Charisma #2
Vashti gasped so loudly I thought she might aspirate the moisture in her mouth. “Nathaniel Chisholm-Love? The Rodeo Romeo finally got bitten by the bug. Look at that.”
I covered my face with one hand hoping that this isn’t going to end badly. “Please don’t tell me I have to come to terms with my new friend having slept with my man.”
“Oh, honey no! Remember I was married. The one thing I don’t do is cheat. That invalidated the prenup. I wasn’t stupid.” She huffed and rolled her eyes like she’d been tempted but she knew how to play her cards. Which made me think that maybe she did have that man killed.
“Oh, that’s good.” ‘Cause what the hell else could I say when I thought this woman might’ve killed her husband? And his brother.
“But, I can’t say there’s not going to be many a disappointed woman now that they no longer have the chance to ride the ride that is Nathaniel Chisholm-Love.
I swear the women around here acted like he was a buck they simply needed to set their sights on and he was supposed to fall at their feet.
It was disgusting.” Vashti’s top lip curled up in revulsion and she looked ready to rumble with the unknown skanks on my behalf.
“So I’m going to have to fight is what you’re saying?”
“Never that. You never fight over what is yours, sugar. And I can tell by the glow on your face they are gonna be pea green with envy missing out on the loving you are most assuredly getting. You even entertaining the idea of fighting lets me know all the rumors about that man are right.”
“Thank you. He’s a wonderful man.” I felt bad saying that, given how things had ended up in her marriage. She seemed to sense my hesitation, so she patted my knee and smiled.
“You never have to worry about me, doll, I don’t want your man. Hell, I don’t want any man and I don’t want a woman either. I wanna be by my damn self.” Vashti tossed her long, voluminous hair over her shoulder and shuddered at the thought of being tied down.
“That sounds lovely.”
“Doesn’t it? After a decade of chaos, I need peace.
Quiet time after battling with my son for part of the day.
A second to gather my thoughts and to hear them without someone else telling me what I should be doing or how I should be acting.
” The smile on her face was faint but I could tell she really did need to find the peace that she was speaking on.
I wasn’t sure what prevented her from having it now but I wasn’t going to press.
Hell, I’d only met her ten minutes ago. “Anyway, what do you know about the rodeo?”
“Not much. I know he has to hold on for eight seconds—”
“Minimum.”
“Minimum. And that I’m terrified he’s gonna get hurt.” This was Nate’s first ride back and despite having watched him practice for months, this was the real thing. And he was mine now, so my heart was on the line.
“Oh, no ma’am! Spit over your shoulder immediately.” She was encouraging me with her free hand with her eyes bugged out to do what she said.
I did what she said, despite wondering what it was for. “And why did I just spit on the ground?”
“Girl, you gotta lock back into the spiritual reverence that our people are known for. There is too much power in the tongue to give voice to doubt or fear. You see all that’s going on in this world?
The minute I started paying reverence to my ancestors the minute all of my biggest problems went away.
You gotta work that root baby.” Vashti’s wrist was going in a circular motion like she was feeding herself.
Not her sending her ancestors to be assassins of her ex. “Work the root?”
“Mmmmhmmm. Remember, I’m from Kentucky. My people are from all up and down Appalachia.
We got a mix of everything in us. Melungeon, Native and of course the Africans are the most prevalent.
That reverence is no joke. You think the people who were strong enough to survive conditions that would’ve broken someone else don’t deserve respect?
They’re sitting there on the other side waiting to help.
To guide. People talk about guardian angels and that’s okay.
But my guardians are the ones who survived so I could be here and they still like to be active.
And I always give them reason to.” She winked and downed the rest of her champagne before setting the flute on the coffee table.
“That’s a really beautiful way to look at it.”
“I’m telling you, sugar. People wanna demonize what they can’t control.
You can’t control the people who have already passed on and are waiting to do the work to ensure that their lineage thrives and survives.
