Capricorn
Chapter 4

Capricorn's Personality
Negative Traits
*Tendency to believe their way is always the best
* Egotistical
* A "slave driver"
* Unforgiving
* Anxious, allows inner fears to dominate decisions
* Takes a very critical view
* A perfectionist who is never satisfied
* Fatalistic/Expects things to turn out badly
* Status seeking

*

Taye shook his head to try to clear it. Back to the present, no more reminiscing and lamenting over the past. That's all dead and gone.

The good parts, anyway.

Adena has just discovered that the stain on Taye's shirt was lipstick, which wasn't hers. She knew there was more to the story. She was sure this other woman didn't just give Taye an innocent kiss on the cheek. Something more happened. But she didn't want to know all the details. Just finding out that he was with another girl...or girls...at any point during their marriage was bad enough. She knew worse things could've happened; she didn't want the specifics. She felt there would be no turning back if he told her who she was, what happened, when and how many times it occurred, where it all went down, and why he would betray her like this and that she would be a fool to try to make it work.

She would give up.

But she wasn't going to let that happen. Not on her watch. It was time to crack the whip now. He had his "fun"; now he had to lie in that bed he got himself into. She was going to do everything in her power not to let this all crash and burn...she didn't want to prove herself right...to go ahead and give up because it was the best choice. No. She was gonna clean up this mess, as usual, but shit will change around here. He was gonna have some ultimatums to fulfill, changes to make, trust to be rebuilt and listen to what the fuck SHE says from now on.

Because let's face it. If it's not financial issues, infidelity causes people to divorce. "Irreconcilable differences." And more than half of the time, a man stepped out because he wasn't getting enough of something at home, which was sex. It was always sex. That was the mess she had to clean up. She had to be more of a wife to him. That must be it. It was why he wasn't the husband he was supposed to be. She wished he wasn't stupid enough to be such a cliche. Their whole relationship, she knew, or she thought, he was different. Unfortunately, he proved that he wasn't. He fell from the pedestal she put him on, which was also her fault. Now he had to fight to get back up there. Fight for her. They had to get back in the ring. It was time to start boxing, fight all the temptations and demons, and whatever else ruined their marriage, and she would be his coach. This other bitch needed to be KO'ed, and they'll have their perfect match back again. Like it used to be.

Let's get ready to rumble.

"Adena, baby, hey-" he said as he shook his head and jumped up. Good, at least he wasn't acting all cavalier like he did nothing wrong. Don't you hate it when men get mad at you for getting mad at them because they did something wrong to you? It doesn't make sense. Well, at least he knew he was in trouble. She could see it all over his face. Good.

She put up her hand so he wouldn't say anymore. It was her turn to speak. She was running this show. Not him, not anymore. "I know you love me, Taye."

He nodded, "Yes, Adena, I do, but -"

"No buts," she said to him sternly. "At the end of it all, I love you too," she said. She paused and cleared her throat. That was never hard for her to say before, not until now. Anyway. "We make mistakes. You made a mistake, but I'm willing to overlook it." Why was this so hard to get out? Once she got warm in the Starbucks and got a coffee, she walked back home and rehearsed what she would say. It was easier before...

Taye blinked in surprise. Did he just hear her say...? Or was he going crazy? "What do you mean?" he asked her. She needed to repeat it, so he was sure.

Adena sighed, "You made a mistake. A big one. A bad one. Overlook is the wrong word. I'm willing...well, we both have to be willing to fix this," she said. "So you gotta look me in the eyes and promise to me that's what you're going to do from now on until we are 100% again."

He blinked again. Wow. He did hear her right. She was...she was willing to work through this instead of fight? That was unexpected. For a girl who hated surprises, she was doing them a lot. "Ok..."

"Look me in the eye and promise me, Taye," she said.

"Oh," he said; he thought it was rhetorical. "I won't...I'm sorry, it shouldn't have happened-"

"And you aren't going to do it again..." she said for him, hoping he would catch on, "Ever. Right?"

"Yeah..."

