a job, and hopefully he was going to stay long enough to attend Brent’s wedding. Brent, the third friend in our tight circle, was getting married in two weeks, and he and I were supposed to pick Sonny up at the airport. Sonny was probably calling to let me know what time his flight would arrive.
“Hello?”
“James?” It wasn’t Sonny. It was a woman, a familiar voice, but in my tired state, I just couldn’t make out the voice. “James?” the woman asked again.
“Yeah, who is this?”
“Michelle.”
The hair on the back of my neck stood up, and every muscle in my body tightened. I hadn’t heard Michelle’s voice in years. Why the hell was she calling me, especially at this time of night? I could feel Cathy start to stir next to me, and fear ran through my body. I immediately cupped the phone and rolled over on my right side, away from my wife.
I’d met Michelle a few years back, during the time Cathy and I were having our marital problems and contemplating divorce. Michelle was living with her mother. Their house was a daily stop on my old UPS route. Her mother was addicted to the Home Shopping Network, and was constantly ordering nonsense she didn’t need. Looking back at things, I wished I had never met her, but in all honesty, she filled a void in my life at a very unhappy time. She was exactly what I needed to realize that what I had at home was worth fighting for.
Funny thing is, in the beginning, I never even thought about messing with Michelle. She was just the woman who answered the door when I dropped off her mother’s packages. I mean, she was nice enough and had a decent body, but she wasn’t gonna win any beauty contests with those rollers and that sweatsuit she wore when she answered the door every morning. As time went on, however, her appearance started to change. At first it was subtle; the scarf and rollers she usually wore to the door had disappeared, and her hair was now combed in various styles. Then one morning she surprised me by answering the door wearing makeup. And if that wasn’t enough, I knew something was definitely up when she stopped wearing the beat-up old gray sweatsuit and started to answer the door wearing a negligee with a sheer robe. Being a flirtatious guy, I gave her a few compliments on her improved appearance. Yeah, I know I was a married man headed down the road to disaster, but boys will be boys, and I was just seeking some much-needed attention that I wasn’t getting at home.
I really didn’t think anything would start between me and Michelle. That changed, though, when she was more than a little receptive to my flirtation and started giving it back even more aggressively. We played this little back-and-forth game over the next couple of weeks. I don’t have to tell you what happened after that. Let’s just say it happened every day for six months, even when I didn’t have any packages to deliver to her house. Now that I think back on it, I don’t think I’d ever been so happy to go to work in my entire life.
“Michelle, why are you calling me at this time of night?” I was whispering but my voice was cold and serious.
“Well, if you had answered when I called you earlier, we wouldn’t be going through this now. I been blowing up your phone since five o’clock this afternoon, and it just keeps sending me to your voice mail. By the way, your box is full. Haven’t you checked your messages?”
“No, I haven’t. I’ve been busy, spending time with my wife.” I glanced at Cathy to see if I was talking too loud. She seemed to still be asleep.
“You don’t have to get nasty with me, James. I know you’re married, remember? You act like she’s right next to you or something.”
“Ahhh, yeah, where else would she be at this time of night?” I couldn’t resist the sarcasm. “Now look, it’s late. And I don’t do booty calls anymore. So please don’t call me again, okay?”
“Don’t you hang up this phone, James Robinson!” she demanded. “We need to talk now. And I really don’t care if your wife is there or not. This is important.”
I didn’t like her attitude. I was thinking about hanging up. The only thing that stopped me was the fact that Michelle was stubborn and would probably call back. One call at 1:30 in the morning Cathy might ignore or sleep through, but a second call would have her radar up like she was NASA waiting for the space shuttle to land. “Look, I don’t have time for this.”
“Well, make time, dammit. Unless you want me to show up at your doorstep with your son.”
If she didn’t have my attention before, she sure as hell had it now. I swear I could feel my heart stop. “Hold on a sec.” I cupped my hand over the phone then swung my feet off the bed to sit up. Cathy turned toward me.
“Baby, who’s that on the phone?” She was still half-asleep.
I turned toward her and forced a smile. “Ah, it’s just Sonny. I’ve gotta write down his flight information. I’ll be right back.”
“Aw’ight. Tell ’im I said hi.” She rolled back over, pulling the covers around her neck. I left the room, heading downstairs as quickly as possible. When I reached the family room, I turned on the television for background noise and brought the phone to my ear.
“What the hell is this about, Michelle? You told me the baby wasn’t mine.” Now that I was not within earshot of Cathy, I had a real attitude.
There was a hesitation on the line.
“I know that, James, but I was wrong.” There was a strange tone to her voice, not the attitude I expected. It was more like exhaustion. If I didn’t know better, I might have thought she didn’t want to be having this conversation with me. But I did know better, and I was sure Michelle was up to something.
“What do you mean you was wrong? Why you trying to play me, Michelle? You know that baby ain’t mine. You told me yourself, he looks just like your boyfriend. He don’t look nothin’ like me.”
“Ain’t nobody trying to play you, James. And his looks ain’t got nothin’ to do with who his daddy is. But trust me, he does look like you, just like you.” The attitude had crept back into her voice. “I just want you to take care of your responsibility. I can’t do this by myself anymore.”
“Responsibility! What responsibility? That baby ain’t mine. I rode past you and his daddy pushing a stroller down the street a few months ago. You looked like one big, happy family. Why you trying to put this on me now? I work for UPS. I don’t own it. I ain’t got no money. Damn.”
“You think I want this? I don’t want this. But I wouldn’t even be talking to you if Trent hadn’t failed a paternity test. The baby’s not his, James. DNA tests don’t lie.”
There was silence on my end. I wasn’t sure what to say. I wanted to ask, “Well, whose baby is it?” but common sense told me that wasn’t a good idea, especially since she had my cell number, my home number, and my address. If she wanted to, she could make my life a living hell.
As if she was reading my mind she said, “You’re the only other one I was sleeping with, James, so don’t come out your face with any stupidness.”
God, I wish I had never met her.
“What do you want from me, Michelle?”
“We need to talk face-to-face. All I want you to do is take care of your son. I don’t want anything else. But I can’t do this by myself.”
“Aw’ight, but I can’t do it tomorrow. It’ll have to be Monday.”
“Okay, I can wait ’til Monday. But don’t let me come looking for you, James, ’cause I ain’t calling your cell phone looking for you anymore. I’m calling your house.” Why I called that girl from my home number when we were sleeping together I’ll never know. I felt like kicking myself for being so damn stupid.
“Don’t worry. I’ll call you.” I clicked off the phone then walked up the stairs as if I was in a trance. How the hell was I gonna tell Cathy if I did really have another son?
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