Seasons

by Bonnie Hopkins

  Jaci smiled. “Hallelujah! But, baby, you need to start witnessing to him more, telling him what the Lord has done for you, letting him see the peace and contentment God has given you, even in the midst of all we’re going through right now.”

  “Right. I have been talking to him a little, but you know how he is. He won’t let me say much before he goes off.”

  “Well, this might be the right season. Let’s pray hard that the Lord will touch his heart and make him receptive.”

  The next time Ron came by their house, Jaci left the room after a while, leaving the brothers alone. Jason took the cue, and started right in.

  “Ron, I’ve been there, so I see signs that you’re getting tired of your lifestyle. You’re hanging around me and my wife more and more. That tells me you see something in us that’s attractive to you. And you been in church the last several Sundays without anybody having to harass you about going. That’s great, man! Take it from me, you won’t find true life in the streets and running from woman to woman. You’ll find that only in Jesus, and in loving and being loved by a good woman. Jesus will take you just as you are. But a good woman doesn’t want anything to do with a street hound. Jaci wouldn’t have given me the time of day if I hadn’t already turned my life around before I met her.”

  Oddly, Ron sat quietly and listened before he looked up from staring into his coffee cup. He knew a change was occurring in him, but didn’t know how or why. It certainly wasn’t something he had sought.

  “I never thought I’d say this, brother, but I’m jealous of you and the life you have with Jaci. I love coming over here just to be around ya’ll. Yeah. I’m kind of wishing for the same thing. But I don’t know, man, I might be a hopeless case.”

  Jason laughed. “Nope! With God, all things are possible. Just think. If He changed me, He can change anybody. All you have to do is go to Him with a sincere heart. He’ll do the rest. Trust me, I know. Just continue on the road you’re now on. You’ll see. By the way, why don’t you come to the Men of Power meeting with me next Saturday? There’ll be lots of men there at the same place you are. I think you’ll enjoy it. And God will even work out this little problem you’ve got.” He chuckled as he dodged the pillow Ron threw at him.

  Linda

  Linda and Wynola had given up on finding Jaci alone somewhere so they could attack her. They had lurked around the office building and garage and followed her for several days, looking for a chance at her.

  “There’s always somebody around her,” Linda complained to Wynola. “I even have Leo watching for a chance. I’m anxious to see a knife sticking out of her chest. I’m not going to rest until that witch is dead.”

  “Yeah. I’m with you on that,” Wynola agreed. “That heifer caused me to lose a job I had been on for twenty-five years. And nearly cost me my marriage. She got this coming. I think we’ve come up with a pretty good plan, though. By the time Leo gets through with J.P., he’ll be so mad, he’ll kill her for us. He’s got her up on some kind of pedestal. But when he hears all that Leo is going to put in his ears, he’ll hurry up and get to that house. And when he finds Jaci there with Bob, she’s coming down real fast. But we’ll be there watching, so that if J.P. doesn’t do it, we’ll kill her ourselves. We’ll just make it look like he did it. I hate to do this to Bob. He was pretty good between the sheets, but he should have never started sniffing around Jaci. That was his big mistake.”

  Linda picked up the phone and called the man she had already partially paid to help them. “Hey, Leo, this is Linda. We’re all set. You make your call at ten in the morning. Just follow the script we gave you. Yeah. And Leo? Make it good, okay? I want to send that sucker into shock and have him running to his precious wife with murder in his eyes. Me and my sister are taking care of everything else. After you make the call, come on over to the address I gave you.” She gave a slightly out-of-control laugh. “You might even get a bonus if things turn out the way they’re supposed to.”

  Jaci

  Jaci hung up the phone with a puzzled frown. Jason had never communicated with her through his staff. She called his office and when his voice mail came on, immediately hung up and dialed his cell phone. She made a disgruntled sound when she heard his voice mail instructing her to leave a message.

  “Baby, why is somebody from your office calling me to make an appointment for us to meet? Are you too busy to call your wife? And why do you want me to look at a house? Please call me as soon as you can. Oh yeah! Where are you?”

