A minute or so later there was a knock on the door. Her body language made it obvious she was dying to answer the door, but she looked at me sheepishly to see what my next move would be.
“Don’t you even think about it!” I pointed at her as I stood and marched to the door.
The expression on Malek’s face was priceless when he saw me. His mouth ‘bout dropped to the scuzzy motel floor, and his knees buckled. For a second I thought I might have to catch this fool if he passed out. Either that or I was gonna have to go get him some paper, ’cause he sure looked like he was gonna shit on himself.
“So the criminal returns to the scene of the crime.” I place my hand on my hip. Malek looked past me, searching the room for Stephanie. She was fully dressed now, sitting on the bed with tears streaming down her face. He figured out real fast he wasn’t gonna get no support from her, so he took an attitude with me.
“I ain’t no criminal,” he snapped. “Yo, Short-I mean, Stephanie. What’s up? What’s she doing here?” Stephanie couldn’t answer him, so I did.
“I came to get my little sister and take her home to her fiancé. You got a problem with that?”
Malek was definitely not happy that I’d screwed up his little booty call, but it wasn’t like I cared. Wasn’t shit he could do to me. He knew damn well that if he tried anything stupid, I just had to make one call to one of Derrick’s friends and his ass would be pushing up daisies at Bland’s Cemetery.
“Let’s go, Stephanie,” I ordered.
She stood up and walked to the door, her head hanging low. When she passed Malek she whispered, “I’ll call you later.”
“No, she won’t,” I assured him as I closed the door behind us. When we got to the parking lot, Stephanie turned around and watched Malek walk to his car. There was longing in her eyes, and that scared me. She was so much better off with Travis, and I did not want her to mess that up.
“You are taking your ass home, aren’t you?” I used my most parental tone.
“Yes.” She answered absentmindedly still staring at Malek. As she opened the door to her van, she asked one more time, “Please, don’t tell no one about this, Jasmine. I ain’t gonna mess with him again, I swear. You’re always talkin’ about how we’re sisters and we should look out for each other. Please don’t say nothin’.”
I looked at her but didn’t answer. Let her sweat it out for a while. Truth is, I had no intention of telling Travis. She was right Even though we didn’t get along all the time, we were still sisters, and she had to live with Travis, not with me. But I did want to tell Momma and Big Momma. At least they could help me keep an eye on Stephanie so she didn’t mess things up with Travis. Her kids needed someone like him in their lives, and if she wasn’t gonna protect their interests, then we would.
“I thought you and Travis were happy, Steph.”
“We are.”
“Then why mess with Malek?”
“I don’t know,” she said softly. “Haven’t you ever done something with a man that felt so right at the time but was so wrong when you were done?”
I nodded my head slowly. That was exactly how I felt the night Dylan and I spent at Joe’s.
“Yeah, I guess I have, but not with anyone as low-life as Malek. Haven’t you learned yet that he’s bad news?”
“He’s not a lowlife, Jasmine,” she tried to convince me. “He’s just misunderstood. Isn’t that what you tell everyone about Derrick? ”
Damn, she was killing me with my own words. When she put it that way, I guess I did understand what she meant. My entire family hated Derrick even more than they hated Malek. I had spent plenty of energy trying to convince everyone of the good that I saw in him, and I guess Stephanie felt the same way about Malek.
“You still love him, don’t you?” She didn’t answer. She was too busy watching Malek’s car leave the motel parking lot. “Stephanie?”
“Hmm?” She finally turned to me.
“I asked you a question. You still love Malek, don’t you?”
She hesitated before speaking. “I still care about him, Jasmine. I can’t lie about that. But I’m not in love with him. Not anymore.”
I wasn’t able to tell if she was truthful.
“You for real?”
“Yeah,” she nodded. “That’s why I need you to keep this between us. I made a mistake today, Jasmine. I realize that now, but it was a mistake I had to make if I was gonna marry Travis. I had to be sure I wasn’t still in love with Malek.”
“And you’re not?”
“I would’ve never left that room if I was in love with Malek, and you know it. I would’ve told you to kiss my ass.”
I couldn’t argue with her logic. From the start, everyone was busy telling her how perfect Travis was for her. Including me. Why shouldn’t we? He’s a good man. But the only one who needed to be more than sure was Stephanie. If you’re gonna get married, you gotta make sure the love is real.
“So are you in love with Travis?”
“More than you can ever know,” she responded with sad eyes. “I can’t believe I did this to him. It all started out so innocent. I was just supposed to be hanging out with Malek and next thing you know, we ended up here.” I stopped her. I really didn’t wanna hear any more.
“All right, little sister. I’ll keep your secret. But you’ve gotta promise me you’re gonna stay away from Malek.”
“I promise, Jasmine.”
“Hold on.” My cell phone was ringing. “Hello?”
“Jasmine?” I recognized my mother’s agitated voice right away.
“Yeah, Momma. What’s up?”
“Have you seen your sister? I been looking everywhere for her.”
“She’s right here. What’s the matter, Momma?”
“Nothin’,” she snapped. “Just put your sister on the phone.”
“All right, Momma. You don’t have to get indignant with me.” I shoved the phone at Stephanie. “Here, Momma wants to talk to you.”
“Hey, Momma. Whatzup?” It seemed like a full five minutes Stephanie just stood and listened to Momma, who was yelling so loud I could hear bits and pieces of her tirade as I stood next to my sister. Stephanie finally interrupted. “I know I need a new cell phone, Momma. But I ain’t paid the bill on the last one I had, so you know they ain’t gonna give me a new one. Is that why you called looking for me?”
Stephanie looked agitated, but whatever Momma told her after that had her worried, ’cause she just stood there babbling things like, “What?… Oh, shit!… What did he say?… Damn, Momma!… Why didn’t you?… Okay, I’ll be there in ten minutes.”
Stephanie clicked the phone off and handed it to me. She looked even worse than she did when I busted her.
“What happened?”
“Travis dropped the kids off at Momma’s.”
“So?”
“She said he left them there so he could go lookin’ for me. He talked to someone at my job and found out I wasn’t doin’ overtime.”
My sister was in a whole heap of trouble, and I hoped for her sake she could think fast enough to get herself out of it.
16
I stopped searching for Stephanie and headed home once it got dark. I was so heated when I walked in the house and she wasn’t there that I went straight to the living room bar and poured myself a shot of tequila. I threw it back and finished it in one gulp, then poured myself another. I’m not really a drinker, but I needed something to calm my nerves. I musta drove around Richmond for three hours trying to find Stephanie’s ass. I stopped by every friend, relative, and acquaintance I could think of. The only place I didn’t stop by was that punk Malek’s house, and that was only because Stephanie’s mother said she didn’t know his address.
I gulped down what was left of my second drink, then poured myself a third before I sat on the living room sofa. I sat there for a good five or ten minutes, staring a portrait of Stephanie hanging over the mantel. I was trying to figure out why the hell she’d lied to me, but I just couldn’t come up with a logical explanation. I mean, it wasn’t like I was unreasonable, and I had definitely been good to her. In all the years we’d been together, I hadn’t even looked at another woman. So why the hell was this happening to me? In my frustration I started to scream at the portrait.