“Yo, where’s Qia?” I bark into the phone, not waiting for a greeting.
“I don’t know but what I do know is you need to quit yelling dude.”
“Chandler, don’t play,” I say, trying to control my emotions.
“Jakari, get a grip. She’s YOUR wife, remember. I would think you would be the one to know where she is.”
“Fuck you Chandler! You always got to be a sarcastic smart ass! I know you’re enjoying this shit.”
“J, I don’t know what the hell is going on, so that makes it real difficult for me to enjoy it. Qia’s not home?”
“No Sherlock. That is why I am calling you. I just got home and discovered that she is gone.”
“Call her phone dummy,” Chandler says and laughs.
“She broke her phone so she doesn’t have one right now,” I inform him.
“Oh, so that is why she hasn’t answered my calls,” Chandler says out loud, sounding like he is relieved to find out why she hasn’t been answering his calls.
“Oh, so you been trying to reach her?”
“Of course,” he replies like I am the biggest idiot in the world for asking that question.
“I asked you before to give us our space. Leave Qia alone. Do you hear me, Chan?” I yell into the phone. I pause for a moment waiting for him to respond, but it is dead silent on the other end.
“Chandler?” I repeat into the phone. I look at my phone and that is when I see he is no longer on the line. I sneer at the phone as if Chandler can see me. He is really pissing me off. All I am asking him to do is respect our marriage and give Qia time to get her bearings. Chandler is the main reason why even after wiping all the damning information off of her phone, I didn’t give it to her when she came home. I really want to keep her away from him. I am still very uneasy about how she seemed to connect with him at the hospital. He loved that shit too. I dig my nails into the palms of my hands as I think back to how hard he was smiling at my wife.
Qia put a monkey wrench in my plans of keeping her all to myself when she remembered her phone though. So when she broke it, I couldn’t have been happier. I need to keep her close to me so that I can try to make sure she doesn’t come across anything that may trigger the wrong memories. I also need to make sure that she realizes who she belongs to and how strong our marriage is. Right now, I get the sense that Qia doesn’t have much faith or belief in our marriage, and that really bothers me.
I punch in the first four numbers to Qimora’s cell number when I hear the front door open. “Jakari baby.” I hear my queen say. Wow, she hasn’t used any terms of endearment with me since she woke up!
“Hey baby!” I call excitedly. I spring up off the sofa and walk up the hallway towards the front door. She is smiling and seems to be in the best mood to date. The sparkle in her eyes lets me know that my baby is almost fully recovered.
“Where were you? I was trippin!” I damn near faint when she starts waving her new phone in my face.
“I was hanging out with Qimora and I went to get my phone replaced.”
“You got a new phone without me?”
“Jakari, it’s not a major purchase. I don’t need you to hold my hand for a cellphone purchase.”
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