“Hi. How are you?” Quentin asked when she pushed the power button for the window to go down.
“I’m good. How are you?” she asked. She didn’t know if a smile was plastered on her face or not. She felt like there was because she felt a warm glow flow through her.
“I haven’t seen you since the party.”
“I could say the same for you,” she replied.
His smile was always dashing. “I guess you could. I’ve been looking for you.”
“I’ve been here everyday. Monday through Thursday,” she said.
“Is that right?”
“Yes, that’s right,” she responded.
“Would you like to go have a cup of coffee…lunch?” he asked, leaning down in the car.
His cologne was intoxicating. “Sorry, I can’t. I have to go pick up my dogs from the groomer, but thanks for the invite.”
“What about later? We can have dinner.”
“You do recall that I am a married woman, don’t you?”
“Yes, I know you’re married—to Dr. Harper Stenberg, I think,” he said and laughed. “I respect that. I just thought we’d go, learn a little about each other, strictly as friends. No strings attached.”
“Maybe some other time,” she said. “I really need to go. It was nice seeing you, Quentin.” She put the car in Reverse.
“Hold up.”
“Yes?”
“Take my number.”
“Why would I do that?”
“Come on, don’t give a brother a hard time. If you find yourself free and you want to talk or hang out, then give me a call. Plus, I want to talk to you about volunteering at the rescue shelter.”
Eva smiled and looked over her shoulder and across the street at Quentin’s store.
“Volunteer?”
“Yes, see the sign in the window?”
Sure enough, there was a sign in the picture window that read Volunteers Needed. Only Animal Lovers Need Apply.
“Ummm, Okay, I’ll take your number,” she said while putting the car in Park, and removing her cell phone to enter his phone number into her Contacts.
“What days and hours?” she asked.
“It’s flexible. We just need committed volunteers. People who have a heart for animals.”
“Okay, I’ll think about it. Now, really, I have to go.”
Quentin stepped back and away from the car. “Take care, Eva.”
Eva blushed, backed out of the parking space, and maneuvered the car into the busy street.
Quentin walked back toward his establishment. He had found out some things about Eva and Harper through his grandmother that gave him hope. Emma Winters told him everything wasn’t coming up roses like Harper Stenberg expected when he married Eva. She told him about the time he threw Eva out of the house.
Harper had been confiding in Emma Winters for quite some time. He found her to be like his deceased grandmother, energetic, full of life, and Godly wisdom. He gravitated toward the woman when he was troubled or needed advice about a situation. Discussing his struggling marriage with Emma was no exception.
Quentin was intrigued by Eva. He didn’t want to break up a happy home, but if the home wasn’t happy then he might as well try to bring a little joy into Eva Stenberg’s life. He and Harper were not friends, they were more like acquaintances. They traveled in some of the same circles, but Quentin’s scope of friends included other real estate investors, animal activists, and the restaurant world. He was more acquainted with Harper because of his grandmother, who adored Harper for some reason. Quentin thought it might have been because his grandmother often said Harper reminded her of Quentin’s father, her only son.
Emma’s husband died some years back, so it was just her and her two grandsons. She was overjoyed when Quentin made the decision to move back to Adverse City to help take care of her. She was spry and able to do for herself and get around, but she welcomed the company of her grandson, since her other grandson was now married and trying to start a family of his own. It was a tragic day and time when their parents were killed. Emma still grieved for her son though it had been twenty plus years since his and her daughter-in-law’s deaths.
Quentin was a thirty-five year old single, successful biracial male with no kids, but he wasn’t the kind of guy that bedded women for mere pleasure. He liked long-term relationships, getting to know a woman, and spending time with her. He had never been much of the playboy type. His grandmother had taught him better. He casually walked back across the street, confident that he would hear from her again.
Her cell phone rang. “Yes, Harper.”
“Where are you?” he asked without acknowledging her salutation.
“Where I am everyday at this time—leaving school.”
“I’m not sure exactly when I’ll be back. The tour is going so well that they keep adding tour sites. And we’re even doing some filming for the television show. It’s great.”
Eva said nothing but a big smile came across her face at hearing that Harper wouldn’t be home at his original date.
“Are you there?”
“Uh, yes, I’m here,” she said. “Glad your tour is going well. Look, I’m driving, Harper. Is that all you wanted to tell me?” she asked coldly. She was sick of pretending that all was well between them when it was like pure torture everyday she remained Mrs. Harper Stenberg. It was bad enough she had to put on a smiling face in public so behind closed doors she wasn’t going to pretend any longer.
“I’ll call or video chat with you tomorrow.”
“Sure. Whatever.”
“Goodbye, sweetheart,” he said and ended the call.
She waited to see his call disappear from her dash and breathed a heavy sigh of welcome relief. As she drove toward home, she thought about Quentin’s offer. She could consider volunteering at his store. What harm could it do? Then again, if Harper found out, she knew what the backlash would be and it wouldn’t be pretty. She couldn’t take any more beatings, but would he even have to know?
