“How is she doing?” Charmaine asked. “She was pretty upset when I talked to her last night.”
“She still is,” Mama said as she stood at the counter crumbling blue cheese for a second batch of her homemade dip.
“I don’t doubt it,” Charmaine said. “Somebody needs to knock some sense into that crazy woman. Don’t let me get my hands on
her.”
“Who?” Daddy asked. “You mean Valerie?”
“Yeah,” Charmaine said. “Bitch.”
“Charmaine,” Mama said sternly. “Sometimes you talk like you just stepped out of the hood.”
“Sorry, but this kind of dirty double-dealing gets on my nerves. I suspected something was up when I saw her talking to Kevin
at Beverly’s bridal shower. She was all up in his face, flirting and carrying on with him. But I never thought she would go
this far.”
“She was a friend of your sister’s for the longest time,” Daddy said, shaking his head with regret as he removed several packs
of soda from the shopping bags and placed them in the refrigerator.
“Be careful what you say to Beverly when you go downstairs,” Mama said. “She’s upset enough. I don’t want you getting her
even more riled up. This is supposed to be a happy time for her, and it will be even if I have to go down there and take you
over my knee.”
Charmaine laughed. “You’re right, Ma. I’ll behave.” After all, it was her parents’ house, Charmaine reasoned. And Mama was
right. It was six days before Beverly’s wedding, and this was supposed to be a party. But if she ever ran into that whore
Valerie, she was going to give her a piece of her mind. And maybe the palm of her hand.
“How are you?” Mama asked. “And Tyrone, where’s he?”
“He’s still at his mama’s house.”
Ma sighed deeply. “I don’t know about you girls. You all take marriage too lightly, if you ask me.”
“You’re probably right,” Charmaine said as she looked around at party trays full of chicken wings, chips, and celery sticks.
She picked out a potato chip and dipped it into the batch of blue cheese dip that Mama had already whipped up. She didn’t
want to get into a debate about marriage and divorce with her mother. They were of different generations and would probably
never agree. “Mmm, this dip is delicious. Do you have everything you need up here?”
“I’m fine,” Mama said. “I have more than I need for fifty people. You can start taking some of this stuff downstairs if you
want.”
“Who’s here already?” Charmaine asked as she lifted one of the food trays and a bowl of dip.
“Your Aunt Jenna and Uncle Willie. And Aunt Alma is here with Judy and Vern and their boys. And Sylvia and Jamie. But it’s
still early and I’m expecting a lot more as people get out of church.”
Charmaine made her way down the stairs to the big room in the basement where her aunts, uncles, and cousins were gathered
around watching Daddy’s sixty-inch plasma television. Beverly and Julian already had a game of Bid Whist going at a table
in the corner with cousins Sylvia and Jamie.
“Hey, Charm,” everyone said at once. Charmaine waved and placed the veggie tray on a table. She hugged her aunts and uncles,
then walked over to the card table and pulled a chair up behind Jamie.
“I pass,” Beverly said as she placed her cards on the table and folded her arms across her waist.
“You passed last time,” Julian teased. “That the best you can do? ’Cause I could use some help here, baby.”
“If I don’t have anything decent, what do you expect?” Beverly asked stubbornly. “I’m not going to bid if I keep getting crummy
hands.”
Charmaine could tell from Beverly’s tone of voice and the glum expression on her face that she was still quite miffed.
“Five low,” Julian said, upping Sylvia’s bid of five.
“Six,” Jamie said. “Might as well go for it.”
From what Charmaine could see of Jamie’s hand, he had no business bidding a six. He had not a single ace or joker and would
likely never make his bid unless he struck gold in the kitty or his partner. “Some things never change,” Charmaine said, laughing.
Jamie hid his hand from her and tossed her a warning glance with his eyes. “What you talking ’bout?”
“I’m just saying,” Charmaine said.
“I got this one in the bag,” he said to Sylvia.
“Right,” Sylvia said wryly. “Just like the last time when you bid a four and couldn’t even make that.” Sylvia rearranged the
cards in her hand and glanced at Charmaine. “Did he tell you about him and Imani?”
Charmaine frowned. Imani was Jamie’s wife. Although she rarely showed up at the family gatherings, they had been married about
ten years and had two school-age children. “No. What happened?”
