support but she shifted away from him as fast as she could without making it too obvious.
“Oh everyone that is around my daughters is my business,” Andre said angrily. The two men stood toe to toe squaring off each letting the other know they were not going to back down.
“He is my neighbor, Andre. He had done some work for my company so was invited to the event. Since my car is not working, he offered to be my ride,” Angela said.
Julian could not believe what he was hearing! Angela was denying the weekend they had just spent together. She had just LIED!
He waited for her to tell the truth and take back the lie but she just stood there looking at Andre.
“Thanks for the ride, Julian,” Angela said nervously going to stand by her door indicating she was ready for him to leave, “and for bringing my bag in. I will call you later,” still not looking him in the eye.
Julian gave one last look over at Andre and then walked passed him toward the door. Andre intentionally made sure they bumped shoulders.
Julian stopped and looked back, but felt Angela’s hand on his arm. When he looked at her, he could see the pleading in her face to let it go and leave. Shaking his head, he went to leave and leaned down to whisper to Angela. “Don’t bother calling. Who calls the chauffer after the ride is over?”
He looked at her for a moment, and walked out slamming the door behind him.
Angela thought she had just heard her heart literally break. She understood that she lied and how that would make him angry but he didn’t have to speak to her like that.
“You wore that to a work event?” Andre said looking her up and down with disdain.
“Ye..Yes... Yes I did,” Angela said.
“Mom, you look hot! I love that outfit,” Imani said to her mother, as she walked passed her to go up the stairs to her room.
Smiling, Angela said, “Thank you, baby.”
“Bye, Daddy,” Imani said.
“Bye, Dad,” Eliana said on her way up the steps stopping to kiss his cheek. “She is right, Mom, you look really hot!” she said to her mom running up the stairs.
Angela was smiling and feeling really good about the compliment her daughters had just given her.
“You know they are only being nice, right? I mean you are their mom,” Andre said with his arms crossed over his chest.
She felt like she had been kicked in the gut. Andre had always managed to come along and make her feel low. All throughout their marriage he had never paid her a compliment. His favorite line to her had been, ‘Lose weight for God’s sakes. Who is going to believe that I would be married to you?’
She had tried every diet you could think of. She had tried Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, and the Boiled Egg diet. She threw up in her mouth a little thinking of that one. Nothing had helped her to keep the weight off. When she had finally decided to divorce Andre, she had managed to lose thirty pounds without even trying and got down to her high school size of sixteen. Being away from him had helped her to realize that she had stayed overweight because of the stress of being his wife.
Now it was the stress of being his ex-wife she was worried about.
“Sorry about being late, traffic,” she finally said.
“A phone call wouldn’t have hurt,” Andre said sarcastically.
Opening her front door Angela said, “Get out of my house, Andre. I am not your wife anymore therefore I don’t have to take your shit.”
“You will take what I tell you to take,” he said walking to stand in front of her. “Don’t forget, I am letting you keep primary custody. I can take them like that,” he finished snapping his fingers.
“You were useless as a wife. I am sure I can convince a judge you are useless as a mother. Do you want to test it?” Looking down on the verge of tears, Angela said, “No.”
“That’s what I thought,” he said running his finger along her jaw line. “Have a nice night, Ang,” he said as he laughed and walked out the
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