The Devil Is a Lie (4 page)

N
ina and Rick had just swung the door open to leave when they were swarmed by Nina’s older sister and two of her cousins.

“Girl, you are out of order!” Yvonne yelled loud enough for all the neighbors to hear. She was dressed in her usual loud colors—a gold spandex halter top and brown leggings with lace around the ankles. Yvonne had a beautiful figure and didn’t hesitate to flaunt it.

“How you gon’ win all that money and not let somebody know?” she snapped.

Nina fought back a groan. Rick, on the other hand, didn’t try to hide his irritation. Since the day they’d met, Rick and Yvonne had been like cats and dogs, always going at it. Yvonne didn’t like Rick, and the feeling was mutual.

“Yvonne, we were just going out,” Rick said, pushing Nina out the door.

Yvonne jumped in front of her sister, blocking her path. “To celebrate? That’s what I’m talkin’ ’bout. Where we goin’?” She smacked her lips like she was ready to party.

“
We
ain’t goin’ nowhere,” Rick replied.

Yvonne ran her fingers through her long two-tone burgundy weave and scowled at Rick. “I do think I was talking to my sister.
My blood
.” She pointed a finger in his face. “You just a dude passin’ through.”

Nina knew she needed to step in, as she always did whenever they started in on each other. “Yvonne, what’s going on?”

Before her sister could answer, Nina’s twin cousins, Janay and Janai (their mother liked the name so much she gave it to both of her girls), stepped forward.

“How is my favorite cousin?” Janay asked, hugging Nina.

Janai quickly followed suit. “Yeah, girl. How you doin’?” The twins wore matching Rocawear denim tube dresses with UGG boots. Like Yvonne, both were smacking on large wads of gum and looking like they were heading to a hoochie convention.

Nina narrowed her eyes, trying not to let the disdain she was feeling show on her face. “I’m doing the same as I was yesterday, last week, and last year. But of course, you couldn’t’ve cared less how I was doing then.” Even though the twins were thirty, just like Nina, they were Yvonne’s running buddies, probably because they were just as ghetto as she was. Janai and Janay had never cared for Nina, saying she always thought she was bet
ter than everyone else—even though she didn’t. But they were definitely changing their tune now.

“Nina, you look good,” Janay said, ignoring her remark. “Did you lose weight?”

“Actually, I gained ten pounds since you saw me last,” Nina said drily.

Rick exhaled in disgust. “Nina, we need to be going.” He motioned toward the car. “They’ll cancel our dinner reservations if we’re late.”

Yvonne planted her hands on her hips. “So y’all ain’t gon’ invite us to dinner, for real?”

“We’re not inviting you.
For real
,” Rick stressed.

Nina knew she needed to diffuse the situation before the hostility flared out of control. “Rick, baby, can you go on to the car? I’ll be there in a minute.”

“Yeah, Rick. Go on to the car.” Yvonne sneered.

Rick looked like he wanted to go off, but Nina gently put her hand on his chest. “Please, I’ll be there in a minute.”

He stomped off to the car.

“I don’t know why you stay with him,” Yvonne snarled, watching him go.

“Yvonne, don’t start.” They’d had this conversation so many times, Nina had lost count. She and her sister weren’t even that close, but since Yvonne was the older of the two sisters, she never hesitated to give her two cents.

“Whatever.” Yvonne knew when she was beaten. “So, what’s up? How you gon’ win the lottery and not tell your sister?”

“Yvonne, I tried to call you. But neither me or Grandma Odessa could get in touch with you.”

“That’s because we been in Miami celebrating our birthday,” Janay announced, giving her sister a high five.

“It was off the chain,” Janai echoed.

“Well, don’t get mad at me, because I tried to call and couldn’t get you. What’s wrong with your Cricket phone?” Nina asked.

