Page 7 of Taming a Menace

Three

I yla (Eye-la) Fisher

Breaking my number one rule had been my first mistake.

For the past three years, I had been dating the man of my dreams. Doctor Wyatt Lowe was the most fascinating man I had ever had the privilege of meeting.

He grew up in the projects across town from where I lived, and we had never crossed paths until I interviewed for a job at his practice.

After leaving a toxic ass job I’d taken on as a school counselor, working for Doctor Lowe was a welcomed reprieve.

The long hours and high demands to diagnose kids with something treatable by medications rather than to figure out the root cause of their behaviors sent me running for the hills after a few school terms.

On my current job, more attention was paid to analyzing rather than medicating.

Many of our patients easily found relief in treatment plans that included journaling, meditation, and getting to the bottom of their problems. Granted I had nothing against medication, but it was never my first instinct to shove a bunch of pills down someone’s throat.

Doctor Lowe believed in holistic treatments as well as pharmaceuticals.

I felt at home as soon as I strolled into the lobby of Full Circle Wellness Center.

Listening to Wyatt talk about how he wanted to revolutionize the way people saw mental health literally made me swoon.

I never worked and played in the same place.

It was a rule that I’d learned years ago working fast food and seeing the awkwardness that followed a coworker-on-coworker relationship once it went bad.

As far as I could tell, the best outcome from a situation like that resulted in one of them quitting or having to face each other every day once they started to hate each other’s guts. It only took Wyatt a few weeks to convince me to go on a date with him.

Since he owned the clinic and technically didn’t have a no fraternization policy in place, I felt comfortable entertaining him. One dinner invitation led to thirty-four months of bliss. He was a dream. I was used to guys trying to take advantage of me or use me for what I could do for them.

My boyfriend before Wyatt lived with me for four years, allowing me to put him through school while he worked part time.

I didn’t mind carrying the weight for a while because we were a team.

When he asked me to marry him, I was the happiest woman in the world.

I couldn’t wait for him to finish school so we could get married.

That was our plan, or at least I thought it was.

I didn’t mind waiting for him to get on his feet because after the wedding, I was going back to school for my doctorate.

Well as soon as that nigga was standing up, he bounced on me like a kangaroo.

I could count the number of users and abusers that I had dealt with over the years.

Fuck waiting for someone to get on their feet; now I only dated men who were already standing.

Wyatt was a breath of fresh air. He wined and dined me.

He showed me off to his friends. He took me on trips and dates.

He allowed me to be soft and carefree. More than anything, though, Wyatt respected me as a professional.

He valued my opinion and actually listened when I spoke.

I loved how much he just took the time to pay attention.

Wyatt and I had been living together for the past two years.

He’d been asking questions about my favorite places to visit and my ideal date for the past couple of weeks.

I felt like an engagement was in the balance, but I refused to set myself up for disappointment by expecting a ring.

Things were perfect just the way they were. The formalities would come in time.

Although it was Saturday, Wyatt had been at a conference all day.

I was always invited, but I only made the mistake of attending one of those boring ass seminars once.

It didn’t take long for me to realize that wasn’t my scene.

I was as big of a mental health nerd as the next therapist, but I had to draw the line somewhere.

I checked my lipstick in the mirror and smoothed a stray hair before turning off the bathroom light and heading out.

Wyatt and I had reservations at his favorite restaurant, Lou’s Steakhouse, at seven.

The conference was supposed to let out at five thirty.

Since it was an hour away, Wyatt was meeting me there.

Just as he crossed my mind, my phone rang.

I smiled as I turned it over in my hand and slid the icon to answer it.

“Hey, babe. I’m about twenty minutes out. Have you left the house yet?” he asked.

“I’m walking out the door right now.”

“OK, we should get there around the same time. I can’t wait to see you.”

“I was just thinking the same thing.” I smiled.

Wyatt had only been gone since last night, and I already missed him like crazy. It was always good to see that the feelings were mutual. I smiled as I thought about seeing my man in just a matter of minutes. When I stepped outside, I noticed a flyer or something on my car.

