Chapter 7 Torn - Eva
A Few Hours Later
“Okay, spill,” I stated the moment Tara slid into the booth across from me, looking unusually tired. She wasn’t dressed in her typical yoga gear she was normally in when we met up for breakfast, which was my back up sign to know something wasn’t quite right with my best friend.
“Spill what?”
“Zane,” I stated, giving her a knowing look.
“Did you know Zane owned the club we were at last night?”
“Um-huh. Of course I knew,” I reasoned, shrugging my shoulders.
“Why didn’t you tell me before you had me at that man’s club?”
“Because I thought it was public knowledge, and I didn’t know it was something you would be uncomfortable with. However, I can admit I was surprised he showed up. I didn’t know until he walked in that he was back in town.”
“Well that makes two of us,” she claimed, shaking her head. One intense look at her led me to believe she was holding back, and I didn’t like it. I got the feeling she was diverting, and I needed to know what was what.
“When I dropped you off last night, did he come by and get you right?”
“No, after you dropped me back at home last night, I showered and went to sleep.”
“Are you sure he didn’t come over?”
“Yes, I’m sure, E. I think I would know if Zane would’ve come to my house last night. Besides, if he did, I wouldn’t lie to you about it. More than likely, I would’ve called you after it happened.”
“Okay, so who put that hickey on your neck?” I questioned with a smirk, giving her a knowing look.
“Jason,” she stated, looking down at her menu like she didn’t know what she was going to order.
We came to Grits every Saturday morning either with or without our kids when their fathers had them, so we both knew the menu like the back of our hands.
Tara was a creature of habit, and I was sure the staff knew her order without her having to actually place it.
Hell, even I could have placed it for her.
“I know damn well you didn’t say Jason, and in the chance that I heard you correctly, please don’t tell me it was your ex-husband, Jason Morgan. The same jackass who cheated on you and destroyed what you thought was a happy home. Please don’t tell me it’s that Jason.”
“Eva, it just happened.”
Sitting across the table from Tara, I couldn’t believe what she was saying. If my best friend was nothing else, she was cautious, so it blew my mind she managed to slip and fall onto Jason’s penis.
“I’m sorry, T, but it just happened is not a good enough reason for this situation, not after what he put you, Jaedan, and Raegan through.
Just like his affair which ended your marriage didn’t just happen , you having sex with him didn’t either.
He is your ex for a reason. On top of that, now you’re not any better than his little secretary. ”
“Don’t say that, E,” she groaned, running her hands down her perplexed face.
“Why not? It’s true,” I fussed. “You were inducted into the homewreckers hall of fame this morning, and evidently you are the last to know.”
“But he was my husband first.”
“But he’s her husband now, and it’s not even to say that you sleeping with him isn’t her karma because how you get them is how you lose them, but it doesn’t make it right. However, if she finds out the two of you circled back around, she’s going to know exactly how you felt.”
“Amber already knows,” Tara conceded, holding her hand down in warranted disgrace.
“Please don’t tell me y’all had a three—”
“You can stop right there,” she interrupted, whipping her head up, staring at me like I should have known better. Truthfully, I knew that kind of behavior wasn’t up her alley, but neither was sleeping with a married man. “I have never and would never have a threesome.”
“Let you tell it,” I mocked, shaking my head in dismay. “Look, I’m all for payback, but right is right and wrong is wrong, Tara.”
“I know, and to add insult to injury, I’ll have to cancel my date with Zane tonight.”
“No, you will not. The insult and the injury was Jason playing with your heart. You made a mistake sleeping with him, and we need to move past it because what I won’t let you do is cancel a date with a man like Zane in order to continue to deal with Jason and his mess.
Yes, you slept with him, but don’t let him continue to ruin your future by not staying in your past.”
As the words left my mouth, everything started making sense.
Jason and Tara had been divorced for two years, and in those two years, she hadn’t dated or been seen with a man.
