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She got up and went into the bathroom to wash her face. When she glimpsed in the mirror, she couldn’t remember putting on the outfit she was wearing. There was a sheer layer of lip gloss on her lips. She didn’t recall putting that on either.
As she went down the hall toward the steps, she paused to look into her parents’ bedroom. There were clothes strewn everywhere and evidence of a struggle. Jonquinette grew scared. Had something bad happened? Had there been an intruder or something?
Jonquinette tiptoed downstairs and was relieved when she saw her aunt Elaine and aunt Louise sitting on the couch with her mother between them.
“Momma,” she called out. “What’s going on? Where’s everyone else?”
Her mother didn’t answer. Instead, she broke out in tears.
Elaine hopped up and came over to Jonquinette. “Don’t worry. It’s going to be fine. You and your mother still have each other.”
At that point, Jonquinette’s knees went weak. “Where’s my daddy?” she asked.
Elaine cradled Jonquinette’s face in her hands. “He’s gone.”
“Gone.” Jonquinette started crying. “He died?”
“No, child. In light of what happened earlier today, your mother thought it best that he leave. He took some things with him and, who knows, maybe one day they can reconcile.”
Meredith yelled out in anger, “Don’t lie to her! There’s not going to be any damn reconciliation! He cheated on me with a hooker! A hooker! I hope he burns in hell!”
Louise patted Meredith on the back. “If there’s any justice in this world, he will burn in hell for all eternity.”
Jonquinette didn’t know what to say, so she didn’t say one single word.
19
jonquinette
I heard the knock at my door and debated. I wanted to go out with Mason so bad but, in all fairness, how could I allow him to become involved with a basket case like me?
He knocked again and I realized he wasn’t going away. It was seven on the dot and we had a date. I couldn’t believe I was going on an actual date: my first for all intents and purposes.
I smoothed out the cream dress I had selected to wear, one last time, hoping it wasn’t too wrinkled. Then I opened the door.
“Hey, Mason.”
“Hey, Jonquinette.” He was standing there looking as attractive as ever. “You all set to go?” he asked.
“Um . . . ” I was too caught up in his hazel eyes to come up with an answer at first. Then I realized I couldn’t go through with it. “Actually, could you step inside for a moment? I really need to talk about something important with you.”
“No, no, no,” Mason said, shaking his head so his dreadlocks swung from side to side. “Don’t do this to me again, Jonquinette. Don’t cancel out on our date.”
“Could you please just come in?” Grudgingly, he came inside but stood right inside the door and didn’t venture any farther. “Mason, there are a lot of things you don’t know about me.”
He grinned, as if to say “is that all?”
“I’m sure. There are tons of things we don’t know about each other,” he said. “That’s the whole rationale behind dating—getting to know each other better.”
“You don’t understand.” I diverted my eyes from him. “I have some issues that I need to work through before I can get caught up with someone.”
“Okay, I’ll bite.” He crossed him arms in front of him and sighed. “What kind of issues?”
I turned my back on him and went to sit down on the couch. “This is extremely complicated for me.”
After closing my front door, coming into the living room and sitting down beside me, Mason said, “Take your time.”
How could I put it without making myself sound insane?
