Ansley spent the rest of the week consumed with her job and school. She was the first to arrive and the last to leave each day.
It was after six o’clock, and she was just leaving Grind House. As she stepped into her Range Rover, on her way to Lanae’s house for dinner, her phone range.
She reached for her Bluetooth to answer the call. “Hello.”
There was silence on the call, and then it disconnected.
She grabbed her phone from her purse to see who the call was from, but the number was listed as unknown. Ansley shrugged it off as nothing and started to call Lanae to see if she needed anything from the store when her phone rang again.
This time, Ansley checked to see who was calling before she answered, and again the number was showing as unknown.
She answered on the third ring, a woman spoke. “Hello Ansley, my name is Bree Spellman. I’m your man’s ex-girlfriend. I think we should talk.”
Ansley’s hands gripped the steering wheel.
After everything that happened with Davis, Ansley probably shouldn’t have been surprised by this phone call, but she was taken off guard and was not at all prepared. Now what.
“Hello, are you there?” Bree spoke into the phone.
“Oh—I’m sorry, I’m here.” She sighed. “First off, you should know that I’m not seeing Davis anymore, so what can I do for you?”
“Davis… I’m talking about Monty,” Bree stated.
Ansley frowned in confusion. “I don’t know a Monty. The man I dated was Davis Montclair.”
“Is this Ansley Wright? He told me that you two were a couple when he came to Chicago back in February,” Bree stated.
Ansley grunted as reality set in. It had been almost a month since she last spoke to Davis, and he was still haunting her.
She recalled the day that Simeon told her his name was Monty. She didn’t dig into the details or make him proclaim anything. Instead they argued and his lies made it through another day. Then there’s the lie about the type of business he went to Chicago to handle. The more she learned about him, the more she realized she hadn’t learned anything at all.
“I’m sorry. I just remembered a friend of mine saying he went by the name Monty. I must have blocked that out.”
“I should have known that he lied about his identity. That explains why I had trouble serving him to appear.”
“Serving him—as in court papers?” Ansley inquired.
“He’s a con-artist. Of course he lied about who he was.” She could tell that Bree must have been processing everything she was learning as well.
“I’m sorry…what are you talking about?” Ansley sat confused.
“He stole money from me. He was mentally, physically and verbally abusive. I ended up losing my job because I was in and out of hospitals. Monty caused me to have a miscarriage with all that I endured. Bet you didn’t know that, or did you?”
Ansley was not surprised about the theft portion of this story, but Davis had never raised a hand to her nor had he ever spoken to her in a harsh tone. This was a surprise to her.
“I’m sorry you experienced such trauma. No one should have to go through that.” Ansley paused before continuing. She didn’t want to come off as being insensitive but she wasn’t sure what Bree was looking for her to do. “As I said earlier, we are no longer a couple. Listen Bree…thanks for reaching out to me, but I really have to go.”
“Ansley wait… there’s more to the story,” she said. “You need to know that he has—”
The phone went silent, but her screen still showed the call as active. “Hello Bree?” she called out.
When Ansley did not get a response, she ended the call. She figured that Bree would call her back, however, she did not.
Ansley pulled into Lanae’s driveway empty-handed. After Bree’s phone call, she could not think about anything else.
Before she could knock, Jacob opened the door. “Whoa... hey, Ansley. Lanae is in the kitchen.” He stepped aside to let her enter.
Ansley sat down on a barstool at the island in the kitchen.
“It took you long enough.” Lanae walked over to greet Ansley with a hug.
“Yeah. I know. Sorry about that. I had an unexpected phone call,” she explained.
“Uh-oh,” Lanae said as she grabbed two empty wine glasses and a bottle of Beringer Merlot. As she poured she asked, “What’s going on?”
“Well, Davis and I are done.” She paused to take a long sip of her wine.
Lanae took the bottle and topped off Ansley’s glass. Ansley took that as her cue to continue.
“He stole money from me, and then I get a call from his ex-girlfriend today and find out his name is really Monty. If I’m being honest, Simeon said that a long time ago, but I breezed right pass collecting the facts on that one.”
Lanae pursed her lips. “Wow. I’m sorry, sweetie. Geesh. He stole from you? How much if you don’t mind my asking?”
