I slipped into the ladies room, glanced under each stall to make sure that I was alone, then let out a, "Whoop!" and threw my fist in the air.
It had been almost too easy. Or maybe I was just that good.
What it was in reality though, was that Donovan Dobbs had been a very bad boy. I hadn't been following anything on the blogs about him; he wasn't really on my radar except for when he'd humiliated Tamara and after that, I'd pretty much forgotten about him.
But when a new plan began formulating in my mind after Randy's disaster on Tuesday, I'd found out lots about Mr. Dobbs.
It seemed that in the two years of his marriage, there had been a parade of THOTs and jump offs slithering through his life. I knew having to deal with all of those tricks would have left any woman insecure, and what I also hoped, was that a woman who'd been through all of that could be easily fooled, too.
While I figured out exactly how I was going to use Randy, I wanted to make Tamara as miserable as I could. I might never have this chance again - to be around Tamara every day for an extended time. I had to make every minute of each hour count.
And so I'd figured out a plan. It hadn't taken much time and even less effort, and I was able to execute it right away.
On Tuesday night, as we club-hopped through Atlanta, I'd sat next to Donovan, drinking very little, flirting a lot and after a couple of hours, all I had to do was pretend that my phone was dead.
When I asked if I could borrow his phone to call my mother, Donovan gave it freely (especially when I gave him a little pout and a peek at my boobs) and he didn't even care when I slipped away from the table to make the call. (Though I was sure he wanted me to bring my boobs back.)
Hiding out in the ladies room, I got to work. It didn't take but a couple of moments to spot his wife's number, which was easy enough to find under WIFEY. Then, the texts began:
Get to Atlanta quick.
I wasn't sure if she'd respond right away; not that it mattered. I would have just kept doing it every night until I made contact with her.
But being the wife that she was, probably with her cell at her side waiting for a call or a text from her wayward husband, in two seconds, she hit back with:
Huh? Now you want me to come to ATL?
I smiled.
I'm sorry. This isn't Donovan. I'm a friend of his who's in the play and I don't like what's going down with D and that chick Tamara. She's after your man and I don't play that.
This time, I don't think two seconds passed:
Who is this? What's going on? Where's Donovan? What are you doing with his phone?
My thumbs couldn't type fast enough.
Look, I'm just trying to help. No drama. Just don't like how Tamara is going after him. They're out on the dance floor now and she's all over him. I just wanted to give you this heads up. Get here. Surprise him or something, but get here asap.
So much time passed, that I wasn't sure if she was going to hit back. With what I knew that she'd been through, she might have already been on a plane from Memphis.
But then after about a minute:
Thank you. Thank you so much. I'll be there.
I had wanted to text back and ask when, but I didn't want eagerness to blow my cover or my plan. So, I just deleted the texts that I'd just sent, returned to the table, gave Donovan back his phone (and another peek at my breasts). As I joined back in with the banter and the laughter, I thought about all the things that I could set up so that drama would go down once Mrs. Dobbs got here.
But who knew Donovan and Tamara were going to set that up all by themselves?
Like I said, too easy. The only bad part was that this was my plan and I'd missed it. I wouldn't have seen any of it if Gwen hadn't asked me to walk with her to the front desk to check on a package that she was expecting. By the time we rolled up on Donovan, Tamara, and his wife, wifey had Tamara's back against the floor and she was punching her like she was one of those bags at the gym.
Just thinking about it made me laugh out loud again. I was impressed; Donovan's wife moved her fists so fast, it was just a blur. She wasn't bigger than a minute, but she'd worn Tamara out. That surprised me; I was sure that Tamara could fight - at least, that's what I remembered from back when I was a kid.
The memory of that time snatched my laughter away and I had to brace myself against the sink. Even though I took a couple of deep breaths to steady myself, still when I looked up, there were tears in my eyes. There were always tears whenever I thought of June Bug. His real name was Martin, named after our daddy. Martin, Jr - June Bug was who he would always be to me.
Blinking back tears, I looked up and did what I always did -- wished I could see into heaven. If I could have just one more conversation, one more hug, one more moment with him....
But I couldn't. Because for six years now, I'd had to live with an emptiness that was sometimes so overwhelming, I felt like I was drowning in the grief. It didn't have to be this way. Because Tamara used to be part of the family.
February 2, 2001
I tried to hold in my giggles, but it was hard. I was only seven and everything was funny to me. But this was really funny. 'Cause June Bug and Tam didn't know that I was hiding from them.
