Chapter 21

The next morning, Jeremy was lost. On the one hand, he didn’t want to seem cold and heartless and not check on Robin, but on the other hand, he felt he needed to figure things out first, get his mind straight with both Robin and Charlotte.

Charlotte.

He hoped that she wasn’t upset with him after last night. He wanted ever so badly to spend time with her but felt like he wouldn’t be able to give her his all because of the drama he was going through. He knew that if he talked to her, she would understand. She might’ve even had some insight to share with him. He decided to test the waters and call her up.

Unfortunately, his calls were being picked up by the answering machine. He hoped that she wasn’t avoiding his calls.

He climbed out of bed and threw on some clothes. He went to the bathroom and finished up his morning routine before heading towards the kitchen to grab a lite bite to eat.

He was just about to turn on the coffee pot when there was a knock at the door.

He walked to it and opened it, not bothering to check the peephole or ask who it was.

The sight before him was more than he’d ever expected.
_______________________________________________________________________

The next morning, Charlotte removed the covers from over her head. She’d barely slept through the night. Her mind was roaming all over the place with thoughts of Jeremy, herself and Robin.

She figured dealing with this situation would’ve probably been a whole lot easier she hadn’t slept with Jeremy. Now, she was not only emotionally involved, but physically, too.

She knew that she needed to talk to Jeremy, but she didn’t want to give him the chance to either not answer the phone or to hang up on her. Again.

She wanted to get to the bottom of things and figured today would be the perfect day to do that.

She climbed out of bed and went to the bathroom to wash up. She quickly dressed and then went down the hall to her office. She sat down in front of her computer and logged into Google. She hoped that what she was about to do wasn’t considered stalking by his standards, but she needed answers.

She pulled up the information she’d found and then input the information into her phone’s GPS. She walked through the house, grabbed her purse and her keys and walked out the front door.

She said a little prayer that she was doing the right thing.
__________________________________________________________________________

“How… What are you doing here?” Jeremy asked his visitor.

After opening the front door, Jeremy was shocked to find Charlotte standing there. He realized now why she hadn’t answered the phone when he called.

“I did know what else to do. I wanted to come over last night, but I told myself to give you a little time. I know you didn’t mean it in a bad way, but last night ended kind of funny. I just had to come over,” she said really fast.

“I tried calling you this morning. I wanted to apologize… for last night. You were trying to… be there for me. I…,” he stammered.

“Can I come in?” she said, doe-eyed.

He snapped out of his trance and stepped aside so that she could come in.

He guided her to the den and told her she could sit down and when she didn’t he asked her if she wanted anything to drink. She declined and he told her he was just about to put on a pot of coffee. He excused himself and headed for the kitchen.

Charlotte was standing in the middle of the room. All four walls around her had pictures on them. She noticed right away Jeremy’s pictures from high school and the others, where he hadn’t changed much from those, she thought would’ve been college. In most of them, he was alone or with a few of his guy friends. She even noticed a few of them with Jeremy and David in them. It wasn’t a wonder that David knew Jeremy. David got around, plus, they were all from the same neighborhood.

She searched the walls to find pictures of Jeremy and Robin’s wedding. She told herself that if she could just see his face on that day, a day that was supposed to be the happiest day in his life, she would be able to tell if he was really happy with Robin then, or if he married her just for the sake of marrying her.

She found a few near the big bay window. She had to admit, Robin looked beautiful in her wedding gown. She saw Ms. Johnson standing on the other side of Jeremy putting on a fake smile.

Just seeing that made Charlotte smile.

Then, she took a deep breath and held it as she stared at Jeremy’s face. She scanned his eyes, his mouth, his nose and ears to see if anything jumped out at her. She jumped and released the breath when she heard Jeremy speaking behind her.

“I thought I was happy back then,” he said.

Charlotte almost went through the ceiling. She turned and looked at him quickly as he slowly sipped his coffee, then turned back to the picture.

She could see it in his eyes. He was smiling, but his “light” wasn’t there.

Charlotte always loved Jeremy’s eyes and his smile, especially when they worked together. She could always tell when he was truly happy about something because of them. This picture, although not the total opposite of what she was used to seeing, didn’t have that 100% Jeremy seal that she was used to.

She went and sat opposite him on a recliner.

“Char, I just don’t know what to do. I mean, the baby… what if its mine? She knows that this is something I’ve wanted since forever. How could she do this to me? I can’t…”

He stopped and cocked his head to the side, contemplating what he was about to say.

“Is this payback? Karma?” he asked her.

She furrowed her brow and he continued.

“But she was doing this just a few months after we got married. Who’s to say that she wasn’t cheating on me the entire time we were together? I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’m not excusing what we did, but she went to the extreme. She’s fucking pregnant!” he said, spent.

She could tell that he was getting more and more upset, but she knew that she needed to let him vent so that he could get it out of his system. She flinched when he jumped up from his seat.

He paced the room for a few minutes, every once in a while stopping and looking up at the ceiling. Finally he stopped and sat at Charlotte’s feet. He leaned his head against her legs and she rubbed it, trying to comfort him.

He reached up for her and she allowed him to pull her down to the floor next to him and then he laid his head in her lap. They sat there in silence, her rubbing his head and back and him calming down.

She was remembering back in the day when you could always find them just like that, him upset and her consoling. Ten years later and nothing had changed. She was glad to still be the one he ran to.

“Jeremy, I just want you to know that everything that I’ve done and said since day one, way back when, I mean it. I love you so much, with all that I am. Right here, well, maybe not ‘right here’, but that’s where I want to be, for how ever long you’ll have me.”

Jeremy sat up and looked at her really hard. He could tell that she meant every word she was saying.

“I know, baby. And I promise you,” he said, caressing her cheek, “we’ll work this out, together.”

He leaned in to kiss her when they were interrupted.

“What the hell is going on in here?!”

Chapter 20

The day was passing quickly and Charlotte hadn’t heard from Jeremy at all. She had hoped that he wasn’t so upset with her that he wrote her off. She couldn’t bear to lose him again. Too much time had passed for him to disappear again.

