Games (27 page)

It was nearly impossible, but she’d kept her return date a secret from him. She wanted to surprise him with a welcome home dinner on Saturday. She went into her bedroom and held the picture of Brian from his graduation. “Three more days, sweetheart,” she said out loud then packed the picture away.

***

In the middle of doing laundry on Saturday morning, Shay’s cell phone rang. Brian called again. A millisecond before she pressed the green answer call button, little Josiah burst into the laundry room. She let the call go to voicemail. Halfway through the mound of clothing, she went into the privacy of her bedroom and returned his call.

“Hey
, beautiful,” he answered.

“How are you, my semi-sweet chocolate drop?” 

“Lonely for you, when are you coming home?” he whined.

She covered the mouthpiece in an effort to conceal the giggle from her voice. “You’ll see me soon,” she answered evasively.

“That’s still too long,” he whined again.

“If you think that’s too long, waiting for you to finish law school will seem like an eternity.”

Brian’s heavy sigh sounded like static. “Don’t remind me.”

“What are you doing tonight?” Shay inquired, innocently.

“Nothing. My flight gets in at three o’clock. I was thinking about driving out to Blackhawk to see the folks, but that’s about it.”

“Oh.” She had to convince him not to come to the house without arousing his

curiosity. “Brian, I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to drive that far after your flight. I’m sure you’re going to be exhausted.”

“It’s only a two-hour flight and the drive is only forty-five minutes.”

“I know, but you have been working nonstop with your mother and I know you’re

mentally drained. Besides, I would feel better if you waited until you’ve had a chance to rest.” Shay hoped she was persuasive enough. 

“You win. I’ll do what I’m told and go straight home. My stomach has been a little queasy and I do miss sleeping in my own bed.”

“Now that’s a good boy,” Shay teased.

“You mean man, don’t you?”

“Oh, most definitely.”

Brian walked into his home and exhaled his relief. Home at last.  He’d been gone for eight weeks and although his mother needed him, he missed his space.  He’d gotten used to the three-bedroom two-bath ranch-style house his father allowed him and Todd to live in while they attended school. After dropping his bags in the den, he went into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator and smiled when he saw it was fully stocked. “Thanks, Todd,” he said, although he was there alone.

After pouring a glass of orange juice, he sat at the kitchen table and sorted through the pile of mail.  Most of it he considered junk mail. He opened the utility bills and placed them in the accounting book he and Todd shared. He then went into the garage and started the washer. He unpacked the rest of his things while waiting for his clothes to complete the wash cycle.

On the way back to his room he noticed the box from the post office bearing his name and address, but no return address, in the den. He assumed the package was what
Shannon referenced earlier in the week and decided he’d open it later. Inside his room, he prepared to take a long hot shower.  Before undressing, he sat on the side of his bed and admired the framed picture he kept of Shay on the nightstand. He picked up the picture and outlined her face with his fingers. He instantly felt the familiar longing in his heart. “I love you so much,” he whispered at the image.

He hadn’t told her yet, but lately he’d been rethinking his two-year plan.

Every day he realized it was unrealistic to wait that long to take their relationship to the next level. But with him being a student, he didn’t know what else to do. As a law student, he couldn’t handle the financial responsibility of a wife. Shay was accustomed to the finer things in life and he wanted to continue to give her the best. He felt Shay deserved that. Shay never spent a day in her life wondering how her financial needs would be met and Brian didn’t want her to start now. And what about children? He couldn’t afford a child now anymore than he could have a year ago when they had the pregnancy scare. Letting the dilemma rest for now, Brian set the picture down and made a mental note to talk to his father about his predicament.

From his dresser drawer, he pulled out a pair of black boxers. He walked out into the hallway and grabbed a towel from the linen closet. Two steps back into his bedroom, Brian decided to retreat to the den and turned on the surround sound system, filling the house with a medley of his favorite gospel artists.

***

Shay drove her new Lexus down Interstate 580 like the piece of machinery was made just for her. With the V6 engine and more than 300 horsepower under the hood, she practically floated down the highway. She glanced down at the clock. It was five-thirty; right on schedule. She’d planned to have Brian’s favorite Mexican meal of chicken enchiladas with Spanish rice and black beans, ready by six-thirty. She even baked him a lemon pound cake, which she tried unsuccessfully to hide from Reggie. “I’ll bake you one tomorrow,” she vowed to Reggie.

Reggie wasn’t buying it. She had to cut him a slice to keep him from calling to tell Brian she was home. Just before she left the house, Reggie reminded her that she was expected to be home by midnight. That was part of the accountability system she worked out with Reggie and her mom to help her monitor how much time she and Brian spent alone.

Shay’s heart fluttered when her exit came into view.

***

Shannon
parked her car in the driveway then retrieved the spare key from under the potted plant and quietly entered the house. She had expected to see Brian as soon as she entered, but didn’t.  She knew he was there because the music was on and there was a light coming from a back room. She had never been inside so she took the opportunity to inspect the front of the house.

Although she couldn’t cook, she was impressed with the large size of the kitchen and loved the bay window overlooking the city from the living room. She looked at the picture of Reggie and Julia on their wedding day sitting on the mantle and again wondered what was it about Julia Simone that made a man like Reginald Pennington love her so much. She really admired Julia, but she knew after tonight, Julia wouldn’t like her at all. She would probably be banned from the church. That thought saddened her a bit, but she quickly pushed it to the back of her mind.
Shannon loosened the belt on her trench coat and started down the hallway.

