Sisters and Husbands (23 page)

E
velyn never showed up for the pre-wedding celebration and their mother was worried.

“This isn’t like your sister at all,” Mama said as she, Beverly, and Charmaine washed, dried, and put away the dishes after
the guests had left. Julian, Kenny, Russell, and Daddy were in the basement picking up trash and putting furniture back in
place. “I’m really worried about what this is doing to her spirit,” Mama said.

“She probably just wanted to stay home and have some time to herself,” Beverly said.

“That’s what I’m worried about,” Mama said. “She tries to be so independent, and this isn’t a good time to go it alone. She
should be here with her family.”

“This is going to be rough on her, Ma, but she’ll get through it,” Charmaine said. “If I got through three divorces, she can
get through this. If it comes to that. We don’t even know if it will yet.”

“I know that,” Mama said. “And I don’t mean any harm by this, but it’s not the same for her as it was with you, Charmaine.”

Charmaine pretended to be taken aback. “Well!”

“You know what I’m trying to say,” Mama said. “I’m sure it was hard on you too, but Evelyn has been married for so many years
to the same man.”

“I know,” Charmaine said. “I was just trying to lighten things up a little.”

“That’s just it, Charmaine,” Beverly said. “This is nothing to kid around about. Evelyn is devastated, and you’re joking around.”

Charmaine paused from putting a glass bowl in a cabinet and glared at Beverly. “Damn, girl,” she snapped. She placed the bowl
on the countertop and cocked a finger at Beverly. “You need to chill, for crying out loud.”

Beverly tossed the dish towel across her shoulder and placed her hands on her hips. “
I
don’t need to do anything.
You
need to get serious for a change.”

Mama held up a wet hand. “Girls, please. That’s enough.”

“I’m tired of her attitude,” Charmaine said. “She was fussing at everybody downstairs. I know she’s hurt about Valerie, but
what the hell did I do for her to be jumping on me? And poor Julian. She was all over him too.”

Beverly turned back to drying the dishes. What
was
she getting on Charmaine’s case for? Or Julian’s? She honestly couldn’t figure that out. She just knew that a lot of people
were getting on her nerves. Was it because of what she had seen when she walked into Valerie’s apartment? Probably. Unfortunately,
realizing that that was likely the source of her bitterness didn’t make her feel much better.

Still, she needed to try and climb out of this funk. Her family had done nothing wrong.

“Sorry, Charm. I’m upset, yes, but I didn’t mean to take it out on you.”

Charmaine shrugged. “Apology accepted.”

“Why don’t we go over to Evelyn’s when we leave here and check up on her?” Beverly said.

“Good idea. I just need to drop Kenny and Russell off at the movie theater in Columbia first.”

“Then I can ride back to the house with Julian and get my car,” Beverly said. “I’ll meet you at Evelyn’s.”

“If you want, I can stop by and pick you up after I drop the boys off,” Charmaine offered. “There’s no need to take two cars.”

“Sounds good to me.”

“That’s better,” Mama said. “It makes me much happier to see you two working together instead of arguing with each other.”

Little more than an hour later, the three sisters sat around a table on the patio at Evelyn’s house, sipping chardonnay and
munching on rum cake left over from the party. It was a warm June evening, but Evelyn hadn’t gotten dressed all day long and
she was still wearing her white silk pajamas. Beverly had changed into cutoff blue jeans, and Charmaine into siren red shorts.

“Have you talked to Valerie at all since this happened?” Charmaine asked. She kicked off her flip-flops and put her feet up
on one of the spare lawn chairs as she looked across the table at Beverly.

Beverly leaned back and looked out over the lawn. She felt peaceful now, sitting and relaxing with her sisters under the glow
of the summer moonlight. Certainly she was much calmer than she had been since walking in on Valerie and Kevin the day before.

But no, she hadn’t talked to Valerie, and she shook her head adamantly. “I don’t care if I never see that bitch’s skanky face
again.”

“Want me to call her and ask what the hell she was thinking?” Charmaine asked. “I’ll probably end up cussing the whore out.”