She’d tried calling him more than once and each time she got his voicemail.

It was almost 11 pm when her house phone rang. She ran to pick it up.

“Hello? Hello?” she asked, hoping to hear the voice she longed for.

“Charlotte? Honey, what’s wrong? You sound out of breath,” came back a familiar voice.

It was her mother. She talked to her mother for about an hour, relaying to her the past couple of days.

She’d always been close to her mom. She was the only other person that knew how Charlotte felt about Jeremy back in the day. But she was a little shocked at Charlotte for letting things with Jeremy go as far as they could. She understood, but she was still shocked.

After she talked to her mother well into the night, she climbed in bed.

There was really nothing left for her to do. She didn’t want to push Jeremy, but she also didn’t want him to go away. She decided that she would try calling him one more time.

Just as she went to pick up her phone, it started ringing. She stared at the name that showed on the display. It read “Jeremy Cell”. Her heart skipped a beat as she hit the button to answer the call.

“Hello?” she said quietly into the phone.

“Lady? Were you sleeping? I’m sorry to wake you. I just needed someone to talk to and you were the first person I thought of,” he replied.

“No, I wasn’t sleep, just getting ready for bed, but I’m up to talk if you need to. I’ve been trying to reach you all day. I wanted to apologize for earlier. Terrance is…”

She stopped when he cut her off.

“You don’t have to explain. I had no right to get jealous and upset like I did. You are single and free to do whatever you want to. It was wrong of me to feel like you were mine and to show my ass, sort of speak, today. I should be the one apologizing. I’m sorry, baby. Oh, wait, maybe I shouldn’t call you that anymore. Charlotte, I mean. Terrance seems like a nice dude. He better make you happy, though. If he doesn’t, then I have every right to kick his…”

He stopped when she cut him off.

“Jeremy!” she said very sternly. “Terrance is not my boyfriend. That’s what I was going to tell you. He’s a friend, well, an ex that came to visit me. We used to date back before he went to Iraq. We were just catching up, nothing more, nothing less.”

Jeremy was quiet for a minute. Inside his heart, he was celebrating. That news brought the first smile to his face since he heard the news about Robin. But it disappeared when he remembered where he was and what was going on.

“Jeremy, are you still there?” Charlotte asked after he’d been quiet.

“Yeah, I’m here. I’m fine, it’s not me that’s the problem, though. Robin was admitted to the hospital earlier today. Charlotte, I need to talk to someone. I can’t believe this mess. I don’t know what I’m going to do.”

4 hours earlier

“What are you talking about? What’s going on?” Jeremy asked Greg.

Jeremy was not facing Greg. He was getting very agitated and was starting to wonder what this guy’s deal was. From the way he was talking, he sounded as if he was trying to cover up something.

“Look, Greg, I understand that your company doesn’t want this, whatever happened to my wife, to get out or whatever, but I think I at least have a right to know what’s going on.”

He looked back and forth between the doctor and Greg, waiting for an answer.

Greg took another step forward.

“Look, I’m really sorry that this has to come out like this, but I just don’t see any other way right now.”

He took a deep breath.

“You might want to sit down for this,” he said motioning towards the chairs.

Jeremy crossed his arms and just stared at him.

The doctor took that moment to interject.

“Mr. Johnson, we really need to get this underway. Your wife and the baby need to get their treatment started. Now.”

Jeremy started at the doctor in disbelief. He had no idea that Robin was pregnant. He couldn’t help but smile at the idea of his wife carrying a little Jeremy or Robin.

“My wife and baby? Doc, she’s pregnant?” Jeremy asked.

“Yes, but she’s having complications. Right now, she does not need blood, but we need to take the proper precautions.”

He holds out his clipboard to Jeremy. He informs him that they need to run some tests first and then they will go from there. Jeremy quickly signs the paperwork and hands the board back to the doctor.

“Nurse,” the doctor calls out, “let’s get to work.”

Jeremy was so excited that he’d forgotten about Greg standing for a second. When he turned around mid-“YES!”, he almost bumped into Greg, who was standing there with a really sad look on his face.

Jeremy looked at him hard. Again, Greg was making him feel extremely uncomfortable. He decided he just needed to get to the bottom of whatever it was Greg had to say.

“What is it that you wanted to tell me?” Jeremy asked.

“Again, I think you should sit down,” Greg requested.

He and Jeremy moved over to the white chairs lining the waiting room.

Greg, again, took a deep breath.

“Look, this is not the most appropriate time to tell you this, but I don’t have a choice. Robin is not just my co-worker. She’s also my girlfriend.”

Greg leaned back and waited for Jeremy’s reaction. He watched as Jeremy’s eyes went from light brown to black. He stood up when he saw the change.

“What did you just say to me? Please tell me you’re joking,” Jeremy said.

He remained seated and, on the outside, very calm. Inside, there seemed to be a fireball of rage building inside him.

“Look,” Greg said from the opposite side of the hallway, “she wanted to tell you about the baby, but she didn’t know how. She wasn’t sure if the baby was yours or mine. It’s been stressing her out for days now. And today, we were, um, at lunch and she went to the bathroom and came screaming. She was bleeding,” Greg finished.

Jeremy looked up from where he was sitting with his head in his hands when he heard that.

“What? What do you mean? What happened?” Jeremy shot question after question at Greg.

“I don’t know. We’d just finished, um, eating and she got up off the bed to use the bathroom. When she opened the door, she was standing there with it dripping down her leg. Then the next thing I know, she passed out. I called 911 and… here we are.”

Jeremy didn’t know what to say or do. Sure, he was mad as hell at the fact that his wife’s boyfriend was the one that was relaying to him what happened to her and he was irate at the fact that his wife had a boyfriend to begin with. But he couldn’t bring himself to feel the need to lash out. Basically, on that point, he was nonchalant. He couldn’t help feeling that way.

“Has she woken up since then?” he asked Greg.

Greg looked at Jeremy again. He expected him to react totally different, which shocked him.

