Authors: Nicholas Maze
“He’s after the same thing every other man want.”
“Really?”
“Yes. And, it ain’t money!”
They both began to laugh, as Angie walked away. Angie approached the elevator and selected the first floor. Her cell phone chirped and a message popped up, showing an address. Angie closed the screen and placed the phone back into her purse. Once she made it outside to her car, she entered the address into her GPS mobile app and brought up the directions to the location.
After a while of driving, Angie slowed down and searched for the location. She noticed a stale, white motel on the right side of the road. “This has to be it.” She found a place to park and replied to the address text message. “I’m outside.” Instantly, a reply pops up, “6”. Angie decided to leave her purse in her vehicle and got out. She approached motel room 6 and prepared to knock. Before she could make the first knock, the door opened and Reggie was standing on the other side. They made eye contact and smiled, as Angie quickly walked in and closed the door.
# # #
Rhonda was on the phone with her cousin, standing outside of Jimmy’s hospital room. She was frantic as she told her cousin the news she had received. The doctors had discovered that there is more internal damage around Jimmy’s stomach. There was excessive bleeding, internally and the doctors gave Jimmy two and a half pints of blood to keep him stabilized. Rhonda was stumbling in her words and said things that didn’t make sense. After a few minutes of talking with her cousin, she quickly ended the conversation and hung up. She went back into the room to be by Jimmy’s side. The sound of medical devices continued to chirp as Rhonda stood over her beloved husband and mentally abused herself for his car accident.
“Baby, this wasn’t supposed to be. I was supposed to have faith and trust in you. I don’t understand this. All of this for nothing. I love you, Jimmy. I need you here.”
Tears began to stream down Rhonda’s face as she watched Jimmy lay with his eyes closed. Every so often, a nurse would walk into the room to check the monitors and make sure there were no major changes in Jimmy’s bodily functions.
Some time passed by and Rhonda had went off to sleep, with her head laying on Jimmy’s shoulder. She was awakened by a visitor.
“Angie?”
“Hey girl. How you feeling?”
“Confused at the moment. I didn’t know you were coming out here.”
“Well, I wanted to check and make sure everything was okay.”
“Not really. Doctors are questioning how long he will live.”
“What’s going on?”
“Well, he’s bleeding internally and they say there is no way to really stop it.”
“Surgery?”
“Well, doctors said surgery may make things worse and cause him to lose blood quicker.”
“Which may not be a bad thing.”
Rhonda stared at Angie, with an urge to rip out her throat.
“Why are you here?”
“Well, I didn’t mean it like that. I’m just saying, with everything that has been going on….”
“Angie, I know you through Marla. Outside of her, I know nothing about you and don’t desire to. Now, I need you to leave my husband’s room. Right now isn’t the time or the place.”
Angie stood back, turned around, and began to walk out of Jimmy’s room.
“And, I want nothing else to do with this crap! So, keep my husband’s name and mine out of this foolish game you all have going on!”
Angie didn’t say a word and continued to leave. Once Angie had left the room, Rhonda took a deep breath, in shock of what she has just heard. “I can’t believe I put my trust in another woman’s hands. I’m allowing other women to determine the future of my marriage.” The rest of the day, Rhonda didn’t bother answering anyone’s phone call. She felt as if the entire process of trying to find out who man’s was cheating on who had led to Jimmy’s car accident. She didn’t want to hear from anyone, especially not Angie, Stephanie, Diane, or Marla. She spent the rest of the evening watching television, while sitting by Jimmy’s side.
# # #
“I can’t believe this”, said Marla as she sat on her living room couch and went through her phone.
“What is that”, asked Michael, as he returned from the Kitchen.
“No one wants to answer their phone today.”
“Who are you trying to call?”
“Well, I was calling to check on Jimmy, but Rhonda won’t answer. And, I tried calling you earlier”, she said while making eye contact with Michael.
“Well, I was at work baby”, said Michael as he took a seat next to her.
“You should be able to answer your wife’s call at any time. There could have been an emergency.”
“But Marla, there wasn’t.”
“Whatever.”
Marla and Michael spent the rest of the evening cuddled up and watching television. Since there wasn’t much information gathered on Michael, Marla felt she had nothing to worry about. She had faith that her man was a ‘one woman man’ and that he was satisfied with what he had at home.
Michael had woken up to get ready for work. After his morning prayers, his first stop was the kitchen to get a pot of coffee going. As coffee brewed, he headed into the living room to watch some news. He noticed Marla’s purse sitting on one of the end tables and close to falling over. At the edge of her purse was a piece of paper. He decided to stand the purse back up, so nothing fell out. While picking up the piece of paper to put it back into her purse, he could see the words through the paper that were written on the other side that looked familiar. He turned the paper around and read the note. “This is from Olivia”, he said to himself. “What is she doing with it?” Michael was confused and a little upset. “What is this all about?” Michael picked up the house phone and called his job. “Hello. Hi, Anthony. I was calling to let you know that I’ll be late coming into work. Yes, everything is okay. I apologize. This won’t happen again.” Michael decided to fix up his coffee and watch the news, until Marla woke up.