All of a sudden, the night after a man shows her attention and she reciprocates it, he slithers his way back into her folds.
In my eyes, I knew it wasn’t a coincidence, and as I intently replayed the night before, I knew who the culprit was.
“It was Paula!”
“What about Paula?”
Going back over our night out, I recalled to Tara how Jason’s younger sister, Paula, was the bartender in VIP. I knew for a fact she had to see the very moment Zane whisked my friend away like the prize she was.
“But what would she gain by telling Jason that I talked to Zane?”
“His entire family is just as messy as he is, and I’m sure it didn’t skip Paula,” I reminded her, ready to provide her with proof because she’d clearly forgotten the ways of the family she had married into.
“Wasn’t it his mama who continued to call you after he got married to Amber, asking you to make it work with her son as if the divorce wasn’t already finalized and he didn’t have an outside child? ”
“Maybe you have a point.”
“I know I do, but as I digress, you are not going to cancel your date with Zane.”
“What am I supposed to do? I feel like a whore going on a date with one man while I still have the scent of another man on me.”
“Tara, I’m not telling you to sleep with Zane tonight because that may be a bit much, but what I am saying is to eat breakfast, go home, shower, take a nap, wake up, take another shower, and then get ready for your date.
If Jason isn’t scrubbed off of you by then, then I don’t know what to tell you, but you’re going on that date. ”
Feeling my stomach touch my back, I raised my hand and signaled for the waitress. I was sure she was allowing us time to engage in our heated conversation, but I was at the point of becoming hangry, and it was dire for me to eat sooner rather than later.
I had plenty of advice to give my best friend, but I needed to do it on a full stomach.
“My eyes must be playing tricks on me,” I lowly mumbled, as my gaze followed a happy couple being led by a waitress to an empty table.
“What’s wrong?” Tara questioned as I stood from my seat, ready to get some answers from the oblivious duo.
I would answer her question when I made it back to our table.
“Hey, Vivian!” I happily greeted, causing my sons’ father’s girlfriend to drop the hand of the man she was seated across from, confirming my initial suspicion she was indeed indulging in inappropriate behavior.
“H-H-H-He-Hey… Hey ummm… Hey, Eva. H-H-How are you doing?” Vivian inquired, tripping over her words while doing her best to regulate her breathing.
“Oh, girl, I’m great. I’m sure you didn’t know Tara and I come here every week for breakfast. You remember my best friend, Tara, don’t you?
” I asked, pointing back in the direction I was seated in before justice and the need for answers pulled me right out of my seat.
“What are you doing here, and who is your friend?”
The chocolate cutie sitting across from her seemed to be none the wiser to the fact he was seated across from a woman who had a whole boyfriend at home who more than likely thought his girlfriend wasn’t out creeping.
“This is my friend, Canton.”
“She forgot to say that I’m only a friend because she keeps rejecting me,” he playfully added.
“Is that right?” I asked, giving Vivian a knowing look. “That’s interesting… real interesting. Well, Vivian, it was good seeing you as always, and I guess I’ll see you when you and Trevor drop the boys off at my house.”
Walking away from their table, I was livid. I was so angry you would swear it was me who was personally being cheated on, but it pissed me off because Trevor was an amazing man, and I knew he hadn’t done anything to warrant her cheating on him.
I was well aware Trevor and I had an unconventionally healthy co-parenting relationship, and I counted it as a blessing because I had love for him which was something a lot of baby mothers couldn’t say about the father of their children.
If Vivian thought I wasn’t going to take a photo and sing like a canary, she had another thing coming.
“What was that about?” Tara asked as soon as I sat back down at our table. “Why did Vivian look so cozy with that man?”
“Apparently he’s her friend, but according to him, it’s only because she doesn’t want to be more,” I explained, replaying the conversation with her from start to finish as I watched Vivian and her side man hurriedly exit the restaurant.
When we locked eyes as she walked out of the door, her orbs held nothing but fear and regret, and to me, both sentiments belonged there.
