Chapter 33

“Well, Whaddya think?” I said looking over at my wife as we lay beside each other.

“James is right. It’s time to at least try to put everything behind us. And, David, it is ‘us’ now, not just you. That doesn’t mean that everything will be good, or that some bad memories might not remain. But, it does mean that a healing process should at least be given a look see,” she said. “And, if I have any say in this at all, I think that their motives, their motives these days, most definitely need to be considered.”

“Honey, without you this could not happen. And, you do have a say in all of this. Like you say, it is us now not just me. I need your input, and I trust it more than my own.” I said.

“Well thank you for that,” she said. “And, I know seeing her again is going to make things hard for you, but I’m a pretty damn good substitute for her believe it.”

I looked her straight in the eyes. “Damn straight you are. You are my life, and finding you or you finding me I guess is proof positive that there is a God,” I said.

She smiled her appreciation and that made me smile.

“You think that this time...” started Ronald.

“I don’t know, but I sure as hell hope so; it’s fucking time. My wonderful ex-husband needs to get it together. Him being married may be the kicker,” she said. “I wonder what kind of woman she is. I’m worried about that one.”

“And he is wonderful. If he kicks my cheating as from Douglas to the red planet Mars, I’ll thank him and ask him to do it again,” he said.

“Not until after I ask him to kick me there first,” she said. “Ron, we, the both of us, did him wrong, no matter that we never wanted to hurt him. What we did, the things we did, the ideas we came up with, were guaranteed to hurt him. We deserve to be punished, and the fact is that putting us in the position were in ‘is’ punishment. The question is will he see it that way.”

“Everything you say is spot on. But, our good intentions notwithstanding, he’s got to want to forgive us, and that’s the kicker, not just his wife,” he said.

I saw them pull up in front of the house. The Caddy looked new. Well he was a rich man. Wonder what it felt like to be rich? What I was sure of was that I’d never know. Money just didn’t seem to like me very much. But that’s okay, I was happy, my wife was happy, nothing else mattered. And anyway, we made enough between us.

It was a hot day, and the others were out on the patio waiting for the arrival of the next bevy of guests.

I went to the door; I didn’t immediately alert the fans on the patio; I don’t know why. At any rate, I had instructions from my wife as to how to behave when they did arrive and I was going to be following orders.

The knock was tentative; I don’t know why but I thought that kinda odd. I answered it.

“Hello to you,” I said, it was an all-inclusive hello. Ronald looked at me strangely.

“Hi to you too, David,” said Stacey. She stepped forward and gave me a kiss on the cheek. I stepped back and looked at her; I think I upset her judging by her hand going to her mouth.

“David, I didn’t mean...” she started.

“No, no, it’s okay, never mind,” I said, trying to smile but failing badly. Well, I was under orders. “Come in.”

The two of them entered. They were smiling at me, but the smiles were kinda forced. I could see they were uncomfortable. Well, after everything, I guess that that kinda figured. Hell, I was uncomfortable too being as physically close to her as I was.

I could see that the both of them were doing their best to “not” notice my, our, digs. Perhaps perversely it amused me. They were clearly trying their damnedest to not offend me. I decided to not take offense unless they did something totally egregious.

“Dave, We are really glad that you could see your way clear to allow us to visit you,” said Stacey. “We’ve missed you, honestly.”

“Yeah sure,” I said, how sincerely would have been arguable. “Everyone else is out back. Let’s join them.”

I wanted to get my wife near me as soon as I could. I didn’t trust myself around the woman, Stacey. I needed my Rozelle, and I know that that makes me sound like a pussy. What can I say I am one when it comes to my women.

“Momma! Dad!” screamed Jenna. I could see that she had immediately bitten her tongue, greeting my brother as she had.

“Hi, honey,” said Stacey. Stacey went to our daughter and hugged her. Ronald, looking a little uneasy, made the decision. He went to her to and hugged her as well. He didn’t say anything; he just hugged her and stood back. He was obviously doing his best to not upset the apple cart. He was getting the lay of the land: finding out how far I’d come in being willing to kiss and make up. That was okay by me; I wasn’t sure myself. Her being there, across from me, was making it hard for me to concentrate.

“Honey,” encouraged Rozelle.

“Uh—yes, Stacey Carter, Ronald Carter, this is my wife, Rozelle Carter,” I said.

Pleasantries and greetings and questions about the trip down from Phoenix over with, all of our visitors began talking at once, and then laughing kind of hysterically and then calming down and then a moment of silence ensued. And then the doorbell rang.

I’d been standing off to the side doing some forced smiling of my own. We were all still on the patio, but I’d heard the doorbell and went to answer it.

“Aunt Delia!” I said, opening the door to welcome the latest to arrive. I had not expected her.

“Rozelle called me and asked if I were able to come down. I took the bus,” she said.