Chapter 7

Stella raged, screaming in the car. She raged about the unfairness of life, the choices she made that were wrong. and most of all, she raged about Charley, and the happiness he had found.

It was totally irrational, she knew that, but she felt Norma had stolen something that was hers. She didn't know if she wanted it back, but she definitely didn't want Norma to have it.

Norma was a little worried. Charley was uncharacteristically moody, less likely to smile than before. They were home, talking about the plans they had for the weekend. She wanted to change the chandelier in the great room to something a little more modern. Charley had as usual said she could change it, but now seemed to be having second thoughts.

"Now, Charley, you agreed. It's already been delivered, the electricians are going to install it tomorrow."

He looked at her with an odd expression.

"We can send it back, pay them their call out rate, and have the whole day alone. Does it really matter?"

She found herself getting short with him.

"It matters to me. You agreed I could do this, and we are NOT sending it back. That's the end of this discussion!"

She never forgot the look he gave her. He opened his mouth to say something, seemed to stop and think. Then he got up and left.

She wasn't too concerned for the first couple of hours, but when he wasn't home by midnight, she called Sherrie.

"Charley isn't home yet. Have you seen him?"

Sherrie had been asleep and noticed the time. She pushed on David until he stopped snoring and woke up.

"Sorry, honey. I haven't laid eyes on him since Wednesday. Did he say where he was going?"

"No! We were talking about changing the chandelier and he got up and left without a word. I'm worried."

Sherrie had a bad feeling she couldn't shake, but she put on a bright tone.

"Oh, I'm sure it's nothing. If he isn't home soon, call me back."

She talked to her a few more minutes until Norma calmed before hanging up. She looked at David.

"Charley left Norma without a word and it's been four hours. What do you think happened?"

She had snuggled back into him, and he was absently rubbing her belly. The baby kicked and she saw his smile.

"I don't know. It isn't like Charley. The only time I can ever remember him doing things like this was right before he and Stella broke up. She was making crazy demands and Charley was tired of putting up with it. When she got into the 'this is the way it's going to be and you're gonna have to get used to it' rants, he would get up and leave the house. He told me once that he was never going through that again. But I can't see Norma doing anything like that in a million years. I'm sure he'll be back soon, in fact he's probably back now. Go back to sleep honey, you need the rest."

It wasn't to be. At two thirty Norma called back in tears.

"He's not back yet! Something is really wrong, I can feel it."

About four minutes of crying and unintelligible sounds followed.

"Norma, honey, Norma, NORMA!"

The crying stopped. For a second.

"Norma, we'll be there in a bit. Turn the porch light on."

It was almost four before they were in the living room, feeding Norma hot tea. After talking for an hour, Sherrie led her to bed, and snuggled to her while she went to sleep in the big bed, filled with his scent. She slept until nine.

She woke, feeling someone in the bed with her. He's back! But when she turned she saw the large tummy, and knew who it was.

She saw her eyes open and hugged her.

"I feel so bad for pulling you out of your bed, but I had no one else to turn to. Please don't think I'm a horrible person."

Sherrie petted her, doing her best to console her.

"You're not a bad person, Norma. You're a good person in an upsetting situation. Let's go have some coffee. If he came home and saw me in bed with you, he probably slept in one of the spare bedrooms."

She laughed as she waddled down the steps. "If I have to come over here again, we're sleeping downstairs."

She checked on David, hearing his snores as she opened the door. No Charley to be found.

Coming back into the kitchen, she saw Norman fiddling with a new coffee brewer, one of those one cup at a time, four hundred flavors model.

"Wow! Where did that come from?"

Norma was glad she liked it.

"I bought it for the house. Charley fought me on it, he wanted to keep that beat up old percolator, but I talked him into getting rid of it.

David walked in during the conversation, frowning.

"I talked to Charley. He finally returned a call. He'll be back at the plant by Monday morning. Don't try to contact him before then."