“How could she cheat on Trevor like that?” Tara asked like she wasn’t fresh off a cheating induced rendezvous herself.
“I don’t know, but you better believe I’m going to let him know what I saw.”
“Are you sure you don’t need to stay out of it?”
“You sound crazy,” I argued. “If having sex with Jason has caused you to lose more than a little of your judgement and common sense, then you definitely need to go home and wash him off of you.”
“No, E. I’m just saying what if Trevor doesn’t want to know? What if him knowing you saw her here with another man does him more harm than good?”
“And what if she’s sleeping with him and Trevor?
” I questioned, pointing to the table they were seated at as if they were still seated there.
“God forbid she gives them a sexually transmitted virus or disease trying to be a low-key whore. Some things are avoidable, and I assure you that’s one thing I don’t want on my conscience. ”
Momentarily pausing our conversation, we confirmed the accuracy of the plates, thanked the waitress, blessed our food, and got back to it.
“I’m going to tell him because I would want someone to tell me,” I concluded, ready to end the matter at hand because Tara wasn’t going to change my mind about something I felt in my heart was right. “Back to you and the date you will be going on.”
Cutting into my stuffed French toast, I found my mouth watering in anticipation for the delicacy I swore the restaurant’s chef created just for me.
“You look at your food, specifically your French toast with more intensity than I’ve ever seen you look at any man with the exception of Trevor. Come to think of it, are you sure there isn’t a hidden agenda somewhere, pressing you to tell him about your run-in with Vivian and her mystery guy?”
“No, there isn’t. I love Trevor as the father of Egypt and Tyger, and I love him as a friend, but there’s nothing more there, and I definitely don’t have an ulterior motive regarding me telling him what I saw aside from protecting his mental, emotional, and possibly his physical health.”
“Are you saying you never thought about how life would be if you and Trevor would have been able to work through your issues and stay together?”
“Do I think about what life would be like if my sons had their father and mother in the next room together? Yes, but I’m content with the healthy relationship we have.
Don’t try to loop me in with being one of the women who succumb to the pressure of feeling like they have to be with the father of their children. ”
“Are you saying that’s what I did?”
“Yes,” I answered honestly, pausing to take a sip of my mimosa to wash down my food. “I’m not saying it was your sole reason, but I know it was a factor. You didn’t experience what I experienced growing up, so I don’t expect for you to view things the way I do.”
Like many adults, my childhood was the primary reason I viewed relationships like I did.
Throughout the majority of my childhood, I watched my mother suffer by the side of the father of her three daughters, simply to maintain the facade of what she thought a family unit was.
I loved and respected my daddy because I knew it was what I was supposed to do, but I couldn’t stand to share the same space with him for longer than ten minutes because of his ornery disposition and entitled ways.
Everett Monroe was a hell of a man, and not in a good way either. The very few memories of him I had which didn’t consist of him emotionally abusing me, my sisters, or my mama were far and few, and of those few, he was more than likely pissy drunk and passed out.
My mama stayed with him until my youngest sister Alexa left home for college. She endured years of abuse from a man who couldn’t keep a job to save his life in the name of being a family, and she showed me the many reasons why such a sacrifice was never worth it.
Setting up such an unhealthy family dynamic was something I promised myself I would never do well before I became a mother.
It wasn’t long after Tyger was born, I came to the realization Trevor and I were forcing a relationship for the sake of our sons.
Although we had a deep-rooted level of love for each other, we had different standards of how a household should function, and I knew for either of us to compromise would have been detrimental in the long run.
After a long heart-to-heart conversation, we decided we would be better off as friends, and we never looked back.
“I know, but you didn’t experience the childhood I did either,” she defended. “We both have our crosses to bear I suppose,” she stated in a defeated tone.
“Girl, no. We are not going to allow factors beyond our control to taint our breakfast. We are going to eat and then we are going to do some retail therapy because we deserve it. Deal?”
“Deal,” she agreed and that was all she wrote.