Two Tears in a Bucket (23 page)

Andre mingled well, laughing and joking with everybody. He became the center of attention, impressing the crowd with his heroic tales from work.

Yeah, he’s a keeper for sure,
Simone thought as she listened to the stories with a smile on her face, never once caring that she’d already heard the bulk of them.

Later, for some odd reason, Andre wasn’t his normal chatty, touchy-feely self. Crashing at his apartment after the barbecue, he clung to his side of the bed and surfed through the television channels in silence.

“
You okay?” Simone finally asked. “Was that too much for you?”

“
Come on, Simone. Let’s not pretend. You know I saw you.”

“
You saw me? You saw me do what?”

Andre glanced over his shoulder and shot Simone a look of disgust.

“
Andre.” She chuckled. “What in the world are you talking about?”

“
Simone, you didn’t give your brother’s friend your number?”

“
Huh?”

“
I saw you go in your purse and pass him something. You weren’t giving him your number?”

“
Andre, is that why you laying here not saying anything? Ed and Jordan’s dad are god
-brothers or something. I gave Ed a picture of Jordan to give to Kevin’s mother.”

Andre wasn’t buying it.

“
I’m telling the truth. Look in my wallet. There’s a picture missing!”

“
Yeah, whatever Simone.”

Just then, Simone remembered her father’s words of advice.
When he starts accusing you of stuff you know you ain’t doing, that normally means he’s doing something.

“
Hmm,” Simone said.

“
Hmm, what?”

“
Nothing. I was just thinking about something my father said.”

Chapter Twenty

1994

“
Simone, you have a call on line two,” one of her consultants yelled through the office. Simone shook her head while scribbling a note to herself to remind the chile that she wasn’t at home and that the transfer button on the phone worked well when used properly.

“
Hi, this is Simone,” she greeted the caller.

“
Simone, this is Sandra Small from Dr. Covington’s office.”

“
Yes,” Simone said, wondering why her ob-gyn’s office was calling. Her health insurance was fine, and she wasn’t experiencing any known girly problems.

“
I’m calling because we need to start your prenatal care.”

“
Excuse me? You must have the wrong number. This is Simone Woodard.”

The nurse cackled. “Yes, and that’s just who I’m looking for. The Simone Woodard that was here two days ago for her annual check-up which was scheduled for one o’clock. We recorded your weight at one forty-three, and if I remember correctly, you had on a cute little brown dress ’cause I asked you where you got it from,” she said. “Would you happen to be that Simone Woodard?”

“
Yes,” Simone said hesitantly.

“
Then congratulations!” the nurse said with glee. “I guess this is a surprise for you?”

“
Oh, it’s more than a surprise. Maybe you have my blood work mixed up with somebody else’s. I mean, I haven’t missed a period or anything. Plus, my boyfriend and I take precautions. We use condoms all the time.” Simone whispered.

“
Well, you know condoms aren’t one hundred percent. Half of our expecting patients use condoms,” the nurse chuckled. “And it’s not uncommon to still have a cycle, especially since you’re so early. But, yes, according to your blood work, you’re definitely pregnant. I hope that calls for excitement.”

“
I’m not sure what it calls for,” Simone mumbled, wondering what Andre would say. “Ms. Small, is there any way I can call you back, or better yet, can you call this other number and leave a message saying that you need me to schedule a prenatal appointment?”

“
That’s an unusual request, but one I can surely accommodate. What’s the number?”

Lunchtime rolled around, and Simone wasn’t sure if Andre had gotten the message or not.
My father’s gonna have a fit
, she thought. This would be her second baby by a different man, something Thomas was sure to frown upon. Sure, Simone and Andre had been going strong for well over two years, but there was no diamond glistening from Simone’s finger. And the biggest issue of them all would be Jordan. How in the world was Simone going to have another child when she still didn’t have custody of her first?