“No,” he coughed. “Not that I know of, she hasn’t. I was freaking out before you came because they wouldn’t tell me anything because I wasn’t her husband. I’m so worried. I can’t lose her.”

Jeremy looked up at Greg. He noticed that Greg wasn’t talking to him like he was nervous about his reaction anymore. It was weird, but Jeremy felt sorry for Greg. And in that moment, Jeremy realized that he wasn’t in love with Robin anymore. He cared about her, sure, but he wasn’t in love with her. It was no use pretending anymore.

“Mr. Johnson,” a nurse walked up to him and said, “your wife is in and out of consciousness, but the doctor thinks she’s going to be okay. She’s doing a bit better now.”

Jeremy stood up and Greg came rushing over.

“Can I see her?” Jeremy asked.

“Once the doctor clears her for visitors, I’ll come back and get you,” she responded.

Jeremy breathed a sigh of relief. He couldn’t believe it. He found out his wife was in the hospital, found out that he was possibly going to be a father, met his wife’s boyfriend and realized that he wasn’t in love with his wife anymore, all within the course of a single hour.

He wasn’t sure that he could take anything else, but there was one thing he just had to know.

“Greg,” Jeremy called.

Greg jumped a couple of miles, it seemed, when he’d heard Jeremy call his name.

“How long have you and Robin been… you know?”

Jeremy wasn’t sure that he wanted to know the answer to that question, but he knew he had to know.

Greg didn’t answer right away.

Physically, he matched Jeremy pretty even. It was just that Jeremy had such a cool demeanor about him in a situation that Greg expected him to blow up in, that it had Greg shaken. He didn’t know what to expect.

He felt like he owed it to Jeremy to answer his questions, since everything was out in the open, but he just didn’t know what to think.

“Oh, only a little while,” he said, downplaying things.

“How ‘little’ is a little while? Two months? Five months? What?” Jeremy asked.

Greg started to sweat. He wasn’t prepared to explain everything today. He just wanted Jeremy to know the most important details, to help him get through today.

“A few months after you two got married.”

Jeremy stared at Greg for a long time before standing up. He walked past Greg and out the main doors of the emergency room. He didn’t know where he was going, but he needed some air.

He paced the sidewalk back and forth trying to calm down. He felt so stupid because he didn’t pick up on anything for the past four years. He was so angry with himself for not realizing it sooner.

After about 15 minutes, he went back in to the waiting room.

“Look, man,” Greg started, “I hate that this had to be dropped on you like this. If I could do anything to make it better, I would, but it is what it is.”

Jeremy didn’t even acknowledge him. He went over to the coffee machine and got a cup. Then he went back to the same white chair he’d been sitting in and sat down. He stared off into space as he sipped the hot drink.

Greg watched him from the other side of the room, but didn’t say another word to Jeremy.

About an hour later, the doctor came out and told Jeremy that Robin was going to be fine and that she just needed to get some rest. As for the baby, it was going to be fine, also. The doctor also informed Jeremy that he could go in and see Robin. He jumped up and followed the nurse down to her room. Once he was standing out of it, he put his hand on it to push it open. He hesitated for a few seconds, not sure what to say to her.

Once he stepped inside, he almost cried at the sight of her. The beautiful woman that he saw leaving the house that morning was gone. Robin looked as if she’d been hit by a truck. Her skin was very pale and hair, which was normally kept very neat, was a bird’s nest. She looked very weak and fragile and Jeremy almost visibly cringed at the sight of her.

He walked over and stood next to her bed. She gently turned her head towards him as he reached down and took her hand.

“Hey, you,” he whispered. “How are you feeling?”

She smiled weakly at him.

“I’m okay, considering,” she croaked. “I’m so sorry, Jeremy. About the baby. I took a pregnancy test and I wanted to tell you, but I just wasn’t sure. I had an appointment scheduled for this Friday to confirm it, but…” she trailed off.

“Shh,” he quietly scolded. “It’s okay. I know all about that. It’s okay.”

“You know? How?” she asked.

He looked at her with a smile. She smiled at him, too.

“Sweetie, don’t you know?” Jeremy asked.

She looked at him as if to visually ask what he meant.

“Greg, your boyfriend, told me,” he said through a grin.

Robin’s smile faded. She looked up at Jeremy with an “I’m caught” look on her face.

“Jeremy, I don’t… I…” she stammered.

“Shh, Robin. It’s okay. Everything’s going to be fine, you know. If that’s my baby, without a doubt, I will be around to raise my child. You already knew how much I wanted… doesn’t matter. I just wanted to come in and let you know that. I’m gonna head home now. Oh, and don’t worry, I’ll tell Greg its okay for him to come in now.”

Jeremy patted and then let go of her hand and headed for the door. He ignored her calls of his name from behind him and walked out of the room.

“She’s all yours, buddy,” Jeremy said to Greg as he walked past.

Greg stared after Jeremy as he walked back out the main doors of the emergency room.

Charlotte let out a deep sigh. She couldn't believe the story he'd just told her.

On the one hand, she was pleased at the outcome. She knew that was evil of her, but she couldn’t help her emotions. On the other hand, she knew that he was hurting and she wanted to be there for him.

“Jeremy, why don’t you come over and we can talk in person,” Charlotte suggested.

“I’m sorry, Lady, for earlier. I jumped to conclusions and I shouldn’t have.”

“Forget about that,” she told him. “Come over and we can talk.”

“You know what? I think I’m gonna just chill tonight. I’ll talk to you later, okay?”

He didn’t wait for an answer before he hung up the phone.

Chapter 19

Once Terrance left, after Charlotte profusely assured him that she was alright and that if she needed to talk that he would be the first person she called, she threw herself into her work.

She started back working on the invitations and inserts that she designed that morning. Since most of her business is spread through word of mouth and websites online, she posts everything that she does in her blog so that potential clients can see what she is capable of doing before they hire her.

She was just about to send her design to the client, when an instant message box popped up on the screen. She didn’t recognize the name, but then again, her computer had been set up to keep her permanently logged in since forever ago, which was the last time she actually logged into it. As she was thinking back on it, she had no idea what her password was. But regardless, there, smack in the middle of her screen was a small box from ‘ibzdaone’.