"I need you to say it, Taye!" she said, starting to get impatient. What did he promise her only ten months ago? To do the right thing? Was it that hard to promise not to be unfaithful?

"I won't do it ever again..." he repeated with his hands in the air, surrendering to make her happy. Why did he feel like his mom caught him doing something he wasn't supposed to do? "Look, Adena..."

She waved him off, "I wasn't finished. There are things we gotta do now. We can't deny it happened, and we can't deny that you need help. Once that's done, we will be back to normal," she said. She took a card out of her pocket, "Two words...marriage counselor," she said as she tossed it to him, "We have an appointment on Monday," and then walked to their bedroom.

Taye frowned. He bent down and picked up a business card. Hell no. No, he wasn't going to some psychiatrist. He hasn't gone crazy. It was a waste of money. They definitely couldn't afford it. "Nah. I think we should talk about this first before we let others in on it," he said as he followed her.

"You 'let others in on it' when you made out with some random whore" Adena snapped. "Or whatever the fuck you did..."

He stared at her wide-eyed, "Look, Adena, if you want to know what happened, just say so. We gotta sit down and talk about what happened-"

"I don't need to know what happened, how it happened, and what bitch it happened with! I don't want to know if it did at all! I don't want to know anything! All I need to know is how to fix this mess YOU caused." She went over to the bed, took the comforter off it, and then took off the sheet.

"What are you doing?"

"Can't be too careful," she said. "Because you weren't careful enough," she said as she threw the sheets in a laundry basket.

"Are you serious right now!?"

"You probably have fleas."

"I don't have fleas!" he chuckled in shock as he looked at her incredulously, "Fine if you think doing laundry..."

"What?" she asked him, "What were you going to say?"

"Nothing," he said.

"Good." She needed to stop talking to him. This wasn't the plan.

"Tell him what's up but don't allow him to argue with you. He'll try to change your mind. One and done. You gotta be serious with him and let him know you MEAN it," Kim had said.

"Adena, I made a mistake, but I'm not crazy enough to see a mental doctor. Is that what you think happened? You think I snapped or something?"

"You don't have to be 'crazy' to see a THERAPIST, Taye," she sighed. "You remember when you proposed to me? We were at that Open Mic Night at your friend's club, and you got onstage, wrote a poem, and asked me to marry you. And even though I'm not too fond of surprises and seeing all those people looking at me, at us, I said yes. I have sacrificed a lot for you. I've adapted for you. Just do this for us, for me. We have to work on our marriage and just be married! You said you were ready for this. You asked me! You promised," she said to him.

Taye sighed; he remembered that night. Wow. He almost forgot about it. Was that wrong? He looked down at his wedding ring. "Alright," was all he said.

"Good. I don't want you here right now. I need space. I can't even look at you..." she said as she focused on the sheets and turned her back to him. There, that's it. She wasn't going to say anything else. But he didn't leave. She could feel him standing there, staring a hole into her back. "Taye get-" she said as she turned around, and something caught her eye.

"Oh, you mean right now? For now? Are you kicking me out? Adena? Adena?" he repeated. He then saw her drop the sheets she was holding on the floor, bend down and pick something up. The infamous shirt. "What are you-"

But she interrupted him by walking out of the room. Taye followed her, and then he stood frozen when she turned a knob that lit up the small fireplace in their living room and threw the shirt in. He watched with wide eyes as one of his favorite shirts was engulfed in flames.

"There. I feel better now. Don't you?" she asked him. He didn't know what to say now. She returned to their bedroom, closed the door, and locked it.

Taye stood in the hallway and looked at the card still in his hand. It said, 'Dr. Johnathan Osbourne, Marriage Counselor'. He sighed. This was Kim's idea. He knew it. He didn't like this at all. But he had to do it. He heard the shower running, and he accepted defeat. She wanted space. He could at least give her that. He felt it would be good for him to get some distance before she set anything else of his on fire. He gathered up some things and then left.

