Anointed (Urban Books)

by Patricia Haley

  “That’s why I had to see you tonight. The company is flying me out early tomorrow morning to get my employment paperwork done so that I can start my orientation on Monday.” He folded a shirt and placed it in the neatly packed suitcase.

  “You’re taking the job without us discussing it?”

  “What’s there to discuss? I’ve been out of work for almost a year. I finally have a good job that can take care of us both and you want to talk about what?” He went to his dresser and pulled out a wad of socks.

  “It looks like you’re taking all your clothes.”

  “Every piece that I can carry.”

  Sherry was overwhelmed. Edward was moving too fast. She had to sit. “How can you leave without having a plan for us?” Sherry was confused and didn’t know exactly what she wanted from the relationship any longer. Edward owed her the chance to express her feelings, and she wasn’t going to let him walk out before being heard.

  “I plan to stay at the hotel in Texas this weekend. That will give me a couple of days to get a little familiar with the area ahead of time, so that I won’t have to find my way on Monday. Maybe I can even look around for a place.”

  “Sounds like you have this all figured out, but what about me? What about us?” she said, too confused and angry to shed a tear.

  “Don’t worry,” he said, coming close to her. “By the time your two-week notice is up, I will be settled into my orientation program. I’ll know the area better and we can find an apartment together, if I haven’t already found one by then.”

  He hadn’t taken her feelings into consideration. Edward was all about what he wanted. “That’s not going to work for me.”

  “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean you’d have to wait two weeks for us to be together. I can take my security deposit from this room and buy a ticket for you to come down next weekend,” he said, wrapping his arms over her shoulders. “Sound like a plan?” Happiness oozed out of his pores, and she wiggled from his grip, not wanting to get any of it on her. “I can’t believe how fast our situation has turned for the good. On Monday I was unemployed and wondering where my next dollar was coming from. Wednesday, out of the blue, I get a call for a dream job. How crazy is that,” he said, giving her a peck on the cheek and returning to his packing. There wasn’t any nice way to say what had to be said. She wanted to say it and get the matter behind her. “I’m not coming with you,” she blurted out.

  “Not this weekend, I know. I’m sorry I don’t have the money to take you with me, but you can best believe that I’ll have you a ticket in the mail by Tuesday.”

  “Edward,” she said, going to him. “I’m not moving to Texas, not this week or ever. I’m not leaving Detroit. I’m not leaving DMI. I’m just not leaving. I’m sorry, but this move is for you. It’s not for me.”

  His anguish hurt her. The love and relationship they’d shared for three years had somehow vanished without their knowledge. She’d love and care about Edward forever, but that yearning to be together as husband and wife didn’t exist for her. She had to let him go and let him pursue a more meaningful future without her tagging along and being miserable. He deserved better than she could give him.

  “You can’t be serious. This is our breakthrough, our ticket to success. We can live comfortably now. And as far as the wedding goes, we can use my bonus to have the biggest or smallest wedding that you want. It’s your choice. Shoot, we can get married next weekend if you want. Instead of you flying to Texas, I can fly home Friday night. We can get married Saturday, and then go to Texas together, as husband and wife.” Before she could answer he continued talking. “That will only give you a one-week notice, but who cares. You won’t need that job again. Don’t worry about it. I’m certainly not.”

  Maybe not, but he should be worried, she thought. Maybe he should have read the signs along the way, the ones highlighting her discontent, the ones where she was begging for more. Neither had taken care of the relationship and there they sat, divorced before they got married. Her heart sank, but she refused to let a tear drop. She couldn’t let him feel any worse than he already did or was going to.

  “The answer is no, I’m not going, and that’s final.” She slid the engagement ring off her finger and gently placed it in his palm, closing his fingers around the ring, and peering into his eyes one last time. “I’m truly sorry,” she said and ran out, this time letting the tears have their way.

  Chapter 45

  Sherry stared at the illuminated numbers on her alarm clock. Two-fifteen in the morning. She rolled over and closed her eyelids tightly, hoping to drift off to sleep and leave her worries behind.

