Best Dressed Lie (Keisha Jackson) (5 page)

The next morning, I woke up alone in bed. All I heard was
pots and pans clinking together, the sizzling sound of bacon
frying and Randy humming Al Green’s I’m Still in Love With
You. It was six thirty in the morning; and he never got out of
bed this early. The aroma of food tickled my nostrils. I tossed
and turned trying
to
fight
the smell and his
horrible
humming, but I couldn’t resist. Finally, I dragged myself out of
bed.

I was shocked when I walked into the kitchen. I had a
dozen long stemmed red roses and breakfast waiting for me
on the table.

“Don’t ask any questions,” he said, puckering his lips for a
kiss.
I didn’t know what he dreamt about last night, but he was
in a great mood. I didn’t know whether to be happy or
wonder if he heard about the scheme I planned.
I hesitated before kissing his lips. “Thank you.”
The last time he cooked breakfast for me, Zan called my
phone minutes later telling me she saw him the night before
creeping out of a hotel parking lot. I didn’t believe her
because he was in bed with me that night. When I asked him
about it later, he confessed and said he snuck out of the house
to have some drinks but denied being at a hotel. I’m going to
keep my fingers crossed and hope for the best. It was a long
time coming.
“Well, I’m happy to see that you’re trying to make things
right between us.”
I was definitely feeling bad about the entire plot I had
going on. Moments like this, although few and far between,
were the reason I couldn’t move on. It seemed like every time I
got the courage to break away, his charm always swept me
back in.
The room was silent. You could hear the forks clinking
against our plates as we ate.
He cleared his throat and said, “What’s wrong? Why do
you keep looking at your phone?” He sipped his coffee, not
taking his eyes off me.
“No reason. I’m trying to make sure I am not late for work.
I have two candidates to interview for
the
front
office
receptionist position, and then I’m leaving for the rest of the
day. Remember?”
“Yeah, I remember. You’re talking about the two lightskinned girls, right?” he asked, trying to keep the conversation
going.
I hesitated. “Yes. They resigned; wanted a job paying more
money. I don’t recall introducing you to them,” I said, giving
him the side eye.
“Don’t start Keisha,” he said, pointing his finger in my face.
“What do you mean ‘you don’t recall introducing them to
me’? Every chance you got, you were showing me pictures of
them with their men and bragging about how their men spoil
them with flowers and this and that. Every time I went out for
drinks, you were calling and telling me about how they saw
me buying drinks at the club. What their trifling-asses forgot
to tell you was how their broke asses begged me to buy them
drinks.”
From the tone of his voice, I knew that at any moment, our
nice breakfast was about to turn into a fight. I wanted to enjoy
the moment. He needed to understand that his actions were
the reason I was
insecure. He
always
got so defensive
whenever I asked him anything regarding females.
“Why are you getting so defensive?” I said. “I just asked a
simple question. You’re taking this shit to another level…”
He interrupted saying, “Will you be available tonight? I
would love to take you out for dinner.” He was trying to
diffuse the moment.
He held my hand between his
and
squeezed lightly.
I was
speechless. He
actually changed the subject to
something positive by extending an invite for a date night. As
mad as I was, I sucked in my pride and replied, “Sure, I don’t
see a reason why I wouldn’t be available.”
“Why can’t we have more days like this?” he said, kissing
the back of my hand.
I hesitated with a forced smile. “I don’t know. You tell me.”
He stared into my eyes as if he was rehearsing for a soap
opera role and whispered, “Seeing a smile on your face
nourishes my soul. I never want to lose you Keisha.”
I almost burst out laughing. I couldn’t think of anything
else to do so I faked tears as I listened to the words coming out
of his mouth. This was the first time in a long time he
expressed his feelings. If I sat there nonchalant, he would
never do it again.
“Thank you Randy, that means a lot to me. There have to
be some major
changes from both
of
us. We
need to
communicate better and compromise. All I ever wanted from
you was unconditional love and respect…”
He interrupted, “…And I’ll give that to you. I promise.
