“Damn it!” I stepped off the bus and picked up my broken heel from the ground. This was not my day, not my day at all. I’d just spent the better part of two hours on public transportation, and I still had to walk two blocks before I got home. As if that wasn’t bad enough, when I stepped off the stupid bus, I landed in a hole and broke the heel on my favorite pair of shoes. All that because Derrick never showed up to pick me up from work at five o’clock.
To say I was pissed off was an understatement. I was furious. By the time I reached my apartment, I was ready to explode. Only I was gonna have to postpone my explosion, ’cause my car wasn’t in the parking lot, which meant Derrick wasn’t even home.
I couldn’t wait to get inside and take a nice, long, hot shower. Traveling that damn bus route makes me so tense, and those buses are so grimy. Besides, it was best if I relaxed a little before Derrick came home. If I saw him right away, I might just try to take his head off.
When I put the key in the door, my mood just turned from bad to worse. I could hear the TV blaring. I had told Derrick a million times to turn that shit off before he went out. This was just one more thing to add to the list of shit that was really starting to get to me about him. Yeah, I missed him while he was away, but I guess I’d gotten used to the way Dylan had done things. He may not have bought me things like the entertainment center or the new rims on my car, but he always remembered the little things, and that made me feel special.
Just as I opened the door, I heard Tyler shout, “Watch out for that one behind you, Dad!”
My car wasn’t outside, but Derrick was home after all. Sitting on his ass, playing video games with his son. Damn, I hoped he hadn’t smashed up my car.
“Don’t worry, son. I got ’im!” Derrick shouted back, sounding like a kid himself.
“No, you don’t! He’s still alive! Oh, no! Look out, Dad!”
“Damn.” The game made some sort of “game over” noises.
“Oh, well. My turn. You’re dead, dad,” Tyler laughed.
“Yeah, Derrick. You’re dead.” I must’ve scared them both pretty good, because they each jumped about a foot in the air.
“Goddamn it! Don’t do that shit, baby! You scared the shit outta me.”
“Me, too,” Tyler added smugly. Well, at least he didn’t curse at me like his father.
“Hey, what are you doing home, anyway? I thought I was supposed to pick you up from work at… Uh-oh.” He glanced at his watch, then at the clock on the wall. “Baby, I’m sorry. I lost track of time.”
“For two and a half hours?” I fumed. Derrick gave me one of his cute little smiles to try to disarm me, but it wasn’t working this time. So he tried harder.
“I know, baby, I know. I fucked up. I’m sorry. Come on, let’s talk about this in the bedroom, away from Tyler, okay?”
He approached me with his arms open, but I put out my hand to block him.
“Don’t, Derrick. Don’t even come over here with that mess, okay?” He kept walking anyway.
“Baby, calm down. Don’t act like this. I’m sorry. You know I didn’t mean it. I was just trying to spend some quality time with Tyler and we lost track of time. It won’t happen again, I promise.”
His voice was actually soothing. And even though I’d crossed my arms in front of me, he managed to wrap his around my waist. I got a whiff of his cologne when he leaned in to kiss my neck. After two long hours on the bus, I had to admit it felt pretty good to be held, even if I was still upset with him.
“Look, why don’t you go upstairs and take you a nice bubble bath?” he murmured. “Read a little bit of that Mary Morrison novel while I fix dinner. I bought us a couple of steaks and some lobster tails this morning. How about some surf and turf with a nice salad? What do you say?” He gave me a peck on the lips, and my frown disappeared.
“Oh, all right,” I sighed. Derrick always knew how to handle me. He could push me to the edge with his childish ways sometimes, but then he knew just how to pull me back with his attention and his touch. How could I say no to a nice bath and a great dinner prepared by my man? And if we could get rid of his son later, maybe he could make it up to me in other ways. Things hadn’t been great in the bedroom, but they had improved. Who knows? Maybe if I was lucky, he’d slow down a bit and let me enjoy myself.
“Daddy, when is Mommy coming back?” Tyler’s mention of his mother put the tension right back in my body. “I thought she said she was just going to the store. She’s been gone a long time.”
I swear I felt Derrick’s entire body tighten up with each word Tyler spoke. He probably wanted to choke that little boy for blowing him up like that.
“Wendy was here?” I tried to pull myself free, but Derrick pulled me back.
“She wasn’t here long, boo. She just stopped by to see if I’d watch Tyler while she went to the supermarket.” He started to kiss my neck again, but this time it wasn’t working.
“Derrick.”
“Yes, bebe?” He was still kissing my neck.
“Where’s my car?” He didn’t reply, and I was afraid I already knew the answer. I pushed him away so I could look in his eyes. “Derrick, I asked you a question. Where my car?” He still didn’t answer, and I exploded. “Where the fuck is my car?”
“Now, take it easy, baby. Your car’s all right. I just let a friend borrow it for a while.”
“A friend, or your baby’s momma?”
“Okay, okay. I let Wendy borrow it to go to the store. She should have been back by now.”
“What? You lent my car to that bitch instead of picking me up?” That was it. After everything I’d been through the past few hours, I couldn’t take any more stress. Now he was letting that bitch drive my car? I’d had enough disrespect. I started beating his chest with my fists, screaming about how much I hated him and Wendy.
