CHAPTER 2
RICHARD
Felicia’s comment about her getting married was still ringing in my ears. I was still so surprised that a woman like her wasn’t already married . . .
“Richard, what’s the matter? Why did you get so quiet and glassy-eyed all of a sudden?” Regina asked in a concerned tone as she shook my arm.
“Huh? Oh! I was just trying to remember if there was anything else I needed to pick up,” I fumbled. “I’m fine.” I gave her a tight, fake smile. I was glad she’d interrupted my thoughts. But as soon as she started chatting with Felicia again, my mind wandered off in another direction anyway.
I spent time with several different women, but Regina Dobbins was the one folks saw me with the most. I had dated her in high school and we had taken our relationship to the next level during our four years at Ohio State. We’d planned to have a future together. She’d balked when I told her I wanted to do a stint in the army before I settled down. But she wanted to stay in the relationship anyway. We got together every time I came home on leave and we corresponded by letter on a weekly basis. However, six months before my discharge, she stopped answering my letters. I called her a few times from Iraq and was never able to reach her. Finally, two months before my discharge, she sent the “Dear John” letter that ended our engagement—in the same envelope with the announcement of her upcoming wedding. By the time I returned home, she and her new husband had moved to Alaska. Less than a year later, I met a wonderful woman named Margaret Pritchard at a church fundraiser. I married her eight months later. While I was on my honeymoon, Regina’s husband divorced her and she returned to Mandell.
Five years ago, when my daughters were eight and nine, Margaret was diagnosed with uterine cancer. It was so aggressive, she died three months after her diagnosis. I was devastated.
Somehow, I recovered and started dating again four months after the funeral. Regina and I still socialized with some of the same mutual friends, so we’d bump into each other from time to time, always with other dates. When we finally ended up without dates at the same neighborhood cookout one weekend, we decided to start going out again. She wanted a more serious and permanent relationship. So did I, but not with her. The main reason was because she had no desire to have children, which was why her husband had divorced her. I wanted to have at least one more, so we could never have a future together.
I still had feelings for her and I enjoyed her company. But I’d made it clear from the get-go that I would still see other women. She spent time with other men as well.
Regina must not have noticed that I’d become distracted again. I could hear her and Felicia talking, but it sounded like gibberish to me. I shook my head to clear my thoughts. “It was nice seeing you, Felicia. I’ll see you on the bus next week,” I told her.
“Bye, Richard, Regina. Have a blessed night,” she replied.
* * *
I walked through the checkout line and out the store in a daze. Even though Regina had looped her arm through mine, I had almost forgotten she was with me. That’s the kind of effect Felicia Hawkins had on me.
We tossed our bags into the back seat of my Ford Explorer, and we got in and fastened our seat belts. I pulled out of the parking lot and eased onto the busy street before either one of us spoke again. “She’s nice,” Regina said.
“She who?” I asked dumbly.
Regina whirled around to face me with her mouth hanging open. “Richard, you’re beginning to scare me. What is the matter with you tonight?”
“I’m fine. Just anxious to get out of this cold weather,” I answered as I reached to turn on the heater.
“Anyway, I was talking about Felicia.”
“She is nice,” I agreed.
“She was so popular with the boys in our school. I wonder which one married her.”
“She’s never been married,” I said quickly. Traffic was heavy, so I kept my eyes on the road. But from the corner of my eye, I noticed a curious look on Regina’s face.
She shifted in her seat and looked away. “That’s a shame. I wonder why.” Then she added with a chuckle, “She’s very attractive when she’s fixed up.”
“I think she’s very attractive even when she’s not ‘fixed up,’ ” I defended.
Regina sucked in some air and went on. “Are we going to the Black Tiger later so I can buy that beer I owe you?”
“I’ll take a rain check. I limit myself to only four drinks a week and I filled that quota yesterday at my in-laws’ dinner.”
“If you change your mind, let me know.”
When I parked in front of the large red brick house Regina had recently purchased, I was surprised to see that every light in her house was on. Her baby sister, Diana, who had come up from Toledo for Thanksgiving and was going to stay until after Christmas, was peeping out the front window. “That girl. My light bill is going to be sky-high this month,” Regina griped. “I love her to death, but I don’t know if I can stand to have her around for a whole month. That’s why I wanted to get out of the house tonight.”
“I felt the same way when my cousin Mike stayed at my house the whole Christmas week last year. But I missed him when he left and I’m sure you’ll feel the same way about Diana when she leaves.”
“You’re right and I feel guilty because I did invite her. Hey! Why don’t we get one of your friends for her and let’s go out tomorrow night. Or some other night real soon. I don’t want to wait for it to get too close to Christmas when all the bars will be so crowded.”
