Better Late Than Never Read online

  Charlotte ended the call and sighed heavily. What was this child going to do next? And why was she acting this way in the first place? Charlotte sat at the island for a couple of minutes and then called Curtis.

  He answered on the first ring. “Hey, baby.”

  “Have you heard from Curtina?”

  “No, why?”

  “She’s not here.”

  “What do you mean she’s not there?”

  “She didn’t come home from school. She should’ve been here an hour ago, and she’s not answering her phone, either.”

  “Maybe she went over to Taylor’s. You know she’s done that before, especially when it’s Jackie’s week to drive them to school,” he said.

  “Still, she knows she’s not supposed to do that. She’s not supposed to go anywhere without permission. Not even over to Taylor’s or Lauren’s.”

  “You’re right, but you know how hardheaded she is now. Why don’t you call Jackie to see if she’s there?”

  “I will, and I’ll call you back.”

  Charlotte hung up and dialed Jackie.

  “Hello?”

  “Hey, Jackie, how are you?”

  “I’m good, but I’ll bet you’re doing even better since this isn’t one of your weeks to cart these grown little women around.”

  “Yeah, tell me about it, and actually, that’s the reason I’m calling you. One of those grown little women isn’t home.”

  “You mean Curtina?”

  “Yes, is she there with you?”

  “No, I dropped her off at home a little more than an hour ago. You haven’t seen her?”

  “Nope.”

  “Well, when we pulled up to the gate, she reached out of the back window and typed in the code to open it. Just like always. Then I drove her up to the front of your house and waited for her to go in. You didn’t hear the door opening?”

  “I didn’t get here myself until just a little while ago.”

  “And your housekeeper didn’t hear her come in, either?”

  “Agnes is off on Mondays.”

  “Oh yeah, that’s right. Well, then, I don’t know what happened, and now I’m worried because I literally watched her unlock the front door and walk inside.”

  “I’m sure she’s fine. Just somewhere she shouldn’t be.”

  “Hold on a minute,” Jackie said, and called out to her daughter. “Taylor, come here for a minute.”

  Taylor, Lauren, and Curtina were thick as thieves, so even if Taylor knew something, Charlotte doubted she would admit it.

  “Do you know where Curtina is?”

  “She’s home, I guess,” Charlotte heard Taylor saying.

  “No, she’s not. Her mom is on the phone right now. And if you know where she is, you’d better tell me.”

  “I don’t, Mom. She didn’t tell me she was going anywhere.”

  “You’d better not be lying to me,” Jackie told her. “And you can just wipe that ugly frown off your face, too.”

  Charlotte couldn’t believe these twelve-year-old girls.

  “Did you hear what she said?” Jackie asked.

  “Yeah, but I wonder if she’s telling the truth.”

  “You and me both. There was a time when I believed everything she said, but now she lies whenever she feels like it.”

  “We’re dealing with the same thing over here with Curtina.”

  “Too much, girl, but I’ll let you know if we hear from her.”

  “I appreciate that, and thank you.”

  “Talk to you later.”

  Charlotte pressed the End button and immediately called Curtis again.

  “Hey,” he said.

  “She’s not at Jackie’s, but Jackie says she didn’t leave until she saw Curtina come inside the house.”

  “I just tried calling her, but she’s still not answering. So I hope nothing happened to her.”

  Charlotte rolled her eyes because even though Curtis didn’t play games with Curtina, there was still a small part of him that wanted to believe the best about her. Curtina was his youngest child—the baby of the family—and there were times when he didn’t want to accept how awful she could be.

  “Curtina is fine,” Charlotte said. “Trust me. She’s just being grown and doing what she wants.”

  “Are you okay?” Curtis asked.

  “What do you mean?”

  “I don’t know. You sound different.”

  Charlotte hoped he couldn’t tell she’d been drinking, and now she wished she’d focused more on hiding that fact versus getting herself all worked up about Curtina. “No, I’m fine. Just upset about Curtina and wondering what we’re going to do with her.”

