Forever An Ex (10 page)

Chapter

Thirteen

G
irl, look at you!” Noon said as I trotted down the stairs. “Bouncing off the wall and sh—”

“Don't you say that!” I held up my hand, warning Noon before she could even get the whole curse out of her mouth. “Don't bring that kind of talk in my house.”

“Excuse you,” she said, and folded her arms. “I guess now that you're back with Bobby, you gotta be all straight and sh—” This time Noon stopped herself as I glared at her. “Okay, okay.”

I looked at Noon from the corner of my eye. “When did you start cursing so much?”

She grinned. “It's because of Brett. He loves it when I curse. You know, all part of the exotic-African-girl thing.”

I shook my head, but then my smile was back when Noon said, “Girl, you are really lookin' good!”

I strutted in front of her like I was on a fashion-show runway, even though I was only wearing a jogging suit.

“Uh-huh, girl, Bobby must be laying it all on and over you.” She snapped her fingers with each word.

“Shhh.” I looked over my shoulder as I grabbed Noon's arm, dragging her into the living room. “Ms. Martinez is in her room,” I whispered.

“She doesn't know you're back with Bobby?”

I shook my head. “No. He hasn't been here at all, except when Angel and Caroline were away.”

“Why?” Then she held up her hands. “Wait,” she said as she dropped onto the sofa, kicked off her sneakers, then tucked her legs underneath her. “Now start at the beginning.”

The way Noon snuggled back onto the sofa, it didn't look like she was planning to move for a while. “Is this your way of getting out of jogging with me?”

She waved her hand. “No, but we can't talk while running, right? And, I won't be able to concentrate on working out if I don't know everything that's going on.”

I laughed. I'd been talking to Noon every day, but there was nothing like sitting down with my girl. As I sank onto the sofa next to her, I released a long, happy sigh. “I'm telling you, Noon, being with Bobby is way better than before.” Then I went into detail, telling her all the things that I'd told her before: about our rooftop rendezvous, the Rodeo Drive shopping spree that he'd taken me on the next day. Then, how we'd spent Friday going to museums, and dinner at Rendezvous on Saturday. And of course, I told her about our midnight FaceTime get-togethers.

“Wow!” Noon said when I finished. “All of that time with you? What about Caroline? I mean, the last time you guys were together, she lived in Dallas, but now she's right here. How's he getting away with it?”

“I don't think he cares. He says being with me sets him free. It's clear that I'm number one. Bobby wants to build a life with me.”

She leaned back. “He said that?”

“He said something even better . . . he said that he loved me.”

That may have impressed me, but it did little for Noon. She waved her hand as if the words meant nothing. “Girl, do you know how many times I made Brett say that last night?”

“And you don't believe him?” I asked.

“No, because he was naked, and when a man's naked, he'll say anything.”

I thought back to when Bobby had said the words to me. On the roof. When he was naked. “Well, it's not just his words, it's his actions. We're more connected. I'm telling you, this time it's for real, it's for good, it's forever.”

She clasped her hands under her chin. “Awww, that sounds so nice.”

I grinned.

She said, “But you know great-sounding words ain't enough, right? What I want to know is how is Plan B going? 'Cause that's the only way you're really gonna get him.”

Noon could've just picked up a bucket and tossed cold water on me.

When I didn't say anything, she asked, “You're still doing Plan B, right?,” sounding like she was trying to check me.

“Yeah, I mean, I'm not taking my pills . . .”

“Look,” Noon began as if she could sense my doubts. “All I know is everybody needs insurance. Ask President Obama.”

She laughed and I chuckled with her. I knew Noon was trying to take a bit of the bite off of her warning. Maybe she was right. Everybody did need insurance.

Before I could tell her that, there was a knock on my door, and right away I jumped up from the couch. “That's probably Bobby,” I said. Not that I was expecting him, but he was the only one the concierge let up without a call.

I really hoped it was him. Maybe if Noon saw me and Bobby together, she would see that I didn't need to trick Bobby; I didn't need to get pregnant.

