Authors: Monique Miller
Redemption Lake (7 page)
“What?” the woman asked, perplexed. “All set?”
“You can drive now. It is only a temporary solution, so try to get it to a mechanic soon. But for now you're good.”
“Are you serious?” the woman asked.
“As a heart attack,” Travis replied.
The woman smiled for the first time since he'd heard her laughing on the phone. Travis didn't know if he'd ever see that beautiful smile again.
“Thank you so very much.” She touched her purse.
“Are you sure I can't give you something for all your help?”
Travis thought about the few dollars he had in his pocket and the empty gas tank that was awaiting him. But he wanted to impress the woman. He'd just ask his sister for a few dollars when he got home. She'd give him some moneyâlike always.
“Nah, helping out a beautiful woman is enough gratification for me,” Travis said.
The woman smiled at the compliment. “Well, thanks.”
Travis wasn't sure if she were thanking him for fixing the car or for the flattering remark.
“I can't thank you enough.” She paused for a moment. “Hold on a second.” She rummaged through her purse until she found what she was looking for. “Here you go.”
She handed Travis two pieces of paper. They were coupons for a free cup of coffee and breakfast sandwich at Hardee's. “I know it isn't much, but I'm a manager at Hardee's, and those are a couple of coupons, you know, for maybe you and your girlfriend.”
The way the woman said it, he wondered if she were just fishing and flirting with him. “No girlfriend and no wife. No kids either, if you're wondering,” Travis said, taking the bait.
“Oh ... okay. So maybe one day when you need a caffeine fix or a sandwich for breakfast, they'll come in handy.”
“Thanks.” Both coupons would definitely come in handy in his current situation. As the woman turned toward her car, Travis thought quickly. He still didn't know who this beautiful young woman was. “Hey, I didn't get your name.”
Turning, the woman smiled again, teeth wide and gleaming. “I'm sorry; how rude of me.” She extended her hand. “My name is Beryl.”
Travis shook her hand and held it a little longer than needed. “Beryl. That's different.” Travis released her hand, though she hadn't seemed bothered by his extended handshake.
“Yeah, sort of like Cheryl, but with a B. My dad's name is Berry, and my mom's name is Cheryl,” she said.
“It's a pretty name. My name is Travis. My mama's was Norma, and I don't know what my daddy's name was. So I really don't know where she got the name Travis from.” He wanted to make as much small talk as possible. He wanted to keep Miss Beryl in his presence for as long as he could.
She wiped beads of sweat from her forehead and frowned. “Whew! It's so hot out here.”
Reluctantly Travis said, “Don't let me keep you. Go ahead and get in your car and blast that air conditioning.”
“You bet I will.” She turned back toward her car and opened the door.
“Hey, uh ... if I wanted to get some free coffee and a sandwich while being able to look at your beautiful face, where would I need to be and when?” Travis asked.
“The Hardee's on Main Street. I normally work the breakfast shift from six o' clock 'til two o'clock,” she'd said.
As he reminisced about the first time he'd met Beryl, Travis nodded his head. He hadn't realized everyone at the table was starting at him until Beryl tapped him on the shoulder to ask him for his feedback.
Not having the slightest clue as to what the most recent topic had been, he said, “I think that icebreaker was nice, everyone has such interesting stories.” He didn't really know what else to say.
“Okay everyone. Let's go ahead and break for lunch.
We'll meet back here at The Round Table at one o'clock,” Phillip said.
Travis was glad his answer sufficed. He'd have to try and pay more attention during the sessions; after all, his marriage depended on it.
Chapter 7
Travis Highgate
Monday: 1:03
P.M
.
Monday: 1:03
P.M
.
Travis patted his stomach, full from the lunch Shelby had prepared. When he returned to The Round Table, everyone else was already there. Once he was seated, Phillip said, “Okay, let's go ahead and get started.”
Beryl rolled her eyes at Travis. He looked over at the clock on the wall and saw that is was just a little past one o'clock. He'd just lost track of time for a few minutes as he walked by the lake, but he wasn't that late. And what did it matter anyway? They had all week to sit around The Round Table and talk about all the gripes the women had about the men not doing something right.
“Again, I want to welcome you all to this marriage retreat. This week will probably be one of the most pivotal weeks in each of your marriages. I know for my wife and I, this retreat was vital during the reclamation stage of our marriage when we were literally sitting in the same places as you all are now,” Phillip said.
Travis's ears perked up. Again he wondered what kinds of problems they could have had; especially with Phillip being a minister and all. But then again, Travis knew that sometimes those ministers could be the most devilish of all.
“This week we'll be doing some exercises to help you communicate your thoughts and feelings to your spouses. We'll talk about the many facets of love. Not just the love you have for your spouse, but the love you have for yourself. We'll also talk about the way love can be used in the right and wrong ways,” Phillip said.
