I was still a little hurt by the way things had turned out with Caleb. He'd seemed so promising. But, we hadn't invested enough time together for me to develope feelings that weren't detachable, so it took me all of maybe a couple of weeks to clear him completely (romantically) out of my thoughts. Spending time with Junior had a way of making healing time speed up, like he did for me with Daniel, so, I started getting things back on track with him.
Things were incident free between Junior and I for a while. I'd found a box from a package that was mailed to him that had a female's first name (I assumed it was "honey bunny's" name) with his lastname in the sender's space of the box. I asked him about it, and he said that was the friend that was taking care of his mom, but he'd never noticed that she had his lastname as hers on the box, and maybe she'd just done it so there wouldn't be any issues delivering it. Mhm. Sure. I didn't say anymore, but was starting to get that uneasy feeling again. One day when I was at his room, he told me about another trip his company was sending him on the next day. Again, this was typical, but something about this time around put question in my mind, because he'd told me I couldn't spend the night that night. THAT was the strange part. The excuse he gave me was that one of his brothers was coming up that night to see him before he left, and he didn't want his brother asking alot of questions about me, nor did he want his brother trying to flirt with me. Whatever. But, since I had nothing else to go on, I took it at that. That wasn't the cut-and-dry of it for me, though. When I was leaving that night, he didn't walk me to my vehicle as usual, he'd stayed in his room saying he needed to call his mom. He saw me to the elevator, I made like I was leaving, and took the stairs back up to his floor. I wanted to know what was up. I quietly stood by his room door, heard him on the phone, couldn't make out everything that was being said, it was casual conversation, but I know it ended with "I love you, too". That could've been his mom, I didn't know. I couldn't jump to conclusions with just bits of information, so I left, knowing that I'd hear from him in a few days.
I'd been involved with Junior long enough to know his routine. Without fail, he'd close his hotel curtains every night, and reopen them the next morning, whether I was there or not. I pay attention to the little things that people do (the people that I want to pay attention to), and learn their routines and habits quickly. When I'd left that night the curtains were closed. I have to make note at this point, the store that I worked at was not far from his hotel, and I'd pass by the hotel if I took the "scenic" route home, so, it wasn't uncommon for me to go that way. The day that he was leaving, I worked a day shift, so when I passed by his hotel that evening on my way home, his curtain was open, as usual (I could see his 3rd floor room window from the street). He was supposed to be out of town, so the curtains should be open for a few days, right? That following day, I worked an evening shift, and on my way home from work that night, I passed by, and noticed the curtains were closed. Wait a minute...what the hell?? My mind went into overtime. I turned around, and went back to the hotel just to make sure I was looking at the right window. Yep, I was, and the curtains were definitely closed, but I could see faint light coming from the other side. Thinking maybe they'd checked Junior out of the room for the time he was gone (even though he didn't tell me that would happen, and they'd never done it before), and someone else had checked in there, I went in to the hotel front desk. The clerks knew me from being there all of the time, so when I asked them if Junior was still in that room, they didn't hesitate to check and tell me that he was. Okay, maybe his brother stayed while he left, but I was going to find out. I took the stairs up to his floor, and I could hear the television turned up rather loudly before I even reached his door. All I heard for a bit was the loud TV, then I heard a dog yap (Junior said he had a dog that stayed with his mom while he was away from home, so maybe his brother brought the dog to see him, too), a female started talking (maybe it's his brother's girlfriend or something), and then.....WAIT A MINUTE....JUNIOR'S voice. WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON??!! I stood there for a long while listening at his door. Their word's were jumbled because of the loudness of the TV, but since there weren't any other voices coming out of the room, I knew I'd been lied to...MAJORLY. Junior was never going out of town, SHE was coming up, and that story was a likely and believable way to keep me away from the hotel while she was there. I wanted to know who this female was, and if it was "honey bunny". When I heard her voice near the door, and the dog yapping, I quickly ran around the corner to hide, but could still see his door. A short, stumpy female emerged from the room with a small dog. I never saw her face, but from her hair and her build, I knew this was in fact "honey bunny". I resisted the urge to go knock on his door when she'd gone down in the elevator, and resisted the urge to go outside to say something to her. I knew at this time exactly what was going on, so I took the stairs back down, hurt, aggravated, and my head and heart racing, I left and went home. It all came together. He never went out of town the last time he said he did, she was here then, too. I knew Junior didn't use the type of bodywash that I'd found in his bathroom after that time, but when I'd asked him about it, he'd explained it away as a co-worker buying it for him by mistake and he just used it. Okay, that happens when you send someone else to the store for you.
True, in light of all I knew at that point, I had enough to just completely leave Junior alone. But, I was broken, and I wanted some answers. I didn't try contacting him, but like clockwork, he contacted me within a week to come over. I wasn't biting my tongue anymore. When I got to his room, I unleashed.
Me: So, how was your trip?
Junior: Hell, it was like every other work trip. Tiring and depressing
Me: Ah. So, I bet you're glad to be back, huh? You missed me?
Junior: You bet your sweet ass I missed you
Me: (fake smile) I know you said you don't get reception while you're out in those parts working, so have you talked to your mom to see how she's doing?
Junior: Yeah. Talked to her yesterday.
Me: Have you talked to "Alice" (the name on the mailing box) to see how your dog is doing?
Junior: (starting to fidget) Yep. Talked to her yesterday, too. Dog's doin fine
Me: Good. Then can I ask you something?
Junior: Oh, shit. What is it now, woman?
Me: When's the last time you saw Alice?
Junior: (hesitates, and starts fidgeting really bad) Okay, what are you really wanting to know?
