Free CheckMate (Play At Your Own Risk) by Tiece Mickens Page A

charming, and respectful men out there that would love to have me. I really do need to get over my feelings for Monty and leave my options open for the right man when he comes along.” Candy walked past the bathroom and headed directly out the door on the porch as Mona followed.
    “I’ll see, Candy. I hope you do because I love you and I don’t want to see you hurt if Monty never notices you the way you want him to. Let’s just leave that subject alone and go shopping.” Mona and Candy walked to the car and got in.
    Monty exited the bathroom and stood in the middle of the hallway. He then walked through the house while talking to himself. “Damn, my sister got a big mouth. She ain’t gotta tell Candy all that shit. How does she know how I really feel?” Monty scratched his head. “I do like Candy, but maybe my sister is right about me hurting her. I might not be able to love and be faithful to her like she would want. I already know I’m not about to stop doing what I’m doing for Candy’s crazy ass, but I can be at the club tonight. I do miss her for some reason, but I ain’t gonna mess with her if she doesn’t say anything to me. That’ll be that.” Monty prepared a bowl of Frosted Flakes and sat down to the kitchen table to eat.
     
    Meanwhile, on the Westside of town over on the hillside off of Walton Way, Nancy and Will sat across from each other at their dining room table eating brunch. Nancy felt pretty good to have her husband home for a change because he’d been so preoccupied with Ebony lately that he hadn’t had time to eat at home like a real husband should. She believed he wanted to keep his family and he had started proving to her that he was willing to change his cheating ways.
    Will sat there enjoying the moment, but knew he had to break some devastating news to his wife of twenty years. He looked over at Nancy, who was still as beautiful as ever. Her big, round eyes shined bright and her smile was very gentle, even though he knew she could be his worst nightmare if he failed her. He loved her and wanted desperately to work on his marriage, but already knew she would never forgive him for the words he was about to say to her.
    “Will, it feels so good to have you home. I’ve missed us and the closeness that we’ve shared over the years,” said Nancy as she reached across the table and touched the back of Will’s hand. “I know I’ve not been the easiest woman to live with, but I’ve always meant well, even when it may have seemed like I didn’t. The depression took over my life and I hated myself for a long time. You know that not being able to give you a son, or just more children period, put a strain on my life for so long and I just want to put that behind me now.” Will sat there becoming teary eyed because he always loved to see the softer side of his wife. “Our daughter just turned eighteen today and I’ve held in so much that I put a lot on you and her over the years. I just wanna say I’m sorry for that, Will.” A tear fell from Nancy’s eye.
    “Baby, please don’t cry,” said Will. He pushed their plates to the side, reached over the glass dining room table, and wiped the tear rolling down her face. “I love you more than life itself. I’m so sorry for not being the husband that you needed the most. I guess I was so fed up with you for pushing my love for you aside that I didn’t realize how much you really needed me. You stopped a long time ago wanting to please me. I just needed for you to touch me like you used to and make love to me like a wife should with her husband. I know I was wrong for cheating on you, and, if I were you, I wouldn’t have wanted to make love to me, either. But, I needed and craved for that attention, and, baby, you weren’t making it easy for me. I always wanted a big family and that was something that we planned for from the first time we met. However, that wasn’t in the cards for us and I accepted that. The only problem we had