Yvonne curled her lip and tsked. “Why you gotta say it like that?” She turned toward Janay. “‘What’s wrong with your Cricket phone?’” she said mockingly before turning back to Nina. “Everybody ain’t got good credit like you. T-Mobile isn’t doling out phones to everybody.”

Nina sighed. Why wasn’t she surprised? When she’d tried to help her sister buy a house last year, she’d found out that Yvonne’s credit score was 450. It was no wonder she couldn’t get a cell phone with a decent carrier.

“If you must know, ol’ siddity girl, my
Cricket
phone is off because I’m broke,” Yvonne said. “Of course, that was before my sister won the lotto.”

“But you had enough money to go to Miami?” Nina asked incredulously.

“Please,” Yvonne said, waving her off. “Janay’s man paid for our trip.”

Rick started blaring the horn.

“Okay, I need to be going,” Nina said. “Yvonne, I do plan on giving you some money. Call me tomorrow and we’ll talk about it.”

Yvonne squealed in victory as Nina headed down the walkway toward the car.

“What about us?” Janay yelled. “We family, too.”

Nina didn’t bother looking back as she got in the car and took off.

T
odd slumped into his seat at the kitchen table. He had fumbled his way through most of the workday. Today had been the day from hell. Of course, he was still in shock over the news he learned last night about Nina winning the lottery. But then, first thing this morning, his mother had called to tell him that the doctor wanted to meet with them about his grandmother Hattie. They’d put her in a hospice after she suffered a stroke. Although she’d recovered, she was suffering from cardiomyopathy and was waiting on a donor so she could have a heart transplant.

Todd shook off thoughts of his grandmother. She was going to be fine, he told himself as he glanced at the phone on the kitchen table.

He had debated calling Nina to congratulate her, but then
he thought she probably had everyone trying to call her. She did have some outlandish family members, and Todd had no doubt they were trying to claim their share.

So he had decided not to call her; although Nina’s winning the lottery had been the catalyst to start him thinking about her again, his feelings for her purely genuine.

Leaving Nina was his biggest regret. They’d been together since high school and had even attended college together at the University of Texas at Austin. He had a track scholarship; she an academic scholarship. But they both were so happy to be away from home (and her overprotective grandmother) that they hadn’t studied like they were supposed to, and by their sophomore year they were both flunking out.

Todd finally gave up on school and moved back home to Houston. After another semester, Nina followed. They lived together against her grandmother’s wishes, and like most young couples, they struggled. They married at twenty-one, way too young. Todd loved Nina but he reached the point where he started feeling like he was missing all that life had to offer. He wanted to go out with his boys. He wanted to have fun. Being married meant having a boring, uneventful life. She worked in real estate. He got a part-time job at a radio station. Eventually he was promoted to director of music relations, his salary skyrocketed, and he was invited to all the hottest parties, where he worked hard to make contacts for his future dream of opening a talent management company. Even though he was unhappily married, he hung in there with Nina and was faithful to her for seven years. Then he met Pam.

Todd thought Pam was out of his league when he first saw her sitting at the bar of this nightclub where a new artist had just finished a listening party. Her smooth chocolate skin, long sexy legs, and enchanting gray eyes made him want to get to know her better. At first he convinced himself that flirting with her was harmless. She’d broken down and given him her phone number, but whenever he called, she was always too busy to talk. But the more she blew him off, the more he wanted her. Lincoln tried to tell him he just liked the chase, but Todd didn’t listen. He liked the excitement of going after her. He wanted her and wouldn’t rest until he got her, which took him about two months.

Pam wasn’t the least bit fazed by the fact that he was married, and before he knew it, they were deep in a relationship. Soon she tired of being “the other woman” and demanded that he leave Nina, which he didn’t have the heart to do. If he had only known then what he knew now.

Todd shook himself out of his trip down memory lane. He looked down at the newspaper laid out in front of him.

“Unbelievable,” he muttered as he read for the tenth time the article about Nina’s win.

“What’s unbelievable?”

