The Perfect Marriage (12 page)

B
utch hadn’t been able to meet Derrek after all, so for the first time, Derrek was headed to Butch’s house. Well, not to the
one he lived in per se, but the one he regularly sold drugs out of. In the past, Derrek and Denise had always made it a point
to only buy from Butch at a designated meeting place but never at any of his “places of business.” They’d always thought it
would be too risky and they also hadn’t wanted to see or consort with any of Butch’s “other” customers. They’d wanted to stay
clear of that but since Butch had called Derrek back, saying there was no way he could meet him until sometime after five,
Derrek had asked if he could come by and pick up his package. He hadn’t wanted to wait another five hours to get what he needed,
so Butch had given him the address and a few directions.

Derrek waited for the light to change and then drove through the intersection. After that, his phone rang, and it was Denise
again. He almost didn’t answer, but something told him it was better to talk to her now so he wouldn’t have to do so after
he left Butch’s.

He pressed the Send button and placed the call on speaker. “Hey.”

“So where in the world have you been, Derrek?”

“I had things to do, and why are you asking?”

“Because I wanna know.”

“You sure didn’t have much to say this morning, though, now did you?”

“I don’t believe you. You’re the one who was careless enough to get fired, yet you’re the one with an attitude?”

Derrek squinted his eyes and shook his head. “Denise, what do you want? Why are you calling me?”

“To see how many headhunters you contacted today.”

“Why are you harassing me about this? I just lost my job, and I need time to figure things out. Geez.”

“So you didn’t call any?”

“I called a couple,” he told her, hoping his lie would satisfy her and stop her from badgering him.

“Which ones? What were their names? And what did they say?”

When the light turned green, Derrek continued on his way. “So what is this, some sort of police investigation? Are you the
newest member of the FBI or somethin’?”

“Excuse me?”

Derrek didn’t know what was wrong with him. He didn’t want to talk to his wife so curtly or defensively, but he couldn’t seem
to control himself. He was confused because right now just hearing the sound of her voice annoyed him.

“I’m not sure what your problem is, Derrek,” she said, “but we have some serious issues to deal with. We have no money, and
I hope you know that every dime of that paycheck you’re getting on Friday will need to be deposited for bills.”

“I know that, Denise. I’m not a dummy, so stop treating me like I am one.”

“What’s wrong with you?”

“Nothing. So is that all?”

“No, not even close. For one, Mackenzie is worried out of her mind, and she even suggested that we use her college fund if
we needed to. She overheard us talking, Derrek, but of course, I told her that would never happen.”

Derrek pulled up to another red light and closed his eyes. How could he have done this to his own daughter? Not only had he
already withdrawn a thousand dollars of her money and lost it on lottery tickets, but he’d withdrawn another thousand right
after leaving the gas station and then gone back to the gas station again. He hadn’t planned on it, but something in his gut
had told him he should try his luck one more time, so he had. But he’d lost it all, and had then had to go back to withdraw
more money, a whole other thousand dollars, and now Mackenzie’s account was three thousand dollars less than it should have
been.

“Hellooooo? Are you even there, Derrek?” Denise asked, clearly infuriated.

“I heard you.”

“And just so you know, I’ve been sitting here thinking about something else, too.”

“What?”

“If you don’t find a job within the next couple of weeks, which seems pretty unlikely to me, you’re going to have to borrow
from your 401(k).”

Derrek was quiet again because his 401(k) account was the last thing he wanted to think about.

“Why aren’t you saying anything? Because you certainly didn’t have any problem with me borrowing from mine.”

“I’ll do whatever I have to.”

“And what does that mean?”

“Just what I said.”

“Wow, you’re really full of it today, aren’t you?”

Derrek sighed. “Look, Denise, I’ve got a lot on my mind, so why don’t I just talk to you later?”

“What time will you be home?”

“Soon.”

“In an hour, two hours, when?”

Derrek balled up his fist and hit the steering wheel. “You’re still at work, anyway, so what difference does it make?”

“Well, for one thing, Mac has a yearbook meeting, and she needs to be picked up.”

“Don’t you usually handle that?”

“Yeah, but since you no longer have a job, I think picking up your daughter is the least you could do.”

Derrek hated this. He loved Mackenzie and would do anything for her, but today he had plans. Today, he wanted to pick up his
package, smoke a little of it and then go hang out at Warren’s. Warren wouldn’t be off until after five, though, so maybe
he could still pick up Mackenzie, drop her at home and then head over to his friend’s after that. “Okay, fine. I’ll pick her
up.”

“She should be ready around four thirty.”

“I’ll be there,” he said as cordially as he could.

“Bye, Derrek.”

He opened his mouth to say good-bye, too, but Denise hung up.

