“Was she there?”
“No.”
“What did you do then?”
“I had a few drinks and I came home,” Lakeda said, and then the look on her face changed.
“What?” I asked.
“What did you do!” Miles demanded to know.
“I talked to Jeff Ritchie.”
“What did you tell him?” I asked.
“I needed somebody to talk to. So I told him about the affair. Told him that you said you loved her.”
“But I told you that I would never leave you and the kids, Lakeda. I told you that.”
“I know what you told me, Miles. But I was mad that night; Mad enough to kill you, not her, Miles, you. That’s why I left.”
“What did you tell Jeff Ritchie?” I asked.
“I told him that Miles said he was meeting her at that restaurant. I told him that I was going to be there, too.”
“What did he say?”
“He said that I should go home and be with my husband. That he knew how these things were, and when you realized what you had, and what you had to lose that you would come to your senses and leave her alone.”
“Let me go,” Miles said calmly and I did what he asked. He walked up to Lakeda and slowly reached for her hand.
“I didn’t have her killed, Miles.” Now its Lakeda who began to shed tears.
“I know. Don’t cry, Lakeda. It wasn’t your fault. This is all my fault. I should never have let that happen. Never did that to you.”
“I didn’t deserve that, Miles. Do you know how hard it was for me to hear you say ‘I love you’ to another woman?”
“Yes, and I’m sorry that I hurt you, I swear, nothing like that will ever happen again. I only hope that you can forgive me.”
“I don’t know, Miles. I’m trying, you know that, but it’s going to take time for me to get past this.”
“Please, Lakeda, just say that you forgive me.”
“I forgive you, Miles, but I meant what I said. It just gonna take some time.”
Miles put his arms around Lakeda and hugged her. Slowly, Lakeda put her arms around him. “Let’s go back inside and see about Pops.”
“That’s right,” Rain said, and we all started walking back toward the building, but I knew it wasn’t over.
Once we were back inside, Miles saw Jeff Ritchie going back in the visitor’s area and he took-off running. Rain went running after him. “Miles!”
I looked at Lakeda before I started to run. She smiled at me and kept walking at the same pace. I knew then there was more to this then she had said.
Miles ran up to Jeff Ritchie and hit him in the face and the two men began wrestling until me and Rain got there to separate them. “You killed her, didn’t you?” Miles said as I dragged him away from Jeff Ritchie. “You fuckin’ bastard, you killed her.”
“What are you talking about, Miles? And lower your voice,” Jeff Ritchie said as hospital staff began to take notice of us.
“Let’s take this outside,” I suggested.