Open your heart for me again. Please, I’m begging.”
I wanted to believe him badly. My heart wouldn’t let me. I
cried for so many years. It was going to take more than a
cooked breakfast and sweet words to convince me he was
ready to change. “I’ll try,” I said, wiping my phony tears.
“Thank you! Here’s to a new start,” he said, holding up his
glass of orange juice towards me.
Just as my glass clinked against his glass, I said loudly,
“Before I cheers to that, I have a proposition.”
“I’m listening.”
“Will you promise me that we will work on starting a
family and you will help me out financially to find my sister?”
“I promise,” he said, leaning in for a kiss.
I grinned, looked him straight in the eye and responded,
“Cheers.”
I had thirty minutes to get to work. All of a sudden, he
gave me the googly eyes. He thought he was getting between
my thighs. “Babe,” he whined, rubbing my thighs under the
table. “Can we do it right quick? Work on having the kids;
please?”
I jumped up from the table saying, “I’ll see you at the
family-day picnic, Randy.” I kissed him on the forehead and
headed towards the door.
“Okay” he said, provoked. “Aye, where’s the lotion?”
“Same place you left it last night,” I yelled.
As soon as I stuck the key in the ignition, I wasn’t in the
car five minutes, my phone started ringing. I glanced at the
caller ID, and it read: Zan Calling.
I answered annoyed, “What’s up Zan?”
“Where are you?” she whispered.
“I’m on my way to work and why are you whispering?”
“Did Randy leave home last night?”
I didn’t want to answer that question. She called me with
this bullshit so early in the damn morning? I was not looking
forward to the foolishness, so I gave her nothing but attitude.
“No. As a matter of fact he was home all night,” I said
oversensitivity.
“What’s wrong with you? I just asked you a question.
Don’t be getting an attitude with me, heifer.”
“Randy and I are in a great place right now. I don’t have
time for the drama, we had a great morning and I’m not going
to let your meaningless gossip mess it up.”
“Dang, you gave in to him fast, but I’m not surprised,” she
said mockingly.
“Zan, stop it. Can you just be happy for me instead of
being negative?”
As bad as I wanted to hear the gossip, I tried my hardest to
stay focused on trying to better the relationship. I knew in my
heart that our relationship
was
not
going to be better
overnight. However, the fact that he tried, warmed my heart.
“Okay. That’s great news Keisha,” she said sarcastically.
“I’ll just keep The Drama to myself. Don’t get mad when you
hear about it elsewhere and don’t say I didn’t try to warn
you.”
I wanted to know so badly. Within two seconds, I gave in.
“Okay Zan. What now?!” I asked with a ruthless attitude.
Zan could not wait to tell me, “Okay, Okay. Do you
remember the girl that used to work at the front desk?”
“What front desk?” I said. “You need to be more specific.”
“Apparently she’s going around telling everybody that she
slept with Randy and supposedly, he came by her house in the
middle of the night to break it off with her.”
She did not hear a word I said about being more specific.
She was talking so much with such urgency she did not take
the time to listen.
“Zan, I’m hearing you, but I need specifics. What front
desk?” I said, intensified.
“The front desk at your damn job! Is that specific enough
for you?” she said being hostile.
She always was the first to call me with negativity and
gossip when it came to Randy. It almost felt like she enjoyed
breaking my heart with this crap. Considering we were best
friends, I thought she would spare my heart and keep some of
that shit to herself. She loved to give advice but never in a
positive way.
“What girl used to work at the front desk? There were two
up there,” I said, offensively. “Just get to the point Zan! I’m
almost near work and I am not going to listen to what you
have to say once I arrive. So your time is almost up.”
“The girl that resigned recently, the tall light skinned one
with the gap in her teeth.”
I cleared my throat. “Who told you this?”
“That’s not important. Why are you asking all these damn
questions?”
“Zan, both of the girls that resigned at my company are in
relationships. So get your facts straight. Plus, Randy was home
all night; I know because I was with him.”
“What does that mean? He snuck out before; he’ll sneak
out again. And the fact that the girls are in relationships
means
nothing.