  A noise startled her. She immediately glanced at the clock: three forty-five. She flung the bedspread back and sat on the side of the bed. Why did the night have to torturously drag on for hours? Finally, she’d had enough. She eased into her slippers and went for a glass of milk.

  In the short distance from her bed to the refrigerator, Dave and Edward had bantered back and forth in her mind. She wrestled with her old feelings for Edward Hanson and new ones for Dave Mitchell. There was no indication that Edward wanted to end the courtship and none that Dave wanted to start one. He was married. She wasn’t going to spend her night on adulterous fantasies. It would be ridiculous. Dave was married to a woman he loved very much. Sherry reflected on his special gift to Madeline. Men didn’t go to so much trouble unless they were truly in love. Admittedly, she desired to have such a caring husband, but not one who was already married. She’d wait for her own.

  Sherry finished the milk and eventually went to bed, falling asleep just before daylight. When her alarm clock rang at six-thirty, she immediately hit the snooze, expecting to hit it several more times before thinking about getting out of bed. She was exhausted. Her eyelids felt too heavy to lift. A low-grade headache seemed to be percolating, too. She wanted to bury her head and grieving heart deep under the sheets and stay there until the pain was gone.

  After a few nods in and out of sleep, the light of day finally arrived. Sherry felt lousy and considered taking the day off. She looked at the clock once more and jumped from the bed. After reflecting on the roller coaster of emotions she’d experienced over the past couple of days, Sherry preferred going into the office to keep her mind occupied. If she stayed at home, Edward’s absence would be too much to bear.

  She was rushed getting dressed and driving in, but Sherry scooted into her desk chair barely five minutes after nine. Hopefully Dave hadn’t noticed. She’d get to work quickly so that, if he did come near her desk, her tardiness wouldn’t be obvious. A few hours passed and she was in second gear, equivalent to getting by, but not sailing along like usual. She’d tried reaching Edward with no answer. She’d keep trying, although it was pretty evident that he wasn’t in his rented room. By now he would have answered the phone. She refused to dwell on him being gone. She couldn’t accept the death of their relationship, not the way they ended. When she gave him the ring back last night, her decision made sense, or Sherry thought so. Feeling the emptiness of him being gone didn’t feel right. She had to find him and figure out another way. She snatched her purse from the lower desk drawer as Dave surfaced.

  “I have to take a long lunch today. I have a serious personal emergency to handle.”

  “Is there anything I can help you with?” he asked, appearing genuinely concerned.

  She didn’t dare explain her situation to him. Edward would be embarrassed and so would she. “No, I’ll be fine; thanks.”

  She bolted out of DMI and went straight to Edward’s rooming house, knocking repeatedly on his door until her hand hurt. Someone must have called the maintenance man, because he showed up, asking her to keep the noise down.

  “Excuse me, but it’s an emergency. I have to get in there to see if my fiancé is hurt.” Sherry prayed he hadn’t done something stupid to himself after she broke off the engagement. She felt sick.

  “He cleared out early this morning.”

  “He’s gone,”
she said as if it was a total surprise. Actually it was. She didn’t expect him to walk away so easily without attempting to see her or to reclaim their love. Reality tackled her in the hallway, causing Sherry to fall against the wall. “Are you sure Edward left?” she asked, clinging to denial as her crutch.

  “He’s definitely gone,” the man assured her as he dangled a ring of keys. “He took his bags and handed me the key.”

  Edward was gone. It was the only fact allowed in her head. Everything else was shoved to the recesses of her mind. She wasn’t ready to hear that he was actually gone. She thanked the maintenance man and exited quietly, feeling her way down the corridor and staircase among a flurry of warm tears. Somehow Sherry managed to make it outside to her car. She was ripped in half. She didn’t want to go to Texas but, deep down, Sherry didn’t want Edward to go without her. They had a bond, no matter how fragile. Last night her choice didn’t seem as dire. Standing in the trenches of the day after, she realized he meant more to her than she’d remembered.