“Let me get back to you about that. I have a lot of things planned to do with my girls in the next few weeks.”
“Oh. Well, tell Marva and Carol their auntie Regina said hello.”
When I pulled into the driveway of the huge white stucco house I’d inherited from my parents, my elder daughter, fourteen-year-old Marva, flung open the front door as soon as I walked up on the porch. Thirteen-year-old Carol stood behind her. With their cute cinnamon-colored faces, petite frames, and wavy black hair, they looked so much like their mother. They had already put on their pajamas and I planned to do the same thing myself as soon as I could.
“What took you so long?” Marva asked. She grabbed my arm and led me into our spacious, lavishly furnished living room. My wife had taken her last breath on the couch we’d owned back then. Because of that, my in-laws could no longer stand to look at it. So my Christmas present from them that year was the plush lavender couch and matching love seat in our living room now. Marva had picked out the purple and black brocade curtains at the living-room windows. “Daddy, while you were gone, we vacuumed every floor, cleaned our bathroom—and yours—and we put all the Thanksgiving food we brought home from Grandma’s yesterday in baggies and put them in the freezer.”
“And you didn’t even have to tell us to do all that this time,” Carol pointed out. She and her sister had learned their good housekeeping skills from their mother, so our beautiful two-story house was always so neat and spotless, sometimes it didn’t even look lived in. I was happy to see that they also had a nice blaze going in the fireplace. “Did you get lost or run into one of your friends? We didn’t know you’d be gone so long.”
“I ran into Regina. After I had finished all my shopping, I had to wait until she finished hers so I could give her a ride home,” I replied.
“Again?” Carol said, rolling her eyes.
“Her car is in the shop,” I explained.
“And she just happened to be in the market the same time as you, like the last two times?”
“That’s not so unusual. A lot of folks in this part of town shop at Ralph’s Market because it’s convenient,” I declared. “What’s the big deal, Carol?”
“Daddy, that lady is trying to set you up. Like last year when she just happened to have an extra ticket to the Cavaliers game and talked you into going with her.”
A self-satisfied smile crossed my face. “Everybody knows that’s my favorite team. I hadn’t been able to get a ticket myself so I was glad to go with her,” I reminded.
Both girls rolled their eyes this time.
“Did you get everything?” Marva asked, pulling on one of the shopping bags in my hand.
“Everything except the green apples. They were all out.” I paused and glanced around the room. “Homework done?”
“I’m done!” Carol shouted with a thumbs-up.
“I’m almost done,” Marva muttered, looking at the floor.
“Make sure you finish it before you get on that computer or start fiddling around with your phone,” I advised with a stern look.
While they rifled through the two shopping bags, I removed my coat and hung it on the rack by the door. With a deep sigh, I flopped down on the couch and removed my boots. It had been a humdrum day for me until my encounter with Felicia. Now I felt as if I’d received a shot in the arm. “Daddy, what are you smiling about?” Carol asked as she approached the couch with the shampoo I’d purchased in her hand.
“I have a lot to smile about,” I answered, still smiling.
“Sometimes you can be so lame,” she accused, shaking her head.
“So, you gave Regina a ride home, huh? I hope she doesn’t pay us another unexpected visit again anytime soon,” Marva said, dropping down next to me.
“Like last Monday when she just happened to be in our neighborhood just as we were about to have dinner. She’s a nice lady and I like her, but I didn’t like the way she manipulated an invitation from you to eat dinner with us that day,” Carol added, sitting down on my other side. “Besides, you two don’t even make a good couple.”
“Carol, how would you know what it takes to make a couple good?” I asked as I gave her a playful tap on the side of her head.
“For one thing, when that lady is around, you look like you can’t wait for her to leave.”
“Pffftt! That’s just your imagination,” I suggested with a dismissive wave. “I’ve been friends with ‘that lady’ since we were in high school.” I didn’t know what to say next on the subject of Regina so I took a detour. “Let’s pop some of that popcorn and go watch a movie. What do you queens want to watch tonight? How the Grinch Stole Christmas is coming on in a little while on channel two. Or we can check out that Cinderella movie your grandmother added to your video library the last time she visited.”
“Daddy, please. We’ve seen so many versions of Cinderella. How about something from your library like the latest Fast and Furious?” Marva hollered.
“Okay. But only after I edit it first. That’s too much action for girls your ages to watch.”
They heaved out loud sighs at the same time. “For real, Daddy. You’ll never find another wife being so straitlaced and dull,” Marva predicted.
I shrugged and heaved out a loud sigh myself. “Well, queens, I guess I’ll have to marry a straitlaced, dull woman.”