MILF {COMPLETED}

4

Chapter Four: Anytime U Need a Friend

Houston, Texas
October 1st
Beyonce Giselle Knowles:

I watched Ms. Maraj decorate her home with spooky, Halloween decorations while I laid on the couch with Ivory on my chest, my phone up to my ear, listening to Black for the first time in weeks. Eric was topic of discussion, and she was having a ball.

"Apparently," She sang like a canary. "Your boss and her ex-husband were high school sweethearts."

"Uh huh," I answered absentmindedly, and Ivory burped a little.

Ms. Maraj looked back at her princess, raised her eyes to me, and looked away.

I felt like I made a mistake by telling her that she could talk to me about what was making her cry so bad, and so much. Nothing had been the same since then.

It was even harder now to get a word out of her than it'd ever been. Now, it felt like we were estranged lovers that slept in separate rooms. Even her taking Ivory from me was made up of gestures.

I wished I hadn't said anything.

We felt the way that Black was describing her and her ex-husband used to be.

"He said your boss was too controlling, wouldn't let him be a man."

"Don't look that way to me," I replied.

To me, Ms. Maraj was docile and fragile, but I didn't know her from Adam.

"He said he left her."

"I'm so surprised," I said sarcastically. That only piled on to the hurt sitting on Ms. Maraj. I ached for her.

"He said she's a bad wife, but a great mother.
Wouldn't cook, wouldn't give him sex, wouldn't do anything but work. Can't stay married to someone that's married to their work."

"I disagree."

About all of it. Recipes from Ms. Maraj's homeland filled my nostrils in a recently cleaned home, smelling of Pine-Sol and bleach. Her laptop sat atop the island with Aaliyah's '4 Page Letter' playing. I hoped she was feeling better today.

"Shit if it's true, I'd be mad if she wasn't giving it up. You see that body?"

I nodded my head like she could see me. I was looking at that body in real time.

"That's nothing to leave over though."

"Maybe he was just waiting on something to leave her over."

"Maybe."

Ms. Maraj looked back again, this time her eyes on me first then Ivory. I wanted her to talk to me, wanted to know what was going on in her head, wanted to know if I'd actually made a career-tumbling mistake by asking her to talk to me. I'm not her damn therapist, I'm on her payroll. I'd better check myself before I wreck myself.

"Call me back Black. Red's coming over. Don't let her leave."

"That little minion's already here."

"HEY HONEY BEY!" Red shouted in the background.

A smile spread across my face hearing Black tell her to shut her stupid ass up. Those two would take each other's heads off soon. I was sure of that.

"Don't let her leave," I reminded her then hung up the phone.

"You call your friends by colors?" Was the first thing Ms. Maraj had said to me since I told her it was okay to talk to me.

I nodded my head and called her over. She climbed down from the ladder and sat the decorations on the floor before coming behind me so Ivory wouldn't see her. Still patting Ivory's back, I went to my photos and showed her a picture of the three of us, posing under the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.