“
Excuse me, ma’am.” Andre appeared out of nowhere and placed a vase of colorful spring flowers on Simone’s desk. “And since I want a healthy baby, this is for you, too.” He set a plastic grocery bag next to the bouquet and unpacked spring water, oranges, and watermelon.

“
I take it you got the message,” Simone said, absent of any feeling.

“
Yeah, and now more than ever, I have to take care of my queen.” He smiled sincerely and planted a kiss on her cheek.

“
So you’re happy?” she asked, somewhat concerned.

“
I mean, we hadn’t planned on having a baby, but,” he said, shrugging away the thought, “yeah, I’m still happy.”

“
Well, my father’s not gonna be, and Lord, I can hear my mother now. She’s going to have a field day with this one.”

“
I don’t know what’s up with you and your mother, but your father will understand. Plus,” he added as he pulled Simone up from her chair to shield her comfortably in his embrace, “I plan to marry you one day.”

● ● ●

For the next seven months, Andre catered to Simone’s every need, waiting on her hand and foot. He even tagged along for most of the doctor appointments.

“
One of my partners asked me to work part-time at the club on New Year’s Eve. It’s a hundred dollars an hour. Are we doing anything?” Andre asked, rubbing Simone’s enormous belly as they chilled in his apartment.

“
Please, look at me. Do I look like I wanna do anything?”

In the midst of the so-called pregnancy glow, Simone’s nose and butt had spread, her feet and hands were swollen, and the burning she felt in her chest every night had her gulping down gallons of milk against the doctor’s orders. She couldn’t wait to deliver her load and lose the thirty-five pounds she’d gained.

“
Go
’head and make the money,” she encouraged. “We gotta stock the diaper fund anyway.”

“
Well, I’ll be outta there by three. Afterward,” Andre added, “I’ll just come to your place.”

● ● ●

Eight o’clock New Year’s morning, 1995, Simone awoke feeling revived and excited about the unforeseen promises of the New Year. After stretching the kinks from her restless limbs, she rolled over to kiss Andre good morning for the first time that year. But to her surprise, he wasn’t there. His side of the bed hadn’t been touched. Folding back the comforter, she pulled herself from the bed to check the apartment, but there was still no sign of him.

Didn’t he say he was coming here?
she thought, second-guessing their plan. She snatched the cordless from its base and called Andre’s house twice, each time allowing the phone to ring off the hook in hopes of waking him, but he didn’t answer.

I must be in the wrong place,
Simone thought. She jumped in the shower, threw on her only pair of maternity jeans with one of Andre’s T-shirts, and headed across town to his apartment.

The parking lot was packed. Andre’s truck was parked in its usual space, but his unmarked cruiser was nowhere in sight. Double-parked in front of the building, Simone smacked on her hazards and wobbled up the three flights of stairs to check his apartment, but he wasn’t there either.

Negative thoughts began to haunt Simone as she secured his locks and headed back to her place.
He gotta be at my house by now,
she thought. However, that was wishful thinking. Andre wasn’t there, and as she scrolled through her caller ID box, she noticed he hadn’t even returned her calls. Where the hell was he, and why hadn’t he at least called back?

Simone’s worry transformed into frustration as New Year’s Day ticked away. Finally, early in the evening, Andre called.

“
Hey, what’s up?” he uttered groggily.

“
Nothing. Happy New Year,” she wished halfheartedly.

“
Happy New Year to you, too,” he yawned into the phone.

“
What happened? I thought you were coming here.”

“
Yeah, I realized I was in the wrong place when I got here and you weren’t in my bed. I was too tired to turn around.”

“
So why didn’t you call?”

“
I’m calling you now. I just woke up. I didn’t get in ‘til almost five. I was tired as hell.”

“
Five this morning?”

“
Yeah,” he said through another yawn.

“
Five, huh?” Simone mumbled, fighting to conceal her true emotions. “I guess you been ’sleep the whole time.”

“
Yeah. I saw you been paging me.”