  When Linda stalked Jaci before she and Jason got married, Jason bought her a cell phone and asked her to keep it in her purse and on at all times. Now that Linda had shown up again, he reminded her repeatedly. Jaci had a habit of simply forgetting to turn it on.

  They usually talked more than once during the day. If nothing more than a quick “I love you” or “God loves you” was spoken, they both felt the need to communicate. They also agreed to let each other know where they were going if they had to leave the office. This habit had started after a major argument erupted when Jaci had been out of pocket one day.

  Jaci’s staff had a tradition of celebrating birthdays by going out to lunch. The day of the argument, they left the office before eleven to beat the lunch crowd. Jaci’s cell phone was on the charger, and she forgot it when she left for lunch. Apparently, Jason called the minute she left the office. When he didn’t reach her, he called the cell number and of course got the voice mail on that too.

  He then called the main office number and talked to the receptionist, who had no idea where Jaci was. Jason panicked, and by the time Jaci returned from lunch two hours later, he was in her office pacing nervously with smoke steaming from his ears. Someone finally told him she had gone to lunch with her staff, but the minute she stepped into her office, he tore into her, pointing to the phone lying on the credenza. Jaci felt like a jerk for putting him through that and had since made it a point to be more careful.

  Now, he was the one out of pocket and sending strange messages through his staff. She looked at her watch. It was too late to cancel lunch with C.J., who was probably already on her way to pick up Jaci. Everyone knew her routine of going to lunch early on Tuesdays so she could get back for staff meeting at one thirty.

  Oh well, she quickly decided, they would swing by the address where Jason was and leave from there to go to lunch. Her desk phone rang, and, thinking it was Jason returning her call, she hurriedly picked it up.

  “Hey, girl, you ready? I’m almost there.” C.J.’s voice came over the line. Jaci, trying not to sound disappointed, said, “Sure, I’ll head down and meet you in front of the building. But I need to make a little detour. Is that all right? Do you have time?”

  “Sure, I have time. See you in a few.”

  Jaci stuck the piece of paper with the scribbled address into her purse and walked to Bill’s office. “Hey, Bill, I’m sorry to bother you, but I’m leaving for lunch. You have time to walk down with me?”

  “Absolutely. And you’re not bothering me,” Bill answered, standing immediately to accompany her.

  “Well, I must admit, I do feel like that. But I don’t have a choice right now. Hopefully, this thing with Linda and Wynola will soon be over, but they’re still calling regularly, telling me what they’re going to do to me.”

  She stepped outside just as C.J. arrived. They drove to the address, thankful it wasn’t too far out of the way. It turned out to be a patio home in a nice neighborhood. She thought it was strange that a car with the department logo was already parked in the driveway and was disappointed to see no sign of Jason.

  Jaci sighed. “I wonder where Jason is?” She pulled the cell phone out of her purse and called Jason again. His voice mail clicked on immediately. “Jason! I’m here at this house. Where the heck are you?” She ended the call and sighed again frustratedly. “Doggone it! I hate this. He’s the one wanting to meet and he’s late. Well, the woman from his office said the door would be open because there are people working in the h
ouse. But if I wasn’t so curious, I’d leave. Come on, let’s go on in.”

  The two women entered the house after a tentative knock. Jaci gasped in surprise when Bob Johnson from her office met them at the door. “Now what are you doing here, Bob?” A sliver of unease shot through Jaci. Something was off about this whole thing, she realized. If Jason got here and found her here with Bob, he was sure to be upset. They’d had words about Bob more than once.

  Bob also looked surprised for a minute, then started smiling delightedly at the two women. “Well, I could ask you the same thing, but I’m not complaining. Who is this vision of beauty with you?”

  Jason

  Jason ignored the ringing telephones and numerous knocks on his office door. He couldn’t recall a time in his life when he had been more angry and upset. Ever since he received that call this morning, he had been in an uncommunicative mode. The man’s words kept reverberating through his mind.

