Second Chances

4- Done With It All

I drove around for an hour before I found myself pulling up in front of Jasmine's house. I called my assistant and made sure that my absence wouldn't hinder my appointments. Just because I wasn't there, I was still expecting my employees to do what they were paid to do. That's what I hired a manager for. I put my braids up into a high bun and took all my jewelry off because after all the talking was done, I planned on beating her ass. I sat in my car for ten more minutes before I walked up to her door and politely rang the doorbell. I guess she thought I would show mercy by her sending one of her kids to answer the door.

"Hi, Auntie Selena!!"

The runt of the group, Mark, was always my personal favorite, but now that the cat was out of the bag, I was forced to see that he was the spitting image of Mike. Mark took me by the hand and led me into the living room, where I saw Jasmine huddled up on the couch with Messiah and Micah, also little reflections of Mike. I could tell Mike had given her a heads-up because she was nervously darting her eyes back and forth between the boys, but none of that was going to save her ass.

"Boys, go upstairs and play while Mama and Auntie Selena have a grown-up talk." She kissed each little boy on the forehead, then they ran up the stairs. Jasmine suggested that we go to the kitchen so we could talk.

She scrambled around the kitchen preparing her kettle to make some tea, a distraction to keep from looking at me in the eye. I scanned around the kitchen and got angrier because her fucking kitchen looked better than mine. I declined the cup when she offered it my way and looked at her with so much hatred and disgust.

"If you were gonna turn around and fuck him, why even introduce us, Jasmine? How could you do that to me???" The tears that I told myself she wasn't worth began to fall before I could catch them, and she had the nerve to start crying too.

"I'm so sorry, Selena. I was not meaning for any of this to happen. It happened two years before you guys' engagement, and no matter how many times I tried to end it, he made it so hard. Before I knew it, I was pregnant, and deeper into it than I intended."

"So, instead of you coming to me from the very beginning, you prolonged it thinking that would help matters any. What about me, Jasmine?? I thought you were my friend??"

"I am your friend, Selena!!!"

"BULLSHIT!!!! YOU ARE THE MOTHER OF MY HUSBAND'S CHILDREN!!!! HOW CAN YOU POSSIBLY BE MY FUCKING FRIEND???!!!!!"

She burst into tears and started babbling about how sorry she was, and how she wished she could turn back the hands of time, but I was over that shit. Just when I felt my anger about to boil over the edge, Caleb popped up in my mind. I was done with it all, and I no longer wanted to hear excuses.

"You know what, Jasmine? I came over here with the full intent on giving you a Jackson, Mississippi ass-whupping, but the more I sit here and listen to your bullshit, the more I'm convinced that you two deserve each other. I realize that you never wanted to be a good friend to me, it was about having a reason to see Mike whenever you had the chance. So, instead of me beating your ass like I so desperately crave, I will be a lady and leave. I'm thinking of those children upstairs because they didn't ask to be in this world. But just like I told Mike, I'm done with your trifling ass." I got up and walked out the door. For the first time in ten years, when I welcomed those two fuckers into my life, I felt free.

I drove to the hotel where Caleb was staying and opted for self-parking. The walk to the bar seemed like forever, and even though it was the middle of the day, I got toasted. I was ordering vodka martinis back-to-back, and the fact that I had just walked away from a bullshit marriage was weighing heavily on me. For some reason, I couldn't find it in me to go to Caleb, because I felt like the dumbest woman in the world.