Chapter 43: Carl

My plane to Omaha was delayed a number of hours due to the dreaded “equipment” issue. So, as soon as I got Charlotte’s text, I was in an Uber home.

I didn’t know what had been said and done between her and Stein, but I wanted to be there to use it to my advantage. There was no doubt that he was trying to cut me from the herd. So, it was pretty clear that it was him or me at that point. If they fought over me, all the better.

All the way home, I was trying to think what he might have done. If he hurt her, I would kill him. Simple as that. He had already gotten away with calling her stupid, so I didn’t think it was that. The only other show stopper that I knew she had was being lied to.

Sure enough as soon as I walked in the door, Charlotte broke into tears. With her puffy eyes and messed up makeup, it was obvious that she had been crying for a while, but now it was all out bawling.

“He lied to me, honey,” she said, between hiccuping sobs. “He lied.”

“It’s OK, baby. We’ll get new jobs somewhere else. We don’t need him or his stupid company,” I said.

“Oh no! Did you quit, too?”

“Not technically, but I’m here and not in Omaha. I’m not even on a plane to Omaha, and you know why?”

“Why?”

“Because my wife is my priority. I don’t care about anything else but you. I love you, Charlotte.”

She cried harder and hugged me tightly. “That’s why you will always be my husband, baby. I love you, too.” She grabbed me and gave me a fierce and very wet kiss.

“Let’s get out of here, so we can think this through clearly. I’ve already avoided calls from my boss, from Harry and from HR.”

“Me, too!”

“We need to go somewhere where we can focus on our future and figure out what we want to do.”

“That’s a good idea. Take me somewhere, honey. Anywhere.” Two hours later, we were at Disneyworld in Orlando checking into a silly resort hotel room and acting like two little kids discussing Space Mountain and the other fun rides.