She's No Angel by Janine A. Morris

sister and her mother, and every other inner demon that she dealt with. She didn’t know how to tell him that the doctor had also told her that she may never be able to have kids, when she knew that was the last thing he would want to hear. So, despite the temptation for once to tell him the truth even though it wasn’t good, she decided to take the easy route.
    â€œYeah, A-OK,” she said.
    Isaac had been looking in her face the entire time as if he could see right through her. He watched her as she reached for replies to his questions, and when she was done he turned back to his work.
    Charlene sat there watching the television program that was on, eating her milk-dipped cookies, trying to remain as calm as possible. She realized after a few moments that she was always being interrogated, and also that she was rarely telling the truth. She knew that this wasn’t a healthy relationship with Isaac, but she had gotten so deep in it she didn’t know how to get back out. Sometimes she wished that he would pry more, and finally catch her in her lies so she wouldn’t have to sustain them anymore, but he never did. She did wonder, though, if he, too, knew what was really going on. She didn’t know if it was her guilt or what, but she always felt like he was able to see that she was lying and that he wanted to see just how many lies she would tell before he jumped out and said, “Aha! I got you.” She worried that maybe the concept of karma was true, or that the cliché “what’s done in the dark comes to light” was true. She knew that she had a locked closet full of skeletons and she was so afraid he would find the key to it one day. It was truly her worst nightmare.

Chapter 13
    I t was like God was sending her a message that he wanted her to finally bring some sort of closure to this part of her life. It was a major step for Charlene to even talk about it openly with Paige again for the first time in a long while, let alone go to the doctor and discuss it. It was like she was having a confession with a priest. All of this digging up of truths and emotions was starting to break Charlene down.
    Just when she thought that maybe she could move on from this nightmare that was starting to begin again, her friend Tanai called her. It had been so long since she’d spoken to Tanai that when she saw the name on the caller ID, she literally did a triple blink to make sure she was seeing it right.
    Charlene hesitated about whether to answer the phone, but then quickly decided that if there was anybody that might know what to do right now, it would be Tanai. She answered the phone and initially there was some awkwardness, but before long they had made plans to hang out for a bit and Tanai was on her way over to Charlene’s place. For some reason Charlene cared about what Tanai thought about her, at least somewhat. So even though she didn’t change her clothes, she combed her hair and applied some light makeup. Tanai didn’t live very far away, and she arrived in no time. Charlene didn’t know why she cared, but she assumed it was because of all the unspoken feelings between them. They had gone from knowing each other’s every secret, to hiding behind a façade that they were doing just fine. And Charlene definitely wasn’t prepared to lower the curtains just yet.
    As soon as Charlene opened the door, she felt a gush of emotion. Just seeing Tanai again felt really nice, and she immediately reached out to hug her. Tanai was just as excited to see Charlene, and she held on tight for the few moments they hugged.
    â€œCome on in,” Charlene said, pointing toward the couches.
    Tanai looked almost exactly the same. She was dressed in some True Religion jeans, a brown fitted shirt and some cowboy boots. She was about 5’7”, 135 pounds. She was dark skinned, with long black and copper hair. She had slanted eyes, a narrow, pointy nose and full lips. Tanai