45/Renee
I had just made it back to my desk when my office phone rang. I smiled when the Caller ID showed Kenny’s office phone number. Finally!
“Hey, boo-boo.”
There was a short pause. “Who’s this?”
As soon as I heard the female’s voice, I sat up in my chair. Oh, hell nah. Kenny’s fiancée!
“How are you going to ask who this is when you called me?”
Reese breathed heavily in the receiver, and I could tell I’d pissed her off. So what?
“This is Reese. I wanted to know who this is calling my fiancé?”
“As you can see from his phone log, your man calls me.”
“Why is he calling you?”
“That’s something you need to ask Kenny.”
“Bitch, I’m asking you!”
Oh no, that wench didn’t call me a bitch. I started laughing. “Reese, if you must know, I’m borrowing your man.”
“Borrowing? Don’t you know we’re getting married this weekend?”
“I know. Don’t worry. I don’t want him. I’m just borrowing him.”
“Excuse me?”
“I’m sorry. That was probably too advanced for a country girl like you, so let me simplify it for you. I’m borrowing your hot dog.”
“You’re talking a lot of shit on the phone!”
“Oh, you’re the one who called me.”
“’Cause I’m trying to find out who the fuck you are.”
“It’s not that hard.” I reached for my fingernail file. “I don’t know what the big deal is. Don’t worry. I don’t want him because I’ll be damned if a mothafucka is gonna wake my ass up at three a.m. to make him some Kool-Aid and scratch his fuckin’ back.”
There was a pause. “Then why are you fucking with him?”
“Shit, because the dick… oops, I mean, the hot dog is good.” I started laughing. “Why you care anyway?”
“ ’Cause I got twelve years invested in our relationship.”
“Then why you calling me?”
“Because I want to let you know that I’m here to stay.”
“So, I’ve heard. In other words, I can keep on fucking him because it’s not going to make a difference.”
“It’s gonna make a big difference.”
“Big difference how? You gonna stop giving him some? Okay, that’s fine, because that just means he’ll be at my house five afternoons a week instead of three.”
“Whatever.”
“Come on, Reese. It is what it is. You might be where he’s at, but I’m where he wants to be.”
I had to laugh because I stole that shit from Lil’ Kim.
“You live in his house. He supports you and your boys. Kenny’s been messing around on you for years and it hasn’t mattered, so what’s one more time before he ties the knot?”
“He ain’t leaving me for you.”
“And you ain’t leaving him? Have some respect for yourself. The mothafucka told me he fucked your baby sister, yet you still plan to marry him. What the fuck’s up with that? That just tells me how stupid you are. You know what, Reese, do me a favor, when Kenny gets up, tell him to call me.”
I hung up because I was through talking to her. I couldn’t believe I had almost felt sorry for her stupid ass.
As I prepared a report I thought about Reese and realized that even as stupid as she was, we were in almost similar situations.
I once depended on a man to provide for my needs and was afraid to leave because I didn’t want to get out on my own and try to survive.
Only I woke up and had enough sense to leave when I found out my husband was fucking someone else.
She didn’t, and the way Reese reacted, she never would.
I called Kenny and told him I needed to see him immediately. By the time I got off work, he was in my driveway. We went inside and he kissed me, then we moved to my room. I hung up my purse while he took a seat on the bed.
“What’s up?”
I could tell the suspense was killing him. “Reese called me at work today.”
That negro looked like he had just seen a ghost. “What did she say?”
“She called me from the number in your shop, so she must have seen your phone bill.”
“Shit! What did you say to her?”
I slipped off my shoes. “The truth. I’m just borrowing her hot dog.” I was joking, but he didn’t see anything funny.
“Why didn’t you lie?”
“For what? The bitch is stupid. It ain’t like it’s really going to make a difference. Just threaten to cancel the wedding and she’ll shut up.”
He scratched his head. “I guess. I just wish you told her I was working on your car or something.”
He was starting to piss me off. Was he really that worried about her?
“I don’t want to hurt her. Reese’s a good girl and hasn’t done nothing to deserve this.”
I took a seat beside him on the bed and put an arm around him. “I’m sure she’ll look past it.”
His cell phone vibrated and he looked down at it again. I know it was Reese calling him.
“I better go.”
“Go? But you just got here.”
He looked down, avoiding eye contact. “Yeah, I need to get home and talk to my fiancée.”
Fiancée? “Oh, so it’s like that now?”
Kenny swiped a hand down his face. “Renee, I was honest with you from the beginning. I’m getting married this weekend. We needed to cool it for a while. At least until after we get married.”
I pursed my lips with attitude. “I told you I wasn’t messing with you after you tied the knot, but since I love you I guess I’ll have to think about it.”
Kenny nodded and looked so sad I had to bite my lip to keep from jumping up off the bed and telling him I changed my mind.
But that’s the shit that Danielle would do.
“Well, I’ll call you in a few days.” He turned and walked out of the room.
“You do that,” I mumbled and listened as the front door closed behind him, crushing my heart in two.