  Sherry sat in her car as the sun peaked in the noonday and headed toward the western sky. She was oblivious to her surroundings. She couldn’t give an answer as to why she was sitting there for several hours. Maybe it was wishful thinking that Edward would change his mind and return. Maybe it was simply a foolish fantasy. She didn’t care. Either way he hadn’t returned by two o’clock. Sherry drove to the nearest pay phone and called into the office. The receptionist was covering Sherry’s calls and answered the phone.

  “Can you tell Mr. Mitchell that I won’t be back today?”

  “Are you sick?” the receptionist asked. In a way she was, sick about how her engagement ended. “Oh, Sherry, I almost forgot. Mr. Mitchell has been trying to reach you. Let me forward you directly to his office.”

  Sherry wanted to end the call and retreat to her apartment, close the curtains, and bury her head in a pillow. She had no choice but to wait until Dave was on the phone.

  Before she got a chance to ask for the rest of the day off, he said, “Sherry, thanks for checking in. I need your help big time this afternoon. How soon can you get back to the office? I have an urgent series of meetings that need to be scheduled and a couple of packets that have to make the four-thirty courier service pickup.”

  Sherry was dejected. She didn’t want to go to DMI. In her condition, there was no way she’d be able to pretend that her world was stable. The despair she felt was bound to spill out over the entire DMI executive floor, seeping right into Dave’s office. He had a knack for telling when something was wrong. The stench of her raw wound would give her away. She wasn’t going to be able to endure his scrutiny without crumbling. She got in her car and gently tapped the gas pedal. There was no hurry to get anywhere anytime soon. Dave and DMI would have her physical body for the afternoon, but mentally she wasn’t showing up.

  Chapter 46

  Sherry seemed sad after returning from lunch. The day was ending and her disposition hadn’t improved much. Dave felt responsible and wasn’t willing to let her be miserable without his support. Reluctant at first, he insisted that she let him take her to dinner.

  “I don’t think so. I wouldn’t be very good company tonight.”

  “Come on; don’t let me suffer through another dinner alone. Frank doesn’t have time for me. That leaves you. Rescue me from the DMI vending machines.” She finally agreed. “You want to go for round two at the Summit? I never get tired of the place.”

  “I can’t go there,” she said, shaking her head. “Can we stick to a smaller restaurant, maybe not as formal?”

  “Sure, I have the perfect spot.”

  Dave took her to a quaint Italian restaurant in Southfield.

  The trip was much more sullen than their last dinner together. She picked over her salad until the waiter took it away and stirred the minestrone soup without taking a sip. “Do you want to talk about it?” Dave asked.

  She told him that Edward had left without giving her a chance to sort out her feelings. Sherry burst into an emotional state Dave wasn’t expecting. “I’m sorry,” she said, taking the napkin from her lap and dabbing the rims of her eyelids. “I can’t stay for dinner. Can we go?” she said, sounding choked up.

  “Of course we can,” he said, standing and pulling out her chair. She bolted to the door. It took him several minutes to get the waiter’s attention and the check. He felt compelled to see about her. After all, his meddling was at the core of Edward’s abrupt departure. If Dave hadn’t gotten the job for him, Edward would still be in town. Sherry could never know that Dave had orchestrated the pain in her heart. Using the credit card would take too long. He pulled a money clip from his front pocket and peeled off a hundred dollar bill. That should generously cover the bill, he thought, since they were leaving before the main course was served. He placed the cash in the center of the table and hustled outside. Sherry was standing off to the side. He could tell she’d been weeping. “Let me get you home.”

  “My car’s at the office. You can take me there. I can get home on my own.”

  “I can’t let you drive home in the condition you’re in. Don’t worry about it. I’ll drop you off at home.”

  “What about my car?”

  “Your car will be safe in the lot. I’ll have a driver pick you up in the morning.”

  “I don’t want to be a bother. Take me to the nearest bus stop.”

  Sherry continued resisting but Dave was able to convince her that his suggestion was best. She directed him off the Lodge Expressway to the Davidson. Twenty minutes later he was parked in front of her building, in what appeared to a better-to-visit-in-the-daytime neighborhood.

  “At the risk of sounding preachy, you know tomorrow’s going to look much differently. You never know, Edward’s decision to leave might be the single best gift he could give you. It was pretty brave of him to walk away and not force you to choose his path.”