“Well, I’m about to get in the car. See you in a few,” I told him.

“See you there,” Wyatt said, ending the call first.

My brows dipped as I walked closer to my car. I hadn’t been to the club since college, so I had no interest in whatever was on the flyer tucked under my windshield. My disinterest didn’t stop me from looking at it before discarding it as trash.

What I thought was a flyer turned out to be something else. It was an envelope. I opened it and removed the papers inside as I sat down in my car. It took a minute for my brain to catch up to what my eyes were seeing as they darted between highlighted passages.

What the hell was this, and why was it on my car?

Mother: Caroline Brown.

Child: Destiny Brown.

Alleged father: Wyatt Lowe.

Alleged father?

My eyes swept over the document in quick passes as what I was looking at began to register.

The allegation of fatherhood turned out to be more than a mere accusation.

According to the test results, Wyatt Lowe was 99.

97% the father of Destiny Brown. I looked around for any sign of the person responsible for leaving the envelope on my car as my brain cells played catch up.

Curiosity made me flip the test results to the back to find that the second page was a handwritten note.

Iyla,

My intention has never been to hurt you.

For the past year, I have been trying to make Wyatt take responsibility for his actions.

He refuses to see me or our daughter. When I found out I was pregnant, he promised that he was breaking things off with you so we could be together.

You were out of the office for a few days, so I actually believed the bastard and backed off.

By the time I found out you were only on a vacation that he sent you on, I was already back in his web.

He claimed that you threatened him with a sexual harassment allegation, so he had to keep playing nice with you.

After the baby shower that you guys threw for me at the office, he allowed me to quit working and put me up in an apartment in the city.

By the time I delivered our child, I hadn’t heard from him in two months.

I found out that he’d stopped paying the rent through the eviction notice on the door when I came home from the hospital.

I had so many complications after delivery that I didn’t have the strength to chase him.

Now I’m coming to you as a woman to tell you that the man you love is a lying, cheating, manipulative asshole and a deadbeat father.

He refuses to take responsibility for his actions and wants to continue to play the role of a good guy publicly when he’s not. He hasn’t done one thing for our child. I didn’t even expect him to show up for the DNA test, but I figure he was holding on to a shred of hope that she wasn’t his.

I’m not telling you that you should leave him.

I just want you to know what kind of man you’re dealing with.

I have no beef or hard feelings against you.

Wyatt and I were already sleeping together when you started.

I’m sorry for my part in this because I know I’m just as guilty as him for continuing to sleep with him knowing that you two were an item.

You were always so nice to me. I just want him to man up and take care of his child.

Carly

Carly? Carly Brown, the blonde-haired administrative assistant that quit the practice shortly after I started working there? Reality set in all at once and made my chest hurt. Not only was Wyatt sleeping with both me and another woman at our office, but they had a child together.

For a whole year he had a child and never found a second to mention it to me.

Red flashed in my eyes as I cranked up my car and threw it in reverse.

This was why I didn’t believe in fairy tales.

I wanted love, real love. I wanted happily ever after, but time after time I ended up with the shitty end of the stick.

Not that I blamed Carly for willingly being the other woman, but she wasn’t innocent either. Wyatt and I had a very public relationship. Everyone knew we were dating, especially at the office since he’d made a point to make an announcement about us.

I wanted to do something crazy, but my better judgment gave me pause.

I wasn’t the woman I was in my early twenties.

I had a career and something to lose. Granted I worked for the man who’d betrayed me to the fullest, but I had a career.

Pulling back into the driveway, I picked up my phone and called my sister.

“Hey, what’s up? I figured you would be at dinner by now.”

“Isis, I need you.” My voice cracked, and for the first time I realized that I was crying.

It didn’t take any time at all for my sister and her husband to pull up in the driveway.

I was still sitting in the car physically unable to move a muscle.

Wyatt had called me three times in the twenty minute time span.

All of his calls were sent to voicemail.

