Chapter 6

Lamar was in front of his door with a hose and a bucket, washing his car early in the morning. Lately, he had been thinking about what he wanted to say to Falisha the next time that he saw her. It was bothering him that ever since they had sex together that night, neither one of them had much to say to the other. When they saw each other they spoke, but it was obvious that they had some unresolved business.

In the midst of him detailing the inside of his car, a cream Escalade turned onto the street, catching his attention. The large SUV stopped right in front of his car, and paused for a minute before the passenger side door swung open.

“I’ma call you later,” Falisha told the driver before slamming the door shut. She didn’t notice Lamar sitting in his car until the truck pulled off. She didn’t know why, but she felt like she had just gotten caught cheating on him, and that was pretty much the look that he gave her. “What’s up, Lamar?” she asked, crossing the street.

Lamar didn’t say anything, but rather nodded his head and then leaned back into his car to clean under his seat. For a moment, he was mad as hell that he had to live directly across the street from her.

“Oh, you can’t speak?” Falisha asked, walking up and standing over him. She was feeling some type of way that all she got was a nod from him.

Lifting his head to see her, he said nonchalantly, “What up, Falisha?”

“What, you mad at me or something?’ she asked while taking her keys out of her bag.

“Why would I be mad at you? We’re friends, right?” he asked with an eyebrow up, trying to be smart.

Falisha could tell that he had an attitude. If it weren’t for the fact that she’d been out all night long she would have stayed there and unleashed a verbal attack on him. She did have a few things she wanted to get off of her chest, too, but now wasn’t the time for all that, especially since it looked like he was ready to go a few verbal rounds with her. She didn’t say anything. She just turned and disappeared into the house.

* * *

Lisa’s heart damn near jumped out of her chest when she cracked open her eyes and Dre was lying in the bed next to her. The sun was shining through the window curtains, letting her know that she had fucked up and fallen asleep last night after Dre ravishingly had his way with her. She sat up in the bed and put her head in her hands. She had told herself that she was only going to lie there for a couple of minutes before she headed back to the cabin with Ralphy, but exhaustion had gotten the best of her. “Shit!” she mumbled to herself before jumping out of the bed to look for her clothes.

She ran into the living room only to find her jeans and the ripped-up tank top on the floor, balled up by the door. She covered her face with both of her hands, damn near ready to cry. She didn’t know how she was going to explain this to Ralphy. The thought of her entire marriage ending because of something like this brought tears to her eyes. She knew Ralphy, and there was no way in hell he would ever forgive her if he found out that she was cheating on him. That was a guarantee beyond a shadow of a doubt.

“Think, Lisa. Think!” she said to herself, wiping the tears away from her eyes.

She had to try to find a way out of this situation, and the way things looked, it wasn’t going to happen. It was already eight-thirty in the morning, her clothes were ripped, the sun was up, her hair was sweated out something crazy; and who knew how long Ralphy had been awake and waiting for her to come back in?

“Think, Lisa! Think!” Lisa mumbled to herself as she looked around the cabin.

She jumped at the first idea that popped into her head, and stormed back into the bedroom where Dre was snoring away. She walked over, grabbed his pants, and dug into the pockets, finding a wad of money, which was needed. There had to have been a couple grand there, but she only needed a hundred dollars, which she peeled off quietly before putting the money back in his pocket.

On her way into the Forrest Tree campsite, she remembered passing by a surplus mini market that sold just about everything. It’s sad, but the only idea she could come up with was to bring Ralphy some breakfast, hoping that he wasn’t awake by the time she got back to the cabin; or, if he was awake, he hadn’t been for that long.

Lisa ran to the store in record time, covering the half-mile walk within a couple of minutes. By the time she got there she had begun to sweat both from the walk and out of fear she was about to get caught.

The store was actually bigger on the inside when she entered. She looked around and went straight to the food section, grabbing a small basket to put her items in.

It wasn’t until she grabbed one of the hot breakfast sandwiches from the food counter that she realized the entire breakfast excuse wasn’t going to work. Ralphy wasn’t the least bit slow. Plus, he already had the whole weekend planned out, including breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

“Ma’am, can I help you?” a store worker asked as he walked over to Lisa and saw the obvious stress written all over her face.

Lisa didn’t hear him at first. She just stood there in a daze, thinking about Ralphy and Dre killing one another once they found out what was going on.

“You know, we have a beautiful trail that runs about four miles alongside a creek,” the man said, trying to be polite. “Sometimes I run that trail when I’m feeling down,” he said, finally getting her attention.

In situations like this, a woman’s brain thinks faster and more deviously than a man’s does. Before the clerk could even finish telling her about the trail, she had a plan B brewing in her head. She looked around the store, but she didn’t know if they carried what she was looking for. “Do y’all sell running shoes and jogging pants?” she asked the young clerk, who was more than happy to direct her to the small clothing section of the store.

Lisa only had a hundred dollars, so she had to make it work. She grabbed the cheapest running shoes she could find, along with a pair of sweatpants. They didn’t have sports bras so she bought two tank tops and a SAVE THE WILDLIFE T-shirt.

“How long does it take you to run that trail?” she asked the clerk as she placed her items on the counter.

“Well, I’m not a fast runner so it takes me about an hour. If I’m walking, it’ll take me about two hours, only because I like to take in nature’s beauty,” the man answered in a chipper tone.

Lisa dug into her pocket and pulled out the money she took from Dre, and paid for her items. She looked up at the clock hanging on the wall behind the counter. It was 8:55 a.m., and at this point she knew for sure that Ralphy was awake and probably wondering where in the hell his wife was.

She was on her way, and she only prayed that her plan would work. It was either that, or prepare for the worst.