In Times of Trouble (6 page)

Lisa stood as well. “For the record, I asked, not begged you to move here with me. Excuse me for caring about you getting beat up all the time.”

She watched as her mother's cheeks burned with fire. Lisa didn't really want to go there, but how dare her mother be so ungrateful!

“Make no mistake about it. . . I'm a grown woman. I didn't need you to look after me. I could've handled your father by myself.”

Lisa ignored her conscience telling her to defuse the situation by walking away. “Yeah, you could handle him all right. That's why I kept getting three a.m. phone calls every time he blackened your eye.”

Her mother's glare deepened. “I didn't have to move here. I chose to.”

Seeing the tears in her mother's eyes, remorse began to overshadow Lisa's anger. “Mama, I'm sorry for what I said.” Though Lisa had softened her tone and resumed her seat, her mother hadn't changed her stance at all. “I merely want peace in my home. . .I want to be able to discipline my daughter without having to explain myself all the time. I'm sure you don't like this tension between us any more than I do.”

“I appreciate you letting me stay here, but don't think I'm dependent on you. In case you have forgotten, I'm moving out at the end of this month. If that's not soon enough for you, I'll find somewhere else to stay until then.”

Like Chanelle, Hattie also stormed out of Lisa's presence.

Lisa plopped her head down on the table in despair. It didn't
feel good coming home to a hostile household. She had to find some way of getting out of this dinner date with Eric next Monday. There was no way she could invite him into her home with so much chaos brewing.

• • •

RJ said good night to the Burlingtons, got himself a bottle of water and headed off to the guest bedroom that had served as his quarters since his transition to Columbus four months ago. RJ was speechless when Pastor Burlington called and offered him the director's position at Hope Ministries Rehabilitation Center. At the time RJ was living in a poor, run-down apartment building in Baltimore working whatever odds and ends jobs he could find. Grateful that the Lord had delivered him from those issues that led to the death of his marriage, he was also living with a huge hole in his heart because of the loss of his family. He jumped at the opportunity Pastor Burlington presented to him. Not only did moving to Columbus allow him a chance to be closer to Lisa and Chanelle, but it also provided him with a decent salary and stable employment. Since he and Lisa had first separated, he'd been struggling to find both.

RJ had originally planned to have his own place by now, but the Burlingtons repeatedly told him that he was welcome to stay indefinitely. Having never had children of their own, it seemed like they really enjoyed his company. He extended his plan to leave within a few months and resolved to stay a year, or two at the max, and use this time to save up. If things went well, hopefully he'd be able to buy his own home. He definitely needed to rebuild his credit. He'd recently purchased a used vehicle, on which he was paying a very high interest rate. Initially the Burlingtons absolutely refused to accept any money from him,
but RJ wasn't in the business of freeloading and insisted on sharing the household financial responsibilities. Pastor Burlington was like a father figure to him and RJ thanked the Lord for allowing Pastor Burlington to trust him with such an influential position, despite all of his past mistakes.

RJ lay in bed, slowly drifting to sleep, when a call from his brother on his cell phone brought him to full alertness.

“I'm sorry, did I wake you?” David asked.

“Not really. . .I was sort of going in and out.”

“I'm sorry, man. I hadn't talked to you in a couple weeks and wanted to check on you. How are things going at the center?”

“Things are good. We have about three more weeks before the residents move in. I'm looking forward to it, too. Of all people, who'd ever thought that I would be the director of a center that counsels former drug addicts?” RJ chuckled slightly.

“It just goes to show the power of God and how He can promote us despite anything we've done in the past.”

“Let me guess. . .you're giving me a summary of the sermon you preached yesterday, huh?”

“Naw, bruh. . .simply testifying about God's goodness.”

“You know you fill the shoes of our father very well?” RJ and his brother grew up under the preaching of their father, the late Robert James Hampton, Sr. As the older of the two brothers and their father's namesake, RJ had originally taken over as pastor when their father passed away because that's what he'd always been expected to do. After the mess he'd gotten himself into in Baltimore, no one could argue that David was the one truly called to the preaching ministry.

“Dad had some pretty big feet. It may take me a long time to fill his shoes. . .if ever. I'm just taking it one day at a time.”

“Well, you're doing a great job; I'm proud of you and Dad would be, too.”

“Thanks, man. Are you coming to Baltimore for Memorial Day?”

“Naw. . .I'm supposed to help Lisa's mom move that weekend, but I'll see you the week after that because y'all are coming for Chanelle's graduation party, right?”

“You know it. Sheila and I are going to drive up that morning. How are Lisa and Chanelle doing?”

“Man, Chanelle is getting way out of line. Would you believe that she skipped curfew Saturday night and was brought home drunk by the police?”

“My goodness. . .”

“I went over yesterday after church and got on her. She didn't really say much to me, but apparently she's been getting real smart with Lisa. Since she is supposed to be looking for a summer job, I'm going to talk to her about some temporary positions available at the center. I figured it would give the two of us a chance to spend some time together since she'd be working primarily with me. Lisa was cool with the idea. I'm waiting for Chanelle to be in a better mood before I bring it up to her. She's on punishment for a while and I'm standing behind Lisa one-hundred percent.”

“Sounds like things are going pretty good between you and Lisa.”

“I wish. . .She doesn't hold long conversations with me. I'm surprised she shared the things she did. She was at her wits' end this weekend because her mother gave her some grief about punishing Chanelle. I'm glad that I'm here to give her some support. I only wish. . .never mind.”