  Apparently Sherry didn’t agree, because she began wailing uncontrollably. “I was silly to let him go without me. I was so stupid,” she said, struggling to get her words out. He plucked a handkerchief from the pocket of his blazer and handed it to her. “Look at me, sitting in my boss’s car, weeping like a baby because my fiancé and I broke up. I’m so embarrassed,” she said, choking out the words and wiping her eyes. “I’m going inside. I’ll see you in the morning.”

  Dave felt guilty. Even if Sherry wasn’t aware of the role Dave played in her despair, he was. He felt awful seeing her so distraught. Not now, but later, she’d be glad the day’s events played out the way they had. In the interim, he had to do more than give her a ride home. “Wait, let me get the door for you,” he said, jumping out and running around to the passenger’s side.

  Sherry got out of the car and went practically limp in his arms. “Edward is gone. I’m alone,” she cried out. She leaned on him, sobbing with each step.

  “What unit?”

  “Number two,” she said, pointing down the hallway.

  “Do you have the key to your apartment?” he asked. She fished inside her purse and handed him a ring with three keys. The two car keys were obvious, indicating the last one was for her apartment. He jiggled the key in the lock while balancing Sherry with the other arm.

  She was so despondent that he basically had to lay her limp body on the couch and place a pillow under her head. He sat on the edge of the couch, attempting to console her. One emotion led to another and in the blink of an eye, Sherry was pulling Dave close and they kissed. One kiss led to another. Over an hour later, Dave was tucking in his shirt. Sherry was clutching his arm and asking him to stay longer.

  “I can’t,” he said and left.

  Chapter 47

  Street lights, traffic signs, and passing cars were a blur. Jumbled images pounded Dave as he entered the house. His mind was bouncing between Florida and shame. He wasn’t quite certain how long the ride had been to get home. He was bent on blocking out his transgression, but the act of infidelity was a heavy boulder sittin
g in front of him. He couldn’t take a step without tripping over the bitter taste of dishonesty. God had always been his source of direction. Tonight his willful disobedience had been his guide. Lives were involved. He could say that the decision to be with Sherry just happened, but it wouldn’t be true. He allowed his flesh to pin down his spirit, the one he’d spent a lifetime knitting to the ways of the Lord. But, he wasn’t going to dwell in darkness. The deed was done. Dave fell to his knees, going to the only place he knew for forgiveness and strength: to his Almighty Father.

  “Father, I have sinned and fallen short of your glory,” he wailed on the steps as if his heart were literally being ripped from his chest. The agonizing sound of a wounded animal before death couldn’t have been more piercing. Dave had betrayed Madeline. Worse, he’d betrayed God, his first love. “I am not worthy of your calling, Father. I am a poor, wretched sinner. My weak flesh isn’t able to overcome temptations. My naked shame is exposed before you, Lord. Yet I come to you, Father, because I have nowhere else to go.” He prayed earnestly. “You are the only one who can cover my nakedness.” He schlepped up the stairs, very slowly, plopping down near the top. “Father, I repent and ask for your forgiveness,” he cried out. Dave sat quiet for a while. The weight of his recklessness began lightening with each breath that he took.

  A gush of zest filled his loins and Dave scrambled to stand, barely able to keep up with his feet. He ran to the nightstand and found a piece of paper containing the phone number for the hotel in Orlando. He dialed rapidly. When the hotel operator answered he immediately ended the call, realizing it was ten minutes before midnight. The children were most likely asleep. He’d hold off until morning, but they were getting a call after daybreak.

  Dave planned to shower, pack a bag, and get a few hours of sleep. He prayed Madeline had changed her mind and was willing to let him come to Florida and be with the family for the weekend. He’d go into DMI around five to make arrangements for the day. It should have been dicey with the Tri-State meeting looming, but weakness had clarified his priorities. He could be with his family in less than twenty-four hours. Even if Madeline didn’t agree, he had to get out of Detroit and erase the gap between him and her this weekend, no later. Otherwise the divide might grow bigger than he could repair.