Norma was starting to cry.

"Why won't he come back now?"

"Because of Stella."

Norma tensed up.

"What's that bitch got to do with it? Is she trying to get her hooks in him? I'll beat that plastic slut to death before I let her have him! Where is she?"

Norma was in her pocketbook searching for her keys. David gently took them and sat her at the table, asking Sherrie to make him a cup of coffee.

"What flavor?"

She saw the look of disgust on his face.

"American, black."

"Sorry, Norma, I misspoke. I meant the ghost of Stella. He told me he was having flashbacks of his old life, and he had to be alone to think about it.

"Is it something in the house? Tell me, I'll get rid of it right now."

"That might be pretty hard, Norma. It's you."

"WHAT!"

David took the cup from Sherrie, thanking her.

"You guys weren't around when the end came for Charley and Stella. She was starting to think she was just a little too young, too attractive, that she deserved something with a little more flash, than to stay with an old guy like Charley."

"The fact she was just six months younger, and he was funding all her upgrades was lost to her. She and her lover started their mutual seduction at about that time, and she really wasn't keeping up with the home front."

"She already started planning her exit strategy. It was her plan to keep the house, so she started remaking it into what she wanted, at his expense. It started out with new appliances, then new furniture. Charley had hand built most of it, and she got rid of it like it was some Chinese knock off from KMart. She wanted a new car, a BMW, so she got it. Charley finally figured out she was erasing him out of her life.

"That's when he bugged the house and got the investigators. He said the last straw came when she tried to throw away his old coffeepot. It was the one his mom and dad used. It gave him a lot of comfort. The same coffeepot you talked him into getting rid of."

"Tell me he just put it up, that it's still here."

Norma was slowly getting more upset.

"I didn't know! Why didn't he tell me? I would have understood. Oh my."

She jumped up and ran out of the kitchen and up the driveway. They had a garbage service that picked up Wednesdays and Saturdays. She got there just as the truck was pulling up. She destroyed the bags before they could get to them, crawling around in her robe, begging God to let it still be there. Suddenly she screamed and held it up. You would have thought it was platinum and filled with gold the way she held it.

David helped her up, and tipped the garbage men twenty apiece for their trouble. She hugged the pot all the way back into the house.

She washed it thoroughly and took the new unit and put it in the bottom cabinet.

"Why didn't he tell me what it meant to him?"

"Because, Norma, you meant more to him than the pot. He's always been one to make others he cares about his priority. Why do you think he does what he does for you? Because he wants you to be happy. He just sometimes overdoes it."

"Norma, look at me, it's important."

He paused until she looked him in the eye.

"Why do you think he let you have that pot? Because he wanted to make you happy. He had no idea you would want to throw the old one away."

"He got you a fifty thousand dollar car that you love almost to obsession. Think he expected you to tell him he couldn't drive a car he paid for that you park in his garage at his house? Sound like a loving partnership to you? He told me you were going to replace the chandelier. Did you know he designed and built that himself? I didn't think so."

"He left when you told him you were going to replace it whether he liked it or not. He said all he could see that moment was Stella, trying to ease him out of the house. And that, Norma, is why he's not sitting here right now."

"Look me in the eye, and tell me one thing you've done for him lately? Be careful now, before he decides you're not worth the trouble. Sherrie loves you like a mother, and I'm really fond of you, but if lines have to be drawn, I'll be on his side. Wake up, Norma, before you blow it."

She sat there, trying to absorb what he had told her. Had she really become that much of an arrogant, self absorbed bitch? The man she loved more than anyone she had ever known, and she was going to ruin it over material things? The idea that she may actually lose him struck her like a fist. She stood up, heading for the living room.

"I think I need to ... I'm just going to lie ... excuse me, I'll..."

David had been watching her face go pale, and he was at her side as she started sinking towards the floor. He got her on the couch, putting a pillow under her head. Sherrie brought a cool cloth and pressed it to her forehead.

