Chapter 24
“Are we still on for dinner?” Malcolm asked, pleadingly.
“I guess so,” Staci answered, halfheartedly. She hadn't seen Malcolm since the incident at his loft ten days ago. Instead of cutting him off completely, she'd cut their daily phone conversations down to twice a week. He wasn't happy about that, but she didn't care. She needed to put some space between them. Malcolm constantly apologized for crossing the line at his loft, hoping that would change her mind, but it didn't. Tonight, she only agreed to have dinner with him to tell him she didn't want to see him anymore at all. “I'll meet you at the restaurant in half an hour.”
When she ended the phone call, her mind instantly went to Derrick. She still hadn't heard from him. Sunday, she didn't see him at the second service, but several members approached her and offered congratulatory remarks on Derrick's rededication. She started to call him and congratulate him herself, but decided against it. The next time she speaks to him, Staci was going to ask him for a divorce. It wasn't fair for him to keep her in limbo. She had allowed him sufficient time to straighten out his life. Now it was time for him to offer her the same courtesy. Staci was ready to move on. She was scared, but she was ready.
Since reducing the time spent with Malcolm, she'd been able to take an objective look at her life with Derrick. Neither of them had been happy in the marriage. Staci believed he still harbored ill feelings toward her for aborting their baby. She reasoned that was why he wanted a baby so badly, as a replacement. Staci didn't understand why she couldn't get pregnant; maybe she couldn't have any more children. If that was the case, it was best she and Derrick end things now. Derrick could find someone to have babies with, and she could find someone who would reciprocate the love she had to give. Having a baby wouldn't have solved their problems anyway.
Staci pushed back the lump she felt forming in her throat. It was hard for her to come to this conclusion, and she really couldn't imagine her life without Derrick. But the reality was she'd been without him for a long time. She didn't know who Derrick was anymore, and she was tired of trying to figure him out. She was drained from giving him more than he was willing to give her. Someday he would make someone a good husband, but she wasn't that person.
She packed her briefcase and was preparing to leave when Chloe announced she had a visitor.
“Mr. Leblanc is here.”
“Malcolm, what are you doing here?” she asked when he stepped into her office carrying flowers. “I told you, I'd meet you at the restaurant.”
“I know, but I wanted to escort you.”
Has he always resembled Martin Lawrence?
she asked herself. “Malcolm, I don't need an escort.”
“I know, but I also wanted to give you these.” He held the mixed bouquet out to her.
The arrangement of daffodils, irises, carnations, and lilies was nice, but she really preferred roses. Staci accepted the flowers and asked Chloe to find a container for them. When she turned her attention back to Malcolm he had his arm extended out to her. Ignoring the goofy expression on his face, Staci interlocked her arm with his and headed for the elevator.
Â
Â
Derrick's eyes were glued on the numbered circles above his head. One by one, each circle lighted as the elevator made what was, by his perception, a long, slow trip to the tenth floor. He shifted the long rectangular box from one arm to the other and checked his watch once more. Staci should be getting off any moment. He felt more like a teenager picking up his first date, than a married man making a surprise visit to his wife.
He didn't know how Staci was going to respond seeing him unexpectedly. He'd started to call first, but feared she wouldn't take his call. He'd picked today to start the rebuilding process because today was Wednesday, and that's the day she'd told him she'd deal with foolishness. Derrick didn't like her considering him foolish, but he had to admit, he had been a fool to leave her.
He twisted his face when he checked his reflection in the mirrored wall. The tan suit he wore made him look distinguished, but his tie was crooked. “Why can't my tie stay straight?” he grumbled. He knew the answer. It was because Staci didn't tie it. She always tied his ties perfectly. The frown on his face softened at the thought of his wife's soft touch. He knew that was afar off, but the thought calmed his nerves a bit.
He didn't know what he was going to say to her, other than he was sorry and he wanted another chance to explain the reason behind his actions; that he loves her more than life, and that his life is incomplete without her. That he misses her smile and the soft feel of her curls underneath his chin as she lay cuddled against him. He focused on the numbered circles again, eight . . . nine . . .
Malcolm wore that goofy expression the entire time he and Staci waited for the elevator. It wasn't until he winked at her did she realize he thought the look was sexy.
I'll be glad when tonight is over
, she thought. The bell sounded, and the silver doors parted.
“Excuse me,” Derrick said when the box he carried bumped the couple entering the elevator as he was exiting. It took a few seconds for it to register that the woman with the average-looking gentleman was his wife.
“Staci?” He said her name like it was a question. On her face he saw that she was just as surprised to see him as he was to see her with her arm interlocked with the man next to her.
