My Sister's Ex (7 page)

Just then some more of my kinfolks pour out from the house and spill to the backyard through the sliding glass door. A couple of great-aunts shuffle in holding thick white Bibles under their arms; they’ve come here straight from church. Some adult and teen cousins run outside making noise, followed by Blinky’s fine-ass cousin Uncle Scooter. Then Perry, my daddy’s only sister, walks into the backyard closely behind her two kids, Braylon and Kiki, who are seven and four, respectively.

“Hi, Auntie Perry.”

“How’s my favorite niece?” She grins and kisses me warmly on the cheek.

Loretta looks at Perry like she can’t believe she favors me over her precious Marlene.

“Hey, Alita,” Perry says, and looks her over. “I see you got some little bumps on your forehead. Are those sex bumps?” She laughs. “I hope you’re really putting it on your man.”

Alita just smiles and shakes her head.

“Okay, first things first,” says Aunt Perry. “Pour me a drink. I don’t care which one of ya’ll do it, just hook a sister up.”

“We’re not done yet,” Blinky says. “We got plenty of beer in the cooler.”

“Hook me up with some punch first. I don’t care that it’s not done,” she says, staring at me.

I immediately grab an eight-ounce Styrofoam cup from a stack that’s sitting on a nearby table.

“Girl, you must be buggin’. Get me a twenty-ounce cup or one of those oversized cups from out the house. I gots to get my drink on. My big bro is turning sixty so … Hey, ‘The Payback.’” Perry starts singing, popping her fingers and doing the bump with Blinky For her to be over forty you wouldn’t think she’d be this wild. But ever since she gave birth to her kids after being infertile throughout her twenties and thirties, she’s been enjoying her life to the fullest. She’s a firm believer in the “life begins at forty” theory.

I decide to help her out and get one of those Taco Bell supersize cups from the house.

“C’mon, Alita,” I say to my friend, who nods and follows me inside.

Marlene is in the kitchen next to the refrigerator, running her mouth to Jeff. She’s squirming and fanning herself. She looks like she’s about to turn away from him, but when she sees me and Alita approaching, she turns her back to us and faces Jeff.

I stand right beside Marlene with my hands squarely on my hips, a big power move that always make me feel confident and unshakable.

Even from inside the house I can hear the Godfather of Soul scream, “Give me some hits, I want some hits.”

Alita clears her throat. “Hey, what’s going on? Why are you guys in here? The party’s outside.”

“The party is wherever we are,” Marlene says sweetly and stares at Jeff. He smiles back down at her. I don’t like for him to look her in her eyes like that.

“Oh, God, give me a freaking-ass break,” I say.

“Speak up. What did you say?” She sounds shocked.

“Marlene, aren’t I free to talk?” I ask, eyeballing her.

“Nothing’s free, Rachel. E-e-everything has a price.” Although she’s trying to be bold and strong, Marlene looks and sounds nervous. I think she’s just trying to show off in front of my ex.

“Whatever, Marlene. You’ve got a lot of …” and I stop speaking.

“Are you finished? Anything you need to say, be a
real
woman and say it to my face.” She is still squirming and bouncing up and down on her feet looking crazy.

“What’s wrong with
that real
woman?” Alita asks out loud to no one in particular.

“Marlene has to go to the ladies’ room,” Jeff explains. “Or, should I say, the real woman’s room,” he jokes. He looks at her like she needs to go ahead and take care of her business before she accidentally wets herself.

“BRB,” she says real loud and threateningly rolls her eyes at me.

Finally, with the skank now leaving the room, here’s my chance to do a one-on-one with Jeff. Something I should have been done before now but was too afraid. It’s hard to admit that you think you’ve made a mistake. But sometimes, even if it’s risky, you gotta express deep-set feelings.

Alita nervously clears her throat. “I guess it’s a good time for me to go back outside now,” she says. “The food’s probably ready and I’m star—.”

“No, you’re my girl, don’t leave. I need you to stay here with me.”

“Okay, girl. I got you.”

I turn to face my ex. “Hey Jeff. I really wish I would’ve known you’re into drilling horizontally.”

“What you talking about?”

“You and Marlene.”

“Again, what you trying to say?” He has the nerve to look bewildered.

“Oh, God. I hate it when men play dumb.”

“Not playing dumb, Rachel.”

“Oh, then your dumbness comes naturally?”

