Some wounds never heal, p.1
Some Wounds Never Heal, page 1
Some Wounds Never Heal
Rhonda M. Lawson
www.urbanbooks.net
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Table of Contents
Title Page
Some Wounds Never Heal
Reviews for Some Wounds Never Heal
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Epilogue
RHONDA M. LAWSON
Copyright Page
Some Wounds Never Heal
by
Rhonda M. Lawson
Reviews for Some Wounds Never Heal
Can a person ever heal and move on with her life, without ever forgiving the person who has caused them to be broken and hurt inside? Alexis White would say it is possible to keep on living, but Andrea Lee would beg to differ with her on this subject matter. For these two ladies, their lives changed fifteen years ago due to an affair that rocked the foundation of a marriage. Aside from both ladies having a close relationship with Brenda, the ladies had one other thing in common; both their lives were forever tainted due to the things that took place. The hurricane brewing in New Orleans is nothing compared to what will happen once Alexis and Andrea are in the same state and sharing friends, in Rhonda M. Lawson’s Some Wounds Never Heal.
When Alexis and her fiancé, Jamar, left New Orleans in an attempt to get away from the impending danger of Hurricane Gustav, Alexis had a sense of foreboding of the things that were to come once they were in Virginia. She wanted to go to a place where she knew no one, but Jamar was not having it. He promised her that no drama would pop off while they were in Virginia. However, he made a promise that was as good as a blank check.
Brenda, Alexis’s cousin, and Andrea’s best friend, tried to fix the issues between the two people she cared about, but nothing she did worked. Brenda had come to the conclusion that it was best for everyone involved if she left well enough alone. How far would both ladies push each other before the other one lost it?
While Jamar is trying to keep Alexis from dealing with demons from her past, he realizes that something crazy is going on. Something he is too ashamed of to allow Alexis to ever get wind of. Unfortunately, the more he tried to keep her from finding out the more on edge he became. His behavior towards her caused some tension, all because he was trying to keep a secret that could possibly change the way she viewed him. What would upset her more; the secret or the fact that he even felt the need to keep a secret in the first place?
I love a book that is drama-filled, but not over-the-top; character driven but not so many characters that I cannot keep one straight from the next. Some Wounds Never Heal by Rhonda M. Lawson is an example of these two wonderful traits of high quality writing. There was a little mystery adding to the already tense storyline, which was an added bonus. The message of admitting and accepting, apologizing and forgiving, and understanding that we all make mistakes could be found throughout Ms. Lawson’s writing. I understand that this book was the sequel to Putting it Back Together, however, I do not feel as though I have missed anything within the story since I did not read the first book. I know that I will go back and read the first book, only because the characters pulled me in and kept my attention from the first page. By going back and reading the first one, I get a little more time with these characters that kept me entertained. I recommend this book to Rhonda M. Lawson’s fans and to readers looking for drama and mystery stories with a message.
Words Mosaic: 5 Mosaic Stones
—Jennifer Coissiere Words Mosaic Reviews
In the novel Some Wounds Never Heal, author Rhonda M. Lawson continues the saga of Dr. Alexis White, a headstrong pediatrician with a less-than-angelic past. Fleeing from another potentially traumatic hurricane, Alexis and her fiancé, Jamar, leave their beloved New Orleans to wait the storm out in Virginia Beach. However, when they arrive there, Alexis’s old stomping grounds prove to be more chaotic than Hurricane Gustav when she is forced to face all the demons from her past. From the bitterness of Andrea, the wife of the man she had an affair with during college, to the coincidental run-ins with Nikki, the ex-wife of the man she has never completely gotten over, Alexis can’t seem to escape the mistakes of her youth.
Lawson delivers a page-turner with the third installment to the Alexis White series. From catfights to malicious plots, every moment is filled with dramatic highs and emotional lows. Well written, the book contains unpredictable twists and turns that should keep readers on their toes and begging for more. The title prompts the question, do old wounds ever heal? Or will an unwillingness to forgive, resentment, and lies tear friendships and lovers apart? Read the book to find out!
—A’ndrea J. Wilson, Ph.D.
Author of Kiss & Tell, Ready & ABLE Teens, and The Things We Said We Would Never Do
www.andreawilsononline.com
Chapter 1
“Déjà damn vu,” Alexis mumbled, laying her head against the car window.
She and Jamar, her fiancé, had been traveling up Interstate 85 for the past hour, and the trip had grown old quickly. Her head hurt, she was tired of hearing the music on her iPod, and the constant view of the passing scenery would soon make her sick to her stomach, but not from being carsick. She just couldn’t bear the thought of fleeing yet another hurricane.
“Why couldn’t we have just stopped in Atlanta?” she mumbled.
Jamar cut his eyes at her, not knowing whether to laugh or get angry. She’d been in this mood ever since they left New Orleans seven hours ago. With more than twelve hours left in the trip, he wasn’t sure how much longer he could put up with it.
“Woman, how long are you going to pout?”
“Until you explain to me why we have to drive all the way to Virginia Beach, when we would be perfectly safe in Atlanta or even South Carolina,” she snapped without looking his way.
Jamar held back a laugh. “How many people do you know in South Carolina?”