I wanted to be long gone by the time he realized what was going on. I didn’t want to face him.

Clearing the tears from my face, I slid out of the car and led the way into the home I’d shared with the man I loved for the past two years.

“Just let me know what you need me to move,” my sister’s husband said as we entered the house.

“I don’t have anything heavy,” I muttered.

I’d sold everything in my old place when Wyatt asked me to move in.

He had everything and more at his place, so I didn’t need anything from my little living quarters.

The only things I’d kept were the ones that were sentimental.

Now it was dawning on me that putting my faith and livelihood in the hands of a man had left me with nothing.

Silently my sister and I cleared my closet, tossing everything in the bins that I’d used to haul my stuff there in the first place. I didn’t realize that my wardrobe had practically doubled. With Wyatt footing all the bills, I had the freedom to spend my money as I pleased.

There was a time when I thought that if I had a man who would pay for everything I would shut up and let him cheat in peace.

The reality of his betrayal and deception made me eat those words.

I couldn’t live in peace with a man I couldn’t trust. There was no telling what other skeletons were waiting to fall out of his closet.

After emptying my drawers into my designer suitcases, I grabbed my jewelry box and headed for the door.

“That’s it?” my sister asked as she and her husband met me at the top of the stairs.

“That’s all I want for now. Anything else I’ll get later. I don’t want to see him tonight,” I confessed.

I didn’t need or want him trying to explain something that he should have brought up over a year ago. I didn’t want to talk to him at all.

“I get it.” She nodded in agreement.

“Let me get that, sis,” her husband Ervin said, reaching out and taking the handle of the bigger suitcase.

“Thanks.”

“This is nice, girl. Where did you get it?” my sister asked, referring to the suitcase.

“The set was a gift from Wyatt,” I said, rolling my eyes.

“At least you were making his cheating ass cash out.” She shrugged as she turned for the door.

That’s all I could say of our union. For three years, I dedicated my time and energy to being the perfect girlfriend. I did any and everything I could to make Wyatt happy. I genuinely thought he was. I thought we were. To find out that it was all a lie crushed me.

I wanted to put my hands on him, but I couldn’t for the life of me answer the fucking phone. He didn’t deserve to see me break. He didn’t deserve to see me cry. He didn’t deserve me.

“You guys go ahead. I’ll meet you at the house,” I said, stopping at the door.

“OK, call me if I need to come back and help you drag his ass,” my sister offered.

“I will,” I said, cracking a smile for the first time.

I turned to walk deeper into the house. My phone buzzed against my thigh yet again, and I pulled it out knowing that Wyatt was calling back.

“Where are you?” he asked before I had the chance to speak.

“Something came up,” I revealed.

“Something like what? Is everything OK?” he asked.

I scoffed. “It will be.”

“Are you on the way?”

“No, I’m not coming.”

“What’s going on, Iyla? Do you need me to come home?”

“Wyatt, I’m leaving.”

“So you’re on the way?” he asked.

“No, I’m leaving you.”

“What the fuck do you mean you’re leaving me?”

“Goodbye, Wyatt.”

“Iyla, we can talk about this. Tell me what’s going on,” he demanded.

I ended the call. I wasn’t in the mood to talk. Talking would lead to me doing something crazy. I was in the mood to do something crazy. There was a version of me that would have set his house on fire and prayed that he didn’t make it home before it burned to the ground.

For years, I’d worked on repressing those feelings. It was because of all the shadow work I’d done that I was able to leave Wyatt’s house without causing any property damage. Instead, I walked out to my car and removed the note as well as the DNA test results.

Since Wyatt wanted to know what was going on, I would let him in on it. I went back inside and straight to the refrigerator where I used the magnetic picture of his niece and nephew to hold the papers in place. That was the only courtesy I would extend to him.

The ride to my sister’s house was a blur. I got out of the car and knocked on the door. When my sister answered with sympathetic eyes, I melted into a puddle of tears.

“Don’t worry, baby sis. We got you,” she vowed.