“Wait, wait, wait. What’s with the smart attitude? You’re the one who rejected me.”

“And how many times do I have to hear about that, Jeff? Ten more? A hundred more times? Don’t forget, you-you were rushing things, and, believe it or not, I got scared and confused. I loved our relationship and the way it felt, but you were telling me things I hadn’t thought of at that point.”

“Such as?”

“How many kids you wanted to have. I believe you want three.”

“At least.”

“Well, good luck getting three kids out of
that
one,” I angrily snap.

“Wait, wait, hold up. Why are you making me and Marlene married? I don’t want to marry every woman I date …” He pauses. “I just wanted to marry you.”

I squirm and can barely look him in the eye. “Jeff, I already feel bad.”

“Not trying to make you feel bad. It’s just that when you dumped me—.”

“I didn’t dump you.”

“When you dumped me,” he continues, “I felt numb, mad, hurt.” His eyes widen, and his voice is filled with awe. “I even stopped doing my real estate for a minute. Couldn’t think, eat … could barely breathe.”

I just stare at him, astounded that he can admit his
moments of weakness to me, something that he didn’t always do in the past.

“But after a couple weeks of that mess, I said, hey, the sun still rises and sets. I guess Rachel Merrell isn’t big enough to keep the earth from moving forward. And if planet Earth hasn’t stopped because of Rachel … then maybe I shouldn’t stop, either.”

“Okay,” I say and swallow with nervous anticipation.

“And I got rid of all your photos,
our
photos, our silly little photos that we’d take … us making faces, having a good time together, chilling and living our lives.”

“Okay, okay, okay.”

“What? You don’t want to hear all that? Well, all that is what you’ve brought me to. All that brings us to today, here. Right now.”

And I feel a combination of regret and extreme anger. It’s like he’s blaming me. Accusing me of doing things that have caused him to do things. To be here. With her.

“Long story short, Rachel, I’m going on with my life.” He looks pointedly at me. I can hear the words inside his head.
You need to move on with your life
.

But how can I? How on earth can I act like what he’s doing is all right with me? Okay, maybe the fact that he’s accepted an invite to a family barbecue shouldn’t be such a big freaking deal. But it is, especially since he’s with my sister, someone who craves male attention.

It’s not like this hasn’t happened before, in an indirect way. I would meet a gorgeous, charming guy who had the gift of gab. I’d bring him to our apartment. He’d be all over me, would barely say hello to my sister. She’d dress provocatively, usually wearing something that would show her cleavage. And when my man still wouldn’t notice her, she’d storm out of the room, the tension thick and suffocating.

And the next time I’d see her, she’d bring home some strange man she’d met at a mall or something. He’d be tall, skinny, and gorgeous. He’d be all over her, too. He wouldn’t even notice me. And that’s when I remembered my sister likes to compete. Maybe that’s what she’s doing with Jeff. Showing me a thing or two. And, cross my fingers hope to die, when she’s done showing me whatever she’s showing me, she’ll get bored and go on to the next plaything.

“Jeff, how long do you think you’ll be dating her?”

“If I’m lucky, I will date Marlene for a long time, longer than the time you and I were together.”

“But Jeff,” I say, feeling hurt. “You once told me I was the only chip in the bag. And the fact that you could move on so soon …”

“A man has a right to move on, Rachel.”

“Yeah, but do you have to be so Brad Pitt–ish?”

“Hey, at least Pitt got to walk down the aisle the first time.”

“But he still cheated on his wife. Does that make it any better?”

Instead of answering, he whips his sunglasses off his head, puts them on, and folds his arms.

“I really look like Pitt now, huh? Really cool man.”

“Jeff, stop grinning,” I complain, frustrated. “I’m trying to be serious and I hate when you act silly.”

“Is that why you dumped me? I’m too immature?” he asks and presses his thumb up against his nose. I can see clear inside his nostrils. He looks like he has a snout.

“Ha, this is crazy. I’m trying to hold a mature conversation with you.”

He removes his sunglasses, and his silly expression turns sober.

“Rachel, to be honest, I have no idea what’s going to
happen. Last time I made plans about my future … every single thing blew up in my face.”

I wince.

“But for now, for today I am going with the flow. Having a good time. Your sister is kind of wild and unpredictable. I like that about her.”

