AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Channing had to know very well what I was feeling. He couldn’t really blame me for trying to maneuver my way around all the people in our town who couldn’t handle seeing two people from different sides of the tracks fall in love, especially one who came from a family with a heritage of hate. I couldn’t chance that. Not when I’d painted a picture for my lovely fiancée that showed images of us rising above it all.
“Regardless if you and Tameka elope or get married here in our small little town, you’re going to have to face these people who don’t want to see y’all together. Shit, what do you think me and Kemara deal with on a daily basis?” Channing asked, and the intense look in his eyes rattled something inside of me. He told the brutal truth that I’d been avoiding, while I spent every spare minute of every day loving Tameka. “People stare at us, say inappropriate things to us, and are plain out rude sometimes.”
I looked at my cousin and best friend. I had witnessed all that went on because I was there when Channing had to vent about the nurses in the hospital who shrugged off his wife’s concerns because she was black. I was also there as an ear when my uncle denounced Channing, and I could never forget when Channing had to beat his own brother into shreds because he disrespected Kemara. And those things were just a drop in the barrel of the disrespect they’d experienced.
I had a front seat to the hate they faced, but things were about to get a little different. Tameka and I would now be the ones to face it head on, and I wasn’t too sure that I was ready for that.
I snapped out of the haze of thinking about what was all to come when Channing spoke up again. “So what act of divine intervention stopped you from revealing your escape plan to Tameka?” Channing chuckled, as he rolled his eyes.
“Her douchebag of an ex-husband showed up with his mommy,” I said mockingly. “Dude has completely lost his mind. He has literally time hopped back to the past and actually believes he is still in love with Tameka. He thinks they are still happily married.”
“That’s madness, Jeb,” Channing said with a shocked expression on his face. “How did you handle it?”
“It’s not how I expected my night to go so we were caught off guard, man. He’s on some crazy shit, like really! As he was leaving, he told Tameka he would be back for the kids and her, and I was a few seconds from coming undone on him, sick or not,” I said.
“He has done a complete one-eighty,” Channing muttered as he shook his head.
“I’m not going to let anyone get in the way of me and Tameka’s happiness. It took a lot for her to feel safe with me, and I’m not allowing anyone to mess that up.”
Channing swatted his hand at me. “I know you’re not worried about that scrub, Rodney. Kemara confirmed that Tameka literally hates his guts. You don’t have anything to worry about when it comes to him.”
“You weren’t there last night, Channing. His eyes revealed that he wasn’t the same jerk that cheated on her and left her for another woman. He looked at her as if he has an aching love for Tameka, like he’s ready to battle for her.”
“After all he has done, it’s going to take more than a look in his eyes. Tameka knows what she wants, and she wants to marry you. Stay focused on what matters,” Channing said and threw the ball to me.
I quickly turned to the goal and hooped it. “You’re right, man. I have to stay focused on the prize, and that’s getting my woman to Hawaii.”
Channing shook his head as he hustled for the ball and threw up a shot of his own.
* * *
Tameka
“Girl!” I flopped down on my chair and grabbed a menu. I was meeting Kemara for brunch with a couple of our girlfriends, Alise and Jayne. “I needed this sooo bad. You won’t believe the week I had!”
They had all been updated on my nightmare with Rodney’s memory loss, and I had already unloaded the juicy details, but it still remained the talking point since it was so strange and not at all like my ex. It was like he was a new person, or better yet, he had returned to being the person I fell in love with so many years ago.
Jayne waved the busy waitress over, but she instantly put her index finger up as if to tell her to hold on for a few. Jayne rolled her eyes and pivoted back towards the girls. “I mean, if you ask me, this sounds like a gateway into taking the perfect revenge for that monster of an ex that you’ve had to deal with for the last four years.” Jayne took a sip of her mimosa and raised her eyebrows as if she had made the point of the century.
I gave her a look that needed no words, but Kemara and Alise gave their approving Amen’s by the chorus of “Umm hmm’s” they seemed to harmonize over.
“Now, y’all know that is not my style. My life is amazing right now! I have Jeb, and we’re about to get married!” I looked down at my ring with a smile. “And the kids have been so happy lately. They actually love Jeb, and I don’t have the energy to throw our happiness back in Rodney’s face. I just want to live my stress free life with my family.” I took a swig from my champagne glass. “But you know what?”
They all leaned in to listen closely as if their hopes were up that I had at least one act of vengeance up my sleeve. “What?” Alise asked.
“It sure is nice to not have to worry about Rodney doing something crazy these days. Now that he’s lost his memory, he’s much more pleasant,” I said.
My girlfriends and sister let out sighs and groans, unsatisfied that I hadn’t hopped on the retribution train.
“I guess you’re right about that,” Kemara said and let out a laugh from her gut. We all soon joined her in laughter, realizing that, if anything, we were relieved things hadn’t been so tense in the last few months.
We all had our own lives to lead but had seemed to finally find the silver lining. Jayne had finished law school and gotten hired by a local law firm. Alise was having the time of her life getting booked by clubs to sing her heart out; she had even recently become a sensation at Jeb’s club. And we all knew Kemara was so in love with Channing that a permanent smile sparkled on her face.
“Let’s just take a moment to toast to happy and fulfilling lives filled with love and good sex for the rest of our days!” Jayne exclaimed after her stint of laughter.
“Now, that I can toast to,” I said as I raised my glass in unison with my circle of friends.
“I hope to be toasting to that soon,” Alise said, and Jayne echoed her sentiment by clinking her glass to Alise’s.