  “Well, first we need to make sure she’s okay.”

  “Like I said before, Curtina is fine. And part of the reason I know that is because she even reset the alarm system. She had to have turned it off and then back on so we would think she hadn’t been here yet. Not knowing I was going to call Jackie. Probably thought she could sneak away and get back here before we realized it.”

  “I hope you’re right.”

  “I am. You’ll see.”

  “Let me get off and try her again,” he said.

  “Call me back.”

  Charlotte set her phone down on the island and sat in one of the chairs. The wine she’d had was still taking full effect, and just as soon as they found out where Curtina was, she was going to lie down and take a nap. That way, she’d be able to sleep off her little buzz before Curtis got home.

  Charlotte turned on the television and flipped through a few channels until she saw an old episode of Law & Order. But then Curtis called her back.

  “Did she answer?” Charlotte asked.

  “No, but I finally got her to call me.”

  “Really? How?”

  “I texted her and told her that if she didn’t respond in the next two minutes, I was grounding her for a month. And that she could also forget about using her phone or going anywhere except school and church.”

  “That’s so ridiculous. You had to threaten her before she called you? And where is she, anyway?”

  “Down the street at the convenience store. She claims she was just getting some snacks, and that she’s already on her way home.”

  “I don’t believe that. Not when we have all the snacks a person could want right here. She’s gone down to that store a couple of other times for some so-called snacks.”

  “Yeah, I know. Which is why we’re going to have to keep a closer watch on her. For a while you’re going to have to try to be home before three thirty. She needs to know that you’re going to be there waiting on her.”

  Charlotte agreed but didn’t like the sound of what Curtis was saying. Why should she have to rush home five days a week, just because their wannabe-grown daughter needed monitoring? It was true that they didn’t want her there alone for more than an hour or so, but now Charlotte would have to schedule every single weekday around a twelve-year-old? She loved Curtina with all her heart, but this crazy-preteen drama was becoming too much.

  Still, she told Curtis what he wanted to hear. “You’re right. And I’ll be here from now on.”

  “Okay, well, I’ll see you in a couple of hours or so. Just depends on how bad traffic is.”

  “Drive safely.”

  “I will. Love you.”

  “I love you, too.”

  Chapter 9

  Agnes set two cups of coffee down on the table, one in front of Curtis and one near Charlotte. “I really am sorry to hear about your sister, Mr. Curtis, and my prayers are with her. My prayers are with all of you.”

  It was the following morning, and Curtis had just told her what was going on and why he was heading back over to Chicago.

  “I really appreciate that, Agnes, because prayer is exactly what we need.”

  “Can I be excused?” Curtina blurted out.

  Curtis stared at her. “Why? Because it’s not like your ride is here yet.”

  Charlotte li
fted her cup, sipped some of her coffee, and looked at Curtina. And while Curtis knew Charlotte wanted to say something, she didn’t.

  Curtina folded her arms. “I just want to go to my room until Miss Jackie gets here.”

  “Why can’t you just sit here with us?” he asked. “Why do you need to go back upstairs?”

  “No reason. I just want to go to my room.”

  Charlotte half laughed, shook her head, and drank more of her coffee, and it was at this moment that Curtis knew his wife was completely fed up with Curtina. He’d known she was beyond frustrated and tired of their daughter’s attitude, but now she seemed totally put out about it.

  Now Curtis picked up his own cup of coffee. “No, just stay right where you are.”

  Curtina leaned back in her chair with more force than normal, pouting and pretending to watch one of the news programs.

  “And I’ll tell you something else,” Curtis told her. “From now on, when either of your carpool moms drops you off, we expect you to come inside and stay inside. Do I make myself clear?”

  “Yeah.”

  Curtis raised his eyebrows. “What did you say?”

  “Yes.”