“Leave my daddy alone! Leave him alone!” Tyler was shouting as he kicked my ankles. I turned around and raised my hand. By this point, I was so far gone I was about to slap the shit outta that little boy. Derrick grabbed my arm firmly, and I was about to slap his face with my free hand when there was a knock at the door. I pulled myself free and ran to the door. To no surprise, Wendy was standing there like she didn’t have a care in the world. She backed up about five steps when she saw me.
“Gimme my keys, bitch.” I stuck out my hand.
“Oops. He was supposed to pick you up fiom work, wasn’t he?” She had the nerve to smirk at me like she’d done the shit on purpose.
“You know what, bitch? I done had about enough of your shit!”
I ran at her like I was a locomotive, swinging my arms like I’d lost my mind. She didn’t have a chance. I slapped her face so hard she went flying about three feet back. And I didn’t stop there. I grabbed a handful of her weave and tried my best to rip out every last track. She was lucky Derrick pulled my ass off her.
“Jasmine, calm down, baby.”
“You calm down! Don’t tell me to calm down! Get the fuck off of me!” I huffed, barely able to breathe from the fight. I watched Derrick walk over and help Wendy up from the ground. Her nose was bleeding and she had tears in her eyes.
“I’m going over to Momma’s. When I get back I want your bitch, your kid, and your shit out my house. You hear me?” I stormed off to my car, praying that triflin’ bitch had left me enough gas to get to my momma’s.
I returned home around ten-thirty, just as pissed off as when I left. Derrick met me at the door holding a dozen roses. I just rolled my eyes at him and ignored the flowers he tried to hand me. He must’ve thought I was playing when I said I wanted him and his shit outta my house. Well, he was wrong. Dead wrong.
“I thought I told you to get out.” I glared at him.
“You did,” he said humbly. “But I wanted to talk. I wanna work this out.”
“I don’t wanna talk anymore, Derrick. I just want you to get the hell out my house. I can’t take this shit anymore.” I could feel tears begin to well up in my eyes. The last thing I wanted was to start getting emotional. I did not want him to see any weakness.
“Look, Jasmine. I’m sorry, ah’ight? I fucked up. I don’t know what I was thinking about. You have every right to be mad.”
“You damn right I have the right to be mad. You disrespected me, Derrick. You let that woman drive my car while I was taking the bus. Do you know how humiliating that is?”
“Look baby, I know I should have never let Wendy use the car. But she was just supposed to go to Food Lion and back. I didn’t know she was gonna joyride around Richmond. She knew I had to pick you up. Don’t you see? She was trying to fuck up things between us.”
“I’m sure she was, but you should’ve seen this coming. It’s not the first time she’s pulled some shit like this, Derrick. Why do you keep letting her come between us?”
“I gotta see my son, Jasmine. You know how hard she would make that if I told her she couldn’t come around? I gotta be nice to her, baby.” He was pleading with me to understand, but I’d had enough.
“Look, Derrick. I just can’t do this anymore. She’s been trying forever to fuck things up, and you just don’t seem to want to put a stop to it. You have no one to blame but yourself. Now pack your shit and get out my house before I call the police.”
“Baby, please don’t do this. Give me one more chance. I know that sometimes I let Wendy get away with things, but that’s because I don’t wanna lose Tyler. Please, baby, come on. Let me make this up to you.”
“No, Derrick. I want you out!”
“Damn! Why you gonna do this? I was gonna ask you to marry me tonight.” His voice was a mixture of anger and desperation, and although I was surprised, I almost believed him. Still, he’d fooled me before with his lies.
“Yeah, right. Do you really expect me to believe that crap?” I shook my head, chewing my bottom lip.
“It’s the truth. That’s why I bought the lobster tails and steak this morning. I was gonna make you a candlelight dinner; then right after dessert I was gonna propose.”
“You fucking liar. I don’t believe a word you’re saying. And I don’t appreciate you trying to play with my emotions like this.” I walked over to the door and opened it. “Get out, Derrick. Get the fuck out my house and don’t come back. I’ll have your shit sent to your mother’s.”
He walked to the door and stopped in front of me.
“You want me to leave? Okay, I’ll leave. But if I’m lying, why do I have this in my pocket?” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small jewelry box. My jaw dropped.
“Look. I can understand if you don’t want this. But I been waiting to do this all day.” He opened the box, and I almost fainted when I saw the size of the rock. It had to be at least three carats.
“Jasmine, will you marry me?”
There was a part of me that wanted to scream, “Yes! Yes! I’ll marry you.” But after everything that happened today with Wendy, there was no way I could say that. Sure, the ring and everything was real romantic, but things weren’t right between us. I was so tired of this triangle between me and him and his baby’s momma, and until he put a stop to Wendy’s shit, I couldn’t marry him.
“I’m sorry, Derrick, but I can’t. I can’t do it. I love you. I’m not gonna deny that. But I can’t marry you. Not the way things are.”
“Then I’ll change the way things are. I swear.”
“How? How you gonna do that? You gonna keep Wendy away from my house?”
“Yeah,” he nodded.
I’d heard his promises so many times, I wasn’t sure if I could really believe him. I glanced at the beautiful ring, then handed the box back to him.
“I’m gonna give you one last chance, Derrick. But I’m not gonna take your ring. At least not until I see some changes in the way I’m treated.”
He frowned as he took the box, but then he stroked my cheek and smiled at me. “Don’t worry, baby. You gonna be wearing that ring in no time. Things are gonna change. You’ll see.”