They wanna call it evil because they can’t control it.
If they can control it then they control you with it.
So they make it something you voluntarily shy away from.
Besides, you seem like the type of girl who likes crystals and shit, anyway. This should be right up your alley.”
“I…you’re very blunt.” And I had to wonder why the hell she thought that just by looking at me.
That tinkering laugh sounded again, slightly deeper than before.
“Far too many years having to hold things in. Kinda like your intrusive thoughts. I just say what I want. Normally, whatever comes to my mind first. I don’t mean it as an insult.
I mean it like you seem open minded enough to understand what I’m saying and look at it without thinking I’m crazy and trying to get me to take an involuntary grippy sock vacation. ”
That shouldn’t have had us both cracking up but it did. I would never think to send someone on a psych hold just for being different.
“Would definitely not do something that wild.”
“See, that’s friendship.” Vashti looked around before she made some noise in her throat that put me on alert. “Don’t look now but we’re about to get a two for one in the aggravation department.”
“Who is it?” I took a furtive glance in her direction and saw two women who seemed intent on making a beeline toward us.
“One of Nate’s potentials. Or maybe a stalker judging by her outfit.
” I looked at one woman surprised to see Nate’s face plastered on the chaps she wore, like she was here for him.
It was definitely her trying too hard to be linked to him and few people paid her attention.
“And the one beside her, I know slept with my husband.”
The woman next to her was red-haired and the way she was walking purposefully toward Vashti I knew she was there to start trouble and interrupt her peace.
Might be fighting after all.
“Vashti.” The redhead spoke her name like the ethnicity of it bothered her causing me to frown up immediately.
“Meredith. How are you?” Vashti’s tone was unbothered but it was the fake nice voice someone put on when they were speaking with a stranger.
“Bereft with John gone.” Meredith put her hand to her chest like she was feeling a physical wound in her heart. Bold as fuck since she was talking about this woman’s dead husband.
But she might have had him murdered so…
“I’m sure you are. I know you are scrambling to fill the other twenty-three hours and fifty-six minutes of your day now that he’s not here to fuck you anymore.”
Vashti spoke so bluntly I damn near choked on my own spit trying not to laugh. She looked at me and winked conspiratorially.
“That is so crass.”
“It’s not inaccurate though and you know it.
I tolerated that ride for years so there’s no use in trying to lie to me.
” Vashti’s laughter was floating around us again only I knew for sure she was laughing at the women in front of us.
“Don’t sit here and try to make him out to be some amazing man or some overly skilled lover.
One thing I can’t stand is people lying about the dead after they’re dead.
Should’ve been better in life if they wanted to be spoken about positively when they weren’t here to defend themselves, am I right?
” Vashti turned to me for agreement despite me knowing that her question was rhetorical. I confirmed her assumption with a nod.
“He always said you were a nasty, ghetto piece of work.”
Vashti had either heard that line too many times to count or was staying on brand with Black folks not giving the haters our energy to feed on.
“And yet he was begging to get inside this nasty, ghetto piece of work’s pussy every time he could.
But since I knew he was out there slumming it with trailer park pussy like you I wouldn’t let him near me.
I love my healthy pH way too much to ever share dick, mediocre as it was, with somebody like you.
Girl, do you even wash your legs?” We both simultaneously looked down at her legs to see if she’d recently exfoliated.
“You are…something.” She tried to do that snotty, nose in the air thing white folks did when they were unmatched with intellect, income and integrity. Vashti and I were unbothered by both of them.
“Yes, I know. Now run along and tell somebody else. That way they know better than to make the same mistake you did and try to come for me when you are so wholly ill-prepared. Thank you. Now, are you done getting your feelings hurt in front of company? Or do you require more?” She posed the question as genuine but I prayed these two were smarter than they looked. They were, in fact, not.
“I was just coming over here to speak with the young lady that we saw arrive with Nate.”