Single Ladies (30 page)

Ms. D and Lisa went into the living room and took a seat on the couch. Lisa looked dead to the world, and the bags under her eyes told the tale of her not getting any sleep at night.

“You need to rest,” Ms. D said, combing Lisa's hair with her fingers.

“I know. I will after the funeral. Ralphy's mom is gonna take Naomi for a few days, so I should be okay.”

“I know it may seem hard right now, but things will get easier,” Ms. D said, patting Lisa's hand. “One thing I know about you is that you're strong, and I'm not talking about any kind of strong. I'm saying you're strong up here,” Ms. D said, pointing to Lisa's head. “And let me be the first to tell you that the worst thing you can do right now is drown yourself in sorrow. That little girl needs you, and you need her, you understand?” Ms. D said, reaching up and turning Lisa's face toward her.

Lisa nodded her head, wiping the tears that began to fall from her eyes. She agreed with everything Ms. D said to her, but there was something more serious weighing down on her, something that was hard to shake.

“You know this is all my fault,” Lisa said, covering her mouth to muffle her cries.

“What? What are you talking about?” Ms. D said, pulling Lisa close to her. “Don't say that.”

The detective who was on Ralphy's case had informants all over the streets, and once he put the whole story together, he called Lisa and asked her if she wanted to know. At first, she was unsure if she wanted to hear the gory details, but thought that one day, Naomi might inquire about her father's death when she got older. So for that reason alone, Lisa agreed to hear the detective's theory about what happened.

Lisa almost threw up when she learned that everything that happened was a result of her affair with Dre. After hearing that from the detective, it all made sense to Lisa. She didn't want to explain everything to Ms. D as they sat on the couch, but the tragic events that took place would forever be embedded in her thoughts. Had she not slept with Dre, Ralphy would still be alive today. Getting easier, as Ms. D put it, would never be the case with Lisa. This was something that would haunt her probably for the rest of her life.

* * *

Tammy lay in the bed naked, hugged up under Darious, who had fallen asleep after the crazy sex session they just had. Tammy didn't know when the DEA was going to be kicking down the door to come get Darious, so until then she was going to get as much dick as she possibly could. It was a little selfish, but this might be the last time she had sex for a while.

“Darious! Darious!” she said, nudging him out of his sleep. “Come on, get up,” she said, dipping under the covers and going straight for his dick.

She popped it in her mouth and began sucking it until it got hard. By then, Darious was awake, getting himself ready for round two. Tammy wasted no time climbing on top of him and sitting down on his dick. She grunted, feeling all of him inside of her, and after a minute or two, she started grinding her hips back and forth while pressing her hands against his chest. Darious looked up to her, and could see the pleasure written all over her face. He grabbed her waist and began bouncing her ass up and down on his dick, sending her breasts flopping all over the place.

Tammy hissed, then yelled out his name as she felt another orgasm building up in the pit of her stomach. Within a few minutes, Tammy had reached her peak, cumming all over Darious's dick for the third time today. He too splashed off inside of her for the second time that day, and didn't consider one time pulling out.

He felt like Tammy was a lioness in heat and his only job was to please her. For the rest of the day, he did just that. Since she was now on Depo and couldn't get pregnant, all she wanted to do was give them both something to remember for the darker days ahead.

* * *

On Saturday morning, everyone gathered at Lisa's house preparing to go to see Ralphy laid to rest. Lisa needed her friends now more than ever before. She had requested for them to all ride in the family car with her and Ralphy's mother. Looking outside as the large funeral limo pulled up in front of the porch, Lisa noticed that there was a silent rain coming down. The flowers that she, Ralphy, and Naomi had planted last year had fully bloomed, but on this morning, they appeared to be frail. The morning dew had formed on top of the petals, dragging them down as if they were paying their final respect to the dead.

Lisa knew that she had to be strong, if not for her mother-in-law, for her daughter, who was still thinking that her daddy was coming home. The funeral director came into the house to let everyone know that it was time to leave. Lamar opened the passenger door for Kim, Falisha, and Tammy to climb inside. Ms. D, Lisa, Naomi, and Ralphy's mother got in on the driver's side. Although Kim, Lamar, and Falisha still had tension in their love triangle, all parties understood that today was not the day to deal with that stuff.