Ibzdaone: I miss you.
WhosThatLady: Who is this?
Ibzdaone: Who else would be telling you they miss you? You talking to somebody else already?
Ibzdaone: You cheating on me, Charlotte?
WhosThatLady: Damien?! What do you want? Why are you sending me an IM? We broke up! Move on!

When she realized it was Damien she got upset. She hadn’t talked to him since they broke up. She hadn’t really even given him a second thought after she’d hung up the phone with him that day. But, leave it to Damien to act like that day never happened.

Ibzdaone: What do you mean ‘we broke up’? You talking ‘bout that little spat we had over the phone the other day? That didn’t mean anything. Baby, I miss you. Can I come see you tonight? I miss you so much.
WhosThatLady: OMG!!!
WhosThatLady: Are you serious? Are you out of your mind?!
WhosThatLady: I can do this right now. Don’t IM me, don’t call me, don’t text me, don’t send me emails!!! It’s over. We are not together anymore. You are no longer my boyfriend, man, significant other… whatever you used to call yourself. ITS OVER!

Then she closed out the window. She also clicked on the little smiley face in the bottom right corner of her screen and logged out of the messenger. She never used it anyway, so it didn’t matter anymore.

But she couldn’t believe his audacity. After days of not hearing from her, especially after the conversation they had that morning, he still thought that they were together.

She scoffed at the idea that he was serious and pushed it to the back of her mind, dismissing it as a joke he was playing to see if she would fall for it and roll over for him. Those days of her dismissing her anger with him were long over.

She went back to her design and sent it off to the client with a note asking them to get back to her as soon as possible so that she could get started on her project. She was getting that giddy feeling that she usually got when she was working. It was one of the reasons that she chose to do what she was doing. She loved her job and she loved working for herself.

She started thinking back to her younger days when she first started thinking about her career. Her mind immediately turned to Jeremy.

He played such a huge part in her life growing up, it was a wonder they let all that time pass since they’d seen each other.

Thinking about him just made her start thinking about the earlier events of the day. She wondered if Jeremy would take her call or if she had to wait for him to call her, if he ever did. She thought about calling his house number, but then decided against it when she checked the time. Robin could’ve been home. Her voice was the last one she wanted, or needed, to hear right now.

She went to her bedroom and grabbed her cell phone off the bed and dialed Jeremy’s cell number. After four rings, it went to voicemail. She hesitated at first, but then decided to leave him a short simple message.

“Jeremy, this is Charlotte. Please call me when you get this message. We really need to talk, especially after today. Whenever you get this message, and it doesn’t matter what time it is, please call me. I love you.”

She tossed the phone back on the bed and walked to her bathroom.

She hoped a nice, long, hot bath could help de-stress her. She was definitely ready for Calgon to take her away.
____________________________________________________________________

Jeremy pulled into the first parking spot he saw in the small lot of the emergency room at Hermann Hospital. He didn’t care that he was crookedly parked across two lanes. His wife was in the emergency room. If he got a ticket, he figured he’d deal with that later.

He ran across the lot and straight into the building up to the nurse’s desk.

“Excuse me,” he said to a nurse who was standing behind the counter looking into a file cabinet. “My wife, Robin Johnson, was admitted here a little while ago. Can you please tell me where I can find her?”

The nurse told him that she was in with the doctor at that moment, but that she had some paperwork that needed to be signed first.

He looked at her like she had five heads sticking out of her neck. He didn’t care about the paperwork, he wanted to see his wife and find out what was going on. He didn’t even know yet why she was admitted.

“Look, lady, I don’t have time to sign insurance papers or whatever that is. I need to find my wife and find out what’s going on. I don’t even know what she’s doing here. This morning, before she went to work, she was fine. Then I get a call saying that she’s in the hospital and still no one has told me what’s going on or what happened?”

“I can tell you what happened,” a voice said from behind Jeremy.

When he turned around, there stood a tearful Greg.

“I can tell you what happened to Robin.”

“Wait, you work with her, right? I’m sorry, I don’t remember your name.”

“I’m Greg, Greg Taylor. I…”

“Mr. Johnson,” a doctor said, walking up to him from the nurse’s station. “I’m sorry to interrupt, but I’m Dr. Randall, your wife’s doctor. I need to get some information from you. We need to get this paperwork signed.”

“Like I told the nurse, I can handle the paperwork later. I want to see Robin. Now.”

“Mr. Johnson, we need to get that paperwork signed. We can’t perform any surgeries or do the proper blood work without it. Your wife is incapacitated right now and you have to make the decisions, but you need to do it now. What blood type are you?”

Jeremy had taken a step back from the doctor. He had no clue what was going on with Robin, but from what the doctor was telling him, she was in really bad shape. He didn’t know what to think or do. But he knew that he had to listen to the doctor. Whatever he needed to do, he was going to.

“I’m A and she’s O. We found that out when she had her miscarriage a few years ago. Doctor,” Jeremy said, “I can’t give her blood if she needs it.”

“I can,” Greg said.

Jeremy looked at Greg, who still had tears in his eyes. He wondered what this man’s deal was. He was grateful that Greg was there when Robin needed someone and it was very noble of him to stay at the hospital for her support until he could get there, but Jeremy was becoming uncomfortable with the situation now.

“That’s very nice of you, sir, but...,” the doctor started to say before Greg cut him off.

“I can’t explain it right now, but this is something I have to do. Losing Robin is not an option,” he said, and then looked at Jeremy, “for either of us.”

Chapter 18

It’s Tuesday morning and Charlotte is puttering around in her kitchen fixing herself breakfast when her phone starts ringing.

She looks at the caller ID and realizes that it’s Mrs. Mathers from the mall. She’d forgotten to call her back the day before. She composed herself and answered in her most professional voice.

“Hello, this is Charlotte,” she said.

“Oh, Charlotte, I’m so happy I finally caught you. This is Mrs. Mathers. I met you at the mall the other day? Do you remember me?” the older woman asked.

