Miss Lola.

Chapter 28.

"You drove me to it." I say through my tears.

"Avis, please. How could I have driven you to try to kill me?"

"When you left me for..for that insect."

"She's not an insect. As a matter of fact, Shanika is a very nice young lady and we're going to be married as soon as our divorce is final."

I cried harder when he said that.

"Oh, is that her name? Where did y'all meet?" I managed to ask once my voice became steady enough to form coherent words.

"I've known Shanika for about a year now." Ronald admitted. "It doesn't really matter where we met but I never slept with her while you and I were together."

"Oh? Is that supposed to make me feel better? How could you do this to me, Ronald?"

"It's not that I'm doing this on purpose. I love her." Him saying those words was like a kick in the gut.

"Oh, my sweet lord." I moaned in agony and actually doubled up on the bed and held my stomach with one hand while  cradling the phone with the other.

"Have you told the kids yet?" This fool had the nerve to ask.

"Yes, I told them tonight because they called wondering why you were in the hospital. Why didn't you tell them about Shanika, Ronald?"

"I..I just couldn't. But I'm glad that you did. I think it's better coming from you."

"Oh, really? Well thanks for giving me such a wonderful job." I said with an eye roll.

"Avis, I never meant to hurt you." Ronald said.

"But you just did." I whined, wiping at my streaming eyes. "I love you, Ronald. I don't want anyone else but you."

He was quiet for a long time and then the line went dead and I finished off the bottle and cried myself to sleep.

The heavy banging on my front door awoke me the next morning and when I dragged myself to the front door, Lola was standing there looking like a movie star.

"Hey, girl. Why didn't you answer your phone?" She asked, sweeping her Gucci sunglasses off her nose in a grand gesture and frowning at my red rimmed, puffy eyes and rumpled clothes.

I know I must have looked like a bag lady but I didn't care today.

"I guess I didn't hear the phone ringing. C'mon in."

She stared at the bags lined up on the front porch and then raised her brows at me.

"Either you got a whole lot of trash or those are Ronald's clothes."

"They're his clothes and I was thinking about torching them." I sheepishly admitted.

Lola stared at me like I'd sprouted three heads.

"Have mercy." She said softly. "Did you get drunk last night Avis? I told you not to do that."

She'd followed me into the kitchen where she took it upon herself to brew a pot of coffee.

I slumped down in one of the kitchen chairs and laid my throbbing head on the table.

The wood felt cool and firm.

"I feel like two versions of Hell, girl." I moaned.

"Serves you right." Lola sniffed. "But I didn't come over here to give you a hard time. I wanted to check on you and make sure that you were still alive and kicking."

"Thanks, Lola. You're a good friend."

"You don't say? Well homegirl, right about now you really need a friend. Now let's get some of this excellent coffee into you."

She sat a steaming mug down in front of me and I heard the scrape of the other chair as Lola sat down.

"So, how are you feeling?"she asked.

"I thought I told you already? Well, I don't feel too hot today. I think I might just crawl back into bed and take a nap."

"Not while I'm here." She snapped as if scandalized by the mere thought. "So anyway, I've got some encouraging news."

She opened her purse and laid a plain white business card down on the table in front of me.

"My friend came through for you last night." She said.

I picked up the card but my hands were shaking so badly that I kept dropping it and finally Lola snatched the card and said,

"This a good divorce lawyer and she's willing to help you for a small fee which even you can afford. Just call her today or tomorrow. But preferably today. Her name is Jill Rogers."

"And what friend gave you this info?" I asked and Lola got a radiant look on her face and waved her hand dismissively,

"Oh, it's my new man that I told you about last night. His name is Hollis Williams and he's something special."

I was hung over but not stupid.

"Ummm...sounds like you're in love, girl."

Lola pushed the coffee mug closer to my elbow and leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms over her chest. I could feel her eyes burning a hole in the top of my throbbing head.

"I'm not here to talk about my love life." She said.  "Avis, you gotta snap out of it. You ain't the first woman who's husband has left her. Girl, toughen up."

"I'm trying, but I'm not as strong as you." I raised my head just long enough to sip at the coffee which was strong and black and probably just what I needed.

"You keep saying how strong I am." Lola said, "But I'm not that strong. I'm just hard headed."

"Being hard headed could translate as strength in some women." I pointed out.

"Not in my book." Lola said.

I gingerly pushed back from the table just enough to hold my head up. The coffee was sitting in my stomach like a ball of lead.

"Okay, I get the feeling that you're getting ready to hit me with some fabulous advice. So let's hear it." I said.

Lola's brows knotted, the corner of her lip twitched and she nervously glanced at the card laying on the table.

"I think you should go ahead and call the lawyer and get on with your life. Ronald has certainly gone on with his. That's the best advice that anyone can give you."

Then she stood up, slung her purse over her shoulder and left without saying goodbye.

Okay, maybe she's right and instead of crying I need to just accept that my marriage is over.

As hard as that may seem, I know that I can scrounge up enough strength to at least try.

I picked up the lawyer's card, hesitated, laid it back down and then picked it up again.

"You can do this, Avis." I muttered.

Standing on trembling legs, I slowly staggered my way to the house phone and dialed the number.

12/19/21
Edited 2/20/21.