How Did I Get Here: A Novella Read online

  Preston carried all of his clothes downstairs and made sure that he was not leaving anything essential. He got dressed and was ready to peer out of the door just in time for the cab driver to arrive. He was glad that he didn’t have to go too far so that he could save some of the loose change that he had in his pocket. The “getaway” car arrived and he was alleviated from all of the pressures that he had premeditated if something did not go right. “Now that’s how you do it,” he remarked to himself with immense confidence. “I got paid, got some, and got out that joint unattached.” Now that there was some light out he needed to double check to make sure that he had everything in case his wife wanted to do her routine inventory to make sure that her baby got out safe with everything.

  While switching everything over from the cab to his car he could not believe what he just did. He left his boots right downstairs in the middle of the living room floor for Lustray and her daughters to see! He was in such a rush that he forgot stuffing his boots in the duffel bag. It was too late in the game to turn back so he just focused on counting it as a loss and thought about retrieving them later on. It was time to get home to his pregnant Delight and his wonderful boys.

  XXIII

  Lustray awoke with her body sore all over. She could not believe that she held out without sex for over a year! “I have been missing out and I found someone who could throw it on me sternly! Mandingo Warrior! Whew! That was better than a roller coaster ride at Cedar Point and it was all for free.” She looked around the newly arranged bedroom; default by weekend intensities and saw that the clock read 12pm. “Oh my gosh I have to pick up my girls. I told Brandon that I would be there around nine so that they could go out this morning.” She could not believe that Preston left without saying goodbye or getting an extra round in before he left. “I was going to give him a special show before he left, but I guess he was just scared that I would bring the girls around him. He is so smart, but maybe too smart.” She continued to look around and see if there was any trace of Preston and yes there was! “He left his boots so he would have a reason to come back to momma,” she pondered during his absence. She got out her phone to call him to let him know, but all she got was the voicemail three consecutive times.

  “I wish I knew where he lived so that I could take them to him, but on the other hand, he’s got private things to do, so I’ll keep the working man to his business while we try hooking up later on this month.”

  She threw on a pair of sweat pants on to pick up her children and made her way to Brandon’s house in one of the most chipper moods she has been in years. “I must admit, it does feel good to have a man in the house; even though he snores I love that too.

  Pulling up to the house, Lustray could see her girls peeking out of the curtains awaiting her promised return. She walked up to the house with a big grin on her face until she saw Vashti trying to carry on a conversation with Brandon. She knew that Brandondidn’t want her, so she could not figure out why she was acting like he really wanted anything to do with her. In Lustray’s mind, if two parents weren’t together, there was no need for any in depth conversations. Lustray always felt that she has been through enough in her life and that gave her the mature edge over everyone her age. This did not necessarily qualify her to be all and tell all and she knew it. But, for whatever reason she just could not grasp the concept of broken up couples being friends. Forget about being friends, she was even a strong advocate that married couples should not share last names or bank accounts. This may have well been her own prejudice from her current marriage and how it devastated her totally until Mr. Brown came along.

  “Hey, Vashti, how are you doing? I see Tony is getting some quality time in with his father.”

  “Too bad I can’t say that about your kids,” Vashti though. But politely responded, “I’m doing good, but hoping I could be doing as good as you did this weekend. Hair all wrapped in ponytail, hat on, and some sweat clothes, looks like somebody got some!” Vashti had a way about putting people’s business out in the street in perfect dialogue so there could be no repercussions since her statements usually flowed like water and no doubt telling the truth.

  Reluctant to share any names Lustray sneered and signaled to her girls to get in the car, “Alright Brandon, I’ll call you and thanks for watching the kids over the weekend.” She knew that would drive Vashti up the wall and chuckled as she threw the car in reverse on her way out.

  “She’s finally in a better mood nowadays since she met that new guy. All she does is smile like she’s on top of the world. Whoever he is, seems a little low key, because I never met him and she said she never been to his house, but I guess she got it under control,” Brandon exhaled.

  “Now you know if she met somebody and gave it up like that, don’t know where he live, she ain’t nothing but a backyard ho! Jezebel at her peak!”

  “That’s just a little uncalled for, so what do you think my mama and all of them call you? It sure ain’t saint, because you and I were just a sentence in a paragraph together and that was it. So before you go on talking about someone, make sure you check where you been too. Everyone has their own story so until you know hers I don’t want to hear anymore nonsense at my house about the people I am associated with. Now that that’s out of the way, I will be enjoying my son with the rest of my children for the remainder of the time that I do have. Thank you,” Brandon grabbed his son’s hand and slammed the door in Vashti’s face as she stood there perplexed by his striking comments.

  With nothing left to say, she just pulled herself together, walked to her car and drove back home to her mother’s house.

  XXIV

  Preston finally made it home as he pulled up the house; he saw his entire family waiting on him. Before he pulled into the driveway he remembered to throw on his wedding ring so that there would be no questions asked. He figured that he would probably order it a size bigger so that he wouldn’t have to give his hand an extra tan anymore. He tried to convince himself that he was going to implement Longs’ plan of cutting her off; before things got sticky like gum in someone’s hair. But deep down he knew that he would keep her number in his phone and that thrill he tasted was captivating even though he knew it wasn’t good for him.

