Made to Love: Carmen and Cooper's Story (14 page)

I reply, “You have a lot to make up
for.”

“
Oh,
my
Carmen.”

There is a woman in the background calling
Cooper’s name.

Alarmed, I ask” Who it is that?”

“
It’s Beverly.” Hold on, she wants
to speak to you.

“
Hello, Carmen” the devil
says.

“
Hello, Beverly.”

“
We are having Thanksgiving dinner
at our house. I would like to personally invite you.”

“
Cooper and I haven’t discussed
our plans yet,” I say dryly.

“
Nonsense, he is coming. You
should be by your man’s side, right?” She is such a hateful
person.

“
Alright Beverly, we’ll be
there.”

She chuckles. “Of course you will. See you
then.”

In the middle of me saying please
put, the bitch hangs up. I slam my phone down. I can’t believe once
again he chooses Beverly over me! I was going to take Marcia’s
advice, but not now. I notice the package from last night while
pouring myself a drink. It is wrapped in red shiny paper with a
beautiful silver bow. Still infuriated from our conversation, I
don’t want to open it. But since I love gifts, I give in. Pulling
the paper apart from the sealed tape, I find a white box with gold
script writing on the outside. Opening it, there is a crystal
plaque with a red heart placed in the middle. Our names
Carmen
and
Cooper
are engraved
inside it. A red envelope is underneath. The card says:

My Carmen, even though we are
apart, you are always in my heart. Your Cooper

Maybe things aren’t as bad as they
seem.

Chapter
Twenty-Two

“
Good morning, beautiful,” Cooper
says.

Opening my eyes, I ask, “What time is
it?”

“
Eight. I wanted to be the first
thing you see.”

“
Cooper, you are so sweet,” I say
while going to the bathroom. “Did Marcia leave when she let you
in?”

“
No she was drinking
coffee.”

Marcia knocks on the door. Cooper opens it.
“I’m about to leave, you guys have a good Thanksgiving. I will see
you Saturday.” We hug each other and she whispers, “Be nice to
Beverly, regardless of how she acts.” She looks at Cooper. “Bye,
Cooper,” she says as she leaves my room.

Cooper asks, “Why isn’t she coming with
us?”

“
Marcia is going to her parents.
She and her mother will start shopping tonight.”

He grabs my waist. “Do you want us to go
shopping?”

“
We have a four hour drive; I
doubt we will feel up to shopping. I’m going to shower and get
ready.” Before closing the door, I yell, “Don’t let me forget the
pumpkin log that is in the fridge.” I made the pumpkin log from
scratch. The filling is buttercream icing topped with pecans.
Rolled to perfection, looking better than anything store
bought.

Four hours later we arrive at the Jackson
home, which has two stories. The outside has gray vinyl siding and
the shudders are bluish-gray. A two car garage accompanies the
blacktop driveway. Beverly must have been looking out the window,
because before the car comes to a complete stop, she is
outside.

“
Thanks for coming with me. My
mother is thrilled we said yes.”

I force a smile because knowing Beverly she is
going to say something to mess up my day. Cooper opens my door and
helps me out of the car. Beverly runs down the porch steps to meet
us at the driveway. She hugs Cooper, then me. Putting on my best
smile for Cooper, I smile back.

“
Hey mom. Where’s Dad?”

“
In the parlor making us
drinks.”

Walking up the porch steps and through the
screen door, we enter the house. The inside of the house is
immaculate. The walls in the foyer are a deep burgundy color. The
light fixture is captivating. The spiral stair case goes up behind
the slate tile and the swirled railing looks freshly polished. The
carpentering is beige, more elegant than bourbon. Beverly frees me
of the pumpkin log and places it in the fridge.

“
It looks delicious, Carmen. Too
bad I’m allergic to nuts. I’m sure the boys will enjoy it
though.”

We go down the hall to meet his father. I
could really use a drink right now. His dad greets Cooper with a
scotch on the rocks and a glass of champagne for me.

After hugging us, his dad asks how my parents
are.

“
Wonderful,” I reply, “Right now
they’re out of town for the holiday. Thank you for asking, Mr.
Jackson.”

“
Please call me Timothy. You make
me feel like an old man. You guys sit down and relax, you had a
long drive.” He smiles. I catch Beverly shooting me a look of
disgust.

“
Yes let’s catch up.” Beverly
follows us to the living room.

There are columns in the living room on each
side of the brown chesterfield wrap around leather coach. A large
square ottoman is in the middle, different magazines spread across
it. Pillows are on the bottom of it.

“
Dinner will be ready in an hour,”
Beverly calls.

Cooper says he’ll take our things up to the
guest room. Timothy goes to check on the turkey. Tension levels
start to rise when both of them are out of sight. I use this time
wisely.

“
What have you been cooking this
morning, Beverly? It smells delicious.”

“
Actually, Timothy has been doing
all the cooking. He’s fantastic in the kitchen.”

We gather around the dining room table, which
has crystal bowls of stuffing and mashed potatoes. The turkey and
ham are at the foot of the table where Timothy is sitting. Yams,
macaroni and cheese, and string beans are in orange cookware.
Cooper and I sit beside each other, his parents on each end. My
dad’s favorite white rolls are in a brown basket. They’re covered
with a thin towel, securing the warmth. An antique butter holder is
to the right and a knife lays on a plate for us butter lovers. As
Cooper’s dad arranges to carve the turkey, he gets our
attention.