  “Just consider this a friendly heads-up, brother. I hate to see you getting played like you are. You can find your wife and her lover at this address at eleven thirty today if you play it smart. She thinks her game is still cool, so I wouldn’t do anything to tip her off. Her and this guy have been together, ripping people off for years. And they’re planning to take you for everything you got, man. They’ve done it to his wife, who happens to be my sister, and no telling how many others. I just don’t want to see them do it to somebody else. You don’t have to take my word for it, just show up there and I guarantee, you’ll see more than enough to know I’m telling the truth. And I wouldn’t go over there unarmed, man. This dude is known for packing a gun. You need to be careful.”

  The address the man rattled off was burned into Jason’s brain. He was so angry all logical thought left him. He knew exactly who the dude was. It had to be Bob Johnson. Jason wanted to punch him out every time he saw them together.

  Had the man been telling the truth? Was he running some kind of scam? Jason knew a man in his position couldn’t be too careful. But if it was the truth, how could Jaci do this to him? Just the idea of his wife with another man sent him into a red haze of anger that blocked all rational, reasonable thought. The haze filtered into his mind and produced dangerous impulses. He reached into his desk and pulled out a gun, pointing it toward imagined images on the wall across the room. He realized at that moment that he was capable of murder. The thought chilled him to the bone but refused to leave his mind. When they talked this morning, Jaci told him she had a lunch date with her cousin and would then be going into a meeting. “Just leave a message if you call because my cell will be muted.”

  “Yeah, right!” he said sarcastically. “That’s really convenient.”

  Deep down he didn’t believe Jaci was capable of cheating on him. But he remembered the way she had danced with the guy and recalled how he had walked unannounced into her office one day before they were married and found them sitting close together in deep conversation. The guy simply smiled arrogantly and walked out when Jason had threatened him.

  Jason knew he needed to let somebody know what was going on. In a city like Houston, you didn’t run around like a lone ranger. Too many bizarre things went on every day. He thought about calling his best friend Walt, but knew he was probably in court. His dad was out of the question. Most everyone that he felt comfortable calling for help was out of pocket at this time of day.

  His brother came to mind. But he hated to involve Ron in this when he was trying so hard to win him to the Lord. However, Ron was the only one who might possibly be available to go with him, so he picked up the phone and dialed Ron’s extension.

  “Yeah, what’s up?” Ron answered the phone in a rushed tone. “I’m on my way out to a site, so talk fast.”

  “Ron, I need you to go somewhere with me. Can you come up here now?” Jason spoke in a shaky voice.

  “Naw, man! I just told you, I’m getting ready to leave. What’s up?”

  “I can’t discuss it on the phone, but there’s a serious situation going on involving Jaci. I need your help.”

  Ron’s heart kicked into overdrive. Right away, his mind went to Linda’s threats against Jaci. “I’ll be there in a minute.”

  When Ron walked into his office, Jason was holding the gun in his hand, checking to see if it was loaded. “What’s going on, man?” Ron asked, looking concerned. “What are you doing with that thing?”

  “I might need it,” Jason answered. “I got a call this morning from some dude telling me that if I go to a certain address, I’ll find my wife there with her lover. I’m getting ready to go over there, and I want you to go with me. I know the dude. I’ve seen them together on more than one occasion. In fact, I’ve told him to stay away from my wife. Needless to say, I’m ready to do some damage to both of them if what I was told is true.”

  “What! J.P., did you call Jaci?” Ron asked, shaking his head in disbelief. “You know Jaci wouldn’t do something like this. That woman loves you! Think, man! Somebody’s running a game on you.”

  Jason pushed the gun into his belt. “When I talked to Jaci earlier this morning she conveniently told me she would be unavailable to take any calls. Besides, I’m so angry, I don’t know if I want to talk to her.”

  “I don’t believe you, J.P.! What has Jaci ever done to make you distrust her like this? You’re wrong brother. Your anger is clouding your mind. You need to get a grip.”

  “I hope you’re right. But if you had heard that guy telling me what a fool I’ve been behind this woman, you would understand why my head is so messed up.” They left the office in a heated argument.

