Thirty-Seven

“Don’t you ever touch me again! You really need to get some help and quit living in the past. We went on one date and you didn’t want me because I wouldn’t spend my money on your elaborate tastes. I bet you wish you weren’t so shallow now but it’s too late. I’ve found the love of my life and we’re happy and nobody is going to come between us, so move on with your life because I don’t want you. Oh, and stop harassing my fiance because if you don’t there will be consequences.”
After that he turns and smiles at me and I smirk at her as we walk up the steps and into our house. Once we close and lock the door I can see him start to relax and I head into the kitchen and turn off the oven. I can feel him behind me as he puts the pizza into the freezer then we both sit down at the table.
“Baby, I don’t know how you dealt with that girl. She’s clearly out of her mind.”
“It was just one date and she wasn’t that crazy in high school, but in college I thought her behavior was just regular freshman in college behavior. I never really thought about her.”
“You know what I can’t understand? I can’t seem to figure out why she’s so obsessed with you now after all these years. Other than me, what’s different in your life that makes her want you so much?”
“I have no idea. Nothing in my life has really changed except that when my parents died I…..” He stopped talking and looked deep in thought.
“Baby what is it? What’s wrong?”
“The only thing that I can think about is that my parents left me everything when they died.”
“Yeah you told me that a long time ago.”
“There was one thing that I didn’t mention though Doll.”
“And that would be what?”
“My parents had some money and they gave some away to different charities and the rest they left to me. I invested it and now well lets just say I’m set for life.”
“Umm baby, I’m not going to ask you how much because I don’t care about the money and it’s obvious that you don’t which I love but I do have a question.”
“Doll you know that you can ask me anything. What’s your question?”
“Well when you say that you’re “set for life” are you talking in the thousands or hundred thousands range?” He smiles at me and kisses my forehead then smacks me on the ass before heading to the bedroom. I shake my head and sit on the sofa. “I really should learn to keep my mouth shut. How could I ask him that question? Then again he did tell me that I could ask him anything and it isn’t like I asked the amount of money he has saved.”
“Talking to yourself my love.” I jump a little because I didn’t hear him come back into the room and then blush when I realize that he’s heard every word I’ve said.
“Yeah well I do that sometimes and you already know that about me.”
“I didn’t leave to avoid answering your question baby girl. I went to get this so that you can see for yourself.” I’m handed a paper that looks like a stock portfolio and he points to a circled amount of money. I looked up at him and my mouth may have been open but I didn’t care at the time. I keep looking up at him and down at the paper until he sits next to me and removes the paper from my hand before grabbing my hands.
“Doll I didn’t mean to keep it from you but you know how people can be when they find out that you have money. I needed to know that you were with me because of me and not because of the money.” I move away from him and pull my hands out of his.
“I have my own money and I’ve never asked you for anything other than to be honest with me and to love me. I’ve been with you through two accidents and a miscarriage. We have gone on dates where I’ve paid when I was actually able to get to the check before you and I refused to let you pay me back for the tickets when you were in the hospital and we missed going to the movies. I uprooted my entire life and moved here with no help from anyone and could afford to buy a house but you asked me to live with you and I accepted because I love you, yet after a year and some months of being together you still thought that you needed to make sure I wasn’t with you for money that I didn’t even know about?”
“Well when you put it that way, I guess it does sound bad.”
“Sound bad? It is insulting Jameson! I don’t give a damn if you have $100 or $100,000 to your name, I have only been with you because I love you. I fell in love with you and didn’t even know what you looked like because you don’t like taking pictures. I have been having sex with you without a condom practically every night and you thought that I wasn’t with you for you. I certainly couldn’t have been trying to get pregnant to keep you because of your money because I didn’t know about the money. I fell in love with you and I love you for your personality, the way that you treat me, and a whole lot of other things that make you magnificent to me but if you think that I would only be with someone because of their money, then what does that say about you or me for that matter?” My phone goes off and it’s the alarm letting me know that it’s time for me to start getting ready so I get up and head to the bathroom and take a shower. He never comes in and joins me which is good because I really wasn’t in the mood for company anymore. After my shower I start to comb out my long curls debating whether I have enough time to straighten my hair. Finally I decide to just leave them curly but do a wet look and then move on to my lip gloss. I never wear makeup and quite frankly, I don’t need to wear any. Once I’m done and I check myself out in the mirror to make sure everything looks good, I head to the bedroom and go into the closet to find an outfit for the night. I decide on wearing something not too dressy but also not casual. It is starting to get colder at night given that it is September now, so I pull out a black sweater dress and accent it by putting on a red belt with my gold earrings, necklace, and bracelet, then I put on my red heels and exit the closet. Upon entering the bedroom I can hear the water in the shower running and a part of me feels kind of bad that I just walked away from him but I needed the space and time to cool down.
