Page 23 of The Big Catch

My stare landed on him. He could explain the shit to his wife. “Um, the day we got married, I put the marriage license in my tuxedo inside pocket. I accidentally forgot to file it.” He turned his body toward his wife. “Kimberly, let’s go home so we can talk.”

“No, absolutely not. Belle, like I said earlier, I thought you would be Daphanie, his side bitch. I found out about her a little over five months ago,” she confessed with dipped brows.

Gabrielle leaned on the table. “Girl, how did you find out? Oh, I’m Gabrielle, Belle’s best friend. Yeah, but how did you find out about Miss Daphanie?”

Kimberly leaned on the table too. “Hey, Gabrielle, it’s nice to meet you. Let’s have a story time.”

“Kimberly! This is completely inappropriate and not the right place for this bullshit,” Carson quipped. “Let’s go home.”

The slow turn of her head in his direction was movie worthy. “Nigga, who the fuck do you think you’re talking to?” Her voice wasn’t loud. “You know what’s inappropriate? You having another family in Arizona. See, when you started acting suspicious with the suddenly long business trips, I knew something was up. That’s what you did the last time when I found out about her, apparently.”

My eyelids were stuck on open wide mode. What the hell did she mean he had another family in Arizona? This could not be life right now.

“Carson, you’re not too good at being a dog ass nigga. I don’t know if I should tell you to work on that or leave that shit alone to walk the straight and narrow,” Gunner joked. When Toolie told Carson to leave it alone, my baby laughed heartedly.

“Kimberly, I can explain. Can we please just go home, baby?” Carson begged. He was pathetic.

She shook her head. “No, we can’t go anywhere. I’m going home, and you can carry your ass somewhere else. Today, I visited a divorce attorney, and I found out that we weren’t married either.”

This was like someDays of Our Livesshit. I clutched my pearls that I really had on. Gabrielle’s gasp was loud. Gunner shook his head with a laugh while Toolie’s head fell back when he flailed his arms in the air. We all took a pause when the waitress brought over our drinks. Toolie told her that we wanted every appetizer on the menu and not to come back until they were ready.

“Wait, what do you mean y’all aren’t married? He told me that he married you four, well five now, years ago,” I said incredulously. “So, y’all didn’t get married?”

Kimberly tittered, then said, “Oh, we had a beautiful wedding. Apparently, our marriage license was never filed. Can you guess who took on the responsibility of filing it?”

“This shit is wild. You just go around fake marrying bitches?” Toolie’s hand went up in mock surrender. “No offense, ladies.”

Carson just sat there like a deer in headlights. Kimberly told him to explain himself. “Man, look, I just got overwhelmed when you told me you were pregnant. I wanted to marry you, but I wanted more time. I couldn’t break your heart. I figured that when we renewed our vows that I could make it official.”

“You’re really an idiot. How the hell was you going to make it official when she would have had to sign the new marriage license?” Gunner’s arm was on the back of my chair.

With a huff, Carson responded. “I hadn’t got that far yet. I would have figured something out.”

“Let me ask you this, Carson. Did you really forget to file our marriage license or was it intentional?” I had to know. His silence gave me all the answers I needed.

Carson’s head fell. Kimberly used her index finger to put under his chin and lift his head. “No need to lower your head now. You’re out here with three whole fake wives. Does Daphanie know that y’all marriage is bullshit too?”

“Yeah, that will do it for me.” I pushed my seat back, then stood up. “Kimberly, I’m sorry we had to meet under these circumstances, and I’m sorry you have to go through this with your kids. You seem like a cool female. Carson, don’t ever reach out to me again. I don’t communicate with bitches.”

She gave me a soft smile. “No need to be sorry. Count it a blessing that you weren’t stupid enough to have babies with him. Out of me, you, and Daphanie you came out on top. I hope you have a great life.”

Gunner stood, then grabbed my hand. “Carson, you better stop playing with people’s daughters before you catch an express bullet to hell. You’re going to fuck around and find out.”

“Oh, he is,” Kimberly asserted. “I have three brothers and a crazy ass daddy. I just wanted to know what was what before I broke the news to them.”

The fear that flashed in Carson’s eyes was real. Toolie laughed as he got up. “What’s the news station here?” After Kimberly told him, he said, “I’ll make sure I stay tuned in just in case this nigga turns up missing. You know they not putting Black, grown niggas on milk no more.”

“Toolie, let’s go. They don’t put missing people on milk period.” Gabrielle laughed at her silly ass man.

Gunner and I led the way with Toolie and Gabrielle behind us. Although the drama was entertaining, I didn’t want to be a part of it anymore. I would not let the work that I had and was still putting in to be a better person to myself and the people around me be faltered by this encounter with a fuck boy. I peeked over at Gunner. His head was high, shoulders back, and chest out. The confidence that my man had was unmatched.

Yes, he was country as fuck, but he was also educated. He was a tad bit crazy, and I never knew I liked that. He made me want to be a better person.

There was a time that I thought Carson was everything because he was able to monetarily take care of me. I ate that shit up and let it make me think that I was on a higher level than everyone else. It took me coming home to my country ass hometown, a lot of self-reflection, my dog babies, and the care of a country boy to realize that I was the problem and had always been.

Yesterday, he asked me whether I truly fell from grace or was I elevated to where I was supposed to be all along. After the debacle of a dinner, the answer was clear. My elevation required me to be separated from everything that was a false reality in my life. My real reality was right where I was, with my fine ass, angler, hunting, dog breeding, country boy. Gunner had been making big catches all weekend during the angler competition. Little did I know that I would be making a catch too. He was the biggest catch of the weekend, and he was all mine.

EPILOGUE

---