You ever have that feeling that something was wrong, but you didn’t quite know what it was? Like your life was about to be turned upside down and there wasn’t a damn thing you could do about it? That’s how I felt as I searched the city for Stephanie. I wasn’t sure what was going on, but I was starting to believe that she was cheating on me. Why would I think that? It was mostly a gut feeling. That and a whole lot of circumstantial evidence. You see, it all started earlier this afternoon. I’d just returned to my post from a meeting with my lieutenant when my buddy Matt, the duty sergeant, called me over.
“Yo, Teel Phone line one.” I walked over to an unoccupied desk and picked up the phone.
“Sergeant Thomas. How can I help you?”
“Well, hello, Sergeant Thomas. How you doin’, handsome?” It was Stephanie and she was using that sexy voice that always turned me on.
“I’m fine, and you?” I tried to look professional for the benefit of the other soldiers in the room.
“I’m doin’ all right, but I need a favor. Can you pick up the kids? They want me to do overtime tonight.”
“No problem. I’ll have them fed, bathed, and in bed by the time you get home.” I was proud of her for getting back to work so quickly after the baby’s birth, without one complaint. She really was a trooper, trying to pull her own weight to help out with the bills.
“Thanks, sweetie. I’ll call you later, okay?”
“Ah’ight, but don’t forget we have a little unfinished business to take care of tonight.”
“We do? What unfinished business?” she asked.
I glanced around the office to see if anyone was close enough to hear, before I whispered seductively into the phone. “Come on, Steph. You know we’re supposed to get our groove on tonight. Mr. Happy hasn’t been to the amusement park in months and he wants to ride the roller coaster.”
“Well don’t you worry, handsome, ’cause the amusement park was checked out by the engineers this morning and we’re open for business tonight. All you gotta do is show me your ticket and I’ll let you ride all night long.” Her teasing was turning me on and I could feel myself getting aroused.
“Damn” I reached in my pocket and felt the pack of condoms I’d bought earlier. “I got my tickets right here. You sure you gotta do overtime? Cause we could hook up for a quickie right before the kids get outta day care.”
“I wish I could, boo, but I already told my boss I’d work. Don’t worry, though. I’ll make it up to you tonight.”
“You know I’m gonna hold you to that.”
“You do that, sweetie. I’ll see you tonight, okay? I love you, Travis.”
“I love you too, babe. Bye.”
At the same time I hung up the phone, I remembered that today was the first day of my classes at Virginia State University. I’d been going to night school, working on my degree in business administration, and was supposed to be taking a computer class at the university. I could still have time to pick up the kids. The only problem was that I was gonna have to drop them off at Stephanie’s mom’s and have Stephanie pick them up on her way home. It was a small change of plans, but I still had to run it by Stephanie. I picked up the phone and dialed Wal-Mart, hoping I could catch her before she went back to her register.
“Thank you for calling Wal-Mart. This is John speaking. How can I help you?”
“What’s up, John? This is Travis, Stephanie’s boyfriend.” John was one of the nicer managers they had at the store.
“Hey, Travis. What’s up?”
“Nothing much. Listen, Steph just called me a minute ago. Can you grab her before she gets to her register?”
“I’m sorry, Travis, but Stephanie left for the day about an hour ago. She said something about a family emergency. Is everything okay?”
“What? What do you mean, she left for the day? She just called and told me she’s doing overtime.”
“Overtime?” he laughed. “We haven’t had any overtime since Christmas.”
He had to be wrong. Why would Stephanie lie about something like this?
“Are you sure she left? Maybe she’s working in another department with another manager?”
“If she is, it’s a mystery to me. But I’ll check her time card for you.”
“Thanks, John. I’d appreciate that.”
“Okay, hold on…” The line went silent as I waited for John to return.
“Travis, you still there?”
“Yeah, I’m here.”
“Stephanie clocked out at two-thirty.” He said it matter-of-factly, but it made my stomach queasy.
“You sure about that?”
“Positive. I’ve got her time card right in front of me.”
“Okay, John. Thanks.”
“No problem. Anything I can do?”
“No. I just wanted to tell her where I was dropping off the kids. Talk to you later.” I hung up the phone and slowly lowered myself into a chair. My mind began to absorb what had just happened. Where the hell was Stephanie, and why did she lie to me? I slammed my hand down on the desk as my suspicion grew. This was not supposed to happen. Not to us.
“You okay, Tee?” Matt walked over and patted me on the back.
“Hell, no, I’m not okay,” I told him angrily. “I think my old lady’s stepping out on me.”
“Stephanie? No way. She wouldn’t do that.” He hesitated as he saw the pained look on my face. “Would she?”
“I wouldn’t put it past her. She’s been acting awfully strange ever since that pain in the ass Malek came back to town. And she just lied to me about doing overtime. I can’t believe this shit is happening to me.”
Matt lowered his voice. “Look, man, you wanna go somewhere and talk about it?”
“Nah, not right now.” I shook my head. “I need to go drop the kids with her mom and then go look for her. Think you can cover for me?”
“Yeah, I’ll cover for you. But you sure you don’t want me to go with you? I don’t want you to do anything stupid, Tee.”
“I’m cool,” I insisted. “Just pray I don’t find her with another man.”