Free Layover by Peaches The Writer Page B

birthday is not for another couple of days ,” I reminded her.
    “Yeh, but we are going to be so consumed with Thanksgiving that we aren’t going to be able to think about a party. Allen, you go with Nya and help her pick out something nice.”
    Allen looked at her with a twisted face.
    “Go on. I’ll take care of Kenny.”
    Allen and I went to our respective rooms and got ready to go to the city. The city was a good hour and a half away and it would give us plenty of time to talk and share our thoughts with each other. I was ready in 20 minutes and I went back into the living room to wait for Allen. When I walked into the living room, I was greeted by Lisa.
    “Where are you all going?” She asked.
    “Allen and I are going to find a gift for Kenny’s birthday”.
    I wanted to invite her but I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. I wanted to be alone with her man and there was no room for her. If she wanted to come, she was going to have to invite herself.
    “Oh. Well, I guess I’ll take the baby around town today and let everyone see him. I’ll go by Aunt Minnie first.”
    Good, take your ass over Aunt Minnie’s.
    And the nerve of her, bragging about her baby. She thinks she’s the shit because she has Allen’s baby. If I ever get my hands on him, we are going to have five babies. That’s right, get married, have five children, and name them all Allen. I mean it! Even the girl’s name’s will be Allen: Allena, Allenetta, Allenine, all that! Fuck it! I’m going for mine.
    Allen emerged shortly after I did and he was ready to go.
    “Allen, why don’t you ride with Nya in the Jeep? Leave the Tahoe so I can take the baby around town to visit.”
    The nerve of this bitch.
     Yeh, you better enjoy the Tahoe while you can, because you may not get it in the divorce settlement.
    “That’s cool,” he told her.
    Allen and I made our way to the Jeep and pull out of the driveway, headed for the city. I breathed a sigh of relief as we reached the road. It was like a smoker getting that first puff of smoke in the morning. Allen was my drug and I just got my fix. When we finally turned onto the highway from the road, Allen began to talk.
    “That was pretty quick thinking back there.”
    “Thank you, but I hate lying,” I told him.
    “I know. Me too. Just imagine how I felt with my big brother confronting me about his wife. I didn’t know what to say. I’m sorry for saying that I didn’t know why you lied about seeing me in Denver. I didn’t think you were ready for me to tell the truth so I said the first thing that came to mind.”
    “It’s ok. I can handle Kenny. I would rather him think I would lie to him than for him to think that you would lie to him. He is your brother and he will be for the rest of your life.”
    “Nya, I need to know something. Do you still love Kenny? I mean, if you and I were to get together, would you honestly be over him?”
    “Allen, that ship has sailed long ago. I don’t have the capacity in my heart to love someone who does not believe in me. I’m more than just an arm piece. I need to be respected and revered. Kenny doesn’t know how to do that.”
    “Have you thought about how he would react if you told him you were leaving him?”
     “Yeh, I’ve thought about it. I know it will hurt him, especially when I tell him I’m leaving him for you.”
    “Could you live with him being hurt? I mean, being married to me and having to see him on holidays and other occasions?” He quizzed.
    “Hell yeh! After all the hurt Kenny has caused me, I don’t owe him anything! And what about you and your wife and baby? How do you think Lisa is going to feel when she finds out you traded her in for ‘Blowhair’?”
    That was one of their local terms for someone with long hair that blows in the wind. Allen knew Lisa was always intimidated by that kind of woman because his last girlfriend, the one who broke his heart, looked just like me. Rumor had it that she moved back to their