Wrong Way Renee (42 page)

* * * * *

“Good morning, sister dearest.
”
She
kissed
Char
as she sat opposite her
at Orlando Bagel Factory Sunday morning
.
She breathed in the aroma of fresh brewed coffee. The place was warm, noisy and crowded but her sister looked cool and collected in a starched white dress.

Char
narrowed her eyes
.
“Wh
y are you being so nice to me?”

She flinched although it was a fair question considering how long she’d been antagonistic toward Char.
“I've been doing some soul searching and I've come to the conclusion that I've done you wrong in recent years. I think I've been jealous of your life.
”
She let that hang in the air a moment before continuing.
“Plus, you did such a great job on my bathroom after your children trashed it, I figured I could swallow
my pride and make nice.”

Char
laughed as she
pulled out a small wrapped gift from her purse and handed
it across the table.

“What is it?”

“Open it and see. It's actually from the kids. They paid for pa
rt of it with their allowance.”

Sh
e ripped off the bright colored foil paper to reveal a box of
Pink Pleasures
scented body powder. “Thanks. You didn't have to
do that. But I'm glad you did.”

“Believe it or not, that was Gary Junior's idea. He got quite the spa
nking for that. So did Alyssa.”

Renee cringed.
“Ooh. I'm sorry.”

“Don't be. It was long overdue. I've been reading this book about reeling in your spoiled children. It's given me some good pointers. I ordered us each decaf and bagels with cr
eam cheese. And a plate of ruge
lach. It is a special occasion, after all.
Do you remember our Jewish neighbor making those for us when we were kids. What was her name?”

“Mrs. Engle. God, I haven’t thought about her for years.” They talked about old neighbors and childhood memories, all the things that connected them
sure as their
genes.

After lunch, Renee agreed to accompany
Char
to the mall, but vowed to buy nothing herself
. “I’m
on a strict budget
now.”

“About time. But I don’t think you’ll need to worry about that with Cleave.”
.

Renee picked
through a pile of clearance T
-shirts, then made herself walk away. “Yeah, about him…”

Char held up a green polo shirt but when Renee shook her head, she put it back on the rack. “What about Cleave?”

Now that she was forging a new relationship with her sister, she didn’t want to say or do anything to undermine it, but she wanted
her sister’s
input.
“I’ll be honest. I know you and Gary and Mama and Daddy all love Cleave. He’s a great guy.”

Char’s phone rang, but she immediately silenced it. “Go on.”

“Well, I’m not feeling it in my heart. He loves me, but I just don’t think I’m going to fall for him.” She eyed her sister. “Are you upset with me?”

Char’s eyes clouded. “Oh, Renee, how could I be upset with you for something that’s beyond your control. You have to follow your heart.
Do you think I’d be happy with Gary if I wasn’t completely in love with him?”

“I guess you wouldn’t.”

Char put her arm around Renee’s shoulder. “Let’s hit the bed and bath place here. I owe you a new bathroom rug. In fact, I think you deserve a whole new ensemble.”

Renee picked out the pink set she’d had her eye on for the past few months.

They parted ways after
Char
's babysitter called and told her she could no longer keep the children from killing each other.

“I've really enjoyed this,
. It was just
like old times, but different.”
She hugged her sister.

“I know what you mean. Can we please do this more often. I miss my little sister.
”

“
You bet. We'll make it a standing thing once a mo
nth or so. Just the two of us.”

Char
nodded.
“I'd like that.”

They went their separate ways. Renee was glad she didn't tell
Char
about the breast lump, yet. It would have changed
the whole mood of the day. And s
he needed the time to not have that on her mind. She stopped at the grocery store on her way home, buying only the essentials, determined to stay within a budget. Sitting in her car in the supermarket parking lot, she retrieved her cell phone from her purse and punched in Joe's number.
She’d been filling him in or her life as if his voicemail was her personal diary.

“Hi, Joe, me again. I just wanted to tell you I'm starting to get my life together. I've mended fences with my sister. I'm following a budget and paying down my credit cards. The only thing missin
g is you, still. I love you
, even if y
ou don't love me anymore. Bye.”

She hit the disconnect button.
“I love you, Joe.
”
She drove home, reflecting on her triumphant day of reconciling with
Char
.

Next she planned
to tell
Cleave
she couldn't see him anymore.
He would only be more hurt
the longer she let it drag out. There was only one thing to do
first. She had to swallow her pride
and take a loan from her parents to pay
him
back the money he'd loaned her for the Jeep.
Now that she was trying to be mindful of her budget, she was going to make her parents payments every month instead of going shopping.

As she drove, she called her father's cell.

“
Luther
Wright,
”
he said.