When they arrived at St. Luke Baptist Church, the sanctuary was filled to capacity. There was a mixture of former classmates, people from Ralphy's old job, and street dudes. Lamar straightened his tie as they all piled out the car. All of the women were already crying, and he knew it wouldn't take much for him to start. Ralphy was always like a big brother to him, and looking at Naomi and knowing that she would have to grow up without a father was pulling on his heartstrings. He silently made a promise to Ralphy that he would be there for his daughter, like she was his own. The old lady playing “I Have a Home” on the piano was singing so loud that it was as if she was trying to drown out the wails and whimpering that were going on throughout the church.

When they arrived at the front row, Lisa looked over to see Ralphy laid in the custom casket she had picked out for him. The blue Ralph Lauren suit she had purchased lay on him so perfectly that he looked as if he was going on a job interview. When Ralphy's mother cut her eyes over to the body, the realization of her son being gone was overwhelming. She dropped Lisa's and Naomi's hands and went up and stood over her dead child.

“Lord, why? Please tell me why. It wasn't supposed to be like this. I wasn't supposed to be burying my baby. Why, Lord, why? God, please, somebody tell me, why?” Ralphy's mother's plea to God had everyone's tears flowing like a never-ending waterfall. Lamar went up to her, and with the help of one of the ushers they managed to get her to her seat.

Little Naomi wasn't sure why everyone was crying so much. She went into Lisa's pocketbook to get her grandmother some tissue. “Mommy, why are you and Grandma crying?” she asked.

“It's just hard for us to see your daddy like this, that's all, baby.”

“My daddy? Where is he at?” Naomi asked, getting excited.

Lisa figured this would be her last time seeing her father, so she walked Naomi up to the casket to view the body. Once Naomi saw her father's face, she went running, Lisa tried to grab her but was too late.

“Daddy? Daddy. Wake up, Daddy. Mommy, help me wake my daddy up. He can't be 'sleep with all these people here.” Naomi was shaking the casket so hard, it was about to fall off the stand.

Lisa broke down at the sight of her daughter trying to get Ralphy up. All the guilt that she had tried to put behind her was coming back. Tammy and Kim went running to get Lisa, and Lamar and Falisha went to grab Naomi. Both were putting up a fight, and now, even the funeral director and his staff were tearing up.

The pastor did the best thing he could do. He said a quick sermon and asked that the body be removed, and cancelled the graveside ceremony.

Lamar walked into the room while Kim was packing their things in large blue storage bins. The lawyer in Philadelphia was eager to have Kim on his team, and needed her there immediately to start working on a big case he had. Kim was cool with the moving date being bumped up, mainly because she was ready for her and Lamar to move forward with their lives. She needed it bad.

“So the moving company should be here in about an hour. Tell me if I left anything out,” Kim said, looking around the room at all she'd packed.

Lamar entered the room and leaned against the stack of storage bins with a sad look on his face. Kim had a feeling he was going to be like this.

“Awwww!”she whined playfully, walking over to him. “Once we get there, you'll see that it's not that—”

“I'm not going,” Lamar said, cutting her off.

“Boy, you better cut it out.” Kim smiled, reaching up to kiss him.

Lamar turned his face so that she kissed his cheek instead of his lips. “I'm serious, Kim. I'm not going anywhere,” he said, looking down at her with conviction.

“Lamar, don't do this right now. If it's about the abortion, we can get through it. We can have a baby—”

“Falisha is pregnant by me,” he interrupted.

Kim looked up at him and saw that he was serious. She took a step back and looked to the sky. “Wow,” she said, taking a seat on the bed.

Lamar stood there silent, giving Kim some time to let what he said sink in. It was a tough blow, and it took a minute, but Kim got herself together.

“So, I guess this is it, right?” she asked, looking over at Lamar. “This is how we end, huh?”

Lamar walked over and took a seat next to her on the bed. This wasn't easy for him by far and, in the past week, he had considered every possible outcome.

The one thing that tipped the scale was the abortion, and no matter what Kim did to make up for that, Lamar didn't think that he could ever forgive her for it. She aborted his first child, without even discussing it with him. Some men in this world wouldn't have cared much, but Lamar was different. He didn't have a family and the moment when he was about to create one of his own, Kim took that away from him.