“Hi,” she responded weakly, not sure of what to say. She studied his appearance and came to one conclusion. Despite her animosity toward him, Derrick Garrison was a fine man. No one could wear a suit like her husband. His thick curls were cut low, and his mustache trimmed. As always, his tie was crooked. She noticed the Conroy's label on the long box underneath his arm and knew inside were long-stem red roses. It was going to be harder than she imagined to let him go.
“What are you doing here?” she asked.
Derrick tried to focus on her, but the stranger captured his attention. Who was he, and why was he touching his wife?
“I'm here to see you. I was hoping we could have dinner and talk.”
The elevator warning buzzer sounded, and Malcolm urged her to step completely inside the elevator before the doors closed. She did, and Derrick followed.
“Malcolm, Derrick. Derrick, Malcolm.” Staci made the informal introductions before she answered her husband's request. “Derrick, I've already made dinner plans for tonight. Give Chloe a call tomorrow and make an appointment,” she said, before pressing “L” on the instrument panel.
“Hello, are you Staci's brother?” Malcolm asked with his free hand extended to Derrick. Staci had forgotten she'd never told Malcolm her husband's name. She didn't think he needed to know that information.
For a moment, Derrick ignored Malcolm. He was still processing that he needed an appointment to have a conversation with his wife. Then to have this stranger, who was obviously displaying possession of Staci, think he was her brother enraged him.
“I am not her brother!”
Staci recognized the anger in Derrick's tone immediately. In an instant, his light complexion turned a shade of red, and his eyes darkened. Staci quickly removed her arm from Malcolm and prayed the elevator would speed up or at least stop so she could get out.
“What is your relationship? Are you her boyfriend?” Derrick asked, looking from Staci to Malcolm.
Staci wanted to punch Malcolm when he answered, “Something like that,” with a smile.
“Why is this elevator so slow?” Staci grunted.
“Something like that?” Derrick repeated and stepped closer to Malcolm.
Thankfully, the elevator stopped, and the doors opened. Before Derrick stepped out into the lobby, he took Staci by the arm and placed her alongside him.
“I'm sorry you've wasted your time, Malcolm, but my wife will not be having dinner with you tonight or any other night.”
Malcolm's face twisted at Derrick's statement, which sounded more like a command.
She'd never seen Derrick so jealous.
Men,
she thought.
They don't want you, and they don't want anyone else to have you.
Staci wanted to remind Derrick that he lost his right of ownership the day he walked out on her, but she feared for Malcolm's safety as well as her own.
“Malcolm, I'll talk to you later,” she said.
Derrick shot her a look that said, “No, you won't!”
“Staciâ” Malcolm started.
“Malcolm, please just go,” Staci pleaded.
Malcolm conceded and retreated through the glass doors. No sooner had the doors closed then Staci snatched her arm away from Derrick.
“What do you think you're doing coming here like this?”
“What do you think you're doing with a boyfriend?” Derrick shot back.
Staci rolled her eyes. “Malcolm is not my boyfriend!”
“Then why were you about to have dinner with him?”
Staci fished her car keys from her purse. “Derrick, you gave up the right to know my business the day you left me.”
“I am still your husband! Iâ”
She cut him off. “Derrickâ” she was about to yell, but another elevator opened and emptied a full load. By the time the crowd passed, Staci was walking through the side garage entrance.
“Staci!” Derrick called after her.
She stopped abruptly and turned around. “What do you want? Why are you here?”
“I wanted to talk to you, but you're too busy with your boyfriend. Does he have to make an appointment also?”
“I've told you, Malcolm is not my boyfriend! He's about as much of a boyfriend as you were a husband!”
Derrick felt like he'd been slapped across the face, twice, but he wasn't going to let that stop him.
“How long have you known him? How did you meet him? Has he been in our house?”
Staci found the last question funny, even hilarious. She laughed the rest of the way to her car. She was still laughing after she put her briefcase in the backseat. When she started the car, more laughter poured from her. When she looked in her rearview mirror at Derrick standing there still holding the boxed roses as she drove away, she laughed the loudest.
Â
Â
Malcolm walked back to his car in a daze. Being able to put a face and name on his enemy made him nervous. He wasn't prepared to meet the man he'd planned on replacing. Staci's husband was nothing like he had expected. Malcolm pictured him to be a short, overweight, bald guy. At least that's how his dentist looked. Derrick was much bigger and stronger, and frankly, he frightened Malcolm.
Now that he knew who Derrick was, he'd have to change his approach toward Staci. He'd have to work harder to convince her he was the one for her. Not the mixed breed giant. The good doctor may have been a lousy husband, but he was what the sisters and even some of the brothers would call a good-looking man. Malcolm considered himself average looking. What he didn't have in the “fine” department, he made up for in the bedroom, and, of course, with his money.
