“Don’t play yourself, Shorty, ’cause this ain’t over. I’m still her father.”
“Yeah, but as you can see, that don’t make you her daddy!” I took hold of Travis’s hand, and the two of us began to walk toward the house without even bothering to look back at Malek.
“You’re not gonna win in court. I’ll still have my rights!”
I stopped in my tracks and turned toward him as I let go of Travis’s hand.
“Maybe so. But not until you pay some of that child support you owe the state from when I was on welfare.” That felt good. Finally, I knew I’d had the last word. He didn’t have nowhere near the money it would take to get straight with the state. “Oh, and by the way, Malek, now you know how I get down. Remember that for future reference.” I turned to Travis. “Come on, boo. All of a sudden I’ve got a taste for some of Big Momma’s sweet potato pie.”
Travis smirked at Malek. “I’m right behind you, baby. I’m right behind you.”
10
I’d been on my living room floor, curled up around a pillow, crying hysterically for most of the morning. After five years of going together, Derrick and I had finally broken up. My girls, Becky and Sabrina, had come over to give me moral support and comfort me in my hour of need. But to be honest, I was wishing they would go home. I needed to be alone to think, to be miserable and hateful.
The phone rang.
“Want me to get that?” Becky reached for the phone.
“No, let it ring.” I grabbed her wrist.
There was no reason to answer the phone. I knew exactly who it was. It was Derrick. He’d been calling all day, and I hadn’t accepted one of his calls. Why should I? There was no reason to speak to him after the way he’d treated me yesterday. I reached up and touched my eye, which was swollen where he’d smacked me. The pain was still intense, and I had to jerk my hand away. Before now you couldn’t have paid me to believe Derrick would ever put his hands on me, but now I had the proof on my face.
I’d gone up to Roanoke thinking I was gonna surprise Derrick by spending the day with him. I was supposed to go to my sister’s house after my nephew’s christening, but Derrick had been whining about how I’d been neglecting him lately. He was right, too. I had missed a few visits because of family obligations and overtime at work. But Derrick knew just the right words to make me feel guilty. Not that I didn’t feel guilty enough on my own after what happened with Dylan.
Of course, I caught hell from Big Momma when I told her I wouldn’t be at the party. But I did what I thought was right. Stephanie would have plenty of friends and family around for her, but my man was all alone up there in that prison. He needed me more than they did. So right after the baptism I caught the bus up to Roanoke, ready to make Derrick’s day.
Well, I shoulda kept my black ass in Richmond and spent the day with my family like I was supposed to, ’cause when I got up to the prison I got a surprise of my own. Once again, Wendy Wood’s name was on the sign-in sheet for Derrick. Only thing was, this time the bitch had signed in not less than five minutes before me! She was probably on the same damn bus, watching me sleep the whole ride to the prison.
Of course, you know I was heated. Wendy had been there just a week before, supposedly bringing him drugs. Derrick had promised me she would only be coming up once a month. Now it seemed like the bitch was there every damn week. And here I was thinking he was so damn lonely up in this place.
I was even more pissed when I tried to sign in and the captain informed me inmates were only allowed one set of visitors at a time. I wasn’t gonna let that stop me, though. I told him if I couldn’t see Derrick I wanted to see Richie Santiago, Sabrina’s husband. I’m sure the captain knew what I was up to, but he let me sign in anyway. He probably didn’t give a shit about the rules, but I didn’t wait around for him to decide he should stick to them. As soon as I signed the last letter in my name, I stormed into the visiting room in search of Derrick. -
My plan was to curse both Wendy’s and Derrick’s asses out. I know I had agreed to let her bring that crap up to him, but this was getting ridiculous. They were taking my kindness for weakness, and I sure as hell never expected what I saw when I walked into the visiting room. There they were, tonguing each other down. Derrick had his hands around Wendy’s waist, palming her ass like it was a basketball. I was so hurt to see them locked in an embrace like that, I didn’t stop to consider my actions. I just ran up behind Weedy and pulled half that cheap-ass weave right outta her head. I was about to rip out what was left of the other half when Derrick stepped in between us like Superman to the rescue. I tried to scratch his fucking eyes out, but now I realize that wasnt such a good idea. He slapped the shit outta me. When I finally came to my senses, Derrick was being dragged away by three corrections officers and I was being led to the infirmary.
The deputy warden tried his best to get me to press charges against Derrick, but I refused. There was no doubt I hated him. Hell, I wanted to kill his ass right about then. But I knew he’d end up doing more time if I pressed charges. I’m sorry, I just didn’t have the heart to do that to him, no matter how bad I felt. I guess I’m just weak. Once he finally realized he wasn’t gonna get his way, the deputy warden let me go home. But he warned that if I didn’t press charges the prison would no longer be responsible for my safety. Not that it mattered. I didn’t plan on coming back anyway.
The tears had been streaming down my face most of the day. I felt incredibly lonely. All my dreams were shattered. I had really thought Derrick and I had something special together, something that could withstand the pain of our separation. I’d been faithful to him the whole time he was locked up, except for that little incident with Dylan. As I wallowed in the pain of my failed relationship, Sabrina walked over from the sofa and rubbed my back.
“You all right, girl?”
“I hate him, Sabrina. I hate him more than anything in the world.” I sobbed uncontrollably.
“I know, baby. I hate him, too,” she commiserated.
The phone rang again, and I could feel Sabrina’s and Becky eyes bore through me. They both wanted me to answer the phone and curse Derrick’s ass out. I was starting to think that maybe they were right. Maybe getting some answers would make me feel better. I reached for the phone. Of course it was the operator with another collect call. I almost hung the phone up when I heard the operator’s voice, but I managed to get out a weak “uh-huh” and accepted the call.
“Jasmine, I’m sorry about what happened yesterday, baby-”
I cut him off. “Fuck you, Derrick!” My girls smiled at me and nodded in a show of support.
“How can you talk to me that way, baby? I love you.” He was using that sweet and innocent voice that usually made me melt, but now it was pissing me off. I wanted to reach my hand through that phone and wring his fucking neck.
“You don’t love me! You never loved me. If you loved me, you wouldn’ta put your hands on me. God, I hate you. I hate you so much!” I touched my eye and flinched at the pain. “Good-bye, Derrick. I don’t have anything else to say to you, ever.”
“Baby! Baby! Please. Don’t hang up, please!” He was begging so loud, Becky and Sabrina could hear it, and they started mocking him with pitiful looks on their faces.
“What do you want, Derrick?” I sighed, trying to ignore my friends.
“I want you to listen to me, Jasmine.” He sounded so desperate. At least that made me feel a little better. “You know I would never hurt you, but you were the one who tried to pluck my eyeballs out. I was just defending myself, baby.”