“I’m speechless.”
“As you should be,” Richard said, laughing.
“But I will say this, I’m not surprised. Because the one thing I know is that God is always true to His Word. Ask and ye shall receive. So my prayers have been answered.”
“Congratulations, Curtis.”
“Thanks. Thanks be to God.”
“Hey, I need to get moving here, but if you can, I need you to come down to my office so we can make a conference call to your new syndicate.”
“I’ll be there as soon as Lana prints out a copy of the manuscript. Shouldn’t take me more than an hour or two,” Curtis said.
“See you then.”
“Oh, and Richard? What’s the agent’s name and address?”
“Geez. I guess I’m so excited, I can’t even think straight.”
Richard recited the information and Curtis jotted it down.
“I’ll see you when I get there.”
Curtis couldn’t stop smiling if he wanted to. He couldn’t stop praising God if someone asked him to. This was by far one of the happiest days of his life, and he couldn’t wait to tell Charlotte. He couldn’t wait to hear the happiness in her voice. Especially when she learned that his income would be increasing.
“Girl, can you believe Curtis’s column is going to be syndicated?” Charlotte spoke excitedly to Anise. They were lounging at Anise’s condo in the upstairs den.
“I know. It’s a dream come true. I am so happy for you guys.”
“I mean, it’s only been a few hours since he told me, but it still doesn’t seem real.”
“I can only imagine, but you know Curtis believed in his column from day one and that just goes to show what can happen when you have faith. Mom says that all the time, and Curtis is living proof of it.”
“And to think I doubted that any of this would happen. I feel so bad about not supporting him, but I just couldn’t see any of this evolving. And now he might even be getting his book published.”
“It’s all such a huge blessing.”
“I know. And I’m so thankful.”
“And if I were you, I’d be out celebrating with my husband instead of sitting here pigging out on burritos.”
“He asked me to come with them, but since he’d already planned to spend the night out with Alicia and Matthew, I told them to go ahead. He’s been wanting to do something with just the three of them, and he definitely doesn’t get very many opportunities. Plus, Alicia is leaving in a few days.”
“That’s true.”
“Anyway, did I tell you that his cut will be almost a hundred thousand dollars per year?”
“Are you serious?”
“Yep. And he’ll earn even more if the column is successful and more papers start buying it.”
“That’s a lot of money. Shoot. Maybe I need to come up with my own column idea,” Anise said, and they both laughed.
“I know that’s right. I wish I could come up with one, too.”
“Before you know it, Curtis will be earning the same as Dave Barry, and I’m sure he’s made hundreds of thousands of dollars and probably even millions from his column.”
“Wouldn’t that be a riot? And I would probably have a heart attack!”
“I’m sure you would, girl, as much as you love money.”
“I admit it. I do. I don’t know why, but I definitely love spending it, too. It makes life so much easier and so much more comfortable.”
“But I keep telling you, it’s not everything. We all like money to a certain extent and we all need a certain amount of it, but it is still the root of all evil. Especially if you become obsessed with it.”
“Maybe. But I am who I am, and there’s nothing I can do about it.”
“You crack me up.”
“I know. But you still love me, though,” Charlotte said, leaning her head against Anise’s shoulder.
“You’re a trip. But yes, I do love you like a sister, and I would do anything for you. Including letting you use my address for all those credit card bills you get every month.”
“Oops. Let’s not even talk about that.”
“Well, somebody needs to talk about it, because you’ve got a lot of ’em coming here. How much do you owe on all those, anyway?”
“I’m ashamed to even say. But with Curtis’s new income, I’ll be able to pay off everything in no time. And I’m going to close them out as soon as I do.”
“I sure hope so, because if you keep this up, you’re going to end up in bankruptcy.”
“Not hardly. I owe more than I should, but it’s nothing like that.”
“If you say so.”
“Really. I’m serious. It’s not as bad as you think.”
“Are you paying more than the minimum payments?”
“Anise, come on now. Of course I am,” Charlotte lied.
“Good, because otherwise, you won’t ever pay off any of those balances, and the interest will keep accruing for years to come.”
“Okay, that’s enough about money. Let’s talk about you and your love life.”
“That’s easy enough. I don’t have one.”
“That’s sad, girl.”
“Although I did get a call from Frank two nights ago.”
“And?”
“He called to see how I was doing, but that was about it.”
“He didn’t ask you out or anything?”
“He hinted around, but I’m not interested. I told you, he hurt me, and I won’t ever allow him to do that again. I am not a believer in second chances once someone has violated me. When people show me their true colors, I pay attention.”
“I guess. But people do change.”
“Maybe. But like I said, I’m not interested. I’ll be friends with Frank, but that’s as far as I’m willing to go.”
“Then we’ll find you someone else.”
“That would be nice, but it’s not that easy. The pickings around here are very slim.”
“There’s someone for everybody.”
“Supposedly, but we’ll see.”
