DOWN THE ROAD

Kaye Leigh got up to her room and went inside. She wanted to believe that Jeff loved her and that he had been faithful to her and their marriage. She sat down on her bed and remembered the time they had spent there earlier in the afternoon. She closed her eyes and tried to pray, but she could not the hurt and anger was too overwhelming.

Kaye Leigh knew she should not be angry with God but she could not help it, God could prevent anything, but here it was happening all over again. She was not sure she would make it through it this time.

“Why did you allow this?” she asked aloud. Tears were falling down her face again, it was easy to pretend when she was in Jeff’s arms but she had to accept the truth, she could not stay with him no matter how much it killed her to let him go. She knew from experience that once they strayed, they would do it again.

“Let’s go swimming.” Becki said while she and Jeff were in the elevator. “I’ll call Kaye Leigh and have her meet us down at the pool.”

“Ok.” Jeff said.

“Remember what I told you Jeff, she loves you more than life.” She reminded him.

“I know but does she believe I love her?” he said.

“Of course she does. We’ll meet you down at the pool.” She said hugging her.

Kaye Leigh was trying to fight her anger towards God, she grabbed her Bible off of the night stand and let it fall open; she began to read where her eyes landed hoping that it would give her some comfort or hope. Proverbs 26:24-25 people may cover their hatred with pleasant words, but they are deceiving you. They pretend to be kind but don’t believe them. Their hearts are full of many evils. She reread the verses and laughed, how was this supposed to help her or comfort her she thought. She slammed the Bible shut and put it in the bottom of her suitcase.

Her phone rang.

“Hello?” she said hoping it was not Jeff.

“Kaye Leigh meet me down at the pool in ten minutes.” Becki said.

“Sure why not.” She replied thinking swimming might do her some good.

When she got down to the pool, she was disappointed to see that Jeff was there also, along with two other guys.

“About time.” Becki yelled. Kaye Leigh just smiled at her, took off her cover up, jumped into the pool, and stayed below the surface until her lungs were on fire from lack of oxygen. When she surfaced, she noticed everyone was starring at her.

“Is there a problem?” she asked a bit harshly.

“Great mood Kaye Leigh.” Becki said laughing.

“Is she with you?” One of the guys asked.

“Yes, she’s my wife.” Jeff replied.

“What did you do?” the other guy said. Everyone laughed.

Kaye Leigh heard and did not find the situation funny at all, so she started doing laps so she would not have to talk to anyone.

“This whole thing has become a nightmare.” Jeff said wearily.

“We’ll figure it out, don’t worry.” Becki assured him.

“Before we’re divorced?” he asked with a weak smile.

“Hopefully, but if not you will just have to marry her all over again.” She said laughing. They had gotten into the whirlpool, but Kaye Leigh was still swimming.

“Hey is she ok?” One of the guys asked Jeff. He stood up and looked; Kaye Leigh was under water again.

“Is she trying to die?” the guy asked with concern.

“She is just having a couple of rough days.” Becki said. “She’ll be fine.”

When Kaye Leigh came up and was getting out of the pool, she saw Jeff and Becki in the whirlpool laughing together. Anger coursed through her.

“I’m going back to my room.” She told them. They looked over at her.

“You ok Kaye Leigh?” Jeff said. Kaye Leigh ignored him. She should not be angry she was sure Becki would never do anything with Jeff but she was not sure he would not try.

“Want us to come?” Becki asked.

“No I know my way.” She replied as she left.

Jeff hurried after her; she was waiting for the elevator when he caught up with her.

“Can I stay with you tonight?” he asked. She turned and looked at him, she wanted to say yes, but she knew she had to let him go now.

“No.” Kaye Leigh said.

“Kaye Leigh…” he started.

“I said no Jeff, now go back to Becki.” She said as she got into the elevator. He just stood there and looked at her.

When the door closed, Kaye Leigh took a deep breath, if he would have forced the issue she would have crumbled. When she got to her room, she took a shower, got into her nightgown, braided her hair, climbed into bed, and cried for hours.

Jeff did not go back to the pool; he went to his room, changed out of his wet clothes and prayed. He wanted Kaye Leigh to be there with him allowing him to comfort her. He was shocked when she said no after this afternoon, and he wondered about her comment about going back to Becki. When he finished praying he got into bed and laid there starring at the ceiling.

Becki came to Kaye Leigh’s room early the next morning; she was going over to the auditorium with her today.