The conversation she dreaded was over, and he didn't say no, though she didn't give him a choice. Ok, it's done. 'It's only temporary. Everything's ok,' she silently repeated to herself as she stripped down and got in the shower. She let the warm water fall down her body. She closed her eyes, trying to envision the water washing all the pain away. But all she could see was the lipstick stain, the bed sheets torn from the bed, and the shirt thrown in the fire. She didn't plan on doing that but was proud of herself. 

She even told him he had fleas. She wanted to laugh...cheer for herself, but there was nothing to cheer about. She couldn't launder this away, and she couldn't burn everything away. This couldn't just be cleaned away. Did that mean it was time to give up? Was it not worth it? Was she not worth it?

She got overwhelmed with all the worst-case scenarios running through her mind. She couldn't hold it in anymore, and she broke down, her body shaking, her knees buckling from under her. She practically slid onto the shower floor, put her head in her hands, and sobbed. She hasn't cried this hard since...

Shit.

Before she knew it, she couldn't stop, and she sobbed on her shower floor even when the water turned cold...

*

If a partner betrays a Capricorn, they will try first to organize things so that the partner can right their wrongs and be reunited with the family, but if the betrayal continues, Capricorns can turn vengeful.

*

Adena thought Taye would be gone for a few hours or stay out all night as usual and come home eventually. She was stupid to think that. When she woke up Sunday, he wasn't there, and when she went to bed that night, she wondered if he had left her entirely. Where was he?

She lay in bed but couldn't sleep. If he wanted to work on their marriage, this was a fine way to do it. She sat up and grabbed her phone. She didn't want to be that girl, the one that called her man 30 times, knowing he wouldn't answer showing him she wasn't giving up. She called him a couple of times today, but he didn't answer. She didn't bother to leave a message.

But she knew she would be a nervous wreck if she woke up Monday morning and he still wasn't here. Maybe he was hurt. Something could have happened to him...

She wasn't going to call again. She couldn't be that girl, so...

Are you coming home tonight? At all? You haven't been answering my calls...

The text was better than nothing, but he probably would ignore that too.

Missy offered to do a bit of bar hopping; he may be out being a drunken mess, but if she saw him, she would call her immediately. She also was gonna beat his ass on sight, though she didn't tell her that part. Adena didn't deserve this. No woman did. But she came up with nothing either...

She laid back down and blinked her eyes to keep herself from crying.

Ding.

She sat up immediately and grabbed her phone. He texted her back, which meant he was ok!

you said you wanted space, so i gave it to you

Damn, but she figured that, though...

you didn't tell me when i could come back anyway

It would be nice to know that you're alive.

Anyways are you coming to therapy tomorrow?

yea

She sighed with relief; she thought he had maybe changed his mind...about everything.

12:30. Don't be late. I hope you have that card, it has the address on it.

i know how business cards work

Yeah, he was still mad. She ignored it.

Ok, I'll see you then, love you

She winced; she shouldn't have sent that. She waited for a response...

. . . 

She saw that he was typing, at least. But then the dots disappeared. He stopped.

Wow. She tried to swallow her pride and take it in stride. Neither was in the 'lovey dovey' mood right now. She tried not to take it personally...but they were married. Anything Taye said or did affect her, so it was personal. Very personal.

She plugged the charger into her phone and set it on the nightstand. She laid down, let the tears fall, and closed her eyes, hoping the sleep would just knock her out already.

Ding.

She opened her eyes. He replied?

No, don't bother. Don't look at it.

She shook her head, sat up, and grabbed her phone. What was she scared of?

k

No, that wasn't a typo. That's all he sent. What was she scared of? That. Exactly that.

She tossed her phone onto the nightstand and buried herself under the covers, hoping a black hole would open and suck her in or finally knock her out.

Whatever came first.

*

Typical Capricorns do not have casual affairs.

*

Adena's cell rang about 45 minutes later, but she was finally sleeping peacefully. She was buried so deep under her covers that she didn't hear.

Missy sighed and hung up. "She's probably sleeping," she said to herself.

"You got a daughter or something? Who you keep checking on?" her co-worker asked her.