  The boys helped carry his bags into the house and Delight made sure that everything was hung up neatly. Before Preston gave her a hug he made sure that there weren’t stints of perfume of loose hair strands stalking his body. It was very comforting to have a stress free moment in his own house; although, now he had to devise a plan to keep Lustray from calling him. “How was the trip?” Delight asked with curiosity.

  Preston thought that she might have known something was up, but he had to remain calm for fear of giving himself away. “It was just like any other trip, long and boring, with free drinks for those in uniform.”

  “Oh so if it was long and boring, why don’t we get long and exciting in the bedroom and throw on a movie for the kids to keep quiet,” Delight purred as she tugged at Preston’s collar, luring him up the steps.

  Prestonwas already worn out from not sleeping the last couple of days and wondered if we would even be able to perform? So he cupped her breasts and spoke softly to her stating, “Babe, I had a long trip. So why don’t we eat some lunch, take, a little nap, and go all out tonight.”

  While Preston hauled the rest of his things upstairs, Delight inspected his body up and down as he got dressed. Without thinking Preston jumped right in the bed without taking his ritual shower and Delight knew it.

  “You’re not going to take your shower?”

  Preston wanted to just kick himself. If it was this hard to keep up such measures, then he didn’t want to stay in this game for very long. Without missing a beat Preston shot back, “Awe girl I’m glad you said something I am so tired I forgot all about getting in there.” Preston grabbed a towel and headed toward the shower feeling fictitious that he had to take a phony shower in his own house. As he took another shower he took the opportunity to ins
pect himself for any loose hairs and to get the smell of masculine soap on himself.

  The shower did nothing but get Preston wet again and he began to feel like a slave to the game. “So this is what it feels like to be in bondage…no freedom to love.” The shower took all of but two minutes and he immediately reached for the dry towel to cover himself in bed.

  “While you get settled, I will make sure that the kids are alright and I’ll be back up so that you can rub my belly,” Delight teased.

  “Sure thing.” Within the blink of an eye, Preston was sound asleep for the remainder of the day and night.

  Delight came back upstairs and tried to wake Preston, but he did not budge at all. She figured for him to be snoring like that he must have been very exhausted. So she decided to let him sleep while she went downstairs to read her Bible.

  XXV

  Seven Months Later

  Ever since Preston has been home from California he felt like he has been running to the point of no return. He still managed to hold down two part-time jobs, go to school, help bring another newborn into the world, and keep Lustray on the side. But Preston could feel that it was taking a significant toll on his body.

  “This nonsense has got to stop sometime soon. I’m just going to tell Lustray that we are done. She wants me to give her more time, more money, and I am about to be dry out of life. Well, Proverbs does say: Wisdom will rescue you me from a forbidden woman, from a stranger with her flattering talk, who abandons the companion of her youth and forgets the covenant of her God; for her house sinks down to death and her ways to the land of the departed spirit. I know that’s right, because this nonsense is leading right to the middle of nowhere. I am just tired of stressing and lying to my wife telling her I am work when I am spending the night with Lustray and her kids instead of my own. The sex is not all that anymore and to sex two women at full force will just ruin a man’s manhood not to mention low sperm count.” Preston was kind of concerned, because Lustray has been acting very emotional lately and almost similar to the way Delight acted upon discovering her last pregnancy. He felt the day had come that he needed to end this double life mess.

  The whole situation reminded him of Romans 7 his favorite Scripture in the Bible: For I do not understand what I am doing, because I do not practice what I want to, but I do what I hate. It was an ailing inside of him that crushed his spirit entirely. His sermons were no longer authentic to the people that use to invite him to preach and his body physically had become very weary and tired. So he just knew that he had to stop playing games and had to have a serious talk with Lustray. While Delight played with the kids inside his house he came up with yet another idea to get away to speak to Lustray on his cell phone.

  “Hey, babe I need to go to the store and get some Motrin.”

  “There’s some Tylenol right in the medicine cabinet,” Delight demanded.

  “No, but those always give me a stomach ache, I need some Motrin bad.”

  “Whatever, if you need Motrin that bad then just go ahead and go and get me something sweet while you’re at it.”

  As soon as Delight got to the third word of her sentence, Preston flew out of the door and zoomed down to the Wal Mart parking lot to call up Lustray. He could not wait to get his cell phone out and make the call of death. He knew it would hurt her, but he was sure it was going to hurt him too. So he elected to get it over with and start the healing process. He dialed the numbers and prayed the words would come out as well as he rehearsed for the last two weeks.

  When Lustray answered the phone he could not believe she was actually crying. What in the world could she be crying for? He feared the worse, but didn’t want to start letting negative thoughts enter his mind. Preston took a deep breath and said, “Look Lustray, you know you’re a special person in my heart, but unfortunately we’re going to have to split up and go our separate ways. I know it’s the holidays and right now I just can’t give you what you want right now. I’m extremely busy and what you require of me I just can’t fulfill right now.”

