Jenay worked the following day with the assuredness of a person who wasn’t thinking twice about the decision she made.  There was a time before she met Charles, when seeing Percy again, despite the devastating lie he forced her to believe, would have been a dream come true.  All might have been forgiven and she might have actually believed that his lie was an act of unselfish love.

But she wasn’t that girl anymore.  Too many heartaches and heartbreaks changed her.  Now she saw Percy’s act for what it was: a selfish disregard for her feelings, and a grave disrespect for her ability to make her own decisions.  He should have allowed her to decide if she wanted to be with a person who would have medical issues.  He should have never taken that right away from her.  But he did.

She even forgot about Percy as she worked.  Those upcoming conventions next week dominated her thoughts.  And getting home.  To Charles.  And to their child.

“Ready?” Donald asked as he stood outside of her office door.

She looked at him as she locked her office door.  “You need a ride home again?”

“Yeah, Ma, I told you.  My car is still in the shop.”

“Why doesn’t any of those girls you fool with have cars?”

“I’m not fooling with anybody right now.”

“Yeah, right,” Jenay said, and Donald smiled.

And after another long day at work, they began heading out.  They said their goodbyes to their nightshift workers, and made their way toward the lobby.

Becky Hamlisch stopped talking to another clerk to make sure she gave the boss a personal good bye.  “Have a good evening, Mrs. Sinatra,” she said with a smile as Jenay and Donald waved and walked by the front desk.

“You’re pulling a double shift?” Jenay asked.

“Yes, ma’am.  I’m always glad to help out when somebody else drops the ball.”

Jenay found her commentary odd.  Somebody was out sick and she called it dropping the ball?  Jenay thanked her anyway, and she and Donald headed out.  Jenay smiled and shook her head.

“I know, right,” Donald said, smiling too.  “She wants to get ahead, but she doesn’t know how to go about it the correct way.  I already told her you can see right through that fake stuff she’s always pulling.  But she doesn’t believe me.”

The other clerk smiled and elbowed Becky as Jenay and Donald headed for the exit.  “You are such a butt kisser,” she said.

“Damn right,” Becky responded, tossing her blonde hair out of her thin face.  “And I’m going to keep kissing every butt I can until I get me a senior position here.  I know what I’m doing!”  she added, and she and the clerk laughed.

Jenay and Donald heard their laughter, but didn’t care what it was about.  They just wanted to get away before yet another one of their employees ran to them with yet another problem that needed solving.  It seemed as if, ever since they realized the staff had booked three conventions during the same week, that their days were loaded with issues.

But when they walked out of the lobby’s side exit, and headed for the parking space just outside the door, where Jenay kept her Mercedes, they nearly stopped in their tracks.  Because standing there, with his arms folded, and with his muscular body leaned against his Jag, was Charles.  Looking sexy as hell, she also noticed, even though he was wearing shades in the evening.

She smiled, and walked over to him.  “What are you doing here?”

He had been neglecting her.  Nobody had to tell him.  He already knew it.  But Percy’s sudden appearance crystallized it for him.  And he was trying to make amends.  “Thought I’d take you to dinner,” he said.

“Oh, really now?”  Jenay couldn’t remember the last time they went out to dinner.  But the last thing she wanted to do tonight was eat at her workplace.  “Where?” she asked.  “Here at the Inn?”

“Hell no,” Charles responded, and placed his arms around her waist.  “I reserved a table at Campion’s.”

Jenay and Donald both smiled.  Campion was the finest restaurant in town.  She placed her arms around his waist, even with her briefcase still in one of her hands.  “Now that sounds like a lovely idea.”

Charles smiled too.  And kissed her on the lips.  “I need to drop by the office first,” he said.  “And then we’ll be on our way.”

It sounded great to Jenay. 

“Ma,” Donald said, “if you’ll give me the keys, I’ll leave you two lovebugs to it.”

