Chapter One - Dumped

"Good afternoon, Hollywood Cosmetic Treatment Center, The Stars Best Secret."

"Hi Bernine. This is Lila. Is my hubby there?"

"Hello, Mrs. Patterson. He's not here. He left for lunch about noon, like he always does."

"Really? That's odd. I'm here waiting for him at the country club. We were supposed to meet here for lunch forty-five minutes ago, but he called me a half hour ago and..."

Whoa! You better watch what you say to the receptionist.

"Oh well, I'm sure he'll be along soon. Thank's Bernine."

"You're welcome."

If he left an hour ago, why'd he call and tell me he'd be a half hour late, because his appointments ran over. Hmm. Something fishy is going on here.

"Waiter?"

The handsome, young waiter came over wearing a smile. "Yes ma'am. Are you ready to order?"

"Not yet. Would you take this wine? I think I'd like something stronger. Bring me a naked lady."

He smiled and saluted. "Yes ma'am. One naked lady coming up for the pretty lady."

I smiled as he walked away. Nice ass, too.

Lila!

Sorry.

 

I didn't know whether to be worried or mad when Lamar failed to show. After waiting an hour and a half, I gave up and headed home in my Cadillac Escalade. When I got home, my day went from lousy to ghastly. Lamar stood outside with our friend and lawyer Daniel, directing movers as they loaded furniture, boxes and clothes-my clothes-into a moving van.

He'd kept me waiting for almost two hours while he...what is he doing? Moving my things out of our house? I was pissed! I revved the engine and drove the car, up over the curb across the sidewalk onto the lawn, screeching to a halt a couple yards from my husband and Daniel.

I should'a ran the 'son of a bitch' over, but I didn't know what he was doing yet. Daniel leapt away, while Lamar, acted as if I wasn't there. I jumped out of the car, slammed the door and stormed up to Lamar, screeching, "What the fuck is going on?"

"Hi Lila," Daniel said.

My husband turned to Daniel and growled, "Do it!"

An, aw-shucks, embarrassed look formed on Daniel's face as he turned to face me. He reached inside his coat pocket and pulled out some papers. "Lila, you and Lamar are both friends of mine, but as Lamar's attorney, I have to do this."

I glared at him. "Do what?"

His hand held the papers out to me. "Serve this divorce petition to you."

* * * *

Lila crumpled to the ground like a marionette whose strings had been severed. I glanced at Lamar. "I told you." I knelt down beside her. "You're the doctor. Aren't you going to do something?"

He shrugged. "She fainted."

I pressed my fingers and thumb to the inside and outside of her wrist. Thank God, she had a pulse. I gazed up at Lamar.

"Well?" he asked.

"She has a pulse."

"She'll be all right."

I pursed my lips to the side of my face. "No thanks to you."

"Since you're so concerned for her wellbeing, keep an eye on her, will you? I have to go."

I nodded. "What you did was cruel, humiliating and unnecessary. I could have had her come into my office and explained everything."

"I wanted her to know the break was irrevocable. It's done and I gotta go. Caviar is expecting me."

I watched as he turned and walked to his shiny white Hummer. It was obvious Lamar's newfound fame as cosmetic surgery to the stars had gone to his head. This was not the same man who had been my friend in college.

* * * *

To my surprise, I woke up on the living room divan. Daniel held a cold, wet compress to my head. "Are you all right?"

I forced my eyes to focus on Dan's smiling face. "I'm too stunned to know."

He scratched his head. "Lila, you are my friend and I want you to know serving you a divorce petition was the worse thing I could think of. Unfortunately, Lamar is my client. I had to give you that petition. It was my job."

"Don't remind me," What a slimeball Lamar is, having a close friend hand me divorce papers, in the front yard, while my belongings are being hauled off to God knows where. "Where is the son of a bitch?" I snarled.

"He went to see his girlfriend."

I jerked upright. "Girlfriend? That's what this is about? He torpedoes my life, I faint and he marches off to see a girlfriend?"

The empathy in Dan's eyes was understandable, but I found it offensive. The last thing I needed at this point was him feeling sorry for me.

"I wish I could explain what he's doing to you but I can't."

My mind spun like a dervish. I was in shock. After seven loyal years of marriage, this. "I busted ass for five years to put my snake of a husband through medical school and this is how he repays me." I sighed. "I guess I never knew him."

"He's changed. Success has made his head swell. This is tough, but in the end you'll be better off without him. I've known you both a long time and I always felt you were the better person."

