Chapter 3

It’s been five whole days since Brenda left home, she has yet to call her man or her children. Richard tries desperately to allow Brenda the time necessary to come to her senses. Their daughters go on as if mom never left. Richard gets up to make breakfast for the girls before the school bus arrives. Brenda never made them breakfast. She just made sure that they got up and got out of the house. The girls are enjoying the new found attention and the hot meals. Their dad is no chef but he scrambles a mean egg and his pancakes are fluffy like clouds on a clear summer day. Every morning before Trina headed off to school, she would ask her father, “Any word from mommy?” It pained her father to answer but he would just shake his head in a back and forth motion while trying to mask the anguish of his hopeless situation. Samantha looking over her sister's shoulder as they are about to exit the house catches her father’s reaction to the question. She purses her lips as she turns to walk out the door.

Richard washes the dishes by hand, wipes down the kitchen table as well as the stove and countertops. He heads back to his bedroom where he pulls a gray suit out of the closet, a sky blue brooks brother shirt and a Yves Saint Laurent tie in a shade of eggplant. The grey wingtips finish the look. He heads to the master bath to take a quick shower. He turns on the faucet and checks the water temperature. It is not too hot and far from cold. As he drenches himself under the rain shower head, he focuses on Brenda’s purple exfoliating sponge stuck on the wall. He grabs his soap on a rope and lathers up. Still looking at Brenda’s bath sponge, he images her standing there all wet as she uses the sponge in a circular motion. She is smiling at him, cautioning him to give her time to bath. As she rinses herself, the vision of her in all her nakedness appeals to his senses. He waits for her signal. Just as she gives him a wink and gestures for him to come ravage her, he shivers. Richard has used up all the hot water and his shower is now an ice bath. His daydream halts and he finishes his shower in cold water.

He will need to report to his office in the next hour and a half. This gives him a whole hour and fifteen minutes to get polished for the workday. Richard works at Loans R Us Mortgage Company where he heads the loan processors group. He recently got promoted to management about six months ago. Brenda was so happy for him. She knew he worked hard and deserved all the accolades and fringe benefits that came with the position. The biggest bonus was he was now in the main office that was close to their home. He used to travel an hour and a half each way to one of the branch locations. Now his commute is a blink away.

Before heading out the door, Richard calls Brenda’s place of employment. He does not dial her direct line. He opts to be transferred through the switchboard. The home line does not have caller identification as part of the package so the receiver will see the caller as unknown. Ring. Ring. “Hello, you have reached Stress-Free Consulting, how may I direct your call?” The sassy receptionist asked. “Brenda Holden, please.” Richard requested as he disguises his voice. “Sir, Ms. Holden is not in the office today. Would you like to leave a message?” The receptionist replied. Richard quickly hangs up the phone without answering the question. He adjusts his tie in the powder room mirror off the kitchen and grabs his keys to leave for the day. His cell phone beeps twice indicating that he has a new unread message. He snatches his phone off his hip from its holster. It reads, “Hey man, if your old lady lets you out tonight, some of the guys are going bowling. Let me know if you’re in.” The message is from his best friend. He snaps the phone back in place as he heads for the front door.

All Richard can think about is why Brenda has not tried to reach out to the children. Sure, she is upset with him but she should not take it out on the children. They are innocent. He decides to take Brenda’s truck to the office. His mind begins to think maybe something has happened to her. As soon as he pulls into the parking lot at the office, his cell phone rings. He pulls it off his hip before he gets out of the car. It’s the girl’s school. He answers. “Hello, Richard Harvey here.” “Yes, Mr. Harvey, this is Samantha’s teacher, I am afraid that I am going to need you to come and get her. She is not feeling well. Her mother said that she is out of town and I should give you a call.” He sits upright when he realizes that Brenda is alright. The relief quickly turns to anger. “Thank you for calling, yes, mom is traveling so I am on duty. I will be there to get her shortly.” Richard states with the voice of a concerned parent. He exits the truck and heads for his office. He logs onto his computer, goes through a few messages, moves a few appointments around and heads back out the door. It’s a thirty minute trip to the high school in light traffic. Once on school property, his cell phone rings again. He snaps it off his hip. It’s the school again. He answers. “Daddy, don’t come get me. I have a test next period that I cannot miss.” Samantha his oldest beckons. “Are you sure baby?” Richard said with angst. “Yes. Really. I’m okay.” Samantha begged. “Okay, because I am here and I can wait or come back for you.” Richard explained. “No, daddy. Go to work. I’ll see you at home later.” Samantha pleaded. “Alright, as long as you’re sure. I will head back to the office.” Richard agreed.