“Okay I don’t want to hear you talking about …” I can’t stand saying her name right now. In spite of me and him having a much-needed talk, I still don’t know why she’s doing this to me. How far is this going to go? And even though I initiated the breakup, this severely hurts me.

It feels like two people have swung their heads back and butted me right on my forehead, punching me so hard that I see a bright array of stars and it feels like something is squeezing my head. People you love the most can inflict the most damage. They hurt you so bad you wonder what the true definition of love is. Does true love hurt? Because in some ways, I still love Jeff, and all I feel sometimes is hurt.

Just then Marlene dashes back into the kitchen.

“Sorry, being in the bathroom took longer than I expected. What’s going on here? What ya’ll doing?”

Lie first and tell the truth later.

“For your information, I was talking to Alita,” I say, nodding at my friend who quietly stood by all that time. “I don’t care to talk to him. I will leave you and your new boyfriend alone.” I say that so she won’t know that what she’s doing truly bothers me. But I doubt she believes me.

I start to say something else to her, but my Aunt Perry staggers in from the backyard through the sliding glass door and peers curiously at me.

“It takes that damn long to get my cup?”

“Oops, sorry Auntie. I forgot.”

“‘Oops, I forgot,’” she mocks. “Naw, girl, how can you forget
about me? You know how I am.” She lets out a loud and drawn-out belch that sounds disgusting.

“Yuck,” I say. “That stinks. You’ve been out there drinking bottles of beer, haven’t you?”

“Yep, I sure was,” she says and belches again while she’s talking. Then her face turns green, and she dashes to the sink and pukes. I hear her throat contracting. You can smell every greasy thing she ate for breakfast. I want to throw up, too.

Perry turns on the spigot and rinses out the sink using a small rubber hose.

Jeff grins and says, “Beer before liquor, never been sicker. Liquor before beer, you’re in the clear.”

“Shut up, fool,” Aunt Perry snaps. “Hey.” She scrutinizes him closely. “What are you doing here? You and my niece back together now? When’s the wedding?”

“Ain’t gonna be no wedding,” jumps in Marlene. She has the nerve to yank Jeff by the arm. We’re now all gathered next to the kitchen sink facing the breakfast table.

“He with you?” Aunt Perry asks. “Is that how we do things now?”

“You got a problem with that?” Marlene says.

“You’re the one with the problem, girl. I can’t believe your stupid ass. You got a lotta damned nerve walking up in your daddy’s house with that man on your arm. Can’t you even p-pretend to respect your sister?”

Marlene gasps and stares rudely at Aunt Perry.

“Damn shame, girl, you were not raised right. But with your mama’s ways, what do I expect? I never did like her ass. Miss Loretta—the Woman Who Can Suck Dick Betta. That’s what they used to say about her back in the day!”

“What did you say about my mama?” Marlene asks, standing in front of Aunt Perry.

Marlene always tries to defend her mom, even though
my mama told me she dated Blinky first. Loretta and Brooke were best friends years ago, before Marlene or I was born. Even though Brooke was ten years older than Loretta, they got along famously. But their relationship changed when the two women fought over Blinky. Now the ladies can’t stand each other half the time.

“Girl, don’t act like you don’t know what I’m talking about,” says Aunt Perry.

“No, you don’t know what
you’re
talking about,” Marlene cries out.

“I think I know about this more than you. I was alive at that time and you weren’t. So like I said before, Loretta is the Freak Who’s Always in Heat.”

“Stop saying that stuff about my mama,” Marlene shrieks.

“She told it like it was, that’s what Perry did.” Brooke, my mother, suddenly waltzes in the kitchen. She must’ve just gotten here. I doubt she was invited, but formal invitations never keep her from showing up.

Mama continues what Perry started: “Yep, that’s her, all right. Miss Loretta—the Whore Whose Tongue Is a Dick Wetter.”

“Eww, I can’t stand y’all. How can you sit up here and diss my mama? She’s not even here to defend herself.”

“Believe me, honey, whores and man stealers can’t defend themselves.”

“Oh, there you go, Brooke. You still can’t get over the fact that Blinky picked my mama over you. That was, what, twenty-something years ago. Get a life, loser.” Marlene laughs like something is funny, but I’ll show her what’s funny. I cock my fist and punch Marlene square in her forehead. Her head snaps back, and she lets out an eerie wail. My knuckles are now burning and that pisses me off.