"Thanks Dan." I hugged him, but felt dizzy, so I lay back against the armrest. "I'll bet you'd never do anything as seedy as that."

Dan's baby blue eyes looked conflicted. He opened his mouth like he wanted to say something, but seemed to change his mind.

I pursed my lips. "Humph, I should've married you."

His eyes widened. He fidgeted and once again acted as if he would speak, but he remained silent.

Realization of what was happening slammed to me. I began to shake. "What am I going to do? I have no money, no job, no place to live."

Dan stroked my forehead. "You have your old condo in Pasadena."

"It's rented out."

"Not anymore. Lamar wouldn't renew the lease and kicked the tenants out. That's where your things are being delivered."

I held my hands up. "That's fine, but I still have no job, or money."

"You'll get money, too. Don't worry."

"When? How much?"

"I'll explain it all to you, but I have a question."

"What?"

"Under the circumstances you couldn't have kept working at the medical office, but how come you quit working there?"

"That was Lamar's idea." I rolled my eyes. "He decided, about six months ago, the practice was doing well enough, that I should stay at home and join charities. He said it looked bad for me to work there as if we were barely maki..." I paused while an epiphany took shape in my mind. "Hey! You don't suppose he wanted me out of there so his philandering ass could fool around with impunity, do you?"

Dan shrugged. "I wouldn't doubt it. He met his girlfriend three months ago."

"What an asshole. And since I stay home now, I planned to have a baby."

"Thank your stars, you didn't."

I shook my head. "Getting pregnant would've been a project. We were down to having sex once every two or three weeks. How come you're here, anyway? Won't your asshole client get mad at you for comforting the enemy?"

"He asked me to make sure you were all right. Besides, I wanted to. You're one of my favorite people."

"Aw, that's sweet." I sat up, embraced him and my pulse sped up. I always liked Dan's looks-dreamy light blue eyes, lean handsome face and long sandy brown hair with sun bleached highlights. He'd asked me out when we first met. I wanted to do it, but it seemed so risqué back then, going out with a white man. I knew my parents would have a fit, so in the end I chickened out.

What are you thinking? He just handed you a divorce petition. He's your future ex-husband's smarmy lawyer. He's the friggen enemy.

No, he's not. He's Daniel, my friend. True he introduced me to asshole, but I asked him to. "What now?"

"I'd like to talk to you."

"We're talking now."

He glanced around. "In a more comfortable setting. Why don't we go the condo? You could tell the movers where you want everything and then we could talk."

"All right. Do you remember where it is?"

"Sure. Karen and I used to hang..." Dan blanched. "I'll meet you there."

When I got there, the three movers were leaving. They'd set the furniture in acceptable locations. But a dozen or so boxes needed to be unpacked and my clothes had been thrown in a heap on the queen sized bed. I hung some of the clothes in the closet, set the rest in the dresser and began to unpack boxes. It was hard to swallow-while I settled into the home Lamar and I had shared for five years after marrying, he was off to see his girlfriend-most likely fucking like bunnies. There had to have been signs. How did I miss them? Am I that obtuse?

Dan showed up to help and we finished by five-thirty. I was tired, but on edge.

"I'm hungry. How about you?"

After what happened, food was the last thing I wanted, but I felt like having a drink or two or five or ten. "Sure, as long as they serve alcohol."

He laughed. "All right. You pick and I'll buy."

I picked Gringo's Cantina-a popular restaurant and lounge near the condo. Lamar and I, usually in the company of Daniel and his ex-fiancé, Karen, used to visit Gringo's almost every week.

Daniel asked to be seated in the lounge, and we were escorted to a booth. Before Dan could open his mouth, I said, "I'll have a naked lady."

His brow furrowed. "You don't want a margarita? You always ordered a frozen margarita when we came here."

"I know, but I had a few naked ladies at my aborted lunch with Lamar this afternoon, so I don't want to switch."

He ordered a naked lady for me, a margarita on the rocks for himself and nachos for both of us. When the waiter left, he turned to me and took my hand in both of his. "Since Lamar is my client, I have to be careful what I say and do, but I think what Lamar did sucks."

"That's sweet of you to say." I leaned over and kissed his cheek.

After the drinks and nachos arrived, Daniel ordered fajitas. When he looked for me to order, I set the empty martini glass down. "I'm not that hungry, but I'll have another naked lady."

