The Good Listener (3 page)

“Lately, you have seemed different. Who is he?”

“What? I wish. Trust me the minute that I find a man, I’m parading him around all over the place. There’s no special guy; just some family things going on lately.”

I was surprised to hear Summer mention her family.

We had been well acquainted for years now, and I’d never even met them. She said that they’d moved out of town a few years ago and that she wasn’t exactly their favorite child out of the bunch.

She’d said that after years of disappointing them, they somewhat washed their hands with her and kept a good bit of distance.

“You want to talk about it?”

“Uh, no ma’am. I do not. It’s nothing really. Nothing that I can’t take care of. Do you want to go out for lunch today? Or do you want to order in?”

“Neither, I brought a sandwich. I’m going to work through lunch today.”

She shook her head.

“All work and no play…”

“Makes me the best at what I do,” I said finishing her sentence.

“Yeah, tell us something we don’t know already,” she said sarcastically and shut the door behind her.

Actually, I had to work through lunch because I had to go to a work function with Joel that night so I couldn’t stay at work late. It was also our ten-year wedding anniversary, but he had yet to mention it. I kept waiting for the phone to ring, or a surprise delivery of flowers, but nothing ever came. My guess was that he’d probably forgotten, and I wasn’t going to remind him. People only forget what isn’t important to them, and I was sure that he’d added me to his list of unimportant things a long time ago.

At least that’s how he made me feel.

I finished all of the work and notes that I could and for the first time in months, I left the office at the same time that everyone else did.

Joel walked past the bathroom door, quickly glanced at me, but hurriedly tried to act as though he hadn’t noticed my naked frame as I got ready for his event later on that evening.

“Your phone is ringing.”

I covered my breasts as though he wasn’t supposed to see them and I came out of the bathroom and headed towards the dresser.

The number was unavailable, private, but I answered it anyway.

I always answered it.

In the case of an emergency, I’d given a few of my patients my personal phone number.

Some needed a little more help than others and depending on what they were dealing with; I felt that they might need to get in contact with me as soon as possible, instead of waiting for me to get their messages the next business day.

Joel hated that I brought work home with me, but I didn’t care.

Something could go extremely wrong after hours and just in case, I had to be available.

“Hello?”

I waited on them to say something, but no one said a word. Instead, at the sound of my voice, they simply hung up. Maybe it was a wrong number.

I waited to see if they would call back and when they didn’t I concluded that it couldn’t have been a patient or anything important. I finished getting dressed as Joel stood and stared at me the entire time.

“Happy anniversary,” he finally said.

He remembered.

Slowly, he walked over to me and hesitantly wrapped his arms around my waist. I shivered at his touched and even managed to smile. Joel’s touch used to make me weak, but at the moment I just felt uncomfortable and confused.

It was as though another man had put his hands on me, which hadn't happened in years since I’d never stepped outside of our marriage.

Even when he deserved it.

At this point, Joel had been working for a few weeks.

We still weren’t back to being “normal” and though we still hadn't had sex or anything, I could see that he was at least attempting to act like a husband again.

“Thanks for coming with me tonight. I know I haven’t exactly been supportive of you lately.”

“No problem.”

At least we were actually spending our anniversary together and speaking this year.

Last year on this day he’d sent me a text message, and that was it. I stayed at work and by the time I came home he was asleep. I’d tried to treat him to a vacation but of course, he’d refused because I would be the one paying for it.

I even suggested that we used or savings, which was a mixture of both of our money that we’d been putting away for years for our retirement, but he refused.

He wouldn’t even touch it.

Joel was a thriving CEO, and I was in the midst of my education and pursuing my career when we’d first met.

We were both hungry for success, but we managed to fall in love in spite of us both being so career driven and focused.

I married him without a single doubt in my mind that he was the one.

My gut told me that we had what it takes to make it to the end. And no matter how big of a jerk he was, I still loved him even when I didn’t want to. He sat on the bed and let me finished getting dressed. Finally making it out of the house, we headed to Joel’s job.

I hadn't had the time to go by there as of yet, so this would be my first time seeing the building and meeting any of his co-workers.

“Please try not to play any mind games tonight and try not to bring awareness to any issues that they don’t even know that they have yet,” Joel said as he helped me out of the car.

“I’ll try,” I smirked as we headed in.

My phone started to vibrate in my purse, but this time, I didn’t answer it.

I didn’t want Joel to get upset or as though my work was getting in the way as always.

That’s if it was even work related.

I wanted to at least appear fully present for the occasion and supportive, although he hadn't supported me not too long ago.

I smiled until it stopped vibrating.

I made a mental note to take a trip to the bathroom soon so that I could check it.

“Come on let me introduce you to my boss.”

Joel led the way and after lightly tapping the gentleman in a striking gray, Armani suit on his shoulder, he turned around.

My mouth dropped open, but I coughed to hide my surprise.

It was him.

It was the man that had burst into my office, demanding my help, only to not return a single one of my assistant’s phone calls or messages.

