The Ex Files (17 page)

K
ENDALL

It was hard to keep a smile. For days Kendall had carried the weight of the news of her sister. But the greatest burden she bore were the nights that offered no rest. Even now, she tried to hold back a yawn as she strolled into the Learning Center.

“Hey,” she greeted Sheridan and Vanessa, and the way Vanessa hugged her made Kendall find her smile. Then Asia sauntered in, her cell phone joined to her ear.

Asia sank onto her chair, chatting, as if the other three women weren’t waiting for her. When Sheridan cleared her throat, Asia rolled her eyes and clicked off her cell.

“Thank you,” Sheridan said. “So, how’s everyone’s week?” Three pairs of eyes stared back at her.

Kendall chuckled inside—this was their third meeting and nothing had changed.

“Okay, is there anything anyone wants to talk about?”

Kendall crossed her arms and noticed that Asia had done the same.

“I’ll start,” Sheridan said. “I’ve had quite a tough week. My daughter…” But then she stopped.

Kendall frowned, wondered what was going through Sheridan’s mind as she bit the corner of her lip.

Finally, Sheridan said, “You know what? I have an idea. Let’s do something different.”

Oh Lord
, Kendall thought.
Please don’t tell me she’s going to have us holding hands and singing “Kumbaya.”

Sheridan continued, “Let’s tell each other what we’re praying for, and then this week, we can pray for each other. We’ll make it a seven-day commitment.”

“Hold up. I know you’re not talking about us getting together for the next seven days,” Asia said.

“Definitely not,” Sheridan responded.

Kendall chuckled. By her tone, she could tell that Sheridan shared her feelings about Asia.

Sheridan explained, “I’m thinking we can pick a time, say nine every morning, and at that time, we say a prayer for each other based on the things we share tonight.”

“That’s a great idea,” Vanessa said. “You can’t have too many prayers and God is a prayer-answering God.”

“It doesn’t sound like a good idea to me,” Kendall snapped. She sat back, softened her tone. “I have too much work to do. I don’t have time to be sitting around thinking about praying.”

They all turned to her—their faces filled with shock as if she’d just cursed God…or their pastor. “What I mean is, suppose I’m in a meeting at nine?”

Sheridan said, “Okay, let’s try this. Instead of a specific time, we’ll agree that at least once during each day this week, we’ll stop and say a prayer for each other.”

“Fine with me,” Vanessa said. “I think prayer is the greatest gift, besides salvation, that God has given us.”

Kendall stopped herself from rolling her eyes. That Vanessa was a little too godly. And a little too chipper.

“Kendall, Asia?”

“Fine,” they said together.

“So,” Sheridan began, “how shall we do this?”

“I’ll start,” Vanessa said. “For me, I’d like to stand for my healing. It’s hard without my husband, but I’m making progress every day and I want that to continue.”

“That sounds good,” Sheridan said.

Kendall frowned; that hadn’t sounded good to her. Sounded like a prepared speech. Vanessa hadn’t taken one breath as she spoke.

“Is there anything else, Vanessa?” Sheridan asked.

“Isn’t that enough?” This time, it was Asia who snapped.

The look on Vanessa’s face made Kendall want to slap Asia. Sure, Vanessa got on her nerves too with her “God is always there” attitude. And sometimes she was hard to look at with that just-above-homeless style she favored. But there was no need to insult the lady. You couldn’t discount her spirit. Even though she was the only one who had truly lost her husband, she seemed to be faring better than she and Asia were. Vanessa seemed so connected to life—even as she dealt with death.

Sheridan said, “Asia, we’re supposed to be supportive here.”

With a quick glance at Vanessa, Asia said, “Sorry,” as if she really wasn’t.

“So, Vanessa,” Sheridan said, looking at Asia, “is that all?”

“Yes.” Vanessa bowed her head, spoke softly.

Sheridan glared at Asia before she asked, “Kendall, what can we pray for you?”