  When they pulled up in front of the patio home and saw the car identified as one from Jaci’s department, J.P. cursed and Ron felt sweat pop out on his forehead. There was another car parked in the driveway but it wasn’t Jaci’s. Must be the guy’s personal car, Jason thought.

  They got out of the SUV and walked slowly toward the house. “Now, brother, I want you to keep your cool until you find out what the deal is. Okay?” Ron talked softly and urgently to Jason.

  But Jason was in his own zone. Refusing to think about what he would do if his wife was in that house with another man.

  They walked across the small porch, pushed the door open without knocking, and walked into the house.

  Jaci

  Jaci stood in the middle of the room with Bob, while C.J. walked around the room, checking out the decor.

  When the door was roughly pushed open, and Jason and Ron walked in, she drew a breath of relief that quickly turned to dread. Relief that Jason had finally arrived. Dread over his reaction to finding Bob there.

  “It’s about time!” Jaci said nervously. “I was beginning to think you were going to stand me up. What’s the deal? Why did you ask me to meet you here?”

  Jason’s face was totally blank, but his eyes held a violent anger that Jaci hadn’t seen before. Her uneasiness increased as Jason walked up to her and looked into her eyes a long time before speaking.

  “What are you doing here? With him?”

  C.J. walked toward the group standing in the middle of the room. “Hey, Jason. Hey, Ron. How are you? Ya’ll getting ready to buy this house? It’s pretty nice. I’ve been looking around while we were waiting on you guys to . . .” Her voice trailed off when she felt tension fill the room.

  Jaci knew something was desperately wrong. She looked into her husband’s closed face, trying to decipher what she saw. “Is your cell phone working? Why didn’t you call me back? And since when did we start communicating through your staff?”

  Ron grabbed her arm. “What did you just say, Jaci? Who on J.P.’s staff called you?”

  Jaci looked from Jason to Ron, confused. “I don’t know what her name was.” She tried to remember if the woman had even given her name, or just said, “I’m calling from your husband’s office.”

  Jaci’s eyes returned to Jason. “She said she was calling from your office and that you wanted me to meet you here. Baby, I called you. Di
dn’t you get my messages?”

  “No. I didn’t,” Jason answered coldly, his eyes now on Bob. “What’s your story? Why are you here?” His furious expression caused waves of fear to run through Bob, who had faced enough angry husbands to know he needed to answer carefully.

  “I got a call from Wynola Dickson this morning, asking me to come by here and do a structural inspection on this house. She’s thinking about buying it and wanted to make sure everything is okay. She was supposed to meet me, but when I got here, there was a note on the door telling me to go on in, that she was running late. I had just gotten here when Jaci and this lady walked in a few minutes later.”

  C.J. looked into the faces of the people gathered in the room and sensed danger. Something was terribly wrong. Jaci and Jason were immobilized—Jason with anger and Jaci with confusion, while Bob’s face was filled with fear.

  “Wait a minute, guys!” C.J. said. “Let’s get to the bottom of this before it goes any further.”

  “You got that right,” Ron said. “I knew something didn’t sound right when J.P. asked me to come over here with him. Some dude called him this morning and told him that Jaci and this dude would be here together and . . . well . . . a lot of other stuff. He got all bent out of joint and came over here gunning for . . .” He pointed toward Bob.

  Bob’s knees shook so bad, they almost gave way under him. Cold chills hit at the same time he felt perspiration rolling down his arms.

  C.J. looked around the group again. “Don’t ya’ll see? Somebody set all of you up. Each of you got a call to come to this house at a certain time today. Now if things had gone as planned, Jaci and Bob would have been here alone when Jason got here, after he’d been told they would be here doing the hanky-panky. Whoo! That’s some treacherous mess. I’m just glad I was here and that Ron came along with Jason. Otherwise, something bad could’ve happened.” She looked at Jaci, who was still staring at her husband. “Jace? You okay? I think we should get out of here now. Whoever did this could call the police and accuse us of breaking in here.”