Charlotte looked inside her purse when she heard her cell phone ringing. She tried to stay calm when she saw that it was Aaron.
“Hello,” she said, decreasing the volume with her forefinger so Anise couldn’t hear what he was saying.
“Where are you?”
“Oh, hi, William. I’m well. Is everything okay?”
“What are you talking about?”
“I think I left it somewhere near the right side of my desk.”
“I know you’re not with Curtis, because I called him as soon as I finished teaching Bible study.”
“Did you find it?”
“Why are you playing these games with me, Charlotte?” he asked.
“I’m visiting with my cousin, but just call if you need to locate anything else. Otherwise I’ll see you in the morning.”
“No, I wanna hear from you tonight.”
“Bye,” Charlotte said, trying to keep her composure. “That was one of the partners, looking for a document we’ve been working on,” she told Anise.
“Oh. Work never ends, does it?”
“No. It never does.”
Charlotte prayed that her heart rate would return to normal.
Chapter 13
CHARLOTTE DROVE OUT OF ANISE’S SUBDIVISION AND SIGHED. IT WAS now nine thirty and she was starting to feel exhausted. She’d worked ten hours today and couldn’t wait to get home and climb into bed. Still, she was glad she’d had the opportunity to spend some girl time with her cousin. Being with a man was fine, and very needed, but spending time with another woman was special, especially when you could love and trust that particular woman and be yourself in the process. With Anise, Charlotte never had to watch what she said and never had to walk on eggshells when in her presence. Anise never judged her, and she never treated her any differently when they didn’t agree on something.
Charlotte stopped at the red light and turned on the radio. Sh
e searched for AM 1370 and found it. Live with Mary Ellen, a syndicated talk show out of Detroit, was already in progress. The subject for this evening was “Is having an affair really worth the consequences?” Charlotte raised the volume. This was definitely a subject she could relate to, and she wanted to hear what advice Mary Ellen had for her callers.
“Next up, we have Lisa from Birmingham. Hi, Lisa,” Mary Ellen said.
“Hi, Mary Ellen. It’s so great to finally get through to you. I listen to your show every night and I just want to tell you how helpful you have been for me over the last year.”
“I’m really glad to hear that and thanks for being such a dedicated listener.”
“My question to you is, how do you end an affair with a man who gives you the best sex you’ve ever had in your life? I mean, how do you forget this man and simply go on like nothing ever happened? How do I start being faithful to my husband again?”
“Well, for starters, you need to understand why you decided to have the affair in the first place. Because there had to be some reason you made the decision to stray. Are you no longer in love with your husband? Does he no longer satisfy you sexually? Are you no longer attracted to him? Did you marry at a very young age?”
“I’m not sure if I’m still attracted to him or not, but yes, we did marry at an early age. We married during our third year in college, and I was a virgin when I met him. Of course, I ended up getting pregnant right away, so I never had the chance to finish school or start a career. I became a stay-at-home mom and eventually became pregnant with our second child when our first was only eighteen months. We’ve been married for ten years, but about a year ago I started paying attention to other men. My husband became this boring person who worked a lot of hours and traveled on business at least once every couple of weeks, and I needed some excitement in my life. I felt like I was going to go crazy if I didn’t find it. So, the next thing I knew, I was flirting with one of my husband’s coworkers, and he started pursuing me on a regular basis. He’d call me from his office and sometimes my husband would come into his office while we were on the phone. And as terrible as this probably sounds, hearing my husband’s voice in the background and knowing that I was sneaking to talk to his friend started to turn me on. Then, the next thing I knew, I was meeting him at motels, meeting him in parks late at night, and doing whatever I had to do to have sex with him. And then, oh God,” she said, sniffling. “There were even a couple of times I left the house to go meet him late at night when my husband was out of town, and I left my children at home by themselves.”
“You have got to seek professional help, Lisa. Sleeping around on your husband is bad enough, but leaving your children all alone is totally unacceptable. Your affair with this man is completely out of control and if you don’t do something about it, it will only get worse. Your situation is very common though. I hear from many women who married their first loves right out of high school or right out of college and ten years down the road they start wondering how it would feel to be with another man. They start to tell themselves that there must be something better outside of their households. They don’t know anything other than the relationship they’ve had with their husbands, so of course, the grass begins to look golf-course green on the other side. It looks like the best thing in the world, and it’s so easy to get caught up in fantasy. You start believing that there is such a thing as a perfect marriage or the perfect man, when in fact, marriage is what you make it. Some women fail to realize that marriage requires a lot of give-andtake, and it requires a ton of hard work. But you have to start working on it from the very beginning. You can’t take it for granted, not for one day.”
“I hear what you’re saying, but how do I end this thing with him? How do I get him out of my system, because it’s to the point now where I don’t even want to have sex with my husband. It’s to the point where I think about my lover every single day. I feel like I need to be with him in order to survive.”