She loved animals and maybe she could bring her dogs to the shelter sometimes, too. They were mild mannered dogs and would probably get along fine with some of the rescues. She would think about it a little longer and if she still felt the same later this evening then she would call Quentin and let him know she wanted to sign up. Maybe I should tell Harper. But if he beat me for dancing with Quentin…. Eva shuttered at the thought.
Harper used to tell her she needed to get a hobby, so this would be the perfect thing. She had long since stopped volunteering at Perfecting Your Faith Ministries since she had the pregnancy scare. Now that she knew Carlton was a charlatan, she surely wasn’t interested in being anywhere that could bring her into his deceitful presence. Poor Meesha. If only she knew who she was married to then she would have hurried to the divorce courts when he was begging to get out of their marriage.
Eva thought about Meesha and questioned whether she was a true friend to Meesha or not. Knowing that Carlton was a cheat, should she have told Meesha what she knew about him. But if she did, then that would mean she would have to spill the beans on his and Avery’s affair. That was the last thing she wanted to do. No way would she ever betray Avery’s trust. Avery had been taken full advantage of by Carlton. She was a helpless victim. Someway, somehow, he had to get what was due him. Just like Harper had to pay the piper, Carlton had to stand in that same line. If only she could devise a way to bring them both down.
Chapter 25
“My worst enemy is my MEMORY.” Unknown
Meesha didn’t know what caused the nightmares to resurface. At least once or twice a week, Carlton woke her up out of her sleep, telling her that she was screaming and talking unintelligibly.
It frightened Meesha because the last thing she wanted was to say something in her sleep that would cause Carlton suspicion. She didn’t need him to start questioning her about her past. She tried to explain the night dreams away by telling him that she was stressed from working at the Academy, se
eing to the kids, and being a dutiful first lady and wife. She was exhausted mentally and physically, she explained.
Carlton seemed to buy her excuse and insisted that she back up from the obligations and duties she fulfilled at Perfecting Your Faith Academy, rely more on their nanny, and tailor her duties as First Lady. She reluctantly agreed. She loved the school, and enjoyed being its administrator. It gave her a life outside of her family. It was rewarding work that she believed God had called her to do, but if putting it on pause would help alleviate mental stress and make the dreams stop, then she was all for it. Nothing was worth losing her peace of mind over.
If only there was someone she could talk to, confide in about her sordid, wicked past, but there was no one…no one but God. Lately, Meesha felt that even God seemed to be growing tired of her pleas and she didn’t know what she would do. So many things had happened that had her mind going in a thousand different directions. From the trouble she had experienced in her marriage, to the death of that poor woman, Breyonna, to giving birth to her fifth child, and the list went on.
She drove the short distance, parked, got out of her car, and walked along the beach thinking about her life and thanking God for bringing her to Adverse City where she could have a new start.
Meesha thought often of that murderous night. She had even tried a time or two to look up some of Terrell’s family members on social media. She wasn’t too successful with that, but she did find Cash on social media, the guy Catherine had been dating during that time but she didn’t reach out to him. There was no reason to. She searched for Catherine too, but she didn’t find her. It could have been that Catherine had gotten married and her last name was changed. Meesha didn’t know and she didn’t put any more thought into resurrecting that part of her past—a shameful past, that if found out, could take her away from her family, her children, and land her behind bars for years.
“You have a collect call from an inmate…” the robotic caller stated. “Press One to accept or Two to disconnect.”
Carlton pressed the number one on his keypad.
“Hello, what’s up partner?” the voice on the other end said.
“Klay, my man,” Carlton said, always happy to hear from his best friend. Having to be locked away for years didn’t change the fact that Carlton and Klay were like brothers. Carlton continued to make sure he was more than well provided for while in prison.
“How’s it going?” Klay asked.
“Things are good. Meesha had the baby.”
“Another nappy headed boy?” Klay teased.
“Man, Klay. I got a girl. Can you believe it? After four tries, I have a beautiful little princess.” Carlton almost teared up at the thought, but didn’t.
“Whooooa, I can’t believe it. Congratulations, bruh. Man, I’m happy for you and Meesha. I take it things are continuing to go well for the two of you.”
“Yeah. Things are good. You know I told you the last time we talked that things were pretty much back on track. I’m grateful to God…and to you.”
“Look, you coming up anytime soon?” Klay quickly shifted the conversation. Nothing was secure or safe on the jailhouse lines. Sometimes it seemed like Carlton forgot that and Klay would have to pull him back in to keep things that were private, private.
“I plan on taking that drive in a few days to see you, man. Kingston and Martin are supposed to be riding with me.”
“Cool, I’ll be looking forward to that visit. It’s been a minute since I’ve seen them.”
“Anything you need?” Carlton asked.
‘Yeah, as a matter of fact there is. That is, if you can make it happen again.”
“You know where there’s a will there’s a way.”
“In that case, see if you can arrange a visit again. Your bruh needs some one-on-one counseling,” Klay said.
“You got it. A private counseling session will be arranged,” Carlton told him.
“You have twenty seconds,” the robotic voice interrupted as they talked.
