Redemption Lake

by Monique Miller

  Phillip did as requested, and they both took the food and drinks to George and Nina. Afterward, they rejoined the other two couples who were talking quietly amongst themselves at the table.

  It had taken over three days, but Shelby finally felt some sense of community she’d experienced just a few short years prior, when she and Phillip first came to the Lake Turner retreat. One couple was well on their way to recovery. With one couple down, there were two more to go.

  Chapter 28

  Beryl Highgate

  Thursday: 4:36 P.M.

  Beryl sat alone at The Round Table, tapping her pencil on the memo pad that lay in front of her. At the top of the sheet of paper she had written: THINGS TO DO. Then she numbered the paper from one to ten, leaving two lines between each number. If she were going to be serious about making changes at home and in her life, she’d have to have a plan.

  Try as she might to come up with a list of things to do, the only thing that kept coming to mind was how Nina was doing and what had gone on behind the closed doors in their room a few short hours prior. Beryl couldn’t forget the shift in Shelby’s demeanor as she opened the bottle of vitamins and peered in. Nor could she mistake the urgency in Shelby’s voice as she tried to get Nina back to her bedroom. Beryl had the distinct feeling that if the rest of them hadn’t been in the living room, Shelby would have said a whole lot more.

  Phillip and Shelby had emerged from the room with poker faces. They weren’t giving any clues about what had gone on. Nina’s wailing, which had filtered through the walls, let Beryl know they hadn’t been socializing. She wondered what the exact issues were with Nina and George. They all had so many different issues coming into that house.

  Beryl knew not to judge other people’s situations, especially when most didn’t know what they would do in someone else’s shoes. But with Xavier and Charlotte’s situation, she didn’t think she would have put up with her husband messing around on her. In her eyes, his actions would have been a cause for immediate dismissal. But then again, another woman may not put up with the problems she was having with Travis.

  The things that Travis did weren’t so easy to pinpoint. Like his not being able to keep a job or his not helping around the house. There were times, especially when Beryl felt she was at her wits end, that he’d pitch in without her saying a word. She almost felt like he was gauging her to see just how far he could push and wasn’t going to do much more than he absolutely had to.

  Beryl truly believed Travis wasn’t just lazy but also selfish. He had to be selfish. How else could he be so lazy knowing he had a wife and two kids that needed to be cared for and protected?

  Beryl looked down at the sheet of paper in front of her. She didn’t have any time to dwell on Nina and George’s problems. Besides, it looked as if whatever was going on with them was being addressed. And in Xavier’s case, at least he acknowledged the accusations Charlotte had hit him with. There wasn’t much dialogue between the two of them, but at least there was a little, which was a start. But when it came to her situation with Travis, it seemed like it was a lost cause. He was in avoidance mode—avoiding the issues of work and responsibility.

  The first thing Beryl wrote on her list was that Travis would have to move out. There was no reason for her to move since she would be the one taking care of the children. She could see Travis trying to argue this with her, probably telling her that she should move out since she was the one who wanted it so bad. He might even try to say that he could take care of the children. But Beryl knew Travis could barely take care of himself, much less two children. She wasn’t just thinking of the children’s financial needs, but their safety also.

  Beryl shook her head, remembering the time Travis had come in one night after taking the kids to the park. It was late fall, a time when it got dark before seven at night. Both children had fallen asleep in the backseat of their car. Beryl had seen him take her oldest son to the bedroom to lay him down and assumed he had taken the youngest one also. But two hours later, Beryl heard her baby boy crying. When she looked into the bedroom to check on him, he wasn’t there.

  Frantically, she listened for the baby’s screaming. Beryl started yelling, asking Travis, who was sitting in front of the television, if he knew where her baby was. Travis’s face was blank as he shook his head.

  Beryl had found her little boy still strapped in his car seat, terrified and screaming. Travis had not only left the boy in the garage, he had also left the garage door up and the door leading into the house wide open. She had been horrified.

  That very night she could have strangled Travis. He’d tried to apologize, saying that he’d laid their older son down and remembered having to go to the bathroom. He said he figured she’d taken the baby out of the car.

  Again, Travis had an excuse to try to explain his actions. But she hadn’t wanted to hear a thing he had to say. And she was too tired to go through the whole gamut of checks and balances. She hadn’t felt like checking him on the very simple fact that he’d forgotten the boy while focusing on a rerun of some stupid television show.

  Beryl shook her head, still upset about the whole matter. She placed a star next to the first item on her things to do list. Yes, Travis had to go.

  Next, she wrote that she’d need to get a lawyer. She’d also needed to start thinking about who would care for the children while she was at work, especially when there was a school release and the daycare was closed. Travis usually took care of them since he wasn’t working anyway, but after she kicked him out, Beryl didn’t have any disillusions that it would be a while before he’d be able to find stable housing. More than likely, he’d end up going to one of his sisters’ houses, telling them some sort of pitiful story about how Beryl had kicked him out of the house. They would believe the story and welcome him with loving arms.

