The Lovely Chocolate Mob (35 page)
Read The Lovely Chocolate Mob Online
Authors: Richard J. Bennett
Tags: #Suspense, #Fiction, #Christian
“Why so startled to see me?” I asked. “You act as though I were dead!”
“I thought you were … a wanted man!”
“That was yesterday,” I said. “Things have changed. Is Miss Planter in?”
“Yes, but she’s with a patient right now.”
“I can wait,” I said and made my way over to a chair to sit and relax. I didn’t even bother to read anything; it was just good enough to be here, in one piece.
The phone buzzed at the secretary’s desk, and she answered it. She was talking to Miss Planter and told her that I was here waiting to see her, and that I was happy to wait. I sat there for maybe 10 more minutes but somehow was content. I was content to wait. I had no place better to be at that moment.
After 20 minutes of sitting, Miss Planter finally opened her door and gave me the “okay” to come in. Her patient took the back door out, so we were alone. She was curious to know what happened, but first I presented the dozen roses to her. Her eyes got big for a moment, and then she looked at me as to ask, “What are these for?”
“You’re fired,” I said.
Miss Planter took on a look of confusion, so I knew I couldn’t let her stay in that state long. “Let me explain,” I started. “I know I’ve been placing you in a precarious position since I’ve started making my feelings about you known.”
She said nothing. She wanted to hear more.
“I care about you and have come to love you,” I said. “I hope you feel the same way about me. I know in your profession that you’re not supposed to mix it up with patients, so you’re no longer my counselor. By firing you I have upgraded your position from counselor to girlfriend. Of course, you will lose no business because I’m still paying for the marital counseling between Dr. and Mrs. Burke, who can meet more frequently now that my slot is open.”
Miss Planter looked a little surprised, then said, “If we’re going to be a couple, don’t you think you should call me ‘Karen”?”
I thought on this for a moment, and replied, “Yes, ma’am.”
Miss Planter smiled and said, “Randall, I do feel that way. It occurred to me that I know everything about you, but you really don’t know me. I …”
“Let me interrupt,” I said. “Sorry. I know all I need to know about you. You’re younger than I am. You were raised on the east side of town, with two siblings, David and John. You attended Eastside High, were fourth in your class, then got married at an early age. You have three children, Kevin, Brittany, and Daniel, all grown, and you raised them yourself when your husband refused to grow up and left. You attend the Second
Baptist Church in town and worked to feed your kids and get your degree and later your master’s in the field of psychology and counseling, and …”
Miss Planter’s face became more and more surprised and twisted when I spoke; I was hoping I had got all the facts right.
“How did you find out all this?” asked Miss Planter.
“I did research before I started coming here,” I replied. “I wanted to know who’d be crawling around inside of my head before I told all.” This didn’t seem to satisfy her, so I said, “It’s all on the internet! There’s no such thing as privacy anymore; that’s a thing of the past. Plus, you know all about me; don’t you think it’s fair I know about you?”
“Well, yes, it’s just…”
“You have nothing to hide, nothing to be ashamed about,” I reassured her. “Everything I know about you is good. That’s one reason I love you.”
“Oh, I love you too, Randall.” And with that she fell into my arms, which I really didn’t expect but was glad to have happened. The flowers were tossed onto a chair as I hugged her and kissed her face, multiple times. Smack! Smack! Smack! Smack! Smack! Smack! Smack!
I stopped and looked down at Miss Planter, who had closed her eyes. “Do you like this?” I asked.
“I love it!” she said, smiling with her eyes closed.
“Good, ‘cause there’s plenty where that comes from, babycakes!” and resumed the kissing her all over her beautiful face.
And with that, she started laughing in my arms; it was almost hard to hold onto her.
It was good to hear her laugh; this made me happy.
The End
Other books by Richard J. Bennett
Everything I Need to Know I Learned in Boy Scouts:
The Story of Troop 826
Faith and Labor:
An Examination of a Texas Public High School
Available on Amazon.com and Kindle
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