Another hour passed by and Marla was awakened by the alarm set on her cell phone. As she managed to locate her phone on the dresser and kill the alarm, she could hear noise coming from the living room. “Why is the TV on”, she asked herself. Marla quickly put a robe on and walked into the living room to see Michael sitting on the couch, watching the news.
“Michael, you’re still here?”
“We need to talk.”
“Is everything alright”, asked Marla as she took a seat in the chair across from Michael.
“You know, this past week has been very odd. You’ve been very moody. One minute, you’re happy and loving. And the next minute, you are mean and snappy.”
“But Michael, I told you that women have their ‘time of the months’.”
“That’s not all. I came across something that was very disturbing, this morning.”
“What?”
Marla’s heart began to race, being unsure of what Michael was about to say or do. She pulled her robe tighter together and leaned back.
“Do you trust me?”
“Of course I do, Michael. Why would you ask that?”
“What is this?”
Michael held up the note that started it all. Anxiety kicked in, as moisture started to develop on Marla’s forehead. Marla was confused too and wondering how Michael managed to get the note. For a moment, Marla didn’t say a word. She was too busy trying to figure out what to say. Or better yet, was there a way to disappear? As Michael sat and held the note, waiting for a response, Marla realized that disappearing was not an option and that she eventually had to say something.
“What is it? It’s hard to see, from over here.”
“It said, if you are able to get away call me.”
“I don’t know who that is from.”
“I do. And, I found it in your purse!”
“What?!”
Marla went into total shock, because now she knew the note belonged to Michael. Second, she couldn’t believe that Michael was going through her purse. Her eyes began to water, as she gathered herself to speak.
“How do you know who it belongs to? And, what are you doing going through my purse?”
“Marla, don’t start with me. It was by accident. I simply wanted to prevent your purse from spilling over and this came out. A better question is how did you get this?”
“It was in the couch.”
“And, when were you going to tell me?”
“Why? Is it important? And, who is it for?”
“It’s from Olivia.”
“Olivia?!”
“It’s a stupid, little note Marla.”
“Why did you keep it?”
Michael went on to explain how he got the note. As usual, Olivia was playing one of her little flirtatious games with Michael. She left him a note on his desk to see what type of response she would get. Not knowing, the response would be a lot greater and in a totally different form. Olivia’s little note affected the lives of several people.
Although Olivia was young and beautiful and Michael was definitely attracted to her, he had no intentions of doing anything outside of work with her. He truly felt that Marla was all he needed in a relationship. But now, he was starting to question Marla, since it seemed she had little faith in him. Michael wasn’t in the mood to talk about the note anymore and create a bigger argument, so he quickly left and headed to work. At the same time, Marla was in a much bigger dilemma. By discovering that the note belonged to her husband, she had to inform all of the ladies and stop the “investigating ring” she had formed. Now, Marla felt as if she had brought everyone into this situation for nothing. All of the doubt, anger, and curiosity had placed a strain on everyone’s relationship. She felt very bad for Diane, because she became an emotional wreck from all of it. And, there was no doubt that the “lovey dovey” relationship that Diane had with Stanley was taking its toll. Marla felt it was best to setup an emergency meeting with all of the ladies, so she could clear the air and hopefully, things could go back to normal.
After getting herself and Junior dressed, Marla sent out a group text message with a meeting time and location for later that evening. Along with clearing the air, Marla knew her presence wasn’t wanted at the moment and she needed somewhere to go until things cooled down at home.
[Marla: IMPORTANT! Meet tonight, El’s Brewery @ 8]
Marla didn’t want to make the situation worst, so she picked an unusual place for them all to meet. There was no need to take a chance on being seen by someone and people beginning to put two and two together. So much was going through Marla’s head. All of the issues that came about from a little note that meant nothing. It was a good thing Marla didn’t know who Olivia was. At the moment, she felt like letting off some steam for all the problems Olivia’s childish games had caused. The loss of trust in every woman’s relationship, along with a crucial car accident involving Jimmy. As thoughts raced through her head, Marla realized she hadn’t talked to Rhonda in a while and tried calling her. The phone just rang, until the automated voicemail service answered. Marla wanted to leave a message, but decided to wait until she could actually speak to Rhonda. There was a good chance that Rhonda wouldn’t respond to the group text message and attend the meeting at El’s Brewery. There wasn’t much more Marla could do, so she decided to put the situation on hold until later. For the time being, she headed off to work and allowed the morning radio talk show to occupy her mind.