  “That’s what I thought, and if you know what’s good for you, you’ll fix that face of yours.”

  Curtis and Charlotte looked at each other, and then at their housekeeper.

  Agnes walked over and wrapped her arm around Curtina’s shoulders. “Young lady, what’s gotten into you? What’s wrong with you these days?”

  “Nothing, Miss Agnes,” she said in a much more pleasant tone than she had to Curtis, something he wasn’t that surprised about, because for some reason, Curtina had the utmost respect for Agnes.

  “Well, it sure doesn’t seem like it’s nothing. You spend all your time in your room, and you pretty much never talk to your mom or dad unless you have to.”

  Curtina didn’t say anything, but now Charlotte did.

  “She acts like she hates us. Like we’re the most awful parents in the world. Like she’s twenty-one years old, living on her own, and paying her own bills.”

  “I never said I hated anyone.”

  “You didn’t have to,” Charlotte exclaimed. “Your actions say everything.”

  “They really do, baby girl,” Curtis said. “You’re not the same, and we’re just trying to find out what the problem is.”

  “You guys treat me like a baby. You keep me locked up in this house like some prisoner.”

  Charlotte laughed out loud. “Wow, you can’t be serious. I mean, what is it that you expect to be doing, Curtina—and at twelve years old, no less?”

  “Go visit my friends whenever I want, spend the night with them, and stay up past midnight on the weekends.”

  “We already let you go visit your friends, and sometimes you do stay overnight with them,” Curtis reminded her.

  “Very rarely, and only when you feel like it.”

  “No young girl needs to be away from home all the time,” Curtis said.

  “Or staying up past midnight,” Charlotte added. “Not on a weekday or the weekend.”

  Curtina looked at her mother. “And why not? All my friends get to stay up as late as they want. On Fridays and Saturdays. And their parents don’t say a word to them about it.’

  Curtis was finally through debating this topic. “Look, we’re not your friends’ parents. We’re yours. And as long as you live in this house, you’ll do what we tell you.”

  Curtina cast her eyes back toward the television, ignoring him.

  Agnes shook her head with disappointment. “Curtina, you really don’t know how good you have it, sweetheart. Your parents love you with all their heart, they take care of you in ways that some children can only imagine, and you have brothers and a sister who love you, too. You’re a very blessed young lady, and it’s time you remember that. Okay?”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  Curtis and Charlotte made small talk, and twenty minutes later, Curtina left for school and Agnes went upstairs to change their bedding.

  “It just doesn’t make sense,” Curtis said to Charlotte.

  “What? The way Curtina’s acting?”

  “Yes. I fully understand that most children go through that I-don’t-want-my-parents-telling-me-what-to-do stage, but Curtina seems irritated and angry all the time. And for no reason.”

  “And she’s getting worse by the day.”

  “Well, if she disobeys either of us again, I meant what I said. I’m taking her phone and she can forget doing any outside activities.”

  “I agree.”

  “And hey,” he said, sounding as though something had dawned on him out of nowhere. “Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine, why?”

  “I don’t know. You look tired, and you didn’t have much to say when Curtina was sitting here, either.”

  “I’m just sick of talking about the same thing with her, and then nothing changes. And if I look tired, it’s only because all this drama with her is really starting to take a toll. I’m to the point where I wake up in the middle of the night thinking about it and wondering where we went wrong with her.”

  “I feel the same way, and all I can hope is that she settles down soon.”

  “So, how was your sister when you left yesterday? We were so focused on Curtina last night that I never got to ask you.”

  “I don’t know. She seemed a little weaker than she was on Sunday, but I’m sure some days will be worse than others. She wasn’t in any pain, though.”

  “That’s good.”

  “But you know what?”

  “What’s that?”

  “The one thing I’m most happy about right now is that she was finally able to forgive me. Because otherwise I never would’ve been able to spend this kind of time with her. We talk about things we didn’t know about each other, and we also talk about our past. Although, I will admit, some of my conversations with her are hard to have.”

