Mariah. The recollection of lewd videos and photos of naked women she found in Malcolm’s phone made their way into her head. She recalled finding the chat page pictures on the website, which Malcolm left open on their home computer by mistake. The pornographic images still seared her brain.
“Aww, hell naw.” Olivia slammed the door of the café open and darted outside. She didn’t notice the sting of the wintery air hitting her lungs as she sucked in oxygen.
“Olivia. Wait.” Malcolm’s footsteps pounded behind her into the parking lot. Mariah followed them. Her labored breathing sounded raspy as if her lungs pressed against her trachea.
Olivia turned and Malcolm almost ran into her. She placed her hands on his chest and shoved him away. “What is this? Why is she here?”
Before Malcolm could answer, Mariah snapped her head toward him and blurted out with an attitude, “Why is she asking you about why I’m here? You told me you needed to speak to her to tell her about us.”
“Hold on, Mariah. I-I hadn’t gotten to it yet,” Malcolm stuttered.
“Tell me what?” Olivia asked. Her temples pulsated with a readiness to burst at any moment. The light from the sun blurred as rage grew in the pit of her stomach. The pounding of her heart beating in her ears muffled the sound of everything.
“I’m going to be his wife now.” Mariah raised her swollen left hand to show an apple-seed sized diamond ring. “I’m also happy to say, I’m twenty weeks pregnant. Your kids are about to have a baby brother.” Mariah declared this news with joy as if they were the best of friends. Her sniffy attitude didn’t pass above Olivia’s head.
“Engaged? Pregnant? What the hell? You got her pregnant while we were still married?” Olivia fixated her eyes on Malcolm and noticed beads of sweat forming above his lip.
“Yeah. See. I attempted to t-tell you,” Malcolm stammered.
Mariah gazed at Olivia with teary eyes. She placed her hand on Malcolm’s tremoring hand. “We’re moving in with the rest of my kids and my mother. She’s not doing well these days with her bad heart. I can’t expect her to keep taking care of my children on her own with her health being as bad as it is now. I only relocated to San Antonio to get away from their trifling fathers. I didn’t plan to be here this long. I met Malcolm and fell in love with him.”
Olivia’s chest rose and fell ten times before she could calm her anger enough to answer without screaming. She turned her attention to Mariah. “Why are you talking to me as if I’m your friend and care about anything in your life? You are with my husband.”
Before Mariah responded, Olivia focused on Malcolm. “You lied to me again. This has nothing to do with money for our kids. I see you spent my money on a Cracker Jack engagement ring. You’re moving my children to Miami to be with your new family. Is this what’s going on here?”
“Olivia. I didn’t lie to you. You wouldn’t let me finish explaining why I asked you to meet me today. Mariah hasn’t been able to work at the bowling alley because of the stress of the pregnancy. I haven’t drummed up enough prospects for my marketing business since I’ve been too busy with the kids. We might get kicked out of the apartment due to late payments.”
“Wait. When you say ‘we,’ do you mean you and the kids are about to get evicted? Or are you telling me she’s living in your apartment with you, too?” Olivia’s eyes darted back and forth between Malcolm and Mariah.
“Baby, you didn’t tell her I moved in last month?” Mariah’s eyebrows pinched together beneath her bangs. “I thought you were going to let her know.”
Olivia refused to acknowledge Mariah. She directed her questions to Malcolm, who now had sweat pouring along the sides of his face despite the frigid air.
“A month? This whore has been living in the apartment with our kids all this time and no one said anything to me? What’s going on Malcolm?” Olivia yelled.
“Whore? Who are you calling a whore?” Mariah yelled and pointed her finger at Olivia with a barrage of Spanish curse words spilling from her mouth.
“Malcolm, you’d better get this trick out of my face,” Olivia demanded and slapped Mariah’s hand from in front of her. “Vete al infierno. Don’t think I don’t understand what you said. If you weren’t pregnant, I’d grab you by your greasy hair and knock you out. Call me those names one more time.” She didn’t care about other people standing around in the parking lot watching. Someone held a cell phone up to record the ordeal.
“Oh, no you didn’t put your hands on me,” Mariah yelled and attempted to lunge at Olivia. The heel on her shoe snapped. Malcolm caught her and she kept running her mouth. “You hate the fact he’s with me because you’re a racist and you don’t like Hispanics.”
“What? I know you didn’t call me a racist. Let’s get something straight. I don’t like you because you’re a home-wrecker. Your race has nothing to do with how I feel about you.”
Mariah’s breathing sounded labored as she struggled to balance on her feet. “I’ll call your probation officer and tell them you attacked me and tried to hurt my baby.”
“Mariah. Calm down. I need you to go back to the car and wait for me.” Malcolm attempted to diffuse the build-up of emotion between the two ladies.
“You gonna let her call me a whore and not do something?” Mariah huffed and poked the side of his head with her finger.
“Woman, you need to check your tone and stop poking my head,” Malcolm shouted with added base in his voice.
Mariah leaned away from him with her brows raised. “Aren’t you going to
