We Take this Man (27 page)

He tried to grab my shirt and I fought him away. We shared love taps all the way through the sliding glass doors. Our giggling came to an abrupt halt when everyone including the kids looked at us as if we were having more fun than we should be while everyone else was preparing for the party.

I smirked and sashayed into my bedroom. Dwight followed. He closed the door behind him. “Baby, let’s take a shower together.”

I laughed. “Dwight, we can’t.”

“Why not?”

“We only have thirty minutes to get ready.”

“We can do two things at once, shower and make love.”

I rushed into the bathroom and turned on the shower. “C’mon, we got to hurry up. Lock the door.”

He pulled off his shirt. “I already did.”

“I should have known.”

We hopped in the shower together, both facing the front. He wrapped his arms around me and began kissing my neck. I put my hands on the back of his head. The water ran down our bodies and we clung to each other. Finally, he turned me around and lifted my thighs so my legs could wrap around him. We grinded slowly before he penetrated. I rested my head on his shoulder. We were alone, long before DJ, long before the arrival of Tracey. Nothing outside of our bedroom mattered. That is until our climax was interrupted with loud banging outside the door. I was distracted, but he held me tightly and pumped aggressively until he released inside of me. Suddenly, I was in a rush to get clean and get out of the bathroom. Company was coming and we didn’t need any tension among us. Not that it wasn’t already there.

I rushed out of the bathroom. “Who’s there?”

No one answered. I rushed to get ready, tossing Dwight a pair of jeans and a polo shirt. “Here, baby, hurry up.”

I rushed out of the room half wrinkled, half made up. My mother and Tracey had all of the food out on the picnic table. I grabbed some serving bowls and poured pretzels and chips in them. Tracey came through the sliding glass door. “So glad you decided to join us.”

I smiled slightly, but didn’t feed into it. Dwight rushed out of the bedroom. We had that post-sex connection. He winked at me. I winked at him. We were smiling for no reason as we greeted incoming guests.

The crew pretty much came one after the other. Andrea brought three kids from her church, Gina brought her two nieces, and Tammy brought her daughter. And that was pretty much the entire party.

Tammy decided to make some spiked punch for the adults. We sipped and chatted and got more joy out of the kids than necessary. Dwight and I both drank, but of course Tracey stayed sober.

Unconsciously, we shared love taps throughout the day. It wasn’t until after we sang “Happy Birthday” and Dwight stood behind me with his arm wrapped around me while I bent over DJ that Gina made me realize it. She helped me hand out the ice cream and cake. I cut small pieces of cake and she put a dollop of ice cream on the side. Tracey settled the kids as we handed down the small plates. Gina said, “She’s a better woman than me.”

“You mean we’re both better women than you.”

She covered her mouth as she spoke softly to me, “You and Dwight touch and feel all the time. I couldn’t handle that.”

“Whatever. She’s not thinking about me and Dwight. Her main focus is the kids.”

“Hmmm. Don’t sleep. She’s a woman before she’s a mother.”

I looked down the table at Tracey so effortlessly handling all of the kids and said, “Nah, not Tracey. She’s a mother first.”

CHAPTER 43

Tracey

D
J was sitting in his high chair. I was feeding him applesauce and scrambled eggs. Alicia sat across from me, drinking coffee. She had no idea I hated her. I hated her being in my house. She was waiting for me to finish feeding DJ so she could go to work.

“Why don’t you go ahead to the office? I’ll drop DJ off at day care.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah, girl, I’m sure.”

“I don’t know what I would do without you,” she said as she hugged DJ then me.
I know what I would do without you.

I said, “Oh, yeah. I forgot to tell you. Dwight wanted you to sign this insurance form. It’s for his life insurance.” Just as I thought, she trusted me. She didn’t even look at the paper. She walked out of the house and I peeled the bogus page off. I had the document I needed to prove she was unfit and I refused to share Dwight any longer.

As soon as she left for work, I tore her room apart. I found letters from someone named Deshaun, a jailbird pledging his undying love for her and asking when she was coming to see him again. That was a bit of information that I wasn’t expecting, but I was damn sure happy to find. I got her laptop, looked through her pictures, her e-mails, and her drawers. In her drawers I found all types of dildos, questionable pornography, and a prescription for Zoloft. She was really a mess. I collected all the incriminating information and proceeded to check her criminal record online. Alicia was making this easier than I thought it would be. Turns out, she admitted to drug use in a court case nearly ten years ago.