Todd jumped at the sound of Pam’s voice. She was standing in the doorway to the kitchen. He merely glared at her before he went back to reading his paper.

“So how long are you gonna stay mad at me?” Pam asked.

Todd had dodged her calls all day. When he came home from the bar last night, he slept on the sofa. This morning
he left for work before Pam even stirred. Now, after another twelve-hour shift, he just wanted some peace and quiet. Thankfully, the electricity was back on, but he was still upset.

“I’ve been calling you all day long,” Pam continued when he didn’t respond to her question. “I would’ve come up to your job, but the gas card isn’t working and I don’t have any money.”

“But your hair looks good,” Todd muttered without looking at her.

She ignored his dig. “Can we talk?”

The lights, the gas card, his car note—all these bills were overdue. The mounting debt was making his head hurt. The last person he wanted to talk to was the source of his troubles. It seemed like the only time his head wasn’t hurting was when he was on the road. And Pam wondered why he was always volunteering for the long-distance jobs.

Todd lowered his head and stared more intently at the newspaper, hoping she would get the message and go away.

“Look, I told you I would get the lights back on. They’re on now, so what’s the big deal?” Pam said when he still didn’t respond.

He glared at her, not believing she had the audacity to ask him that.

“You always gotta be getting mad at something.” She walked into the kitchen, eyeing the newspaper. “What has you looking all intense?” She stopped short. “And since when do you read the paper?”

He folded the newspaper. He’d picked it up looking for the article on Nina. Sure enough, it was blazoned across the front page of the People section.

While Todd walked over to the refrigerator, Pam casually picked up the paper and flipped it open. “What were you reading that was unbeliev—?” She gasped. “Is this Nina?”

Todd kept his head in the refrigerator, searching for a beer or wine cooler. Sometimes, he needed a drink just to tolerate Pam, and this was one of those times. It hadn’t always been that way. They used to have fun. But then he lost his job, and his life had been spiraling downhill ever since.

“Oh, my God,” Pam said, skimming the article. “Nina won the lottery?”

Todd grabbed a beer, then turned around to see Pam’s eyes wide with shock.

“She won sixteen million dollars?” Pam looked to Todd for confirmation.

“She only took home eight point six million,” he casually said, walking over and snatching the paper from her.

“Oh, my God,” Pam repeated. She paused like she was deep in thought. “That’s great,” she said almost in a whisper, like she was talking to herself. Her voice grew louder, reaching a crescendo. “That’s better than great. That’s fantastic!”

Todd knew Pam hated Nina, so he couldn’t understand why Pam would think her win was great. “I don’t know what you’re all happy for,” Todd said. “You’re acting like
you
won the lottery.”

A sinister expression slowly crept over her face.

“What is that look for?” he asked, knowing she was up to no good.

“I didn’t win the lottery.” Pam eased over to him like a cat. “But you did.”

Todd popped the top on his beer. It was amazing how every little thing she did got under his skin now. “What are you talking about?
Nina
won the lottery. I assure you she isn’t going to share with me.”

“What’s hers is yours,” Pam sang.

“Once upon a time,” he coolly replied, taking a swig of beer.

Pam bit down on her bottom lip like she had a secret she was bursting to tell. Todd eyed that beautiful face with suspicion. Pam had that mischievous look in her eyes—the one she got whenever she was doing something that she didn’t have any business doing.

“Pam, I’m going to ask you again. What are you talking about?” Todd asked, exasperated.

“Sit down.” She was so giddy, he was starting to feel more nervous than irritated.

Todd didn’t budge. “Why would you think I’d be entitled to any of Nina’s money? I haven’t talked to her in months.” The last time they’d spoken was around four months ago, when he and Pam went out to eat at the Cheesecake Factory. Out of all the people to be seated next to, they’d been placed at a table next to Nina and her best friend, Michelle. Todd had wanted to wait for another table to become available, but the restaurant was crowded, Pam was starving, and when Pam figured out the real reason he wanted to wait, she’d gone ballistic. Todd never understood why, but Pam always felt threatened by Nina. When she’d caught Nina glaring at them, she’d gone completely off—to the point where Todd and Pam were asked
to leave the restaurant. Todd had never been so embarrassed in his life.