“Like I said, you must get help. I think you should see someone individually, but I would also suggest that you and your husband find a good marriage counselor. Because clearly, your marriage was in trouble long before you started having an affair.”
“Are you saying I should tell my husband?”
“Coming clean would be ideal, but you have to decide. You know your husband better than anyone, and you’ll have to determine if he’ll be able to forgive you and move on. Some things are better left untold. It just depends on each individual. But before you do anything, I suggest you call up your lover and end things with him for good. You need to make it clear that your affair was a mistake and that you are going to make things work with your husband. And no matter what he says or how he tries to make you see otherwise, stick to your guns. You will need to say what you mean and mean what you say. Period.”
“Thank you for speaking to me, Mary Ellen. I really appreciate it.”
“All the best to you, Lisa.”
Charlotte was in shock. This Lisa woman was in the same boat that she was in with Aaron. There were some differences, but the key similarity was the fact that she and Lisa both started having affairs because they needed more excitement in their lives. The other likeness they shared was the type of men they were sleeping with. Lisa’s lover and Aaron both knew how to pleasure Lisa and Charlotte in a way their husbands couldn’t. These men knew how to please them in ways that were unexplainable. And for Charlotte, it wasn’t that she didn’t enjoy making love with Curtis, because she did. But there was something just a bit more thrilling when it came to Aaron. She’d told herself that she was finished with Aaron, but ever since he’d called her cell phone one hour ago, she’d felt completely out of sorts. His voice alone had been enough to stir her. It was enough to make her go to him.
“Let’s take one more caller, and then we’ll go to a commercial break,” Mary Ellen said. “Good evening, Melanie from Newark.”
“Hi, Mary Ellen. How are you?”
“Wonderful. How about you?”
“I’m doing well. Actually, I’m doing a lot better for the first time in two years, and I wanted to share something that might help your last caller.”
“Sure. Go ahead.”
“I know exactly how she feels, because I’ve been there. I was only twenty-five when I married my husband, and all of a sudden when I turned forty, I wasn’t attracted to him anymore. It was almost as if I wished I wasn’t married to him. But after seeing the close relationship that my two boys have with their father, I decided to stay married and find love elsewhere. I decided it was time to get sex from someone who really knew how to give it to me. And I did for two whole years. But then one day, about six months ago, I met my lover at a forest preserve in broad daylight. He arrived before me; I parked next to him and then followed him on foot down a long hill and into a secluded, bushy area. We tore into each other like our lives depended on it, and before long we were completely naked, and my lover started pounding into me from behind like there was no tomorrow. I was down on my hands and knees begging him to do it harder, but when I looked up, I saw my eighteen-year-old son, staring at me. I saw tears flooding his face, and in seconds he ran away from us as fast as he could. I don’t remember much else after that, because I fainted.”
“Oh, Melanie,” Mary Ellen said from the airways.
“Oh my God,” Charlotte spoke out loud.
“But the real reason I’m calling is because Lisa needs to know how damaging an affair can be if a child finds out about it. Her children are still under the age of ten, but at eighteen, my son decided to do something about it. So I’m here to tell Lisa and any other woman who is sleeping around on her husband . . . my son committed suicide one week later, in that same forest preserve, in the same spot he caught another man with his mother. He even left a note that said, ‘This is for you, Mom. What a nasty whore you turned out to be.’”
Charlotte waited for Mary Ellen to comment, but she didn’t. Tears flowed from her own eyes, and she thou
ght about Meredith Connolly Christiansen and how Meredith’s daughter had ended her life, too, at such a young age. Charlotte thought about Matthew and what would happen if he ever discovered that she was sleeping around on his father.
“I am so sorry,” Mary Ellen finally said.
“Not more than I am. Because not only did I lose my son, but my husband has moved out and filed for a divorce. And my other son has moved in with him.”
“How devastating. I can’t even imagine. But I do hope you’re seeing someone professionally.”
“I am, but I don’t think I will ever be happy again. It’s been six months, and I’m still as numb as the day it happened. Which is why I hope your listeners are really paying attention to what I’m saying and that they will stop the madness before it’s too late.”
“Thank you for sharing with us, Melanie, and please take care of yourself.”
“You, too,” she said and hung up.
“We’ll be right back” was all Mary Ellen said.
Charlotte drove onto North State Street, wiping her face. She had to end this thing with Aaron for good. She could never allow what happened to Melanie and her son to happen to her and Matthew. She continued driving and heard her phone ringing. She was afraid to look at the caller ID screen.
“Hello?”
“When did you leave your cousin’s?”
“Maybe ten minutes ago.”
“Well, why didn’t you call me?”
“Because there’s nothing for us to talk about.”
“You think you can just decide something like that without me having any say-so about it?”
“When you called me on the phone at the mall I made it very clear that you could be with Michelle or whomever you wanted to. And you said that’s what you were going to do.”
“But you know you don’t want that. You know the thought of me being inside another woman makes you insane.”
The Best-Kept Secret Page 10