“That’s why I haven’t contacted her,” Beverly said. “I’m so pissed, I know I won’t give her a chance to say much of anything.
What in the world could she possibly say, anyway, to explain what she did?”

“That was some nasty shit she pulled,” Charmaine added as she took a sip of wine.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been so hurt in all my life,” Evelyn said. “I’ve been fuming all day, wondering how Kevin could do
this to me. I don’t see why you all put all the blame on Valerie. Kevin was just as wrong. Hell, he’s even more wrong as far
as I’m concerned.”

“I don’t blame just her,” Beverly said. “I know Kevin was being an ass. But why do you say he was more at fault than her?”

“Because he’s a husband,” Evelyn said. “And a father. Yes, Valerie is guilty of betraying you, and me to a lesser extent.
But Kevin broke his marriage vows to me, the ones he took before God. Valerie didn’t break any vows to anyone. And I’ve always
believed that when a man cheats on his wife, he’s also cheating his children. The separation alone has been hard on Andre
and especially Rebecca. How do you think they’ll feel to find out that Kevin has slept with another woman? That he betrayed
their mother? All I’ve heard is what a bitch Valerie is. What about what a bastard Kevin turned out to be?”

“Amen to that,” Charmaine said.

“Preach on, sister,” Beverly said.

“Kevin and I may be separated now, but we’re still legally married,” Evelyn added, getting warmed up. “Even if we had already
signed the divorce papers, he had no right to mess around with my sister’s best friend. All the women in the world, and he
picked Valerie? That was just plain mean.”

Beverly nodded. “Okay, I get it. Well spoken. Kevin’s betrayal is far worse when you put it that way. Still, I’ll never be
able to forgive Valerie or trust her as long as I live. Him either, but she was my best friend since college. We talked to
each other almost every day.”

“I get that too,” Evelyn said.

“I hear what you’re saying about Kevin,” Charmaine said. “But I think Valerie makes me so mad because men always do this kind
of thing. They think with their dicks instead of their brains. Sometimes it seems like they can’t help themselves. But I expect
a lot more from a girlfriend who was as close to Bev as Valerie was.”

Evelyn scoffed. “I don’t buy that ‘boys will be boys’ crap. I just don’t. First, they’re not boys. They’re men and they should
be able to control themselves better. We buy into the bad-boy myth and let these grown men get away with murder. We’re ready
to scratch the other woman’s eyeballs out but barely say anything to the man,
our
man, the one who cheated on us. That’s wrong on so many levels.”

“I agree,” Beverly said. “Why do you think we do that?”

“Because if we really hold our man accountable for cheating on us, we might have to break up with him. We don’t want to do
that, so we tell ourselves that the other woman is responsible and that it wasn’t really his fault. Poor baby, she tempted
him and he couldn’t help it. But now that I’ve caught him and he knows I’m aware, he’ll never do it again. Bull.”

Charmaine nodded thoughtfully. “If I can just keep all the other
bad
women away from him, everything will be all right from now on. Then we get all possessive, watching their every move like
hawks. You got a point, Evelyn, I admit.”

“We have to realize that it’s the man who broke the bond of trust that we had with him,” Evelyn said. “Unless she’s a close
friend, the woman doesn’t owe us a damn thing.”

“You’ve been doing a lot of thinking today,” Beverly said.

“I had to. Last night after you left, I thought I was coming unglued. I couldn’t stop crying and I literally felt sick. This
morning when I woke up I didn’t feel much better. Kevin and I had what I thought was a heartfelt talk just days ago, and I
was waiting for him to call this weekend to talk about patching things up. And then this happened. My God! It felt like a
door had been slammed in my face. And I won’t lie. I fantasized about driving over to Valerie’s place and whipping her ass
good.”

Beverly chuckled at the thought of Evelyn trying to whip anyone’s butt. “You?”

“Hell yeah. I fell into the usual trap of thinking that she was the one who had ruined any chances of us getting back together.
Then I realized that
he
had screwed things up for us and that what I really need to do is move on, get that man out of my life.” Evelyn flicked her
fingers contemptuously.

