by Cynthia Hart
“This new place called ‘Super Steaks.’ We both love steak, so it’s going to be wonderful. I’m going to tell her where I plan on taking her for our second honeymoon too.” He grinned, glad that everything was slowly getting back to normal.
Sheila quickly walked back into her office and called Andrew, letting him know where she wanted to go that night for dinner. It was the same place Derek was taking Michelle, it was time to put act two in gear and show Derek who he was messing with.
Sheila was going to shine, and at the same time, she was going to make it obvious to Michelle that something was going on without a doubt. Even if it was now over between her and Derek, she wasn’t going to make like nothing had ever happened. She was going to make Derek wish that he never messed with her.
“Let the games begin.” She whispered to herself, she was looking to have a good time with Andrew and at the same time torture Derek.
That evening Sheila wore a dark, purple dress. It was short and flowing, wearing one of the necklaces that Derek had given her, she wore two bracelets that he had bought her. She was bringing out all the jewelry that he had bought, she was going to make sure that he noticed what she was doing, no matter how mad Derek got she knew that he couldn’t lose his composure because he was going to be with Michelle.
Andrew picked Sheila up at seven that evening on the dot. She walked out the door with her matching purse slung over her shoulder. Andrew had a handful of flowers for her, and she could smell them the second she opened the car door.
“Don’t want to forget how our first date went,” Andrew explained the reasoning for the flowers.
Sheila took his hand and put the flowers on the dashboard, looking out the window she couldn’t remember a better time. Even with Derek, it was fun and playful, but he was attached, Andrew didn’t have a reason to drop her off early or stand her up for another woman.
They talked about work and what they enjoyed doing when they weren’t working. Andrew had already made a second date to go to the beach with her before they got to the steak house.
Andrew parked in the front row of the steak house, surprised that there was a close enough parking space since it had just opened up.
“I thought there’d be more people here.” Andrew scratched his head before getting out of the car.
He went over to Sheila’s side of the car and opened the door for her, taking her hand and helping her out of the car he closed and locked the door behind her.
“It’s going to be a great night, the slowness at this time of night means we don’t have to wait for a table to come available.” She looked at the positive side as they walked through the doors.
There was no line, but there was only one table left open. It was closer to the booths and the window that looked out onto the back parking lot.
“Are you sure you want that table?” Andrew frowned, he didn’t like where they’d be sitting.
“Yes, I’m starving. Besides it’s not that bad.” She laughed at him as he led her to the table, the waiter leading the way.
Andrew didn’t care as long as Sheila was happy and she looked like she was happy with him as she squeezed his hand tightly in hers before they let go of each other and sat across from each other at the table.
The waiter gave them a menu and walked away, coming back quickly with a basket of bread and waters for the both of them.
“I will give you a little while. When you’re ready just signal me.” The young man smiled at them before walking away to clean up a table.
Sheila looked around the room and noticed a couple sitting right beside them, their faces in their own menus which meant they had just gotten there themselves. Looking at the room closer, she didn’t see any sign of Derek and Michelle. She was starting to worry when she watched the couple beside them put their menus down.
“Fancy seeing you here.” Sheila’s eyes grew wide when she saw that it was Derek.
Derek could’ve sworn his heart stopped beating when he heard her voice, glancing at the table beside him and his wife he saw that Sheila and Andrew were sitting right beside them.
“Small world.” He nodded, seeing that she was wearing the necklace he had bought her, he stared at the bracelets that were on her wrists.
Derek did his best to compose himself, but the anger was swelling up slowly inside of him as Sheila turned back toward Andrew and started talking to him.
“Who’s that?” Michelle leaned over and whispered to him, being married to Derek for so many years she could tell when he was irritated and he was looking more and more pissed off when she continued to stare at him, waiting for an answer.
“Someone I work with.” He stated, clearing his throat as the waiter came over to take their order.
Chapter 10
Michelle wasn’t buying it, she didn’t believe him the more she looked at Sheila and the more she looked at Derek it looked as they were secret lovers trying to avoid each other and her face began turning red just thinking about it.
The more Michelle listened to Sheila talk to her date the more she realized the voice sounded familiar. Her mind kept racing until she finally realized what was so familiar about the voice.
“She’s the one who called the other night.” Michelle hissed at him, pointing a finger at him and daring him to tell her hat she was wrong.
Derek looked up from his glass of water, wishing he had something to hide behind but when he looked at her she could see the truth in his eyes. He opened his mouth and closed it quickly again. He felt his hands sweating and felt his heart pounding in his chest, it was pounding so hard he thought it was going to beat out of chest and flop around on the table.
Michelle felt her eyes welling up with angry tears, she stood up from the table and grabbed the first thing she could. Her glass of wine was sitting beside her napkin, and just as the waiter was coming across the room with food for them, she took her glass of wine and splashed it on Derek’s face.
“That’s her, that’s the woman that called the house. She wasn’t looking for Adam she was looking for you!” Michelle screamed at him as he wiped his face with the napkin he had in front of him.