  Preston expected to hear a lot negative feedback and some odd marks of profanity, but instead heard nothing but a long eerie silence. “Are you still there?” He was hoping that she didn’t drop dead, but felt she was far safer than that.

  “Let me tell you something Mr. Brown, I went to the doctor today and I found out that we are going to have a baby! Yes, you heard me correctly I am pregnant with your child. Now if you want to go ahead and be the typical, black, runaway daddy go ahead”, Lustray roared.

  Now Preston was the one with the long eerie silence. He didn’t know if he wanted to cry or runaway. His hand on the receiver began to shake and his mouth began to dry up. He started thinking about his family at the house and what would they think of him. He kept trying to convince himself that it was a dream, but he knew that this was the real thing. I told you that there was no good that could have come out of this, you went on for far too long and the Word of God had to manifest itself. Now what are you going to do, knowing that you helped create this? She’s still married, so your child is going to have her husband’s last name no matter what; and there is nothing that you can do about it. You created this situation; you have no one to blame but yourself.

  All along while Preston listened to his conscience preach to him all he could ask himself was, “How did I get here? I had it so simple and easy. I had a loving wife, kids all in one house, a career lined up to travel the world, and now it’s come to this. Just having too much fun and got caught up in a life changing dilemma” Out of panic Preston peeled out of the parking lot and drove straight over to Lustray’s house. He knew Delight would be blowing up his phone, but he didn’t care, he had to know that this was the real thing with his own eyes. Preston always heard of this type of thing happening in the ghetto, on movies, but never thought this would ever happen to him. How did it come to this? It was just a conversation that escalated into a full blown relationship. He had to face the fact that he was leading a double life and there was no way that he could sugar coat it or make it look pretty.

  When he arrived at Lustray’s house the scene just looked like a horror film. It was cold, dark, and the wind blew inexorably. The shutters at the house were cracking and every light in the house was off. Preston knocked on the door several times, but no one would answer. As he turned his back to leave he saw her silhouette shadow appeared as soon as he heard the door crack open.

  Her demeanor did not look chipper at all, in fact she looked in total contrast from the first time that he ever saw her. Her spirit was now laced with attitude and resentment. Now that he was going to be the father of her child, he had no choice but to listen to her rant and rave as she pleased. For some reason instead of diverting from her, Preston began to feel more of a connection to her.

  “Are you going to be a good father to this child,” she inquired with a stark voice.

  “What do you mean of course I am , just let me in,” Preston began to force his way into Lustray’s apartment as she tried to create a wedge between her apartment and the door, “now let’s act like some adults and talk about this!” Preston could feel that he was losing grip of the situation. “If I didn’t care I wouldn’t have come over here in the cold when I should be doing some work.”

  “Oh, I know what you do for work, you go on around playing Daddy and “family man” to your wife Delight and your three boys while I sit over here and get sloppy seconds. I know about your work preacher man.”

  Preston felt as if his entire face fell off and shattered all over the concrete porch. “Look, I wanted to tell you for so long but…”

  “But what, you wanted to get my heart first and make me have your child? Is that part of your game Preston? How many other mamas do you have running around here? You know what just go ahead and leave us alone we don’t need you. I fell in love with a fake. I really thought you were different, I would give my estranged husband more respect than I could give you right now.”

  “ Look I don’
t have any other mamas out here, except my wife. I wanted to stop it for a long time, but I just got caught up and didn’t know how to stop it. I guess making you happy made me happy, that’s all and I didn’t want you to think any different of me,” Preston began to weep.

  “Don’t try to act like you’re sorry now, the reason you’re sorry for is that you got caught. I mean really, how long did you plan on having this go on? I actually knew about your family for awhile Preston, but I just wanted to see if you were man enough to own up to it. Obviously not, I had to pry it all out of you. I don’t know why men find it so hard to just tell the truth. If any of you had any balls the world would be a lot more settled.”

  This was a side of Lustray Preston never saw before. She was now raising her voice, wiggling all in the neck, pointing her finger at him, and talking down to him like he was some type of kid. Preston realized that she was upset and she had good reason for it, but in the meantime he had to figure when and how to explain this to his family.

  “Okay, I admit that I was wrong and everything. You were supposed to be a “jump off”, but you ended up being a lot more than I expected so there was no way that I could actually cut you off from the rest of my life. The main thing is what do you plan on doing? Are you going to have the child or not?” Preston could not believe that he just asked her about an abortion and all he could hope for was that she was bluffing to get him to leave his wife.

  “You know Preston, you must think that I am real dumb,” Lustray retorted changing the subject, “every time that you use to spend the night over here, after giving you some good “head”, I would get on your laptop and read Delight Brown with saved documents on there. I read how she loves all of her sons and brags about her husband, Preston Brown,” she snarled. “She makes me sick already. Oh so let me finish. Then, I went onto whitepages.com and found the address of you two living together. Then, I went on Google Earth to find out exactly which apartment you lived in. That’s right, you don’t have a damn house, and you rent a townhome!”