“Are you ok?” Becki asked.

“I’m fine; I had a little trouble sleeping last night.” She said a little coldly.

“Let’s get Jeff, have some breakfast, and head over to the civic center.” Becki said.

“Jeff knows his own way!” she said sharply.

“Did I do something Kaye Leigh?” Becki asked.

“No, I just want to talk to you; I already told Jeff that I needed time alone to talk to you.” She said.

“Ok then let’s go.” Becki said. They headed out of the room, they decided to go somewhere near the civic center so that they would have more time to talk.

“I told Jeff he didn’t need to come today.” Kaye Leigh said as they walked in.

“Why?” Becki asked.

“The less I see of him the stronger I become.” she replied.

“Where’s your cross?” Becki asked noticing for the first time it was gone.

“I gave it back to Jeff, I don’t need it, you can have it. I can find comfort within myself.” She said simply.

“Why would you want me to have it? Are you giving up on your faith?” Becki asked.

“Like I said I don’t want it, let’s just say I am rethinking things.” She answered. Becki shook her head.

When they were seated and served, Kaye Leigh looked at Becki and said “Becki I am filing for divorce Monday when we get back.”

“You’re not even going to give him some time to prove it isn’t true?” Becki asked.

“Waiting won’t lessen the pain, I know he had an affair even if I don’t want to believe it, pictures don’t lie Becki; I looked close enough to find anything that would prove they weren’t true. I know Jeff’s body better than anyone does, or at least I thought I was the only one who knew it. I know you want to believe him Becki but I need your support and not lectures.” Kaye Leigh said.

Becki looked at her friend and seen that all the spark went out of her eyes.

“I will always support you and be there for you no matter how I feel Kaye Leigh.” Becki said.

“Thank you, I want you to stay in Texas longer with me, but I want you to have no contact with Jeff once we get back.” She said.

“I’ll stay but why don’t you want me to have contact with Jeff?” Becki asked shocked.

“It has to be that way or you can go back to Michigan.” She said.

“Ok I’ll stay away from him.” Becki replied.

Jeff found Becki when he got to the civic center.

“How is she today?” he asked.

“Not great but she’s great at pretending.” She replied. She was going to tell him about her conversation with Kaye Leigh this morning, but Kaye Leigh came over to them and she did not want to make her mad.

“Hi.” Jeff said. Kaye Leigh looked at him and nodded.

“Can you do something for me Becki?” she asked.

“Of course, what is it?” Becki replied.

“Check and see if they put the last book out, it hadn’t gotten here yesterday and I forgot to check this morning.” She said.

“Sure, I’ll go do it right now.” Becki said getting up.

“Thanks.” She said.

“Kaye Leigh.” Jeff said taking her hand before she could leave.

“Jeff, I have to go.” She said.

“I love you Kaye Leigh.” He said as he let go of her hand.

When Becki got back, she sat down with Jeff and told him about what Kaye Leigh had said at breakfast.

“She told me to go back to you when I talked to her after she left the pool.” Jeff said.

“She couldn’t be thinking that something is going on between us could she?” Becki asked shocked.

“I’m not sure what’s going on in her head anymore Becki.” He said. “So when we get home you can’t even talk to me huh?”

“That’s what she wants, but what I do are two different things.” She said laughing.

Kaye Leigh was back in the room waiting for the introduction to start. Seeing Jeff had unnerved her for a few minutes, especially to see him with Becki. Finally, she heard Lacey’s voice so she went to the side of the stage that she made her entrance from, she could see Becki and Jeff laughing about something, she just glared at the two of them.

When Lacey was done, she walked out onto the stage and waved.

“Good morning, thank you for joining me for the last day.” She said. People clapped as she looked around. She spotted Sam sitting in almost the same spot, as he was yesterday, she shook her head. “Well, I see Sam is back again today, so he must have gotten something out of yesterday’s session or he wants to continue the discussion with Jeff, we will have to see.” Kaye Leigh said. Everyone looked around.

“Today after I am done I will be out in the lobby signing books, and hopefully meeting a lot of you.” She said Kaye Leigh started with the ending of her marriage and went through writing her first book, and first speaking engagement. “Thank you very much I will see you in the lobby.” She said walking off stage.

Becki and Jeff met her in the lobby.

“You were great, except for that little announcement at the beginning.” Becki said.

“Well your opinion means little to me right now.” She replied.

“What is your problem Kaye Leigh?” Jeff asked.

