“You never once considered that this was a possibility? Because sweetheart, you gotta have a big imagination with Raya. There’s no limit to her anger. Or her pain.”
“I guess I thought if I gave her safety and love and all that good shit, she’d settle down.”
She chuckles at my naivete. “Well…it hasn’t even been a year. Maybe one day.”
“Maybe.” The bartender comes back with my bourbon. I take a strong sip and clear my throat. “I convinced her to go to marriage counseling.”
“Already?”
“Don’t say it like that. You know what I’m dealing with.”
She inclines her head to agree. “How’d you convince her?”
“Honestly? I think she’s just going for the plot.”
Tori bursts out laughing. “You have to keep me posted on that one.”
“I will.”
“Has her brother called?”
“Yeah. A few times.”
“See if you can get her to talk to him.”
“I mean…after what she told me, I’m on her side with this. Why does he deserve a conversation with her?”
“He doesn’t, I agree. But he’s family.”
“Her daddy was family, too.”
“Point taken.” She stirs her drink. “It’s important. It’sserious. There might not be a lot of time left for them to reconcile.”
“I hear you, but she got enough going on. I’m not gonna pressure her about that.” I take the rest of my drink to the head, feeling my muscles relax for the first time today. “How about you give him my number and he can talk to me.”
"That's a good compromise." She studies my face. “You haven’t mentioned the video.”
“What video?”
“Uh…well…one of the blogs posted a video of you snatching Raya up at the club. It went viral."
"What?"
"Yeah. It's everywhere. People are having debates about abuse and everything. I knew better, though. I've seen y'all do that before."
"Fuck. Do you have it?"
She digs around in her purse for her phone. She scrolls a bit, then finds what she's looking for.
I stare at the screen with a growing sense of dread. They didn't blur our faces or anything. We're just out there in the world with our fucked up marriage on display.
"I gotta go," I tell her. "I need to handle this."
"Go ahead, sweetie. I'm here if you need me. I don't leave until Friday."
We hug and I go on my way, wracking my brain for a solution to yet another problem.
I don't know how much more of this I can take.