Derrek was stunned over the conversation they’d just had, and he was still taken aback by the way she’d spoken to him at home
this morning, but he knew it was all because of this whole losing-a-job thing that had come between them. It was as if they’d
become enemies in a matter of hours, when for years they’d shared the love of a lifetime. She seemed irritated by him, and
he felt the same way about her, but what he couldn’t understand was how the loss of a job could cause so much animosity between
a husband and wife. It didn’t make a lot of sense to him.

When another twenty minutes passed, Derrek rolled into the driveway and parked directly behind Butch’s truck, but he didn’t
get out. Instead he called Butch the way he’d asked him to, and Butch walked out of the house, wearing a navy-blue down jacket.
He continued around the SUV, opened the passenger door and got in.

He didn’t hesitate, letting Derrek know how he felt, though. “Man, I gotta tell you, I’m a little shocked to hear about you
smokin’ crack.”

Derrek peered straight ahead, refusing to look at him. “Why?”

“A well-educated professional like yourself? Just doesn’t seem right. I mean, in my line of work I see it all, but I just
don’t see you as a crack kinda guy.”

“Well, I’m very sorry to disappoint you! So do you have what I came for or not?”

Butch pulled off his sunglasses. “Okay, wait a minute. Let’s get somethin’ straight. I’m not the enemy. So don’t go gettin’
all huffy with me just because you’re sittin’ here fiendin’ for your next fix.”

Derrek raised both his hands. “Man, I apologize. I was way out of line.” Derrek still didn’t know what was wrong with him.
His temper and patience were unusually short, and while he’d thought these feelings were geared only toward Denise, now he
knew almost anyone could aggravate him.

“Just don’t let it happen again,” Butch said, pulling a brown bag from inside his coat and passing it over to Derrek.

“How much I owe you?”

“Four.”

Derrek pulled the hundred-dollar bills from his wallet and gave them to him, and Butch opened the door and stepped out.

“I’m really sorry for what I said,” Derrek tried to explain.

“Yeah, whatever.”

Derrek watched as Butch went up the sidewalk and back into the house, but there was something Derrek couldn’t stop thinking
about: Butch’s words to him, the ones about him being a fiend. The words bothered Derrek because he’d said something similar
to his father the night they’d argued in the hospital parking lot.
You’re nothing like me! You’re a no-good, deadbeat drug addict who only cares about his next fix.

Derrek replayed both Butch’s words and his own words more than a few times, but then he realized he was
nothing
like his father. Although, if that were true, then why had Butch’s description of Derrek cut him to the core? Why had he
even been reminded of that night at the hospital?

But Derrek didn’t have time for any of this. What he needed to do was find somewhere close so he could park, relax, and smoke
his crack in peace. All he wanted was to enjoy himself for a little while, pick up his daughter, and then spend the rest of
the evening at Warren’s. He wanted to be free of all chaos and everyone who caused it, including Denise.

V
icodin just wasn’t enough anymore. Denise had certainly come to love it over the last couple of years, but no matter how much
she wanted it to suffice, it just couldn’t match her love for cocaine. It simply couldn’t relax her the way it once had because
even after taking three pills a few hours ago, all at one time, she’d barely even noticed it. It had felt as though she’d
merely taken a couple of aspirin, and she knew it was because her body had developed a high tolerance for Vicodin. So what
was she going to do? Her nerves were shot, she was overly exhausted, and as much as she didn’t want to feel the way she did
about Derrek, she almost despised him. Their relationship had changed drastically, and she’d noticed something else, too.
Just like she no longer saw the need to call him honey or any other pet name, he no longer called her baby. They were Denise
and Derrek and nothing more than that. She also wasn’t too happy with Mr. Hunter, a man who she had looked up to and adored
from the time she’d begun working for him. But today, however, everything had gone wrong. Agatha had accused her of using
drugs, and not only had Mr. Hunter believed her, he’d let on how he’d already had his own suspicions about something being
wrong with her as well.

It was because of all this that Denise was at her wits’ end. She knew she didn’t have any money to buy from Butch, but if
she didn’t get at least a little cocaine before the day was over, she wasn’t sure how she would make it through the evening—or
even the next morning. Maybe Butch would let her have some coke on credit and then she could pay him once her check was deposited.
That would only be two days from now, and since she and Derrek were regular customers, she didn’t see where Butch should have
any problem with it. There was the option of borrowing money from Michelle, but since Denise had basically kept her distance
from her best friend for such a long period of time now, she wasn’t sure Michelle would take too kindly to her asking for
money. There were also her parents who could certainly afford to loan her any amount she asked for, but she’d rather die than
let her father know what kind of shape they were in. The other option was possibly cashing in Mackenzie’s college CD, borrowing
a little from it, and then replacing it once Derrek borrowed from his 401(k) account. But the thought of that gave her an
uneasy feeling because she just couldn’t see taking from her own child. If she did, it would be the lowest of lows, and she
wasn’t sure she could live with that.