Me: I think you already know
Junior: (deep sigh) Yes, Alice was here
Me: Why'd you lie to me?
Junior: (gets up from his seat and starts pacing) I couldn't tell you that another woman was coming to see me. I know you won't go for shit like that and you'd think it was more than it is
Me: So, you lie to me instead. Junior, what's really going on with you and her? Are y'all married? I mean, I thought about it, and for her to put your lastname as hers on something she mails to you doesn't quite add up for me
Junior: Look, she's a really close friend I've known for years. She takes care of my mom, my dog, my bills, and my house while I'm away from home. No, I don't deny that she likes me, but I have to give her what she wants so she'll keep doing that for me. So when she told me she wanted to come visit, I had to let her
Me: Well, why couldn't you just tell me that instead of lying to me? Are y'all married? Cause it sure sounds like it
Junior: Like I told you, woman, there was no way you'd go for me telling you the truth. I was trying to protect your feelings, but damn you and your looking for shit!
Me: (getting irritated) Oh, and you figured I'd be okay finding out you've lied to me?
Junior: Your ass is always looking for shit, and if you weren't, you wouldn't have found out.
He was right. I wasn't very trusting when it came to men, and my "Penny" (from Inspector Gadget) personality was always leading me to search for the deeper once I had any inclination of something not being right. I couldn't take things at the surface...but my intuitions were NEVER wrong. At least now I had an explanation for him keeping his cell phone turned off, and the hotel phone being unplugged all the time.
Junior: Look, she's gone, and probably won't be coming up here anymore. Do you wanna go get something to eat, cause I'm starving
I guess you could say by that point I had a fear of being alone, so I left the conversation at that. He never answered my question as to whether they were married or not, but I didn't have to wait long for Alice to.
A couple of weeks later, I was at work, and getting ready to go to break, when I discovered a missed call from a number that I didn't recognize. The area code looked familiar, but the phone number didn't. Normally, if someone doesn't leave a message, I don't bother worrying about it, thinking maybe they had the wrong number, but this particular time my curiosity was eating me alive, so I called the number back. No answer, and a general voicemail message that just stated the phone number I had reached, so I still had no idea who this was. I didn't leave a message, just hung up, but my phone rang back from that exact number immediately after I did.
Me: Hello?
Alice: Who is this?
Me: Uhm, you called MY phone first, so why don't you tell me who you're looking for?
Alice: (mad...but hell, I would be, too) You must be the homewrecking bitch that's fucking my husband!
(I knew it)
Me: Uhm, excuse me? I have no idea what you're talking about. Who is your husband?
Alice: (yelling) You know exactly who I'm talking about. Junior. Your number's been showing up all over his phone bills for months! Why the hell are you fucking another woman's husband?
I had ample space, time, and opportunity to blow Junior's cover right then and there. I could have told her all about when Junior and I'd first met 2 years prior, how he was calling me during the time we hadn't seen each other, and how we'd been together for the last 8 months. My normal vindictive nature would have, but something just wouldn't let me do it. Somehow, I think she knew about 7 of the months, because that explained to me why his "out of town" trips suddenly started popping up. She knew he was cheating on her, and she didn't trust him, but up through that point, she didn't know with who, and didn't know details. Somehow, I still felt the need to be gentle with her.
Me: (calmly..thinking quick) Look, I'm sorry. Maybe my brother (the only thing I could think of..even though my brothers were in Texas) was talking your husband from my phone. I'm not sure who Junior is, so if you want to know anything else about it, I'd recommend you ask him
Alice: (calming down) No, I'm asking you. Are you the bitch he's fucking?
Me: Hey, look, I'm being nice to you..there aren't going to be too many more "bitches" when I'm not disrespecting you. Like I said, I can't help you. If you want to know anything else, you have to ask your husband, alright?
Alice: (silent for a minute, but responding calmly) Okay, I will. But I can't get in touch with him
Me: Well, I don't know what to tell you. You might want to keep trying, okay? I've gotta go. Have a good day
Alice: Okay
I had a few minutes left on my break, so I called Junior's cell and left a general message for him to call me as soon as he could because it was urgent. I knew he was at work and probably wouldn't get it until he got off, but he called back right before I clocked in.
Me: Your wife just called me
Junior: (silence)
Me: Hello?
Junior: I'm here
Me: Did you hear me? I said your....
Junior: I heard you
Me: Okay. I just wanted to let you know. I didn't tell her anything, just that my brother was probably using my phone to talk to you and if she wanted to know anything else she'd have to ask you, so you'll probably be hearing from her real soon
Junior: (silence)
Me: HELLO??!!
Junior: Yeah. Okay. She's been trying to call me. Look, thank you
Me: Don't thank me
Junior: I have to go. I'll call you later and explain everything to you
Me: Okay
Somehow I knew I'd seen Junior for the last time, and I didn't expect to hear from him anymore. He did call me later that night with a hoarse voice, apologizing to me and saying that when his throat cleared he'd call me and tell me the whole story. I never heard from Junior again, and I never found out the "whole" story. I called the hotel 2 weeks after that, and they told me he'd checked out a few days after our last conversation. His phone number was even changed not long after that.
Alone, again. No Junior, no nobody. I took some time off from dating to let my heart mend, my mind reconfigure, and to put the pieces back together before I jumped back on the dating sites. This time, I'd found a couple of dating sites geared towards interracial dating that looked interesting. I created profiles on them (with pictures), and it didn't take long for me to meet 3 men that I wanted to get to know. Enter Wally, Carl, and the Military Captain.
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