The plan was simple: to expose her past and have Dwight doubt her stability. I was going to prove to Dwight that she was a crazy felon who had jailbird and lesbian lovers, was an unfit mother, and who had signed over her parental rights. I typed up a fake letter from Alicia’s crazy lover and e-mailed it from a bogus Yahoo account I made up. Then I opened it up from her e-mail address and printed it out.

Dear Alicia,

I have waited long enough for you to break up with him. You said you needed time. I gave you that. You need to start taking your medicine and stop worrying about what the world thinks about you. I don’t know why you are ashamed of what you are. Tell him the truth. You are not bisexual, you are a lesbian. I know you, girl. I love you, girl. You have to tell him. I want you back, girl, but don’t come back to me with that baby. Leave that baby with him. Alicia, I love you but you got to do something NOW!! If you don’t make a decision soon, then I’m going to have to hurt you, him, and his family.

Love,

Erica

I acted normal, but I plotted daily toward the demise of Alicia Dixon. When all my data was in order, I waited for Alicia’s regular Thursday night out. That way, I’d have all evening to drill it in. Around one, I called Dwight frantically.

“Baby, I need you to come home.”

“Why, what’s up?”

“It’s an emergency.”

Dwight was home in a matter of minutes. I was crying when he got there. His chest sunk, because he knew me long enough to know it was bad news. I covered my face and sniffled. “Dwight, how long did you know her before you started fucking her? What kind of tricks did she do on you?”

He looked away and then back at me. “Tracey, what’s going on?” I told him to have a seat and placed the jail letters, the bottle of Zoloft, the sex toys, pornography, the fake letter, and her criminal record all over the table.

“What’s all this?”

“You don’t even really know the trash you brought into our life. Into our family! Dwight, how could you? Did you know she was a part-time lesbian and full-time drug addict? Huh? Did you know that, Dwight?” I asked as I pointed to the letters.

“What are you talking about? Where did you get these letters from?” he asked as he began reading.

“I was folding clothes and I put her clothes in her room and she had everything all in her room in plain sight. Like she doesn’t care.”

“I can’t believe this,” he said in disbelief.

“Neither can I, Dwight, how could you? She told me she had sex with a woman before, but I didn’t think it was a big deal when her friends mentioned it to me. But this woman in the letter says she wants her back and to leave DJ. It just doesn’t make sense. I was still trying not to believe until she gave me these custody papers, Dwight. I mean, is she really crazy? Do we really have a crazy lady living in our house?” Dwight didn’t know what to say. He just stood examining everything, especially the signed custody form. And to add one more blow, I added, “And did you read the part of the letter where she said she is going to hurt us? I mean come on, what do I have to do with it? Better yet, what do our daughters have to do with them? It is not right. She is a liar and just unfit. Baby, I’m sorry. I know you trusted her, but I think she tricked us.” I took a deep breath.

He ran his hands down his face. “Tracey, I’m so sorry. I didn’t know about any of this. I’m so sorry. What have I done?”

Rubbing the side of his face, I said, “Nothing that we can’t fix.”

“Man, I don’t believe this.” He sprang up and headed toward her room. “She has to go. She has to move out today and she is not taking DJ with her.”

“No, baby. We’ve got to get the hell out of here. Maryland. This house. That job. These fast women here. We have to go back home, but we gotta be smart. We can’t just throw her out. She’ll get vindictive. We gotta make sure everything is right before we confront.”

He stomped around. “How the hell do you think I can wait to confront her?”

“Look, we don’t want her to do nothing crazy like disappear with DJ, and lawd knows she is a terrible mother.”

He huffed and puffed. “So, you’re telling me not to say anything.”

“Baby, we have to protect DJ and make sure this transition is smooth. I think she’ll retract on the custody agreement if she thinks we’re coming up against her.”

He sat back down and took a few more breaths. “You’re right. We gotta be smart about this.” He opened his arms for me to come hug him. I smiled, because I’d done it and he had fallen right into the trap, no questions asked.

