Page 1 of The Big Catch

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA

“Girl, I am so ready to blow a bag!” Belle spoke to her friend through her luxury SUV sound system. She was on her way to Rodeo Drive to spend all of her husband, Carson’s, money.

Her best friend, Gabrielle, giggled through the speaker. Although she giggled, her eyes rolled to the back of her head. Thank God they were on the phone, and Belle couldn’t see her. “Girl, when are you not ready to blow Carson’s bags.”

Belle kissed her teeth. “Aht, aht, don’t do that. The least he can do is make sure I have money for shopping to keep my time occupied. Hell, his damn company keeps his ass in Texas so damn much. He was supposed to be home last weekend, but they needed him to close a big deal.”

Belle loved her husband, but she hated how much he worked and had to stay away from home. Four years ago, Carson’s company moved their headquarters from California to Texas to save money on the bottom line. When Carson broached thetopic with Belle about moving, she adamantly told him that was not an option for her. There were many married couples that were not physically under each other because of work. She’d been out to Dallas a few times to visit, but she abhorred it.

No matter how city Dallas was, in her mind, it was still the country. If Belle wanted to be in the country, she would have stayed her thick ass in Newsome, Alabama, where she was born and raised. The small rural town’s population was less than two thousand people. A majority of those numbers were bum ass, Black folks, or at least that was how Belle saw it. The place was so small that the residents had to drive almost an hour to get to a major store like Walmart or Target. The only thing to do there was hunt, fish, line dance, drink, smoke, and have babies. She knew from a very young age that all of that kind of shit was beneath her.

Born Adabelle Caroline Lee, she always felt she was worth more than anything her tiny town of Newsome could give her. Her mother, Sidda Mae, and father, Jessie, were teenage parents who had her at fourteen and seventeen years old. That was a normal occurrence in the small town, teenage mothers and fathers. Adabelle would not be one of the small-town statistics. She worked her ass off to get a scholarship to none other than the University of Southern California. Her parents were lower, middle-class, so she knew if she didn’t get a scholarship that she would end up in some trade school or, worse, working at the gas station that her family owned. None of those were options in her mind.

When she got her full ride to college, she was on the first thing smoking to California. The second her foot touched the ground there, she went from Adabelle Caroline to Belle Cari. It was time for a major rebranding of herself.

“Girl, you better thank God that your husband bust his ass to make sure your pockets can stay laced,” Gabrielle quipped. “Don’t be ungrateful, friend. Everyone isn’t as blessed.”

Now it was Belle’s turn to let her eyes roll in their sockets. If there was one thing that Gabrielle could do, she was going to remind Belle how blessed she was. “Girl, I know I’m blessed. I just miss my man sometimes.” When her best friend suggested she go visit him, Belle’s forehead creased. “Yeah, no. I’m fine until he comes home in a few days.”

“Well, you can’t miss him that much.” Gabrielle was single in the mean streets of LA, fighting for her life with the trifling men options. Here Belle was with an amazing man but was never willing to go out of the way to accommodate him.

As far as Belle was concerned, this conversation was over. “Alright, girl, I’m pulling up to the boutique. Let’s get together for lunch tomorrow or something.” Gabrielle reminded Belle that not everyone had free days. Some people actually worked. “You’re right. Everyone’s not blessed, so you let me know when you can do lunch.”

Belle swiftly disconnected the call. She knew she was blessed, so she didn’t need a constant reminder. From the day she met Carson at her little waitressing job, she knew meeting him was a blessing straight from God. He came into the restaurant for a week before he asked her out on a date. Belle’s ego was at an all-time high to know that she pulled a professional twenty-eight-year-old, fine man at her tender age of twenty-one.

Six months after they started dating, Carson moved her in with him and convinced her to drop out of school. He wanted her to be his kept trophy. Belle damn sure accepted the role in Carson’s play called life. Four years later, he asked her to marry him, and a year after that, they were married. They had been happily married for ten years, and she loved every minuteof it. Well, not every minute, but she did love being a kept woman.

“Mrs. Atkins, how are you today? You look fabulous, as usual.” Geoffrey greeted her when she walked into the boutique. She was one of their top spenders, so they rolled out the red carpet for her when she came in.

Belle gave her award-winning smile. “Thank you, Geoffrey. You know I do what I can to please the eyes of people.”

She followed him into her private shopping suite. Moments after she sat down, a bottle of wine and a tray of dainty snacks were brought out for her. “Okay, Mrs. Ma’am. You came in just in time because we got in a plethora of new arrivals that I just know you will love.”

For the next two hours, Geoffrey styled her to the gods! They took a break for lunch, then were back at it for another hour and a half. When it was all said and done with, Belle successfully ran up an eighteen-thousand-dollar tab. Today was a good day.

“Belle, hun, your card was declined.” Geoffrey’s voice was low, even with them being in a private room. He was embarrassed for her.

Belle’s head bucked. “What do you mean it declined? Did you do it right?”

“Now, Belle. I know how to run a card better than I know how to suck a dick. Don’t do me, girl.” Geoffrey’s brow twitched with his top lip. “Maybe call hubby to see what’s up. I’ll give you some space.”

As soon as the door was closed behind him, she pulled her phone out to call her husband. After four back-to-back calls, there was no answer. On the fifth call, the voicemail answered immediately. “I know this nigga didn’t send me to voicemail.”

Embarrassment didn’t seem enough of an adjective to describe how she felt. What was she going to do? Before shecould fully formulate her thought, Geoffrey pranced back into the room. “So, what’s the tea, B?”

“Girl, there was a fraud situation with our account, so hubby canceled the card and forgot to tell me. He said that he placed the new card on the kitchen counter this morning.” Belle stood up. “Let me run home and get it. I’ll be back.”

Geoffrey shook his head. “Okay, girl! No problem. I’ll be here when you come back. I close today.”

Belle was full of shit, and Geoffrey knew it. Earlier in the shopping experience, Belle complained that she hadn’t physically seen her husband in almost a month because he was out of town for work. If he hadn’t been home, then how could he put a card on the table? There was no need to call her out because, what would be the purpose? It wouldn’t mysteriously make the payment go through.

The speed that Belle used to get to her vehicle was astonishing. The entire ride to her house, she continued to call her husband to no avail. She was livid.Why is he not answering the damn phone!All she knew was Carson had less than an hour to answer, or she would book a flight to Texas.

She pulled into her roundabout driveway on two wheels. There was an unfamiliar vehicle in her driveway.Who the hell is that?She stomped up to her front door, pressed the code, then opened it. With the open layout of the bottom floor, the kitchen could be seen from the front door.

“Carson, what are you doing here? I’ve been calling you repeatedly.” Belle was surprised to see her husband sitting at the kitchen island. It’d been so long since he’d been in their house that he almost looked out of place.

Carson looked up from the papers that sat in front of him. “Hey, love. I know you’ve been calling. I needed you to come home.”

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