He'd given up a long time ago on trying to impress Staci with his money, but the bedroom was another story. He'd almost had her that night in his loft. If only he'd remembered to slip her cell phone from her waist.
“That's the name she almost called me,” he remembered, thinking back to that night.
He paused before inserting his key into his Lexus. “What if I'm already too late? What if she stays with him tonight?” Malcolm couldn't let that happen. Staci was his woman; his beautiful and sexy woman. She actually reminded him of his mother, but the things he wanted to do with her, he could have never done with his mother.
She'd never voiced any attraction for him, but from his experience, women used more indirect communication, than direct. If she didn't want him, why had she spent so much time with him? And if she didn't want to sleep with him, why had she told him so much about what she was missing from her husband in bed. She wanted him to meet her needs. If Derrick hadn't shown up tonight, he would have done just that.
“Tomorrow, baby, tomorrow,” he said to the picture he kept of Staci on his dashboard, the one he'd taken while Staci stood next to the dolphin tank at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. “Tomorrow, you'll be mine, one way or another.” This time he patted the plastic bag of white powder he had in his front jacket pocket.
Chapter 25
Staci hadn't had been home five minutes before Derrick walked through the door, still carrying the boxed roses. She wasn't surprised at all. She knew he'd show up if only to make sure she wasn't with Malcolm.
“I knew I should have changed the locks,” she said and rolled her eyes at him. He followed her into the kitchen and watched her take items from the refrigerator for a sandwich.
“Staci,” he began, his tone solemn, “I don't want to fight anymore. I want to talk to you. I need to talk to you.” When she didn't respond, he added, “I bought these for you.” He held the boxed roses out to her.
She accepted the box. “Thank you.”
He thought her hostility toward him was softening until his eyes followed her to the garbage can. There, she opened the box and dumped the roses into the can, then continued making her sandwich. His cheeks burned, and his nostrils flared.
“Staci, why did you do that?” he asked in a controlled voice.
“Because I don't want anything from you, and I don't want you. Now would you please leave my house?”
“Staci, I'm still your husband, and this is still our home.”
“Oh really? If this is our home, why have I been the only one living here for four months? I can write you a check right now from my trust fund,” she said nodding toward her purse, “for your half of the house. As for you being my husband, that shouldn't be too hard to fix considering we've only been married eighteen months.”
“What are you talking about?”
Staci thought she saw hurt in his eyes, but she didn't care. “I'm talking about reaching an agreement on how to divide our marital assets for the divorce.”
Derrick turned his back to her. When she saw his broad shoulders slump, she almost felt sorry for him, but she was used to him running away from her. She expected him to run out the door any second. She continued eating her sandwich like he wasn't there.
“I don't want a divorce,” he said sullenly.
“I don't understand. You don't want to be married, at least not to me, but you don't want a divorce?”
“Staci,” he begged, “I do want to be married to you. That's what I came to talk to you about, among other things.”
“Isn't this ironic? You finally want to talk to me, but now I don't want to listen. Save it for your next wife.”
Derrick sighed and massaged his temples. There was no getting through to Staci, at least not tonight. She wasn't just being stubborn, she was angry and bitter.
“Staci, I will give you space and time, I owe you that. But we still need to talk.”
Staci set her sandwich down and folded her arms. “Derrick, you can't give me back what you owe me. You can't give back eight years of my life. You can't replenish the energy I've wasted on you. You can't replenish all the tears I've cried for you. You can't reset the times you pushed me away and ignored me.” She figured she'd stop before the tears fell. “But what you can do is give me a divorce.”
When Derrick turned around his eyes were glossy and his breathing labored. He left without saying another word.
Staci waited until she heard him drive off before she moved an inch. She looked down at the turkey on wheat bread. She didn't feel like eating anymore. She felt like crying, which is what she did. Somehow asking Derrick for a divorce didn't bring her the closure she desired. The request brought on more questions. Was she ready to live her life completely free of her husband? Is that what she really wanted? Was she doing the right thing? She voiced the questions to the empty room.
The still voice answered.
“What did I tell you? Nothing is over until I say it's over, and I haven't spoken yet.”
That was not what she wanted to hear.
Staci attempted to drown out the voice by turning on the sound system, but that didn't work. The satellite station played Hezekiah Walker's “Second Chance.” The selection after that was Mississippi Mass's “Hold on Old Soldier.” She gave up and went upstairs to her bedroom where her cell phone was ringing for the fourth time. She turned it off, knowing it wasn't anyone but Malcolm.