“So, what are you going to do about this house?”

He huffed, “I don’t know. I’m not saying we’re moving back today. I guess I’ll sell it. I have to find a job. It’s just so much to think about. Maybe I need to just rest for a while.”

CHAPTER 44

Alicia

M
aybe it was my mother’s warnings, but I’d begun to feel like the outsider. I walked in the house after my evening jog and the smell of brownies greeted me at the door. Tracey knew they were my weakness and I was curious if she made them so that my ass could spread as wide as hers. I pulled my earphones off and the girls giggled. “DJ, say ‘stop.’”

He repeated, “Op!”

Tracey and Dwight laughed, but when I entered the family room all the happiness ceased. Even Jordan and Destiny glared at me. I smirked. “Hey, y’all.”

Tracey said, “That was a long run. I thought you got lost.”

You could use a damn long run yourself
. I gulped down some water. “Yeah, sometimes when I get in my own world I just run until I get lost.”

Dwight stood up. “Good thing we’re here to take care of your son.”

My neck snapped back as he walked out of the family room and headed toward me. I took another sip from my water bottle to wash down the insult. “Yeah, I guess it is a good thing,” I said, rolling my eyes.

“The least you can do is speak to him.” I felt like I should bang him in his mouth, but I didn’t know where all this anger was coming from. He continued, “I mean, I did pick him up from day care.”

I ignored him and headed into the family room. “DJ. How’s Mommy’s boy?” He cracked up laughing. I sang his name again, “DJ. Hey, boo-boo!”

I reached for him and he clung to Tracey, so I pulled him from her. Jordan and Destiny started telling me everything he’d been doing. Then Destiny said, “Something stinks.”

Tracey smirked at me. I said, “Well, when you work out, your body sweats and when it’s warm out you can smell bad. I’m getting into the shower in a minute.”

I played with DJ for a few more minutes and left the room in search of Dwight. When I walked in the room, he was there. “Do you still regret getting pregnant with DJ?”

“Dwight, what kind of question is that?”

“I just wonder sometimes.”

I huffed and walked into my bathroom to turn the shower on. “Maybe Tracey is better at it than me, but yes, I am happy being a mother.”

I tossed my smelly workout clothes on him. He looked like he wanted to say more, but he dropped his head. I walked back out of the bathroom with no clothes on. “Dwight, what’s wrong?” He rubbed my butt as I stood in front of him. I cupped his chin in my hand. “Why have you been acting strange? We don’t talk like we used to. I miss you.”

He nodded. “I know.”

“Come take a shower with me.”

He took a deep breath. He’d slept on the couch for the past few nights, not giving me or Tracey our quality time. I’d narrowed it down to him being overwhelmed at work. “Nah, go ahead.”

I kissed his forehead and massaged his neck. “You know, we were friends first.”

“Yeah, I know.”

I stepped in the shower, frustrated. The added amenity of our situation was the babysitting assistance, and now I was being judged for taking advantage of it. A part of me wanted to cry, but then the other part knew that I was contributing greatly to the household. She had yet to sell a home, so I was picking up everybody’s slack. Shit, I deserved to have twenty-four-hour day-care services. When I got out of the shower, I got dressed and walked into the room to tell Tracey I’d be right back.

She said, “Where you going, girl?”

“I just need to get my mind together.”

“Well, if you need a designated driver, call me,” she said, smiling. At least she gave a damn, because Dwight just sat there, staring at the fan, aimlessly bouncing DJ on his knee.

I walked over and kissed DJ. Dwight said, “Have fun.”

It seemed sarcastic, but I didn’t feed into it. Maybe he was going through his quarterly male PMS. I shrugged. “I will.”

When I left the house, I sat in my car without a destination in mind. I called Tammy, because she lived the closest. Inside Tammy’s place, I poured my heart out about how I felt that they were insinuating that I was a bad mother. She laughed. “Shit, you’re not a good mother.”

I pouted. “Don’t say that.”

“Well, you’re not. You’re just doing the best that can be expected of you. You can’t be a great mother and bring home the bacon, too. Shit, lucky for you, you got a chick living with you that fries that shit in a pan when you get off.”