Before leaving the school, Richard decides to try tracking Brenda’s cell phone location. Unfortunately for him, she turned off the location identification on her phone. He racks his brain trying to think where she could have traveled and been staying. He wants to call Stephanie but figures that would just be a dead end because right or wrong, her sister would never give her up. He starts up the truck, heads back to the office where he finds messages from clients piling up on his desk. Richard cannot focus on work. He does his best to make it through the day. The last must do thing on his list for today is to conduct a team meeting after lunch. One woman on his team is inconsolable. She is weeping so much that the other workers are complaining to Richard. This not what he needs or can handle today. It is his job to keep up the team morale. He calls the staff member into his office to see if he can remedy the situation. The woman apologies profusely for her mournful behavior. “Boss. I am sorry. My husband and I have broken up after twenty-five years. I don’t even understand why.” The woman says while sobbing. Richard hands the woman a Kleenex but he understood where she was coming from. For the last five days, all he has wanted is to run through the streets screaming, “Why?” He believes that Brenda will come around. She has in the past. Honestly, this has been the longest stretch of time that she has gone without even a phone call to curse him out. There has been no contact at all. He suggests that the staff member take a few days to collect herself. She agrees and leaves his office. Richard sat there replaying the woman’s grief for a relationship that was dead after a quarter century. He wondered if he was truly on that same path.

The workday ends without incident. His attention was focused on getting home right away to check on Samantha. The incident with the school today was something out of the ordinary. He needed to make sure his little girl was alright. Two traffic lights and two right turns and Richard was pulling into his driveway. He enters the home and both girls are sitting on the sofa. “Daddy, why did you drive mommy’s car today?” Trina his youngest asked. “I just felt like taking the truck. Why?” Richard answers with a perplexed look on his face. “I thought she came back and you two were together.” Trina stated sadly. Richard sighed as he realized that was an insensitive thing to do. “Sorry, baby. I figured the truck has been sitting idle and needed to be driven.” Her father gives his rationale for the situation. He turns his attention to his oldest daughter Samantha. “Hey there, beautiful. You gave me a quite a scare when the school called today. Tell me what happened?” Her father demands. “Daddy, I am fine.” Samantha stated. “Oh, no baby, that is not going to cut it. The school calls, then you call. Something was up. The teacher said that you did not feel well. What gives?” Her father inquires. “Well, if you must know, I am on my menstrual cycle and I did not have any supplies. I mean. I had extra panties because mommy told me that I should always have a spare pair in my backpack for days like today. Usually, I have supplies in a case as well but I was out.” Samantha explained not sparing her father any of the awkwardness. Richard looks like he talking to a strange at this point. “Menstrual cycle. When did that happen? Spare panties in your backpack. Why didn’t you have your supplies?” Richard utters in sheer disbelief that he is actually having this conversation with his sixteen-year-old. “Daddy, mommy usually makes sure that I have everything. She is not here to do it.” Samantha shouts as she rolls her eyes at him. “Oh. Well. What do you need? I can go get whatever it is.” Richard exclaimed. “Daddy, really, what do you know about women things?” Samantha asked as her younger sister chuckled. “I know plenty. I use to get women things for your mother all the time for years.” Richard said with pride and conviction. Samantha ran down the list of items that she needed to get through her monthly cycle. Her father promptly left to go purchase everything that she rattled off to him. He got double everything that she asked for from the wet wipes to the three different types of sanitary napkins. On the way back, he stopped to get pizza for dinner.

His relationship with his oldest daughter moves to another level. She felt more confident with him. Trina, the youngest still missed her mother very much. She too thought Brenda would have returned by now. After the three had their fill of two fully loaded pizza pies, the home phone rings, Richard answered. “Hello.” “How are the girl? May I speak with them?” The voice on the other end was that of Brenda. “Sure.” Richard muttered. “Girls, your mother is on the phone.” Richard yelled. The two girls come running to the kitchen grabbing at the receiver. Richard goes into the living room to sit in his chair and give them a moment of privacy. Samantha tells of her issue in school today. Trina lets her know that she needs to come home because her daddy is miserable without her. The call does not last long and Brenda does not ask to speak to their father. The children return to the living room. Trina sees the look of worry on her daddy’s face. Samantha feels sad that her mother is punishing him and he doesn’t even know why. The two come over and kiss their father good night as they retire to their rooms for the evening. He gives them both hugs as he tries to look hopeful and not interrogate them about their conversation with Brenda. As the two girls walk away, the youngest, Trina turns back and says, “It’s going to be okay daddy.” Richard smiles slightly. As she turns to walk away he whispers “will it?”