“I’ll see you in a few days, partner. And be looking to hear about that private session. I’ll make the call as soon as we hang up,” Carlton reassured him.
“See you, bruh,” Klay said. “And thanks.”
“I owe all the thanks to you. You saved my life…and my marriage,” Carlton was able to say just as the call came to an end.
As promised, Carlton made the usual phone call and spoke to Phyllis Wade. She was a longtime friend from back in the day too, the same as Klay. She worked inside the prison system as a psychologist and could make things happen that were otherwise unattainable. A conjugal visit with an unsuspecting female was one of those things.
“Okay, but this time you owe me a juicy steak dinner,” Phyllis told Carlton as they laughed over the phone.
“You got it. I’ll even buy your husband one, too,” Carlton promised and chuckled loudly.
The two friends chatted for a while before ending the call and Carlton returned to his pastorly duties. While he completed some paperwork, he thought back to Breyonna’s timely death. Thank you God for friends in high places. Rest in peace, Breyonna. Avery Mitchelson, you better not cross me. You won’t like me if you cross me.
As he promised, Carlton made the trip to see his best friend. Kingston and Martin couldn’t make the visit with him after all. Damica had made an appointment for their cake tasting and no way could Kingston back out of that. He had been drilled by his married friends, including Carlton, that a happy wife meant a happy life, and he was starting out ahead of his marriage by doing things to make his bride-to-be keep a smile on her face.
Martin had committed to attending an outing sponsored by Perfecting Your Faith. He and a team of volunteers, along with his wife and two kids, were taking a group of kids from one of the inner-city youth ministries operated by Perfecting Your Faith Ministries on a two-day weekend trip to Disney World. Martin was good at planning things like that, and it made Carlton proud of the man his brother was.
Carlton played music from his playlist and listened to sermons by fellow pastors on the three-hour drive to the prison. His cell phone rang along the way. He looked at the dash and saw a familiar number. “Hey you,” he said.
“Hey, what you up to?” the sweet, seductive sounding voice asked.
“On the road,” he said, smiling as he pushed ninety miles per hour on the highway in his Bentley.
“You didn’t tell me you were coming to see me,” she said and giggled into the phone.
Carlton laughed too. “Not this time. I have a friend that I’m on my way to see. Like I told you, we have to be discreet…very discreet. You have a husband and I have a wife. We don’t want to do anything to mess up our happy homes now do we?
“Right you are, but I miss you, Carlton,” the mysterious woman said.
“I thought you were going to be unavailable this weekend.”
“Yeah, me too, but things changed.”
“Should have called me earlier. You could have made the trip with me. I would have gotten us a hotel, went to visit my friend, and then came back… after that I would have been all yours. You could have had your way with me,” Carlton flirted.
“Yeah, I wasn’t thinking.”
Carlton’s car dash showed Meesha calling him. “Look, I have to hang up. I’ll hit you up later this evening. I’ll call you when I’m headed back to the city. Maybe we can meet at our spot around eight or nine.”
“Okay, baby. Bye.”
Carlton ended the call and quickly clicked over to Meesha. “Hey, love. How’s it going?”
Chapter 26
“If you haven’t any kind of charity in your heart, you have the worst heart trouble.” Bob Hope
Eva made the decision to take the chance and volunteer at Quentin’s store, hoping against hope that Harper would not discover what she was doing. It was risky stepping out and going behind his back, but she decided to do it nonetheless. It gave her something else meaningful to do with her time and kept her away
from the house. For now, things were working perfectly, with Harper being away. She refused to think of what would happen if he ever discovered what she was doing.
Volunteering at the shelter was proving to be fun and exciting just as she’d hoped. There was always something going on that kept her on her toes. Some days brought tears to her eyes when she accompanied Quentin on rescues of abused and injured animals. It was hard to fathom how cruel a human being could be toward an animal, but then she thought about how cruel Harper was to her. He treated her like she was an animal. It was heartbreaking, but Quentin had such a gentle way with the animals. Eva could see in the way he treated the animals that he genuinely cared about their wellbeing. She admired that about him.
Eva didn’t attend school on Fridays or the weekends so she spent as many hours as she could at the shelter. She had fallen in love with the giant weimeraner, Scooby Doo looking dog. He was just a big baby and he seemed to adore her. Quentin had been right, the dog wouldn’t scratch a flea. He was just a big loveable, oversized canine who craved affection and attention.
Quentin looked forward to seeing Eva walk into the shelter. She was quickly becoming his go to person. She had learned a great deal about the different breeds of canines and felines. She loved to show them affection and she had learned a lot about grooming them and even started some minor training of the animals.
“I still can’t get over how that poor cocker spaniel was abused and left for dead,” Eva said after they had returned from a rescue call Quentin received one afternoon soon after she arrived at the shelter.
“You can’t imagine some of the cases I’ve had. I want to save as many of these poor animals as I possibly can. My parents were animal lovers and rescued animals when I was a little boy. They often took my brother me and along on their rescue missions. It’s why I do what I do. It’s been instilled inside of me. You know?”
“I’m learning so much. Thank you for letting me be part of this experience, Quentin.”
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