by Anna Black
“We can try, November. Please. If you leave right now, I don’t know what I’ll do without you. You are brilliant, and we both know you love your work. Don’t leave. Take as much time as you want, just don’t leave.”
“I’m sorry, Kendell, but like you said, it’s over. I don’t think I can work with someone like you.”
“November, please. November.”
She turned away from him.
“That’s it?” he asked.
“Bye, Kendell. I will send for my things when I get back to Chicago.”
“November, please. I know you are upset right now, but please think about it. I don’t want you to resign. We can get past this.”
“I can’t, Kendell. Now, please just go.”
Kendell didn’t argue anymore. He moved to gather his things. “Listen, November, I’m sorry, and I hope that things work out with you, whatever you choose. Tell your husband that I will give every cent back to him soon.”
November didn’t respond. She didn’t even look at him. He stood for a few more moments and then he left.
November went into the bedroom and climbed into the bed. She looked at the clock and called April. When her sister asked how Tracy’s surprise trip to New York went, she lied and pretended that they were together and all was good. She was too embarrassed and had no clue what would happen next, so she didn’t want April to worry about her.
After she was done talking to April and was satisfied the baby was okay, she called Tracy’s cell phone and left him another message. She promised him that she would work it out with him and help him because she didn’t want to be without him. In spite of it all, she loved him, and she wasn’t ready to call it quits on her marriage.
She hugged the pillow and thought about Kendell. He was a good person. He was smart, ambitious, but most of all, he had been a friend to her. She didn’t want to admit it, but she was going to miss him and miss working with him. She hated that she had to leave her job. And she was pissed at Tracy for ruining her job and her working relationship with Kendell. They were the perfect team, and she knew their business would have been a huge success.
Closing her eyes, she prayed and asked God to fix her marriage and bring her family back together. She wanted so much for her and Tracy to make it. She didn’t want to be without him. She wanted them to work it out.
Chapter Twenty-six
The next morning, her wake-up call from the front desk got her up. She went to the bathroom and started the water then checked her cell phone. She was disappointed to see that Tracy hadn’t called.
When she came out of the shower, she looked at the phone on the desk in the other room and saw the message light blinking. She rushed to listen to the messages, hoping one would be from Tracy, but the first one was from Kendell.
“Hey, November, this is Kendell. I know you don’t have anything to say to me, but I wanted to tell you again how sorry I am. If there’s ever a time you want to talk to me again, for any reason, please don’t hesitate to call me.” He went silent, but she could still hear him on the line. After a moment, he hung up.
The next message was from Tracy. “Hey, Novey. I, um . . . I, um . . . I would like for you to go home. I talked to April, and she told me that you said we may stay a few more days. I know why you lied, but I want you to go home. I will be in touch, so don’t worry about me, okay? I love you, and I love TJ. Just please go home and leave me a voice mail when you make it. I love you, and please . . . please . . .” The voice mail time limit cut him short.
“No, no, no,” November yelled. She slammed the phone down and started to sob. “Why didn’t you call me back, Tracy? I need to talk to you,” she cried. “I need to talk to you, dammit.”
She sat on the floor and cried for a moment. Then she got up and dragged herself into the bedroom to dress. Seeming to move in slow motion, she packed up her things and went down to the lobby to check out.
The clerk pointed out the door. “The car is ready to take you to the airport, ma’am.”
“Thank you,” November said and walked out.
The limo driver got out to put her bags in the trunk. She looked at him and realized it was the same guy who had driven them around the day before and who had picked them up from the airport when they arrived.
“Excuse me?” she said.
“Yes, ma’am?” he answered.
“If your company picked up someone from here last night, is there any way I can find out where they dropped them?”
“Well, yes, but you’d have to talk to someone in our office.” He stepped aside to shut her door.
“Can you take me by the agency?”
“I wish I could, but I’m on a schedule. After I drop you off at the airport, I have another pickup.”
“Well, do you have a card with a number?”
“Sure,” he said and reached into his jacket pocket. He pulled out a card, handed it to her, and shut the door.
She pulled out her cell phone and dialed the number.
“Mobil Trans, this is Jackie,” the agent said.
“Hi, Jackie, how are you today?”
“I’m good, and yourself?”
“Just great. Listen, Jackie, I’m in a bit of a situation. I’m new to New York, and I got my wires crossed. I am November Stone. My husband is Tracy Stone. He arrived yesterday, and he has to stay over a couple more days for business. I am so disorganized, and I’ve misplaced the card of the hotel he is going to be staying in. Since he’s in meetings today, I can’t get him on his cell phone. Can you tell me what hotel your driver dropped him off at last night?” she asked politely with her fingers crossed.
“Tracy Stone, you said?”
“Yes, ma’am.” She could hear the agent stroking the keyboard.
“Well, I would need a form of verification, Mrs. Stone. Would you happen to know the credit card number he used?”
“Was it a Visa or Discover?”
“No, it’s an American Express.”
November sighed. She had no idea what card that would be because Tracy had a few business cards. “Okay, ma’am, thanks. He has a dozen corporate cards, so I don’t know.”
