Three - Divorcees

He smiled again. “It wouldn’t be difficult to fall in love with you. Anyway, we’ll be going over to my parent’s place on Sunday, after that, we’ll decide how to make our proposal public. An engagement party or something.” He picked up a bottle of beer, tipped his head back and downed it. Goddamn, just drinking beer and he looks so hot.

“I haven’t said yes to the arrangement, Mr. Carter.”

“You haven’t said no either, miss Wordsworth,” he said with a lopsided smile. “Call me Nathaniel while I call you Claire, you’re my fiancée now, babe.”

Babe.

Just a simple word, yet my stomach fluttered at the sound of it. His voice was deep and rough which made it sound all better.

“I like your SpongeBob shirt but I bet I’ll like you better when you take it off,” he said. I flushed red. He picked up his coat and made way to the door. “See you later, babe. I’ll pick you up by two on Sunday. Wear something nice.” And with that he was out of my door and I wished he was out of my life too. I sighed deeply and slouched on the couch.

“He is so hot.” I heard Aniyah say. If I heard more about Nathaniel I might just remarry my ex husband Vincent.

•••

I woke up with my tongue stuck to the roof of my mouth and unbearable headaches. I took painkillers and jumped into the shower. I sat there until my water ran cold. I got out of shower, put on a pair of jeans and a dress shirt, nuked up the leftovers from last night and ate them for breakfast. I grabbed my purse and car keys and headed out to get grocery and maybe an outfit for tomorrow because I didn’t want to disappoint Nathaniel. I had an amazing dream last night. I had the best orgasm ever and it was a gift from Nathaniel and I was his wife. I was married to a CEO and he was in love with me. I was happy. But now, I’m back to my awful reality. I’d choose that dream any day over the one about whales and

apples. I stopped at the meat shop to apologize to Tank for last night’s disaster and thank him for the pound of meat he gave me when I ran into one of my classmates from high school, Connie.

“Hi, Claire.” She sounded like she was mocking me and in fact, she was. “Your mum called my mum, she said you are engaged to Nathaniel Carter. It’s just a rumor, right? An ugly one at that.” Everyone turned to look at me and I heard my sister’s middle school friend say, “my mum called this morning to tell me too.”

I sighed. “It’s not official yet.”

“Does that mean it will be official?” Mrs. Plum asked. I rolled my eyes and shrugged. Before anyone else could ask more questions, I ran out of the meat shop into my car and veered off. I dialed my mother as soon as I was far from the meat shop because I was stuck in traffic.

“Hello.”

“Why does everyone know about Nathaniel and I?”

“I might’ve told a few people.”

“Well, now everyone knows. Do you want him to cancel the engagement, mum?”

“Of course not!” She shrieked. I ended the call because we were free to move again. My next stop was The Pick ‘n’ Mix. A grocery on Melody drive. There, I ran into my best friend Annalise Macaroni. She used to go by Annalise Carlos but she got married and her name changed. She has five children now and she’s a good example of why I shouldn’t have children. Her daughter Mary was throwing a tantrum, I could barely hear Annalise when she said hi.

“Oh, hi, Ann,” I said back.

“How are you?”

“I’m good.”

“Not that I’m a gossip or anything but my husband says he heard Nathaniel Carter proposed to marry you, is that true?”

I rolled my eyes. “The number of times I’ve gotten that question today is insane. It’s a lot more complicated than that. Maybe I could come over…” I glanced at Mary who was still thrashing around. “…when the children are at school.”  Ann nodded and went back to taming Mary. I don’t really like to cook, mostly because I don’t know how to. While my sister was learning to cook, clean and be a mother, I was sneaking out to boys’ houses.

I lost my virginity when I was sixteen to my ex-husband. It didn’t go well because the next day, he wrote on the bathroom wall how he railed me, in details. My mum heard about it and I was grounded for three months. I don’t know how I forgave him in the end and the relationship continued even after college and we eventually got married. I should’ve known it was a bad idea after everything he wrote on the bathroom walls but my pea-sized brain didn’t.

I bought everything I needed to stock up my fridge and make it look like I had my life together. I even bought a non-stick pot and fry pan. I knew I wasn’t going to use it but I was getting married soon and I needed to be prepared for anything. Maybe my mother in-law would want a tour of my apartment. How’d it look it I had just paper plates, plastic spoons and no pots?

It was time to get the dress. I was thinking of getting a floral dress, it’ll look good on me and make me look like I was a reasonable adult that was fit to be the wife of a CEO. That’s the look I’m going for. I arrived at the mall and had the sudden urge to do something to my hair so I phone Aniyah, she said she was free so I was seating and waiting for her to get here.

“Claire!” I heard someone exclaim my name, it was my sister-in-law, Deborah. I didn’t like seeing her. She had such a high-pitched voice and was always laughing.

“Oh, I know what you and your family must be going through.” She wasn’t laughing.

“What? What are you talking about?” I asked.

