Authors: Monique Miller
The Marrying Kind (11 page)
Travis looked at the card. It was Phillip's business card. He was the owner of a local car dealership. The card had his office number and cell phone number.
“Give me a call sometime,” Phillip reiterated.
“I will,” Travis said.
“And welcome to Silvermont. I'll talk with you later,” Phillip said.
“Thank you,” Travis said.
He returned to the church service and tried to concentrate on what the pastor was saying. The sermon was one that continued the pastor's series about accountability. The pastor preached that accountability starts from within. And that the Lord holds His people accountable for the time they spend, the money they are blessed with, the gifting God has given them, the knowledge they posses, as well as each person's mental intentions.
Travis knew he fell short in each of these areas. He squandered his time, money, and his intentions. Even though Marla thought he had a gift of knowledge he himself did not think so. He had no idea what his gifting might be, but did feel pretty sure that if he did know what his gifting was, he would probably be squandering it also.
It didn't help matters either that, throughout the sermon, Travis's thoughts kept veering toward his earlier conversation with Phillip. He continued to ponder on what kind of positive things could be extracted from the situation he was currently in. And he was coming to the full realization that he could not blame anyone else for his actions. No one else made him do any of the things he did. He was in control of his actions, he was the one who chose for himself, he'd made some very wrong choices.
He alone was the one who got himself into his current situation and he was going to have to get himself out of his situation, plain and simple. He was going to have to make some changes in his life. He wanted to be accountable.
Chapter 15
If Travis had looked at a calendar that Friday morning, he might have been a little bit forewarnedâthat is, if he were a superstitious person. Travis knew it was Friday, but hadn't realized it was August 13th. What Travis did know was that it was payday. He'd been working at a job for the county as a maintenance technician for a month now. He got paid every two weeks. He had been delighted to get his check and go to the bank and cash it that evening.
When he checked his PO Box he found a letter in the mail from the child support office stating that they were going to start garnishing his pay for back child support. According to the letter, they were going to take $200 per pay period out of his check. Travis couldn't believe what he was reading.
It seemed as if Beryl must have filed for child support behind his back. First she wouldn't answer his calls and now she was going through the system to get money from him. He wondered if she had completely lost her mind. Then he thought about it, and tried not to let his temper get the best of him.
He was the one who avoided her phone calls. He was the one who hadn't sent her a dime in months. So he wasn't completely innocent. So how could he really blame Beryl? It wasn't like his boys could live on air, but he really wished it wouldn't be up to the system to make him care for his children.
At the same time it baffled him that for months Beryl called him sometimes on a daily basis, and now he had not heard a thing from her in over a month. He started to get a little worried, but remembered how she was acting the last time he saw her. The last thing on her mind was him. She was all into Urkel.
When he got home that evening from work, he still was not pleased with the child support notification he received. He was even less happy with the note that was posted on the front door of the house. It was a letter from the homeowner's association. The letter said that he had forty-eight hours to cut his grass or he would be fined.
He'd been trying to cut the grass every other week, but had put it off for the last month. Looking at the grass he had to admit that it was long overdue to be cut. He was in no mood to cut it right then, but from the looks of it, now that he had waited so long to cut it, it was going to take him twice as much time as it normally would have.
After putting his wallet away and changing his clothing, he trudged back outside to the shed to pull out the lawn mower, and started cutting the grass. He had just cut the first strip of grass on the front lawn when he turned around to cut another strip. When he looked up at the sky his eyes widened. There was a dark cloud coming up and it looked as if the bottom of the sky was going to fall out at any moment.
Picking his speed up he was able to mow the width of the lawn with two more trips back and forth, but that had been it. First a fat drop hit his nose and spattered into his eyes. Then other fat drops fell in rapid succession. A bolt of lightning lit up the sky; then he heard a loud thunder clap.
Travis quickly made his way back to the shed to put the mower away By the time he closed the door to the shed and got back into the house, he was cold and soaked. He took his wet clothing off. Even though the lightning persisted with the thunder close behind, he took a chance taking a quick warm shower.
Once he was out of the shower and dried off, he felt a little better; that is, until he looked at his cell phone and saw that he had two messages. One was from a number he did not recognize and the other from Beryl. His heart started to race.
He quickly punched in his code to retrieve his messages. He checked the first message from Beryl in which she asked for him to call. Unlike so many of the other messages she'd left in the past, she sounded nonchalant, almost as if she really didn't care whether he called back. Travis didn't know what to think. He didn't know if she was mad or if she had really just given up on him all together. In the back of his mind he wondered if she was really just calling to gloat because she was finally going to get child support out of him.
The second message was from Brent. Subconsciously Travis looked around as if Brent could see through the phone lines how he'd been taking care of the house and his belongings. Brent said he hoped he was well, and that things were going well where he was. He also let Travis know that he'd be home on schedule: the first weekend in December.
Travis listened to Brent's message twice. He couldn't believe his ears. Brent had already been gone for three months and Travis hadn't managed to save more than $400. Where had the time gone? What had he been doing with his money? How had he really been spending his time? He thought about what the pastor had been teaching about accountability. He was unaccountable.
When checking the time that Beryl had left the message, Travis saw that she had left it less than an hour before. If he called her right now then maybe he'd actually get her. Before he dialed the number for her cell phone, Travis recalled the scripture James 1: 19.
Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath.
