Heartaches and Tears – Episode 14

HEARTACHES AND TEARS -Episode 14

A story by Kennedy C Katongo

CRAVINGS -P-2

I was in shock. I couldn’t believe Nathan would take our kids to see his female friends. Jay wasn’t the type of child to speak highly of someone, if he could say such – this meant he knew her very well to miss her.

I went to the study to check on Nathan, I was pisssed, i had already anticipated his response and I wasn’t ready to believe anything he was going to tell me. ‘So he’s been taking my kids to visit his friends…’ I said to myself.

When I arrived, he was busy with Kenny: he was helping him solve his homework. The Lord knows how much I wanted to pour my heart, but I couldn’t do that in front of our son. To fix that, I decided to call his best friend and ask him. After all, Emmanuel was the only person Nathan was close with.

I furiously walked to the bedroom. I removed my phone from the charger and dialed Emmanuels number.

EMMANUEL: ‘Hey Mable. How are you…?’

MABLE: ‘Am okay. Where are you? I can barely pick up a thing you saying’

EMMANUEL: ‘Am sorry about that. Am at a club. Some friends took me out. What’s up?’

MABLE: ‘Emma. You need to be serious, you can’t be drinking any how. I wanted to ask you something…’

EMMANUEL: ‘Please, go ahead. What’s the question?’

MABLE: ‘Do you know any lady by the name of Amanda?’

EMMANUEL: ‘Huh! Who?’

MABLE: ‘Amanda!’

EMMANUEL: ‘I don’t think I do. Why? Is everything okay?’

MABLE: ‘Stop playing dumb with me. I know you know her. Who is she?’

EMMANUEL: ‘I don’t know what you talking about’

Emmanuel knew very well I was going to breath fire on him if he continued with the act. I tried every trick in the book and he still kept his word. “I know what you doing. You trying to make me break. But I don’t know anything.” Emmanuel said. His voice was horsy and sounded as if he was sleeping. There was no way I would get a solid answer from him like this.

I wanted to confront Nathan. I wanted to shout at him. But again, he always avoided arguments. I went back to the study and stood at the door.

His calm voice, his smile as he spoke to Kenny. It was that damn smile that got me glued to him when I first met him. Am sure it was the reason. The more I looked at him the more pissed I got. The more I thought about just hitting him with a book.

One minute I was certain he couldn’t cheat and now he seemed to be the master of it. I couldn’t believe I had gotten so absorbed into my work that I didn’t notice my kids were becoming fond of another woman.

A few days went by. I hadn’t asked Nathan about Amanda. Furthermore, things had just gotten better. I didn’t want to mess that up – yet, for some reason I felt the need of finding out who she was. That’s when Emmanuel happened to come home to meet with Nathan. However, Nathan had not reached home.

“Mable!” He called out to me happily.

“You seem happy. What’s going on?” I asked him.

“Am just happy to see you. So what’s knew?”

“Nothing much. Just same old same old.” I laughed.

“Same old where? Look at you. Looking like the queen of England.” He said. “By the way. You asked me if I knew anyone by the name Amanda. You seemed very sure I knew of such a person. Why?” He asked. Emmanuel was always upfront when it came to his approach.

“It was nothing.” I giggled to brush it off.

“Well. If you say so. I do remember a certain Amanda if I come to think of it.” He added.

I had already tried my best to suppress that thought. But now I was shaking, I wanted to know. If truly curiosity killed a cat, then I was ready to die for it.

“So who is she?”

“I thought you didn’t want to know.” He laughed.

“Stop playing around. Just tell me.” I insisted.

“Well, the Amanda I know off is just friends with Nathan. Nothing major.” Emmanuel said.

“What else?” I asked him. “You can’t tell me that’s everything.” I said rudely.

“Well. What were you expecting?”

“Just friends? And he introduced my kids to her. Am not buying that story.” I objected.

“Well. Let me feed your curiosity with the information you want. They are dating, they make love. Is that what you want to hear? He’s a nice guy. Don’t always rush to sell him out.” Emmanuel said as he went to the living room.

‘How could he be so rudely frank.’ I wasn’t sure if I was just making up things in my head. But here hubby’s friend side for me did make me feel better. Only one thing remained. Confronting Nathan about it.

@@ @@ NATHAN @@ @@

I arrived home and found Emmanuel had already arrived. This was the first time we were meeting up since he misbehaved in front of Amanda and Mwaka.

I was tired, stressed and mad. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed my work – but having to work the whole day was something I never liked at times. I enjoyed coming back home early so that I would spend some time with the boys, that was important for me as their father.

“You said I give you 30 minutes. Its been more than an hour.” Emmanuel nagged the moment I came out of the car.

“Now! Why are you complaining as if you in the bush. Ain’t you home? Am sure you have even eaten.” I told him.

“I don’t get it. Why do I get to eat food prepared by your maid and you get to eat food prepared by Mable? That’s not fair man.” He said as we walked in.

“Like serious Emmanuel, you want me to answer that? Well – you will understand the importance if your wife cooking for you when you marry.” I told him.

“Hold up. You mean you never eat food prepared by your maid?” He asked with a bit of astonishment reflected on his face.

“As far as I can remember, our maid has been with us for almost 3 years. And nope. I’ve never eaten anything she’s cooked. She cooks for the boys most of the time.” I said thoughtfully.

Emmanuel went silent. I went to the bedroom and found Mable on her laptop. She enjoyed blogging when she wasn’t busy with work.

“Hey baby…” She called out to me in her sweet voice, “How was work?”

“Hi Bunny. It was okay, its been a restless day for me. I feel like sleeping in the bath tab.” I said as I threw myself on the bed.

“She got up. Came to the bed side and began to take my shoes off. Another double shift huh?”

“Yes. I think it’s about time we considered going to Livingstone for a holiday.” I said as I began to play with her hair.

“Bae, you going to mess up my hair. I just had it retouched.” She said as she removed my hand. “You can’t sleep now. Emmanuel has been waiting for you.” She kissed me on the forehead and went back to her laptop.

I got my short in the wardrobe, and went to the living room. A few minutes later Mable followed behind to prepare serve my food.

“I was thinking. I don’t mind marry a woman who can’t cook. After all, its about love and not her ability to cook.” He said as I sat down to join him.

“You’re still thinking about that? Well – am sure you have heard of the phrase, ‘The way to a mans heart is through his stomach'”

“That doesn’t count. I can find a maid to cook for me.” he exclaimed. From the kitchen, Mable laughed.

“Bunny, can you come put some sense into this guy for me.” I laughed.

When she finished serving, she joined us to chat. After all, Emmanuel wasn’t a stranger to Mable.

She went on to explain to him, “Cooking for your man is something intimate. It draws you closer to him. Have you noticed how men frequent these traditional eating places? Their hearts have been won. They feel connected to those places. Now imagine what that does to your own spouse.” She told him.

“Okay. But what if the woman I love can’t cook?” Emmanuel asked.

“You can take her for cooking lessons. There are a lot of people offering such lessons in Lusaka.” She responded.

“I remember dating a young girl who only knew how to cook spaghetti. She was nuts.” He said as we all began to laugh.

“I don’t count pasta as cooking. Its just about boiling.” I commented.

Mable was good when it came to cooking, fire emojis everywhere.

“Baby!” She laughed.

“Am just being honest. A person who can warm pasta only shouldn’t brag about knowing how to cook.” I said once again.

“This your husband is evil.” Emmanuel commented.

To be continued…