Since
when did
Randy care
about
a
relationship? Hell that’s a better opportunity for both of them
in his eyes.”
I was not going to entertain Zan and her gibberish, but I
had to admit it had me thinking. He was awake early and how
did he have time to pick up roses and have breakfast prepared
at seven o’clock?
“I just pulled in to work,” I said, interrupting the
conversation. “Zan I’ll talk to you later. Well, no, I won’t talk
to you later; I just remembered that Randy and I have a date
tonight, so I’ll call you after that.”
“Where is he taking you?” she said, being nosey.
“Bye Zan.”
“Well, let’s see how long this will last! I don’t want to hear
bull-crap the next day and I don’t want to see no tears when
he fucks up again,” she hurried and said before I disconnected
the line.
At that moment, Zan made me feel like she was a tad bit
jealous of my relationship with Randy. I didn’t understand her
sometimes. She gave me advice to try to better the relationship
and then got mad when I took her advice. I promised myself
not to mention any of this to him.
I strolled through the doors at work. The paranoia started
weighing heavily on me. I felt like everybody was staring and
whispering about the cheating rumor Zan revealed to me. The
women on my job waited for drama to come their way. I
smiled and held my head high as if hadn’t heard anything bad
about Randy.
“Good morning,” I said, smiling and walking quickly
towards my office. I looked straight ahead, not giving anyone
a chance to stop me and chat.
Before entering my office, I noticed the voicemail light
blinking on the phone. I dropped my things and hurried to
check the messages:
“Hey Keisha, I just wanted to call you and touch basis with
you about our plans later on tonight. I am very excited about
date-night and don’t worry about the company picnic, I am
not going because I don’t feel like being around these
negative-ass folks. I’ll fill you in later. All I can think about is
spending time with you babe. I love you and I can’t wait to see
you.”
“What are you up to, Randy?” I mumbled.
I called one of my coworkers to cover all my appointments
for the rest of the day. I wanted to find the underlying cause
of this sudden change of plans, without him knowing about it.
After all the shit I said, Zan was the last person I wanted to
call, but I had no one else to turn to.
“Hello,” she answered in a sleepy tone.
I hesitated. “Zan, what do you have planned for the rest of
today?”
“Lay my fat ass down and get some rest. Why?” she said.
“Do you feel like crashing a company picnic with me?”
“I’m confused, but down with it,” she said, yawning in my
ear.
“Randy all of a sudden changed his mind about him and
me going to the company picnic. The sad part about it is that
he left a message on my work phone. I was trying to figure out
why in the hell he didn’t call my cell phone to tell me this. He
knows damn well this company screens calls. Now I got to
worry about whether anyone heard his lame-ass message.”
“After that temper tantrum you just had on me, I’m
keeping all my comments to myself,” she said, spitefully. “I’ll
go with your ass this time, but I had plans to go to the flea
market, so this trip better be entertaining.”
“Whatever!” I said, rolling my eyes. “I’ll be there in fifteen
minutes. Please be ready!”
“I need to stop by the gas station to get me a pack of
cigarettes. After this, I’m definitely going to need one. When
are you going to come to your senses that Randy will never
change Keisha? One day I pray you realize it.”
“Zan, I really don’t want to hear your opinion right now
and you can’t smoke in Randy’s car. He will have a fit.”
“Shit. I will pick you up. I’ll be damned if I let you take me
on a ride for hours without a cigarette. My nerves are already
bad. The last thing the picnic needs is for me to have a
cigarette fit; lashing out on everybody.”
“I don’t give a damn about them lame-ass people and no
ma’am, I’m not riding in your hot-ass car.”
“It’s your man and your problem. If it was left up to me,
you would be going by yourself, heifer. So deal with the
smoke or go by yourself.”
I hesitated before responding, “Bring your ass up here and
pick me up.”
“Just like I thought. I’m on my way!”
I hurried and clocked out. I informed the girls at work to
tell Randy that I was in meeting. I was so ready to catch his
lying ass .