“Yes, ma’am, I remember you. I’m sorry for not getting back to you sooner. I’ve been extremely busy wrapping up some loose ends. What can I do for you?”

“Well, I was really hoping that you would be able to help us put together this anniversary party. I don’t want Robin and Jeremy, that’s my son-in-law, to have to put this all on themselves. I mean, you know how much work goes into these things. I just wanted to get in touch with you and see if you had time to fit my event onto your calendar. Do you think that’ll be okay? I’m flexible as to the date, if that’ll help. I just really appreciate what you did for me the other day and want to show my appreciation by hiring you, pending on your previous work, of course. Do you have a portfolio or something that I can see that shows events you’ve already done? I’d love to meet with you. Do you think you’ll have time to fit me in today? I’m retired, you know, and have plenty of time. I’m so excited to get started.”

The woman paused. She’d been talking for quite a few minutes.

“Charlotte, are you there? You’ve been awfully quiet,” the woman asked.

Charlotte hadn’t been listening to the woman after she heard the names Robin and Jeremy together. Who else could she be talking about?

She was mentally kicking herself for not putting two and two together when Robin told her her name at the mall. She was a little shocked. She’d met, and actually liked, Robin upon first meeting her. Now she didn’t know what to do. After what happened with Jeremy, she wasn’t so sure that she wanted to meet her at all. She was nervous that Robin would pick up on her feelings for Jeremy as soon as she said hello. She knew that her emotions and feelings would show on her face anytime she was around him and that a person would have to be blind, deaf and dumb not to notice it.

Charlotte snapped back to reality when she heard Mrs. Mathers calling her name.

“Charlotte,” the woman was practically yelling, “are you still there? I can hear you breathing.”

“Yes, I’m still here. I’m sorry, I got distracted for a moment. Mrs. Mathers, what is Robin’s last name?” Charlotte asked, hoping her suspicions were wrong.

“Well, she used to be a Mathers, like me, before she got married. Her husband’s last name is Johnson, Jeremy and Robin Johnson. Charlotte, what do you say we get together for lunch and you can show me some samples of your work? Do you have testimonials? I love reading testimonials,” the woman babbled.

Charlotte’s head was spinning. She didn’t know what to say about that. There was no way that she could plan this party now. That would mean working with Robin to put the event together, and that was the last thing she wanted to do. She’d slept with this woman’s husband. There was no way she could smile in her face and pretend like nothing ever happened.

“Mrs. Mathers,” Charlotte started, “I’m so sorry to have to tell you this, but I’m looking at my calendar right now and I just don’t know if I’ll be able to fit your event in with the three others I’m currently working on.”

It was just a small white lie and Charlotte hated to have to do it, but she just didn’t see any other way to get out of it.

“Well, I’m sorry to hear that. I was looking forward to working with you. You’re such a nice girl.”

Charlotte flipped through her rolodex.

“Mrs. Mathers, I can give you the name and number of an associate of mine. We work together sometimes on different projects. Is that okay?”

Mrs. Mathers agreed to that and Charlotte gave her the information and ended the call.

She did have some jobs lined up and more than likely would’ve been able to take on the party, but with the added drama of Robin and Jeremy thrown in the mix, she couldn’t guarantee that she would put her all into it, let alone be in the right mindset to get it done. She felt like passing this on to someone else was for the best.

After grabbing a bagel from her pantry, she walked to her bedroom and sat at her desk. She stared at herself in the mirror for a long time. She couldn’t believe the mess she’d gotten herself in.

The phone ringing broke her out of her trance. Looking at the caller ID, she saw that it was Terrance.

She answered it and they talked for a few minutes before they decided that he was going to bring over snacks and some movies in an hour.

She was happy about that, feeling as though the distraction would do her some good. And Terrance wasn’t a bad distraction at all.

She got dressed in comfortable clothes and then went to her office. She figured she could at least get started on a little bit of work before he arrived.

She sat at her computer and completed a few invoices and even got started on a design for a wedding invitation she was supposed to be building when there was a knock at the door.

She opened it find Terrance standing there with bags of junk and movies. She stepped aside to let him in and they got settled in right away.

They were about half an hour into the first movie when there was another knock at the door. She wasn’t expecting anyone, so she looked out the side window first.

It was Jeremy.

Terrance was still sitting in the living room when she opened the door.

“Hey, you,” she said. “What are you doing here?”

She stepped out onto the porch and pulled the door halfway closed.

“I came to see you,” he responded. “Robin’s at work and I needed to talk to you …”

He was interrupted when Terrance opened the door looking for Charlotte.

“Babe, what’s going on?” he asked.

He stood behind Charlotte and eyed Jeremy. When Charlotte turned to face him, he outstretched his hand towards Jeremy.

“What’s up, man? I’m Terrance, and old friend of Charlotte’s. How you doing?” he said, as he and Jeremy shook hands.

“”Sup Terrance, I’m Jeremy, a very old friend of Lady’s, I mean Charlotte’s.”

Charlotte watched the exchange between the two of them and noticed the darkness that settled in both of their eyes. They were sizing each other up.

“Charlotte,” Jeremy began before she had a chance to explain, “I’m sorry for coming over unannounced. I see that I’m interrupting things here. Look, I’m gonna go and…” he turned and started walking to his car, “I’ll call you… sometime, okay? Terrance it was nice meeting you. Charlotte…bye.”

She watched as he got in his car and pulled off.

Terrance took her hand and gently tried to pull her inside, but she watched his car until she couldn’t see it anymore. She, then, let him guide her back in the house. She wanted to curl up and cry when she saw that sad look on Jeremy’s face.

“So, that’s him, huh, your complicated and ‘not ideal’ situation?” Terrance said once she sat down.

She nodded her head yes. Her mind was replaying the look on Jeremy’s face over and over again. Her heart was breaking a little more each time she was forced to watch it.

“I’ve never seen you look at a person the way you looked at him, not even me.” He said the last part in almost a whisper, but Charlotte caught it.

“So, what’s the problem? Why don’t ya’ll just work out whatever it is that’s wrong and get together? It’s obvious that he cares for you, too. He had that same look in his eyes that you did.”