  It burned Beryl up to think about how much his sisters treated him like a baby. It was true that he was their baby brother, and they had taken on the role of surrogate mothers to him when their own mother died. But for God’s sake, someone should have taught him that at some point he’d have to man up and take care of himself, and maybe even a family one day.

  The grandfather clock in the living room chimed, as if reminding Beryl that she didn’t have the time or luxury to reminisce about displeasing thoughts. Kicking Travis out of the house was going to be easier said than done because it wasn’t like as soon as he was gone, all would be right with the world.

  It was probably going to be a lot harder than she thought. One of her co-workers, Janice, had left her husband and taken their little girl with her. It hadn’t been easy for Janice at all. The woman hadn’t factored in how the child would be affected by the separation. Janice confided that every night, for almost three months, the little girl cried for her father; especially at bedtime.

  The father and daughter had a nightly ritual in which he said prayers with her, tucked her in, and read her a bedtime story. Janice never seemed to say the prayers right, didn’t tuck the covers the right way, and didn’t read the stories like the child’s father had.

  There were many days Janice came to Beryl’s desk with bags under her eyes and tears trickling down her face. Beryl hadn’t pried into the reason Janice had decided to leave her husband, but in all the woman’s complaints about sleepless nights, not once had she said anything about considering to go back home.

  Beryl would have to think about how it all might affect her boys. They loved their father, who played with them often, acting more like a loving, playful big brother. Wishful thoughts flooded Beryl’s mind as she held the pencil in her hands, pressing it with so much tension that she heard it cracking under the pressure. Why couldn’t Travis just find and keep a good job with a few benefits? It wasn’t like she was asking him to find a job making six-figures; she just wanted a real helpmate. She wasn’t asking for much, and what she was asking for was something that most married couples understood as a normal part of being in a functional relationship. Why did it seem so ha
rd for her husband to grasp this concept?

  Why couldn’t Travis stop watching so much television and help around the house more—do more with her and the kids as a family? Beryl couldn’t remember the last time they all went on a family vacation.

  Beryl was tired of giving Travis second chances and turning the other cheek. She had turned the other cheek so many times that her neck literally hurt. This retreat felt like her last resort. But deep down she still held hope that he could somehow get it together and do what a man was supposed to do in a marriage.

  She believed miracles could happen and held hope that maybe within the next couple of days, Travis would finally get the clues he needed to what their marriage really lacked. Beryl tore the sheet of paper off of the pad and balled it up. It wouldn’t be over until it was over, and who was she to call it completely quits now? Travis still had a couple of days to figure things out. That would be Beryl’s determining factor.

  As if in answer to her hopes, Travis entered the room with two bowls of ice cream in hand. “I brought you something.”

  Beryl smiled. One thing they did agree on was ice cream. They both loved it, and in the early days of dating, they often went to local ice cream shops, comparing different flavors. One thing that was always a staple in their freezer was ice cream.

  “What kind is it?” Beryl asked.

  Travis took the seat next to her. “Butter pecan.”

  “Um, my favorite. You sure do know the way to a girl’s heart.”

  Travis smiled, a look of pride covering his face.

  Beryl took a spoonful of ice cream into her mouth. It was sweet and creamy, and chocked full of pecans. “Oh, my goodness. This is some of the best I’ve tasted in a while.”

  Travis spooned some into his mouth. “It is, isn’t it?”

  Beryl took another spoonful, enjoying the buttery taste and the large pieces of pecans.

  “And I think I’ve figured out Shelby’s little cooking secret,” Travis said.

  Beryl’s ears perked up. “What is it?”

  Travis ate a little more and winked. “The information will cost you.”

  With all seriousness, Beryl said, “This trip is already costing me.”

  Travis put his hand up in surrender. “Okay, okay, you’re right. I can give you the information gratis.” He spooned another bite of ice cream.

  Beryl couldn’t help it, she did the same.

  “This is that Beans ice cream,” Travis said.

  “Beans?” Beryl asked.

  “Yeah, Beans. You know that company with the refrigerated trucks who will deliver food to your house.”

  Beryl had seen Beans trucks. There was a guy from Beans who came every other Thursday to their job, delivering to some of her co-workers. Every so often he gave them updated catalogues filled with tasty looking prepackaged foods with various entrees and meal ideas.

  Beryl had been tempted to buy a few things until she saw the cost of the food. They weren’t cheap. She figured the price made up for the time she’d have to spend in the kitchen preparing the same meals. But as she analyzed it, the amounts weren’t large enough, and she wouldn’t have leftovers to carry over for the next day. With the way she’d had to budget her money, Beryl had to figure out ways to stretch a dollar as far as possible.

  “That deep freezer in the back is full of Beans foods and entrees,” Travis said.

  “Wow, I was wondering why Shelby never seemed to slave over the stove. It was like she’d be in here with us during the sessions, and then within a blink of the eye, she had our meals cooked and ready to serve.” Beryl chuckled. “I thought she might be an undercover Iron Chef that no one had heard about in America yet.” Beryl said this, thinking about the one cooking show she did like to watch on cable before she had it disconnected.

  “Now we know,” Travis said.

  “I’ve been eating Beans food all week. Well, I’ll be darned. I can’t wait to get back and tell my co-workers. They’ll get a kick out of it,” Beryl said.

