Keithe had been in Dallas for two days and he hadn’t spoken to Michelle even once. She had called and left messages on his cell as well as on Mike’s home voice mail. Nonetheless, he had no enthusiasm for hearing her voice. If divorce was in the files for them, she’d certainly given him a good send-off: a headache that just wouldn’t quit.
Lucky for him, he had a dear friend in Mike, and was grateful for the room he’d offered him. Meeting Stoney and being a part of the friendship she and Mike had made Keithe feel needed and wanted at the moment.
“So, what’s the deal with Stoney? she seems like a cool kid.” Keithe started off the conversation with a hand glide over the top of his stubbly bald head. The trio’s Monday evening dinner left them scheduling a follow-up for the next day.
With an eyebrow raised toward the television, Mike’s eyes slowly drifted in the direction of Keithe. Knowing all too well the moves Keithe used to make back in their college days, Mike knew for sure the glide placed on his friend’s head meant something more.
“Um. Cute kid, huh?” Mike didn’t let on his suspicious thoughts. Pulling at his goatee, which was longer than it had to be, Mike pushed himself up by his gold-toedsocks and turned to his friend. With his elbows on his knees, Mike looked Keithe right in the face.
“What’s up, Keithe? You’ve been here since Sunday morning and still haven’t said why.”
“What do you mean, man? I can’t just come to visit my friend?” Keithe squinted his brown eyes, which were heavily layered with eyelashes, and acted as though the television program held his attention.
Picking up the remote, Mike clicked the small red button that made the HDTV screen crawl to black. “You know what I mean. Come on now. Your judge, I mean, your wife.” They shared a quick laugh. “You know better than anyone, that lady is not about to let you out of her sight.” Mike threw the remote on the cushion next to him and sat back.
Still holding on to his laughter, Keithe knew he couldn’t keep anything from the sly, and always fly, Brother Mike.
“Yep. You got me there, bro. I don’t know. Michelle just pushed me over the edge this time. She, ah…” Keithe thought it would be easier to share the embarrassing ordeal with his best friend, but it wasn’t. “Man…”
“What’s up? what’s the deal, man?” Mike waited on the opposite sofa for his friend to spill the beans. “What’d she do this time?”
Nodding before he let it out, Keithe internally pumped himself up. “She cheated on me, man,” he said, and then looked down into his lap, hoping he didn’t have to go any further.
Pursing his lips and narrowing his eyes, all Mike needed to do to seal the deal was switch his head to the side and yell out, “Whatchoo talking about, willis?” But he didn’t. Mike quieted his thoughts and wondered what to say. Jerking his neck back, Mike shook his head.
“Go ahead.” Keithe threw his non-calloused hands in the air, waiting for his friend’s remark. “I told you so. Go ahead and give me all fifteen years’ worth of ‘I told you so’s.’”
Almost choking on the words that replayed in his mind, those very words that his friend had trusted him with, there was no room for jokes in Mike’s heart.
“Again? That’s all I want to say, man. Again?” Mike had to catch himself from becoming too emotional. But with the new feeling he himself had longed for, a union, Mike couldn’t keep his mouth shut. “That’s not cool, Keithe. For real, though.” he didn’t want to allow his anger to surface to the utmost, but Mike couldn’t help letting it out. “See, that’s what I’m going to have to work on, dawg. That’s what I’m talking about right there. Man be wanting to go to the next level, and then what? what’s he suppose to do? sit back and get hurt? Get burned? not cool at all,” Mike chopped.
Third person, Keithe thought. “Right. I mean. But that’s just my situation, Mike. You can’t label all marriages like mine. But you cool anyway.” Keithe stood to stretch his legs, not wanting to get too deep into Mike’s business. “Plus there really hadn’t been any real evidence on the other assumptions.” Keithe wanted to set the record straight. “But I did overhear about it this time. And man,” he said, starting to pace the floor, “You should have seen her at this gala the other night. Her colleagues,” he said loosely, “Were all over her.” not paying attention to Mike’s change of expression, Keithe was in his own world.
“Your wife is on fiya, man. I’m just saying.” Mike looked into his friend’s eyes and shrugged. “Oh, and don’t think I’m letting you off the hook about questioning Stoney.”
“So what you gonna do this time?” Mike asked. Regardless of how his friend tried to maintain the innocence of his wife, Mike, if he were a betting man, would declare Michelle had been made a pro on the cheating scene.
Raising his shoulders into a shrug, Keithe flipped his bottom lip and answered his friend. “I mean, marriage. Divorce? I don’t know. I’m tired.” he leaned even farther into the sofa’s cushions.
“Yeah,” Mike barely oozed from his lips.
Knowing he had a plethora of stuff to dish to Mike, Keithe didn’t want to linger too long on the conversation that had to do with his erroneous marriage. “It’s just another something I’ll have to deal with with Michelle. Just pray for me, dude,” Keithe asked his friend before he closed his eyes.
Wanting to be there for his friend, Mike knew that, sooner or later, tough love would have to overpower his words. No matter what, he’d have to let Keithe know that Michelle would be the death of him if he didn’t get out of that marriage.