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

up, but with all that had gone on overthe last couple of days he hadn’t gotten around to it. Now he was warming up his biceps, but it wouldn’t be long before helay on the bench and lifted more pounds than Charlotte cared to think about. In the meantime, she sat around watching him. They hadn’t done this in along time, talking nonstop about everything going on in their daily lives, and Charlotte was glad to be doing that again.

“So, did you get all the locks changed?” she asked.

“Is your name Charlotte Black?”

Charlotte chuckled and so did Curtis.

“Did you call Carl?” she said, asking about Janine’s husband since he owned a locksmith business.

“Yep. I asked Lana to call him as soon as Raven was out of there, so it’s all taken care of.”

“Good.”

Curtis raised the weight with his right arm and lowered it. “All I know is that I’ll be glad when this week is over.”

“Me, too. First this whole Mr. Rush situation and now Raven. Although, I was really happy to see Matt doing a lot better whenwe got home, because he was so sad when he called me at the hair salon.”

“He was definitely in much better spirits, and I think he’ll feel better all the time.”

“I hope so.”

“He will. And hey, this is completely on a different note, but earlier I was thinking about Valentine’s Day. It’s coming upthis weekend, and I thought maybe I would ask one of the associate ministers to deliver the sermon on Sunday, so you and Ican spend the night in downtown Chicago on Saturday. We’ve had such a rough couple of months, so I really want that day tobe special for us.”

Charlotte would have loved nothing more than to spend a romantic evening with Curtis on Saturday, but she couldn’t. She hadto meet Tom instead.

“Oh, baby, I’m so sorry,” she said, already preparing the lie she was going to tell him. “But when you and I weren’t reallyspeaking, I planned a spa afternoon with Mom and then dinner at six. And while I know she would understand if I canceled,I really hate doing that because we haven’t done anything together in months.”

“Don’t even think twice about it. Go have a good time. We all only get one mother, and if mine were still here I’d be doingeverything I could with her.”

Charlotte hated deceiving Curtis. He was being so sincere and so understanding, but it wasn’t like she could tell him thetruth. She wouldn’t tell her mother the truth either and would simply call her and tell her she needed her help. She wouldtell her that if she somehow spoke to Curtis after Saturday and the subject came up, that she needed her to lie for her—convincehim that they had in fact spent the afternoon at the spa and had then gone to dinner in the evening. Charlotte would alsoask her mother not to answer the phone at all on Saturday or any day before that, just in case Curtis tried calling. The onlything that might go wrong with this plan was if Curtis called his in-laws and Charlotte’s dad answered, because he would neverlie for Charlotte under any circumstances.

“I wish the timing was better,” she said. “But I’m glad you don’t mind.”

“Of course, I don’t.” He did the last of his repetitions and set the weight back on the floor. “Come here,” he said, grabbingher and pulling her closer to him and relaxing his arms around her waist.

Charlotte clasped her hands behind his neck. “You have no idea how happy I am right now.”

“I know the feeling, baby.”

“I really am sorry about this weekend,” she said again, feeling guilty.

“Will you stop talking about that, woman? I’ll make reservations at one of our favorite restaurants right here in town andthen, if you want, we’ll still book a hotel room in Chicago for that evening and just come back on Monday.”

“I would really like that.”

“I think I’ll go ahead and do the message on Sunday morning after all, but I’ll keep it short. Then, we can spend the restof the day with just the two of us.”

“I love you so, so much, Curtis,” she said, kissing him.

Curtis kissed her back but they stopped abruptly when Matthew said, “Get a room, lovebirds.”

He was grinning at them, and even Curtis laughed and bumped fists with him, but Charlotte was a little embarrassed. Clearlythis was a guy thing, but Charlotte still wasn’t comfortable having her son see her kissing Curtis as passionately as shehad been when Matthew had walked into the workout room.

“So how are you feeling?” Charlotte asked him.

“Better than I did when I was at school.”

“I can tell that, and I’m glad,” she said.

“Seeing you guys happy again has really helped me, too.”

“I’m sure it has, Matt,” Curtis said. “And we’re sorry for making you worry about us the way I know you have been.”

“I was worried for all of us. Our whole family.”

Charlotte caressed her son’s face. “Well, you don’t have to do that anymore, because your dad and I are fine now.”

“That’s right,” Curtis said. “We’re good.”

Matthew raised both his arms, stretching his body like most growing boys do. “I think I’ll go get a pizza, so do you wantme to pick up Curtina while I’m out?”

“Yeah, actually, I do,” Curtis told him. “Make sure you get her car seat out of the truck, though.”

“I will. Oh, and can we go to Mr. Rush’s funeral?”

Charlotte wanted to tell him no, but didn’t want to hurt his feelings. “We can if you want.”

“I do.”

“Then we’ll go,” Curtis said.

“Okay then, I’m out of here.”

“Drive safely,” Charlotte told him. But when he was gone, she said to Curtis, “If we go to that funeral, what will the otherparents think?”

“I don’t know. To be honest, I would rather not attend either, but this isn’t about us. It’s about Matthew and what will makehim happy.”

“I know a man died, but that same man sexually molested those two girls and got one of them pregnant. Then, on my