"Nah. No. No kids for me. Ever."

"You don't mean that."

"Yes, I do. I'm not gonna be some deadbeat mother who goes to the club while her kid is at home."

"Wow," they laughed.

"I'm serious. I'm doing the world a favor. If you see me having a kid, slap me."

They laughed, "Girl, you stupid. You're drunk too."

"And? That's what we came to do!" she said as she rechecked her phone. Nothing. She thought she felt it vibrate.

"You been looking at that phone all night. They might not be your kid, but they seem just as important. You wanna get an Uber?"

"Nah. It's just my home girl. She's going through it. Her man been cheating and shit."

They rolled their eyes, "I am so sick of hearing about another nigga stepping out and being stupid. I swear I hear a new story every day."

"Right! And girl, I've been through it a couple of times."

"Me too! We all got stories. Ain't that sad?"

"It is, "Missy said with a shake of her head. "And my girl, she's one of those good girls, you know? I went to Columbia with her. She's so fucking smart. She can be anything she wants to be. Not saying chicks like us deserve it, but she definitely doesn't. She's been down for him ever since they met. She did everything right, and still...I feel so fucking bad."

Her co-worker shook her head, "Which tells you one thing; it's not us. It's them. We can be fucking Beyonce, and a nigga will still do whatever he wants." Missy shook her head. "I didn't know you went to school."

"Yeah, girl. How you think I got supervisor? And here I am, taking out one of my new co-workers."

"Yeah, thanks. I hate being the new chick, you know?"

"Nah, you're not the new chick; you have a name, you're..."

"Bitch, you don't know my name?"

Missy laughed, "Chill, Alicia Keys, my bad. I'm bad with names. I'm sorry. I'm drunk."

"I know you are. I'm feeling good myself," she said. So they ordered another drink. "A couple of Ubers are coming this way in a few minutes," she said as they got their things and walked out. "Ok, look for a black Corolla," she said as she looked up and down the street. Missy was still on a mission; she looked around, just hoping to see Taye with some bitch. She's been a little stressed and needed someone she could let her frustration out on. She looked toward the street and saw her new friend crossing the street.

"Yo, wait!"

"Girl come on, I said!" she said with a laugh. "This traffic ain't stopping."

Missy ran as fast as her heels would let her. "Wait! Wait...what's your name!" she laughed.

She laughed, "All my peoples call me FeeFee."

"Cool," Missy said with a laugh as she caught up to her.

"Can I call you FeeFee too?" a few guys said as they walked by them, checking them out. They laughed and got in their Uber.

"Where you live FeeFee?"Missy asked her as they pulled off.

*

If the relationship begins to fail, it often takes Capricorns a long time to take action, as they have a strong sense of duty to their partner and the family. In general, they dislike divorce.

*

Luckily, Donatella was in a good mood today when Adena slipped into the conversation that she had a doctor's appointment. 12:30 couldn't get here fast enough. At 11:59, she clocked out for lunch and ran outside to her Lyft driver. "Lisa?" she asked her, and the driver nodded. "Good. Thanks for being on time and waiting."

"No problem, "Lisa said to her. She dropped her to Dr. Osbourne's office a little earlier than expected. 5 stars.

She walked in, a small part of her hoping that Taye was already here and waiting. She knew better and was slightly disappointed when she saw the empty waiting room. She checked in, had some coffee the receptionist offered, and waited for either Dr. Osbourne or Taye to come.

And Taye better be here before Dr. Osbourne was ready. She hated being late. She hated when anyone was late. He knew that. But at 12:29, Adena was trying hard to keep her composure. Was he not going to show up?? He promised!

He promised a lot of things.

Adena glanced at the clock, then the door, clock, door, clock, door. She couldn't believe this. She couldn't have a marriage counseling session by herself! Her hand squeezed the cup of coffee, and she almost spilled it everywhere. Enough coffee. It was making her antsy. She was throwing the cup out when she heard a door open. Her back was to every door here, and when she turned around, she breathed out a sigh of relief when Taye hurried in. Thank God. He was here!

