“I’m getting married!” Tweet announced as soon as she walked in the building.
“What?!” we all shrieked and rushed towards her as if we were football players on the super bowl field. Her hand was already positioned high in the air for us to admire the sparkling diamond.
“How did he propose?” Sharice asked twisting Tweet’s hand back and forth to get a few of the ring from all sides.
“Oh my goodness! It was soooo romantic,” she cooed. “On the beach with the water washing over our feet just before the sun went down.” Her right hand rested over her heart as she gazed at the ceiling remembering her moment of bliss. “There was a live band playing You Are So Beautiful in the background, and we were walking along picking up shells and presenting them too each other. Then he was like – oooh! Look at that one right there. He ran ahead of me and stooped down acting like he was picking up another shell. When I got to him, I was like, let me see. He turned around on one knee with the ring in his hand and he proposed!”
“Awww!!! That is so sweet!” Sharice exclaimed. It was better than the proposal I got.
“Which was what?” I dared ask.
“It was some raggedy
Jagged Edge – "we ain’t getting no younger so we might as well do this" – type proposal,” she said rolling her eyes and dismissing with her hand. “How you gonna propose like , ‘hey, I don’t have nothing else to do.’ And I like a dummy said yes!”
“Do you regret it?” Tweet asked.
“Girl no! That man has been the best thing that’s ever happened to me. He could have just proposed a little better,” she chuckled. “We’ll be married twelve years in July and it’s not always been fun, but it’s always been heaven.”
“Yeah. I know what you mean,” I said instantly reflecting on my marriage to Cade. Tweet, reading my thoughts rubbed a comforting hand across my back.
“Better to have love and lost than to have not loved at all,” Taylor commented. “Because my love life is like the desert – dry!” We all burst into laughter.
“Well, I’m anxious to get out of this mess I’m in,” Michetta confessed, then without warning burst into tears catching us all surprise. Our eyes shot around nervously to each other for a few seconds then Stephanie stepped in and wrapped her arms around Michetta. Tweet and I stood silently for a full minute, unsure if we should move or not and ready to listen.
“LaVeil is cheating on me,” she blubbered. No one spoke a word for the next few seconds. I couldn't think of a single thing to say.
“Are you sure,” Tweet finally spoke. Michetta bobbed her head quickly.
“Yeah,” she whispered. “I’m sure. I found emails, cards, condoms - all of it.”
“Mmph!” Sharice moaned and shook her head slowly. “How long have you known?”
“For a while,” Michetta shrugged. “I should have listened to my mom. She told me I was too young to be getting married, but you know when you get eighteen, nobody can tell you anything.”
“We all make mistakes, Michetta. The important thing is that you learn and grow from them. Have you talked to him about it?”
“Yes, we got into a big fight last night and he asked for a divorce!” she bawled. “I love that man and I've been faithful to him. I don’t deserve this!” Tweet disappeared for a few seconds then returned with a handful of tissue. “Thanks,” Michetta said before blowing her nose and trying to compose herself. Sharice remained at her side with her arm draped around her shoulders. “I’m sorry y’all. I’m sorry Tweet – guess I kinda put a damper on your announcement.”
“It’s okay. We all need a shoulder to cry on.”
“Do you need to go home?” I offered.
“No, I need to be here where I don’t even have to think about it.” She sniffed loudly as she dabbed at her eyes. “I’ll be alright.”
“Do you know what you’re going to do?” Tweet asked.
“Not yet. I don’t know whether to fight for my marriage or just let him go.”
“Well try not to make any rash, emotional decisions,” Stephanie advised. “Those are the ones we usually regret.”
Michetta nodded her head quickly. “I’ll be alright. Excuse me.” Still wiping her eyes, she went to the ladies room.
“That’s just a shame,” Tweet commented sadly. “I don’t know what I’d do if that were me.”
When Michetta came back, it was like nothing had ever happened. “So have you set a date?”
Miraculously, she looked totally refreshed and pleasant. Tweet, eager to share her joy, didn't hesitate to answer.
“Yes! Next year on April 6th,” she glowed. “I can’t wait!” Tweet babbled on about her wedding dreams and initial planning thoughts. “Can I have my bridal shower here?”
“Of course,” I readily agreed. “What you need to ask is can you have that day off, because you know if you’re in the store, I might try to make you work,” I teased as I walked into the back room to complete a stack of paperwork and sort through the mail.
