Chapter 9 Man Down - Eva
The Following Afternoon
Just like clockwork, I peeped out of my front window to see Trevor pulling into my driveway at three o’clock just like he did every Sunday of the weekend he had the boys.
Laughing to myself, I realized the superficial boundaries of the bond Vivian and I shared. She doesn’t know me at all.
She must have thought her presence was going to stop me from airing out her dirty laundry, and she was sadly mistaken because I was going to speak the truth regardless of her being in the car or not.
“Hey, Eva!” Trevor greeted, stepping out of his car as I stood in my open doorway, ready to walk down in order to get to my sons who wasted no time running in my direction while yelling their goodbyes to Vivian and their dad over their shoulders.
“Hey, Mama!” they greeted me, wrapping their arms around my waist.
“Hey, babies. Did y’all have fun with your daddy and Vivian?”
“Yes, ma’am,” they simultaneously responded.
“Good. Go in the house. Y’all have about an hour to play the game before we eat dinner,” I advised and without another word, they took off in the direction of the upstairs game room I always had trouble pulling them out of.
Shaking his head and smiling at the lives we created, Trevor continued to walk to the front door where I stood. From his car’s position in the driveway, Vivian wasn’t able to hear us. When the realization settled in, she jumped out of the car and raced to where we were.
“What’s good in your world?” Trevor asked as Vivian took painful strides in our direction. I say painful because she was on the shorter side, and the steps she was taking were far beyond her normal walk.
“Hey, Eva,” Vivian nervously greeted, interrupting me before I could respond to Trevor.
“Vivian, are you okay?” Trevor asked, taking notice of how his guilty girlfriend was dripping in sweat. It was so bad you could see it dripping and running down the sides of her made-up face.
“Yeah, I’m good, baby. I just don’t want us to be late to our dinner reservation.” Attempting to pull his arm and him back into the direction of his car, she nervously smiled, looking in between the two of us.
“Before y’all go, I want to tell you something, Trevor.”
“What is it? Is something wrong with the boys?” he asked with concern instantly covering his face.
“No, the boys are good. It’s actually something you should be discussing with your girlfriend, but since she isn’t woman enough to tell you, I will,” I stated, choosing to ignore the panicked look on Vivian’s face. “Yesterday while Tara and I were at breakfast—”
“Eva, please don’t do this. Please.”
“Please don’t do what? Vivian, what’s going on?”
“If you don’t want me to do this, I suggest you do,” I advised.
As she stared down at the ground as if she was waiting for a rose to grow out of the concrete, it was reaffirmed honesty wasn’t her strong suit.
“Like I was saying, yesterday while Tara and I were at breakfast, I saw Vivian out on a date. I approached the two of them hoping it wasn’t what it looked like, and the man in question confirmed they weren’t in a relationship only because Vivian was playing games with him. ”
“Is this true, Vivian?” Trevor asked, visibly hurt from the secondhand confession which should have been coming from the woman he lay next to every night instead of a concerned friend.
Truthfully, it was a good thing she showed up to my house because her presence eliminated her being able to say I was lying about what I saw and how it all went down.
If she tried to lie, I wouldn’t hesitate to go back to Grits and get footage of her and her boo walking in and out of the restaurant looking like a couple.
One thing I never hesitated to have was receipts, so she could try me if she wanted to.
“Yes, Trevor… Eva is telling the truth.”
“Was it him ?” Trevor asked, taking me by surprise because what the hell did he mean him ? He couldn’t have known Vivian was cheating on him because he wasn’t the type to let someone take him for granted, at least in my eyes.
“Can we talk about this when we get home? I don’t want to do this here,” she counseled, walking away from us without giving him a chance to respond or without saying a proper goodbye to me.
“I’m here if you need me,” I offered Trevor after a few moments of silence.
“I know,” he stated. “I appreciate you saying something because I’m sure she wouldn’t have. Good looking out.”
“It’s what family is for.” Knowing we would always be a part of each other’s lives, I acknowledged him as more than a friend.
With a quick hug, he made the same track down my sidewalk his girlfriend did, got in the car, and then pulled off. With nothing else holding me outside, I walked back in the house and got my dinner started.
Washing my hands, I dried them off and then turned to retrieve my crawfish tails from the refrigerator.