He did care.

She walked back to her seat and sat down as Taye checked in. He then walked over and sat next to her. There was no reason to say hello to each other, though. Dr. Osbourne had some work cut out for him; he better be good.

He wasn't too punctual, though. At 12:40, they were both antsy and annoyed. "His current session ran over a little bit, don't worry," the receptionist said to them. Adena nodded.

"He's late," Taye said quietly. The first thing he has said to her since their fight Saturday morning.

"Well, she said he's held up so..."

"You gonna chew him out like you do everyone else?" he said snarkily. Adena rolled her eyes and ignored him. He was still mad. "But it's ok for him to be late because he's a doctor, he's got a title, he's way more important-"

"You made your point," Adena interrupted him. She glared at him, "Just cooperate so we can get through this. Don't embarrass me."

"Awww but Mommm," he whined sarcastically, "We're paying him so much money, we might as well give him a show."

"This is serious, Taye. It's not a soap opera," she said through her teeth, hoping the receptionist wasn't listening. "And stop with the Mom stuff; I don't like it."

"Don't worry. You'll be able to tell this man everything you don't like about me in a minute. If he ever comes out..."

Adena decided not to say anything. He was really testing her patience. Why? Having to come here was hard enough; what he did was hard enough. Did he have to make every step to getting their marriage fixed as frustrating as he was??

Maybe he didn't care.

A door opened, and a couple walked out silently, not looking at either one of them or the receptionist. "Ms. Capricorn?" someone called out, and she stood up quickly.

"Your maiden name? Really?" he said as he followed her, "Since when did you start using that again? Guess my name is embarrassing too."

"I started using it once you started acting like I wasn't worthy of it," she hissed under her breath as they followed a woman down a hallway. "Don't make this harder than it already is."

"Don't be pushy."

She was glad that they finally reached Dr. Osbourne's office because she didn't know what she was going to say to him next. He successfully got himself on her bad side. She plastered an award-winning smile as she walked over and shook Dr. Osbourne's hand. "Thank you so much for seeing us on such short notice," she said sweetly.

"Don't mention it; any friend of Kimberly's is a friend of mine," he said with a smile as he motioned for her to sit down.

"I knew it, "Taye said as he slumped down in the seat next to her. She fought herself so very hard not to roll her eyes so far back that they could have gotten stuck. Dr. Osbourne nodded and chuckled as he picked up a notepad and sat down in front of them on the other side of a coffee table. "Where's the couch?"

"Couch?"

"Don't you guys make all the crazy people you talk to lie down on a couch?"

Dr. Osbourne chuckled as Adena's plastered smile got bigger. Her face was starting to hurt. "Just in the movies..and the word 'crazy' is far from the truth. Every person or couple I work with are all very normal people with normal issues."

"Huh," Taye said with a nod. Adena held onto the arms of the chair tightly so she couldn't slap him. He was doing this on purpose. Dr. Osbourne made a small note. Great, he saw an issue already. The list was going to be long. How were they going to get through all of this in just one hour?

"Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but I understand that you both are here because of some new developments in your marriage that you need to work through?"

"Developments," Taye chuckled. "I like that. Developments."

"So I'm correct, Mr. uh..." he said as he looked down at his notepad," Houghton?"

"Yeah. You can say that," Taye answered back.

"How long have you both been married?"

"Only 10 months, "Adena answered quickly.

"Only? Why only?" he asked her.

"Because he already cheated on me," Adena said without hesitation. "I found lipstick on his shirt."

"And then she set that shirt on fire," Taye replied, insinuating he was not the only issue going on right now.

Dr. Osbourne's eyebrows raised slightly. Was that because he cheated or because she set his shirt on fire? Now that it was said out loud, it sounded a lot worse. "Alright, let's unpack that, shall we?" he said as he got comfortable in his chair.

*

Capricorns have an irritating habit of organizing things that they think will be good for a friend, which the friend does not want.

*

https://youtu.be/pRFEz2MjZgg