“No, it’s not that serious at all.”

“Okay, well, then I’d better get back to work.”

“I’m sure I’ll speak to you again before next week but I’m really looking forward to seeing you, Mel,” Alicia said, signing on to her computer.

“We’ll have a great time.”

“All right then, well, take care.”

“I will, and you do the same. Love you.”

“I love you, too.”

Alicia hung up the phone and smiled. It really was wonderful hearing Melanie’s voice, and Alicia missed her a lot more than she’d realized. She loved her new life with JT, but there was a part of her that missed her old surroundings and the people she’d known and cared about since she was a child. She was sort of shocked to be feeling this way, what with her finally having all that she’d ever prayed for. But deep down, she did miss attending her father’s church on Sunday mornings, seeing her family on a daily basis, and visiting Melanie a lot more than she was able to now. She did have her mother and stepfather right there in the area, but she still felt a tiny void in her heart. In a perfect world, everyone she loved would reside in the same city, but sadly she knew that wasn’t possible.

After browsing Neiman Marcus’s website and that of Marc Jacobs, she checked some of her NLCC e-mail. She read one after another and was elated to see she was still receiving so many responses from church members. Their words continued to show such amazing support and approval of her marriage to their pastor, and she couldn’t wait to become more involved with the overall ministry.

She read a few more messages but got nervous when she saw the last one, which said, “Guess who?” She didn’t recognize the address and hoped Levi hadn’t found some way to e-mail her. She wasn’t sure if inmates even had Internet or e-mailing privileges, but just the fact that Levi had asked his friend Darrell to contact her one week ago was enough to put her on edge.

But she clicked on the message and felt relieved when she saw that it was from a girl she’d gone to elementary and junior high school with. She hadn’t seen Renee in years, not since they were children, and she was so excited to be hearing from her. They’d been such good friends, but when Renee’s parents had divorced, Renee’s mother had no longer been able to afford private school tuition and Renee had been transferred to one of Chicago’s public schools instead. She and Alicia had talked on the phone for almost a year and sometimes visited each other, but eventually they’d lost touch.

Alicia read the rest of the e-mail and thought about how wonderful it would be to have a girlfriend close by. No one could ever take Melanie’s place, of course, but it would certainly be nice having someone she could get together with, every now and then, on a moment’s notice. It would be neat having someone to shop with, do spa days with, and maybe even confide in from time to time. It would feel good having someone she could laugh and talk with face-to-face whenever she wanted to, so she printed out Renee’s e-mail message and called her.

JT’s heart plummeted, his chest muscles tightened, and he knew he must have been dreaming. Had to be if Carmen was sitting in his living room with his wife and acting as though they were best friends for life.

Alicia smiled when she saw her husband and went to go greet him. “Hi, sweetheart. I’m so glad you got here in time to meet Renee. Well, actually, I should say Carmen, but when we were kids, I always called her by her middle name. Anyway, this is Carmen Wilson.”

Carmen stood and reached out her hand. “It’s very nice to meet you, Pastor.”

JT wanted to rush back out to his car but tried acting as calmly and as unsuspectingly as he could. “It’s nice meeting you as well.”

“I was going to call you,” Alicia said, “but since Carmen got here, we’ve pretty much talked nonstop. She’s been here for three hours, and we’ve been catching up on everything. Oh, and thanks, baby, for the beautiful flowers.”

JT looked at both of them in a stupor.

“Are you okay, sweetheart?” Alicia asked.

“What? I mean, yeah, I’m fine. So, how did you guys meet?”

“In kindergarten. We went to school together all the way through eighth grade but we haven’t seen each other since right after we started different high schools. But thanks to you, Carmen was able to find me.”

“What do you mean by that? What did I have to do with it?”

“Well, since you decided to make me your wife and someone told her I had just gotten married to the senior pastor at NLCC, she went to the website and saw my e-mail address. And that’s how she was able to send me her phone number.”

“Oh, really?”

“Yes, and I’m so glad she did. We’ve had the best time this afternoon, and it’s almost as if we were able to pick right back up from where we left off nine years ago.”

JT was dumbfounded and wondered what Carmen was up to. He wondered why she’d had the audacity to come into his home like she was welcome and why she’d never once told him she knew his wife personally. He wanted to kill her, but he stood there pretending he couldn’t have been happier about their reunion.

Alicia started out of the family room. “When you came in, I was just on my way upstairs to get some photos of my parents and of Matthew and Curtina, so I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

Carmen picked up what looked to be a glass of iced tea. “We’ll be right here,” she said, taking a sip of her drink. Then she set it back onto the coaster on the coffee table and made herself more comfortable on the sofa.

When Alicia was gone, JT looked at his former mistress and spoke in an angry whisper. “Carmen, what in the hell are you doing here?”

“Wow! The good reverend is now resorting to four-letter words? Shame, shame, shame,” she said, snickering at him. “I mean, not the man who’s always claiming he loves God so much. The man who despises curse words of any kind.”

“Look. I’m not playing with you, Carmen. What are you doing here?”

Carmen’s face turned cold. “And I’m not playing with you either. I told you this wasn’t the end for you and me, and that’s exactly what I meant.”

“You’re crazy. You’re sick, and you need a psychiatrist.”

“Maybe. But if you don’t end your marriage to Little Miss Thing, you’ll regret it for the rest of your life. Oh, and I suggest you unblock my numbers on your phone, too. Unless you want me calling the church or calling you here at home.”

“Why are you doing this?”

“You know why.”

“Carmen, if you know what’s good for you, you’ll leave right now and you’ll never come back here ever again.”

Carmen laughed at him and crossed her legs. “And if I don’t?”

“If you don’t, you’ll wish you had.”

“Oooooh,” she said, feigning fear. “I’m so scared I don’t know what to do.”

JT opened his mouth to respond but closed it when he heard Alicia coming back down the stairs.

“Here they are, girl,” she said, walking back into the room and sitting down next to her friend.

“Oh my. Your little brother is such a handsome little thing, and your sister is a cutie, too.”

“I know,” Alicia said, and then showed Carmen a photo of her father and Charlotte and then one of her mother and James.

JT looked on for a few seconds but then politely excused himself and went up to their bedroom. When he arrived, he removed his blazer, slammed it onto the bed, and gritted his teeth. He was fuming and couldn’t believe Carmen had been willing to do something so psychotic. He’d dumped a number of women over the years, but not once had any of them been this obsessed with him.

JT paced back and forth across the room, trying to figure out the best way to handle this situation. What he wanted more than anything was to get rid of her. Not just for the moment, but permanently, so he’d never have to lay eyes on her again.