Tears Fall at Night-The Blessed One Box Set (Praise Him Anyhow and Blessed and Highly Favored Series) by Vanessa Miller Page B

Carmella quickly asked.
    “I’ll catch the bus home.” With that Dontae escaped.
    Carmella turned back to Ramsey and said, “Thank you for that. Dontae might not have ever forgiven me for embarrassing him the way I had planned.”
    “I don’t know about that,” Ramsey had a grin on his face as he admitted, “I forgave my mom after my third year in college.”
    As she laughed, Carmella reminded him, “Remember how she busted up in our English class and was supposed to be sitting quietly. That lasted about ten minutes, until the teacher upset her by not calling on you to read any of the passages that we were going over that day.”
    Ramsey mimicked his mother as he said, “My son ain’t no dumb jock. He can read, too. Show him, Ramsey… stand up and read something.”
    They both burst out laughing, then Carmella shook her head. “I can’t believe that I was getting ready to do that to Dontae. But desperate times, call for desperate measures.”
    “But I have to admit that my head was pretty big when we were in high school. I just knew I was going to the NBA. If my mother hadn’t convinced me that my education was important because nobody could ever take that away from me, I don’t know where I would be now.”
    “You did play overseas for a few years, though,” Carmella reminded him.
    “I enjoyed playing overseas, but I couldn’t stay there forever. So, when I got homesick, I was thankful that I had finished college and only needed a few certifications to become a teacher.”
    Carmella was silent, but the sadness that crossed her eyes was unmistakable.
    “Did I say something wrong?” Ramsey asked.
    “Oh no, not at all. It’s just that I had intended to become a teacher also, but it just didn’t work out that way.” She felt as if she was starting to bring down the mood with her woulda-coulda-shouldas, so she stood up. “I’m sure you need to get back to work, so I’ll get out of your way.”
    “Actually, I was just getting ready to invite you to breakfast. There’s an IHOP one block over.”
     
    12
    Carmella felt as if she were walking on clouds. Breakfast with Ramsey had been just what she needed. He made her feel young again, and reminded her of what it felt like to be cherished. Because one thing was for certain, she and Ramsey had loved each other. She had allowed herself to move on when she and Ramsey chose different colleges, because she had believed that teenage love wouldn’t last. But now she was questioning that decision.
    She’d given Ramsey her cell phone number and had boldly told him that the divorce papers would be signed soon, so he should feel free to call her. Carmella had been feeling so good that she even gave Dontae back his car keys when he arrived home that evening.
    Then things started going wrong. Carmella received a call from her attorney. She smiled as she noted the name on her caller ID. Deidre was probably calling to tell her that Nelson had signed the papers and she was free. It amazed her that she could smile about something that, only a few months ago, had seemed like being left behind after the rapture. But maybe she was doing some healing herself.
    “Hey Deidre, how are you doing today?”
    “Not so good, Carmella. I have some news that I really don’t like delivering.”
    “What’s wrong? Is Nelson still balking at the amount of alimony he’ll have to pay?”
    “He’s refused to sign the papers, Deidre. He doesn’t want the divorce.”
    Carmella sat down as she tried to wrap her mind around what she was hearing. Did Nelson really think that he could just call off their divorce as if it had just been a bad joke? “What do you mean? Does he think he can just come back home after all that’s happened?”
    “I don’t think he’s interested in coming home,” Deidre said.
    Now she was really confused. “If he doesn’t want to come back home, why won’t he just sign the divorce papers and get on with it?”
    “They won’t say. But Clark did let me