"Leave her for a minute, honey. We'll check on her in just a second."

She led him back to the table and made him a fresh cup of coffee.

"What did he really say, David?"

He held her hand.

"Pretty much what I told her, but I had to drag it out of him. He loves her, a lot more than he loved Stella at the end, but it would kill him to go through it again. She may have lost him. I don't know what it would take to get him back to the point of marriage. You know he's already got the ring. The one I got you is really nice, but the one he got her makes yours look like a chip."

Sherrie put her hand on her tummy, feeling the kick.

"This has her upset."

David smiled. "He's tough, he can handle it."

It was a running discussion. They were purposely not learning the sex of their child, wanting a surprise. He was firmly convinced it was a boy, and she was sure it was a girl. In roughly seven weeks they would find out.

Norma woke up, and her conversation with David replayed in her head. Was she really that selfish?

She thought back on her relationship with Charley. She had fallen in love with him within weeks, despite having sworn she would never do it again.

Charley was everything her ex wasn't. Kind, loving, caring, and never putting her last in his thoughts and plans. Her ex was the exact opposite, putting her needs and desires behind his. She just wasn't used to being loved correctly, and it showed.

Sherrie and David stayed with her until Monday, they didn't think she needed to be alone. Troubling thoughts ran through her head all weekend. What if she lost him for good? The thought made her physically ill. She searched for a way to show him her love, and what his meant to her. Finally, Sunday night, she got the germ of an idea that may help.

She dressed three different times Monday, trying to remember which outfit was his favorite. Redid her makeup three times. She wanted to look her absolute best. She pinched her middle, frowning. She had gotten a little sedentary, time to get back into the gym. All her trouble was for nothing, he left a general email he was going to be in Alabama for a few days, at the request of the developer.

She had wrestled with the email she had sent him as soon as she got to work, trying to set the right tone. She apologized, saying no object it the world was worth losing his love over. She made the tone serious but hopeful. She also suggested maybe she didn't deserve to be with him because of her behavior of the last week. She said she didn't want to talk to him until the weekend, saying there was something she had to do, and be patient. She told him she still loved him more than she could express, and if he never married her it didn't matter, as long as they were together.

Charley was confused, reading her email. She loved him but didn't want to see him for a week? He knew he had been a bit of a jerk by leaving her for the weekend. But the flashbacks were so intense it was like living through it all over again. David chewed him out, nicely, telling him he needed to be a better communicator if he wanted to stay in a relationship. It was something to think about.

Sherrie listened while Norma explained what she wanted to do. She wasn't sure it was the right thing to do, but appreciated the sentiment.

Charley never put a password on his computer, and he was so happy she liked her car he showed her all the websites he visited, and about the guy he met on line who helped him pick it out. She remembered the address, SS06@stangnet.com, and sent him an email, thanking him for his help on her car, and how much she loved it.

She had a favor to ask. What would be the best type of Mustang to get her 50 year old husband? His birthday was coming up[a lie, both the relationship and the birthday], so she was sort of on the clock.

He didn't respond the first day, but the next he sent her a deluge of information. Colors, options, horsepower, aftermarket parts, the best cleaning products, the list seemed endless. She was beginning to think he was a bit obsessive. She assured him over and over she kept her convertible garaged, until she finally sent him a photo of her baby in the garage, gleaming from the last washing. He complimented her, saying if he weren't newly married he'd love to get to know her.

Married? Wonder what she drove?

He ended by making strong suggestions that she wouldn't like what happened if he found out either car was left out in the weather. then he insisted they come up to Detroit for the big Mustang event they have every summer, he'd like to meet them in person. Wow, time to change Charleys' email address.

She emailed him back that she really appreciated the information, but really needed to focus on the car right now. She reminded of her general area. He emailed her back three different models the local dealerships had, and the pros and cons of each. The only thing they had in common were they were loud, fast, and flashy.