  “Really? Why?”

  “They force me to think about the awful things that happened to me when I was a child. Some of those things I’d buried so deep, I really had forgotten about them. Some things I’ve never even told you, yet now I’m having to relive them.”

  Charlotte caressed his back. “Sweetheart, I’m so sorry to hear that, and I hope you can eventually find peace with all of it.”

  “I do, too,” he said, and then he smiled at Charlotte.

  “What?” she said, smiling back at him.

  “I have no idea what I would do without you. You know that?”

  “I don’t know what I’d do without you, either. Which is the reason I don’t like thinking about it.”

  “Over the years, you and I went through a lot. We made a lot of mistakes, and we did and said hurtful things to each other. Yet, in just a couple of months, we’ll be celebrating twenty years of marriage.”

  Charlotte nodded. “I know. Two whole decades, and it’s hard to believe that so much time has passed. We finally got things right, though.”

  “That’s the best part of all…but I still regret the way I treated my sister and mother,” he said, suddenly wanting to cry.

  And he did.

  Charlotte rested her hand under Curtis’s chin. “Baby, what’s wrong?”

  “I lost so many precious moments with them. Special times with my sister that I’ll never be able to get back. I lost years and years, and there’s nothing I can do about it.”

  Charlotte stood up from her chair and held him in her arms.

  Curtis wrapped his arms around her waist and laid his head against her chest.

  “I know this is tough,” she said, “but everything is going to be fine. I know you lost a lot of years with Trina, but God has still given you an opportunity to spend time with her. He’s allowed the two of you to come together again, and that’s what counts.”

  Curtis wept and didn’t say another word. He just didn’t have the will or desire to do so.

  Chapter 10

 
Curtis drove his SUV down their driveway, through the iron gates, and onto the main street. He did feel somewhat better than he had an hour ago, but there was still a certain sense of sadness that consumed him. He almost cried again but then his car phone rang. It was his youngest son, Matthew, calling, but before Curtis could answer, the call ended. So maybe Matthew had accidentally dialed him, especially since he was likely at work by now.

  Just the thought of Matthew made Curtis smile, because even though Matthew had dropped out of Harvard in the middle of his freshman year—a result of his deciding to marry his girlfriend, Racquel, who had recently given birth to their son—he’d gone back to finish his bachelor’s degree in business administration. This had occurred not long after he and Racquel had separated and divorced. Their union had been tumultuous and short, but the good news was that they’d become great friends and were co-parenting in a way that Curtis wished all divorced couples could.

  Then, after Matthew had finished his four-year degree, he’d continued his education and earned a master’s in human resources locally at Mitchell University. Curtis and Charlotte had encouraged him to stay at Harvard for graduate studies, especially since they hadn’t minded taking care of MJ for another year and a half or two. But Matthew hadn’t wanted to spend any more time away from MJ. Then, when Curtis and Charlotte had realized how serious he was, they’d tried talking him into going to Northwestern, which was only ninety miles away from them. But Matthew had told them no to that suggestion as well. Still, not going to Harvard or Northwestern for grad school certainly hadn’t hurt his career, as he was already earning six figures from a top telecommunications company right there in town. And he was only twenty-six years old, so Curtis was beyond proud of him.

  Curtis drove another mile, then stopped at a red light, and when his phone rang, he saw that Matthew was calling again.

  He pressed the button. “Hey, son, how are you?”

  “I’m good, Dad. What about you?”

  “I’m good, too, and actually I was just thinking about you.”

  “Oh yeah? What were you thinking?”

  “About how proud I am of you. And how happy I am that Stacey stood by you the way she did. I know I’ve said this many times before, but Stacey was a Godsend for you and MJ. She hung in there the whole time you were at Harvard, and then you guys still made your relationship work while she was finishing her MBA down in Champaign at U of I. And she knew all along that you were divorced and had a child.”