I’d been working on combing through my new insurance policy for the store, which was taking me forever there was so much red tape. I had marked the policy off in sections, reviewing segments of it daily, making notes and jotting questions. Grudgingly, I spent the next two hours working though more sections, but was relieved that I would be done reviewing the entire document in another day or so. Needing a break, I rose to my feet, stretched and dawdled to the coffee maker to pour myself a cup of energy then moseyed out to the sales area.
The store was buzzing with customers who casually and comfortably browsed through merchandise, pinning items up against their bodies and making purchasing decisions. With my mug in my hand, I circled around to my customers.
“You ladies finding everything okay?” I beamed.
“Yes. This store is really nice!” the woman commented. “And I am just loving these slippers! I've never been in here before, but I tell you what; I'm going to stop shopping at Victoria’s Secret! They too high anyway for something you gonna have on for all of five minutes.”
“But his reaction is worth it, isn’t it?” I nodded encouraging them to continue shopping. “Let me know if I can help you find anything.”
I spotted Michetta over in a corner sitting on the floor carefully positioning some bras in a cabinet. “You feeling okay?” I asked squatting down.
“Oh yeah.” She waved her hand. “I’m fine. I’m not gonna do but one or two things – die or keep on living and I don’t think this is gonna be the thing that will take me outta here. I’ll be okay.”
“Let me know if you need anything,” I said standing to walk off.
“I might need some time off to visit a lawyer,” she threw in, stopping me in my tracks.
I eased back down beside her and began helping by lifting the bras out of the box and removing the packing materials. “Do you think you've given it enough thought?” I asked, trying to be objective. She answered with a shrug.
“Nobody wants someone who doesn't want them.” I couldn't refute that point. “I mean we all wanna be loved, we all wanna feel special and chosen,” she added, biting into her bottom lip. “So when someone says to you, I don’t love you anymore, and I don’t want you, is there really anything to think about? If I want the marriage but he doesn't, what good is that?”
“Well I think you have to at least consider his emotional state when he said whatever he’s said. Could it have been said in the heat of the moment? I mean, have you two really sat down and talked about the status and health of your relationship?”
“He’s cheating on me Jream,” she exclaimed, smudging away tears the second they escaped from her eyes. “Do you know what that feels like? Do you know how much less of a woman I feel, knowing that I couldn’t keep my husband from straying into another woman’s arms? From between her legs?” she asked beginning to wail. “Do you know how miserable it is to have your husband climb into your bed in the wee hours of the morning if at all, knowing he just climbed out of another woman’s bed? Knowing that the same sexual pleasure you two used to share, he’s now sharing with someone else? Do you know what it’s like to lean over to kiss your husband’s lips and smell the scent of another woman all over his face?” Anger took over her expression.
I knew all of the questions were rhetorical, so I just listened, but the truth of the matter was, I couldn’t identify with anything she’d just said. To my knowledge, Cade has always been faithful to me.
“It’s hell Jream! It feels just like hell,” she stated adamantly. “I know this doesn’t compare to death, and I don’t mean to sound cruel and insensitive, but at least you know where your husband is laying at night...and right now I wish LaVeil was dead,” she finished staring blankly at a bra she held in her hands. “I’ll be right back.” She leapt to her feet and rushed for the bathroom, but a customer had it tied up, so she shot to the back.
As I sat there finishing up the bras, I thought about her heartache and pain and how it compared to mine. I realized that we both had been devastated. Just a few minutes ago, I thought that death was the ultimate stab in the heart, but now, having heard her plight I wasn’t so sure anymore. Was a husband sleeping in a grave better than a husband sleeping around town? I don’t know that I would have been able to deal with Cade not coming home at night for being with someone else.
“Is Michetta alright,” Tweet asked walking up behind me.
“I think she’ll be okay.”
“She should just leave that joker. That’s what I would do,” she added, admiring her ring. “Life is too short to spend it with someone who doesn’t really love you.”
“Yeah, I guess it is. Life is just short anyway I think.”
“I’m going to do my best to live mine to the fullest. If Alonzo doesn’t wanna live it with me, I’ll leave him in the dust.”
“Well, judging from that rock that’s blinding everyone this morning, looks like he wants to live the rest of his life with you, so I don’t think you have to worry about that,” I chuckled, reaching for her hand again.
“Yeah, you’re right. He loves me!”she shrieked as she bashfully drew her shoulders up to her ears with a wide smile. “And I love him too!”
“Love his hard to find, so make sure you hold on to it,” I ended, becoming a little teary eyed myself.