“You might as well say it now.”

“I wish she would consider giving us another try.”

“Give it some time.”

“Man, I've been up here for four months and yesterday was only the third time I've set foot in Lisa's house. She's not trying to be around me.”

“Keep standing in faith, bruh. We know God made a way for you to move to Ohio. You've done your part; now leave the rest up to Him.”

“Seeing my girls after all this time makes me want my family back even more. I miss them, but now isn't the time to approach Lisa about reconciling. It's been five years since the divorce and she hates me as much now as she did then.”

“I'm sure she doesn't hate you. . .strongly dislike, maybe.” He tried to lighten the mood. “Seriously though, she doesn't hate you, she hates what you did. There is a difference.”

“I hate what I did, too,” he said solemnly.

“Look, man, don't go getting all depressed on me. Before you left you were on cloud nine saying how you felt God was about to fix everything you'd messed up. What happened to all that faith?”

“It's still there. . .for the most part. I wish I could get a little glimpse of Lisa showing interest.”

“Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. You have to believe before you see; otherwise it's not faith.”

“Yeah, I know. . .Listen, man, thanks for calling, but I'm going to get off this phone and call it a night.”

“Yeah, I better get going as well. I'm leaving tomorrow afternoon to go preach a three-day revival in Missouri and I still have some things to get together.”

“All right. Take it easy and have a safe trip.”

B
y Thursday morning, Callie had finally worked up the nerve to do it. She was going to take Bryan's advice and tell Lisa all that had recently come to light. The turning point came yesterday during her weekly session with Dr. Samuels, her therapist, who had suggested that she still attend Chanelle's graduation party next month. Dr. Samuels encouraged her to continue moving forward with life rather than allowing her circumstances to become an automatic death sentence. Unlike Bryan, Dr. Samuels didn't think full disclosure was necessary, but he said if Callie was ready, it wouldn't hurt to have the support of additional loved ones. Callie didn't know if she'd necessarily use the word “ready,” but with such a heavy burden on her heart she had to do something.

Callie had yet to return any calls she'd received from church members concerned that they hadn't seen or heard from her in a while. Though she appreciated their sentiments, she wasn't ready to face them. No Bible-reading, tongue-speaking, Holy Ghost-filled, running-all-around-the-church, fire-baptized Christian was going to get her out of this one, so she didn't see a need to get her church family involved. No matter how many times she and
Lisa bumped heads, they were sisters—by blood. That had to count for something.

Callie decided to call her sister immediately instead of waiting until the evening as she had originally planned. With so much anxiety building up inside of her, she didn't think there'd be any peace until she got this over with. Plus, given any extra amount of time, she was sure to find a way to talk herself out of it. Though it was only a little after four in the morning California time, Ohio's time was three hours ahead and Callie knew her sister would be up. Ready or not, she was going to make the call.

“You're up awfully early!” Lisa wasted no time answering her cell.

“Yeah. . .I couldn't sleep much. Do you have a minute? I'd like to talk to you about something.”

“Yeah, go ahead. I'm just on my way to work. I hope you're not calling about the graduation party. I know by now I should have all the details together, but I don't.”

“That wasn't exactly the reason why I was calling.”

“Good, because I still have so much to do. I haven't been motivated lately. Both Chanelle and Mama are driving me crazy. Chanelle is on lockdown until graduation because she was brought home drunk by the police Saturday night. Then, earlier this week, Mama and I got into it because she doesn't agree with the way I handled the situation. Now she's mad at me, too.”

“I'm sorry you're having such a hard time. What I—”

“Girl, I feel like I'm about to lose my mind. Mama always has something to say every time I discipline Chanelle. It gets on my nerves. Neither of them has said more than three words to me since Monday night.”

“Well, Mama's moving out soon. I'm sure things will get a lot easier for you then.”

“I hope so. . .Even then that will only solve one of my problems. Chanelle is a whole 'nother story. No matter what I do, her behavior doesn't seem to be getting any better. I took away her cell phone thinking that might do it, but I broke down and gave it back to her last night. Not that she really deserved it. Odds are she's going to make some unauthorized calls. I guess it was my way of calling a truce because I'm tired of being perceived as the mean one all the time.”

“I've told you before what her problem is. She's acting out because of the divorce. As I've suggested many times, you should let her talk with a therapist.” Callie found herself getting irritated. She called to unload her burdens. It wasn't supposed be the other way around. This conversation was so typical of Lisa. Her problems and life situations always seemed much more significant than anyone else's.

“Chanelle's not crazy; she's rebellious. If she wants to discuss something, I'm here. And anyhow, RJ has been in town now for a few months. At least Chanelle gets to see and talk to him more now than she has in years. There's nothing I can or want to do about divorcing RJ. She doesn't need therapy. She's simply going to have to get over it.”

“There may be feelings that she's uncomfortable sharing with you. Children don't just get over divorce. It's not like there weren't any traumatic events that took place. Chanelle was there the night you and RJ got arrested; duh. . .I'm sure that's still branded in her mind.”

“It's branded in mine, too,” Lisa replied in a dignified manner.

“If it's still affecting you—an adult—consider the effect it's having on Chanelle. You're apparently too self-absorbed to realize that.”

Callie heard the deep sigh her sister took on the other end. She
took a couple of needed deep breaths herself because she was beyond fed up with this ridiculous conversation and really wanted to reach through the phone and grab Lisa by the neck.