Page 35 of Happy Is On Hiatus
She wasn’t lying about that, but Nate had a track record, one Rita had ignored too many times before. Whether or not that woman was really carrying Nate’s baby, Rita didn’t care. It was the infidelity that mattered to her. The blatant disrespect time and time again, and thenthe insult of him not even bothering to give a credible excuse, other than to accuse her of overreacting.
“I’m just tired, Mama. Have you ever been tired of Daddy and all the church drama that comes with being married to a pastor?” That question had crossed Rita’s mind so many times in the past. Today seemed to be the day to ask, since, as her mother put it, she’d brought the attitude.
Vi shook her head. Her hair was perfectly bump curled at the ends, so Rita didn’t know why she was going to get it done this afternoon. Then again, she did know—Vi had a standing weekly appointment at the hairdresser and nail shop. She wore the most stylish skirt suits and shoes because she had a title and a reputation to uphold. And according to the Aunts, Vi had always been the too-cute sister. Rita had taken after her to the extent that she did like to look nice whenever she came out her front door, and most times while she was walking around the house too. Sharae had often joked that Rita went to sleep pretty and woke up the same way. Grandma Patty always said Black folk had to be better and work harder. That started in the mind and translated in their presentation. Rita took that advice seriously.
“I know how to play my position, Rita. That’s what you’ve got to learn to do. You worked hard being Nate’s wife, raising those girls, and building that business. Now you’re just pushing it all out the door.”
“My daughters will always be with me.” Even though Taryn was still a bit salty about the situation. “And the business, well, it was always more Nate’s than mine.” This would’ve been the perfect time to announce that she was opening her own business, especially considering her new stance to just get things done. But she, Jemel, and Sharae had decided they’d wait to announce the new business when they had all the preliminary things ready to also announce the fundraiser. The two were going to be highly marketed together, so they’d thought dropping it all on the Aunts at one time was the way to go. And it gave Rita alittle more time to ponder her mother’s reaction, which was probably dangerously close to the one she was having now about the divorce.
“Nonsense,” Vi continued. “You worked your butt off in those early years. I know because I was the one keeping those girls while you spent hours at the dealership getting all the paperwork in order. And Nate knows you’re the backbone of the business too. That’s what he told your father anyway.”
“Nate talked to Daddy? When?”
“Last week. Your father called him as soon as I told him about the divorce.”
Her father had called Nate but hadn’t said a word to her about the divorce. How did that make sense? Then again, looking back on her life, there’d been so many things that just didn’t make sense to her right now.
“Look, Mama, I’m doing what’s right for me.”
Vi raised a brow. “And to hell with everybody else?”
“No. I don’t wish hell on anybody. But I’m finished putting Nate’s feelings, Taryn and Necole’s feelings, yours and Daddy’s, everybody except my own feelings first.” She wanted a drink to back those words up. That was how she’d been coming to terms with all this nonsense in the past couple of weeks—sit, think about it, make a decision, and then have a glass of wine, or two, to chase away the doubts. So far, it’d been working just fine.
Her phone chimed, stopping Vi from making her next statement. Rita glanced at it and swiped the screen when she saw it was a text message.
“Wendy’s bridal shower is this weekend in Ocean City,” she said, reading over the reminder filled with pink, gold, and white hearts and balloons, which seemed to be the theme of Wendy and Ivan’s wedding.
“Yeah, Rose was talkin’ about that last night. Y’all don’t get too out of hand down there.” Vi gave the warning and settled into another bite of her salad.
Considering the discussion of her divorce over and thanking the heavens, Rita continued. “It’ll be good to get away for a couple days.” She sent a separate text to Sharae and Jemel, asking which one of them was driving down, and then pushed her phone to the side.
“I still have to get her a gift, but I really don’t know what to buy.”
“She’s got everything. The way she spends Ivan’s money is shameful.”
Rita chuckled and shook her head. “You know she has a job. She’s spending her own money.”
“Hmph.” Lifting a hand, Vi waved away Rita’s comment and continued. “She works at Walmart, and Ivan’s got that good finance job. She ain’t buying Gucci on her paycheck.”
“There’s nothing wrong with workin’ at Walmart, Mama.”
“Never said there was. All I said was she likes spending Ivan’s money.” Vi shrugged. “And hey, if she’s gonna marry him and take care of him, then she gets to do that. No complaints over here.”
Rita wisely kept her mouth shut, deciding to focus more on her salad than her conversation with her mother, because if there was one thing for sure, it was that Vi Henderson wasn’t ever gonna change. Her mind was set in the ways she’d been brought up and the life she’d created for herself, and Rita didn’t begrudge her that. Sure, there was a part of her that wished she’d made some different choices in her early adult years. Perhaps she didn’t have to take her mother’s teachings so seriously. What would’ve happened if she’d listened to Sharae when she’d insisted Rita hadn’t even experienced being an adult before she was diving into being a wife?
She’d thought about this repeatedly in the past weeks, coming to the conclusion that shoulda-woulda-coulda thoughts were pointless. The past couldn’t be undone, and she needed to focus on the future.
With that in mind, two hours later, Rita walked into her house. After changing out of the pantsuit she’d worn to the meeting and lunch, opting for comfortable knit capris and an oversize T-shirt, she grabbed her tablet and returned to the living room. Dropping down onto thesectional, she pulled up the lists she’d made last night and began reviewing the one for the contractor she needed to hire. Besides converting the front of her basement to an office where she could receive clients, she also wanted to make some changes to her kitchen. When she’d first moved here, she’d designed the perfect personal cooking space for her. Now she needed to reimagine the space into the most efficient working space.
A part of her wanted to err on the side of caution where this new business and the changes to her house were concerned. To make the least amount of changes to the place she’d considered her safe haven, just in case things didn’t go the way she planned.
Faith over fear.
Those three words echoed in her mind as she recalled reciting them last night and on so many other occasions in her life. She had to have faith that God’s will for her life would be done, and that needed to be bigger than the fear of making yet another mistake.
It had occurred to her after her lunch with her mother that she’d self-consciously tried to play it safe all these years. That was why she’d married the first man to ask her and why she’d stayed even when she’d known he wasn’t who she’d thought he was. But that couldn’t be the only reason she’d stayed with Nate. He wasn’t her safety net—she had her family for that. But he had been a huge part of the life she’d always imagined for herself, and now that things had drastically changed, all she had was her faith in a brighter future.
The chime of the doorbell startled her, and the tablet almost slipped off her lap as she turned to look toward the foyer. She wasn’t expecting anyone, and there was no one else in the house to answer the door. Nate hadn’t been here in two weeks, and she’d told herself every morning when she got up that this was a good thing. Change was good, her life was going to be better, she could do this.
