16. Jolene

"When do you plan to sign the papers?"

"Tomorrow as soon as the lawyer's office opens. I'll give you a week to vacate the property." He reached out for my arm, but I sidestepped him. I was done, just done. I didn't know how done until I saw fiery rage in my daughter's eyes.

Somehow, that was the catalyst I needed to let go. I'd be hurting my children more by staying and being unhappy than if I just let go and let us both find happiness, whether with someone else or alone.

I called Sheila and just broke down as soon as she answered the phone. I heard her say something to her husband but couldn't make it out, then heard a door slam and movement. "You still there, little sister?"

"I'm here!" That was about as much as I could get out.

I don't know how long I stayed on the phone crying while she reassured me, but ten minutes later, she was in my bedroom. She had a box of wine, a joint, and her Daddy's shotgun.

"What's all this?"

"You not ended up on Unsolved Mysteries. Or one of those Dateline shows, fuck that. Jonathan is downstairs with his gun, and I'll be staying in here with you."

"Only you could make me laugh at a time like this."

"Come on, let's get drunk off our tits and stay up all night."

"Don't you have work tomorrow?"

"You think I'll let you go down there alone?"

"No, ma'am. I'll be here for the next week until…"

"Wait a minute, you got over here very fast. Did you have all of this ready?"

"Of course, either way, we were gonna need it all. The only difference is if you stayed, I'd have gotten you drunk and high, but I'd have shot off one of his balls for fucking with my friend."

* * *

We sure did get pissdrunk but not too drunk to go down and sign the papers the next day. I was so numb afterward, with butterflies in my stomach and a sick, dizzy feeling, but the one thing I didn't feel was regret.

I knew I had to do this for me most of all. I couldn't let the past or my one-sided love for Kevin hold me back in a place where I didn't belong. I say one-sided because I'd spent the night after Sheils fell asleep thinking of all the times I'd been hit on throughout our relationship, all the times I could've cheated and didn't. Not only didn't I give in to temptation, but I recalled how offended I was by the very thought that I would cheat on my husband.

I didn't think any of those things. He probably didn't think of me at all. And that's enough for me to want to let go. "How are you holding up love?"

We were in the back of Jonathan's car, holding each other.

"I'm fine. I guess it's not going to feel like it's over until he moves out. I hope he doesn't make a scene or refuse to go."

"Oh, you don't have to worry about that. Didn't I tell you I was staying with you for a week?"

"Yes, you did." I'm glad I have one relationship from back then that never failed.

* * *

By the third day,it didn't look like Kevin was planning to leave, so Sheila told me she'd be right back. She came back with boxes and a U-Haul that she had delivered to the house. I didn't even know they did that. That evening when Kevin came home and saw most of his shit in boxes, I almost had a stroke.

He started yelling and screaming, and unbeknownst to me, Sheila Face Timed Savanah. "Hey Savanah, hey, how is school my love?"

"Aunt Sheila, is Mom okay?"

"Your Mom's fine, love. We're helping your Daddy pack up because he's moving in two days."

"Hey, Dad, where are you moving to? Did you find an apartment yet?"

"Uh, no, not yet. I'm still looking."

"Savanah Buttercup, let me call you right back." She hung up with Savanah and scrolled through her phone while Kevin and I just looked at her, maybe in shock. I know I was wondering what was going on.

"Hey Dalton, hey, it's me, Sheila. Listen, the divorce is final, and your one and only son doesn't have a place to stay. Yes, sir, okay." She hung up the phone and turned to us.

"Your Daddy's coming to get you."

Dalton showed up and kissed me, and Sheila on the cheek gave his son a look, and before we knew it, there were three men in my house carting out boxes while my ex seethed. He knew better than to say anything to his Daddy, or he could kiss that inheritance goodbye.

When the last box was gone, the house actually felt lighter. Dalton gave me one last hug, "If anyone gives you any issues, and you don't get what you're supposed to, you just let me know, you hear?"

"Yes, sir."

"Yes, what?"

"Yes, Dad." I cried like a baby, and he stood there and held me, and when I finally pulled away, there were tears in his eyes as well.

