“I hope you’re right.”

“I know I am.”

“So, what about you?” she asked. “What are you doing today?”

“Well, if you don’t mind, I’ll probably meet a couple of minister friends for lunch.”

“That’s fine, because like I said, I need to get some writing done.”

“I’ll be back by late afternoon, though, so if you want, we can go out to dinner.”

“That’ll be fine, too,” Alicia said, turning toward the ringing phone. When she saw that it was her best friend, Melanie, she reached over to answer it. That is, until JT stopped her.

“Hey,” he said, pulling her on top of him. “Let it go to voice mail.”

“Why?”

“Because.”

“Because what?”

“Because I wanna make love to my gorgeous wife.”

“Is that right?”

“Yes, that’s exactly right. So, is that okay with you?”

“It’s more than okay. And just for the record, I wanted you last night.”

“I know but, baby, after delivering the message yesterday morning and then visiting two separate families in the evening, I was exhausted.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” she said playfully. “Whatever.”

“I was. I was beat.”

“Well, I sure hope you’re completely rested up now.”

“I am,” he said, kissing her. “I’m rested and totally ready to prove it.”

Lying on his back, JT crossed his feet and locked his hands behind his head. Then, when the woman returned from the bathroom, he eyed her up and down, from head to toe. “No, wait,” he said as she moved closer to the bed. “Just stand there for a few seconds. Let me look at you. Because there’s absolutely nothing more beautiful than a naked woman who has curves in all the right places.”

“So, you like what you see, huh?” she said.

“Love it.”

JT had been having an affair with Carmen Wilson for a little more than four years and no matter how many times he’d tried breaking things off with her, he’d never been able to do it. He’d tried and tried and tried, but the sex between them was so explosive, he just couldn’t seem to go more than a few days without having his way with her. It was true he loved having sex with Diana and he even loved having sex with Alicia…but he also loved having sex with Carmen.

He didn’t want to love sex as much as he did, and he certainly wasn’t proud of the fact that he’d just had it with his wife this morning and only minutes ago with someone else. But for years now, particularly ever since he’d gained more power and respect in the ministry, he hadn’t been able to control his extreme desire toward stunningly attractive women. Deep down, he knew adultery and fornication were wrong, but it was as if he simply couldn’t help himself. So much so, he found himself craving all the attention those women in the church went out of their way to give him. Single ones. Married ones. Women, period. And he found joy in knowing that he really could have just about any of them if he wanted to. They sometimes threw themselves at him, even those who didn’t look so hot, but whether they were ugly or as good-looking as any woman could be, JT got a huge and very satisfying rush from all of it.

Carmen finally slipped back into bed and cuddled up next to him. “So, Pastor Valentine, was it as good as always?”

“The best,” JT said, closing his eyes and smiling.

“Well, if that’s true, then why in the world did you marry that tramp Alicia?”

His eyes reopened. “What? Oh, please, please don’t tell me that you’re going to start that nonsense up again.”

“I wanna know why, JT. I wanna know why you chose that tramp-trick over me.”

“First of all, she’s not a tramp, so please don’t call her that.”

“Oh, really? Well, then, you must have forgotten what we saw in the national headlines just one year ago. You know…the news about her having an affair with some big-time drug dealer named Levi, how she was arrested and also how her husband left her.”

“Carmen, why do you always have to ruin the great time you and I have together? Why do you insist on bringing up these unnecessary subjects?”

“Why? Because I’m tired of hiding out at my apartment with you and tired of being treated like some second-class citizen. I’ve been doing this ever since my college years and also while you were married to your first wife. Then, to add insult to injury, when she died, you still went and married someone else.”

“Look-” he began, but Carmen interrupted him.

“Look, nothing! When Michelle died, you kept telling me that the reason you couldn’t marry me was because it wouldn’t look good to the congregation if you married someone so much younger than you, but then you ended up marrying someone my exact same age. Not to mention, before that, I even stopped attending NLCC because you didn’t want to take any chance that someone might see you and me making eye contact or that they might pick up on any chemistry between us.”

JT heard what she was saying but didn’t dare tell her that the real reason he’d wanted her to leave New Life Christian Center when his first wife was still alive was because he hadn’t thought it was a good idea having two mistresses attending service together every Sunday-Diana and Carmen-even if there were five thousand members and little chance that they’d ever bump into each other.

“Carmen, baby, come on now. We’ve gone over this a thousand times, and you know why I married Alicia. I married her because of who her father is, and just being able to tell people that I’m Curtis’s son-in-law has and will continue to be a major benefit to me and to the church as a whole.”

“Do you think I care about any of that? So, what I want you to do is divorce Alicia. I want you to end things with her and marry me.”

“I’m sorry, but I can’t do that.”

Carmen sat up, spun her legs over the side of the bed, and stormed across the room. “I’ve been out of college for a whole year, JT,” she yelled. “So, whether you realize it or not, I’m ready to settle down, and I won’t continue being some part-time woman.”

JT got up and walked over to where she was standing, but when he wrapped his arms around her from behind, she jerked away from him. “No! You need to make a decision. It’s either that tramp Alicia or it’s me.”

“Carmen, you know I’m the founder and senior pastor of a very large church and that I don’t have the privilege of getting rid of my wife just so I can marry someone else.”

Carmen’s face went blank. “Like I said, it’s either that tramp or it’s me. Period.”

“Then I guess I have no choice but to end things with you.”

Carmen cracked up like he’d just said something funny. “Fine. If that’s the way you want it, fine.”

“Carmen-”

“No, I want you out of here,” she said, putting on a hot-pink terry-cloth robe. “I want you out of here right now.”

“Baby, it really doesn’t have to be this way. I know you’re upset, but let’s talk about this. Tell me what I can do to make this right.”

“Tell you what you can do?! I already did. It’s either her or me.”

“Why are you being so unreasonable?”

“JT, please get your clothes and get out of here.”

JT gazed at her but finally did what he was told. He slipped on his pants, polo shirt, socks, and shoes and then grabbed his keys.

“You are so, so low-down, JT. You’re low-down and you’ve never cared about anyone but yourself. I’ve made so many sacrifices for you. I mean, even when my employer started offering us flex hours and said we could take off any afternoon we wanted, I chose Monday. I wanted to take Friday afternoons off instead, but I chose Monday because it was your day off from the church. And don’t get me started on all that illegal crap I did for you. I was so stupid, but I did everything you asked because you had me believing that you loved me.”

“I do love you.”

“Just shut up! You don’t love me. You don’t love anyone except JT,” she said, and then snatched open the top of her jewelry case and tossed one necklace and bracelet after another, hitting him with each of them. “Bringing all these expensive gifts over here like you really cared about me. You make me sick.”