Ansley raked her fingers through her bangs. “Well it would’ve been one thousand, had I not caught him in the act but he got five hundred which the bank recovered.” She ran her fingers across the top of her wine glass. “How did I get here?” she asked. “You hear stories like this, but I’ve never been involved in anything this crazy. I feel violated.”
“You still care about him, don’t you?” Lanae asked.
“Honestly, I don’t know what I feel or think outside of anger. One minute we were working on developing something and then next thing I know he’s helping himself to my money.”
Lanae got up to remove a pot roast and broccoli rice casserole from the oven. “Well beloved… I would feel the same way.”
“I just wanted to go with the flow for once, you know,” Ansley said.
Lanae put the two dishes in the warmer. She turned toward Ansley. “Well, you know Jacob and I were always team Ryan. He was the man you were supposed to marry. Fine too. I still believe that’s who you will be with one day.”
Ansley would never forgive herself for breaking Ryan’s heart. Lately, she had thought a lot about him and the decisions she made. She was young and selfish and didn’t want to rewrite how her dreams played out in order to be with him and watch him follow his own.
Lanae left her kitchen and stood in front of Ansley. “For as long as I’ve known you, you’ve always been in a rush. You’ve never prayed, fasted, or felt compelled to wait on God for anything.”
Ansley pondered over Lanae’s words. “I can’t even argue with you. I guess I just wanted to fulfill my and my mother’s dreams. She always wanted to be a writer, but she put her career second to marriage. I didn’t want to be married and look back at dreams unfulfilled.”
“I get that Ansley, but again I ask you, why just assume that you couldn’t have it all?”
Ansley’s eyes welled with tears. Lanae was right. Living with tunnel vision had blinded her from opportunities in her career and love life. With Davis stealing from her and this revelation about her life choices, Ansley knew that she needed to assess some things about her life if she wanted to keep putting herself in the role of victim. She was tired of living with regrets.
Two hours later, she left Lanae’s house and drove home.
Her phone rang a few minutes after she walked into her bedroom. “Hello.”
“What’s going on with you?”
“Simeon, hey…” Ansley said, taking a seat on the edge of her bed. “I was thinking about calling you.”
“You sound upset.”
“I found out some things about Davis. He’s not the man I thought he was,” she said. “I’m sure none of this surprises you.”
“Actually, it does,” Simeon responded. “I thought he was different—at least with you. What happened?”
“He stole money out of my checking account.”
“What…”
“Yeah, that was pretty much my initial reaction. Then to top that off, I received a phone call from his ex-girlfriend.”
“Are you serious?” Simeon asked.
“She called me earlier…” Ansley’s voice died.
“And?”
“He stole from her, too. He was also abusive.”
Simeon gasped.
“I should’ve listened to you. You were right, his name really is... or was Monty. I guess he changed his name when he moved to Georgia.”
“This is scary. Do you think he’s on the run or something?” Simeon quizzed.
Ansley gave a dismissive wave of her hand as if Simeon could see her. “All I know is that he’s a liar and a thief.”
“Wow, what a loser,” Simeon seethed. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” Ansley assured her friend. “This is what I get for rushing into the relationship—and for choosing to pursue that relationship over our friendship. I’m sorry and I know that’s not enough, but I hope you’ll accept this as a start.”
Simeon chuckled. “I’m so over that whole situation and there’s no need to rehash any of that. We are good.”
She paused a moment, then said, “Thank you. I’m just glad the truth was revealed before I lost my heart to him completely.”
“He better hope I don’t run into him anytime soon.”
“Simeon, don’t get involved,” Ansley said with a short sigh. “He’s out of my life and I just want to move forward.”
“You sure you’re okay?”
“I am,” Ansley said. “What’s going on with you?”
“I’ve been having some health issues. Going to see my doctor tomorrow morning.”
“Do you want me to go with you?” Ansley asked out of concern.
“No, it’s not anything serious,” Simeon responded. “I just need a wellness checkup.”
Ansley didn’t pry. If her friend wanted her to know specifics, she would have given details.
They talked a few minutes more before hanging up.
She sat cross-legged in the middle of her bed, pondering over her future. She had the Essence Festival coming up, and this was an unwelcomed distraction.
Ansley picked up a pillow and threw it across the room. She hated being made out to look like a fool—Davis had not paid her back yet, but then she did not really expect that he would. However, she was not going to let him get away with stealing from her. He needed to learn that bad behavior came with repercussions.