by Mary Monroe
“Oh? When and where did you meet him? I hope you’re not going to tell us you met this man in Reno yesterday and you’re already in love with him,” Libby said, looking disturbed and concerned at the same time. “And I advise you not to bring him to this house before you really get to know him. He could be an ax murderer.”
“Bertha, he’s the man I told you about last month who I had coffee with. Don’t you remember?”
Libby and Bertha looked at one another at the same time and then back at me.
“I thought you told me you met him in the mall?” Bertha said, giving me a suspicious look.
“Actually, I did. We chatted for a few minutes in the mall and then we went across the street to the coffee shop.”
“Poor Elbert. I hope he doesn’t take your dumping him too hard,” Bertha groaned. “He’s been so good to you—and for you. And he has so much to offer.”
“True. Well, now he can offer it to a woman who wants it,” I said sharply.
“Does this Calvin have a job? So many women like you settle for a jackass with no job, sleeps on his mama’s couch, and lives off other women,” Bertha sneered.
“Calvin has a real good job. I told you he’s a long-haul truck driver. He owns his house and he goes to church.”
“Is he married?” Libby asked, looking at me out of the corner of her eye.
“Is he married?” I gasped. “I don’t fool around with married men. Why would you think he was married?”
“From what you just said about him, he must have dozens of women chasing after him—unless he’s butt ugly.”
Had I been thinking about it, I would have asked Calvin to let me take a selfie of us together with my cell phone before he left the hotel. I made a mental note to do just that when, and if, I saw him again. “He’s very handsome,” I reported.
“Well, is he a geezer or handicapped?” Libby laughed.
“Libby, that’s not a nice thing to say,” Bertha said sternly. Then she turned to me and gave me a sympathetic look. “Is he an elderly man or missing a leg or something? I have to agree with Libby. If this man is all you say he is, he must be beating the women off with a stick.”
“He’s in his thirties, he’s divorced, and he’s not handicapped.” I stood up and started walking toward the stairs. Libby and Bertha followed me, so I abruptly stopped and turned to face them.
There was a confused look on Libby’s face. “I can’t wait to meet your truck driver so I can check him out. If I get a bad vibe, that’ll tell me he’s a straight-up loser. And you’d better believe Marshall and I are not going to allow some strange truck driver to make himself comfortable and kick back in the house our daddy paid for,” she declared as she shook her head. “Mama, don’t you let that man start hanging around here too often until we all get to know him and his people.”
“How does Calvin treat his mama, Lola?” Bertha asked. I felt like I was being cross-examined. And I guess I was. “What kind of woman is she?”
“His mother is deceased,” I replied. “When I told him how I take care of you, he couldn’t stop talking about how proud he was of me for being so caring. . . .”
“Oh? You told him all about me?” Bertha responded with an anxious look on her face. “That’s nice. . . .”
“I thought I mentioned that to you already,” I added.
“Um, you probably did, but you know my memory is not what it used to be,” Bertha mumbled, and scratched the side of her head. She looked more confused than Libby.
“Mama, don’t you do anything stupid. Don’t you let your guard down and get too friendly with that strange man too soon. He could be bad news,” Libby warned.
“Pffft!” Bertha blew out. “I am not going to worry about that. I’ll pick this Calvin’s brain as soon as I meet him.” Turning back to me, Bertha added, “I’m glad you told this man you promised your daddy you’d take care of me. If he won’t have a problem with you and me being so close and dependent on each other, I won’t have a problem with him.” She sniffled and wiped a few tears from her eyes with the tail of her apron. “Poor Elbert. If he stops coming around, I’m going to miss him. I hope he finds another woman who he likes as much as he likes you.”
“Elbert will find himself another woman,” I declared with a vigorous triple nod. Bertha smiled. I smiled back.
I was so glad I’d told her about Calvin and how I felt about him. How he really felt about me was something I didn’t know. Despite what he had told me about wanting to see me again and how compatible we were in bed, he was still a man. Some of the best of them could turn on a dime and sever a relationship without a warning or an explanation, so I was not going to get my hopes up too high. I prayed that he was the one for me, but that was something he had to let me know in his own time. Until then, all I could do was hope, pray, and wait....
TO BE CONTINUED
Author’s Note
Please continue to e-mail me at [email protected] and visit my website at MaryMonroe.org. You can also communicate with me on Facebook at Facebook.com/MaryMonroeand Twitter @MaryMonroeBooks.
All the best,
Mary Monroe
April 2017
READING GROUP GUIDE
NEVER TRUST A STRANGER
Mary Monroe
ABOUT THIS GUIDE
The suggested questions that follow are included to enhance your group’s reading of this book.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. A lot of people find true love and excitement with someone they meet on the Internet. But do you think joining an online sex club like Discreet Encounters is a bit extreme?
2. Have you ever considered looking for love (or sex partners) on the Internet?
3. If your answer is yes, would you keep it a secret from your friends and family the way Lola and Joan did? Would you date as frequently as they did?
4. Lola took a lot of abuse from her stepsister. When Libby “explained” why she was so mean, did you feel sorry for her? If you know any plain Janes who have been picked on and bullied because of their looks, are they as bitter as Libby? Or are they nice people with lots of friends and men who love them?
5. Libby’s husband, Jeffrey, was handsome and successful. He had a great personality and he adored her. If you were in Libby’s shoes, would you risk your marriage by having an affair?
6. Joan was drop-dead gorgeous, and her handsome husband, Reed, was a very successful dentist. But he was controlling, paranoid, and lousy in bed. Do you think he drove her to cheat?
7. Joan’s mother-in-law, Mother Riley, looked down on her and all black people from the “hood.” Do you know a woman like her? If so, do you ignore her comments or stand up to her?
8. Joan’s favorite married Internet lover, John “LongJohn” Walden, repeatedly asked her to leave Reed and move to Phoenix to be his mistress. Would you consider a serious relationship with someone you met through an Internet sex club?
9. Joan and Lola were only interested in hooking up with doctors, lawyers, and men in other high-end professions in the club. They refused to consider janitors, dishwashers, busboys, and other low-income members. Would you turn down dates with men only because of their line of work?
10. Even though Discreet Encounters did thorough background checks on prospective members before they allowed them to join the club, there was no way they could have known that Calvin Ramsey was a serial killer looking for more victims on the Internet. Is this reason enough for you to never consider online dating?
11. Before Calvin and Lola got together, he stalked her and she didn’t even know it. She had revealed a lot of information about herself on social media, so it was easy for him to track her. Will you be more careful now when you post personal information about yourself on the Internet?
12. Calvin was the man of Lola’s dreams, so her plan was to marry him and have his babies. She was the woman of his nightmares, so his plan was to kill her. Have you ever read a story with lovers whose goals were as conflicting as these two?