Between Sisters (8 page)

“
Are you getting a sensitive side in your old age?” I laughed.

“
Who are you calling old, winch?” She laughed. “Take note that I only said Wednesday, not from now on. And I mean it, Kelly; you better not say a word about what I told you or what you saw.”

“
Scout’s honor,” I lied.

“
You ain’t never been in any damn scouts, trick.”

We laughed together, and then I shifted gears.

“
I didn’t tell you the real reason Sandy came to town this past weekend, did I?” I asked Elaine.

“
She came following behind that jackass Lewis, who had some child support issues to handle. I guess she didn’t trust him in his old stomping grounds,” she answered.

“
WRONG!” I announced. “That was her excuse to come.”

“
Spill it, Kelly. What do you know?” Elaine asked.

I informed her, “She came to hook up with her ex-boyfriend Eric.”

“
Eric?” she asked.

“
Yeah, I’m not sure if you remember her talking about some guy Eric a while back. She used to brag about him being so big,” I added.

“
I think I do remember. Why would she want to come visit her ex-boyfriend, when she spends all of her energy chasing Lewis?”

Elaine’s tone began to give rise to anger, and I picked up on the attitude change.

“
I don’t know, Elaine. Maybe she’s tired of playing the fool. You sound angry, though.”

Elaine tried to calm her tone. “I just get pissed off when it comes to her stupidity behind Lewis. So, instead, she goes and screws an ex to try leveling the playing field. It’s retarded.”

“
You are so right. It is annoying as hell. I wonder who Lewis was doing while she was busy doing Eric,” I commented.

“
Probably one of his baby’s mommas,” she laughed. “Girl, we are sitting on this phone like neither one of us have things to do,” she added.

“
Yeah, I have to get back to my contract,” I lied still. “You have me on this phone gossiping.”

“
I know your ass is probably watching those damn soap operas. Lying ass talking about some damn contracts at nine-thirty at night.”

We both laughed.

After we hung up, I pondered on Elaine’s reaction when I told her about Sandy hooking up with her ex. I didn’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure out something was wrong with that reaction.

Since Harmony is the psychologist, maybe I’ll just run it by her.

5

Harmony

Sometimes I hate having a bunch of sisters. They keep so much mess. When I speak with other women who also have many sisters, they seem to echo my sentiments. However, I can’t imagine there being another set as nutty as mine. I should do like Sandy and pack up and move away. With everyone having free domestic calling plans on their phones these days, that would mean I’d have to move out of the country to get some peace.

All of them treat me like their personal psychologist, to the point where I need therapy. I continually try to convince them to hook up with their own therapist, but they don’t see the logic since they have me. They say they don’t like strangers all up in their business, but then their lifestyles alone keep everyone in their business. Charise shows any man “her business” just for a drink or a few kind words. Sandy is so damn loud that you can’t help but hear her business. Kelly is Miss Social Butterfly and has a mouth that runs like a broken faucet. Shawnee doesn’t know the meaning of discretion when it comes to her using her sexuality to get what she wants professionally. Now Elaine, that’s a tight-lipped one there. Still, she needs help learning how to stop talking down on people. At least she doesn’t bother me like the others, though. Yeah, she’s the sneaky ass. Always up to something, but she keeps her mouth shut about her business, except to Kelly who tells it all.

I can’t wait for my own therapy appointment on Thursday. I have to go just to be able to deal with my own family. Most psychologists go to therapy to keep from getting overwhelmed by their work. I go to keep from getting overwhelmed by my family. Then the bitches want to tie up my time with their drama, pick my brain, and don’t feel I have the right to tell them that they should be paying for my professional services. They really believe I don’t have any feelings. Since I’m not the argumentative type, they confuse that with my lacking a backbone. I bet if I started spilling all of their dirt, they’d find some respect for me then.

Now, because of their trifling asses, I’m going to have to pay for an extra hour in therapy. I know my therapist is sick of them, as well. I usually go there to share the dirt of my siblings. Wait until I tell my therapist how my only brother decided to confide in me that he’s a closet homosexual. I guess I can forget about nieces or nephews from Angelo. He’s still not ready to share that info with the family. Even worse, he’s the feminine one in his relationship. Hmm, you think having six sisters influenced his behavior? I don’t know how we missed it as he was growing up. Probably because of our large age gaps and because Momma shielded Angelo as if he were the Messiah, which made none of us want to be around his spoiled ass. She made us get in the street to fight the neighborhood, but not her precious Angelo. She wasn’t going to risk her baby being hurt.

In therapy, I also have to talk about my married sister’s full-blown affair with my younger sister’s ex-boyfriend. I thought she would have stopped it once I told her who Eric Bradshaw was, but she has hooked up with him every day since she met him last Wednesday. For the life of me, I can’t figure out how he manages the time. From what Kelly has “confided” in me, Elaine told her that she’s sleeping with Mandingo. Only Kelly doesn’t know Mandingo and Eric are one and the same. However, Elaine is fully aware that Eric is Sandy’s ex-boyfriend. My telling Shawnee about Sandy also didn’t matter. So, to add a twist, Sandy shows up for an “old time’s sake” romp in the hay with Eric.

In a nutshell, he slept with three of my sisters within a matter of days. I truly want to beat his ass for that. I even thought about calling some of Momma’s rougher family in Detroit to handle his ass. He can’t possibly look at my sisters and not see the spitting resemblance. They even have a similar build. Sandy is a bit heavier and less tight in the body, but still similar enough to see a resemblance.

Oh, but the icing on this week’s cake came when Charise “needed someone to talk to.” She was turned out by Lewis, then wanted to share all her erotic details with me. I almost threw up. I should have known it was bound to happen. I was just surprised it hadn’t already happened. My sisters give “between sisters” a whole new meaning. No matter how ridiculous Kelly’s three-month rule may seem, I have to give it to her. She doesn’t allow herself to get caught up in the nonsense that the others do.

