1
DELANEY SYNCLAIR
“Look at them. They look like a bunch of vultures picking over the dead remains of my marriage.”
I pulled the straw to my lips and took a sip of my iced coffee. Through blurred vision, thanks to the tears I had been shedding all day, I continued looking out the large bay window that I set in front of on a barstool.
“Scavengers. That’s what they are.”
“Wait. I’m confused, Sis. Because are we upset with the man, or are we upset with the people we invited to come to the yard sale?”
I turned and looked at my sister, Aria, and rolled my eyes. I swiped at the tears and continued watching the people on the front lawn buying clothes, sports gear, paintings, and sculptures from the four people manning tables.
I watched my cousin, Tanika, as she answered questions and helped the people I hired to sell the items.
I watched strangers pick over parts of my life that I was willingly walking away from.
“Boo, we can call it off whenever you want to,” Aria stated in a low voice. She reached out and grabbed my hand. I looked at her, smiled, and turned back to the window.
I was sure that my sister and I made quite a pair, if anyone had cared to look up and see us looking out at them. As it was, they were all busy buying up the items that were on display in my front yard.
Aria and I looked alike, but we also held similar postures. We sat on barstools, holding our iced coffee that we sipped from in one hand, and our free hands clasped each other’s.
“I don’t want to call it off. Honestly, I’m getting some satisfaction from this, but I’m still pissed and hurt that it has to be done at all.”
“Well, boo, it’s all good. But look what the cat dragged in.”
“I see him,” I replied, as my belly quenched and my jaw tightened.
I knew what I had done would cause trouble, and I knew there was a battle ahead, but I didn’t care. I couldn’t wait for him to exit his car and realize what was going on. The look on his face would be priceless and so satisfying after all the dirt he had done. It was just one way that I would get retribution for what he had taken me through.
“Are you good, boo?” Aria asked.
“Oh, I’m great. Let’s see how his ass handles this,” I declared, narrowing my gaze as I watched my husband looking around our yard.
The hum of anticipation buzzed loudly within my body as I watched him look around in confusion as he slowly navigated his way through the crowd and up toward the house.
He couldn’t park his Mercedes S-Class that he was so proud of, in the garage, because the tables blocked his entrance. I knew that was the first thing that pissed him off because he always kept that precious car covered, afraid that bird droppings, a scratch from another car, or God forbid, someone would actually look at it and cause the paint to dull.
“And there it is, ladies and gentlemen, the moment we’ve been waiting for. Look at his ass standing there in disbelief.” Aria squealed as Clayton realized that the items being sold were his.
My sister cackled when he snatched things from people as they were looking at them. Clayton spun around looking for someone he knew, and I inhaled and held my breath because I knew who he was looking for, his wife. When he couldn’t find me, he spotted my cousin, Tanika.
“Wait for it . . . wait for it,” Aria stated slowly as Tanika pointed him inside.
I exhaled when he spotted the clothesline that I had strung from one tree to the next. There was a long line of Polaroid photos, thanks to the private investigator that I hired. The pictures were of Clayton and different women he had cheated with. His shoulders slumped when he spotted the last photo, a sonogram of a baby.
The woman was seven months pregnant. Beside that photo was a copy of the results of a non-invasive prenatal paternity test that Clayton and the woman took. I paid my investigator an extra bonus for retrieving that particular item. I wasn’t sure how he had done it, but I was thankful that he had. It was all the ammunition that I needed to end this painful chapter of my life.
Clayton took a step closer to the clothesline and looked at the last item that hung beside the sonogram. They were the divorce papers that I had filed.
I continued quietly sipping my coffee as he ripped down photo after photo and the papers in embarrassment. Clayton was so livid that he hollered at the people to get off his lawn, and I could hear his shouts from where I sat.
“Get ready,” Aria stated as Clayton finally made his way inside.
Aria and I sat quietly watching him.
“What the hell is this? What’s going on, Del?” he demanded angrily, storming into the house and waving the papers in his hand.
