Chapter 12 Judah
JUDAH
It seemed as if all I had been doing lately was visiting people to straighten things out. I was prepared to do it this one last time, and if anyone had any issues with the way I was moving, then fuck ’em.
At forty-four, I owed no one an explanation, and I wasn’t making any apologies for my choices. I was making room in my life for happiness, and I didn’t give a damn who had a problem with it. As long as my lady was on my side, that was all that mattered.
“Wassup, big bro?” Issachar greeted me, walking into my office.
I had invited him to lunch at my office since he didn’t work too far from me. It wasn’t exactly neutral territory, but we both were professionals in our different arenas, and I wasn’t worried about either of us getting out of pocket at work.
If we had met at either of our homes to have this discussion, that could be a different matter altogether.
Besides, I liked Princess, and I didn’t want to drag her into this.
She was a little on the superficial side, but she loved my brother, and she was exactly who he needed, someone whose life circled around him and needed him.
“Have a seat, man. I ordered sandwiches from Two Slices.” I pulled the bags out from the sub shop and placed one on the conference table in my office, in front of him, and the other in front of me, before I grabbed a couple bottled waters and some napkins.
“Did you add extra pickles and banana peppers for me?” he asked, pulling out his Philly cheesesteak.
I unwrapped my chicken bacon club. “It’s the only way you’ll eat it. What you think?”
He bit into it and slowly nodded his head as he chewed. “This is that guy.”
I snickered and shook my head. When we were kids, growing up, and I had been responsible for him, I once made his sandwiches with extra pickles and banana peppers. From that first time, he fell in love with them, and that was the only way he would eat a sandwich.
“You know I got you.”
“You talked to Reuben lately?” Issachar asked.
“Yeah, he told me that he’s finally about to tie the knot with Camilla. Said he wanted us to have a brothers’ camping trip before he did it.”
“Zebulun said he wasn’t even sure why he wanted to marry her now. He hadn’t done so in all these years. I mean, their kids are grown.”
“Who knows? Sometimes, people get to a certain stage at life, and they look back over it and realize they may have made some mistakes along the way. They want to correct them, and they do it the best way they know how. I think Reuben wishes he had set a different example for his kids.”
“But he’s fifty-five now, man.”
“Everyone has the right to right their wrongs before their eyes close, Issachar.”
“Yeah, I guess. If he’s happy, then that’s all that matters, right?”
“Exactly.”
“Simeon said Reu asked Levi to perform the nuptials.”
Shrugging, I replied, “Makes sense. He is a minister after all.”
“Yeah.”
We went silent again and continued eating for a while. When we finished eating, I broached the subject I invited him to talk about.
“The reason I called you over, Issachar, is because I wanted to be the one to tell you that I was dating Alex before you heard it from someplace else.”
“Too late. Jon did it already.”
“Damn.”
“He told me that he saw you and her downtown last Saturday night, and that she ran some crap about you and her planning a party for daddy and Riyan’s wedding anniversary.
I called bullshit, because their anniversary already passed.
He said he figured as much. So, you two had to be seeing each other. ”
“We are.”
“Why would she lie?”
“Worried about what her mother and Jon would say. She knows they won’t approve.”
“Yeah, and she lives for their approval.”
“Right. Her mom thinks that I’m too old for her and—”
“I mean, there is a significant age gap there. What could you two possibly have in common?”
“We have a lot more than you two did. The only thing that matters is that I’m making her happy, Issachar.
I ain’t got shit to prove to nobody. I just wanted to give you the respect of letting you know.
I would have told you before now, but I wanted to make sure that she and I were on the same page before I moved forward.
Listen, we both want this, and I promise you that I’m not about to let anything or anyone get in our way.
I don’t give a damn . . . mama, daddy, sister, brother, best friend, uncle or who the fuck ever. ”
He balled up his sandwich wrap and aimed for the trash can and shot it in. “Three pointer and the crowd goes wild!” Issachar made cheering noises before he turned back to me and my grim expression.