We’ve been doing the girls’ night out since Momma’s death, but I feel I am nearing my cutoff point. I just don’t get excited at the thought of meeting up with them. Prior to Momma’s illness, everyone was doing their own thing as if we lived in different parts of the world. We called each other every once in a blue moon out of pure obligation because Momma used to press us to be close to one another like she was with her own large family of ten (aka The Wyatt Clan). I probably talked to Sandy more than anyone because of her children that I always seemed to be babysitting somehow. Momma’s illness brought Shawnee and Kelly closer in the fold. Shawnee and Sandy seemed to always have this underlying tension between them, but were more tolerant as sisters if anything. They’d always have each other’s back if there was a problem from an outsider. That’s probably a big part of the reason Shawnee’s still screwing Eric despite his relationship with Sandy.

Tomorrow is another Wednesday, and they want to go back to Megaplex. At least this time is karaoke, so it shouldn’t be too bad. I make it a point to go to therapy the day after our girls’ night out. I always need that immediate release after putting up with their Wednesday night foolishness.

Dealing with the issues of six siblings leaves me no time for my own social life. My last relationship was four years ago. I was involved with a fellow psychologist who couldn’t tolerate my family. He wanted me to choose between them and him. Obviously, I chose my family. I understood where he was coming from, but I lost respect for him for asking me to choose. It was even worse for him to ask it while my mother was sick battling cancer.

When I’m out with my sisters, there are many men who hit on me, but I don’t see them as suitable mates. There have been times when my raging hormones have considered a “temporary relationship”, but my sisters are a reality check for me, as well as their consuming my free time.

I haven’t had a real vacation in ages. I made the mistake of going on vacation with my sisters shortly after Momma died. We ended up at some raunchy resort in Jamaica. I was feeling quite old compared to the endless college girls walking around naked and sexing anything that moved. Elaine opposed being there, and that was one time I wished she had her way. I think we would have ended up somewhere much classier. It would have probably been expensive as hell, but classier. Shawnee wasn’t too thrilled either, until all the help at the resort were tripping over themselves to shower her with attention. Since that disastrous experience, I tell my sisters I can’t take off time for a vacation each time they ask.

I do want to take a vacation on my own. Perhaps I’ll go somewhere secluded with a nice spa. I’ll have to keep this one under wraps so none of my sisters rearrange their schedules and volunteer to come along and keep me company. Yeah, I think I’ll tell them when I return. Maybe I’ll go on one of those 21-day excursions somewhere. Anywhere far away from them should be good.

Maybe I should start exploring some career moves away from D.C., as well. I have been here pretty much all of my thirty-five years of life. I think I’ll go see a travel agent tomorrow. I’ll give them a dose of how their lives will be when I do move away. Yep! That’s what I’ll do.

Part Two

What’s Done In The Dark…

6

Kelly

“
Charise, how in the hell did you let something like this happen? Do you even know who the father is?” I asked.

Charise was sobbing uncontrollably at my table. “It just happened.”

I gave her some tissue to clean herself up and attempted to give her a half-ass hug. I was so angry I could have strangled her.

Where the hell is Harmony when you need her? How could she just up and go on vacation, leaving me for Charise to announce her three-and-a-half month pregnancy. I’m not sure what to say to her. Harmony would know what to say.

“
I’m going to call Shawnee over. I think she’d know what to do,” I announced.

“
Kelly, please no! Shawnee will never understand,” Charise pleaded, jumping up from the chair to grab my arm as I reached for the phone.

“
Hell, I can’t understand,” I told her. “I can’t deal with this by myself. I don’t know what the right thing to say is. I call Harmony with all my problems, and now I can’t reach her.”

Charise just cried harder. I didn’t know what to do. I was about to shift into panic mode. Hell, I wanted to cry.

“
I’m sorry, Charise. I’m going to have to call Shawnee. It’s not like you’re gonna be able to hide this much longer,” I reasoned.

She sobbed harder, giving up her protest, and I called Shawnee to come to my house right away. I wouldn’t give her any details other than it concerned Charise.

Twenty minutes later, my doorbell rang. Uh-oh, it was Elaine. When I opened the door, she pushed past me and started looking around.

“
Elaine, what are you doing here?” I asked.

“
Where’s Charise? What’s wrong with my sister?” she demanded to know, ignoring my question. “I called Sandy. She said she’s calling for a flight and will be here as soon as she can.”

“
Sandy?” I questioned.

“
Where is Charise?” she asked again.

“
She’s in the bathroom. Did Shawnee call you?” I asked.

She gave me the “stupid” look. It was obvious Shawnee must have called her.

Just then, Shawnee was coming through my door peeling off her sunglasses.

“
Hey, Elaine, you beat me here. You talk to Sandy?” she asked while looking around and then said, “Where’s Charise?”

Again, I answered, “She’s in the bathroom. Sandy?” I asked again, thinking if this was important enough of a matter for Sandy to fly in for. Well, at least Sandy knew how to handle all that baby stuff and pregnancy.

“
I want to know what’s going on. What’s so urgent, and why is she still in the bathroom?” Elaine asked, still ignoring my question about Sandy.

I played with my fingers the way I do when I get excessively nervous, then just blurted out, “Charise is three and a half months pregnant.” I jumped out of the way like I was the soon-to-be dead baby’s daddy.

“
What did you just say?” Shawnee calmly asked, though I knew she heard clearly the first time.

“
Pregnant?” Elaine asked dryly with hands on hips. “By who? I called Sandy for that shit?”

“
I don’t know. She never said,” I answered.

“
Charise!” Elaine yelled out. “Get your ass out here now!”