Chapter 18
David went straight home. He had planned on working some before going to bed, but he drifted off to sleep. His was a light sleep, and his eyes popped open when he felt his personal cell phone vibrate. He answered it without looking at the number on the phone display. “This better be good.”
“Is that how you answer all your calls, Mr. King?” Sheba said.
“Who is this?” David was now fully awake.
“I’m your worst nightmare if you don’t bring my husband home.”
“Sheba, is that you?”
“You know who it is. Stop playing games with me. I told Uriah that if he didn’t ask to be transferred back here, I would call you myself, and since he’s too chicken to call you, I did.”
David laughed. He loved her spunk. Knowing she was upset made him want her more. “Sheba, Uriah’s there because he wants to be there. He could have turned down my offer.”
“Nobody defies King David. Whatever you ask, they do,” she said mockingly.
“Let’s put an end to this. I’ll call him on the three-way, and you can see for yourself. Hold on.” Before she could protest, David clicked over to his other line. He dialed the number he had saved for Uriah. “Uriah, how are things going?”
“Fine, Mr. King,” Uriah responded.
“I have your wife on the phone. It looks like we have a slight problem,” David said, then clicked a button on the phone. “Sheba, are you there? I have Uriah on the phone with us.”
“Baby, what did you say to Mr. King?” Uriah quickly questioned his wife.
“Don’t ‘baby’ me. I told you if you didn’t call him, I would. Now, David, tell him he can come home.”
“Uriah, it’s your option, and it’s not going to affect your job,” David told him. “If you want to come back and run the Shreveport office, come home and I will send Richard or someone else out there with Simon.”
Uriah didn’t hesitate to say, “Mr. King, there will be no need for that. You sent me out here to do this job, and I will. I will not leave until your plans have been implemented.”
“But, baby,” Sheba said.
“Sheba, I hate that you got Mr. King involved in our little issue, and, dear, I will have to ask you to lose his number. If you have a problem with my job, call me. Let me deal with it. Okay?”
“Yes, dear,” Sheba said, barely above a whisper.
“Now that you two lovebirds are straight, I’m going to end this call and get back to sleeping.”
David disconnected the call and threw his phone on the bed beside him. He closed his eyes, and Sheba’s face invaded his thoughts. He drifted off into a deep sleep. In his dreams he and Sheba had met under different circumstances. In his dreams Sheba became his wife. In his dreams Sheba bore his first child. It all seemed so real in his dreams that when his alarm buzzed and woke him up the next morning, he wanted to go back to sleep and back to his dreams. David started his day off by praying and reading scriptures. He had gotten out of the routine and needed to feel close to God, so after praying, he picked up his Bible and turned to Psalm 3. I laid me down and slept; I awaked; for the LORD sustained me. I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people, that have set themselves against me round about.
David felt that the scripture spoke volumes in his life. Wade had given him some bad news over the weekend. Someone was secretly buying up some of his stock. They had not been able to discover who the culprit was as of yet, but David was sure they would soon find out. He would always have the majority of the stock shares, but he didn’t want anyone else to have enough shares to be able to veto any of his decisions.
David’s phone rang the next morning, waking him up. The song he had preset on his phone indicated it was Nathan calling. Whenever the ring tone of Marvin Sapp’s song “He Saw the Best in Me” played, David knew it was his friend Nathan. “Nathan, I’m surprised you’re calling me on a Sunday morning.”
“I need you, man.”
David could hear the desperation in his voice. “What’s wrong?”
“I need you to sing a solo.”
“What? No. Now, you know I don’t sing anymore.”
“You should. Please. Just one. It’s by special request. Remember Jonathan Heard? Well, he’s dying of cancer, man, and he’s in town. He asked me if I could get you to sing. Please. He might not make it to another service.”
Nathan really knew how to lay the guilt on David. After thinking about it, David responded, “I’ll be there. But I’m not staying for the entire service.”
“Now, David, you have to stay and hear the Word. God has a word for you today.”
David sat up in bed, ignoring Nathan’s comment. “Since it’s after nine, I better get dressed so I can find me a seat.”
“Don’t worry about that. I’ll make sure a seat is saved for you. The ushers will direct you to the front.”
“You’ve thought of everything, haven’t you?”
“Almost everything.”
David could imagine Nathan wearing a smirk on his face. He ended their call, got up, took a shower, and then put on one of his tailor-made suits. He opted for a black and gray pin-striped one and his gold, wing-tipped, matching shoes.
He decided to give his driver the day off. He jumped in his silver Jaguar and headed to Church On the Way, where Nathan was the senior pastor. David had always wanted to ask Nathan why the church’s name was Church On the Way, but never had.
David eased his car into the first available parking spot he could find. Several people seemed to recognize him as he entered the church, but they wouldn’t approach him. Instead, he heard people murmuring about him.
“Sir, this part of the sanctuary is full. We’re asking everyone else to go to the balcony,” the slim usher said to David as he searched for a seat.
“My name’s David King, and I’m here as a special guest of Pastor McDaniel,” David said in a calm voice.
“Oh my goodness. I can’t believe I’m actually talking to the David King. Why didn’t you say something? We have a seat saved for you up front. I’ll personally escort you.”
“No need to. Just point me in the right direction, and I’ll find it.”
The usher pointed to the right side of the sanctuary. “Just tell Ms. Simmons, the usher up front, who you are, and she’ll show you exactly where your seat is.”
David walked down the aisle. It had been months since he had actually taken the time to attend anyone’s church. He was usually either in another city or flying in from another city. Although he didn’t attend church on a regular basis, he felt like he had a close relationship with God.
Ms. Simmons showed him to his seat. When he looked up toward the pulpit, Nathan acknowledged him with a huge smile. David was glad he’d come. It was the least he could do for their dying classmate.
Nathan introduced them both. The congregation clapped. When Nathan asked David to render a solo, the congregation was shocked. Few people knew that David could sing. They knew David only as the king of media.
The pianist rose from the piano bench, and David sat down on it. He took a few seconds to get reacquainted with the piano keys and then looked in Jonathan’s direction. “This is dedicated to my friend Jonathan and anyone else who may be going through the storms of life,” he told the congregation.
From the moment David started playing and opened up his voice, the congregation was mesmerized. There was not a dry eye in the church after David sang his rendition of the Twenty-third Psalm.
David felt the presence of God, and it took him a while to remember he was in the presence of others. Once his song was over, he graciously went back to his seat.
Nathan said, “It’s going to be hard to preach after that heartfelt selection.”
“Amen,” was heard around the room.
“But the Lord has a word for you today. A word that will hopefully make some of you change your wicked ways.” Nathan looked directly at David.