She test drove a yellow one but didn't think he would like it. She wasn't impressed with the second one, but knew she had found the perfect one at the last dealership.

A 302 Boss, black with red accent stripes. Six speed, 444 horsepower. Since it was a 2012, she got a pretty good deal on it.

The salesman was about her age, handsome and well groomed. He loved her convertible, and confessed how much he wanted a Mustang. She asked why he didn't own one, and he laughed and showed her a picture of his family, five children, from twelve down.

"She drives a minivan, I drive an Expedition. That way we can both haul the family if we need to."

The test drive took her on the interstate, and despite her urge to open it up, she never got it over ninety, and was nervous at that.

The exit they turned around on had a little strip mall with Barnes and Noble in it. She pulled into the lot and walked around the car one more time. She started asking questions about financing. He held his hand up.

"It's cold out here. Let's go inside, the have a Starbucks, and get a warm drink while I enter all the information. That way the paperwork will be ready when we get back to the dealership you won't have to wait around as long."

She got a double raspberry latte, and he got a medium regular.

He entered all the information into his tablet while they sat. His phone rang just as they left, and he laughed. He showed Norma the video, his youngest taking her first steps. She hugged him, fibbing a little about her first grandchild due in just weeks.

Stella stood in the bookstore staring, before she pulled out her phone and started snapping pictures of them laughing at the table, and the hug beside the car. She had just the address to send them to.

Sherrie was stunned when they went to pick up the car.

"Can you afford this?"

"Since I'm living with the man, I have no bills at all. And, my boss has been pretty good to me, with raises and bonuses, so I made a pretty hefty down payment. Do you think he'll like it?"

David was with them.

"He'll love it. When are you going to give it to him?"

"This weekend, when he gets back from Alabama. I intend for it to be sitting in the garage with a big bow around it. Naturally he'll want to drive it, and when he opens the door he'll find me wrapped in a big bow. It will be all I have on. Think he'll get the message?"

Charley, at that exact time, was sitting his suite staring at his laptop. The pictures were as plain as it gets. Norma, laughing with a man in a coffee shop. Norma, outside, hugging a man with a happy smile on her face.

He didn't recognize the address, but the caption said it all.

THOUGHT YOU MIGHT WANT TO KNOW.

He suddenly shook himself and checked the time. He had been staring at the screen for forty five minutes. He had a dinner appointment with the condo developer. He never felt less like going out in his life.

He stumbled through the dinner, not remembering a thing said. His host asked him twice if he was all right, and Charley said he was feeling a bit under the weather. He begged off the rest of the evening and went back to his room, where he lay on his bed and stared at the ceiling. He finally dozed off around five, forty minutes before his wake up call. He called the developer, explained he was still under the weather, and promised he would be all right the next day. He brooded. He felt like crying but didn't. Finally he called David.

David could tell by his tone he was still depressed. He started trying to cheer him up.

"Come home, Charley. Your trip was more of a courtesy call than anything else. Come home and let your woman love you up. She's feeling real guilty about the way she treated you. I'm sure a LOT of makeup sex is in your future."

There was a long silence before Charley spoke.

"I'm sure she's got a lot to make up for, but maybe that's not a good idea right now. I'm thinking maybe I made a mistake, rushed into something too quick. I tell you what, I don't want to make this messy, find her a nice apartment and make arraignments to pay the rent for a year. I owe her that for making her give up her apartment. And tell her job isn't in danger, she's really good at what she does. Just don't expect a lot of interaction between us for a while. Tell her I'm sorry I wasn't enough, and that I hope she finds what she wants. Tell Sherrie I'm sorry, and please don't cut me out of her life."

David was stunned beyond belief. Norma and Sherrie were going to be devastated. He needed to find out what happened before he told them.

Sherrie knew immediately something was wrong. She had just over a month to delivery. It would have to be life threatening to get her to take a trip now.