God Ain't Blind by Mary Monroe Read Free Book Online Page A

that there wasn’t nobody, not even a cat, standing in line behind me when I went up to you and asked you to get married? You ain’t Halle Berry.”
    I shook my head and rolled my eyes. “Don’t you have to get to the shop and open up?”
    “I’ll be home late tonight,” he told me, looking away as soon as I met his gaze.
    “So will I,” I told him. “I’m going out for drinks with Rhoda.” I wiped the slight smile off of my face because I didn’t want him to see it.
    “What about Charlotte?” he asked, with one eyebrow raised.
    “She’s spending the night with the Peterson twins down the street.”
    “Oh. Well, I hope you and Rhoda have a good time gettin’ drunk tonight.” He turned and walked out the back door, slamming the screen door so hard, a pot holder fell from its hook on the wall to the floor.
    “I hope you have a good time tonight, too. Doing whatever it is you do these days,” I said, knowing he couldn’t hear me.
    It saddened me to know that it had come to this. We were more like indifferent roommates than we were husband and wife. It had been almost a year since we’d had sex—with each other. I didn’t know about his sex life, and the way I was feeling this morning, I didn’t want to know. At that moment, I knew what I had to do. Especially since I had ended my dry spell last night.
    As soon as I heard Pee Wee start the motor in the candy-apple 36
    Mary Monroe
    red Firebird in our driveway, which he’d bought three months ago, I stumbled over to the telephone on the wall next to the refrigerator. I waited until I heard him drive away before I dialed the motel again.
    “Louis, did I wake you? I’m sorry I had to get off the phone so quick last night. My husband came into the room,” I said, without pausing to take a breath.
    “That’s all right, baby. I understand. Where are you?”
    “I’m still at my house. I’ll be leaving for work in a few minutes,”
    I replied, looking at my watch. “I just have to check on my daughter before I go.”
    “I can’t wait to meet her. I am looking forward to it,” he told me.
    That was good to know. That meant he planned on being around for a while. “And I know she’s as much of a fox as you are.”
    “Uh, she’s only ten, so we’d have to be careful around her. We’d have to watch everything we said and did,” I warned. “She’s at that age where she blabs everything she sees and hears. Intentionally and unintentionally.”
    “Baby, we are gwine to take things real slow. Maybe by the time I meet your daughter, we won’t have to be sneaking around. The way you say your old man has been neglecting you, it sounds like he’s got a little something on the side himself.”
    “I don’t want to talk about that right now,” I said, with a heavy sigh. Pee Wee’s lack of interest in me was one thing, and that was bad enough. That was all I could handle. But if the reason was another woman, I’d find out soon enough, and I’d deal with that then.
    “When can I see you again?”
    That question brought a broad grin to my face.
    “Uh, let’s talk about that later tonight. I’ll be at the Red Rose, having a few drinks with a friend. You can meet us there around six if you can make it.”
    “You’ll be with a friend?” I could tell he was nervous by the way he was whispering. “Is she cool? She know about us?”
    “Louis, she knows everything. She’s the one who, uh, encouraged me to get to know you better. She drove me to the motel and picked me up last night.”
    “Bless her heart. When you see her, hug her for me.”
    GOD AIN’ T BLIND
    37
    “She’s the only person on this planet that I would trust with my life.”
    There were a few moments of silence before he spoke again.
    “I’m gwine to knock off work around five thirty. I’ve been working till eight almost every night this week. Last night I realized I’ve got something much better to do with my time in the evenings now.”
    His last sentence made me grin