“
Mmm-hmm, I’ve been calling, paging, and I even came by.”

“
You came by?”

“
That’s what I said, but you been there ’sleep since five,” Simone said more to herself. “I don’t believe this,” she mumbled.

“
Oh, Lord,” he huffed. “Don’t tell me we gonna bring the New Year in arguing. You about to mess everything up.”

“
Andre! I came past your house this morning ’round ten o’clock, Mr. ‘I was knocked out,’ and your ass hadn’t even been there. Your bed was still made, and you gonna tell me you been there since five, and I’m the one ’bout to mess everything up?”

“
Simone—”

“
Don’t Simone me. I can’t believe how easily that lie rolled off your tongue. So where were you?”

Andre’s silence fueled Simone’s anger. She had no desire to hear him breathe through the phone. She’d asked a legitimate question and wanted a legitimate answer, not the bullshit he’d tried to feed her. Irritated by his silence, she slammed the phone down. Within the hour, he was walking through her door with his face drooped to the floor.

“
I’m sorry,” he confessed gingerly, sitting at the foot of her bed with his shoulders slumped. He couldn’t even face her. “I had no reason to lie to you.”

“
But you did, and now it just makes me wonder what else you’ve lied about.”

“
Simone, believe me. I’ve been beating myself up since you hung up on me. This girl I know was at the club with her boyfriend. Their ride left them, so I took ’em home. She ended up fixing breakfast, and I chilled with them. Before I realized it, I had fallen asleep on their couch.”

Simone sat in bed, staring at the back of Andre’s head, wishing like hell she had a cinder block to throw at him. But busting him in the head wasn’t good enough.

“
That’s the best you can do?”

“
What you mean?” He turned to face her.

“
You stayed with them, the third wheel on New Year’s Day, and fell asleep on their couch?”

“
Simone, it’s the truth.”

Simone sucked her teeth. She wasn’t buying the lame excuse.

“
I know how crazy it sounds, especially after I lied, but I swear I’m telling you the truth.”

“
So if it were that simple, that innocent, why’d you lie?”

Andre moved closer to Simone. Dangling from the edge of the bed, he still couldn’t bring himself to face her. “We’ve been doing so good…and here I am ’bout to fuck it all up lying over nothing. I swear,” he said, tracing Simone’s hand with the tips of his fingers. “I’m telling you the truth. That’s why I jumped up and came right over here.” He grabbed her hand and caressed it in his own. “I love you so much. Can we act like this didn’t happen and start the New Year over?”

● ● ●

Kayla Marie Perkins, a ginger-colored baby with oodles of curly black hair, was the talk of the nursery. Andre, the proud father, strutted around the hospital with his chest inflated, handing out pink bubble-gum cigars.

In the grocery store, the mall, or wherever else the family ventured, Andre faithfully pushed the stroller or carried his beautiful little trophy in his arms. Yet, when there was no one to impress with his daughter’s cuteness, cooing goo-goos and ga-gas in Kayla’s face was the extent of his parental role. Still, Simone didn’t complain, not one time. She welcomed the feedings scattered throughout the night and the shitty diapers that only she changed. She was a mommy again, and that was more important than anything.

Kicking off her brown pumps, Simone slid her coffee-colored nylons down her hips and plopped on the bed she’d neglected to make that morning. The three months she’d taken off from work had flown by. Hearing the front door close, she knew Andre was home with Kayla.

“
We need to find a new sitter,” Andre bellowed, absent of any greeting as he strolled into the bedroom, lugging Kayla in her seat. “I’m not feeling the one you found. It’s a trillion kids over there.” With a look of irritation, he sat Kayla’s seat on the bed and headed into the walk-in closet to strip from his suit.

“
Those kids only come in the evening. Kayla’s the only baby she watches.”

“
Well, I don’t like her. I think we should take Kayla to your mother. She’s too chocolate for your mother and Ricardo to pass off as theirs.” He chuckled.