“I knew something was up when we were at Jon’s wedding vacation. The way the two of you spent so much time together and how she was laughing at everything you said. I mean, when did this start?”
“At your wedding.”
“For real?”
I nodded. “That was some fucked up shit you two did asking that girl to plan your wedding. To Princess’s credit, she didn’t know at first, but once she did, she should have rescinded the request. You should’ve put your foot down when you heard about it.”
“You’ve told me that a million times, and while I agreed, I told you that Princess was determined to have Alex because she’s the best. She’s not insecure and shit.”
“She’s not, but you are. You need to fix that shit before you ruin your marriage. It wasn’t cool how you broke Alex down because you couldn’t measure up.”
“You sure you weren’t fucking around with Alex before now?”
I rested my elbows on my desk and leaned forward. “Fix your fucking mouth, Zack, before I fix it for you.”
He shrugged and extended his arms out in front of him. “I mean, you’re the one who’s messing with my ex. She was feeling you long before I broke up with her.”
“Watch what the fuck you say,” I warned again. “I ain’t gon’ say it too many more times. You know I’m not that guy.”
He sighed and replied, “A’ight, but she did used to admire you and talk about you a lot in the past.”
“And you felt some type of way about it?”
“Hell yeah. How would you feel if your girl was always going on about some other nigga?”
“I wasn’t even around when you two finally got together, except for a few visits home for the holidays.”
“I know that, but she would talk about how you were when we were all growing up and the times that she had seen you on those visits.”
“I mean, yeah, I’d feel a way, but I would also shut that shit down. I won’t have my woman sitting in my face disrespecting me with another nigga. I gotta ask you, Zack, what kind of shit was she saying? Because the Alex I know ain’t foul.”
“Just talking about your business and how it was booming and you were out in the world making big moves. She would talk about how you were toward Jessica, and she loved your marriage and the way you treated Jessica. Shit like that.”
“You ever thought maybe she was trying to inspire you to do certain things for her, or to take the reins of your relationship?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know. I just didn’t like that shit.”
“Did that have anything to do with you breaking up with her?”
“Some. I felt like she was clueless to how she was making me feel, and she didn’t give a shit. She kept running that shit in the ground. Anytime you accomplished something new or we saw something in the business journals about the latest project you had won, she would go on about it for days.”
“You said that was some of it. What was the rest?”
“I had met Princess already. She was a contractor for my firm, and we were paired on a project. She was always going on about how smart I was and how impressed she was with the work I did. We had a few late nights, did some out-of-town trips together, and one thing led to another.”
“Before you broke up with Alex?”
“Yeah. About a few months before.”
“That’s fucked up. I always told you to handle your shit first, man. You didn’t have to tear that girl down the way that you did or fuck with her self-esteem.”
“I know, man. When Princess and I first started kicking it, I told her one day I was in a relationship. It was while we were at a conference. She told me not to speak to her again until I made shit right in my life. I came home and broke up with Alex immediately. Shortly before our wedding, I apologized to her for that. She said, too late, the damage was done.”
“She was right. It’s all good, though, because the damage that you did, I’m loving undoing it. I have all the time in the world to pour my love into that woman and fix what you broke, li’l bro.”
“Well, I have a woman now who doesn’t care about what my brothers do. All she cares about is me.”
“As it should be. Those are personal problems and insecurities that you need to work on. I do want to thank you though.”
“For what?”
“For leaving Alex behind knowing you couldn’t handle her.”
He chuckled. “I see you on your grown man shit, big bro. I’ma let you make it.”
“Nigga, you ain’t got no choice. Damn right, I’m on my grown man shit. If you don’t want to lose another good woman, I suggest you do the same.”
“Yeah. I hear you. I genuinely do. Listen, I need to head back to the office. I’ve got a major case coming up, and I need to check in with my paralegal.”
“I hope she’s not making after-hours moves on you too.”
“Nah, those days are over. Best wishes, man. Treat her better than I did. She deserves it. She’s a good girl.”
I dapped him up. “I already know, man. I already know.”