He arched his eyebrows. "Are you sure? You're not that big and those are strong drinks on an empty stomach."

"Please, I'll have a bite of yours and some nachos."

When the waiter left, I asked, "I understand why you couldn't tell me, but how long have you known about Lamar and this other woman?"

To my surprise and pleasure, Dan rested his arm around my shoulders. "Lamar asked me to prepare this divorce petition on Monday, four days ago. That was the first I'd heard of her and I swear I was every bit as shocked as you."

"What's her name? What does she look like? Where did he meet her? What does she do?" I signaled time out. "Never mind, I don't even want to know."

By the time the nachos arrived, I was ready for naked lady número tres. "I'll have another."

Daniel flashed a cross look. "Bring the lady another...naked lady."

I dabbled on the nachos and ate a tiny bit of Dan's fajitas, but I didn't have an appetite. Dan told me how Lamar planned to take care of me by paying off the condo, giving me a cash settlement of a measly two hundred fifty thousand dollars and paltry alimony of two thousand dollars a month. I needed another naked lady. While naked lady número cuatro was on its way, Daniel went on. "Lamar is doing a reasonably good job of compensating you for seven years of marriage and hopes you won't get an attorney of your own. Nevertheless, as a friend, I advise you to seek competent counsel."

I waved my empty glass in my hand. "Can I have just one more? Please."

"I know you don't drink a lot, aren't you getting the least little bit tipsy?"

By getting tipsy, if he meant seeing double and slurring my speech, I was there. "Yeah, a little, but you have to admit dis has been an extra-aordina-ary day in the life of Lila Patterson, soon to be Lila Landers again."

He laughed. "All right, one more, but that's it. At least you don't have to drive home."

I pursed my lips to the side. Daniel and me at home...alone. Woowee. "Dat's right. I have my white knight to drive me home and...tuck me...in."

Daniel gazed at me and arched his eyebrows.

When naked lady número de cinco arrived, I blurted out, "Have you seen this bish?"

He nodded. "Lamar showed me a picture."

I frowned. "And?"

"She's young and pretty, but no prettier than you and at twenty-eight, you're not exactly a has-been."

That made me feel good. I reached out and cupped his chin with my fingers and thumb. "Baby, do you still think I'm the best looking black woman, this side of heaven."

"Lila, even though it's been almost nine years since I said that, you have grown even more beautiful. I think Lamar is making the mistake of his life."

My eyes teared up and pain stabbed across the bridge of my nose from trying to fight off tears. "Then why?"

He shrugged and stuck his hands out, palms up. "Trying to recapture lost youth. Stupidity, I don't know."

Daniel dropped his hand high on my thigh, and a pilot light ignited in my core. "I don't s'pose you know what this home-wrecker does?"

He looked away and took a long sip of his margarita.

I prodded, "Do ya?"

He turned his face to me. "She's a stripper. But he's going to make her quit."

Shocked, my jaw dropped and I'm sure my eyes rounded.

"She's going to UCLA. She's studying pre-med."

"I gotta see this. Whats her name? Where's she work?"

He scratched his head. "I'd rather not say."

I took his hand and lifted it to the table. Holding it, our caramel and white fingers entwined, I stressed my wishes. "Well, as my friend, I'd rather you told me."

Daniel took a deep breath. "Her name is Cybil, but she goes by Caviar. She performs at The Hot Spot!"

"Thank you. That wasn't so hard was it?"

He sighed. "I guess not."

"When does she work?"

He shook his head slowly then lowered it digging his fingers into his scalp. "Nights, six 'til two."

"Silly me, I guess she'd have to work nights, if she goes to school during the day. And I'll bet, since this is Friday she's working right now."

He shrugged. "Probably."

I nudged his arm with my elbow. "Could you let me out, please?"

His brow furrowed. "Where are you going?"

My smile was as innocent as I could make it under the circumstances. "The ladies room."

He eased out and I slipped past him.

After freshening my appearance, I returned and grasped his hand. "C'mon."

He jerked it away. "What?"

I grabbed his hand again. "We're going to The Hot Spot."

He pulled it away, again. "I can't. Lamar might be there, and he'd see us together."

I was tipsy, but determined. I stomped my foot and crossed my arms. "Fine, I'll catch a cab." I retrieved the phone from my handbag and dialed information. "Yellow Cab, please."

As the number began to ring, Daniel rose, took the phone, and canceled the call. "I'll take you, but we have to be careful. If Lamar is there, we can't let him see us."