Chapter 16

Lynox didn’t know how to feel about the fact that Deborah’s one phone call hadn’t gone to him, but to her mother instead. He’d always been the first person she called on if she was in need. She had never called her mother first when she got a flat tire, and that time she took a client out to lunch, realized she’d left her wallet in her other purse, and needed someone to bring her money to cover the bill, she hadn’t called her mother. She’d called him. But now, at the most crucial time in her life, when she had been arrested, she hadn’t called him.

Receiving a phone call from his mother-in-law the morning after the incident and getting updates on his wife from her had not been what he expected, or what he felt he deserved. From the tone of Ms. Lucas’s voice when she called, he’d deduced that she felt that he didn’t even deserve her phone call. Lynox wasn’t sure exactly what Deborah had told her mother, but he could tell by her sharp, short, and sassy tone that she blamed him for the predicament her only child was in.

“I’m sorry about all of this,” Lynox had said, trying to apologize, but Ms. Lucas had already hung up in his ear.

He hadn’t even gotten a chance to ask his mother-in-law if Deborah had asked about him. Was she angry at him? He had no idea where her mind was at. All he knew was that she had received seven stitches in her head, had been taken to jail, and was waiting for bail to be set. Getting out on her own recognizance had not been an option.

Lynox paced the floor, not knowing what to do at this point. He looked over at the baby’s empty swing. He hadn’t even thought to ask Ms. Lucas how Tatum was doing. The doorbell ringing snapped him out of his thoughts. He raced over to the door, not knowing if it was Deborah coming home or what. She hadn’t taken her purse with her when the ambulance took her away, so she didn’t have her house keys to get in.

“Coming!” Lynox called out, practically tripping over his own feet as he raced over to the door. Without even looking out the peephole, he flung the door open. A huge wave of disappointment covered his face when he saw that the person standing on his doorstep wasn’t his wife.

“Well, dang, I’m glad to see you too, partner,” Reo said. He would have had to be blind not to see the look on his writing partner’s face.

“I’m sorry, man. I thought you were Deborah,” Lynox said when he opened the screen door to let Reo in. He’d forgotten all about the fact that the two of them were supposed to spend time today working on their manuscript.

“Something wrong with Deborah?” Reo asked. Lynox had already walked away, so Reo closed the door behind them.

Lynox, still in the same clothes from last night and not having had a wink of sleep, flopped down on the couch and exhaled, as if he’d been holding his breath for hours.

“This looks serious,” Reo said. “What’s going on? How can I help?” Reo was very sincere in his query, and he stood there, waiting for Lynox to reply.

Lynox stared up at the ceiling for a minute, deciding whether or not he wanted to share with Reo all the details of last night. The last thing he wanted was for some type of stigma to be attached to his wife. He didn’t want people looking at her funny for having been arrested for domestic violence. But Reo’s wife had been arrested for murder. Reo would be the last person to judge Deborah. And he would know, more than anybody else, how Lynox was feeling right about now.

“From the looks of things,” Reo said, “it seems like what you need more than anything is prayer. And I don’t need to know what’s going on with you to pray for you.” Reo bowed his head and began praying. “Dear God, I come to you as humbly as I know how. I ask that whatever is going on with my brother, you be in the midst of it all. Please order his steps, touch his mind, and give him peace. Surround his family with a supernatural barrier of protection. Lord, anything that looks bad right now, we ask that you turn it around and add your favor to it.”

“Yes, Lord,” Lynox mumbled, truly moved by his friend’s words.

“Lord, send down your power, grace, mercy, glory, and anointing. Shower down, Lord. Shower down. In Jesus’s name, I pray. Amen.”

“Amen,” Lynox said. He then looked over at Reo. “Thanks, man. Whew. I really needed that.”

“Anytime,” Reo said. He stood there. “Well, you’re clearly in no mood to write. So why don’t we take a rain check?”

“That sounds like a good idea, because with Deborah being in jail, I can hardly put a sentence together, let alone a paragraph.”

“Jail?” Reo said, shocked at the news his ears had just heard.

“Yeah, man. Deborah was arrested last night.”

“For what?” Reo really didn’t mean to pry. It was just that Lynox had spilled the beans, so he couldn’t wait for them to spread all over the place.

Lynox hesitated. “Domestic violence.”

“Against you?” Reo looked Lynox up and down, questioning with his eyes whether Deborah had really whopped on his big self. The minor bruises and scratches really weren’t as visible as they’d been under the flashlight last night.