Just as I opened the bag in preparation to clean them, my phone sounded a distinct chime in the pocket of my joggers, alerting me someone was standing at my front door.
Rather than letting whoever it was stand there because I wasn’t expecting company, I dried my hands and walked in the direction of my door.
“Aww, y’all brought me flowers?” I questioned as soon as I opened the door and saw my baby sister, Alexa and my mama standing on my porch, each holding vases of flowers.
“Girl, no. Someone was getting ready to deliver them when we were pulling up, so I took them. Who are you dating?” My mama curiously inquired, smelling the full bouquet of red roses in her hand while Alexa gawked at the sunflowers she was holding as if they were gifted to her.
“Mama, you know I don’t have time to date,” I noted, thinking the delivery man must have made the delivery to the wrong house.
Following them into the front room of my house, they sat the vases down and my mama quickly pulled the card from the bouquet she was holding.
“I didn’t know your favorite flower, so I had to take a wild guess.
I hope they put a smile on your face. Always, Zeke,” she read aloud, glancing up from the card with a patronizing look on her face.
“Alexa, didn’t she say she wasn’t dating anyone?
This card is saying something else, so I need you to come into this kitchen, cook us dinner, and tell us all about his man who you’re supposedly not dating,” she requested in her naturally raspy voice while holding up the card.
“What makes y’all think I was about to cook?” I asked, following her into the kitchen.
“Because you have my grandsons on a schedule just like I had you and your sisters on when y’all were kids.”
I hated how well she knew me, and I was glad I had more than enough food to feed my unexpected guest.
“What are you about to make?”
“Fried salmon, seafood macaroni and cheese, baked potatoes, and a side salad.”
“The only thing missing is garlic bread,” my mama hinted.
“Is that your way of saying you want garlic bread?”
“Well, I don’t want to put you out of your way,” she animatedly added, making Alexa and I laugh because her statement was far from the truth.
After confirming that I had some frozen garlic bread, Alexa excused herself to go let Egypt and Tyger know she was there, and I knew they would be happy to see their favorite aunt.
It wasn’t like they didn’t love my oldest sister, Janet, any less than they liked Alexa.
However, because Alexa was a student at North Brooke Port University, she came around more than Janet who lived on the outskirts of town.
“So, tell me about this man? And before you try to belittle his interest in you, don’t because men don’t send flowers this beautiful just because.”
“Mama, it’s Zeke Simmons. We went to high school together. He was a class under me, and we ran into each other when I went out a few nights ago. No big deal.”
“No big deal, huh? Well, it’s a big enough deal for him to know where you stay,” she stated making a damn good point, because I didn’t have an idea how he knew where I stayed.
“Mama, he hasn’t been to my house.”
“He probably used that internet to figure out where you lived. You know you can ask Google anything these days and it will tell you,” she reasoned. “These flowers are beautiful though. When you call him to tell him thank you, tell him your mama likes yellow begonias.”
“Mama, why would Zeke need to know your favorite flower?” I asked, already amused at the answer she was quipped to provide me.
“Because apparently he needs to thank me for having you,” she sassed. “Don’t forget without me, there wouldn’t be a you, and you look the most like me, so that’s even more of a reason for him to send me a bouquet as pretty as these.”
My mama was animated with her truth, but she was right. Out of her three daughters, I looked the most like her, inheriting everything from her slight widow’s peak, dimples, skin tone, and body shape. Looking at my mama who had aged like fine wine, I knew I had something to look forward to.
“How about you try to get a man instead of trying to bum flowers off of someone who is interested in me?”
“Girl, the last thing I want is a man. I’ll buy my own flowers before I sit back and deal with the mess of a man again. No, thank you.”
As she went on a long rant about a fraction of the things my father had put her through, I half-heartedly responded every few minutes while I prepared dinner. The only thing to stop her reliving her past was me calling out to Egypt, Tyger, and Alexa to wash their hands because dinner was ready.
Taking time to set the table for my extra guests, I took advantage of a free moment to text Zeke and thank him for the flowers, letting him know he did good.
I smiled thinking about how he had to have paid attention to the sunflower and rose tattoo on my shoulder which was slightly exposed the night I stepped out at Club Déjà vu.