Page 80 of Love Me Carefully
“So do you think it’s them?” Terrell paced the floor in his mother’s living room. Seth hadn’t come up with any leads as to who’d broken into Leah’s office and vandalized her car. It had been two days, and no other incidents had occurred, but he needed to know she would be safe. Leah wanted to return to her own apartment. She wanted to get her car out of the shop. Terrell took a deep breath—he’d never realized taking care of a woman could be so hard. Maybe because he’d never counted on such an independent woman winning his heart.
“It’s just not their style, Terrell,” Donald told him honestly. After the incident in Jamaica, he’d moved in with Rosie. The wedding was only six weeks away and there was no real reason why they couldn’t live under the same roof. “If they wanted to get to me, they would come right after me, point blank. They’d knock on the door and shoot me dead, then board the first plane back to the islands. I really don’t think it’s them.”
Terrell dropped into a chair, letting his head fall back, and groaned. “Then I don’t know where else to turn. Who would want to scare her and why?”
“What about that woman you broke up with a while back?” Rosie queried. She’d been thinking on this since she’d gotten the call from Terrell about Leah’s incident. Women were vengeful creatures, and slashed tires were right up their alley.
“Tanya?” Terrell hadn’t given Tanya a thought in weeks. Could she be doing this?
“Maybe it was just a random incident,” Donald proposed. “You know, some kids getting their jollies off. ”
“That’s a thought. But I can’t seem to shake the feeling that there’s something we’re missing here.” As he talked his cell phone rang.
“Hello?”
“Hi,” Leah spoke in a cheerful voice.
“Hey, baby. What’s up? You ready to leave work so soon?” Terrell looked at his watch. It was barely past six. Leah had told him this morning that she and Melinda were going to work until seven.
“Yes. That’s what I was calling to tell you. At lunchtime Melinda drove me over to pick up my car. So you don’t have to pick me up tonight.”
Terrell was quiet.
“Hello? Terrell?”
“I’m here,” he said through clenched teeth. They’d been through this over and over again, until Terrell had finally given in. He couldn’t keep her under lock and key, it just wasn’t fair to her. She needed to resume her regular life. He understood all that, but understanding didn’t make him feel any better about it. “So I’ll just meet you at home. Do you want me to stop and pick something up for dinner?”
“I made a big pot of spaghetti,” Rosie chimed in to his conversation. “Tell her to come on over and we’ll all have dinner together.”
“Mama made spaghetti. She wants you to come over for dinner.”
“That sounds good. But first I want to stop at my place and change.”
Terrell was quiet again.
“Terrell, we talked about this already. I’ll be fine. I doubt very seriously that this asshole is gonna to be waiting at my apartment for me. I mean, I haven’t even been there in two days. He probably doesn’t know where I am.”
“Leah, I just don’t like it.”
“It’ll be fine. Just chill. I’m leaving the office now. I’ll call you once I get to my place, then I’ll call you when I leave. Will that make you feel better?”
“No. But I guess I don’t really have a choice.”
“Don’t be that way, baby.”
Terrell sighed heavily, closing his eyes and trying to cut off the bad feelings he had going on inside. “Fine. I’ll see you in a little bit.”
“Okay. I’ll call you back. Bye.”
Terrell disconnected the phone and rubbed his temples. Rosie stood and went to him. “She’ll be okay, Terrell. All this is going to work itself out in time. Now keep Donald company while I go and fix a salad.”
Terrell didn’t feel like keeping anybody company. He felt like getting in his car and meeting Leah at her apartment, but he knew that would only irritate her.
Donald started talking as Terrell stared out the window. “Funny thing about women. We always want to protect them, but most of the time they do a damn good job of taking care of themselves.”
“And what are we supposed to do about that?” Terrell asked with a grim attitude.
Donald chewed on that question a moment, rubbed his sore shoulder, then answered, “Sit back and relax until we’re needed again, I reckon.”
