Perception

Part 10: It All Makes Sense Now

As soon as they left, Melissa knocked on my already open door. "Come in." "I just wanted to tell you something." she whispered. "Spill some educational tea, if you will." I was intrigued. "Okay, have a seat." She slid into one of the chairs opposite me. "I guess by now you know about Mr. Perkins and Mrs. Hampton." I nodded. "Okay, well, they just got married a couple years ago. As you can see, she's way out of his league." I raised my eyebrows as I had noticed the difference between them. He was a very buttoned up man, older than her at least by ten years and balding. She was a young, tall hot blonde with big boobs. "Everyone here says she only married him for his money." she continued. "Superintendent's salary isn't anything to take advantage of?" I said as more of a question than a statement. "No, I know, but he's otherwise rich. He won the lottery about three years ago and he just works here still because, as he said, he loves the kids." I smiled. "Another thing, he and Mrs. Ross were kind of a thing. But after he won all that money, Mrs. Hampton started snooping around and then bam! They were on and Mrs. Ross was off. It's why she's so mean now. And when he hired you, it made things worse." She sat back in the chair as if the whole thing was exhausting. "Wow." Was all I could say. "Well thanks, Melissa, for telling me." "Sure thing." she said standing up. "Somebody had to." she said as she got up and left my office.

I drove home that evening with Mr. Perkins, Mrs Hampton, Mrs. Ross and Henry on my mind. What a mess that all turned out to be. Who knew that finally reprimanding Henry would bring all that about. It all makes sense now. Just as I was pulling up to a red light my phone rang. It was Wayne. I hit the hand's free answer on my dashboard. "Hello?" "Hi Kelly, how's it going today?" I noticed that he stopped trying to flirt with me and calling me baby and beautiful. "Oh, it's going. I had an eventful day. How are you?" "Still at the office." he said. "When you say eventful, anything you want to talk about?" "Not now...maybe later." "Speaking of later, what are you doing tonight?" "Not much, I was thinking of trying out that gym I pass by everyday." "Oh, you mean Tompkins Gym?" "Yeah, that one." "I've heard good things from a few coworkers." "Maybe I will then." "I'm off at five. Maybe we can go together?" "Okay I guess I can wait for you." I laughed. "Alright I'll call you when I'm done here then." I didn't know what was brewing between Wayne and me. I liked him but I didn't trust myself anymore. He had a lot to prove to me. I decided to go home and get ready for the gym so when Wayne called I could go meet him. I decided to stop at the grocery store since I hadn't been in a couple weeks. I pulled into Yale's Grocery. I looked through my bag to find my grocery list. Just as I stepped out Devon pulled in behind me, blocking me in. I suddenly became so scared I dropped my purse. My hands began to sweat. I wanted to scream but my voice wouldn't come. I was trembling and he seemed to be enjoying the obvious fear I was experiencing because he was smiling at me. Determined not to be afraid of him anymore, I bent down to pick up my purse. As I stood up he opened his car door. And that's when I screamed. There was a woman fighting with her child to put on a seatbelt. She turned to look. He backed away from me. "Shut up!" he hissed. "You know I don't give a fuck about her. I'll kill her, and you know it." he said smugly. I stopped screaming and turned to look at her. She was still looking at us. "Walk over here." he told me. "No." "Do it. Now. Because, if you make me come and get you, I'll have to kill her...she's got a kid with her too, right?" The look on his face was so sinister that it made me move. I inched toward him just enough to close the gap between us. He reached out and pulled me into him giving me a bear hug. I turned to look at the woman, who now had gone back to putting her groceries in the trunk.

"Good job Kelly. See, I knew you cared about people. Now listen carefully. Your new boyfriend won't come between us." he told me. "He's awfully protective of you for only dating a month and a couple days." I instantly jumped and moved away from him. "Oh you didn't know." he laughed at my reaction. "I know all about you and Wayne Turner. Owns his own engineering firm, practices some labor law on the side. Father of a dead kid, once married to a bimbo. Mother lives in Las Vegas, father died twelve years ago, sister in college at Newman University." I just blankly stared at him. "He lives in a big brick house on Greying Rd. Nice pool, hot tub is phenomenal." he smiled.