Pam sat down, pulling him into the chair next to her. “Okay, you remember you gave me that five hundred dollars to get a cashier’s check and mail in your paperwork to finalize the divorce?”

He raised his eyebrows. “Yes, I remember. And you told me you did. We even went out to dinner to celebrate.”

“Yeah, that’s when we went to the Hyatt Spindletop restaurant. Ooooh, that place was so nice. We should go there again because—”

“Pam! Would you get back on track?” he snapped. “What does that have to do with anything?”

She fidgeted nervously before stammering, “W-well, I kinda lied about mailing the papers.”

“What?” he asked, surprised.

Pam stood up and began pacing and talking real fast. “Well, on my way to the post office that day, LaDonna called and asked me to go to the outlet mall with her. We were gonna go by the post office on the way back. Well, at the outlet mall I saw this Fendi purse I had been wanting. And can you believe it was seventy percent off? And I mean, seriously, I could not pass up a deal like that. And…” She paused.

“And what?”

“And so I bought it,” she said quietly.

Todd had heard this type of story before. “So what does that have to do with my divorce? That’s not the first time you went overboard and bought something you didn’t need. It’s your…”
He stopped as the realization of what she was saying began to sink in. “Wait a minute. You used the money I gave you for my divorce to buy a purse?”

She looked momentarily apologetic, but then her eyes filled with excitement. “I had every intention of getting the money back. But time got away from me. Then you got laid off and money was always tight and I just never got around to it.”

“So let me get this straight.” Todd scratched his head, trying to process what she was saying. “You never sent off the final paperwork for my divorce? So I’m not divorced?”

“No and no.”

“Where is it? The paperwork?”

She shrugged. “In a box somewhere.”

Todd sat in stunned silence. “So all this time I was thinking I’m divorced and I’m not?” He couldn’t believe he had been dumb enough not to follow up and make sure she had taken care of the processing. But he had been headed out of town when he got the paperwork, so he’d just signed it and given Pam the money to officially file it. Pam had assured him everything was finalized and he had no reason to doubt her word. Plus, he had never heard anything from Nina.

“I do not believe this,” he said, shaking his head.

“But, babe, do you know what that means?” she asked.

Suddenly, all her whining about them getting married flashed into his head. “How were we going to get married when my divorce wasn’t even finalized? Would I have been a bigamist?”

She waved him off. “Of course not. I was gonna make sure it was taken care of before we actually got married, but since
you haven’t made a move to even buy me a ring, I didn’t worry about it.” Todd couldn’t believe she had the nerve to be getting an attitude. “I told myself that if and when you ever decided to do right and marry me, I’d make sure it was taken care of.”

He slammed his palms on the table. She was acting like this bombshell she’d just dropped on him was no big deal. “Pam, are you listening to yourself?”

She didn’t seem the least bit fazed by his outburst. “Baby, do you know what this means?” She tried to take his hands.

“It means you took my money for my divorce and bought a freakin’ purse!” he said, jerking his hand away.

“No. It means Nina’s money is
our
money.” She pointed at the newspaper. “That eight point six million dollars, half of it is yours, baby.”

Todd’s eyes widened. “Oh, my God. If I’m not officially divorced…”

She finished his sentence. “Then you’re still her husband and you’re still entitled to half.”

Todd fell back into his chair.

“And, baby, I say we get to collecting.”

Todd’s mouth hung open. Pam was beaming with glee, but he couldn’t fathom what she was saying. Take half of Nina’s money? No way, he told himself. As much as he needed it, he couldn’t ever see himself being that dirty.