“Alright already, Olivia. I apologized, didn’t I?” Malcolm answered as if he couldn’t understand her anger.
The waitress returned with Olivia’s steaming mug. “Here’s your coffee, ma’am.” She wiped her hands on the apron she wore and smiled at Malcolm. “What may I get for you, sweetheart?”
“I’ll have a cup of coffee with two creams and one Stevia.”
“Coming right up, honey.” The waitress batted her eyes without discretion at Malcolm before walking away with more of a switch in her hips than she had before he arrived. He turned on a mischievous grin in her direction. Olivia cleared her throat to get his attention.
Malcolm snapped out of what appeared to be a stupor from staring at the woman’s round behind. He almost had a look of embarrassment on his devilish face.
“Do you have decaf in your cup?” Malcolm pointed to Olivia’s coffee.
“No. What business is it of yours anyway?”
“You know it doesn’t do you any good to drink caffeine since you need to control your emotions. Look at the way you took my head off.”
“Let’s get something straight.” Olivia tapped her pointer finger on the table with each word for emphasis. “I don’t need you to be my caffeine monitor. You know nothin' about me
and my emotions. Don’t even go there, Malcolm.”
“Well, excuse me. I see you can’t take a joke.”
Olivia slammed her hand in front of him, spilling the hot coffee from her cup onto her napkin. “You’re not a comedian and I didn’t come here for a comedy show.” A couple sitting at another table stared and frowned as if they disapproved of her behavior.
“Look, Olivia. I’m not trying to start anything with you. Let’s have a civil conversation.”
“Okay. Talk.”
Malcolm drew in a sharp breath. Olivia knew he couldn’t stand for her to tell him what to do.
“I’m in a financial crisis.”
Olivia’s lie radar raised. “A financial crisis? What did you do with the money I paid in restitution, not to mention what I give to you for the children each month? I’ve already agreed to pay child support once our divorce is final. Why do you need more?”
“Did you forget I had to replace everything we lost in the fire? Since my vehicles were in the garage of the house, I had to buy a new car in addition to finding a place for me and the kids to live.”
“The insurance money should’ve been used for items lost and housing. How did you squander everything?”
“What are you accusing me of? Did you forget we’re in this situation because of what you did?”
“Excuse me? Come again?” Olivia leaned forward in her seat.
“If you cared anything about the kids, you wouldn’t even question the fact I need more money.”
“Malcolm, don’t you even try to say I don’t care about our children. They’ve always been the center of my universe since their birth. They matter to me. You were too busy screwing around with a slew of women to pay any attention to anything going on in their lives.”
“This is what you wanna do? Take cheap shots? You know I love Simone and Christian. If you hadn’t insisted on us sleeping in separate beds, I wouldn’t have been looking anywhere else for sex. A man has certain needs. You didn’t measure up.”
“Oh, for real? You want to blame your addiction to sex and pornography on me? Malcolm, stop with your lying. Any time I tried to show affection, you turned me away. Remember? Hmmm. Let me see if I’m able to recall your exact words. Oh, yeah. ‘Olivia, you’re fat and fluffy. I’m not turned on by you anymore’.”
“I didn’t say that.”
“Yes, you did. After everything you knew about me and my past issue with bulimia, you had enough nerve to call me fat after I gave birth to Christian. I nearly worked myself to death at the gym to get the baby weight off as soon as possible.”
“I never called you fat.”
Just the memory of that period in her life made her stomach twist in knots. “Malcolm. How can you sit here and say you never said those words to me?”
“Because I didn’t.”
Olivia put her hands in a prayer pose, raised her eyes to the ceiling, and said loud enough for Malcolm’s ears, “Oh, Lord. Please send a lightning bolt to strike Malcolm Turnipseed dead for lying.”
She paused and fixated her attention on him. “The crazy thing is, after expecting me to be perfect, you found a website with women four times my size to cheat with. What kind of sense does that make?”
“Can you keep your voice down? People are looking at us.”
“I. Don’t. Care.” Olivia’s voice exploded above the noisy crowd in the café. “Explain to me and the world, how you managed to find a website called Large Luscious Latina Ladies Love Black Men. Can you tell us? Hmmm? Cat got your tongue?”
By now, several diners swiveled their heads to look at them. A few people snickered at Olivia’s question.
Malcolm lowered his voice. “Olivia, let’s not rehash everything. Especially in public. Okay? We need to discuss something of extreme importance.” He paused, dropped his gaze to his hands in his lap, and mumbled, “I’m leaving San Antonio and moving to Miami.”
Olivia leaned forward to make sure she heard him correctly. “What did you say?”
Malcolm fidgeted in his seat and rubbed his goatee with his fingers. She knew from the past, whenever he used this gesture, lies would tumble from his narcissistic mouth.
After clearing his throat several times, words spilled from his lips without him taking a breath. “Yeah. I told you how my money hasn’t been sufficient. I’m behind on rent for the apartment. I think the best thing for me to do is to move to Miami.” Malcolm stared at the silverware on the table as if he’d never seen it before. He shifted in his seat again. His eyebrows creased as he waited for her reaction.
Olivia picked up a spoon to stir her coffee in an
