CHAPTER 11

 

Clarye and Ada sat back lazily in the sunroom. Clarye took a swallow of lemon iced tea. The party was over and her feet hurt something awful. Eric, EJ and Jeremy had helped to clean up and then decided they would go out on the basketball court Clarye had built for them on her 17 acre lot. She had also built two, four bedroom homes on her luscious green land; one for Eric and EJ and one for Jeremy, although EJ stayed with her most of the time in the main house, as they called it.

“Do you think Gavin is really going to call?” Clarye asked Ada.

“Of course he’s going to call,” Ada said. The question I have for you is, “Are you going to answer the call, girl? If you know what I mean.”

“Ada, I’m scared. You know I just can’t take a chance of screwing up my life again. I mean, look at me, Ada. I’m a successful writer, a grandmother. I have two brilliant sons. I’m finally making a huge salary doing what I have always wanted to do. I just don’t want to mess things up, Ada. You know that five year relationship I had with Carlton was the closest I’ve come to knowing about love.”

“Clarye, let me remind you of some things, girlfriend,” Ada butted in immediately. Carlton was a single man when you met him and what did he do to you? Do you remember, Clarye? Well, let me refresh your memory. He went and got married one year after your relationship started. Not only that Clarye, you continued to see him, to say that he loved you and all of that crap. You wasted five years of your life, Clarye with a man who took you for a ride. He was no better than the rest of the bums you’ve had in your life. He was just disguised as a doctor, splashed a few gifts on you every now and then and you thought he was “the one.”

“Oh, Ada.” Clarye said, “You still have to admit, that he was really a nice fellow. He kept my mind from expecting too much since he was married. He was a safe, fail proof relationship.”

“Oh, yeah, sure, fool yourself. Then you tried to justify the relationship, knowing full well that you were sinning big time. But you never have and never will be able to pull the wool over these here eyes, girl, let alone the Lawd Almighty. Naw, you sure as heaven can’t fool Him. But I can say this much; and that is that I was glad when you woke up, even though it took you five years to do it. And maybe he didn’t physically or verbally abuse you like the others, Clarye, but he was still abusive because he took you for granted. You helped him build up his practice, turned his life around, put him on the map, so to speak, by getting him chosen for several prestigious physician awards, and after all of that, what did he do, Clarye? Nothing but come and see you once, maybe twice a month. When you started working for him, helping him out at the office, why, he came to see you even less. Why, girl, he even began to just have you right there in his office so he wouldn’t have to come to see you at your place. Now you want to sit here and try to convince me, no convince yourself, that he was Mr. Nice Guy. I don’t think so, Clarye. He was just another user and abuser, girlfriend, a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

Remember when he bought you that diamond ring? Shoots, Clarye, you had to go and pick it out for yourself. He just gave you the money and told you to go and get it. What a bum. Then, what did a diamond ring mean anyway? You wore that ring like you were really the one, girl. Shoot, all the time he was going home to his precious wife and big fancy house, taking her own cruises, buying her furs and cars and all that stuff. Child, he only spent eight hundred dollars for that ring anyway. That wasn’t even a drop in the bucket for him. So wake up, Clarye. It’s your turn now. You surely can’t mess up any more than you already have. So see what Gavin is all about. You’re breaking the man down before you even give him a chance. If you gave all those other low lifers a chance in your life, what the heck, go for this one. He might just turn out to be your so called “knight in shining armor.” God knows you’ve been searching for one long enough.”

Clarye loved Ada. She had been Clarye’s best friend since junior high and had stuck by her through thick and thin. Many a night Ada was the one who talked her out of her deep bouts with depression and suicidal thoughts. Ada was there in the good and the bad times.

Clarye was happy that she could return some of the love by making Ada her personal assistant. Ada was doing well for herself because of Clarye’s generosity towards her. Clarye knew that everything Ada said was right. She could always count on her to tell her the truth and not just what she wanted to hear.

“If he calls, I’ll see what he talks like and go from there,” Clarye said. “Come on, Ada. Let’s jump in the Jacuzzi, girl and relax a bit.”

“Naw, I’m going on to the house,” said Ada. “If I get into the Jacuzzi now, I’m going to be here for the night and I really had no plans of staying over tonight.”

Ada had her own bedroom at Clarye’s. She stayed over many nights.

“Come on, Ada," Clarye pleaded. “You don’t have to go home tonight. Anyway, I want you here in case Gavin calls and I start to panic. You know I need you, girl, to help me walk through this one.”

“Shoot, woman, you’re getting on my last nerves,” said Ada. “But okay, let’s get into the Jacuzzi and after that I’m going to crash. You’ll just have to wake me up if he calls.”

“You have a deal,” said Clarye. “Thanks, Ada.”

“Yeah, girl, anytime. That’s what friends are for.”

Ada did just as she said. She went straight to her bedroom after they climbed out of the Jacuzzi. Clarye went into her bedroom and climbed out of her bathing suit. She ran a nice, cool bath for herself, sipping again on another tall glass of iced tea. While she relaxed in the tub, Clarye continued to think of how she made it to this point in her life.