“We’re getting a divorce,” Jamie said, never taking his eyes off the cards as he arranged them.
“You’re kidding!” Charmaine said.
Jamie shook his head. “Nope.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Charmaine said.
“Don’t be. It’s been a long time coming. We kept putting it off for the sake of the kids. But it’s not worth it, the way we
get along. Or don’t get along, is more like it.”
“Who has the children?” Charmaine asked.
“Right now we’re sharing custody. I got an apartment near the house, and they go back and forth. The one thing we do agree
on is trying to make this as easy as we can on them.”
Charmaine looked at Beverly. “Did you know about this?”
“He just told me.”
Charmaine shook her head. “I thought you two were keepers.”
Jamie shrugged. “We grew apart. She was getting more and more religious, and I don’t want to go down that path. That ain’t
me.”
“So it was religious differences?” Beverly asked.
“Mainly,” Jamie said.
“That doesn’t sound like a reason to divorce,” Beverly said.
“It is when you get as involved as Imani did. That’s all she ever talks about, and she’s always preaching and praying. If
she was here right now, she’d be asking you where you go to church, and if you say you don’t, asking you why not. Then she’d
get to telling you what she does in the church, blah, blah, blah. It never ends.”
“That can get on your nerves if you’re not into it,” Charmaine said.
“It would get on mine too,” Sylvia added.
“But you don’t divorce over something that gets on your nerves,” Beverly said. “It’s not like infidelity or serious financial
problems.”
“It’s just as bad, if you ask me,” Jamie said.
“You can’t be serious!” Beverly asked, brows lifted in disbelief.
“I’m very serious,” Jamie responded.
Beverly shook her head in disagreement. “This attitude is exactly what’s wrong with us.”
“What are you getting at, Beverly?” Julian asked.
“Our generation doesn’t take marriage seriously enough. We break up over any little thing that goes wrong instead of trying
to fix it.”
“She’s got a point,” Charmaine said. “We do divorce faster than our parents’ generation did. Look at me. Divorced three times,
and that’s just for starters.”
“Come to think of it, where’s Tyrone?” Jamie asked, looking around.
Charmaine shrugged. “At his mother’s house last time I talked to him.”
“Huh?” Sylvia and Jamie stared at Charmaine with open surprise.
“He packed his things and left with his daughter a few days ago.”
“Uh-oh.”
“What happened?”
Charmaine waved her hand. “I don’t want to get into that now, ’cause I’m not even sure what’s going on. Get back to me in
a few weeks when I know more.”
“You know, this just proves my point,” Beverly said. “You and Tyrone are fighting about what? His daughter? So she’s a little
spoiled and he indulges her. That’s nothing to split up about. Talk it over, work it out.”
“That’s easy for you to say, Bev,” Charmaine said. “You weren’t there. You don’t know how unreasonable Tyrone can be.”
“Whatever,” Beverly said. “I still can’t imagine how it would be worth separating over. His daughter lives in California.
She’s not even here most of the year. Everyone is too damn quick to head to divorce court, if you ask me.”
Charmaine waved her hand with impatience. She didn’t come here to get into an argument with Beverly about marriage. She had
already taken things too far, given what she had promised her mother, even if Beverly was making it difficult to keep her
word.
“The way I see it, our generation doesn’t tolerate bad marriages like our parents did,” Sylvia said. “They put up with a lot
of crap, and most of them were miserable, which is why I never got married.”
“Why do you assume they stayed in bad marriages?” Beverly asked. “Maybe some of them stayed and worked their problems out.
Maybe they compromised and learned how to get along with each other instead of bolting at the first sign of trouble.”
“Not my parents,” Sylvia said. “They just tolerate each other even now.”
“I think it’s both,” Jamie said. “Some might work things out, but a lot of them just stick with the bad relationships. And
I’m not about to do that. At first I tried to be patient with Imani, but she got more and more into Jesus. The day she got
down on her knees and started praying for forgiveness right after we made love was the day I said, ‘Lord, I’m out of here.
I can’t take any more of this.’”
Sylvia slapped her thigh and laughed. Charmaine and Julian chuckled. Beverly shook her head with resignation.
“Why on earth was she praying after sex?” Charmaine asked.
