But when she got into her Camry and leaned her head back, she knew that episode with Johnny had got the best of her. Because it represented another failed love affair for her. Another man that she was considering as a strong possibility had long ago taken himself off the table for a reason so unfair that it staggered her still.
Although, she had to admit, of all her ex-boyfriends, Johnny’s actions took the cake. He got married two days ago? He was dating Maude while he was engaged to another woman? And where was this private wedding held? Word got around in Dillon no matter how private something was. Why did she not hear at all about the wedding? Was shethatfar gone?
She heard a couple female colleagues talking over the water cooler a few times last week about some man cheatingon some woman and the man getting engaged, but she never dreamed they were talking about her!
But now that she looked back on it, maybe they knew far more than she gave them credit for. Dillon was a mid-sized Georgia town a stone’s throw from the larger city of Macon, but it still had nearly fifty thousand residents. Maybe word got around faster than she cared to acknowledge. Maybe, like all those other times, she was the last to know.
And then her phone buzzed. She always had to check because it could be a source texting her with new information that could take her investigation to the next level.
But when she saw who that text was from, and read it, her entire demeanor changed. She was slumped down in her car, but when she saw that text she bolted upright.
Waitwhat?
This was no longer about her relationship. This was about her survival! She had to read that text message three different times for it to completely sink it. And for her to believe that she had read it accurately those other times.
When she realized it was what it said it was her heart began to melt. But when she started her car and sped away, knowing she had to hear news like this straight from the horse’s mouth himself, she still didn’t believe it.
A mistake. That was what it was. It had to be a gigantic, crazy mistake. Because the alternative would be the worst thing that could have ever happened to Maude, and on a day that was already shaping up to be one of the worse of her life before she got that text.
But it had to be a mistake.
Even as her gut was telling her it wasn’t.
Even as tears were already falling from her eyes as if her mind and her heart weren’t communicating anymore.
And she still refused to believe it.
CHAPTER FIVE
“Stay for breakfast. I’ll make us a big breakfast.”
Shannon watched as Edmund flung his long legs out of her bed, sat on the edge for a few seconds, and then got his big, muscular, naked body up and went into the ensuite bathroom.
Why did that white man have to be so fine, she thought as she just laid there watching him. She never even wanted a white man. They never turned her on like that ever.
Until she met Edmund.
Until one night with him changed everything. She later found out he only fooled with black ladies and had plenty to choose from. Which kind of hurt her. But before they even got together, he told her what time it was: He was not a one-woman-man and never would be.
Which was her sentiments too. Before they slept together. And before then, although he definitely had a type, she did too. And he wasn’t it.
She was into black and Hispanic guys only. Nobody else would do. That was why she still couldn’t get over the fact that of all the men that wanted her, she would fall for somebody like him. And not only that, but she would fall for the one man who told her from jump not to go there. Who told her he was not going to commit to her ever and that she was never going to change his mind. But she fell for the joker anyway.
She listened as he removed that condom from his penis and then began peeing that long, first of the morning bladder-emptying that made her even more convinced that he was the man for her. Even listening to him pee wasn’t a turn-off like itwas with those other guys. But she wasn’t the one who needed convincing. She made up her mind that he was the one two years ago.
But today wasn’t just any old day with Edmund. Today was her fortieth birthday. And the reality that she no longer had the excuse of youth made her realize just how desperate she needed to find a way to the front of the line and become his wife. Not his booty call. Not his pretty little piece when he needed a piece. But his wife.
But what was it going to take when the only time she saw him was in bed? When the only time they spent any quality time together was never? Two years in and she was no closer to the front of that line than the first day she met him.Damn, she thought.How in the world did she let that happen?
“Did you hear me?”
He was back in the bedroom and putting on his clothes.
“Edmund?”
“I heard you, Shannon. I heard you the first time.”
She pulled the covers down to her waist and sat up in bed. With her hands wrapped around the bottom of her legs and with her dark-brown breasts exposed, she was willing to use every tool she had. “Why don’t you stay for breakfast for a change? I can make us some waffles and eggs or anything else you want me to make. I’m a very good cook you know.” She smiled a smile he didn’t return. A smile many men already told her they would cherish if she’d only let them. Why her ass had to want this particular man? “We can sit out on the terrace and have coffee. Take it easy for a change.”
