Love, Honor, and Betray Roby, Lawson (best contemporary novels .TXT) 📖

rubbed her hand affectionately. “It’s not like I’m trying to get over on you, baby, but if we start out with all thisseparate-what’s-mine-is-mine-and-what’s-yours-is-yours jazz, our marriage will be over before it gets started. I admit thatI do have a lot of debt, but I’m willing to do everything I can to get it paid down as quickly as possible.”

Stephanie didn’t comment one way or the other, so Curtis said, “Maybe you could at least think about it. And Bruce, sinceit sounds like Stephanie manages her own money pretty well, maybe you could let her help you manage yours starting now andnot just when you get married.”

“I’m all for that,” he said.

“Stephanie?” Curtis said.

“That’s fine. I can do that.”

“Good. Because in order for your marriage to start out on the right foot, you’re going to have to settle on this.”

“There is one other thing,” Bruce said.

“What’s that?”

“My mom was a stay-at-home mom, and that’s what I want Steph to be when she has our first child. I want her to be the oneto take care of our children and not some babysitter or day-care provider. At least until our last one turns five.”

“But Bruce, it’s like I keep telling you,” she said, sounding aggravated. “I’m not the stay-at-home type. I love being anattorney, and I don’t think it’s fair for me to have to give up my career. Plus, sweetheart, you know you don’t make enoughmoney for us to live on one salary.”

“But, baby, it wouldn’t be forever.”

“It would be long enough, and the last thing I want is for us to struggle financially. I won’t do that.”

Curtis relaxed further into his chair and locked his hands together. He listened as they debated one subject after anotherand wished he had better news for them. Their marriage was already ruined. It was over and they hadn’t even taken vows yet.He hated seeing them this way and wondered which was worse: realizing you’re probably not meant to be together beforehand,even though you really do love each other, or realizing this unfortunate fact ten years later, the way he was starting torealize about himself and Charlotte. To him, it was better to figure things out before the wedding, and he hoped Bruce andStephanie would consider cutting their losses now. It was best for them to leave well enough alone and look for people theywere more compatible with. What he hoped was that they wouldn’t get married in spite of their problems and then end up likehim and so many others. Miserable and rethinking everything.

Chapter 27

Charlotte finished applying her champagne-colored lipstick, powdered her nose again, and picked up her Marc Jacobs hobo. Shehad a number of errands to run but mainly wanted to stop at the beauty supply store to grab a few hair products and then stopat the bookstore. Two of her favorite authors had just released their latest novels, and she couldn’t wait to read both ofthem. She loved reading because it allowed her to leave her own world for a while and enter someone else’s. Something sheespecially needed now, after hearing from that Tom character. She was still stunned by his call and hoped he’d never contacther again. Although, to be honest, she already had a bad feeling about this and just wished she knew why he was trying toforce her to be with him. There had to be some sort of personal reason. That was always the case whenever a person blackmailedyou but didn’t want large sums of money.

As Charlotte grabbed her keys, she heard her BlackBerry chiming. This meant she’d just received a text, so she pulled it outto see who it was from. When she clicked on the text icon, she saw the name Portia Melvin, which was the name she’d givenMichael Porter in her phone. She also now kept the sound alerts on silent whenever Curtis was home so that she wouldn’t haveto worry about him checking to see who was trying to contact her. He rarely picked up her phone under any circumstances, butshe never knew what he might do now that they had issues. It was the reason she’d told Michael to never send her any incriminatingtexts, and she was glad this text only said, Long time no hear from.

She dialed his number. “Hey,” she said.

“Hey, yourself.”

“So what’s with the ‘long time no hear from’ thing?” she said, teasing him. “Because I just talked to you a couple of hoursago.”

“You said to be discreet. So that’s what I’m doing.”

“I know. I’m just messing with you.”

“So what were you doing?”

“Getting ready to head out to a couple of stores.”

“Why don’t you come see me instead?”

“I don’t know, Michael.”

“I realize we just saw each other yesterday in Florida, but I really need to see you again. So how about it? Why don’t youmeet me at Gerald’s place this evening?”

“I really wanna see you, too, but I also don’t want to make Curtis suspicious.”

“I understand that, but baby, I can’t stop thinking about you. I’m so caught up, I can barely focus on my work.”

Charlotte’s phone beeped, but she ignored it. “I’ve been thinking about you as well. All last night and then again this morning.But I don’t know. Maybe we can see each other tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow is a very long time.”

Charlotte’s phone beeped a second time, so this time she looked at the screen and saw that it was Matthew. “I’m sorry, Michael.This is my son calling. Can you hold on?”

“Sure. Go ahead.”

Charlotte pressed the button with the green phone symbol. “Hey, Matt.”

But there was no one there, so she switched back to Michael.

“I guess I didn’t answer in time. I know what he wants, though. To hang out after school at one of his friends’ houses. I’lljust call him back later.”

“Pretty please,” Michael continued, as if she’d never stopped talking to him.

“You’re making this very hard, you know that?”

“That’s why I’m doing it.”

They both laughed.

“Okay, then, what about this?” he said. “I’ll see if I can get off early and then you and I can meet in