Terrance sat down next to her, waiting for an answer.

“Because I’m not his wife,” she told him, just before she broke down and cried.
__________________________________________________________

Jeremy didn’t know what to think or do once he started driving away from Charlotte’s house.

He went over there because, after finding out that the person that Robin met at the mall the other day was Charlotte, he needed to talk to her and let her know how he felt about them meeting and see what they were going to do about their future.

But he never would’ve guessed that he’d find her at home with another man. Just the other night, that was him. As much as he tried to tell himself that he had no right to be jealous, he couldn’t help it. The second Terrance walked out that door Jeremy wanted to rip his heart out.

He couldn’t believe that she just stood there. He wasn’t sure what he expected her to do, but he needed for her to do something. His heart was officially crushed.

His cell phone ringing shattered his thoughts and brought him back to the real world.

“Hello?” he said into the phone.

“Mr. Johnson, this is Nicole. We need you to come down to the construction site and sign off on some invoices. There are also a couple of things that need your approval. Are you available to come in today?” she asked.

Jeremy welcomed the work distraction. His company was contracted to build a huge business center on the North side of town. With him being the owner, he didn’t always have to be on site, that’s what he had a General Manager for. But he liked to know where the company’s money was going towards when it came time to make big plans and changes.

“I’m on my way there right now, Nicole. I’ll see you in about 20 minutes,” he told his assistant before hanging up.

He drove the 20 minutes to the site and headed straight for the trailer. He got the paperwork signed with Nicole and then headed into the building to see what kind of progress his guys were making.

He was just about to get into the outdoor elevator when he heard his name being called over the intercom. He was being told that he had a phone call holding for him in the office trailer.

Upon arriving, he picked up the receiver and spoke into it.

“This is Jeremy Johnson,” he stated.

“Mr. Johnson, this is Nurse Banxter at Hermann Memorial Hospital. Your wife, Robin Johnson, was admitted to the hospital a half hour ago. We need you to come down here,” the nurse told him.

“What’s wrong with my wife? What happened?” he asked, yelling the questions at the nurse.

“Sir, the doctors are asking that you come down to the hospital as soon as possible. They’ll be able to explain everything to you once you get here. We’re located in the Medical Center, at Fannin and McGregor. Do you know how to get here?” the nurse kindly asked.

“I’m on my way,” Jeremy said into the phone before hanging it up and running out the door.

Chapter 17

“Baby, you here?” Robin called out as she walked through the front door.

When the car service dropped her off, she didn’t see Jeremy’s car in the driveway. She figured maybe he parked in the garage, but after checking there, she still didn’t see it.

Robin walked to her bedroom and hung up her hanging clothes case in the closet. She would send the clothes to the dry cleaners later.

She walked to the bathroom and started the water in the shower. She had to rinse off as much of Greg as she could before Jeremy came home.

Where was Jeremy, she thought. He knew she was coming in on the first flight home. It’s 7 o’clock in the morning and he’s no where to be found.

She went back and grabbed a pair of underwear and made sure her bathrobe was on the back of the door before she pushed it partway closed and stepped into the shower.

She had set the water as hot as she could stand it so that she could scrub all the cheating away with her loofa brush. Anything she could think of to get what she had done with Greg all these years off her body would never be enough. She was determined to be the good wife that she hoped was inside of her.

She ran her loofa over her stomach and cringed. She had a whole 4 days ahead of her before she could actually see the doctor. The thought of waiting that long was going to kill her. She made it up in her mind that she would go get a couple of more tests, making sure to check the expiration dates first, and try to satisfy her curiosity. She would tell Jeremy right away if she was pregnant.

She finished up in the shower and got out. She could hear moving around in the other room and it scared her. She quickly dressed and then grabbed a hair brush. Looking in the mirror at her self holding the brush over her head and seeing how ridiculous she looked, as well as wondering what she was going to do with the brush, she put it down and picked up the plunger. At least that way, if she had to swing it, she would be able to put some space between herself and the perp.

She made sure her grip was tight and pushed slowly pushed the door open with her foot. When she rounded the corner to enter her bedroom, she was met face-to-face with Jeremy.

“Babe, what are you doing?” he asked, seeing her with the plunger positioned over her head.

He laughed as he took a step back. There she was standing in her lace and silk robe, hair done up in a towel with a plunger poised over her head.

“I didn’t know that was you. You weren’t hear when I got in the shower. Where were you?”

She eyed him suspiciously. This was the first time that he’d ever given her the impression that he might be cheating also.

He didn’t say a word but reached up and took the plunger from her right hand and guided her down the hall to the kitchen with her left. She stopped him once they got halfway down the hallway.

“Jeremy, I asked you a question, where were you?” she demanded. She was getting frustrated now because this was so unlike him to not answer her when she asked him something.

“Baby, trust me. Just… just come with me,” he answered.

Once again, he took her hand and led her down the hallway. As they rounded the corner, she could see that the table was set for two and there was a bouquet of daisies in a vase in the center. Her favorite breakfast foods were strategically placed around the table.

“When I talked to you yesterday, you sounded so tired, so I wanted to do something nice and romantic for you. You’ve been working so hard lately and I know we haven’t taken a vacation together in a while. I was hoping that this could be the start of us trying to do more things together, more romantic and loving things together,” he told her.

He pulled out her chair and helped her sit down.

“Robin, lately, I don’t know for how long, but I’ve been feeling like the spark is gone, something’s been missing. I can’t put my finger on it, but whatever it is, I want to try to make this work. But only if you’re willing.”

She looked at him, amazed. She had no idea what to say to him. Then she started to panic. Maybe he knew what was going on and this was his way of telling her and that he was ready to start over. Whatever it was he was trying to say, she was willing to do it, for him.

“I am,” she told him.

Then she pulled him close and kissed him to seal the deal.
________________________________________________________________________

After breakfast, Robin went and put on some clothes to lounge around the house in.

Jeremy had mentioned to her that they would spend the day together and get to know each other again, to be like they used to. She wanted to do what she could and he was trying to see if they could.