Jenay looked at her expensive, S-class Benz, a gift from Charles, and then at her stepson.  She stopped hugging Charles, and handed her keys to Donald.  “Put a scratch on it,” she said, “and I’ll take it out of your hide.”

“Don’t worry, Ma.  I got this!  You do you.”  Then he smiled.  “And Daddy too.”

Charles made a move as if he was going to get that stupid boy, but Donald, laughing, jumped his lanky body into Jenay’s car, cranked up, and took off.  Charles smiled.  “That boy!” he said.

“He’s a good boy,” Jenay said.  “Most times.”

Charles smiled.  Then he continued to hold her.  “Not only am I going to take you to dinner,” he said, pulling her closer, “but I have also canceled my trip to Delaware, and any other trips for now.”

Jenay stared at him.  “Really, Charlie?”

Charles nodded.  “Really, Jenay.”

She studied his handsome face.  “But why?”

He lifted the shades off of his eyes.  He wanted her to see his sincerity.  “Because I’ve been neglectful, Jenay.  To you.  To Bonita.  To all of our children.  No more trips for now.”

Jenay smiled.  “I love you, big man.”

“I love you, big woman.  Or is that politically incorrect?”

Jenay laughed.  “Hell no, I’ll take it.  I’m not Makayla size, but I’m no skinny weakling either.”

“You’d better not get skinny,” he said, opening the car door for her, “or I’ll skinny your ass.”  He glanced around, saw nobody roaming about, and squeezed her butt.

Jenay reacted with a jump, and then laughed and got in the car.

But before Charles cranked up to leave, he had a question.  He looked at his wife.  “Heard from Percy again?” he asked her.

“No.  Of course not.  Why would I hear from him again?  I think I was pretty clear yesterday.”

“You were,” Charles agreed.  “But you’re the type of woman worth fighting for,” he added.  “And he is a fighter.”

Jenay looked at him.  “Meaning?”

“I ran his background.  He is a very impressive guy.  Norm was right about that.  But he’s shady too.”

“Shady how?”

“He’s been investigated for shady land deals in Africa.  That’s why the government gave him a position in their embassy abroad: to get him out of the country and away from potential prosecution.  From what I’ve been told, he lost everything in Botswana.  He’s starting over.   He might have figured that since you’re now a very wealthy woman, he might as well come back from the dead and see if he can get a piece of your pie.”

Jenay leaned her head back.  “I’m not a very wealthy woman,” she said.  “My husband is a very wealthy man.”

“Who refused to sign a prenup,” Charles continued.  “You divorce me, everything I have is half yours.  He knows that.”

“Charles look,” Jenay said and looked at him, “I am so over Percy Diallo, okay?  He made his choice, and to be honest with you, I’m glad he did leave me.”

“Glad how?”

“I’m glad because, if he wouldn’t have, I would have been married to him, caught up in his shadiness too, and, most importantly, I would have never met you.  Or your sons.  We would have never had Bonita.  And I would have never had my dream come true to not only run a hotel, but to own it, too.”

Jenay shook her head.  “No, Charlie.  Percy might as well move on with his life.  I absolutely have.”

Charles’s heart swelled with joy.  “That’s another thing,” he said.

“What?” Jenay asked.

“Percy’s married too.  He has two wives already.”

Jenay smiled.  “Quit lying!”

Charles smiled too.  “I’m serious.  I had his ass investigated.  He has two wives back in Africa.  One he married under customary law.  One he married under civil law, whatever all of that means.”

“And they found all this out in a day?”

“Yeah.  He’s not trying to hide it.  He figures we’re those stupid Americans whose arrogance is only exceeded by our laziness.  He never figured you’d check.”

“Well he figured wrong, didn’t he?” Jenay asked.  “I’ve got a husband who does not let anything get pass him.”  Then she looked at him without any hint of joking.  “Thank God,” she added.

Charles looked at her with great appreciation in his eyes.  Jenay had a way of making a man feel ten-feet tall.  He put back on his shades, cranked up, and happily took off.