When they came into the living room, I ducked down behind the couch. I knew it! I just knew that they were gonna come in here. And I bet, I would get to see them kissing again. Maybe I would even get to see them doing the nasty the way I saw them the other night when June Bug was laying on top of Tamara. They had their clothes on, but still, I knew that June Bug would get into all kinds of trouble if Mama found out.
I should've told my best friend, Niecy, to come over so that we could watch them again. June Bug and Tam were always kissing and she had never seen them doing the nasty before.
"Don't cry, Tam," my brother whispered right before they sat on the couch and that made me frown. "I don't want you to cry."
My brother's voice was so soft, like he was talking to a baby and I wanted to peek over the top of the couch. But I couldn't take the chance of them seeing me. 'Cause June Bug might get mad and then not give me the fifty cents he'd promised me.
But even though I couldn't see them, I could hear Tamara sniffling. Like really sniffling. Like she had been crying a lot and for a really long time.
Then, she said, "I can't help it. Do you know how long I've wanted to go to Yale."
"I know."
"And now, it's not gonna happen!" Tam sounded so sad, I wanted to cry, too.
I didn't even know where Yale was, but I wanted her to go. Why couldn't she go? Why couldn't June Bug just drive her?
"Let me see the letter," my brother said.
I heard some ruffling, like paper unfolding, and then, there was nothing but quiet. So much quiet, that I almost stood up because I thought they were gone. But I didn't move because even though they weren't talking, I was pretty sure that I heard some breathing going on.
My brother finally made all of that quiet go away. He said, "They are giving you a lot of money, Tam."
"Yeah, but it's nowhere what I need. And I have no idea where I'll get the rest. You know with my mom's disability, she can't help." There were more sniffles. "She tried to save the money from my dad's insurance policy for my college, but it's what we've been living on."
"I know," June Bug said.
I wanted to tell my brother to just drive her over to Yale. Mama would let him drive the car as long as he brought it back before she had to go to the night shift at the hospital.
"Well, what about if you go to Mississippi Valley with me."
"I don't want to go to Mississippi Valley," she cried. "I want to go to Yale. I've wanted to go to Yale my whole life."
"But I'm just sayin', maybe for a year, until we can figure this out. Maybe after a year, this will work itself out and you can transfer."
"Don't you understand?"
My eyes got big when Tam yelled and she jumped up from the couch. I could see the top of her head and it was moving the way Mama's head moved when she was mad at me.
She said, "I don't want to go to Mississippi Valley. I want to go to Yale or I'm not going to college at all. And if I don't go to college, my life will be ruined. I'll never be an actress, I'll never get to leave Mississippi. It will all be over."
The way she shouted and cried made tears come into my own eyes. I wished that Niecy was here with me. Or better, I wished that I was at Niecy's house. Because it didn't seem like there was gonna be any kissing today and I didn't want to sneak around just to hear all of this crying.
"Don't cry, Tam."
Now, my brother stood up, too. And I could see more than the top of his head - I could see his whole face. I could tell that he had put his arms around Tam and he hugged her.
"I'm gonna figure something out. Don't you worry," June Bug said. "I'm gonna make sure you go to Yale. Don't you worry."
He kept saying, 'Don't you worry,' over and over. But even though he said that and even though he hugged her, she still cried and cried and cried. And a few minutes later, I was crying right along with her.
I wiped away my tears now, thinking of that day and thinking about everything that had happened after that. My brother had been such a good guy. He was only eighteen and he'd been willing to give up going to college himself so that he could work and help Tamara pay for school. (I'd figured out that Yale was a college and not just another town in Mississippi.)
June hadn't had to do that since Tamara's mother died right before they graduated and she'd used her mom's insurance money. Still, my brother had been willing. He would have sacrificed everything for her; that's how much he loved her. But she only cared about herself.
Well, the way she had damned my brother, was the way that I was going to damn her. For as many days as I could, I was going to make her life so bad, she'd hope for miserable. I was going to do that until I could figure out this whole thing with Randy. Because Randy was the ultimate to me. Especially with the way he had acted on Tuesday.
Yeah, dude was crazy. And he would take care of Tamara real good, leave her with a permanent pain and I hoped a couple of scars, too.
My tears weren't all the way gone, but at least the thought of Randy being my revenge made me smile inside. That made me smile for the rest of the afternoon.