Melody (THE LOGAN FAMILY) by Stacy-Deanne Page A

her eye. This man is not only a rapist, but he’s a sadistic torturer who has some vendetta against black women.”
    “I know that, Mel.” Aileen grinned. “I see it on the news. I see it in the paper and I am sick to death of it.”
    “Let’s see how sick to death of it you’d be if it happened to you.” Melody squinted. “Aileen, you got to take this seriously. If I were you I’d be shitting bricks.”
    “Melody, I’m not gonna live in a box because of some creep! I have to live my life. And what’s the big deal here? There have always been rapists and killers running around this city! What makes this one so different?”
    “Because he’s targeting black women, Leen!” Melody hit the table.
    “Rapists target all women every day, Melody. You think he’s the only one out there?”
    “No, but he’s the only one beating women to a pulp, raping them and leaving them for dead.” Aileen turned toward the sink. “And all of the victims sounded just like you, Leen, thinking he wasn’t gonna get them. Aileen, you’re too smart to be so careless right now. How could you leave your door open like that? Daytime or not, it’s still a bad idea.”
    “And I paid the price since you’re here lecturing me.” She sipped soda. Melody rubbed her forehead. “I’m sorry, Melody. I’m just so sick of people staring at me like I’m about to be on the six o’clock news. Just because I meet this asshole’s requirements, it doesn’t mean I’m on his list. He can’t rape everyone, Mel.”
    She scoffed. “Is that supposed to be comforting?”
    “I really don’t want to talk about this again. Jonovan and I had a big fight over it this morning, and I don’t want to repeat the same scenario with you.” She passed Melody a Sprite. Melody loved Sprite like mice loved cheese. They sat down. “Oh, Mel, this marriage thing sure is tough sometimes.”
    “What’s up, Leen?”
    “Jonovan got on me about going to the store by myself last night. I’m always cautious, but he wasn’t hearing it. Today, he wanted to call his boss and tell him he wasn’t going to do his delivery in Dallas because he didn’t want to leave me here alone.” She sighed. “Well, we got into a big argument about it and he ended up going off to Dallas angry, anyway.”
    “Well, how long will he be gone?”
    She walled her eyes. “A couple of weeks or more. He has other deliveries to do around Texas, too. Damn, Mel, I tell you that this is not like I thought it would be.”
    “Marriage?”
    “Yeah. I mean, I know Jonovan needs this job to support us, but I don’t know if I can deal with him being gone all the time for much longer. I knew being a truck driver would cause him to be gone a lot but I had no idea.” She stretched. “Seems like he’s gone way more than he’s here and it’s getting hard for me. I need him, too, Mel.”
    “Aileen, you know he’s doing this to better himself. He’s saving up so he can go to college and get a business degree. Leen, everything will fall into place. Once he gets his degree he can quit driving trucks, and with his business mind, he’ll be moving up in the corporate world in no time.” She slapped Aileen’s wrist. “I know you miss him now, but it’s worth it, Leen. Just don’t give up on that.”
    “Melody, you’re talking about dealing with things then and I don’t know if I can deal with things now . I love Jonovan for being a hard worker and he does a damn good job of supporting me and Danielle, but that doesn’t make up for him not being here. We started off talking about this and now we’re arguing about it. Seems like everything’s an argument these days.”
    Melody took Aileen’s hand. She felt guilty. She’d run to Aileen’s to sort out her problems, not having any idea what she was going through. It couldn’t be easy raising a child with an almost nonexistent husband. Melody made up her mind not to burden Aileen with her problems, unless Aileen brought them up.

Chapter