“I’m sorry, ma’am. That is the only way I’d be able to give you that information.”
“Thank you, Jackie, for your time,” she said and hung up.
She had no clue where to even start looking for him, and it would take her forever to call every hotel in Manhattan, so she just accepted she had to wait for him to call her.
She rode to the airport, and it dawned on her that she didn’t have a ride home when she got back to Chicago. She had ridden to the airport with Kendell. She’d have to get a cab, which would cost a small fortune. She pulled out her cell phone and called April, but got her machine. She reached her on her cell, but she said she couldn’t come get her. She was shorthanded at the center and leaving for even ten minutes would be against regulations.
She scrolled through her list of contacts until she came across her sister-in-law Darlene’s number. They weren’t close, but they got along. Plus, Darlene was a housewife, so she was probably available.
“Hey, Darlene, this is Novey.”
“Hey, Novey. How’s everything?” Darlene asked pleasantly.
“Everything’s okay, but I need a favor,” November said.
“Okay.”
“I’m coming into O’Hare about four, and I need someone to pick me up.”
“Where is Tracy? I thought he was meeting you out there yesterday.”
“Well, Darlene, it is a long story,” November said.
Darlene didn’t push the issue. “Okay, don’t worry. I can come.”
November gave her the flight information, and they hung up.
She sat back in the seat of the limo and popped a couple of Dramamine to keep from having the episode she had on her way to New York. She thought about Kendell and how sweet and helpful he was to her. He had kept her calm and made sure she was okay. She thought about how cool and calm he always was and
how he was always positive. He was funny and made a joke about almost everything.
She’d miss working with him. He had the nerve to say he was in love with her. She shook her head. “Yeah, whatever,” she said under her breath.
* * *
When she landed and Darlene had driven her home, she was exhausted mentally and physically. She wondered when her husband would be coming home.
“Thanks, Darlene, you are a lifesaver,” she said, putting her bags down.
“No problem, girl. I’d do almost anything to have some time away from the boys.” She laughed.
“I can only imagine having three boys and Trent under one roof.”
“Yes, chile. My biggest dilemma is the bathroom. Them slobs can’t aim for shit,” she said, and they laughed.
“You want a drink?” November offered her.
“Yes, ma’am.” Darlene walked over to the center island in November’s huge kitchen. The room was massive, and as always, clean as a whistle. “Girl, I’ve always loved your kitchen,” she said. “The only thing I hate about my house is the kitchen. We have over thirty-six hundred square feet, and I think the kitchen is only five square feet.” She laughed.
November laughed a little, but she was down, and she wasn’t in the mood to joke around. She poured them both wine, took a couple swallows of hers, then topped off the glass and took another sip.
“Novey, what is it?” Darlene asked. She looked and sounded concerned.
“Huh?” November looked at her sister-in-law through teary eyes.
“Come on, Novey, you can talk to me. Come on and sit down and tell me what’s wrong.” She took November by the hand, and they went into the family room and sat down.
“Whew, Lord, Darlene,” November said, looking up at the ceiling. She didn’t want to cry, but she couldn’t hold back. “I don’t know. I mean, I don’t understand why Tracy is so, so, so insanely jealous. He doesn’t know how to trust. I mean, no matter what I do or say, he is constantly thinking that I’m cheating or gonna cheat. He’s been lying to me for months, having me think that things were fine and that he was better, but he tried to set me up.”
“Set you up? What do you mean, set you up?” Darlene asked.
November painfully gave her the details of what had happened. When she was done, she was more upset than she was when she started.
“Aww, November, we didn’t know Tracy was this bad.”
“What do you mean ‘this bad’?”
“Tracy never told you, did he?”
“Told me what, Darlene?” November wiped her tears.
“About how his daddy died?”
“Yes, he told me his dad had a heart attack when he was younger, and his mom died shortly after.”
“No, baby, that’s not what happened. Trenton and Tracy’s dad was killed by one of their mother’s lovers. And Tracy’s momma isn’t dead, November. They just haven’t spoken to her in over fifteen years. She lives in Oak Brook.”
“No, no, that’s not what Tracy told me,” November said, shaking her head.
Darlene got up and poured herself another glass of wine and brought the bottle over to the table and poured more in November’s glass.
“Okay. Well, let me tell you what really happened. When they were younger, their daddy, Melvin, started that towing company from nothing. He worked long and hard hours, and he was always gone. When the business grew and money started to flow, he then opened a used car lot, and that led him to work even longer hours. He had Trent and Tracy with him, working all the time either towing cars or at the car lot, and when the lot grew and turned into a small dealership, it was all about work and not about his marriage, leaving Treva all alone. Eventually, she started to mess around.
“Melvin and Treva argued a lot because he became too wrapped up in work to cater to his wife, and things got bad. She’d let her lovers pick her up at the house. This continued as the boys got older. Treva was more and more unhappy, and she became out of control with her affairs to the point where she no longer tried to hide them. One day, Tracy walked in on his momma having sex in the garage with this man named Joseph Tucker, and he told his daddy. Melvin decided to follow Treva one night, and he had the boys in the car with him.