They sat around all day, just talking about everything. He told her about the jobs his company was working on and what they had lined up in the coming months and she filled him in on her jobs and deals she had lined up.

Eventually, he got around to asking about her parents and how they were. He then remembered something about an emergency with her mom the other day.

Robin told him about how her mom was supposed to go down the bank and deposit money for their anniversary party but got sidetracked and lost it in the store she wasn’t supposed to be in. She explained how some woman helped her mom find the money. She expressed how shocked she was that this woman, who was probably about her age, would turn the money back in, whereas she couldn’t be sure that she would. She also filled him on how the woman didn’t want a reward or anything like that, but asked instead for them to help her promote her business.

Robin, then, went to her purse and pulled out the business card the woman had given her. She told Jeremy how she instantly got good vibes from the woman, especially since the woman was willing to take on the task of dealing with her parents and their anniversary party.

Robin handed Jeremy the card and all the color drained from his face.

Of course, Robin didn’t notice at all. She told him that she needed to remind her mom to call the woman if she hadn’t already. She reached for the phone and mentioned to him that she needed to do it while it was still on her mind, because she was forgetful, too.

Jeremy took that opportunity to excuse himself to the bathroom.

When he got in there, he closed and locked the door. He immediately turned on the cold water and splashed his face.

“They’ve met already,” he whispered softly.

He was freaking out. If Charlotte planned this party, there was no way he could hide their friendship.

He hadn’t really wanted them to meet because he knew how he felt just talking to Charlotte on the phone, but to have to be around her, in person, with his wife? A blind man could see how in love with her he was.

And that, Jeremy was sure, would be the one thing that Robin would notice.

Chapter 16

Jeremy whistled as he walked through his front door. He was in such a good mood that he actually played pretty well on the basketball court. He usually does okay, but today was special. He felt young again, like he did when he won championships back in high school and college. He just felt good.

And he knew he owed it all to having Charlotte back in his life.

He went and took a long shower, letting the hot water soothe his overworked muscles. When he got out, he dressed in some lounging clothes and turned the tv on. He put it on his favorite old skool R&B station, and danced his way to the kitchen. He heated up some leftover Robin put in the refrigerator for him and settled down in his favorite chair.

He ate while his mind took him back to his night, and morning, with Charlotte. He couldn’t stop thinking about her.

It was strange how he went from an occasional thought over the past ten years to nonstop thoughts, over the course of a couple of days. He was just amazed by her. And to think, she felt the same way he did. He just couldn’t get over that.

He replayed her words over and over in his head. And it didn’t help that she’d told him she loved him. Just thinking about that made his heart flutter. He hadn’t felt that feeling in a long while. She was bringing out of him something that seemed to have been hidden away for a long time. He tried to remember the last time that Robin did something for him or to him to make him feel butterflies, or at the very least, even a small flutter. He came up empty-handed.

And, as he was soon beginning to realize, thinking about Charlotte and Robin at the same time was depressing him. That thought alone made him uncomfortable. How someone could cheat on another person was beyond him.

He didn’t regret what he’d done with Charlotte, but the fact that he was going to have to hide that from Robin was killing him. He wasn’t used to keeping secrets from her, they shared everything. He married her and made a commitment to her and in one night, he broke that.

He started thinking back to the night he proposed to Robin. They were so happy back then, not to say they weren’t happy now.

They went to a small jazz hall that she loved going to. After eating, he took her down to the Galveston on the seawall. He’d made reservations at a hotel on the water and he wanted that night to be perfect. After checking in, they went for a short walk down on the sandy beach and just talked and kissed and just made the night perfect. When they’d gotten back to the suite, he had her to close her eyes and he let her to the bedroom. There, he stood her in front of the bed where he’d had the concierge place rose petals all over the bed and had chocolate covered strawberries and champagne waiting. There, in the middle of all that was a small box with and engagement ring in it.

He got down on one knee while he was holding her hand. He squeezed her hand and told her to open her eyes. She was looking down, in the direction of his voice and immediately saw him on one knee. She teared up before she even had the chance to look around the newly decorated room. He drew her attention to the ring on the bed and then told her how much she meant to him, expressing just how many ways he loved her.

She was so hysterical and happy that she got on the phone and called her mom before she even gave him an answer. He remembered how he laughed at the fact that she was calling and telling everybody that he proposed before she gave him and official yes. He didn’t care, though. He loved her with all his heart. She was going to marry him and that was all that mattered.

But now, things were different. He loved her, but something in their relationship had changed a while ago. He couldn’t put his finger on it but he could tell that they both knew it, but they both were fighting hard to keep their relationship together. He couldn’t say that he his love for had changed in a bad way, but his love for her was different nonetheless.

And he figured that she was in the same position.

He was brought back to reality by the phone ringing. He looked at the screen as it displayed Charlotte’s house number. His smile was automatic. He couldn’t help it.

“Hey you,” he greeted her.

“Wow, you sound really happy. What’s going on?” she countered.

“Nothing. I was just sitting here thinking about things, some good and some bad, but either way, I was happy when I saw your name pop up on the called ID. I never thought I’d be one of them,” he said.

“One of who?” she asked.

“You know, one of those people who blush and smile at the mention of someone name. I never thought I’d be one of those dudes. And if anybody else finds out that I am, I’ll know it was you who said something.”

This was another thing he missed with Robin, he realized. The playful banter and the talking about nothing. They used to do it all the time, and now, everything was so serious or wasn’t anything at all. He couldn’t just walk up to her and talk about the green, purple and yellow socks he started to buy her when he was at the store. She would wonder what he thought she had to wear with that and even if she did have an outfit, where would she wear it? She wouldn’t be caught dead in socks like that. Her reputation was at stake.

But with Charlotte, it was different. Everything seemed to be. She probably would’ve playfully scolded him for not buying them for her, and the scarf or hat to match. And she would wear them, just because they came from him.

“Oh, you know I will tell every person I come in contact with. You just wait til I get a chance to talk to Sam. You know I’m telling her.”