Lynox nodded. He didn’t even want to say it.

“Wow,” was all Reo could say.

“They arrested her and took her to jail. Well, not straight to jail. They at least allowed her to go get stitches put in her head first.” Lynox said it as if Reo had been present last night and knew all that had gone on.

“Stitches? Wait. You’re losing me.” Reo shook his head. “Deborah got charged with domestic violence, but she’s the one who’s hurt?”

“Yeah, she busted her head when I pushed her against the night table.”

Reo raised both hands as he stood there. “Whoa. Hold up, man. You my dawg and all, and I’ll definitely continue to pray for you, but I can’t condone men hitting on women.”

“No, no.” Lynox began to shake his head. “I didn’t hit her. She was clobbering me, man. And since I would never hit her, I tried to push her away. When I did this, she fell backward and hit her head. She corroborated my story. That’s why the police didn’t arrest me.”

Reo put his hands down.

Lynox was lightweight offended that Reo had even thought he was that type of guy. “Man, you know that’s not who I am,” Lynox said. “I would never put my hands on a woman.”

“My bad. I didn’t know what to think. I mean, you hitting me with the one-two right now.”

“I know. I feel you,” Lynox said. He looked at Reo. “You was really gon’ cut me off just like that?” he asked.

“Yeah,” Reo said without hesitating. “I can’t even look at a man who puts his hands on a woman, let alone hang with one. Even more, write a book with him. All I can do is pray for a brother like that and hope he gets delivered, so we can kick it again. But as long as a cat is abusing a woman, I ain’t got no holler.”

“That’s what’s up,” Lynox agreed. “But so you know, I’ve never put my hands on my wife or any other woman.” He paused for a minute. “Can’t say in these past couple of months I haven’t wanted to, though.”

Reo chuckled. “You preaching to the choir on that one. Like Chris Rock said, a brother may not hit a woman, but, man, there are times when he wants to shake her butt.”

Lynox let out a harrumph and shook his head. “You ain’t never lied.”

Reo finally sat down. He took the chair opposite Lynox. “So I take it things haven’t gotten any better as far as the way Deborah has been acting.” Klarke had shared with Reo how Deborah had tried marijuana but hadn’t stuck with it long term. Reo wasn’t sure if Lynox knew about her little experiment, so he didn’t mention it.

Lynox stared off into space, thinking about how bad things had actually gotten. “I really do wish I understood how her mind is working. She’s changed. She’s not the woman I married. And if something doesn’t give, between you and me, I don’t know if she’s the woman I want to stay married to.”

“Yo, hold up with all that,” Reo said. “You in your feelings right now. Don’t let emotions that are on ten right now make decisions that your heart will regret. First thing’s first. You two need to get through this whole jail and court situation, and then go from there.”

“Yeah. You’re right,” Lynox said. “This is so crazy. It’s like a nightmare.”

“I hear you,” Reo said. “Do you have any idea when they’re going to let her out?”

Lynox shook his head. “No. She hasn’t called me or anything. She’s been communicating with her mother. My mother-in-law in turn gives me an update.”

“The heck with all that,” Reo said. “That’s your wife. Get yourself together and come on.” Reo walked over to the front door.

“For what?” Where are we going?”

“Where do you think we’re going?” Reo asked. “We’re going to go see about your wife.”

Reo was right; Lynox needed to go see about his wife. Not call the jail or the courts on the phone and possibly get the runaround, and definitely not get the information secondhand from Ms. Lucas. He needed to go downtown personally and get some answers.

With his friend’s final words, Lynox went upstairs, washed up in the sink, brushed his teeth, and changed into a jogging suit really quick. He’d put off going downtown to see about Deborah. It had seemed like a waste of time if they weren’t going to let her out. On top of that, Ms. Lucas had been giving him updates. But knowing his mother-in-law and her attitude toward him, he wasn’t so sure that if Deborah was to get out, she’d even call him and let him know.

“All right, man. I’m all set,” Lynox said after taking the steps two at a time back down to the living room. “Let’s go.”

Reo was still standing by the front door. “Make sure you have your ID, your wallet, credit cards, cash, or whatever, just in case you have to bail her out or something.”

“Got all that,” Lynox assured him, tapping his front pants pocket. He snatched his keys off the table next to the door and then went and opened the door. But he froze solid when he saw what was waiting for him on his doorstep.