“I'll be giving you some steps to improve your marital home and some marriage commandments you can use in your daily lives. Also we will delve into how important communication is in marriage and how to figure out what communication barriers you may have. There are five areas in marriage that you need to discuss and come to an agreement about, even if the agreement is that you disagree. You need to know where you both stand and how your spouse feels.” Phillip looked around pointedly at everyone.
“Again, let me reiterate that you can voice any concerns you have. Ask any questions you need to ask pertaining to your situation. Please be assured that your information will not be shared with anyone outside of this room. Everything is to be kept confidential,” Phillip said. “Are there any questions before we get started?”
No one had any.
“Okay then. The first thing we'll be talking about is the love we have for ourselves. The internal love we feel. In order to show others loveâreal loveâyou need to love yourselves first. And that love comes from within,” Phillip said.
“You've also got to know that God loves you. He loved you enough to put you on this earth to live and breathe the same air as the other wonderful creatures He made. When God made you, He had a special plan in mind as to what you would look like, what complexion your skin would be, how tall you would become, and even the length of your big toe in relation to the other toes on your feet. He made your fingerprints just as He makes the snowflakes, unique and undu-plicated. God loved you first. Now you also have to love yourselves.”
Travis listened to Phillip as he went on about them having to love themselves. Travis thought about how much he loved himself. He loved himself very much. So that wasn't a problem. He also knew that God loved him, and he didn't have any doubts about that either. His mother had raised him in the church, and that was where he'd first learned about God's love. And he had even gotten saved at a young age. Each Sunday he was at church serving as an usher to show his love for the Lord.
Travis made sure he was always front and center when it came time to hand out programs and to help take up the offering. There shouldn't have been any doubt in anybody's mind about how much he loved the Lord. People could tell by the works he was doing in the church each Sunday.
Travis heard Phillip saying something about letting God complete you and not depending on another person to make you feel whole. Travis knew he didn't have a problem in that department either. He was a whole person and didn't need anyone else to validate that.
“Now I want each of you to take a mirror.” Phillip pulled hand mirrors out of a box that was sitting on the floor. Once each person had one, Phillip continued. “I want each of you to take a look at yourselves in the side of the mirror that has the little heart sticker.”
They did as instructed, examining themselves in the mirror, some holding the mirror closer to their faces than others. “Do you like what you see?” he challenged.
Travis nodded his head. “Yep, I like what I see just fine.”
“I look good,” Nina said.
George said, “I like what I see.”
The others just nodded their heads, some more vigorously than others.
“Now,” Phillip said, “turn your mirrors over.”
There was a gasp from the âI know I look good' Nina. “Oh my! My head looks enormous.”
Looking in his own mirror, Travis saw how his nose looked three times its actual size, and he had something sticking slightly out of one of his nostrils that no one had bothered to tell him about.
“What do you think now?” Phillip asked. “How does it feel to look at yourselves up close and personal?”
“I must say, I do still look good,” Nina said.
While everyone was focused on Nina's comments about herself, Travis decided to slip out to clean his nose. When he returned, Phillip was saying that they were to quickly jot down a couple of things they liked and disliked about themselves.
Travis pulled out his notepad and headed a piece of paper with two columns to list his likes and dislikes. First focusing on the positives, he wrote that he liked his physique. He worked out at least three times a week and had been doing so for years. The fruits of his labor had yielded him a body that often captured the attention of many women, especially when he wore fitted, sleeveless T-shirts. Travis wrote that he liked his skin. He had been blessed with what some people would call flawless skin. His mother and sisters didn't have skin like his, so he figured must have gotten it from the father he had never known.
In the dislike column, he noted the two things he didn't like about his body. At only five feet six inches tall, he hated his height. The second thing he hated about his body was his teeth. Even though he had been blessed with beautiful skin, his teeth were what some people would call tore up. For many years, as a child, he was teased about his teeth. He had a gap in the top center of his mouth. But he also had gaps between many of his other teeth.
Then to add to this eyesore, some of his teeth jutted out and others were just plain crooked. His mother could never afford to get him braces, and when he got older, he'd never been able to afford them either. And now that he was grownup, he didn't know if having braces would bring further scrutiny from adults. Adults weren't as blatant as cruel children because they said things with their eyes or behind a person's back.
“Okay, has everyone finished?” Phillip asked.
Nina shook her head. “I'm not. I could only think of one thing I don't like about myself. Otherwise, I'm beautiful.” Nina spoke as if she invented the word beautiful. She sat with a straight back and stiff neck, poised like she was being tested in the proper etiquette of sitting.