I shouted to Ms. Martinez that I would get the door right as I pulled it open.

And then I stood there. Shocked!

“Caroline!”

“May I come in?”

She'd asked the question but was already walking past me. It took me a moment to even shut the door as I tried to connect all of my thoughts and questions.

But even though her presence rattled me, once I faced her, I was cool and collected.

She said, “I hope this is a good time.”

I had to take an extra breath before I said, “A good time for what?”

Her eyes moved from side to side as if she was checking out my place. “Is there somewhere we can talk?”

I shrugged and gestured toward the living room. When I walked in with Caroline, Noon's eyes got wide, but she didn't budge. My bestie had never met Bobby's wife, but we'd both seen enough pictures of the youngest child of the richest black oilman in Texas.

Facing Caroline, I crossed my arms. “What do you want to talk about?” I asked, though I was sure this had something to do with Angel. Where did she want to take my daughter now? To China? Well, I'd let this France thing happen, but Angel wasn't going anywhere else with Caroline. Trust that.

She glanced at Noon, then turned back to me. “I'd like to speak to you . . . in private.”

I might have been trying to act cool, but I was so shaken by this surprise visit that it took a moment to figure out what she was talking about. It wasn't until she kept looking at Noon that I got it, but I still didn't make a move. Noon was my ride or die and I was going to end up telling her everything anyway.

But then Caroline added, “Please,” and I knew she wasn't gonna talk until Noon was gone. I was too curious to tell Caroline to get out of my house, so I looked at Noon and nodded.

Now, the thing about my girl was that she couldn't just get up and walk out. No, she had to make it dramatic: she stood slowly, kept her glare on Caroline as if she was the number one enemy. (Which, I guess, she was.) Then she held her hands together and cracked her knuckles. (Really, she actually cracked her knuckles.) Then she did some kind of crazy, pimp-step-strut, the whole time still looking at Caroline.

When Noon got closer to Caroline, she said, “I'll be right upstairs . . . if you need me,” in a tone that was at least three octaves lower than her normal voice.

I wanted to bust out laughing as she pimp-step-strutted out of the room.

When Noon was finally out of our sight, Caroline shook her head a little, then faced me. “May I sit down?”

At first, I was gonna tell her no. Just treat her the way she'd treated me at her house on Christmas. But then I noticed . . . she was looking at the couch. That's where she wanted to sit. And that's where Bobby and I had made love just a few weeks ago.

With a big ol' smile, I said, “Sure,” and then motioned for her to sit right in the center of the sofa. When she sat down, I sat in the chair across from her so that I could look in her eyes and imagine what
would
happen if she knew what
had
happened on that couch.

She sat on the edge, crossed her ankles, cupped her hands, and rested them in her lap. The way she sat, all that was missing was her crown. Then she asked, “How's Angel?”

“She's fine; she's in school. But I'm sure you know that.”

She nodded. “Angel called me this morning.”

My inside voice said,
Then why are you here, heffa?
But aloud, I repeated what I'd asked her before, “What do you want?”

I guess she caught my tone, because she said, “Well, I guess this isn't going to be a friendly visit.”

“Why would it be friendly when we're not friends?”

“Touché. Then I'll get right to the point.” She took a second to pause and straighten her back even more. “Are you sleeping with my husband?”

At that moment, if Caroline had slipped out a feather from her Gucci purse, she could have knocked me over and knocked me out.

“What?” I said, not because I hadn't heard her, but because I needed some time to think through how I wanted to play this.

She repeated her question and I only had three seconds to react.

This was my chance. I could just break up Bobby's marriage and never look back. I mean, how could he blame me when she showed up at my door?

But as badly as I wanted to knock her off her throne, she wasn't going to hear it from me.

“Why would you ask me that?”

“I have my reasons and I would appreciate you answering the question.” She remained cool and casual like she was talking to me about some charity event.

“Suppose I don't want to answer your question.”