I sit on the bed and try to think about his side of things and I get where he’s coming from but it has been a whole year and we were going to have a baby, so why would he still be keeping that from me? More importantly, would he have said anything if this situation hadn’t come up? So many thoughts are going through my head and I can’t seem to keep them all together so I just decide to ignore them for the rest of the night and just try to have a good time out with our friends.
Finally he comes out of the shower and I see him head to the closet, so I head to my dresser and begin looking for his favorite perfume to put on and I spray some in all the right places before sitting back down on the bed and turning on the television. I turn it off when I can’t find anything but then I hear a faint vibrating noise coming from the living room so I get up and move towards it and see that it is his phone going off. I pick it up and turn it over to see that there is a text message from a number that I don’t recognize so I open it to see who it is and I can’t believe my eyes.
“It was nice seeing you today though I would have liked to do more than just see you, and I would have if that bitch wasn’t there. When are you going to get rid of her so we can finally be together?”
Is this real? It can’t be real. I mean I must be seeing things because there’s no way that Jameson gave this psychotic bitch his number especially not after the way that he treated her today and every other time he’s been in front of her. I’m just going to stay calm because there has to be an explanation for all of this plus I can’t blame him for something that she’s doing. I don’t see any messages from him but that doesn’t mean that there weren’t any. He could have erased them. Okay now I’m overthinking this whole situation. I’ll just take him the phone and he can explain it all to me. I walk back into the bedroom and hand him the phone open to the message.
“Anything you need to tell me?” He reads the message and looks at me.
“I can explain Doll.”
“I’m listening.”
“She’s just trying to get to you. It may be time for me to change my phone number. I’ve had this number for about ten years now. I didn’t know that she still had my number. Before you ask, no she hasn’t sent me any messages before this one.” Something is telling me to believe him so I do and decide to let it go, but if I find out that he did lie to me, he’ll regret it.
“Okay baby. Well we need to get moving or else we’ll be late.” I turn and start to walk away when he wraps his arms around my waist and pulls me against him. My back is against his chest and he pulls my hair from my shoulder and begins kissing my neck gently. I moan softly and he holds me tighter pulling me closer into him.
“You know what that perfume does to me. I want you so bad right now.” He kisses and sucks on my neck and I just know that there will be a hickey when he’s done but I don’t care. I love any affection that he gives me after going so long without either of us showing any.
“Mmmm yes I do but baby we really have to leave now or we won’t make it at all.”
“I think we can skip it and stay in tonight. I don’t think they would mind.” He keeps kissing down the left side of my neck and works his way to the right side.
“Oh baby that feels so good. Okay we can stay home.”
He turns me around in his arms and kisses me passionately while moving us towards the bed and just as he starts to pull up my dress his phone starts to ring. I pull away from him breathing heavily as he looks at the screen to see who’s calling.
“Who is it baby?”
“It’s Micah.” I burst out laughing and start fixing my dress then I grab my purse and the car keys.
“I’ll meet you in the car baby. You look very handsome by the way.” He smiles at me while putting on his shoes as I hear him telling Micah that we’re running a little late but are leaving the house now. I can hear him walking behind me as he ends the call and he smacks me on the ass as I open the front door.
“Keep that up and we won’t make it to dinner. What is this all about anyway? I mean I don’t think I’ve ever heard Micah talk this much since I’ve met him.”
“I promised that I wouldn’t say anything and I’m not, even to you my love. Please just wait until we get there.”
“Okay baby. I promise not to ask anymore questions as long as you make it up to me later tonight.” I smirk at him and get into the car. He closes my door and goes around to get in himself then grabs my hand and kisses the back.
“I promise that I will definitely make it up to you later Doll.”
Thirty minutes later we entered the restaurant and I must say I’m glad that I picked this outfit, because casual dress would not have been fitting for a place like this. The place was very romantic with the candles on the tables, white linen tablecloths, and just enough overhead lighting for us to be able to still see. The staff all looked very professional and happy. The atmosphere was actually very calming as well. We walked up to the host stand and he gave our names to the hostess. She was very pretty with blonde hair to her shoulders and pretty ice blue eyes. Her makeup and clothes were flawless. I mean there wasn’t a wrinkle in her clothes or a smudge of makeup or a hair out of place. The best part is that she didn’t look at me like I didn’t belong with him. She smiled at us and told us that the rest of our party was here and waiting for us, then she motioned for us to follow her to the table.