Andre West fidgeted in his car seat. "OK," he whispered into his watch, like it was a spy gadget from a James Bond movie, "the time is 17:30 hours and I've been surveilling the unknown address for two hours with no sign of any movement other than the mailman leaving a package." Did it matter that he didn't have a smart watch recording him, that his watch was a decade old Timex that only told time? Ehhh, not so much. Clearly, he was going a little loopy with no one to talk to and trying his best to stay under the radar slouched down in the back seat of his Tahoe. He wasn't a private eye or a police detective on a case, he was a man on a mission to get some answers. He had been dating an amazing woman named Asali Attison for 6 months. They were in love by all reasonable measures. The problem was, she was still being distant and guarded. Normally, any two people with that much in common, who had amazing, mind-blowing sex, who were interested in a long-term commitment with each other wanted to spend every waking moment with each other. Asali was being secretive. For no discernable reason whatsoever, she wanted "space." On the nights they didn't spend together, she would very often rush off the phone and he could tell there was something just not right.
A decade or so ago, Andre might have had to just settle for her answer that she just wanted time alone but Andre had the internet. He did a background check on her and found out that she had two addresses listed in Dallas. He had been to her loft plenty of times. This other address, the one he had been camped out in front of for a couple of hours was a condo she had never even mentioned. It's a good thing he had tinted windows because a Black man in a strange neighborhood sitting in his car for any length of time was enough to cause his name to become a hashtag. He was stealth. He had an empty Big Gulp cup with a very secure lid just in case he had to pee and he made sure he was dressed professionally so it would lessen the chances that someone might think he was some sort of thug and chase him through the neighborhood, you know, standing their ground. Oddly enough, he saw some scraggly-looking white guy walk past a few times who looked like he could have been an extra on the set of Breaking Bad and none of the neighbors even raised an eyebrow. Meanwhile, Andre made sure he wasn't listening to hip-hop on his car radio, he had jazz playing very softly on his phone, and he had his driver's license, registration, and car insurance cards on the front seat of the car so he wouldn't have to reach in the glove box for them. Oh, the things Black men have to do in an average day to avoid getting shot.
His time in the car was over as he saw Asali's black Infinity pull into the parking space for the unit. She got out, dressed like she had just come from the office, and sauntered in her confident, sexy way to the mailboxes and got her package. Andre decided he was going to wait for her to get to the front door, with her key in the lock before he decided to approach her. Just as he was about to open the door to his truck, a late model Honda Accord pulled up and parked in the second space for the unit. Andre froze. Of all the scenarios he had run in his head, Asali cheating was never one of them. That's what Andre kept telling himself, even as he saw a white man get out of the car and greet her on the walkway, open the door with his own set of keys and let her enter the unit first.
To say that Andre was heartbroken was an understatement. He took a few minutes to gather himself and fight back the tears. If she had some sort of sugar daddy/jungle fever, she could go straight to hell, do not pass go, do not collect $200. Steeling his nerves, he slammed the door of his truck a little too hard and blinked a few times to make sure that he didn't have any tears in his eyes. He knocked on the door with the force of someone who was not selling Girl Scout cookies.
The white man answered. His face showed signs of shock and fear. "Andre! I uhmmmmm. Hold on, let me get her."
"Who the fuck are you and how the hell do you know my name? Yeah, tell her to come to the door right now because I want some answers." Andre's voice was getting a couple of octaves higher and he could feel his emotions boiling over. The white guy left him standing outside. He didn't want to make a scene and have the police called so he waited patiently. He loved Asali. More than any woman he had ever loved before. This was just not happening. No fucking way.
Dressed in a stunning red knit dress that hugged her body but that was still professional, she took his hand and pulled him inside. "Sweetie, I am so sorry. I can explain." In the seconds that had passed, it was clear there were tears in her eyes as well. She stood still, waiting for him to say something. Not letting go of his hand, she led him to the living room and motioned for him to sit down.
"Todd, come here please." The white guy tentatively came out of what was surely a bedroom as the place was exquisitely decorated but very small. The kitchen was a galley kitchen and there was a breakfast bar that appeared to serve as the dining room. In the corner of the living room there was a desk with a desktop computer set up. There was no TV and there didn't seem to be any happy couple pictures of the two of them framed anywhere. Andre was devastated but he waited for the explanation. Todd, wearing the remnants of his business suit from work, stood silently,
"I didn't know how to tell you and I realize now what a mistake it was to keep it from you and I'm so very sorry. Andre this is Todd, Todd Wentley."
"Really? This dude? You are fucking around on me with him? I'm outta here." Andre was emotional and irrational. He got up and Asali cut him off.
"Noooo, it's not like that. It's . . . it's complicated. Let me explain." They sat down on the sofa again, this time, her soft hand covered his. He wanted to pull away he was so disgusted but the part of his brain that adored her wanted this to be all a joke, a terrible, horrible, unbelievable, complex joke where cameras were going to pop out and let him know that he was being pranked. She continued. "I know I should have told you when we first started getting serious but there just didn't seem like a good time. And after a while, I realized that I should have told you in the beginning and then I was just ashamed and embarrassed by the whole situation. I didn't want to lose you and I wasn't ready to give up Todd."
"Oh hell no! I swear to God if you tell me that you love this dude I will lose my mind. Him? Get the fuck outta here! If you want him, you can have him!" He pulled his hand away, devastated.