  “I’m glad you mentioned us getting back,” Travis said.

  Beryl stopped eating and held her breath.

  “I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about what you’ve been saying about me getting a job. There are a few places I’m going to call as soon as I get back to the house. I saw them in the paper and circled the advertisements. I meant to call before I left, but with packing and all, I didn’t get a chance to,” Travis said.

  Slowly, Beryl released her breath.

  “I have an idea.” Travis held up his hand. “And give me a chance to finish before you stop me.”

  Beryl sat, not saying a word.

  “Okay, while I am looking for a job, maybe I can start taking some classes online. I checked in to a few online colleges. I can work on completing my degree in general studies.” His facial expression was serious and to anyone else his voice would have sounded rational.

  “Are you serious?” Beryl asked.

  “Yeah, with the job market being so shaky, I’m going to need a better education to compete with the other guys.”

  Beryl couldn’t believe her ears. The man couldn’t have just said that he wanted suck more money out of her to take some online college courses. Travis must have completely lost his mind. He didn’t have the discipline to look for a job in the newspaper, much less to take intense online courses. And what the heck did he think he was going to do with a general studies degree anyway?

  She’d been the one who wanted to go to school. She’d applied to various art schools and had been accepted, but their financial situation never allowed her to go. Beryl loved to draw and dreamed of getting a degree in Art. She was the one who one day dreamed of having her name listed as an illustrator in books and magazines.

  These were real dreams Beryl didn’t see coming true for her anytime soon.

  She had also seen the so called newspaper Travis was talking about with the job advertisements he’d circled. She wondered if Travis thought she was a complete fool. The paper he kept referring to was already two weeks old when they left for the retreat. Those jobs were long gone.

  And if he had been so busy packing that he couldn’t pick up the phone and inquire about the jobs, why hadn’t he packed enough underwear for the trip? Travis had the audacity to talk about competing with somebody in the workplace. There was no way he could compete, especially lying in the bed each morning relying on Beryl to wake him up so he could get ready to go to work.

  “Wonders never cease,” Beryl said as she reached for the balled up piece of paper. Carefully, she opened it to smooth out the wrinkles as best as she could. She stood gathering her things ready to leave.

  “What’s that?” Travis asked, looking at the paper. “And where are you going?”

  “Don’t worry about this.” Beryl held up the paper. She turned and walked away.

  “Hey, I thought we were talking?” Travis said.

  Again Beryl held the paper up. “We’ll talk more about it when we get home.”

  Chapter 29

  Shelby Tomlinson

  Thursday: 9:37 P.M.

  Shelby sat up in the beds they’d pushed together in their bedroom. With the twin beds side by side, it gave the illusion that they were actually sleeping on a king sized bed. With his head in Shelby’s lap, Phillip shared his feelings about the events of the previous week and earlier in the day.

  “Man, this week has been long,” he said. “Is it over yet?”

  “Over?” Shelby asked.

  “Yeah, I just don’t feel like I’m being effective with these couples,” Phillip said.

  “Don’t say that. You are.”

  “Really, I can’t tell.” Phillip let out a deep breath. “I mean look at Nina and George. I didn’t see any of that coming with Nina and her drug problem. And you figured it out pretty quickly.”

  “Baby, don’t say that. George is her husband, and even he didn’t know exactly what was going on, and he saw her almost every day.”

  Phillip sighed
.

  “I just went into nurse mode, that’s all. I remembered working with some patients when I was in nursing school that showed some of the same signs as Nina. Something had been nagging the back of my mind the last couple of days.

  “When Nina fell out and George recapped things he’d been noticing, then I knew something was off kilter. But seeing the pills in the bottle sealed it for me, and I had to have you all get her out of that living room.”

  “Good thinking. I am glad you had the presence of mind to keep things private for Nina,” Phillip said.

  Shelby stroked the top of Phillip’s forehead and head. “It was obvious that George didn’t know what was going on. And it wasn’t any of the other couples’ business,” she said.

  “So tell me something.”

  “What?”

  “Why did you let her take some more of the medication?”

  “Even though valium is a prescribed medication, it is still a medication. And just like any street drug, when you are addicted, there are times when it isn’t best to just quit cold turkey.”

  “Oh.” Phillip nodded his head.

  “When they get back home, they’ll need to see the doctor and explain what happened. Then her doctor will be able to determine what kind of gradual step down process she’ll need in order to be weaned off the drug. It wouldn’t have helped for me to take the pills and let her continue to suffer while she’s here.”

  Shelby chuckled and added, “To tell you the truth, I am glad she has enough pills to last her the next couple of days until she can make it home. Or else, we would have had to find the nearest hospital to have her admitted.”

  “God is good,” Phillip said.

  “He most certainly is,” Shelby replied.

  “I had a chance to speak with George a little earlier and he thanked us for all we did.”

  “How did he say Nina was doing?”

  “He said they’ve been talking, and she can’t believe he isn’t upset with her. George said that their marriage has been through some rough patches the last year and a half, but he holds hope that they will make it through this storm stronger than they were before,” Phillip said.