“
I want to thank you both for
coming today. It’s a real treat to have you both at our home for
this day of thanks.”

He starts to slice the turkey. We pass dishes
around, filling our plates. Everyone but Beverly. She sits at her
end calorie counting. She has some turkey, green beans, and a small
portion of stuffing and yams.

Timothy looks across at Beverly’s
plate and shakes his head. “You must be saving room for the lovely
dessert Carmen brought.”

I spoke up. “No, she said she’s allergic to
nuts, but I do hope you guys I enjoy. I know I will.” That was
risky calling her out like that, but the feeling inside is
joyful.

“
Allergic to nuts? She loves her
cashews so that cannot be the case,” Timothy reveals.

Beverly gives a blank look. “I’m just dieting.
I’m a health guru. What do you expect?”

We continue to eat. My stomach is almost at
capacity but everything is so good. I decide to give kudos to the
chef.

“Timothy, this is a lovely meal. I
hope you didn’t have to get up too early.”

“
I’ve been going at it since six
this morning. I was blessed with the cooking trait, more so than
Beverly. However, it seems she has become quite the expert in
microwave meals.”

He sends her a flirtatious wink.
She blows him a kiss and he catches it.

After two more spoonful’s of
stuffing and mac n cheese I push my orange plate back. The
centerpiece is a vase full of dark red and yellow sunflowers. We
all finish eating at the same time. I look at Cooper as he happily
listens to his mom talk about the dessert she made. Timothy stands
to gather the plates and take them to the sink. He leans in to kiss
her. She shuts her eyes when his lips meet hers. I wonder if she’s
still sleeping with other men.
Once a
cheat, always a cheat
. Normally I do not
think like this, but since she has declared war with me, I don’t
feel guilty. Cooper and I belong together; anyone who tries to
stand in my way will lose.

Timothy takes it amongst himself to refill our
drinks as we all sit and wait for the food to settle. Beverly looks
in my direction every time Cooper and his dad are in deep
conversation. I really don’t understand why she continues to be
nasty. I’d rather be at home than being stared down by
her.

Cooper says to me, “Let’s serve
dessert.” I rise to follow him. “I can’t wait to taste you later
on,” he whispers as we start towards the kitchen.

Seems Beverly has followed a
recipe for a sea salted caramel layered cake. When I see it resting
in the glass container in the fridge, my mouth almost begins to
water. It looks exactly like the one from Tasty Creations. If we
were having a dessert contest, I would be deemed the winner. We
collect the utensils placed near the fridge beside the dessert
plates. Laughter is coming from the dining room; Beverly has moved
her chair closer to Timothy and his arm is relaxed over her
shoulders. We all decide to try both desserts, I honestly couldn’t
resist the sea salted caramel. Cooper whispers that he wishes it
was me he was licking instead of the fork. Both treats are great
not only in presentation, but taste as well. Beverly and I earn
many compliments around the table.

She’s beaming as I stuff the
remainders in my mouth. Then she asks if I’ll help her with the
dessert plates and clearing the table while the guys catch up.
Cooper gives his approval nod, probably hoping I become close with
her. I sigh inside as I scoot my chair out to stand. Cooper grabs
my hand and squeezes it just a little as he smiles at me. On our
second trip to the kitchen, Beverly has her phone out scrolling
through the screens. She stops me on my way to the sink.

“
Carmen, come here I want to show
you different recipes I was looking at before deciding on the
cake.”

As she slides between pictures, we flip from
pumpkin cheesecake to lemon chess pie. Then a picture of Cooper
with a blonde headed woman smiling pops across the
screen.

“
Stop, let me see that.” I
demand.

Beverly hands me the phone and I
examine the picture. Who is this bitch standing beside my man? She
had this shit planned all along.

She stands there smirking. “Ooh I
didn’t mean for you to see that, but at least you know what your
competition is.”

I’m too shocked to respond. I sit the phone on
the counter and storm away. Her facial expression is of pure
victory.

Cooper is where I left him with his father.
“Cooper, I don’t feel good. I want to go home.”

“
Are you okay?” Cooper asks with
concern.

“
It just hit me. I’m not sure what
is wrong. But I should go home.”

Beverly walks in the room, “Don’t be
ridiculous, it is a four hour drive, just stay here tonight. I will
make you some hot tea.”

Cooper is rubbing my back. “My mom is right,
let’s spend the night and we will leave tomorrow. Let’s get you to
bed.”

Timothy says, “Let us know if you need
anything. We will bring you some peppermint tea in a
while.”

“
Thanks.”

We get to the guest room and I crawl into the
bed. Cooper brings me my PJ’s and tries to help me change. This is
the first time we go to bed and I do not want him to hold me. How
could I have been this gullible? Working late, huh? That is the
most common lie told and I fell for it.

Chapter
Twenty-Three

I wake up early the next morning. “Cooper, I
am ready to go.”

He looks at the clock. “Its 6:15;
we can leave in a few hours.”, he says while pulling up the
covers.

“
Either you will take me home now,
or I will find my own transportation.”

“
What is wrong with you?” he says,
agitated.

“
I don’t want to be here anymore.
I have had enough of your mother.”

“
My mother? You are still on that?
I’m not in the mood for this.”

He jumps out of bed and gets
dressed. I do not care about his mood. I just want to get out of
here.

“
Should I wait in the
car?”

Cooper ignores me while throwing things into
his bag. I get up to leave and he says, “Don’t be rude, at least
tell my parents goodbye. I will wake them, wait
downstairs.”