Jeremy racked his brain trying to remember who Sam was. Then he remembered she was Charlotte’s younger sister. The one who used to pretend that she was his girlfriend. When her friends would come over, she would pretend that he was there to see her. He played along with it, too. All her little friends were so jealous of Sam. They all thought Jeremy was the most beautiful boy they’d ever seen.

He laughed as he remembered that and relayed it to Charlotte.

“You know, if you ask her about that today, she’ll deny that that ever happened. She tries to play the role of the bad girl now. I don’t know what I’m going to do with her,” Charlotte told him.

They talked about an hour longer before his call waiting chimed in. He asked Charlotte to hold on while he clicked over.

“Hello?” he said into the phone.

“Hey baby, good, you’re still awake,” Robin said. “I just wanted to let you know that I’ll be home first thing in the morning. The meeting we were supposed to have tomorrow got cancelled, so I’m going to head out early in the morning. I miss you so much.”

Jeremy didn’t know what to say. He went from about hundred miles per hour talking to Charlotte to zero when he started talking to Robin.

“Okay,” was all he could muster up to say.

“Okay, baby. I’ll see you in the morning. Love you,” she said.

“You, too,” he replied. His mind and mouth just wouldn’t form the words.

After clicking back over, Charlotte noticed the change in his tone.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

“She’ll be back in the morning. I was kind of hoping to get in some more time with you before she came back. Now that’s out the window.”

He sounded so sad and heartbroken. She wanted the same thing, which was the reason for her call. But it seemed that when they got to talking, she always forgot her reasoning and just went with the flow.

“Well, that’s what I was originally calling you about. I wanted to see if you wanted to come over. You could stay with me until the very last minute. I want to see you, too,” she finished quietly.

“Hang up, I’m on my way” was all she heard before the dial tone sound.

Ten minutes later, he was knocking on her front door.
_____________________________________________________________________

Robin hung up the phone with Jeremy and sat back down on the bed.

“Babe, come on to bed. I told you, we’ll figure this out. I promise,” Greg said to her.

She turned around to face him. He noticed right away the tears streaming down her face. He reached over and pulled her to him. He wrapped his arms around her and spooned her. He let her cry until she fell asleep. He never would’ve expected for Robin to react this way. She didn’t even know whether or not she was pregnant yet. He figured it had to be something else that was bothering her. She was withdrawn from him since she took those tests.

He couldn’t put his finger on it, but her demeanor, body language and attitude towards him had changed in the last couple of hours. He was sure about that. He just hoped that she wasn’t pulling back from him. That, he wouldn’t be able to take again. If that was the case, he wouldn’t go down without a fight.

Chapter 15

Charlotte was a little confused. She honestly felt that her heart was with Jeremy, but she didn't know what was going to happen there. She was in love with a married man. A man who was happy with his wife, regardless of how much they both wished that "wife" was Charlotte. She couldn't compete with that.

So when Terrance showed up, things for her got even worse. Terrance was the only man that she knew that could compete with Jeremy for her feelings. Had Terrance not been called to duty, she would've married him back then.

How thin was the line between loving someone and being in love with someone?

"Can I come in?" Terrance asked.

Charlotte was standing in the doorway staring at him. She shook her head out of the daze she was in and stepped aside as his six foot four frame waltzed into the room. She closed the door behind him and leaned against it.

She didn't know what to do or say. If they were still on the phone, it would've been easier, but given that he was here, now and in the flesh, it was throwing her off her game. This was something that she had to mentally prepare herself for.

"I'm sorry, have a seat," she said, motioning to the sofa in her living room.

"I was just about to, um, fix myself a drink. You want?" she asked. She knew she definitely needed something to stop herself from going crazy.

She walked over to the bar in the corner and pulled out two highball glasses. She filled them both halfway with Alize. Her bar, her rules, she thought. He knew she knew nothing about mixing drinks, let alone what went into which glass.

She handed him his drink and sat on the floor cushions lining the wall under the window. She chose sitting on her floor over sitting on the sofa any day. She purposefully had her entire house lined with the thickest carpet underlay she could find. When you walked on it, your feet would sink into the carpet.

"So..." she began, "what brings you out here?"

"I came to see you. I just got back yesterday, went to see my mom and dad last night, my Big Mama this morning and now you this evening. I didn't want to call and you maybe not be here. And I didn't want to call and you maybe be here and not want to see me. I just didn't know what to expect. I mean it’s been a couple of years, you know?"

"Three years, two months and four days, to be exact. But who's counting?"

She coyly took a sip of her drink and watched him over the rim. She noticed that he'd set his drink down and was intensely watching her.

“Why are you sitting way over there?” he questioned.

“I like it over here. Why don’t you come join me? I don’t bite.”

Terrance stood up and Charlotte looked up just in time to see that he was just about to walk into a cluster of small lights she had hanging over her reading chair.

“Watch your head!” she yelled.

He ducked, but not in time. He knocked one of the lights off and Charlotte caught it. She laughed as he looked like he was about to cry. He apologized as he tried to fold his long legs under him like she did. She cracked up even more as he tipped over trying to sit Indian style.

Once he got settled, they sat and comfortably talked for the next couple of hours. It was fun catching up with Terrance. He told her about the things he saw while he was away and she caught him up on what had been going on in her life.

She asked him if he’d met someone while he was away and he thought that was a strange question. She told him about how there were men that she knew who got called to duty and came back married or engaged to women from where ever they served. He denied having a wife or fiancée, claiming that he was still in love with her.

He then told her about the ring and how he would’ve proposed had things been different. He asked her if she was seeing someone now and she hesitated with her answer.

“It’s complicated. I’m in a situation that is not ideal and I have no idea how I’m going to handle it,” she told him.

That was one thing she always loved about him. She could tell him anything and he would sit and talk it through with her, no matter what it was about.

But this wasn’t something that she really wanted to share with Terrance. She wasn’t exactly sure that she wouldn’t come out hurt in the situation with Jeremy. She thought it would be best to keep her options open. After all, Jeremy was married. And right now, one of her options was sitting and talking with her in her living room.