He took a deep breath just before dialing her number from memory. On the third ring Travis finally heard Beryl pick up on the other end.
“Hello,” Beryl said.
“Hi,” Travis said.
“Travis,” Beryl said.
Travis thought her tone was surprisingly cordial.
“Yeah, how's it going?” Travis asked.
“Good, how about with you?” Beryl asked
“Things are okay.”
“Well that's good,” Beryl said.
“And the boys, how are they?” Travis asked.
“They are fine. Cameron is asleep already and Jayden is fighting sleep,” Beryl said.
Travis smiled. Jayden always fought going to sleep ever since he was a baby. “He's still doing that, huh?”
“Yep,” Beryl said.
Then there was a long pause between the two of them. Finally Beryl broke the silence. “So what's up, Travis?”
“What do you mean?”
“What I mean is, what is up? You called and left me a message yesterday. I am calling you back to see what you wanted.”
Travis pulled the phone away from his ear and looked at it. “Yeah, I called you yesterday, and the day before that, and the week before that. I've been calling you for over a month now and you haven't seen fit to return any of those calls.”
“Oh really? I don't recall any other calls. What I do recall is trying to call you multiple times without getting any calls returned to me,” Beryl said.
“So is this tit for tat?” Travis asked.
“What do you mean by that?” Beryl asked.
“Just what I said. First I don't call you back so now you are just returning the favor?” Travis asked.
“Look, Travis, I don't want to argue. You called and left a message, and I called you back. Plain and simple. So, what's up?”
Travis was about to speak, then thought about the part of the scripture that said “slow to speak.”
“Travis, are you still there?” Beryl asked.
“Yeah, I'm here.”
“Did you get the letter about the child support?” Beryl asked.
“Yeah, I got it.”
“Is that why you were calling?”
“No, that is not why I was calling. I got the letter today. I've been leaving messages for you well before I got the letter.”
“I know you are probably not happy about getting it but I had no other choice,” Beryl said.
“So, what has been going on with you? What happened to your job? I called there and some woman said you don't work there anymore.”
“Are you asking to be nosey or do you really even care?”
“I care, Beryl.”
“Well you could have fooled me,” Beryl said. She let out a huff. “I was fired, over a trivial chain of events that I still can't believe happened.”
“You were fired?” Travis asked in sheer disbelief.
“Yeah, some things happened. Some numbers were wrong in a couple of reports and I got one too many complaints from a couple of customers and the company decided to let me go,” Beryl said.
“Wow, Beryl, I can't believe that,” Travis said. “I am really sorry to hear that.”
“I still can't believe it myself. But that seems like an eternity ago, and even though it still burns me up, I am getting over it.”
“So are you and the boys okay?” Travis asked.
“We're fine.”
“Now I understand why you need the child support so much,” Travis said. “I am sorry it had to come to the point that you had to file for child support, but I fully understand.”
“Umm humph,” Beryl said. “Hold on a second, Travis.”
Travis heard what sounded like Beryl placing her hand over the receiver of the phone to muffle what she was saying. Then it sounded like she'd taken her hand off the receiver and he clearly heard her chuckling on the other end.
“Sorry about that,” Beryl said. “Now what were you saying?”
“I was just saying that I am sorry you lost your job and I understand that you need the money to help you and the boys get by,” Travis said. He knew that $200 every other week would help Beryl a little, but not enough to really help make ends meet.
“Uh, yeah. Something like that,” Beryl said.
Travis got the distinct feeling that Beryl wasn't too pressed about the amount of child support. Nor was she too pressed about much of anything.
“So you said Jayden is still up?”
He heard Beryl whisper the question, “Is Jayden still up?”
Then he heard a male voice in the background say, “No.”
“Who was that?” Travis asked Beryl.
“That is my fiancé, Darrin,” Beryl said.
“Say what? Your what?” Travis asked.
“My fiancé,” Beryl repeated.
“Fiancé since when?” Travis asked.
“Since last week when he proposed to me in the Bahamas,” Beryl said.
Travis took a step back and almost dropped the phone. He couldn't be hearing right.
“Look, Travis, I need to get off the phone. The boys are fine. Maybe you can call back and talk to them another time,” Beryl said.
Travis was at a loss for words. He couldn't speak.
“Travis?” Beryl said. “Are you still there?”
“Ah, yeah, I'm here. Sure, I guess I'll talk to them soon.” With the way Beryl was sounding he didn't know what to think.
“Talk with you later,” Beryl said.
“Ah, yeah, bye,” Travis said and clicked the phone off.
He stood in awe for a while trying to comprehend what he'd just heard. His ex-wife had found someone else and she was about to get married. The guy he had seen her with at Alley's was probably the Darrin guy she was talking about.
They hadn't been divorced a good year yet and Beryl was gallivanting out of the country with some other man. And she was allowing this other man fully into his son's lives. That man knew if his sons were asleep. That man had played with Travis's sons more recently than he had. That man was trying to take and succeeding in taking his place.
There was something about the Darrin guy he didn't like, and now he had even more of a reason not to like the man. He wanted to call Beryl back and tell her so, but knew he couldn't because then she'd know it was him in the Alley the Alligator suit.
Travis stepped over to the window of the bonus room and looked down at the rain-soaked lawn. The rain continued to pour down. He shook his head and whispered to himself, “When it rains it surely does pour.”
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