“So it’s over for you two?” Charmaine asked.

Evelyn nodded. “Oh, yes. I was trying to save the marriage, but that takes both people in the relationship. I can’t do it
alone.”

“I agree,” Charmaine said.

“This is all so confusing,” Beverly said.

“What is?” Evelyn asked.

“Marriage. Divorce. How does this happen with a man like Kevin? He seemed like a good husband.”

“I wish I could answer that,” Evelyn said. “I can’t.”

“Did he change?” Beverly asked. “Or was this in him all along?”

“It’s in all men, if you ask me,” Charmaine said.

“I hope you’re wrong,” Beverly said as she thought about Julian. “What you’re basically saying is that all men are dogs.”

“Hmm,” Charmaine murmured, then took a generous sip from her wineglass.

“Don’t do that,” Evelyn said, kicking Charmaine under the table. “You’re going to scare her and that’s the last thing we need
to do less than a week before her wedding day.”

“I’m just trying to be honest,” Charmaine said. “I really do believe it’s in all men to cheat. Every last one of them. In
some of ’em, it’s buried down deeper, but it’s still there. That doesn’t mean they all do it—some need more motivation than
others.”

“Do you think it’s in all women too?” Beverly asked. “Because I know I would never do something like that.”

“Sisters are wired different,” Charmaine said. “We need more motivation or temptation than men do, as a rule. There are exceptions,
but most women who cheat are desperate for love or affection. Men just want to get it on.”

“I don’t like thinking it’s in my man’s nature to cheat on me and that I have always got to be on alert,” Beverly said.

Charmaine shrugged. “It is what it is. As long as you marry a decent man and keep him happy in the sex department, you should
be fine.”

“You’re saying that the responsibility for a man not cheating falls on
my
shoulders?” Evelyn said with doubt. “And that I have to be ready to put out whenever he wants it. That’s the most ridiculous
thing I ever heard.”

“Men aren’t as evolved as women are. So yeah, you have to take some of the responsibility for keeping him from straying.”

Beverly shook her head incredulously. “Give guys a bit more credit than that, Charm.” If what Charmaine was saying was even
remotely true, it was depressing, Beverly thought. That meant that what happened to Evelyn could happen to any woman, including
her, and Beverly didn’t want to think that.

“I really would like to,” Charmaine said. “But men have been cheating on me since my first boyfriend in high school. Then
I got smart about it.”

“And started acting like a slut?” Beverly teased.

Charmaine rolled her eyes at Beverly. “No, I learned to spot men who are less likely to cheat. Then I make sure they’re satisfied
in every way.”

“Speaking of high school,” Evelyn said. “Guess who I ran into.”

“Who?” Beverly asked.

“You remember Reuben?”

“Reuben Roberts?” Charmaine asked.

Evelyn nodded.

“Get out!” Charmaine exclaimed.

“Who’s Reuben Roberts?” Beverly asked.

“He went to high school with me and Charm,” Evelyn said. “Tall, slim. Played basketball.”

“Is he still hot?” Charmaine asked.

“Yes, he’s still attractive,” Evelyn said. “Maybe even more so, since he’s filled out nicely, in the way older men often do.”

“Oh, I think I remember him now,” Beverly said. “Y’all used to talk about how fine he was all the time.”

“Yep, that’s him,” Charmaine said. “Where did you run into him, Evelyn?”

“At the office. He works in my building. Just moved there recently. We had coffee a couple of weeks ago and lunch last week.”

“Ooh, nice,” Beverly said.

“Not so fast,” Charmaine said. “He got married right after college, if I remember right. What was her name?”

“Belinda,” Evelyn responded. “But they split up recently. That’s one reason he moved out this way.”

“It figures,” Beverly said. “Can
anybody
stay married these days?”

“It ain’t easy,” Charmaine responded. “What’s Reuben been up to?”

“He’s a tech consultant and he’s branching out on his own. He has two boys, both grown, and I’m having dinner with him on
Wednesday.”