Redeemed

“Hello?” Keithe threw out a hard and annoyed greeting toward Michelle. He didn’t know if it was because she had possibly shortened his conversation with Evangelist Clark or if it was because it had been Michelle on the other line. Period. Switching his driving hand, Keithe repositioned his cell phone and waited for Michelle to give the reason behind her calling.

“Get over yourself, my brotha.” Michelle snatched an attitude once she heard the tone of Keithe’s voice. “I just wanted to check on you.” No doubt she cared about Keithe’s welfare, but there was something she had been meaning to run by Keithe. Sitting on the stool in front of her vanity, Michelle tried on one of five different shades of Bobbi Brown’s new lip color she had bought while she and Stoney had been out for the day. She settled with the brightest shade and slid it across her puckered lips.

Keithe knew Michelle still cared for him, but with the phone call he felt she was over doing it. There was no doubt Michelle was still clocking him. Why else would she call him before he called her? Desperate, maybe.

“I’m good,” he answered. “I’m on the other line, Michelle. Is everything okay?” Keithe had only departed Michelle’s house hours ago, not days, and Michelle had to have remembered him telling her that he would call once he reached town. Even with him stopping at his parents’ home to visit, Keithe was still making good time back into Dallas.

Concluding their shopping after a couple of hours, Stoney decided to hang with friends from church before she departed from her mother’s house and headed back to her off-campus apartment. Michelle just decided she would retire early. She had actually debated picking up the line and calling her ex, but when she figured there could possibly be a chance Keithe would somehow be happy with her decision, Michelle’s fingers did the walking.

She hadn’t shared with Keithe how she and her latest beau, Deek, had called it quits. Cupid had come to do his job. Unfortunately it was her beau’s ex-wife who had won him over. So with Stoney away from the house, Michelle felt she had way too much time on her hands and had no shame in flirting a bit with Keithe. As far as she was concerned, he was still her hubby. As what she’d read in the Bible said, he was still hers since neither of them were remarried or dead. She was ready to reclaim what was hers.

“All is well. I just wish you would have stayed a little longer. You know you can still spend the night when you visit, Keithe.” Michelle ran the thought by her ex-husband, knowing it wouldn’t happen. The last time she offered for him to sleep over and rest before his drive back, she had offered him herself as well. For Michelle, it had worked out perfectly. For Keithe, well, he had driven back in repent mode his entire ride home.

“Michelle ...” Keithe urged Michelle to get to what she wanted. “Again, I’m on the other line.”

“Oh, excuse me, sir.” Michelle threw in her own attitude. Knowing Keithe’s annoyance for her had been settled in even before the phone call, Michelle’s decision to tell Keithe about her plans to move to Dallas were halted. She already knew he probably wouldn’t wholeheartedly agree and would definitely be furious, but she still had hope.

Not knowing what else to do with her thoughts and feelings for Keithe, since he was all she thought about, Michelle decided to just hold off on her news.

“Okay, okay. I will ... I will just speak with you later, Keithe. I wouldn’t want you to keep the little missus waiting.” Michelle tapped her phone with her nails and disconnected the call. She may have asked God to enter her life, but game still recognized game, and for some reason, Michelle just knew she would have to fight for her man.

“Oh, I’m gonna stay saved,” Michelle declared as she puckered her lips and shifted on her seat. “It will just be ... What do they call it? A holy war. Hey now.” She pumped her hands in the air like she was getting happy for Jesus.

Before he could swap the call back to the other line on his BlackBerry, Evangelist Clark had disconnected her end.

“Dang it!” Keithe threw his phone in the passenger’s seat. There was no way he could find the nerve to call back for the sole purpose of asking her out. He hadn’t gotten that bold in five minutes.

“Michelle! What are you up to?” Keithe’s right hand squeezed and remained on the leather-padded steering wheel as he slouched in his seat.

He couldn’t put his finger on it, but Michelle had been a little bit too gentle on this last visit. No real clinging as she had done before. To him, that could only mean she was playing the whole reverse psychology bit on him.

For the past few months she had pulled all kinds of stuff to try to get him to return to her arms. He knew Michelle was a little off-kilter when she had the nerve to call him one afternoon after they’d reinvented their bedroom roles of husband and wife. When she shared with Keithe that she might be expecting, he quickly let her know if she was expecting anything besides a miracle she could hang it up, then showed her an example by hanging up his phone.

Not so unusual for Texas, the cool, not cold, January air pushed through his vents as Keithe relaxed his thoughts on Michelle and her antics. Decreasing the thermostat number to seventy degrees, Keithe needed to bring some comfort to his ride.

Replacing his thoughts of Michelle, Keithe grabbed at his brief conversation he’d held with Evangelist Clark and knew without a doubt she had been his motivation to head back to Dallas. He didn’t know how or when, but Keithe knew soon enough that he would get Evangelist Clark to see giving him a chance could be just the start she needed for the New Year.