“Evette,” I called, getting her attention back onto me. “You fucked up big time doing that. If you’ve got a problem with me, you bring it to me. You could have done whatever you wanted to me and I’d have stayed decent and civil, but now I’m done, and it’s purely because of what you just did to Jose. Every word that just came out of your mouth was done to try to pull her down to your level, one where everyone else is to blame for the shit you bring on yourself, and it’s not going to work. Not one person thinks what you think, and they wouldn’t have – it’s just you who’s too bitter to accept that.” I made sure she could see how serious I was when I said what I was about to. “People love Jose because she didn’t make it their business. They admire a fighter and a survivor, they admire someone who acts with grace and dignity, they admire a woman who works her ass off to provide for her daughter, and they admire someone who took those punches and didn’t cave. You’ll never have that admiration, ever, because you deflect and drum up drama and problems where there aren’t any. You might get the attention and validation of the drama lovers, but you’ll never get the respect and admiration of the rest of the world.”
I knew if I continued that I’d strike a low blow, and I didn’t want to be that person. She’d done enough of that today, and I needed to focus now on Jose and Liv. So, not even giving her the respect of dismissing her, I sat back down and pulled Jose who was staring at the table into my side. “I think you need to leave,” DB ground out.
Tabby, who’d moved back to her seat while I was talking to Evette, stood up and went to walk back around the table. “I can make her, I really have no issues breaking a nail.”
Not missing a beat, DB grabbed for her and caught the waistband of her shorts this time, stopping her from getting any further. “Yeah, but I have an issue arresting you…” this made everyone at the table snort, “and as you pointed out, her nails are dangerous. So sit your ass down, fireball.”
“Eh,” Rose stood up. “I’ve got nothing holding me back,” she shrugged and took a step toward Evette who hadn’t moved an inch.
“Wrong,” Raoul muttered as he copied the move DB had done on Tabby, grabbing her by her waistband and tugging her backwards.
That was when Jose spoke up, breaking everyone in the diners hearts at the same time. “I hope that one day you don’t find yourself feeling trapped in a relationship. Being intimidated by the man who’s meant to love you and cherish you, and you can’t leave because you don’t know where to go and you’ve got no family to help you. The whole time you’re wondering if you just did this one thing…” she broke off, clearing her throat. “If it would change things. Every day you’re scared, locking the bedroom door and putting furniture in front of it so he can’t do something while you’re asleep. “Then there’s the fact that he’s constantly putting you down about the slightest thing, like not leaving the bathroom light on for him or leaving the toilet seats down. What about if you were scared for your pregnancy and your unborn child, lying on the floor as his girlfriend beats you, and you’re just trying to protect the child you’re carrying. None of it is a good place to be in, and trust me – you do not care what other people are thinking, although you suspect they’re all thinking what you just outlined there. You’re just constantly planning a way to get that freedom you’ve been begging God for, constantly thinking about where you can run to, and trying to keep your head held high so that other people don’t guess how beaten down you are. “I pray you never, ever experience that and then have to repair yourself afterward.” As every word hit home on Evette, it also hit home on all of us, including Raoul and DB who swallowed audibly, and one of the other patrons who muttered ‘motherfucker’ behind us. “And I pray that you never have a child whose father throws her away like a piece of trash, making sure you and that child know you mean absolutely zip to him.” She took in a loud shuddery breath, passed Liv to Tabby, and then stood up. “But until you’ve been in my shoes, gone through the thoughts and emotions that I have, you do not get to judge how I handled it, no one does. “Until you’re standing in my shoes, you don’t get to preach about what you felt my ulterior motives were, or how weak I was. Because I wasn’t weak, I tried to make my marriage work, but then I was pregnant and stuck with him a while longer. So, until that day that I pray never comes for you, do not pass judgement on me. You had a great man in your life, one who would have given you a great life if it had worked out, but you sabotaged that through your greed for attention, and then went around painting yourself as a victim. So no, you don’t get to sneer at me and make any implications, not when you’ve deliberately gone out looking for the sympathy you just accused me of.”