“He had his gun and swore that he was gon’ kill that man if he caught him with his wife. So he followed her to Joseph’s house, and when she parked and went inside, their daddy waited for a while then he went and knocked on the man’s door. When Joseph opened the door, their daddy pushed his way in and found Treva in the man’s bed, naked. Melvin pulled out that gun on that man and they got to tussling in Joseph’s living room and it somehow fell in their struggle. Joseph picked it up and shot Melvin three times.
“Trent and Tracy heard all three shots, and then they heard their momma screaming. They got out of the car and ran into Joseph’s house and saw their daddy lying on the floor in a pool of blood and their momma at his side with a sheet around her naked body. That crazy Joseph got on his clothes and ran before the police got there, and their daddy was dead before he made it to the hospital. Since Joseph Tucker fled the scene and their daddy was shot three times, as opposed to just once, he was charged with manslaughter. He tried but didn’t get off on self-defense, even though the gun belonged to Melvin.
“By the time Trenton turned sixteen and Tracy was thirteen, they left to live with their grandma because they didn’t wanna live with their momma anymore. They found out that their daddy had changed everything and didn’t leave their momma a cent. Not even the house. When they were old enough to handle their affairs, they sold the house and split the profit. Trent took over the car dealership, and Tracy took over the towing business.
“Melvin knew a lot of people in Chicago, and after it was all said and done, Trent and Tracy were set for life, because he had contacts and friends all over who were there to care for them after he died. So, since I can remember, neither one of them has seen their mother or had anything to do with her, because of their daddy dying behind her affairs. The only reason I can think of why Tracy is like that is because of his momma. Yes, he’s had unfaithful girlfriends, but I think its Treva’s infidelity that got him like that.”
November couldn’t believe Tracy had lied to her about his parents. She remembered asking him about his mother on several occasions and him never wanting to talk about her. He always had wonderful memories and great things to say about his daddy, but he never wanted to talk about his momma.
“So why is Trent okay and Tracy is, I don’t know, just messed up?”
“I don’t know, Novey. Maybe because Trent was older when it happened. I’m not sure why Tracy is letting this haunt him like that.”
“Why didn’t he tell me the truth, Darlene? I wanna help him.”
“Novey, trust me, my husband used to do the same thing to me. He used to keep tabs on me and would constantly want to know where I was, but that shit got old. It took me leaving his ass one time for him to straighten up. Now, we are fine. I try to get him to call his momma, and he gets angry and walks off and treats me like I cussed him out. But I just learned to pray for him and be there for him and not push, you know?”
“Tracy didn’t give me a chance. He didn’t tell me what happened.”
“Trent didn’t tell me either, honey. His grandma told me way back before she passed, when I used to have issues with Trent wanting to know my every move. One day, I was at her house helping her cook and Trent must have called me fifteen times to check on me. If I hadn’t said, ‘Grammy, I don’t know why my husband is so insecure,’ I may have never known it either.”
“Well, I’m glad you told me, Darlene. Now I can try to reach him. I love him so much, and I don’t want him torturing himself.”
“I know you love him, Novey, and he loves you so much. He and Trent are close and they talk. He expresses his love for you every time he talks about you and that little boy.”
“How do I help him, Darlene? What if I can’t?”
“November, for
one, pray. Two, be patient because your husband is a good man and I know you guys are gonna be all right. I know this doctor Trent and I saw a few years back, and it helped. I will call you later and give you a number, but you have to be willing to try.”
“I am, Darlene. I just need to get through to Tracy.” Tears rolled down her cheeks.
“You will, babe. Trust me, you will,” Darlene said. “Don’t worry; just pray. It will be okay. When he comes home, just take it one day at a time. And you’ve got to forgive him for this foolish game he played with you, November. If you can’t, you might as well throw in the towel right now.”
Chapter Twenty-seven
Three days later, November still hadn’t heard from Tracy. She felt like it was over for them. If he didn’t miss her or think it was necessary to call her, she didn’t feel she should continue to call him, so she stopped calling and texting him. She had gotten a few private calls on her cell and figured it was Kendell, but he never said a word when she answered.
She decided to get dressed and comb her hair. She hadn’t picked her son up because she had hoped to hear from Tracy and that he’d come home so they could talk. But since that hadn’t happened, she wanted to go get her baby. She hadn’t seen him since she had gotten home because she was in no shape to take care of him. She drove to April’s in a daze, wondering what was next for her and Tracy.
“Hey, baby boy,” she said, picking him up and holding him close. “Did you miss me? Huh? Did you miss me, sweetie?”
TJ laughed. She was so happy to see her baby. And she could tell he missed her. She held him tight and gave him a million kisses. He was so happy and excited to see her that he was giggling and patting her face.
“How was he?” she asked April.
“Perfect. He was just perfect,” her sister said. She picked up her daughter. “How are you holding up?”
“I’m good, babe. Just hanging in there and praying.”
“That’s good. I’m glad you finally told me what was going on. You didn’t have to lie to me, Shareese. I’m your sister, and I am here for you no matter what it is, so don’t ever be afraid or embarrassed to tell me anything. I am married too, and I know marriage isn’t a walk in the park.”