So maybe trying to cut a deal with Butch was the only way to go. It was the reason she called him from her car.

“I’m not sure how to ask you this,” she said when he answered. “But do you think you can do me a favor?”

“Depends on what it is.”

“We’re a little short on money this week, but if you can give me a couple of hundred dollars’ worth, I can pay you on Friday.”

“Well, I guess I’m a little confused because your husband was just by here earlier, and from what I could see, he still had
a few hundred, even after he paid me.”

Denise frowned. “Oh really?”

“Yeah, and the only reason I’m telling you is because he sort of pissed me off. He got all nasty with me because I told him
I was shocked about him using crack.”

Denise paused before speaking, not wanting to believe what she was hearing. “Crack?”

“Yep. Said he just started using it last night.”

So that’s what he’d been doing over at Warren’s. Cocaine was one thing, but crack was something different, and she wondered
what Derrek was thinking.

“I take it you didn’t know about that,” Butch said. “Although, he did tell me there was no need to mention anything about
this.”

“To me?

“Yep.”

“I guess I don’t know what to say.” Denise almost told Butch that Derrek had lost his job, and the only reason she didn’t
was because she didn’t want him thinking she might not have the money to pay him back on Friday when both she and Derrek got
paid, particularly since this would be Derrek’s last check.

“I just thought you should know what was up with your husband, especially after he snapped on me the way he did. But you and
I are good, though, and paying me on Friday is cool.”

“Can you meet me at the usual spot in a half hour?”

“Make it an hour,” he said.

“Thanks, Butch.”

“No problem.”

Denise set her phone down, and while she’d planned to drive away from the nursing home’s parking lot as soon as she hung up,
she needed a few minutes to think. Crack? Derrek was actually using street cocaine, and he hadn’t said a word. Now, she wondered
if maybe this was the reason he was speaking to her so sarcastically and cruelly. She hadn’t been all that nice to him either
because of how on edge she’d been lately, but this whole crack business of his would definitely explain Derrek’s newfound
behavior. She also wondered if he’d lied to Butch about having used crack for the first time the night before. Now, she questioned
whether maybe he’d been using it all along and that this was the real reason he’d missed days from work, not done his job
the way he was supposed to, and gotten fired.

Denise tossed a few more thoughts through her mind and then drove out of the parking lot. A few seconds later, her phone rang.
She smiled when she saw Mackenzie’s cell number.

“Hey, sweetie.”

“Mom, where are you?”

“What do you mean?”

“I’ve been finished with the yearbook meeting for almost an hour.”

“Your dad never showed?”

“No, was he supposed to pick me up?”

“Yes, I talked to him earlier, and he said he’d be there.”

“Well, he’s not. But maybe he just forgot.”

Denise wished she could strangle Derrek. How was she going to meet Butch and pick up Mackenzie all at the same time?

“Honey, I have something I have to take care of, so let me call Mom to see if she can drop by and get you. Okay?”

“That’s fine. Call me back.”

Denise pressed the End button and dialed her mom. The phone rang and rang but then went to voicemail. Now Denise panicked.
She knew her father was still at work, and even if he wasn’t, he was likely already caught up in Chicago’s rush-hour traffic.
Maybe Michelle could go get Mackenzie, but again, since she hadn’t been in contact with her, she just couldn’t bring herself
to ask her.

Denise tried to think of someone else, but finally her phone rang. Thank God, it was her mother.

“Mom?”

“Hey, I’m sorry I missed your call. I was at the pharmacy picking up a few items, and I didn’t want to answer while I was
in line.”

“I was calling because Derrek and I are both a little tied up, and Mackenzie needs a ride from school. Can you swing by and
pick her up for me?”

“Of course. I’m not that far away from her anyhow. I can be there in fifteen minutes.”

“Thanks so much, Mom.”

Denise called Mackenzie back.

“Sweetie, your granny is on her way.”

“Okay, but have you talked to Dad? I just tried calling him, but he didn’t answer.”

“No, I haven’t. I’ll try to call him, too, though.”

“Okay, Mom. See you at home.”

“Bye, honey.”

Denise immediately dialed Derrek, but there was no answer. At first, she wondered where he was, but she had a feeling he was
somewhere hanging out, high as the sky. Crack. He was actually smoking the one thing they’d both agreed to never do under
any circumstances, but apparently, Derrek had changed his mind about the pact they’d made.

There was something else that bothered her, too. Where on earth had he gotten the money to buy anything? Neither of them had
that kind of cash, so how had he come across hundreds of dollars? Nothing was adding up, but Denise would make it her business
to find out as soon as possible.