Borrowed Time

Thirty Five

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After persuading Janet to stay, the two of us exited the restroom and walked back over to the table.

Joy had been dressed in a sequined red dress, while Whitney too wore one of the same color but only designed in satin fabric. Unlike the first time I met her, a different hairstyle rested upon her head. There were no messy curls, but a pixie cut instead.

"Is everything okay?" Joy asked Janet and myself, just as we were going to take our seats. She allowed her eyes to travel to and from the both of us.

I began to respond with, "Yeah. Sorry about that. We just—" but before I could finish releasing my words, Whitney had cut them off.

She looked over in Janet's direction, pointing at her with her index finger. "Do you have a problem? Because I heard you mumbling something the first time you came to the table. You got something to say?"

Janet prepared her mouth to snap back, but before she could, I did it for her.
Signaling at Whitney, I told her, "Now wait a minute, Susan."

"My name is not Susan," the woman said, rising from her seat. This made Joy get up too as she tried to intervene.

"Anything you feel the need to say to her," I continued to speak to Whitney, while pointing at Janet, "address it to me. You not gon' talk to her like you crazy. That's what you not about to do."

Joy was able to get Whitney to sit back down, but continued to stand where she was, just as Janet and I still stood where we were. "Okay, okay. This date is already starting off left and that is not how it's supposed to be." She spoke to the three of us, shaking her head in utter disbelief. "Can't we all just sit our asses down and talk like we said we would?"

Doing as she asked, Janet and I sat down at the table, but we hadn't said anything. In fact, no one did. The silence was rather loud as we were all too prideful to even want to speak up.

It wasn't until after a server came over and took our drink orders that the conversation truly began.

Whitney started it, while looking in my direction saying, "Toni, I just want you to know I was wrong for the way I came to you in the restroom that night. Joy told me prior to our date that she was going through a divorce with her wife," she motioned toward me, "but I had no idea that—y'know—you were the wife."

I shrugged my shoulders, not really caring to hear anything she had to say. "Yeah, all you had to do was ask..." Truly, I didn't feel the need to have any sort of discussion with Whitney. To my concern, she was just another woman Joy was passing through, one who happened to have stepped out of line. That was it.
The real discussion needed to be had between Janet and Joy, they were the ones that had actual issues.

"That's true," Whitney said back to me, moving her head in a fashion that agreed. She took a sip of the beverage she ordered, then also said, "I mean, I've been married before so I know what's it like to have somebody try to tell you about yours or to even simply overstep. It won't happen again and I sincerely apologize."

"Well, thank you for that," I replied, slightly smiling. I was at least grateful that she knew she was in the wrong. "I would like to tell you...that I see you're wearing a new wig today. And I sincerely like it."