Sheila and Andrew looked at the two of them, watching as Michelle was creating a big scene. Taking the pitcher of ice-cold water in the middle of the table and dumping it on his head as he sat there not saying a word to her.
“That’s where all the money went, it didn’t go to the club. It went on the jewelry and fancy dinners and whatever else you guys decided to do with our money!” Michelle glared at Sheila who didn’t say a word to her, she hid a smile behind her menu while everyone in the restaurant was staring at them.
Michelle glared one more time at Derek and then Sheila before she stomped out of the room and waited outside to call a cab.
Derek glared at Sheila, seeing the smile on her face when she took the menu away. She shrugged her shoulders.
“This is all your fault.” He hissed at Sheila, seeing that she calmly took a sip of her water before placing it back down on the table.
“I didn’t do anything to you, you knew the cost, and I told you that I was a very honest person. She found out, I think it’s your fault just as well as it is mine. You’re not innocent in this game Derek.” Sheila spoke as if she were talking professionally at a meeting.
“You’re fired!” He shouted at her, standing up from his chair and quickly leaving. Derek was hoping to talk with Michelle, but by the time he got outside, she was already gone.
“I don’t know if I feel like eating after the scene that just took place,” Andrew whispered, looking out the windows and watching Derek head for his car.
“You can’t let him ruin our night, come on Andrew. We were having a splendid night before all this took place.” She whined at him, she was still hungry as the waiter came to take their order.
“I’m sorry, sometimes there are just some bad eggs. Are you ready to order?” The waiter asked them, looking at Andrew seeing that he was the one taking charge.
Andrew sighed heavily, looking at Sheila he knew she was right. They shouldn’t let someone else ruin their night. He ordered for them, ordering the steak and potatoes deal that they had on the menu for opening night.
“Thank you for staying, we appreciate your business.” The waiter nodded his head and quickly went back to the kitchen to get the order in and hopefully get it out in a fashionable manner before anything else happened.
Andrew and Sheila talked about what had happened, he wondered what was going to happen now that Sheila was without a job. He worried about her, and he now felt guilty for taking the money that Derek had given him.
“There’s something I need to tell you,” Andrew whispered, looking down at his food when the waiter put it in front of him.
Sheila hoped it wasn’t bad news, but by the way, he was looking down at his plate she could tell it was something important. She closed her eyes and prayed that Andrew wasn’t going to tell her that he already had someone that he cared about, that he was already taken and he had to end their evening. Something like that always happened to her she didn’t see why this would be any different.
“If you’re going to tell me that you’re already involved with someone then we might as well end it now and get on with our lives.” She whispered, getting ready to get up from her chair.
“Nothing like that, no.” He shook his head quickly, he could see the relief in her eyes and felt worse for what he was about to say.
“Then you can tell me anything.” She grinned, all ears.
“That man that was sitting at the table beside us, he found me at the club last night and gave me money. Money to keep you busy and I guess the reason I am telling you now is that I really like you, I don’t know how to explain it, but if this is going to be a relationship, then I don’t want any secrets between us. He paid me a good sum of money to ask you out, I was already planning on it I just wanted to find the right time to ask you. I was nervous, and he boosted my confidence a little.” Andrew explained as quickly as he could.
Sheila was reading his lips, watching as his lips moved a mile a minute. She could tell that he was nervous and the more she heard, the more upset she got, not with Andrew but with Derek. How could he do that to her? How could he pay another man to look after her, to get rid of her so that he could go back to his wife hoping that nothing was going to come of it?
“I’m truly sorry Sheila…” He waited a brief moment, “Say something. Say anything.” He begged her softly, neither one of them picking up the forks that were beside their plates.
“I’m not mad at you, but I’m going to give him a piece of my mind. I want to make him hurt the way he made me hurt. He promised me that we’d be together, all the promises he made were nothing but lies.” She glared down at her food, no longer hungry.
“I think tonight’s damage was enough, I think that you need to let it go.” He reached over and took her hand.
“How much money did he give you? How much money am I worth?” She muttered, thinking about the money that Derek had given him.
“Over ten thousand dollars, I counted it out last night, and if you feel the same way about me that I do you, we can leave here. We can leave here tonight, and no one would ever have to know. We could start a new life on that kind of money.” Andrew begged her, he wanted to start fresh, but he wanted her to stop hurting most of all.
Sheila looked at him and gave him a smile, she could see that Andrew really cared about her. She could see the concern in his eyes and she thought maybe hurting Derek wasn’t in the plan, if she hadn’t met Derek she never would’ve worked for the club, and she never would’ve met Andrew. Everything was going to work out for her.
“I think that I did the right thing bringing it to the light for Michelle he has to have some kind of punishment for what he’d done. I’m not innocent, and I don’t claim to be, but he couldn’t get off completely free.” Sheila explained why she had acted the way she had when Derek and Michelle were sitting beside them.
