Remember the Time

Chapter 17

January 4th, 1997

Michael woke up to the sound of the hotel phone ringing off the hook. He threw the blankets from over his head only to find Mariah no longer in bed.

She must be brushing her teeth or something.

He rolled over onto Mariah's side of the bed and reached for the phone. "Hello?"

"Hey Michael," Brenda said, slightly shocked. "Where's Mariah?"

Michael yawned. "She's in the bathroom. How was your flight?"

"It was fine, thanks for asking. Y'all just now getting up over there?" Brenda asked.

"Yeah, it's morning here."

The bathroom door opened and Mariah came out. "Who's that?" she mimed.

He covered the bottom of the phone and whispered back: "It's Brenda."

Mariah nodded and pulled some clothes out of her suitcase while Michael continued talking to Brenda.

"So did Mariah calm down last night after we left?" Brenda asked.

"Yeah, she's fine." He said.

"Okay good. I already told her I ain't got bail money."

Michael cackled. "You are a mess."

"Honestly though, Michael, you better nip that in the bud. There's nothing worse than a crazy ex." Brenda explained.

"I thought I did. I keep telling her to leave me alone and then she'll pop up somewhere else."

Mariah, half dressed, shot a glance at her husband.

"Sounds like you playing whack-a-mole. But at the end of the day you really need to handle it once and for all." Brenda paused. "Do right by my girl or I'm gonna have to come find you."

"Don't worry about it. I would never hurt Mariah."

"Alright now is Mariah still in the bathroom?"

Mariah was sitting on his side of the bed, fully dressed and listening in on their conversation. Michael handed her the phone, "Brenda wants to talk to you."

Mariah took the phone and began chatting away while Michael got up so he could get ready for his show that evening. He went into the bathroom and started the shower when he heard Mariah mention her mother. "B, I don't know anymore. I can't believe she would lie about that. Here I am, this little girl, and she's telling me all this stuff and then I find out it's not true. What am I supposed to think?"

He leaned against the bathroom door. He could vaguely make out some of Brenda's words when Mariah chimed in, "No that's bull. If she really wanted to protect me she wouldn't have done that."

There was a pause, Brenda, on the other end of the phone, became inaudible.

"Listen, Brenda, If my dad had been around more that wouldn't have happened. That happened because of her. It's her fault."

What is she talking about?, Michael wondered.

Mariah sighed. "Yeah, Mike is a good man but that doesn't take away from everything else that's happened to me. Even before what happened with Tommy."

Before Tommy? But she was with me...

January 6th, 1997

Mariah was grateful to finally wake up in her own bed next to Michael. He had closed out the tour in Hawaii and they wouldn't have to go back on the road until the end of May. They both were about to start recording soon, but for now Mariah just wanted to be with her husband.