“The divorce! I can’t imagine how hard it is on you. I’m so sorry.”

I had no idea what she was talking about. I got divorced four years ago, it wouldn’t be so hard on me now.

“It was four—“

“I tried to talk to my brother but he wouldn’t budge, he insisted on getting a divorce. How’s Joyce doing?”

Joyce? That’s my sister, the dove! Joyce was getting a divorce?

“Joyce and Alvin are getting a divorce?” I couldn’t help the smile that spread across my face. Something finally went wrong in Joyce’s life. Then it hit me, my sister was getting a divorce. I know what it feels like to get a divorce and my marriage was just a week old, hers is five years old.

“Oh, Deborah, excuse me, I have a call to make,” I told the lady. I called my mum immediately.

“Hel—”

“Joyce and Alvin are getting divorced.” The gasp sounded like all the air had been sucked out of mum’s lungs.

“What? Who? How?”

“I ran into Deborah at the mall,” I told her.

“My angel? I could understand if it were you but Joyce?”

I rolled my eyes even though she couldn’t see me. We ended the call soon after, my mum wanted to speak to Joyce. I want to talk to her too but that’ll be later today. Just then Aniyah arrived. She was wearing a leopard print spandex dress that barely contained her and some heels.

“I hear there’s a beauty emergency,” was what she said.  I’m a few inches taller than Aniyah but she often used her heels to disguise that.

“My sister’s getting divorced,” I told her.

“The saint?”

“Yeah.”

“A failed marriage leads to many more failed marriages.”

“I’ve been divorced, Aniyah.”

“I know.” She took a seat beside me. “What inspired this fashion emergency?”

“I’m going to see Nathaniel’s stepmom and grandfather on Sunday.”

“That’s huge.”

At the end of the day, I had maxed my credit card and I got a very sexy red dress that I’m in love with. I spent money on plenty other things but the highlight of my day was the red dress. I was about to nuke the lasagna when my grandmother called and said she needed a ride for her date and I could have dinner and my parent’s place instead, my sister was coming over. The weather was cold so I wore an oversized hand-knitted sweater and a pair of jeans. It was a few minutes till six by the time I set out. It was about fifteen minutes ride from my apartment.

My parents live in a friendly neighborhood and I grew up there. There were rows of houses inhibited by small families who made enough money to go by.

As usual, my grandmother’s face was pressed to the glass door when I got there. I was early for dinner, that impressed my mother.

“We’re having pineapple upside-down cake for dessert,” mum said. Pineapple upside-down cake is my favorite, I like anything that contains sugar but this one is special.

This time, I was careful enough to look around and I noticed an extra table was set.

“Mum,” I called in a warning tone. “Who did you set the extra table for?”

“Joyce. She’s coming over for dinner.”

That’s right, I had meant to call her, I’ve just had a really busy day. My sister arrived a few minutes later. She looked horrible. She had dangerous eye bags, her hair was a mess, she looked like she hadn’t had a decent meal in weeks. Everyone was too stunned to speak. My sister looked more like my dad, black

hair and dark eyes. As she settled down at the table and mum filled her plate, no one said anything and no one asked any questions mainly because we were terrified of the answer she’d provide.

“Do you have a pet cat or kitten?” Grandma asked. Joyce shook her head. “I mean, if you did, that’ll be a good explanation for the hair. You should get one.” Everyone has known grandma and I to be the people that drive mum crazy and do every wrong thing in the book but Joyce? It seemed like an impossibility. If someone ever told me that she was getting divorced I’d slap them in the face for insulting my younger sister. Perhaps, that’s what my dream was about.

“It’s so fucking hard!” She never cursed, not once, not ever and she just did at the dinning table. We all stopped eating and stared at her. Mum picked up the wine bottle and filled Joyce’d cup. She was crying now.

“I don’t know how my life turned out this way. I’ve always been a good wife, a good mother and a good daughter. I don’t know what to do. He’s getting everything, the car, the house, everything but the children! I’m left with nothing to take care of my babies and to worsen it, I’m pregnant.” Mum rubbed her back as she cried and went on and on. Dinner was ruined. My dad gently pushed his plate away and grandma was whispering comforting words to her.

“It gets better, Joyce,” I told her. “Mine wasn’t as bad as yours is but I’m sure it gets better.”

“You can move in with us!” Grandma exclaimed and I saw the blood on Dad’s face disappear.

“Thanks but you have only one bathroom and I have three children.”

“It doesn’t matter, we could make it work. Especially if you can talk to your dad about taking so long in the bathroom, I don’t know if he’s having children in there,” Grandma said to her. Mum was just watching the exchange silently, I wasn’t sure if she wanted it or not. Dad, however, looked offended.

“Is that okay with you?” Joyce asked mum and mum nodded. Since she arrived for dinner, she smiled for the first time.

“It’s my house and no one asks me,” dad mumbled.

“Claire is dating CEO Nathan Carter now so she can definitely get you a job at The Dress Code.”