It was only the tiniest of movement; her shoulders slumped. But Caroline couldn't be broken this easily. She looked dead in my eyes when she said, “If you don't want to answer, that's an answer in itself.”

I shook my head. “The only thing that would mean is that I don't want to, nor do I have to answer anything.”

She tilted her head. “And why not? If you're not . . .” She stopped as if she'd said enough.

Okay, this needed to be over because the truth was rising up inside of me. Oh, my God. How I wanted to tell her. But all I did was look square in her eyes. “No. I'm not sleeping with Bobby.”

She smiled just a little. And then she shocked me with, “I don't believe you.”

“Then why did you even bother coming over here?”

She shrugged as she stood up. “Maybe I was hoping that you would tell me the truth.”

“I did.”

She chuckled, looked down at the floor, but when she looked up at me, her hazel eyes were hard and cold. “Stay away from Bobby,” she said with a little extra in her tone like that was gonna scare me.

Really? Did this chick think she could step to me like this?

I laughed in her face before I walked toward the front door.

She was smart enough to follow me, but before she stepped into the hall, she said, “I don't usually repeat myself because the type of person I'm used to speaking with is intelligent enough to understand the first time. But, you . . . well, you're Chiquita from Compton.”

Except for Noon and my aunt Beverly, Caroline was the only person who ever used my birth name. She'd found out my real name years ago when she'd done some “research” on me. But what did this trust-fund trick think? That she was intimidating me?

She said, “Stay away from Bobby.”

“Or what?”

Her eyebrows rose just a little. “Is that an admission?”

“No,” I said quickly. “I'm just saying that I'm trying to figure out why you're threatening me.” I crossed my arms. “And, I'm sure Bobby will want to know, too.”

Now her smile reached across her whole face. “Oh, no need to say anything to Bobby.”

I smirked.

She tilted her head slightly. “Just like I won't be saying anything to Angel.”

My arms dropped to my side.

“You know, she'll be spending the weekend with us, since it's her birthday.”

Was she threatening me with my own daughter?

“So,” she began, “I'm sure you'll agree . . . no need to say anything to anyone.”

If Angel hadn't been talking about this party for the last year, I would've made sure that Caroline never saw my daughter again in life. And after this weekend, I was gonna work on that.

Caroline had pissed me off, so I went for the gusto. “You think you can use
my
daughter?” I got in her face. “Well, let me tell you something about
your
husband. I may not be sleeping with Bobby right now, but I can have him whenever and wherever I want. I can have him at any time and any place.”

If I was as dramatic as Noon, I would've slammed the door in her face right then. But, no; I wanted to stand there and gloat.

I'd expected tears to come to her eyes, her lips to tremble, her shoulders to shake . . . something.

She didn't do any of that. All she did was laugh. Not an all-out laugh; it was one of those demure things where she put her hand to her chest and chuckled like she was so amused. She was still kinda laughing when she said, “You may have him for a moment . . . but you'll never have him for a lifetime.” She started to walk away, but then she stopped, faced me, and said, “Oh, definitely consider yourself warned.”

That was when I slammed the door. I was shaking, when I turned around and heard, “Girl!”

I looked up at Noon at the top of the stairs. “Did you hear what she said to me?”

She nodded. “But that might have something to do with what you said to her. ‘I can have him whenever and wherever I want?' ” She quoted my words. “Girl, that was fierce. Somebody needs to put that line in a book or maybe a movie, since I don't read.”

“She said I'll never have him for a lifetime!” I huffed.

Noon waved her hands as she trotted down the stairs. “Don't listen to that mess. She's running scared. I'm telling you, get pregnant, and you'll have Bobby forever.”

“Yeah,” I said. “Yeah. Okay, let me get my keys and we'll get out of here.”

As I trotted up the steps, I tried to calm my breathing. I wasn't sure why Caroline came to see me, but she had accomplished one thing. She'd done what Noon hadn't been able to do. Caroline had just convinced me that no matter what, now I had to be all in with Plan B.