“I ain’t got no money for Mosella’s. Our move set us back a few dollars.”
“Don’t worry about it. It’s my treat. And you can order anything you want,” I said quickly and with a sincere smile. That brought a smile to Yvonne’s face.
Chapter 37
Joyce
I HAD NO IDEA HOW MUCH I’D REGRET INVITING YVONNE TO GO shopping. I had never been out in public with a woman as pretty as she was, so I was not prepared for the things that happened to me that day. Before we even got off our block, a handsome, well-dressed man in a shiny black car drove close to the curb and slowed down. I assumed he was going to ask for directions. That was what strange men usually asked when they spoke to me in public. This one rolled down his window, whistled, and yelled, “Stop right there!” Since I was on the outside of the sidewalk, I assumed he was talking to me. I stopped first and then Yvonne did. “Girl, you look so good I’d drink your bathwater!” he whooped. Then he honked his horn.
“You stop that!” I scolded with my hands on my hips. “You ought to be ashamed of yourself, sir!”
“Pffft! I ain’t talking to you, you big clumsy ox!” he blasted. My jaw dropped as he continued, looking directly at Yvonne now. “Hey, cutie, can I get your name and address? I sure would like to take you out!”
“My husband wouldn’t like that,” Yvonne giggled. “Now you go on about your business.”
We started walking again and the man drove off. My head started throbbing. This was the first time somebody had insulted me to my face, so I didn’t know how to react. I said the first thing that came to my mind. “He’s probably got a wife and a bunch of babies at home.”
“He wasn’t my type anyway.” This was not what I had expected Yvonne to say.
“What if a man who is your type comes up to you?”
“What do you mean?”
“Would you cheat on Milton?”
“Well, I ain’t cheated on him yet and I don’t plan on doing it. But I can’t say I won’t.” We continued walking, and several more men leered at Yvonne and ignored me. “I hope our husbands don’t flirt with women like the ones out here today,” she grumbled.
“Well, I don’t know about yours, but I know my husband doesn’t act a fool over women when I’m not around,” I stated. I knew I sounded smug, but Yvonne wasn’t sharp enough to know that. I hadn’t even known her a whole month, but I could tell that she was as dense as she was beautiful.
“I’ll say this much, if Milton is pestering other women, he better not let me find out about it,” she laughed.
“Would you leave him?”
She gave me a pensive look and shrugged. “That all depends. If he falls in love with another woman and wants to be with her, I ain’t going to hold on to him. There is too many other men in the world, so I ain’t about to try and keep one that don’t want to be kept.” Yvonne stopped talking and asked me in a real quiet and serious tone, “Would you leave Odell if he got involved with another woman?”
I stumbled because her question startled me. “That’s something I never think about.” I paused and took a deep breath. When I started talking again, my voice was so hoarse I didn’t even sound like myself. “If he ever decides he wants to be with another woman, I don’t know what I’ll do,” I admitted. Just the thought of Odell cheating on me was so unbearable, I refused to let it stay on my mind more than a few seconds. I wanted to talk about anything but married people cheating on each other. “Um, don’t let me forget to pick up some lighter fluid,” I mumbled.
We picked up some lighter fluid and a small bag of charcoal at the hardware store in the next block, and then we strolled over to Mosella’s for lunch.
I relaxed and forced myself to stop thinking about how all those men had paid so much attention to Yvonne. I got slighted again when the waitress dropped our check onto the table. “You only charged us for one meal,” I pointed out.
“I know,” the waitress said, giving me a sympathetic look. Then she turned to Yvonne and told her, “The man sitting with the lady in the booth by the door paid for yours.”
“Oh.” Yvonne sighed, sounding bored. I guess if I had to fight off men as much as she did, I’d be bored by now too.
The waitress lowered her tone to a whisper, leaning closer to Yvonne’s ear. “He asked me to get your name and a telephone number if you got one so he can call me up and come take you out.”
“Tell him thanks for the meal but he can’t take me out because I’m married,” Yvonne said firmly. “Joyce, let’s get out of here.” I paid for my order and we left with me trailing behind her like a lost lamb. “Let’s take the bus back home,” she said when we reached the bus stop at the end of the block.
“That’s fine with me. I don’t feel like walking anymore either.”
“I don’t mind walking. I just don’t want to deal with another man trying to get into my bloomers.”
Before I could make a comment, another man approached us. This one stopped in front of me, grinning like a
