t put there was right at the top.  I held it up and stared at it curiously.

“Oh,” Angel said, remembering something.  “AJ said for you to use that to replace whatever you needed for your phone.”

He was never short on thoughtful gestures.
  I passed it to the salesman and waited for change.  When the transaction was complete, I thanked the man, and then exited the store. 

Angel
continued to stare at me while we walked in silence.

“What’s your problem?” I asked, grinning.

“I’m waiting for you to finish telling me what’s up!” she yelled.  “I mean…talk about a blast from the past!  And he’s living
here?”

I nod
ded.  “Yeah, he’s been here for a few weeks now.”

“Like…because of you?” she asked hesitantly.

I laughed.  “Girl, no.  For work.  This…us…that just kind of happened on its own.”

She put her hand on her hip
suspiciously.  “Is that why you and Jason broke up?”

I shook my head and questioned whether or not I should even tell her what really happened
between him and me.  I’d already considered how this news could affect her and Lamar too.  She’d definitely have questions as far as why he’d kept his brothers’ secret even from her.  It seemed reckless to throw a wrench in their relationship after they’d just moved in together.  So instead of running Jason’s name into the mud, I simply stated that things just weren’t working out.  To my surprise, that was a good enough answer for her.

  “So…,
” she started.  “Y’all back together?  You and AJ, I mean.”

I rolled my eyes and shook my head at how quickly she went in for the kill.  “No, we’re not back together, and don’t say anything to Lamar either,” I insis
ted.

She looked at me like I was crazy.  “Duh
, of course I won’t.”

“Thanks.”

Angel nodded as we continued on down the sidewalk.  “You know it’s just a matter of time before you guys are a couple again, right?  I mean…it’s you and AJ.”

The sound of her being so sure that AJ and I would end up together brought a smile to my face; however, i
n my head, I visualized Kira standing between him and me, wearing that large rock I’d seen on her finger – the one factor that made it impossible for me to share in Angel’s resolve.

Apparently, Angel was watching my expression and had already picked up on the fact that things weren’t as simple as she thought they were. 
“Are you gonna spill it, or what?  I ain’t got all day,” she joked.

D
espite her lighthearted tone, I still had reservations about telling her that, technically, AJ was supposed to be marrying another woman in the near future.

Angel’s persistent
stare bore into me like a laser.  “Is
he
with someone?” she asked, when I didn’t readily offer an explanation.

Again, I didn’t respond
, but that in and of itself was all the answer Angel needed.

“Sammy!” she grinned. 
“You
homewrecker!”

I hit her shoulder
lightly and then folded my arms over my chest.  “It’s not like that.”

“Has this been going on since he moved here?”

I shook my head.  “No.  We only got back in contact Wednesday night. And last night…that was the first time we…you know.”

“Wait, he’s not married, is he?” she asked, sounding serious for a moment.

“No…not married,” I replied.

Almost, though
…I left that part out.

Having cleared that up, she smiled again, w
anting all the dirty details.  “Tell me
everything!” 

I made a face at her and laughed. 
“Absolutely not.  A lady never tells.”

She rolled her eyes playfully. 
“Girl, bye.  Was it good?  It was, wasn’t it…even better than back in the day?” she rambled.

I didn’t say anything right away, but when
I did, I blushed first.  “Maybe.”

“
Ohhh
snap!
” 

I cracked up and shook my head at her.

“What was it like?  Did it feel like you were doing it to a stranger?”

I made a face at the creepy tone she took and then looked straight ahead again.  “It was like being with
AJ
,” I reasoned.  “It was a little different, but he’s not into any weird stuff or anything like that, if
that’s
what you’re asking.”

She bit down on her lip.  “I bet it was hot
, though.  Was it hot?”

“Ok, we’re done here,” I concluded, knowing that her well of questions was an endless one.  She’d be at this all day if I’d let her.

We made it back to my building and traipsed up the stairs to my floor.  From the top of the steps, Angel and I both spotted a large bouquet of roses sitting in a vase outside my door.  I approached them slowly, feeling confused.  Stooping down to grab the card, I wondered how AJ had enough time to do this while Angel and I took the short walk to the phone store.

“What’s it say?” she asked, holding the crystal vase in her hands and sniffing the arrangement.

“Give me a second!” I said smiling.  Pulling the small card free, I opened it and realized that I’d assumed wrong…
very
wrong.

“I know these roses don’t make up for the things that I said
last night, but I just thought you should know that I’ve decided to file…Don’t give up on us.  -J”

I stared at Jason’
s words on the small card.

“Wh
at’s it say? 
‘Will you be my girlfriend; circle ‘yes’ or ‘no’
?” Angel joked.

