“I ain’t going back over there. I was pissed that day. I needed you and you weren’t there for me.”
“Woo shit.” I laughed sarcastically. “Imagine that. Imagine needing your spouse and they’re in the wind. At least I wasn’t out playing house with some random dude. Oh yeah, I heard your baby’s mother hit you in the head with a skillet. I could tell by her tone that Katrice wanted to whup her ass. She was pissed that old girl did that to her baby boy.”
“Yeah, that little young bitch is crazy as hell. We got into an argument about her putting too much damn salt in the scrambled eggs and she hit me with the fucking skillet.” He tooka deep breath. “Your man almost went to jail that day. I wanted to beat the shit outta her, but with her being pregnant, that woulda been more cases for me to fight. I pressed charges. She got picked up.”
“You sent your pregnant fiancée to jail?”
“Hell yeah. Did you not hear me say the dumb bitch hit me on the head with a skillet? Bitch cracked my skull. Doctors said that hit caused traumatic injury to my brain and shit. I done had CAT scans, MRIs, and all kinds of medical shit since she did that. The job is making me go to therapy. They took me off the bus for a whole week. You know I can’t afford to miss my money. I got bills to pay.”
“And a baby on the way.” I reminded him.
“And a mortgage that I’m carrying by myself while my wife playsvacation Valerieor some shit.”
“I put my half of the bills in the bank account. What happened? Did you give your baby mother your PIN and she stole the money?”
He sucked his teeth. “I wouldn’t give that bitch shit. Nah, I didn’t give her my PIN.”
“Then the money should be in the account. I haven’t touched that account.”
“Look, Bailey, I ain’t call you to do all this back and forth. I called you because you’re my wife. Yeah, we’re goin’ through some shit right now, but the response to goin’ through some shit shouldn’t be you skipping town. We’re supposed to lock in, buckle down, and figure this shit out.”
“You told me that you wanted a divorce, Xander. You’ve been cheating, Xander. You have a baby on the way, Xander. This baby will be born within weeks of when I was supposed to give birth. How are we supposed to figurethatout?”
“You know good and damn well that I ain’t really want no divorce.”
“How? Because you’ve played the divorce card one thousand times during our marriage. You’ve said you wanted a divorce and waited for me to give in and bend over backwards to make you comfortable enough to stay? Uh, I guess you played that card one too many times. Now, I don’t care if you want a divorce or not. I want a divorce. Bet you didn’t see that shit coming, did you? All those times you threw divorce in my face and I buckled. I bet you never saw the day that I would walk away from you.”
“You on some spite shit? Some revenge shit? You tryna kick a nigga when he’s down?”
“You would know, bruh. You’re the king of kicking a person when they’re down.”
“I can’t believe this. I thought you were better than this.”
“Better than you? Nah, we’re just the same. You married yourself, bruh.” I laughed sinisterly. “Ooh, the way people can’t stand it when you pull a them on them. People love to show their asses but can’t stand to have nobody else’s booty in their face.”
“You must have a new nigga.”
“I am the new nigga, baby. I’m the new and improved Bailey. The soon to be single Bailey. Theshe’s startingoverBailey.” I was talking big shit based on his arrogance. He needed to know that he wasn’t dealing with the same broken wife he walked out on.
“So, you wanted this divorce all along.”
“I didn’t. But I should have. I shouldn’t have spent all that time begging you and shrinking myself for you. Being humiliated and losing my confidence, so yours could grow. I shouldn’t have pretended not to see the text messages or ignored the red flags. I shouldn’t have accepted the way you treated me when you found out about the baby’s issues. I should have slapped divorce papers on you years ago, Xander. Actually, I probably never should’ve married you. I convinced myself that I was the one Kingsleywoman who was supposed to be able to keep a marriage . . . keep a man. But I don’t have to be miserable for optics.”
“Now our marriage was all about optics?” he muttered into the phone. “You bitches are wild.”
“I’m not a bitch.”
“Whatever. Say what you wanna say. I’m never signing those divorce papers. You’re gonna be Mrs. Eckhart until one of us leaves this earth.”
“Boy, this ain’t the 1950s. In the state of Illinois, you don’t have to sign. I’ve already had my attorney file what is known as a default motion. It basically means that even though one of the divorcing couples won’t move their feet, the divorce will proceed. I’m just waiting to find out the date of the hearing. At that hearing, all matters pertaining to our divorce will be finalized whether you’re present or not. Whether you’ve signed the documentation or not.”
“I can’t believe you’re doin’ this.”
“Believe it.”
Next thing I knew, there was nothing but dead air on the line.
Chapter