“Why don’t you leave Jeff?” she said. They could not continue because people were already out. Jeff went back to the hotel.

She had been signing books and talking to people for over an hour when she heard, “Could you make it out to Sam?” Kaye Leigh looked up, people were watching so she could not tell him exactly what she wanted too.

“Sure.” She replied grabbing the book and writing “Sam and Morgan, all the best, Kaye Leigh Williams-Rutherford” then she handed it back to him. Sam read it and laughed.

“Tell me what happened to your eye Kaye Leigh, did your husband do that?” he said.

“That’s enough Sam.” She said tightly.

“What don’t you want your loyal fans to know what your husband is?” he said.

“Leave now please.” She said.

“I will when you tell them the truth, Kaye Leigh, you make sure you tell everyone the truth about me, so why hide about your new husband?” he asked.

“Jeff didn’t do this Sam I ran into the bathroom door.” She said quietly knowing he was not going to believe her. Sam laughed.

“Do you believe that?” he said looking around at the others. “What she doesn’t want you fine people to know is that her husband did this when she found out he was having an affair with my wife.” He said loudly.

Kaye Leigh could feel tears coming and tried fighting them.

“Please Sam leave.” She said.

“You’re telling the people all of your other information, so make sure they know the whole truth!” he said loudly.

“Sam get out of here now!” Becki yelled.

“They have a right to know that you don’t have the perfect life you pretend to Kaye Leigh.” He said.

Kaye Leigh stood up.

“What do you want from me Sam? Do you want me to admit that yes I made a mistake in the man I married again? Will that make you happy? You want me to tell the truth fine, I found out this week my husband is having a few affairs. Now the world knows my troubles.” She said tears were falling but there was nothing she could do about it.

“More than one affair Kaye Leigh?” he said shocked. Kaye Leigh just looked at him.

“What will make me happy Kaye Leigh is for you to accept the truth and admit that you and I belong together.” He said.

“Tell me that you love me!” Sam had grabbed her arm; she jerked her arm away from him and ran out of the lobby.

“I want him arrested.” Becki said. “Someone call the police.”

“I did nothing to be arrested for.” Sam said laughing.

“Harassment is enough.” Someone said. A couple security people led him from the building.

“I’m sorry everyone, Kaye Leigh is done for the day.” Becki told the crowd. “Kaye Leigh obviously has had some private matters come up and she wanted to make sure everyone got what they paid for. The only comment I will make regarding what Mr. Thomas said is that someone is trying to hurt Kaye Leigh and Jeff; the allegations are false, despite proof otherwise. We feel that this matter will be cleared up and that all of the people behind it will be brought to justice.”

“Kaye Leigh is very sorry and has said she will be giving everyone a refund.” Becki read a note Kaye Leigh had written.

“Tell her that isn’t necessary.” Someone yelled.

“Everyone has problems, no one expects her to be perfect.” Someone else yelled. “Tell her to take care of herself.” Everyone started clapping.

“Thank you so much all of you for understanding. If you write your names and address’s down she will make sure everyone gets signed copies of her latest book.” Becki said.

Kaye Leigh was sitting in a room sobbing; she did not understand why this happened and why Sam was so insistent on tormenting her. Becki found her after everyone had left.

“Are you ok Kaye Leigh?” she asked.

“Yes.” Kaye Leigh replied. Becki looked at her with her eyebrow raised.

“Ok no, but I certainly will be.” She said wiping her face off.

“What’s the deal with a couple of affairs? Do you think something is going on between Jeff and me?” Becki asked.

Kaye Leigh ignored the question.

“Let’s get back to the hotel and get ready to leave this city.” She said. Becki decided not to push the issue about her and Jeff.

“No one wants refunds, they want you take care of yourself.” Becki said. Kaye Leigh smiled.

Kaye Leigh went straight to her room and told Becki that she wanted to be left alone for the night.

“If you need anything at all give me a call.” Becki said hugging her. She nodded.

Jeff met Becki in the restaurant in the hotel.

“Is Kaye Leigh coming?” he asked when she got there.

“No, she went to her room and wants to be left alone for the night. She had a rough time while signing books.” She said.

“What happened?” He asked.

“Sam caused a huge scene.” Becki said, she went on to tell Jeff the whole story. “It ended with Kaye Leigh running out in tears and Sam being arrested.”

“I should have hurt him when I had the chance.” He said.

“No you shouldn’t have, that wouldn’t do Kaye Leigh any good.” She said.