It startled her—she hadn’t expected to be next. And she hadn’t given her prayer any thought.
Your sister has acute leukemia
. Kendall shrugged. “I don’t know what I want to pray for. I guess, my business.”

“Just your business?” Sheridan asked with a frown in her voice.

“Yeah,” she responded, and wondered what Sheridan knew. She wouldn’t have been surprised if Pastor Ford had alerted Sheridan; but if she had, that wasn’t cool. She didn’t want any of these women in her business—she didn’t want any connections.

“Okay,” Sheridan finally said. “What specifically about your business?”

“I’ve been in partnership with my husband…my ex-husband, and we’re trying to work out the terms of my buying his interest,” she said. “I guess I’d like to stand for that happening…soon.”

“Hold up.” Asia raised her hand in the air. “All this time, you’ve been running your business with your ex-husband while he’s been poking your sister? Man, if that were my sister, she’d have to pay.”

Your sister has acute leukemia
.

Kendall said, “Stay out of my business, Asia.”

“Why? You’ve been all up in mine.”

“I keep telling you, little girl, you don’t want to mess with me.”

“And that’s another thing,” Asia said. “I ain’t no little girl.”

“Will you two just stop it?” Vanessa yelled, shocking them all. “I cannot believe how you’re acting.” Her hands waved through the air. “You’re in church and this is supposed to be a prayer group, but with you two I feel like I’m watching Saturday night boxing, live from Las Vegas.”

After a moment, “Thank you, Vanessa,” Sheridan said.

“Well maybe we should all get a clue.” Asia pouted. “None of us wants to be here.”

“That’s not true. I want to be here,” Sheridan said.

“Me too,” Vanessa piped in.

“That’s because neither of you has a life,” Asia said.

“You know what, Asia.” Sheridan threw up her hands. “I got the clue. You don’t want to be here. So leave.” She paused, looked at Kendall. “Anyone who doesn’t want to be here should leave!”

“Fine with me.” Asia jumped up, looked around, her glance stopping with Kendall. She paused, and then as if she had a thought of her aunt, she slowly returned to her seat. “If we could just move this along faster, I could handle these meetings.”

Sheridan inhaled, waited for the oxygen to give her energy. “Since you’re staying, what would you like to put on our prayer list?”

“Nothing.”

“Girl,” Kendall yelled, “would you tell her something so that we can get out of here?”

“All right. You can pray for…my daughter.”

“Is there something wrong with her?” Vanessa’s tone was wrapped with care, her annoyance with Asia forgotten.

“No, there’s nothing wrong.” Then Asia paused, looked at the three pairs of eyes that stared at her, now with more concern than contempt. “Actually, I’m a little worried.” Her face became long with misery. “I have a feeling that something is going on with her—in school or somewhere.”

“Something like what?” Sheridan asked the question, but Kendall and Vanessa’s eyes stayed glued on Asia too.

She shrugged. “Maybe I’m imagining it. Just pray for her safety.”

“Okay,” Sheridan began, peering at Asia deeply. “We’ll definitely pray for her—Angel, right?”

With a grateful smile, Asia nodded.

Sheridan said, “Actually, I have the same kind of request. I would appreciate your prayers for my children.”

“You have a daughter, right?” Vanessa said.

Sheridan nodded. “My daughter’s thirteen and I have a son, Christopher, who’s in his second year at Hampton University, although this semester, he’s in China as part of an exchange program.”

“Wow,” Vanessa said. “You’ve got to be proud.”

“I am. So, I want to pray for God’s covering and protection over them.”

They all nodded.

Sheridan glanced at her watch. “Well, I know a few of you really want to get out of here.” Kendall and Asia bolted from their seats. Sheridan and Vanessa slowly stood as well.

When they bowed their heads and Sheridan began the prayer, Kendall wondered how much longer this prayer group would go on. Sheridan was a saint—definitely for putting up with Asia, but she hadn’t made it easy either.

