Chapter 12-Perfect Husband?
‘Father Ben wants us to mentor Tapiwa and Annie. I said I would speak to you about it first,’ she pauses. ‘We don’t have to do it’.
Dylan, who is resting his head on his hands, staring at the ceiling in bed, does not move. If Tanya didn’t know him, she would have accused him of ignoring her. She goes about picking her clothes for tomorrow, knowing he will respond.
‘Why us?’, he asks after a moment’s thought .
She shrugs, ‘Beats me.’
‘I feel like Father Ben sees us in an exaggerated greatness.’ Tanya adds.
‘Uhh come on babe, that man knows the real us, he knows our deepest secrets.’
Tanya looks away, remembering how Father Ben was their main support during the time she caused their near divorce. She wonders if Dylan is referencing the same.
‘Well…what do we do? Do you want to do it?’
‘I don’t know, I mean, we are what we have become because a lot of people supported us, we need to pay it forward.’
A part of Tanya hoped Dylan would object, so that she could blame him for refusing.
‘That’s a yes, I suppose? I will call him tomorrow then.’
‘We will do fine babe, want to pray about it before we sleep?’
She nods with a smile, still unsure.
~~~~
Dylan receives a call from his father in law a few days later. During a lunch date later that day, he tells Tanya about it.
‘Your old man called me in the morning.’
‘Oh?’, Tanya raises an eyebrow as she stuffs a forkful of raw spinach into her mouth. ‘How is he?’
‘He says he is good, you know him. He was asking to see us, wants us to go over there.’
Tanya freezes mid chewing.
‘I’m not ready for another fight with her’, “her” is known.
Dylan watches how his wife suddenly loses interest in her food, poking at the salad, determined to punish it for her life’s situation.
He reaches over and holds her stabbing hand steady.
‘Baby, relax. We don’t know why he wants us there. In any case, I got your back, we leave the moment you feel uncomfortable.’
She looks up.
‘You promise?’
He smiles, head tilted. Holding up his small finger , ‘Pinky promise’.
~~~
Kupakwashe decides Tinashe the drummer is not too bad a person once they start texting every day. He is fun, haughty, but funny. She is looking forward to the youth meeting in the evening, she will meet him. To her parents, Kupakwashe’s sudden interest in the youth meetings comes as a delight, they hope the experience is grounding for her.
She is late for the meeting, most of the young people have found strategic places to sit, in kindred groups. She walks in and sits at the very back, observing. She listens and takes notes as the facilitator leads a discussion on sin and the fall of men.
After the meeting, Kupakwashe decides to walk home, instead of calling her parents. It is slightly past 7. She is disappointed that she won’t get to talk to Tapiwa, who is busy packing away the equipment they have been using.
He, seeing her take her leave, excuses himself and runs after her. She hears his footsteps in the dark as he catches up with her.
‘You were leaving without saying hi?’
‘You looked busy, didn’t want the disturb.’
‘You can disturb me anytime’, he stops.
She only rolls her eyes and continues moving.
She feels his firm hand on her arm.
‘Stop, I’m still talking to you.’
She tries to keep walking, but the hand tightens around her arm. She stops, a bit confused at the aggression.
Tapiwa looses his grip ever so lightly when she faces him.
‘I don’t like it when people disrespect me, don’t do that. I wouldn’t do it to you.’
‘I have to go home Tapiwa, it’s getting late.’
‘Don’t worry sha, I will walk you. Isn’t I am the one who’s stopped you? So how did you find the meeting?’
Kupa gets involved in conversation with Tinashe, everything else forgotten about as they walk to her home.
A few houses from her home, they stop.
‘So I will see you again next week?’
‘Yea, I will come’, Kupa replies.
‘Great, goodnight then’, Tinashe says as he pulls the girl into an embrace she finds too tight and long.
When Kupa gets home, she finds they have guests for dinner.
‘Hi baby, this is Annie and Tapiwa from church, we have invited them for dinner’, the introduction is from her father. She says hi to them, deciding they look too old for her to bother trying to foster relations.
Annie is a tall lady who says little but smiles a lot. She avoids eye contact except with her fiancé, whom she is clearly captured by. Tapiwa sounds confident in his speech, his words are rushed, as if his lips are not able to keep up with his mind. He has no problem being the focal point, starting and finishing conversations with himself over and over again. He too ,is taken by his wife to be, judging by how he looks at her, constantly asking if she is okay.
The conversation at the table is led by Tapiwa, often he doesn’t wait for the others input. The topic floats from how good the food is, to how expensive groceries are now, this ties with how the government has failed its people before it turns into a class from Tapiwa about all the reasons African politics is serving Europe’s agenda.
Kupakwashe wonders why this couple has been invited into their home.