“What I’m saying is it doesn’t need to continue. Can you promise that you’ll leave him alone? I think that his wife got the picture.” Andrew raised his eyebrows at her, hoping that she would just let it go.
“Yes, I’m not going to bother him again. I promise.” Sheila whispered, glad that they were going to have dinner together after all as she picked up her fork and dug into the potatoes that were on her plate.
Chapter 11
Derek went home that night in search of Michelle but she wasn’t there, he called her parents praying that she hadn’t told them about what had happened. They hadn’t heard from her and didn’t know there were any problems when he called them.
He stayed up half the night waiting for Michelle to come home. When the bedside phone rang he picked it up on the first ring
“Michelle?” He asked into the phone hurriedly.
“It’s me, I’m not coming home tonight. I want you to think about what you’ve done, what you’ve put me through Derek. I can’t sit there and look like a fool. That’s how I feel, I feel as if I’m just a prize to you.” She told him softly.
Derek could hear it in her voice that she’d been crying, not when she was on the phone with him, but she had been crying that night.
“I promise I won’t do anything to hurt you ever again. What I did was foolish, and I’m sorry, you have no idea how sorry I am. I love you, Michelle. I love you more than anything in the world.” He murmured into the phone.
“Prove it.” She told him in a challenging voice.
“I can’t prove it to you if you’re going to stay somewhere else. I don’t even know where you are.” He whispered to her, feeling helpless.
“I’m at the hotel that we stayed in when we got married, the same room. I don’t want to see you Derek, but you know where I am.” She stated and hung up the phone before he could say anything else to her.
He hung up the phone slowly, sitting on the edge of the bed he began weeping in his hands. He couldn’t believe he had been so dumb thinking that Michelle would never find out and now he felt as if he was losing everything. He knew it was his fault, he knew that seeing Sheila would bite him in the ass in the end.
Derek didn’t sleep a wink that night, he was glad that she was still in town. Glad that she had chosen to go to the one they had stayed in for their honeymoon. He had wanted something simple so that he could continue working and if something came up, he could leave and come right back. It had been just the two of them, and when they were together, sparks flew. He wanted all that back again, he had to have all that back again. He was going to find a way to show Michelle that she was the one he wanted with no doubts in his mind.
“If you help me out of this one I promise I will never mess up like this again.” Derek looked up at the ceiling, talking to a higher power who always listened no matter what he’d done wrong.
He went to work the next morning like he always did before. Peggy knew something was the matter when she noticed he had gotten no sleep and his eyes were puffy from crying. She was going to let him know that Sheila hadn’t made it in, but she assumed he already knew that.
Derek was sitting in his office around lunch time thinking about what he could do to show Michelle that he truly loved her when there was a light tap on the door.
“Come in.” He sighed, looking down at the piled paperwork on his desk that hadn’t gotten done. It was Sheila’s job to get the work done and back on his desk, he had to find a male assistant to help him. He was done with females other than his wife.
“What’s the matter, Mr. Marr? Maybe I can help.” Peggy whispered, walking into the office.
“I need to find a way to show Michelle that I love her, I messed up in a big way, and now I need to prove to her that I love her before I lose her completely. Right now she’s at The Modern Hotel in town. It was where we spent our honeymoon.” He didn’t dare look at Peggy as he talked to her, ashamed of what he had done.
“What were the flowers that you h
ad in the room?” Peggy asked, thinking it was simple.
“White Lilly's.” He smiled, knowing where she was going with it.
“If I were you I would order enough to fill the room.” Peggy smiled at him when he finally looked up at her.
“That’s a great idea.” He nodded his head quickly, reaching for his office phone.
“If you need to take off I have everything under control. It’s quiet around here on Tuesday, you know that.” She smiled at him and left the room, closing the door behind her.
Derek called Michelle first and arranged to have lunch with her, the same place where they had dined while they were on their honeymoon. He thought she was going to turn him down and he prayed to God she wouldn’t, he didn’t know how he was going to fill her room if she was still in there.
His high hopes faded away when she didn’t even answer her phone. He tried calling her three more times, and on the last time, the phone didn’t even ring. It went straight to voicemail.
Derek wasn’t about to give up though, he called the flower company he went through when they had gotten married, thankful that they were still in business. He ordered two hundred dollars worth of flowers and told them where to send them.
When he got off the phone he couldn’t help but smile, if she was going to make it difficult for him then she left him no other choice but to have the flowers lined up at her door, he was willing to go to any length to get her back.
Derek stood up from his chair and quickly walked out of the office. He was going to rent a hotel room at the same place as Michelle and get a few drinks. He wasn’t going to stay at home knowing that Michelle wasn’t going to be there, he couldn’t stand being in the house not knowing if she was going to come back or not.
Derek waved to Peggy as he headed out the door, she was on the phone, and she nodded her head at him as she watched him leave for the day. Glad to see the fight in Derek’s eyes when he walked out. Determined to get his wife back. She knew they were going to be okay, she had a strong feeling everything was going to work out just the way Derek wanted them to.