I’d just had her give him a call that day as a matter of fact, even though the spot had already been filled.

It had been weeks since he’d come by, requesting therapy, and after various attempts of trying to contact him, I could only assume that he changed his mind.

I tried to recall the information on the business card and I was sure that it wasn’t the same company information as the company that my husband worked for.

I would have noticed.

Maybe it was an old card or something.

“Mr. Griffin, this is my wife, Hannah,” Joel introduced us and he shook my hand.

“Nice to meet you,” he replied as though he’d never even seen me before.

“Your husband has a bright future here with Visual-XXX Incorporated. You should be very proud of him. I have to watch out for him myself. He’s good enough to take my job,” Mr. Griffin chuckled and then he and my husband started up a conversation as I wandered off.

From a distance, I stared at them.

More so, I stared at Mr. Griffin.

Something wasn’t right about him, but I just couldn’t put my finger on it.

Everything about him screamed trouble.

And I was sure that he was tons of it.

But the doctor in me wanted to know more about him.

I found myself keeping an eye on him for the rest of the night, trying to figure him out from afar.

Was barging into my office was a coincidence?

Or had he known all along that Joel was my husband?

Considering the fact that he acted as though we’d never met, something told me that he had.

I caught him glancing at me, sneakily, over and over again. But when I tried to force him to allow me to look into his eyes, he always looked in another direction.

He was hiding something.

I couldn’t wait to leave so that I could ask Joel more about him.

“Did you tell your boss that I was a psychologist, prior to today?” I asked Joel on the way home.

“Uh, maybe I mentioned it a time or two. Why?”

“Because he came to my office; once. He’d said that he needed help, but he never returned the messages that were left for him to set up an appointment. And then tonight he acted as though we’d never met,” I said.

“Well, can you blame him? Not everyone is as comfortable with needing therapy or counseling as you would like them to be. He’s a very successful man, in charge of running a very successful company, so I doubt that he wants me or anyone else to know that he needs a therapist.”

“I guess you’re right.”

“I’m sure that I am.”

Joel didn’t bother to continue the conversation.

Instead he turned up the radio and left me to continue my thoughts of Mr. Griffin in silence.

I wanted to know his problem so badly that it even crossed my mind to have Summer keep calling him until he finally answered.

I just wanted to fix him.

I was dying to know what kind of problems he had.

But if he didn’t want to come in, I guess the best thing was to leave well enough alone.

Arriving home and walking into our front door, I smiled.

I looked at Joel suspiciously.

“Who did this for you?”

“China.”

China was Joel’s cousin, but they were a little closer than that since his parents practically raised her after her parents died in a plane crash.

And she was also my best friend.

Summer and I were close, but I think simply the years that China and I had been around each other gave her the top position.

If there was anyone that I trusted, it was her.

No one else knew all of my secrets; not my husband, not Summer, but China did.

And I knew all of hers.

Of course, I’d met her through Joel, but we seemed to click instantly.

Our friendship also came in handy when it came to my marriage. For some reason, she had a way of getting through to Joel when he wouldn’t listen to me.

Joel was one of nine brothers, and they could give him advice all day long, but when China said it, he actually listened.

I looked around at the flowers, balloons and candles that filled the room.

The flames from the candles danced alluringly all over the vanilla colored walls, and I couldn’t remember the last time that Joel had done something romantic.

“I know I haven’t been the best husband lately. I want to take the time to say that I’m sorry. I was stressed. I won’t try to explain all that I was feeling, but I was wrong to take my frustrations out on you. I apologize. I love you. Ten years down. Forever to go.”

“I love you too,” I said back to him.

The words sounded foreign coming out of my mouth since I hadn’t uttered them in a while.

Joel hesitated, but finally he kissed me and my knees buckled.

His kiss said that he was sorry.

His kiss said that he missed me.

That he missed us.

The swift motions of his tongue inside of my mouth gave me butterflies.

It didn’t take long for me to become aroused and I was hoping that we were headed for the bedroom.

Better yet, who needed a bed when we had plenty of floor?

But asking for him to be spontaneous might be pushing my luck.

It seemed like forever before we both came up for air and I felt as though I could barely breathe.

Eagerly, I awaited my husband’s next move.

Joel undressed me with his eyes, and I deemed it only right to make his thoughts, his reality.

We helped each other undress and just before he could enter me, the alarmed screamed, shattering the moment.

Joel headed to the alarm to put in the code and suggested that maybe I had been right when I’d said that motion detectors were a bit much. But I could have cared less about the alarm at the moment. I only hoped that he still wanted me, because I wanted him more than anything in the world.

Luckily, he did.

For over an hour we rolled around on the living room floor as though we were experiencing each other for the very first time. We soaked the carpet underneath us and in unison, we exploded in pure ecstasy. For the first time, in such a long time, everything was just right.

Everything was perfect.

Even if it was just for one night…

~***~

“He’s back. That guy. Mr. Griffin. What do you want me to do? He says that it’s important.”

I told Summer to send him on back. I was interested in what he had to say.