On the other hand, Falisha was giving him back what Kim stole from him, and for that, Lamar planned to be there for her and the baby, possibly salvaging any chance of giving their prior relationship another chance. Sometimes a baby could do one of two things: it could either tear people apart or bring them together, and both Falisha and Lamar were hoping it would do the latter.

“I'm sorry, shawty,” Lamar said, then got up and walked out of the room.

* * *

Darious sat outside on the backyard deck drinking a Corona, watching Anthony and his friends play in the swimming pool. Tammy came out with Sinniyyah on her hip, yelling at Anthony to be careful before joining Darious under the canopy. After going to the grand jury on Wednesday, the DEA would be coming to arrest Darious any day now, and serve him with an indictment. Although she was backed into a corner and pretty much forced to do what she did, guilt still hit her like a ton of bricks. Not only did she feel guilty, she felt disloyal and untrustworthy, among other things. All the good that happened in her life over the past few months was on the account of Darious being her man. New car, new house, new clothes, and a higher level of maturity were all because of him. She couldn't deny it; he made her a better person, and despite what Agent Grant said about him not loving her, Tammy was convinced that he did.

“I need to talk to you,” Tammy said to Darious as she put Sinniyyah in her swing.

“If it's about the DEA, you don't have to say anything,” Darious responded, not taking his focus off the kids in the pool.

Tammy looked over at Darious in shock. “Wait, wait, how do you know about the DEA?” she asked.

Darious explained to her that one night while she was asleep, he went to get her phone out of her Gucci bag so that he could get one of his clients' numbers. He had found the recording device and the camera attached to the inside of her bag. He figured that the feds had gotten to her, probably during one of the drop-offs, and had her working since then.

“Then last week I followed you when you told me that you were going to get ya nails done. You just had gotten them done a few days earlier, so I knew that was a lie. When I saw you get into the back seat of the unmarked car, I almost ran for the hills,” Darious said, taking a swig of his beer.

“So why didn't you run? Why are you waiting around to go to jail?” Tammy asked.

Darious finally took his eyes off the pool, taking off his sunglasses and putting them and his Corona on the table. “Come 'ere,” he said, motioning with his head for Tammy to come and sit on his lap.

She got up from her seat and sat down between his legs on the beach chair. He wrapped his arms around her and laid her head on his chest, then kissed her forehead.

“I chose to stay because of you. Whether you believe me or not, I really do love you, Tammy, and I can't imagine me living life without you.”

“So you'd rather go to jail?”

Darious laughed. “I'm not goin' to jail, or if I do it shouldn't be for long,” he replied.

“I don't understand. What are you saying?” Tammy asked, sitting up and giving Darious a confused look.

“After I found out that you were working with the feds, I turned myself in and cut a deal. I'm not as high up on the totem pole as they thought I was. They want the doctor and the rest of the hospital staff he has working for him. I told the DEA that if they left you out of it, I'll help them. That means no charges will be brought against you, and you don't have to do anything for them anymore.”

“Damn, babe, dis shit is deeper than what I thought,” Tammy said, lying back down on his chest.

“Yeah, well, the doctor don't pay me enough, so I work for the feds now,” Darious said, reaching over and grabbing his Corona off the table.

Through it all, Tammy still couldn't figure out for the love of God why Darious would want to be with her after everything she had done. As she sat there laid up on his chest, the only thing that she could think of, which made no sense at all, was the fact that Darious must love her as much as he said he did. From that day forth, Tammy would no longer question the love Darious had for her, and never would he ever have to prove it again.

* * *

Lisa sat down on the toilet looking at the First Response pregnancy test she had bought earlier. For the past few days, she had been feeling nauseous and weak, and at first she thought that it might have been from the funeral and all the stress that came along with it, but then Lisa looked at the calendar and saw that she was at least a week late.

“Mommy, I gotta pee,” Naomi yelled, knocking on the door.

“Here I come, NayNay,” Lisa shouted back as she ripped open the box.

Lisa urinated on the little white stick then stuck the cap back on. She got up off the toilet in the nick of time, because Naomi burst through the door. She did her little potty dance, dropping her pants to the floor and almost falling into the toilet when she sat down. Lisa stood by the sink trying to hold her laugh in, looking over at half of Naomi's body sunk into the toilet as she swung her legs back and forth.