“Lord, protect our families,” Sheridan said. “We are in such a battle, a war with the enemy.”

That made Kendall shudder. She needed to pray for her family, for her father and his strength.

“Protect our minds, Lord, so the devil cannot get in.” Sheridan paused, as Vanessa coughed. “We will always give you the honor and the glory, in Jesus’s name.”

And together they said “Amen.”

S
HERIDAN

Pastor Ford’s embrace was warm. “Come on in,” she said, inviting Sheridan into her living room.

“Pastor, are you sure this is okay? I know you were trying to take a few days off this week.”

Pastor Ford waved her hands, erasing Sheridan’s words. “I invited you because I wanted us to have lunch. I grilled all of this chicken and somebody’s going to eat it.” She laughed. “And I want to catch up with you on the prayer group.”

Sheridan sighed. “The group hasn’t been going well and I think it’s my fault.”

Pastor Ford frowned.

“Shambles doesn’t even begin to describe what my life is like. I don’t know how I thought I could help anyone.”

“Why would you say your life is messed up?”

Sheridan shook her head. Tori kissing, or Brock being missing—she didn’t know where to start. “Things began to fall apart right after my dad passed away. It’s as if I lost my covering with his death.”

“You know that’s not true. So, what’s going on?”

“Well, there’s Tori.” For minutes, Sheridan took her pastor on the journey from the kiss to Irma’s words to Tori’s battle in school. “I want to believe that what Tori said is true, that it was just a kiss. But Pastor, this really has me shaken. I can’t stop thinking about it. I can’t stop seeing Lara and Tori….” She stopped, shuddered. “Pastor, suppose Tori is…because Quentin…”

Pastor Ford held up her hand. “First of all, you know Quentin wasn’t born that way, so neither was Tori.”

“That’s what I’ve been telling myself, but where did this come from? There has to be some reason why Tori wanted to kiss Lara.”

“There’re a couple of reasons. I believe Tori’s telling the truth. She probably was just curious about kissing—not curious about kissing a girl. But what made her believe that kissing a girl would be fine is the problem. The movies, the TV shows, the videos that are promoting same-sex values are designed to desensitize our children. Make them believe that homosexuality is no big deal. They’re trying to get our children to believe that their lies are the truth.”

“That’s exactly the way Tori was acting, Pastor. As if it were no big deal. But if she’s curious about kissing, what’s next? What’s the next thing she’ll want to try—with a boy or a girl?”

“Tori’s a teenager. This time was bound to come. But it sounds like you handled Tori fine. Just keep that communication open. You’re going to have to keep talking to her and letting her know that it’s okay for her to talk to you. That’s the only way you’ll stay in control.”

Sheridan nodded.

Pastor Ford continued, “And be prepared for Tori’s questions. She may ask you some things that you don’t want to answer.”

Sheridan moaned. “I thought life was tough with Christopher.”

Pastor Ford chuckled. “But you made it through and look at him now.”

“I made it with a lot of prayer.”

“That part never changes. So no more talk of not leading the prayer group.”

Sheridan shook her head. “It’s not just Tori.” She paused. “There are so many other things. This is just not a good time.”

“You still don’t get it.”

Sheridan frowned.

“God uses you when He wants to use you, not when it’s a good time for you. This is all about Him—His time, His purpose. And usually He picks the times when we think we are most inept.” She paused. “So, you just need to quit complaining, and turn your thoughts to these other women. Pray for Kendall, Vanessa, and Asia and what’s going on in their lives. When you do that, watch how everything will fall into place in yours.”

It felt like a scolding, but somehow it felt right. If she turned her focus outward, maybe she could rid herself of the twisting in her stomach that had become her new companion.

She forced a smile. “Okay.”

“Great!” Pastor Ford said. “Now, you’re going to need some energy to do all of that praying, so let’s get to eatin’.” Pastor Ford laughed, but Sheridan didn’t. She couldn’t, not through the rumbling that had just erupted in her stomach.