JT felt a little awkward because, as a pastor, he knew those were the kinds of words he should have been saying. He knew he should be the first person to comfort anyone who had a seriously ill mother, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it. He couldn’t force himself to comfort the woman he’d been cheating with, not in front of his wife and her parents.
“Maybe you should get something to eat,” Alicia suggested to her.
“No.”
Alicia turned to JT. “Honey, I’m going to stay here with Carmen for the night, but if you want, you can go on home.”
JT had thought he would never hear those words and wanted to jump for joy. “Are you sure? Because I can hang around for as long as you need me to.”
“No, go on. We’ll be fine.”
“Well, I guess we’ll get ready to leave, too,” Tanya said. “But we’ll be back tomorrow.”
Carmen forced a smile and then stood up and hugged her. “Thank you so much for being here with me all this time. And I’m so sorry your cookout was ruined.”
Tanya wrinkled her forehead. “Don’t you even think twice about that. Your mom is the priority right now.”
James hugged Carmen next. “We’re here for you, and you just let us know whatever you need, okay?”
“I will, and thank you for everything.”
“JT, if you want to leave your car here for Alicia, we can drop you off at home.”
“That would be great, if you don’t mind.”
“Of course we don’t.”
JT pulled his wife into his arms. “Now, baby, you call me if you need me.”
“I will,” she said, kissing him.
Then JT looked at Carmen, figuring he’d better say at least something to her prior to leaving, before the rest of them got suspicious. “I’ll be praying for your mom.”
“Thanks,” she said, grabbing hold of him, and he was sorry he’d said anything to her. “That really means a lot, JT. More than you could possibly ever know.”
JT pushed her away in a subtle manner, and he and Tanya and James proceeded down the corridor leading to the parking lot. He looked back at Alicia and Carmen and prayed that Carmen wouldn’t do or say anything stupid. In times of heartache or loss, most people tended to become extremely sentimental and were much more apt to come clean about their wrong-doings. If they had betrayed a close friend or family member, they were more prone to confessing everything. He had to believe, however, that Carmen was different…and that she had sense enough to keep her mouth shut.
Chapter 25
JT read off the number of the account he wanted Diana to transfer his marketing funds into, and she repeated it back, making sure she had it right.
“That’s correct,” he said.
“Then I’ll get this taken care of this afternoon.”
“I really appreciate what you’re doing, because I know six figures is a lot of money.”
“As a matter of fact it is, and I just hope you’re worth it.”
“Hey, come on, now. Why do you say that?”
“Because once again, I only saw you one time last week and that’s just not enough for me.”
“I know, and I’m sorry. But I promise you, things will be very different this week,” he said, knowing he really would be able to make good on his word since he was pretty sure Alicia would be spending most of her time at the hospital with Carmen. Now that he thought about it, it was kind of strange how some things tended to work out, because who would have guessed that the reason he now had more free time to be with one mistress was because his wife was busy trying to comfort another one?
“I hope you mean that.”
“I really do.”
“Okay, I’m holding you to it, and of course I can’t wait to see you in a couple of hours.”
“I can’t wait to see you either, which is why I’ve been thinking about you all morning.”
“Well, I guess I’ll see you when you get here then.”
“See you soon.”
JT ended the call and set his cell phone down on his desk. He thought about calling Alicia to see how things were going at the hospital, but his phone rang before he could pick it back up. The word “private” was displayed on the screen, which made him a little uneasy because there was a chance Alicia had left the waiting room or the hospital for a while, leaving ample opportunity for Carmen to call him.
“Hello?”
“Well, well, well,” the woman said. “It certainly has been a very long time, hasn’t it?”
“Excuse me, do I know you?”
The woman laughed. “I can’t believe you don’t recognize my voice, especially with all the history you and I have.”
“Look, I’m very busy, and I think maybe you have the wrong number.”
“No, I don’t think so. And by the way, did your wife tell you I saw her at the mall? Did she tell you Donna stopped and had a nice little chat with her?”
JT’s heart pounded heavily. This just couldn’t be. Not now. Not when he finally had the perfect long-range plan in place and was experiencing no obstacles.
“Are you still there?”
“Why are you calling me?” he finally asked.
“JT, JT, JT,” she sang. “Now, why does anyone contact a person they haven’t spoken to in over two years? They do it because either a family member has died or because they need money, and I’m here to tell you that every one of my family members is alive and well.”
“But once I paid you that fifty thousand you asked for, you agreed to never contact me again. You said we had a deal, and I trusted you.”
“Well, unfortunately, I need more. Unfortunately, I need another fifty thousand, and I need it by the end of this week.”
“You must be crazy. And it’s not like I have that kind of money, anyway.”
“Then I’m really sorry to hear that, because if you can’t meet my demands, I’ll have no choice but to go public with some of your past transgressions. And that’s putting it nicely. I’ll have to tell everything I know and, sadly, that would mean you’d be finished as a pastor. You’ll lose everything you’ve worked so hard for, and what a shame that would be.”
A thousand thoughts flashed through JT’s mind, and he couldn’t believe this was happening, not after all this time. He was also stunned by the way she’d run into Alicia and had given her a phony name. He was even thrown by the description Alicia had given him because the woman he remembered had very short hair, but maybe she’d had on a wig or weave that day Alicia had seen her. There was just no telling when it came to Barbara-or Barb, as she preferred to be called-but it really didn’t matter either way because the bottom line was that she was trying to blackmail him all over again. He’d paid her off per their agreement; however, now she was back and was demanding another stack of money, and he wasn’t sure how he should go about handling her.
Barb continued. “So, when can I expect my money? Tomorrow, Thursday, or Friday?”
JT frowned. “Didn’t I just tell you I don’t have it?”
“Well, you’d better find it, or else. You’d better find it, or I’ll be telling your wife a lot more than what I already have. When I’m finished, the police will be reopening that investigation relating to your first wife’s accident.”
“But you know I never had anything to do with Michelle’s death, and the police already confirmed that.”
“Hmmph. It’s amazing, though, what they’ll believe if they’re given the right kind of evidence and are told the right kind of information.”
“Maybe, but I’m not worried about that. I’m not worried about anything, and if that’s all you have, I’m hanging up now.”
“You know, actually, you should be very worried. But even if you’re not, I wonder what your congregation will think once they find out about those two little businesses you had going on the side-those businesses you ran for the first three full years after you founded New Life Christian Center. I also wonder what they’ll think when they learn about the baby you conceived with another woman barely a year after you and Michelle were married.”