love marriage sex murder

Chapter Fifteen She Left Me

When the kids got home Charles and I ordered pizza for dinner. We all sat in the living room watching TV and listening to the stories of our high school children. This was what I wanted. This is what was important. About 8:15 there was a knock on the door. "I'll get it!" Antonio yelled. After a couple seconds he came back and said my boss was at the door. What the hell I thought to myself. I closed my robe over my plaid pj's and went to see what he wanted. "Yes Chris?" I asked him. "Hi Dina, how are you, is everything okay?" "Yes-why would you think something was wrong?" "Well, after Saturday, and you didn't come to work today." "I had my phone off for privacy." I told him. "But thank you, Chris for checking on me but I'm fine, really. I just had a few personal things I had to take care of that's all." "She left me." He blurted out. "Who left you, Catalina?" I asked in shock.

"Yes." he said. He looked like he was upset now that I had started paying attention to him. His eyes were red and swollen and his suit was wrinkled and he looked a mess. "Oh my God! Why?" I asked. "She said she wants to find herself. She said she wants to be with someone else, maybe a woman. She wants to be happy and I can't do that for her anymore. "Oh my God." I said again. I couldn't believe it. Even though I had been invited into this little escapade of theirs, somehow I felt responsible. "Do you know where she went?" "No I don't...and she took the baby. I have no idea where they are." When I woke up this morning there was a note on her side of the bed. The closet's were cleaned out and she was gone. Then I got your text. I should never have gotten you involved in this." he said. Something in his tone sounded as if he blamed me. "Chris, I'm really sorry about this, I am. If there is anything I can do to help you, please let me know." He gave me a look between disgust and confusion and left. "What was that all about?" Charles asked me. "Oh we got a new client today and he wants me to get started on some research." I lied. "He couldn't text that to you? Lawyers making house calls is a new thing to me." Since I didn't want to get into this with him I let his comments go. Besides my mind was caught up in wondering what was actually going on with Chris and Catalina. I didn't know what to think of this new found information. Part of me felt bad like I had caused this mess between them. But mostly I knew it wasn't me. They came to me with this proposition and it seemed that their marriage couldn't withstand the rendezvous like they apparently thought it could.

On the way to work the next morning I felt unsure of what I would be facing when I got there. I chose to focus on my life and the happiness that I had the chance to regain. When I got there everyone was working as usual. The partners were already in a meeting and Meghan was busy typing something up. "Good morning." she said in a low voice almost whispering. "Good morning." I said back instinctively in a quiet voice. "What's going on?" she whispered again. "Why are you whispering?" I asked her. "I don't know." she said in a regular voice. "Something's going on and I'm not sure what." "Well what happened?" I asked her. "All I know is when I got here this morning, those two were in a yelling match. They didn't stop right away either. It sounded like something went wrong with a case. When they realized I was here though, they did quiet down and closed the door."

"Hhhmmmm." I said. I didn't know what to make of any of it. Chris hadn't mentioned anything to me yesterday. I decided to start my day and pretend I didn't know about their argument. Technically I really didn't. I went in the kitchenette and got myself a cup of tea and a bagel. I got back to my desk and read through emails, notes, messages, and opened mail. I started researching the new case Chris was working on. I pulled up similar cases from prior years, I pulled up judgments and settlements. After a couple hours they finally opened the conference room door and came out. It was almost noon. Jack walked out and went straight to his office. Chris peaked around the corner and asked if he could see me in his office.

I really didn't want to talk to him. My day was going just fine. I even got a good start on his case in spite of missing work. So I reluctantly went to his office. "Please Dina, have a seat." I sat. "I guess you're wondering what the meeting was about this morning. Jack was pissed with me because he didn't know I got my brother-in-law off on a technicality. The problem now is the idiot hit somebody else. No one was hurt but both cars are totaled. This means bad publicity for our firm. The media is saying that our firm knowingly represents murderers and drunks. He needs me to get this cleaned up and fast. So I'm going to be holding a press conference tomorrow. Hopefully I can say something that will get them off our back." "Is there anything I can do to help?" "Yes, just wear a nice suit and smile for the camera's."

At dinner that night I had news. "I'm gonna be on TV!" I announced. "What for mom?" Zoe asked. "My boss is going to hold a press conference tomorrow. He represented his brother-in-law on a drunk driving homicide charge and got him off. He has since caused another accident driving drunk and the firm is getting back lash. So he's trying to do some damage control." "Wow baby that's great you're going to be on TV. Too bad it's for that though." "Yeah I know I guess this is a new part of the job." "Well good luck." Antonio said. "I'll record it."

I chose my navy blue pant suit. I wanted to look presentable and professional. It was the one I wore to interview for this job. It'll work now. The press conference went well. We would have to wait and see if it paid off. Chris had not mentioned anything else to me about his wife or his life. Charles and I started dating again. We went out almost every Saturday. Zoe's graduation was next weekend so we were planning for that. I took her to Huntspark to find her prom dress, and graduation dress. After four hours of going back and forth she finally settled on a beautiful purple silk and lace prom dress. Her shoes were silver wedges with rhinestones and she was going to wear a red pant suit to graduation. Charles and I joked that we had one down and one to go.

The next days went by quiet and smoothly. I took Zoe to graduation rehearsal three times after work. She wanted to be prepared. It felt good to see her getting ready for the next phase of her life. She was growing up and soon she would be out in the world making her own decisions. It was scary and exciting all at the same time. Our baby girl was growing up and she would have to face grown up situations. College trip weekend was coming up too. It would be fun to see her off to Savannah College of Art and Design. She was serious about her art career. She'd improved so much the last five years of school from 8th grade up to now. I wanted her to have everything she wanted in life. Both of our children deserved that.

Zoe woke up early Saturday morning. She was all excited about her graduation. She had an appointment at the beauty shop at 8:00, a nail appointment at 10:30 and her make-up artist was going to be at the house at 1:00. Charles was taking Calvin to pick up the rental car @ noon. He said it would give him a chance to have a man to man talk with the boy. By 3:00 she was all dolled up. I helped her get into her dress. She looked so beautiful. 'Aw mom!' she said as tears came to my eyes. I ran to get the camera. As we took pictures Charles gave some last minute pointers to Zoe about not having any babies before marriage. Antonio complained that he could have been their chauffeur. Zoe declined his offer. A few minutes later Calvin rang the bell. He looked very handsome. We went outside like all black folks do to take pictures of them standing near the rental car. I cried as they drove away. Charles took me in his arms and told me it's all good our babies growing up.

Antonio decided to take his girlfriend to the movies so Charles and I were on our own. We popped some popcorn and watched a movie. We laughed and enjoyed each others company. I felt like I was getting my family and my husband back and all the craziness was over...or so I thought.

Eva called Sunday morning to see how everything went with Zoe's prom. "She's upstairs sleeping." I told her. "But I know she had a good time. I saw all the pictures they took in her phone." I didn't even know what time she got in. "Miles is taking me to Atlanta this week, he is meeting with a producer there." "Oh that's wonderful!" I told her. "Good luck." "Call me when you get back, maybe you all can come over for dinner or something. It seemed that Miles and Eva were hanging in there. 

For once, everyone seemed happy at the same time.