Chapter 19
DELANEY
“Hey, beautiful. Can I buy you a drink?”
“No. I’m good, thanks,” I answered the light-skinned man with dreads.
“Well, can I have a minute of your time?”
I shook my head. “I’m good on that too. I’ve got a man.”
He bobbed his head and looked around the club. “Is he about to pop up in the next few minutes or something, because if not—”
“She said she has a man,” Tanika snapped, frowning at the man.
“My bad, shorty.”
“Mm-hmm,” she mumbled, crossing her arms over her chest. I knew that it wasn’t the man she was annoyed with but me.
“You make me sick with your no-man having ass. Got all these fine niggas stepping to you, and you keep turning them down. How you gon’ say you got a man when you ain’t spoke to him in a week? ”
“What’s your problem? It’s not like I’m blocking you,” I declared.
“No, but we’ve been here all night with you, watching you do this. We want to go dance, but we can’t leave you alone because the entire point of the night is cheering your sad ass up. Sad Sally ass,” Tanika grumbled.
Aria laughed and spit her drink out. Damaris grabbed napkins to help her clean her mess.
“Girl, you are not gonna keep sitting at this table moping your ass off about that man.”
“Aria, I’m not in that mood.”
“I don’t give a damn. I’m telling you the truth, big sis.”
“She’s right, Del. We came out tonight to pick your spirits up, and you’ve been sitting at this table all night, looking like you’re a blink away from crying. That’s not fair to us,” Damaris stated.
“Cousin, you know I love you, and there’s nothing that I won’t do for you.
But this sitting around in a hype club with all these fine niggas around being sad over one you threw away ain’t working for me.
I’m sorry. I’m about to get out here and shake my ass,” Tanika declared, throwing back her drink.
“You and me both, because she’s definitely not listening to reason.”
“Whatever,” I mumbled, knowing that my sister and cousin couldn’t hear me over the loud music.
“You do realize that we’re all right, Del. You messed up. Admit it.”
“I did not mess up, D. What he did was foul.”
“What he did was try to protect you from the slimy, grimy bastard you call your ex-husband. I wish a man would go to those lengths for me,” Damaris admitted.
“To pop up in someone’s house and threaten their family? I may not care for Clayton and all he took me through, but that poor baby didn’t do anything to him.”
“Now let’s be real. Do you honestly think he’ll do anything to harm that baby?” Damaris queried.
I didn’t have to think about it. Even her question offended me, although I had just said the same thing myself. “Hell no! He’s not that type of guy. Now Clayton? Naijhel might have fucked him up, but he would never harm a hair on that baby’s head.”
“I’m glad you know your man, sis. Now you need to go get your man.”
I shook my head. “I’ll look like a fool.”
“You’re gonna look like that whether you go get him or not. But it’s better to look like a fool with your man cuddled up with you than to look like a fool and not have a man.”
I groaned and dropped my face in my hands. Slowly pulling my hands back and over my head, I sat up in my chair and then slumped down. “I’m so damn miserable.”
“I bet you are.”
“I’m serious. I miss him.”
“Mm-hmm. Those two lemon drops and the whiskey sour didn’t help either, I bet.”
I rolled my eyes at my best friend. “You’re not helping.”
“Hey, all I’m trying to do is be here for you tonight, friend,” Damaris remarked, holding her hands up in the air.
It was Friday night, and when Damaris saw me moping around the office today, she proclaimed that enough was enough. She got on the phone with my sister and cousin and invited them to go out.
I hadn’t known about it until all three of them showed up at my house and practically dragged me out.
“I know. It just hurts so badly, you know?”
“What? The fact that you screwed over a good man for a fool?”
“That wasn’t what I was trying to do.”
“That man has done more for you in the short time you two have been together than Clayton did your entire marriage. You’d better recognize a good man before someone else does and snatches him up.”
I took another sip of the whiskey sour that was growing weak.
“You know I kept saying that he was too good to be true, especially after I learned what he had done. But what I’m realizing is that he isn’t too good to be true.
He was a more mature man than the one who I married, and he was willing to do whatever it took to get what he wanted.
He was willing to take the risk for who he wanted, and he realized my true worth. ”
“Exactly. All Clayton did was break you down, although you couldn’t see it at the time.”
I bobbed my head. “You’re right. On the other hand, all Naijhel has been doing is building me up. I never gave him the benefit of the doubt, and I jumped to conclusions and assumed the worst because of Clayton’s words.”
“I don’t know why you listened to that cheating bastard anyway. You knew he didn’t care about you. He’s a proven man, just like Naijhel . . . Clayton has proven that he doesn’t give a shit about you. He’s a cheater, a pathological liar, and an egomaniac.”
“Why did I let him come and get inside of my head? It’s like trusting Satan to tell you the truth about someone. But I did need this last week to think about some things. It’s been good for me to slow down and breathe. I know what I want now.”
“Call your man, girl.”
“I’ll be right back.”
She bobbed her head and hopped up. As my best friend headed for the dance floor, I headed for the ladies’ room. The lines were far too long, so I headed back out of the club. Getting back in wouldn’t be a problem since I had a pass.
I headed down the sidewalk and away from the doors where patrons were entering and exiting and dialed Naijhel’s number. When he didn’t answer, I waited for a couple of minutes before dialing again. It went straight to voicemail. I waited and called again with the same results.
My heart sunk in my chest. Had he really blocked me? Fear breathed deep inside of me. Had I lost a good man for good?
“God, please forgive me for blowing up my second chance at love, and open the lines of communication between Naijhel and me again. Lord, help him to find it in his heart to forgive me for not letting him tell his side of the story. Amen.”
I walked back inside of the club, but this time, my steps were much slower and heavier than they had been when I first walked out.
The girls were dancing and having the time of their lives.
As much as I wanted to just get up and leave, I knew that I couldn’t.
It wouldn’t be fair to them since they came in support of me.
Besides, Damaris drove, so I didn’t have a ride anyway, unless I wanted to catch an Uber.
That wasn’t an option either, because they would never let me hear the end of it. I prayed that they would be finished soon so that we could go home. I hated spoiling their fun, but I was not in the mood to hang out anymore. Not that I ever was in the beginning.
I really hoped that God was answering prayers tonight.