# # #
Tina was just waking up for the day. As she looked around, she finally remembered where she was. She turned over and saw the back of Walter, half-naked sitting on the side of the bed. With his head down, he partially looked behind him and asked, “You finally decided to wake up?” Tina realized that the tone of his voice wasn’t pleasant. Instead of addressing the change of his attitude, Tina didn’t say a word and quickly got up and got herself together. The entire time, Walter was going through his mobile phone, reading emails and other messages. He never said another word to Tina. After getting fully dressed, Tina asked, “Will you watch me to my car?” For a moment, Walter didn’t say anything. He eventually stood to his feet and walked with Tina to the door to watch her walk to her car. Tina asked because Walter’s apartment complex was in a rough area. Once Tina made it to her car, she began to question who Walter really was. Outside of the Lexus he drove and a few suits, there was nothing about Walter that displayed wealth. Once she thought about it, even the Lexus was an older model. Most likely, it was just bait that Walter would use to attract women. The night before, after a few drinks, Tina didn’t focus on the game that Walter was playing. In the end, it was a big loss. The only thing she really gained was a few drinks, a meal, and a place to sleep; even that was short-lived. She believed if she slept any longer, Walter would’ve awaken her and told her to leave. In Tina’s mind, that was just her luck with men. “They can promise you ‘the night’ and nothing more. Even that is lackluster.” She mentally placed Walter on a shelf, with all the men that had passed through in her life. Being 15 minutes late for work already, Tina didn’t have time to do anything but go to work. She decided to stop at a gas station, along the way and purchase something quick to eat.
# # #
Outside the stale, old, white motel, Angie’s vehicle was parked and the morning dew had developed on her windows. Several other vehicles were parked alongside one another. Inside room 6, Angie stood in front of the vanity mirror trying to put her earrings on. The mirror had a light film covering it from the steam out of the bathroom. She managed to get one earring on and prepared for the second one, as Reggie snuck up behind her. He began to kiss her neck.
“Not now”, she said with a devilish grin.
“You have time.”
“You’re a lie. I’m running late as it is. It doesn’t look good, when the supervisor is later than her employees.”
Reggie decided to back off and let Angie finish getting ready. Only half dressed, he took a seat on the end of the bed and examined Angie.
“So, when can I see you again?”
“We’ll see. Right now, I can’t think about it”
Angie quickly grabbed her purse, left some money on the table towards the motel, and quickly left out the door. “I’ll text you”, she yelled. She quickly hopped into her vehicle and turned on her windshield wipers to clear her view.
Once Angie made it to T and C, she quickly turned into the parking lot and found the nearest parking spot available. As she got out of the vehicle, she saw Marla and Tina leaving their vehicles. She was happy to see that she was not the only one late for work. At the same time, she was a little confused about the coincidence. For Tina, Angie is used to her lateness. But, she was a little shocked to see Marla not on-time. Tina and Marla were confused as well. For a while, no one said anything. There was only sounds of cars going down the street and heels hitting the pavement, until all three of them got closer to one another as they approached the door.
“Is it safe to say that great minds think alike”, asked Angie.
All three laughed a little.
“Actually, I’m having a rough morning”, said Marla.
“So am I”, confirmed Tina.
“Well, I’m sorry to say that I can’t join you ladies, today. I’m actually having a good start, outside of being late.”
“Well, that’s good to hear”, replied Marla.
Angie decided to hold the door for Marla and Tina, since she was the only one out of the three having a good day. “Good morning, Ladies”, greeted Fay, as they entered the building. After getting on the elevator, all three of them got quiet. Both, Marla and Tina were in desperate need of talking to Angie, but Tina quickly made the first move.
“Angie. I need to talk to you in your office.”
“Okay.”
Normally, Angie would not want to sit and listen to Tina’s problems. But since Angie didn’t have any problems of her own at the moment, she was comfortable with having Tina waste her time. Marla chose to let them both be and talk with Angie at a later time. Once they got off the elevator, Angie and Tina headed to the office, while Marla went and checked on her department.
“What’s going on, Tina?”
“What’s the deal with Walter?”
Angie was slow to respond. Instead, she stared at Tina and examined her facial expression.
“Goodness.”
“What?”
“I know you didn’t, Tina.”
“Didn’t what? All I did was ask a question.”
“But, you don’t even know the guy.”
“And, that’s why I asked about him.”
“Why did you sleep with him?”
“Angie, what are you talking about?”
“Tina, all of the years that I have known you. We’ve been through this numerous times. I know that look.”
“It wasn’t like that. I was just out on a date.”
“And, what happen?”
“Nothing.”
Angie went back to staring at Tina, until Tina finally gave in and broke down crying. She went on to tell Angie about her night with Walter and how he used her for a “one-night stand”. The entire time, Angie just shook her head in disbelief and didn’t respond. Eventually, Angie told Tina about Walter. Walter’s full name is Walter Devlin and he is a marketing assistant for a local fast food restaurant. She went on to tell her how Walter had been playing the same game and using the same car and suits for years. The one thing she didn’t bother to tell Tina was that she once got caught in his trap as well and slept with him. In fact, Walter truly didn’t visit T and C for business. He was trying to establish another rendezvous with Angie. When Angie said no, Walter settled for Tina.
“Are all men like this”, asked Tina.
“Every last one. From 18 to 95, they all are after one thing.”
“Amazing.”
“Well Tina, I’m way behind on my work for today. So, I have to end this conversation short.”