Travis's eyes widened. Beauty was truly in the eyes of the beholder, because from what he could see, Nina didn't look all that great. And he'd bet a million dollars that if she took out some of her weave, popped off her fake nails, and if her face came anywhere close to a wet washcloth that would wipe off all the makeup she had caked on it, she'd be not only plain and ordinaryâshe might actually be knocking on ugly's front door.
“That's fine if you only have one thing. Not many people can say that,” Phillip said.
Travis glanced over at some of the other people's sheets of paper. His wife's paper had a long list of things she didn't like about herself. He tried to read a few of them, but she slapped her hand over the paper before he could.
“Look at your lists and ask yourselves a few questions, and make some considerations. You don't have to answer these questions out loud,” Phillip said. “For each thing you've written, ask yourself what can and cannot be changed. If there is something that is bothering you and it is in your power to change, then make efforts to change it. If there is something that cannot be changed no matter how much you dislike it, then you must allow yourself to accept what cannot be changed.”
Travis looked again at the two things he didn't like about himself. He knew he could not change his height even though it bothered him to no end. But his teeth could be changed. He could get braces, but didn't really know if he wanted to go through all the ridicule, the hassle, or the pain. Plus he knew he needed dental insurance to get the braces in the first place. Beryl's insurance didn't cover him since she opted for the employee only coverage.
“Would anybody like to share what they've written?” Phillip asked.
Mr. Pretty Boy X spoke up. “I'll share. There are so many things I like about myself. First of all, my physique. I don't have to work very hard at making it look pristine because I've got it like that ... naturally.”
No longer fascinated with the cobweb in the corner, Charlotte rolled her eyes in disgust with husband's statement.
Ignoring his wife, Pretty Boy continued. “And I love the fact that my baritone voice can kick out a cappella songs like nobody's business.”
Travis knew this to be true. Along with his good looks, the Pretty Boy often sang in his commercials, using this tactic to get people in to buy cars. But Travis couldn't carry a tune in a bucket, even if it were weighted down. He felt a twinge of envy toward this man. Xavier looked good, with his straight, white, pretty teeth, and his over six feet tall frame. The man seemed to have everything. Many of the things Travis wanted.
Xavier tapped his temple with his forefinger. “It's hard to think of anything I don't like about myself. But maybe the fact that if I wasn't so darn pretty, I wouldn't have to fight the women off so much.” He hunched his shoulders and glanced over at his wife. She sat with her arms crossed, taking deep controlled breaths.
Nina piped up next and said, “I'll share.” She held her paper up, and with an enthusiasm that seemed to come out of nowhere, began to read. “Okay, some of the things I like the most about myself are my big, beautiful, hazel eyes, my plus size, and especially my well endowed ...” Her voice trailed off as she looked down toward the backside of her seat, and then up at her husband.
George smiled, saying, “Thanks.”
“My husband thinks I'm a little too vocal, but you all know what I mean.” Nina scooted from side to side in her seat. “And I had a hard time trying to figure out what I don't like about my body. I guess I'd have to say my toes. My big toe is shorter than the toe next to it. It doesn't look proportioned to me.”
Travis had to stop himself from looking under the table. As soon as they took a break, he'd look to see what she was talking about, hoping she might have on some open toe shoes.
Next, Beryl spoke. “I'd like to share.” She picked up her paper and read. “I don't like my weight right now. I've gained at least forty pounds since I got married. Specifically the weight in my abdominal area, my cheeks, my big flabby arms.” She pulled at her dreads. “And lately I haven't been liking my dreads or the way my face has been breaking out.”
Beryl stopped reading, putting her paper back down on the table. Travis wondered what Beryl was talking about. Sure she had put on a few pounds, but most women he knew put on a few pounds as they got older. He had noticed that her skin was a little dry and bumpy, but that hadn't bothered him either.
Travis and everyone else at the table waited for Beryl to continue with the things she liked about herself. But her paper remained on the table as if she were finished.
Phillip said, “Beryl, tell us what you like about yourself.”
“Honestly, I can't think of anything,” she said.
“Okay, maybe after you think about it a little more, something will come to you,” Phillip said, not pressing Beryl to continue.
“Thank you all for sharing. Now look at all your dislikes and ask yourself if they are things you can change. If you can and want to change them, then make efforts to do so. But if there's something you can't change, then accept it and move on. And remember, before you can love anyone else, you've
got
to love yourself first.”
got
to love yourself first.”
“Why don't we take a short break before our next topic on the many languages of love.”
Travis was glad they were finally taking a breather. He was starting to get bored. When Nina stood and walked out of the room, Travis made sure to look down at her feet. To his dismay, she had on a pair of slip on shoes that covered her toes. He made a mental note to try to check them out later on.
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