Page 158 of One Good Reason

“You hurt him. He called me the night he found out. He sounded wounded. I haven’t seen him that upset in years.”

“Did you show up to my house unannounced to plead a grown ass man’s case?”

“No. I came here because you hurt someone I care a great deal about. I knew the minute I laid eyes on you that you would be the one to ruin him. I saw the way he stared at you with so much love in his eyes.

The way he feels about you, only one other woman has ever had the pleasure of experiencing. You hurt him when you kept the details of your pregnancy from him. I don’t know what you have to do to fix it, but fix it… and do it now. He can’t crumble. I need him. We need him.”

“Who the fuck iswe?”

“Me!” she shouted. “I need him. If he’s off in his head, he’s not operating at his fullest potential. I let him go because I knew I couldn’t give him anything more than myself. I’ve worked hard at building him up and I will hurt you and anybody else that fucks it up for him.”

“Excuse me.” I leaned up from the couch. “Are you threatening me?”

“You damn right I am. I didn’t turn him into the perfect man for a little girl to come in and wipe away years of my hard work.”

The night at the restaurant and the conversation about his first love suddenly started to make sense.“Are you implying?”

“I’m not implying anything. I’m telling you to fix it, Talitha. You either fix it or let him go permanently. He’s too good for you but for some reason he loves you. I don’t see it, but he does. And lucky for you, his happiness is the only thing that matters to me.”

“It was you! You’re the married woman he was having an affair with. You’re the one who broke his heart the first time. You were his mother’s best friend; you’d been around him his whole life. How could you?”

“I’m not proud of anything that happened between us in the past. I let him go because I knew we couldn’t be more than what we were. That wasn’t my fondest moment, I’ve paid for those ten times over. What transpired between us in the past and is neither here nor there. I’m telling you.” She pointed her finger at my chest. “To fix it. Fix him now!” Looking me up and down, she scoffed and walked out of my house, slamming the door behind her.

He lied to me. Lied about who she was to him. I knew when I met her that she gave me funny vibes. I sensed that shit and when I asked about it he passed it off like it was nothing. He’s butt hurt because I kept my pregnancy a secret, but he’s been carrying this shit around. And instead of coming clean that night, he looked me in the eyes and lied to my face.

And she’s demanding that I fix it. Fuck that! I’m not fixing anything. I’ll fix it alright.

CHAPTER 37

Lawton

“Talitha, you can’t go in there!” I heard Chari yell.

Hopping out of the chair, I stalked toward the conference room door. Before I had the chance to pull it open, Talitha was storming into the room.She was angry.And as far as I was concerned, there was only one of us in this equation that had the right to be mad.

“You lied!” she shouted and punched me in the chest. “I asked you about her and you lied to my fucking face.”

Grabbing her wrist, I squeezed them and growled, “I’m in the middle of the meeting.”

“I don’t give a fuck!” she snarled. “You lied. She was your mothers best friend.”

This is about Adele?

“Chari clear everyone out. Get them set up in the room down the hall. I’ll be there in a minute.”

“She took advantage of you.”

“I’m a grown ass man. No one can do anything to me that I don’t want done.”

“She groomed you! I was molested. I did years in therapy learning the signs. And you keep her around claiming that she’s a friend. That’s not a friend, Lawton! That’s a predator. Thenyou had the unmitigated gall to call her. You told her about my baby.”

“I had to tell someone. You kept the shit a secret from me, Talitha.”

“Because I was scared that you would tell me to get rid of it, stupid. What did you expect me to do? Tell you and wait for you to say you don’t want it. God. I knew. Something told me that if I told you how I felt about you, I would be left out here alone. That I would be left standing on the cliff begging you to rescue me!”

“It wasnevergoing to be you!” I roared. “Me, Talitha. I was always going to be the one standing on the edge of a cliff beggingyounot to let me fall. I dedicated everything to you. You wanted anonymity, I respected it and gave it to you.

When Gema passed, you needed someone to catch you when you fell. Did that! I’m human. I love. Love hard as hell… I told you I don’t do relationships that ends with marriage and kids. The way I loved you. Love you. The way I love you is insufferable. Suffocating to say the fucking least.

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