This is what cheating does: the domino effect. It breaks apart bonds that it had taken years to forge for a few minutes of sexual gratification. When you think about it, the benefits are nowhere near the price you pay.

It hit me so hard in the gut, then just what Kevin had done, and I was back to being pissed again. I didn't even say goodbye, I just walked upstairs after Dalton walked out the door and left Jonathan and Sheila to deal with my ex.

True to her word, even though he was gone, Sheila stayed the whole week. I came downstairs one morning to find some man in my kitchen with his ass crack showing and Sheila offering him coffee.

She passed me a bunch of keys and then gave me a piece of paper with codes on it. "Your locks have been changed, and we added these keypad things; you can change the code whenever you're ready. You can open the damn door with your phone if you'd like. Don't forget the garage door while you're at it."

She'd thought of everything. I know some people might think she's overstepped, but when you know someone as well as we know each other, you don't look at these things that way. Sheila was in the hospital room throughout most of my labor with all of my kids because she's one of the people I trust most. That, and she would lay into that hospital staff if they didn't hop to on her command.

When she left later that week, it was as if all the air was let out of me. I just deflated. I stayed in bed for three days straight and only spoke to my kids on the phone. They wanted to come be with me, and maybe I should've let them because this was affecting them as well, but I didn't even have the strength to walk down the stairs to open the door.

Or maybe that was just my mind telling me so. Anyway, by day four, Savanah called her Godmother, Miss. Sheila and she called to let me know she'd break every window in my house if I didn't come and open the damn door.

So, I dragged myself downstairs half an hour later and was forced into the shower because, according to her, I smelled like roadkill in the hot southern heat. The shower did feel good, but I did not need to be threatened by my bestie to wash my ass unless I wanted her to come by the next day and do it for me.

My days went like that for the next two weeks until I realized I was not being fair to my kids and I was a horrible mother. I called them crying, but they said they understood. Their Aunty Sheila and Grandpas had been keeping them up to date.

My Mama called as well, but she said she was too mad to come by here, so she was waiting until there was no danger of my ex showing up anywhere in the vicinity. I guess she figured out how to use DoorDash because she kept sending me meals every afternoon like clockwork. My Mama can barely use the phone.

Three weeks later, I felt almost human again. I hadn't heard from Kevin because I'd blocked him, at least for now. I just couldn't deal with anything that had to do with that mess. I needed a break to deal with the trauma of what I'd just gone through.

Well, slowly but surely, that Saturday morning, not only my kids but Sheila, Jonathan, and Dalton showed up at my door, hounding me for my stuffed French toast. Before I knew it, we were out in the backyard, and the guys were firing up the grill, and we were playing around in the pool.

I looked over at my daughter with a wine cooler in her hand, cursing all cheaters to hell, and realized she was an adult. I said a quick prayer that none of my children ever suffered this pain and promised them all right then and there that if they ever treated anybody's child like that, I would disown them.

About a month and a half later, I was ready to step outside my door again. I was tired of looking at the walls in my house and just wanted to go somewhere where I didn't have to stand my own company. I took a nice long shower and shaved my legs for the first time in weeks.

As it turns out, Sheila must have a sixth sense because no sooner had I stepped out of the shower than my phone rang. It was her calling to check up on me to make sure I was doing okay. Before I could tell her about my plans, she hit me with a zinger.

"Maeve is coming over this weekend."

"Which weekend? Wait, did you tell her?"

"I did!"

"For Pete's sake, why did you go and do a fool thing like that?" I was more nervous about facing Maeve than I was, the idiot judge who had got me stuck in the hell I was in before.

Now, Maeve is what we in the South call a bad bitch. Maeve is Sheila's little sister. She got pregnant in high school and went to the local community college while her man went off to the top-tier college that he'd been accepted to before the pregnancy came to light.

When he was done, she went back to school full-time while holding down a job and taking care of her family. Now, twenty-something years later, those two are still married with two kids in college, one on the way there, and five-year-old twins that are just as beautiful as the sunrise.

She's also batshit crazy. "You'd better get your shit together by the time the crazy train pulls into town."

"What's she gonna do to me now? She's not hunting down Kevin, is she?"

"No, but I'm almost certain she put the juju on him."

I hope his balls fall off.