“Hi, Daddy.”

“Hello, Pumpkin. How are you
, honey? Everything all right?”

“Things
could be bet
ter. That's where you come in.”

“What can I do for you?”

“
I need to borrow some money. You see,
Cleave
made me a l
oan so I could get my new car.”

“
Is he asking to be paid back right away?
”

“No, he's not asking for anything. It's me, Dad. I don't think things are going to work out between the two of us.
”
She waited for
him
to say something.

“Hmm. I
see. That's a disappointment.”

Her insides twisted into a knot.
“I know it is. I'm sorry, but he's just not the one
.”

“
The most important thing is for my
girl
to be happy. If
Cleave
's not the one, he's not the one. Of course, your
Mama
will be very upset.
But neither of us want you to stay with
him
for us.
”

“I know.”

“
I'll give you the money. Nothing to worry about. Come by my office this week
. We'll take care of it there.”

A little of the tension between her shoulders eased.
“
Thank you.
I'll make you payments, starting right away. I love you, Daddy.
”

“I love you, too Pumpkin.”

She drove the rest of the way
home
in silence, reflecting on the wonderful family she'd taken for granted for so long.

As she climbed the stairs to her apartment, her cell
rang
. She pulled it from her pocket, then lost her grip on it, sending it tumbling into the bushes next to the stairs.

“Shit, shit, shit.
”
She
clamored down the stairs
and dived into the bushes. It was too dark to see. She had to feel around in the soggy soil and mulch.

She followed the sound
of her ringtone. At least s
he was getting closer and
…
damn. It stopped ringing. She patted the moist ground until she felt something. Ick, a slug. It had to be here. Joe could
be calling back.

Yeah, right
.

Finally, she touched the cold metal. Hurrying up the stairs, she quickly unlocked her door and turned on a light. The caller ID told her that she'd missed the most important call of her life. Call him back right now, she told herself. She tried to find the right buttons
, but tears blurred her vision.

A tall shadow moved from behind her. The door was still open
…

Oh God
.

Chapter Thirteen

“Haven't I taught you anything about security? Any weirdo could walk right in here and
…
who knows what?”

Renee's
jaw
dropped
when
she looked up at him. Was she hallucinating? Could it be? She
wanted to throw
herself into his arms,
plant
kisses on his cheek, his neck, his eyes.
But his guarded expression convinced her to stand her ground.
“
It’s really you. I’ve missed you so much.”

“
So you said in all your messages. I almost changed my number.”
H
e looked so handsome. His hair was a little shorter than the last time she’d seen him
. And he’d lost weight. Had she caused the new crop of lines fanning out from his eyes?

Her chest squeezed.
“Can you
ever
forgive me? I'm so sorry. I've wanted to explain it all to
you, but you wouldn't call me.”
She couldn’t wait another second to touch him. Closing the few feet between them, she hugged him, breathed in his scent and drank in the feel of him.

He gently pushed her away.
“Now's your chance.
Because I want an explanation
.
”
He
shut
the door and led her to the couch. They sat down together.
“Start at the beginning and tell me everything.
”

She
desperately
searched for
the right words.
‘
The whole truth and nothing but the truth
’
kept popping into her head. Maybe a kinder, gentler truth.

Get it right, baby.

Everything depended
on this. Her heart
beat a furious tattoo.
She swallowed hard.
“Okay. Here it is. Right after I agreed
to go out with you—and I mean right after—
I met this man at my parents' house. He works with my dad. It was Thanksgiving. My family sort of finagled this fix-up for me and him. I was resistant. But he was very nice and he hadn't lived here long so he kn
ew very few people here.”

“So you felt sorry for him?
”
He raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah, you could say that.
”
She hung her head.
“No, I d
idn't pity him. I liked him
.
At the time, you and I hadn't even
gone on
our first date. Anyway, I agreed to go out with him. You have to understand this, Joe. The very first time I went out with you, I was like, oh my God. I could fall head over heels over this guy.
”

Her cheeks heated.
“
I can't believe I'm telling you all this.
But
I went out with him and he was a nice guy. Then I went out with you again and I thought, I can't go out with
Cleave
again because I have these feelings for Joe.
Except
my family was pushing me to keep dating him and he is genuinely a
good
guy. I wanted to stop seeing him, but I didn't want to
hurt his feelings.”

“Come on, Renee. You didn't want to hurt his feelings so you kept dating him? Listen to yourself.
”
He shook his head
.

“My sister and
mother
laid out the picture of this life I could have with him. Just like theirs, married to a successful lawyer. They kept telling me he'd be a partner in the firm soon. But that stuff doesn't matter to me. The night your step
mother
saw us, I was tr
ying to break it off with him.”