Distracted as I reread the note
for a second time, I never replied.  Angel chose to read over my shoulder when she couldn’t stand to wait any longer.

“File for what?” she asked.

I sighed, realizing that there was no way around this; I’d have to tell her the truth about me and Jason’s breakup.

“Just…come in,” I replied, unlocking my door and stepping inside. 

My head was spinning as I busied myself putting the couch cushions back together and picking my towel up from the floor.  Angel stood by, watching, waiting for me to explain.  When I plopped down, her attention was on me.

“Okay…,” I sighed.  “I wasn’t going to go into detail about me and Jason because I didn’t want to involve you, but…has Lamar ever mentioned someone by the name of Ryan to you?”

She seemed confused as she shook her head.

“Well…that’s Jason’s son.”

Her eyebrows pulled together as she tried to make sense of it all.  “I’m sorry, Jason’s what now?”

I nodded.  “You heard right.  Jason has a six year old son…and a wife,” I added.

Her eyes bucked.  “Wife?  Like…I…I don’t understand.”

“That makes two of us.  I didn’t find out until a couple weeks ago.  They’ve been separated for a while, but they’re still married technically.”

“Just…wow,” was all she could say.

“Don’t be mad at Lamar; Jason’s his brother.  You can’t just expect him to spread his business.”

Angel nodded her head, still deep in thought.

“That’s why we broke up – he wasn’t willing to divorce her because he’d have to come up off more money than he already is.  That’s what that note was about.  Apparently
, he’s had a change of heart overnight.”

She met my gaze and witnessed the perplexed look on my face.  There were so many scenarios
running through my head that it felt like the room was spinning.  On the one hand, I was woman enough to admit that I still had very strong feelings for AJ – there was no denying that.  However, he had a whole life outside of me that I couldn’t expect him to abandon just because we’d…
reconnected
.  He didn’t owe me anything.  In fact, I was surprised that he was willing to even give me the time of day after how I left things when I moved.

“What’re you
gonna do?” Angel asked.  “How serious is AJ about this
other
chick?”

There was a long bout of silence while
I deliberated, eventually just deciding to tell her the whole truth.

“Serious,” I replied.

She cocked her head to the side.  “Meaning?”

I looked down at the floor and recalled the things I’d tried to get AJ to think about last night – the aftermath. 

“They’re engaged,” I finally admitted.

Angel’s
lack of a response said more than any words ever could’ve.  Because she and I are so close, we think a lot alike.  If the shoe were on the other foot, and it was
her
telling
me
that she’d just caught feelings for a man who was about to marry someone else, my advice would be to cut things off now before it got any deeper.  But…this is AJ we’re talking about; there’s no ‘
cutting things off
’.  I’ve been in as deep as you can get with him since day one. 

I looked up when Ang
el sighed, maybe thinking that there was nothing she could say to make me stop talking to or seeing him.  The weak smile she forced implied that she sensed doom at the end of this story, but she never said it out loud.

“Well…whatever happens…you know I’ve got you,” she concluded.

And I
did
know that.  But hopefully I wouldn’t be calling her, needing to be pieced back together when it was all said and done. 

A dollar short and a day late as usual, I had a moment of clarity where I co
nsidered the fact that I may need to pump the brakes before I crashed and burned.

*****

AJ

“Did I catch you at a bad time?” I asked, noting all the background noise on Terrell’s end of the line.

“Nah, Maisha has me out at this crowded mall, but I can talk; she’s trying on clothes.  Whassup?”

A smile stretched across my face thinking about my night with Sam.  Granted we’d already discussed letting Terrell in on the secret,
but I had to admit – I just needed to be able to talk about it with someone.

“So…there’s something I didn’t
tell you the last time you called.  Part of the reason was because I wasn’t sure where things were headed and I’m
still
not, to be quite honest with you, but…Sam and I have been talking again.”

The laugh that he let out had me
shaking my head while I sat on my window sill, watching people pass below.

“Bout time!” he yelled, probably drawing all sorts of attention to
himself.  “Since when?”

“Wednesday night.  We
talked on the phone a while, went out to eat, talked some more, and we hung out Thursday and last night, too,” I admitted freely.

He continued to laugh.  “Aw, man!  I
knew
you wanted to call her!”

I laughed too.  “Yeah…well.  I just thought you’d like to know.  I’m sure Sam will tell Maisha when she’s ready to.”

“Forget
that
!  I already sent her a text in the dressing room!  I worked too hard to hook y’all back up to let Sam steal my moment,” he reasoned.  “But for real, though, are y’all kicking it or playing like y’all are just friends?”