“Mommy is sorry,” Lisa apologized.

After waiting the two minutes for the results, Lisa looked down at the test in her hand. It came back negative and Lisa felt both relieved and sad. She kind of hoped that she would have been pregnant just one last time by Ralphy. He always wanted a boy, and Lisa always used to promise him that she would give him one, no matter how many times it took. Being able to keep that promise would have meant a lot to her, but looking over at Naomi, looking just like her dad, Lisa's heart was content with just one.

* * *

Kim stood curbside, watching as the movers took several storage bins out of the house and loaded them into the moving van. It really didn't take long, since Lamar wasn't going with her, so she had a few minutes to blow. Not knowing if she would ever be coming back, Kim took one good look around Parker Street, the block where she was practically born and raised.

Tires screeching caused her to turn her head. It was Tammy, turning onto the block as though she had sped the whole way there. At the same time, Lamar came out of the house and walked down the steps. He had a stressed look on his face, but walked up to Kim and gave her a hug.

“You take care of yourself out there, and don't hesitate to call me if you need anything,” Lamar said.

“Here!” Kim said, attempting to take off the engagement ring.

“Nah, you hold on to it for now,” Lamar shot back.

Kim smiled and put the ring back on her finger. “Yeah, well maybe you can come visit me sometime,” Kim said with a smile, trying to hold back her tears.

“All you gotta do is say when,” Lamar replied, removing the hair from in front of her face.

He leaned in and kissed her lips, and at first Kim wanted to pull away, but she couldn't. She didn't know if she'd ever kiss him again, and if it was going to be her last she wanted to make it her best. It was slow, soft, and wet, and during the whole time, Kim kept her eyes open.

“A'ight, y'all two!” Tammy yelled, walking up and separating them.

Lamar looked into Kim's eyes then cracked a smile before walking off. He didn't want to stick around and watch her leave, because in all actuality, he really didn't want her to go. He had a lot of love for Kim, and after having a heart-to-heart conversation with her an hour earlier, Lamar realized that underneath all the anger he had inside of him about the abortion, their love had made an impact on his life that he would never forget.

“So are you ready?” Tammy asked, reaching out for Kim's hand. “I mean, are you really ready to leave us?”

“Yeah. I'm a little nervous, but I'm ready,” Kim answered with a smile. “I'ma miss y'all,” she whined.

“Bitch, you better not leave without saying good-bye!” Lisa yelled out, coming off her porch with Naomi by her side.

She walked over and gave Kim a big hug. Naomi did the same. “What's his problem?” Lisa asked, pointing up the street at Lamar leaning against his car with his head down. “He looks sick.”

“He's an asshole!” Tammy yelled so Lamar could hear her. They all laughed a little. “No, he'll be all right. He has more important things to worry about right now.”

“Girl, don't get to Philly and forget about us,” Lisa said.

“Shit, I'm flying y'all in as soon as I get right. We gon' tear the clubs up,” Kim responded, doing a little dance.

One of the movers got out of the van, holding his watch up in the air. “Your flight leaves in two hours, and we gotta be hitting the road,” he rushed her.

“She's coming!” a voice yelled from across the street. It was Falisha, making her way across the road. Kim, Tammy, and Lisa all got quiet, praying that Falisha didn't ruin the mood. When she got across the street, she walked up and stood right in front Kim, who looked her in the eyes. They both had a mean mug on their faces, and for everybody who was standing there it became awkward. Falisha stared at Kim as long as she could before she broke first, cracking a huge smile. Kim smiled, then they both hugged. Lisa and Tammy were relieved.

“You make sure ya ass is back here for ya goddaughter's baby shower,” Falisha spoke into her ear as she continued to hug Kim.

“Promise I will,” Kim said, wiping the tears from her face. “I love you guys,” she whined, bringing everybody in for a group hug.

There wasn't a dry eye within the crowd. The friendship and the bond that these four women had was like no other. From toddlers to adults, they went through the challenges of life, leaning on each other for support. They were the true definition of friends, and as they watched Kim's van pull off down the street with her inside of it, a piece of their hearts was leaving right along with her. A piece that would never be replaced.

 

The End!