The closer she got to the light coming from the back of the house, she heard the shower. “This will be easier than I thought,” she said and stepped inside of what she figured was Brian’s room.  The picture of Shay on the nightstand was a dead giveaway.

She rolled her eyes at the picture and proceeded to pull back Brian’s bed covers. She had just finished unbuttoning her coat when the shower stopped.

***

Brian causally dried himself and dressed in his boxers while humming the words to the song playing. He stayed inside the bathroom and trimmed his goatee before stepping into his room.  He took two steps and his heart nearly stopped.

The driveway was full so Shay parked on the street in front of the house. She assumed the Ford Focus parked next to Brian’s RAV4 belonged to Todd. She grabbed the two grocery bags and the cake from the trunk, then used her key to let herself into the house.

When she saw that the house was dark with the sound system blaring, she knew Brian was probably in his room asleep. He often slept to loud music. She decided to set things up in the kitchen before disturbing him.

***

“Shannon, what are you doing here?” Brian demanded.

Shannon
didn’t seem worried at all. She seductively let the trench coat fall to her feet revealing the black lace and satin camisole. Before she answered him, she climbed onto his bed.

“I’m waiting for you. I told you I had something for you.” She licked her lips.

“Shannon, put your clothes on and get out!” he yelled.

“But
, Brian, I’ve been a good friend to you.” She crawled on her knees on his bed to him and ran her hand across his chest. “Don’t you think it’s time for you to be a good friend to me?”

Brian jumped away from her at her touch. His jaws flexed and his chest heaved rapidly. He felt the nausea returning, he was going to be sick and
Shannon perched there grinning.

“
Shannon, I’m only going to tell you once more. Put your clothes on and get out!”

“Brian
, please, just make love to me this one time and I won’t bother you again. You owe me that much,” she said and lay on her back waiting for him to join her.

His nostrils flared and his eye twitched. “If you’re not going to leave on your own, I’ll throw you out.” Brian picked her up just as Shay entered the room. At the sound of Shay’s gasp he turned around.

***

Time stood still as Shay looked from Brian’s horrified expression to Shannon’s smirk. There Brian stood nearly naked and in his arms was an equally undressed woman. The woman who Shay knew wanted Brian all to herself.

To Shay, it took her brain an eternity to tell her lungs to breath
e again. “Br-Br-Brian?” she finally stuttered his name.

His mouth moved up and down, but no sound was made. When he didn’t respond, tears streamed down Shay’s face. Shay could only look at them a second longer before she felt like she was going to be sick. She turned and ran from the room.

Watching Shay run out on him unfroze Brian’s faculties. He literally dropped
Shannon on the floor, stepped over her and ran after Shay. When he caught up with her, she was running out the front door. “Shay, wait!” he called after her.

She didn’t stop. Brian ran outside in his boxers and bare feet. He caught up with her at the end of the driveway.

“Shay, wait! It’s not what you think!”

She pushed him against the bushes. “Don’t touch me!” she screamed through tears and continued on to her car.

“Shay, please wait. Give me a minute to explain.” He ran around to the driver’s side.

Shay started the engine. “There is nothing to talk about! Stay away from me!”

Brian tried to open the car door, but she sped off, leaving him standing in the middle of the Campus Drive in nothing but his boxers.

Brian ran back inside.
Shannon sat on his bed, like her actions hadn’t turned his world upside down. Brian hurriedly threw on sweats and a pair of Nikes. Before he ran out, he glared at Shannon. This time his tone and his eyes were deadly. “When I get back you had better be gone!”

Shay made it home safely only by the grace of God. The entire drive hot and heavy tears obstructed her vision. Wave after wave of nausea constantly rushed through her body as thoughts of Brian and
Shannon being intimate flashed before her. She had to pull over twice on Interstate 680 to empty her stomach. When she pulled into the circular driveway at Blackhawk, she barely stopped the car before she opened the door and jumped out.

Reggie and Julia were sitting in the den watching television when Shay slammed the door and ran up the stairs wailing.

Julia stood to follow after her, but then Brian burst through the door.

“Where’s Shay?”
He was breathless.

Julia recognized the fear in Brian’s eyes and knew something was very wrong. “What happened?”

Brian ignored the question. “Where did Shay go?”

“She’s upstairs, but
—” Julia started, but Brian couldn’t wait.

In no time, he hiked the winding staircase two steps at a time and entered Shay’s room. He found her in the adjourning bathroom leaning over the toilet bowl. He watched as she finished emptying the last of her stomach contents and for the heaving to stop.  He waited for her to rinse her mouth and handed her a wet towel for her face.

“Brian, get out!” she finally yelled, without looking at him.

When he stepped out of the bathroom the crying started all over again. This time tremors shook her body. When she finally stepped into her bedroom, he was still there; sitting on her bed.

“Brian, I told you to leave,” she screamed.

He stood up. “Shay, I’m not leaving until you talk to me.”

Shay turned to face him. “I don’t have anything to say to you, not now, not ever!” He stepped toward her and reached for her arm. She snatched it away. “How could you do this to me?”

“Shay, sweetheart, I didn’t do anything. I promise.”

“I may have been stupid and naïve to fall in love with you, but I’m certainly not blind,” she yelled. “And don’t call me ‘sweetheart’.”

Her words hurt, but he couldn’t let it show, not now. “I know what it looked like, but, Shay, all you saw was me trying to take
Shannon out of the house.”