the age where some said life began, trying to figure out how the boring and predictable one she’d known sixty short days ago had changed so quickly.
The first hitch in the giddyup wasn’t a total surprise. Her mother’s dementia had become increasingly worse following the death of Gwen’s father, Harold, two years ago. Her parents had been married forty-four years. It was a tough adjustment. At the funeral, Gwen told her husband that she knew the time would come when her mother’s welfare would become her responsibility. That she thought Joe would be by her side at this crucial time, and wasn’t, was the fact she hadn’t seen coming.
But it was true nonetheless. Joe had announced his desire to divorce and packed his bags the same evening. Two months later she was still reeling from that okeydoke. But she couldn’t think about that now. Gwen had to focus on one crisis at a time, and at the moment, her mother was the priority.
“Ladies and gentlemen, the captain has turned on the seat belt sign indicating our final descent into Los Angeles. Please make sure your seat belts are securely fastened and your seats and tray tables are in their upright and locked…”
Gwen stretched as well as she could between two stout men and tried to remove the crook from her neck. Still, she was grateful she’d fallen asleep. Shuteye had been all too elusive these past few weeks, when ongoing worries and raging thoughts had kept true rest at bay. Fragments of a dream flitted across her wakened mind as they landed and she reached into the overhead bin for her carry-on luggage. Gwen didn’t know if she wanted to remember it or not. Lately, her dreams had been replaced by nightmares that happened when her eyes were wide open.
“Gwen! Over here, girl! Gwen!”
Gwen smiled as a familiar voice pierced the crowd roaming the LAX Airport baggage claim area. She turned and waved so that the short, buxom woman, wearing fuchsia cutoffs and a yellow halter top straining for control, would know that she, God, and everyone within a five-mile radius had heard her.
“Gwendolyn!” Chantay exclaimed, enunciating each syllable for full effect as she reached up and hugged her childhood friend. “Girl, let me look at you!”
“You just saw me last year, Tay.”
“That visit went by in a fog. You know the deal.”
Gwen did, and wished she didn’t. Her last time home was not a fond memory.
Chantay stepped back, put her hands on her hips, and began shaking her head so hard her waist-length braids sprayed the waiting passengers surrounding them. “What are we going to do with your rail thin behind? You couldn’t find enough deep-dish pizzas to eat in Chicago? No barbeque or chicken and waffle joints to put some meat on your bones?”
Gwen took the jab good-naturedly. Her five-foot-seven, size-six body had caused her heftier friend chagrin for years. No matter that Gwen had never mastered how to show off her physique, put on makeup, or fix her hair. The fact that she could eat everything, including the kitchen sink, and still not gain a pound was a stick in Chantay’s craw.
Chantay enveloped her friend in a big bear hug. “You look good, girl. A day late and a dollar short on style with that curlicue hair straight out of A Different World, but overall…you look good!”
Gwen’s laugh was genuine for the first time in weeks. “You don’t look half bad yourself. And opinionated as always, I see.”
“Honey, if you want a feel-good moment, watch Oprah. I’m going to tell you the truth even if it’s ugly. And speaking of the u word, those Leave It To Beaver pedal pushers—”
“Forget you, Tay! C’mon, that’s my luggage coming around.”
A half hour later, Gwen settled back in Chantay’s Ford Explorer as they merged into highway traffic for the two-hour drive to Sienna. The air conditioner was a welcome change to the ninety-degree July heat.
“I still can’t believe you’re here.”
“Me either.”
“You know you’ve got to give me the full scoop. First, I never thought you’d ever get married, and if you did, you’d never, ever get divorced!”
“Obviously life wasn’t following your script,” Gwen muttered sarcastically.
“Oh, don’t get your panties in a bunch, sistah, you know what I’m saying. And I’m not the only one. Who did everyone vote the least likely to, uh, get married?”
“I believe the exact description in the high school yearbook read ‘would die an old maid.’”
“Well, I was trying to save you the embarrassment of quoting it verbatim but…who was it?”
They both knew the answer was Gwen. But rather than help make the point, Gwen answered the question with one of her own. “Who did they say would probably have ten kids?”
“Hmph. That’s because those nuckas didn’t know that fornicate does not equal procreate. After being stuck with raising one accident and another oops by myself, I had my tubes tied. I told the doctor who did the procedure that if a “baby I pulled out” number three showed up in my pee sample, his would be the name in the father line. So believe me, if there’s a sperm bad enough to get past the Boy Scout knot he tied, then that’s a baby who deserves to be born.”
Gwen looked out the window, thought about Chantay’s two daughters, and watched the world whirl by while Chantay pushed past seventy and flew down the surprisingly light 405 Freeway. While Chantay had often said she didn’t want kids, Gwen had always looked forward to motherhood. She was still looking, but couldn’t see any bassinet or baby bed because a divorce petition was blocking the view.
Chantay scanned for various stations on the radio before turning it off altogether. “Why are you making me drag the details out of you?” she whined, exasperation evident in her voice. “What happened between you and Joe?”
The name of Gwen’s soon-to-be former husband elicited a frown. “You mean Joey?”
“Who the hell is that?”
“That’s what he calls himself now.”
“I call him ‘bastard,’ but I digress. What happened?”
Gwen sighed, sat up, and spoke truth straight out. “He met somebody else.”
“You have got to be kidding. Corny-ass Joe Smith, the computer nerd who could barely pull the garter off at y’alls’ wedding?”
“That would be him.”
“What fool did he find to listen to his tired lines?”
“You mean besides me?”
“Girl, I didn’t mean that personally. Joe has some good points. He seems to know his way around a computer better than anybody.”
“That’s one.”
“We’ve got ninety minutes of driving left. I’ll think of something else.”
Gwen laughed, appreciative of the levity Chantay brought to a sad situation.
“So…who is she?”
“Her