“Something about God not wanting us to make love unless we intend to make a baby, and I insisted on using a condom ’cause
she stopped using birth control. We can barely afford to take care of the kids we got now. I’m telling y’all. She’s not the
same woman I married.”
“That sounds something like what happened with Evelyn and Kevin,” Charmaine said.
Jamie and Sylvia stared at Charmaine, eyes filled with surprise. “What happened with Evelyn and Kevin?”
Charmaine realized that she had slipped. She zipped her lips shut. “Oops, let her tell you when you see her. I’ve already
said too much.”
Sylvia shook her head. “Good Lord.”
Jamie shrugged. “Sometimes people change.”
“Or go off the deep end,” Charmaine added.
Julian slammed a winning jack on the table, and Jamie threw his cards down in disgust.
“Not again,” Sylvia said with despair at the loss.
Beverly looked across the table at Julian smiling as he gathered the cards to deal next. He looked so comfortable. He fit
right in with her family.
So had Kevin at one time, Beverly thought. And look what happened to him. It was as if someone had snatched the old Kevin
away, leaving a total stranger in his place. And even if your spouse never went off the deep end like Kevin, what was to keep
him from pulling a Jamie on you, ready to walk at the first sign of trouble, even a little trouble? Maybe the only person
you could really count on forever after was yourself.
“Ah, man,” Julian exclaimed with disappointment as he looked at his new hand. “I hope you got something decent over there
this time, Bev.”
Beverly picked up her hand and saw a bunch of eights, tens, and jacks. She and Julian had played cards together many times
before, but Beverly never realized that winning was so important to him. It was really starting to grate on her.
“You want to take my place, Charm?” Beverly asked. “I’ve had enough.”
Charmaine blinked. Not because Beverly was tired of playing. It was the sharp tone in her sister’s voice. Beverly was obviously
still seething about catching Valerie with Kevin, but this attitude of hers was a bit much. Beverly wasn’t the only one on
earth having a tough time, or even the only one in this room. Tyrone had left just a few days earlier, but you didn’t see
her pouting and being a pain in the ass. Jamie was in the middle of a divorce, and for all anyone knew, Sylvia had her own
issues going on too.
Sometimes you had to suck it in and leave your misery at home. Especially at a party in your honor. Charmaine had a mind to
tell her sister exactly that, but she had made a promise to her mama. She would have words with Beverly another time. For
now she would try to make nice.
“You sure you don’t want to stick it out?” Charmaine asked.
“Quite,” Beverly responded.
“Quitting on me, huh?” Julian asked playfully.
Charmaine wanted to shush him. Was he really that clueless as to Beverly’s bad mood? Hadn’t he learned to read the signs?
“What kind of way is that to treat your man, baby?” Julian added.
Obviously he had
not
learned to read the signs, Charmaine thought. Hardly surprising, since men could be a little thick about these things.
Beverly jumped out of her seat. She knew that Julian was teasing her, but she was in no mood for joking around and found his
words annoying. “It’s just a stupid-ass card game,” she snapped, glaring at him. “You don’t have to take it so damn seriously.”
A hush fell over the table as Beverly and Charmaine switched chairs and everyone else stared at their cards.
“Sorry,” Julian said softly after a few moments. “I was only kidding. Didn’t mean any harm.”
“Sometimes you kid around too much,” Beverly said. She stood. “I’m going up to see if Ma needs any help.”
Beverly walked off, and as soon as she was out of hearing distance, Charmaine leaned across the table toward Julian. “Want
me to go slap some sense into her?” she whispered conspiratorially.
Julian chuckled and shook his head. “Nah. She’s got a lot on her mind.”
“Yeah, but that’s no excuse for being a whiny little brat,” Charmaine said. “She’s not the only one around here with problems.”
“It’s fine,” Julian insisted. “We’ll work it out.”
Charmaine nodded. “I’m sure you will.” But was she really? Given Beverly’s history of breaking up with her fiancés at the
last minute, Charmaine was tempted to warn Julian not to be overconfident. But she decided against it. Beverly had never gotten
this far with either of her two previous engagements. Charmaine could see that despite Beverly’s tantrum just now, she and
Julian had a strong, loving relationship. It could withstand a temporary setback. Hopefully.