“Nobody, but it would be a hell of a lot better than going to fuckin’ Virginia Beach.”
“I thought you said you were going to stop cursing?”
“Shut up!” she snapped, staring angrily out the window.
Jamar sighed and ran his fingers through Alexis’s long black hair. “I know you have some bad memories there, but that was back when you were in college. I told you I’m not gonna let you dwell on that. We’re going because my boy is letting us use his time-share so we can make this a vacation. On top of that, your cousin will be there. So, you won’t be on your own.”
Alexis continued staring out the window, digesting everything her fiancé said. They’d been through all of this before. She understood why they were going, but she couldn’t bear facing the memory of her affair with Christopher fifteen years ago. She hadn’t laid eyes on him or his wife, Andrea, since she left Virginia Beach, and she wasn’t looking forward to seeing them again. What if they took one look at her and tried to go to war?
The fact that her cousin Brenda was also headed to Virginia Beach didn’t lend her much solace. After all, Brenda was still Andrea’s best friend. Even though Brenda had vowed not to let the past rule their present, the drama would be there no matter what. She’d try hard to keep them from fighting, but even Saint Brenda couldn’t rule everyone’s thoughts.
Alexis really hoped everyone had gotten over the affair. She certainly had. Although she’d had her own losses due to the affair, she’d grown in many other ways. Her private practice was booming, she was well known throughout the city, and her fiancé was a successful attorney. A couple weeks of sex when she was in college couldn’t outweigh any of that, could it? It shouldn’t, but who was to say that Christopher and Andrea felt that way?
She wasn’t so worried about Christopher. After all, it takes two to tango, and he made the choice to sleep with her behind his wife’s back. He’d be a fool to try to blame everything on Alexis. However, Andrea was a different story. She wisely blamed them both for the affair, but she’d never had the opportunity to give Alexis a piece of her mind. Brenda wouldn’t allow it. Now that Alexis was coming back, would Andrea take that opportunity? There was little chance that she wasn’t thinking about it. Andrea was from New Orleans, and Alexis knew better than most that a New Orleanian woman never forgets.
She watched a luxury car with Louisiana license plates coast past them. It was filled with boxes and suitcases, yet the driver was the only passenger. She guessed he didn’t plan on returning to her beloved city.
It just didn’t seem fair. Just when she thought she had gotten her life together, it had taken an ugly turn. Only three years earlier, she’d fled New Orleans with Tony, whom she was supposed to marry, before Hurricane Katrina killed that dream. Instead of living the American dream, the man she loved decided to stay in Houston and unceremoniously ended the relationship.
Now here she was, engaged to Jam ar and fleeing the city again, because Hurricane Gustav decided to show its face. She knew Jamar loved the ground she walked on, but she couldn’t help wondering if this would be the beginning of the end. The similarities were too coincidental. Was history doomed to repeat itself?
“Off in outer space again, huh?”
“What?” Alexis asked, shaken from her thoughts. She finally turned her head to face her fiancé. “Oh, yeah. Still thinkin’ about this drama you’re driving me into.”
“You want me to turn around?” Jamar asked. “We can always go to Houston with your mom and them.”
She made a face and tapped him on the back of the head. As much as she loved her mother, stepfather, and twenty-year-old stepbrother, there was no way she would return to Houston after what she had gone through with Tony. She would take her chances in Virginia.
“Very funny.”
“I told you that you have nothing to worry about,” he assured her while taking the exit for I-285. “We’re going straight to the hotel when we get there. Then, after we get some rest, you’re going to put your fine self into your bikini and walk down the boardwalk with me. I bet you didn’t do that when you were there last.”
Alexis smiled for the first time. “No, it was too damn—I mean darn—cold then.”
“All right, then. Just relax. We don’t even need to see old boy and his wife.”
“I hope not.”
“I don’t know what you’re worried about. You’re not the same woman you were back then. You’re older and smarter now, and I would hope they are, too. People do grow up.”
Alexis shrugged. “If you say so, but I’ll do what you said. I’m not going to worry about it.”
“Good, because what you need to concentrate on is our wedding in March.”
“That’s if the city makes it to March,” she mumbled, looking down. She kicked off her sandals and placed her right foot on the dashboard.
“Why would you say that?”
“Because as much as I love New Orleans, this will be the third major hurricane in three years,” she explained. “Let’s be real. Do you really think the city can handle that? The levees aren’t even done yet. People aren’t finished rebuilding their houses. Some of the businesses haven’t even returned to the city. And the ones that did, many closed up way before Gustav came on the scene.”
“Baby, New Orleans has come a long way since Katrina,” Jamar said. “Besides, Gustav is only supposed to be a Category Three, and the levees can handle that. Mayor Nagin has the city ready for this one. We’re not gonna get caught out there like we did last time.”
“You always think you have the answers, don’t you?” Alexis asked, shooting him a sideways smile.
“I know I do,” he replied, popping the top of his T-shirt. “I didn’t get to where I am today by playing patty-cake.”
Their laughter lifted Alexis’s spirits a little. A bit of worry still took residence in the back of her mind, but she did feel better knowing Jamar was with her. Any man who could put up with her attitude had to be strong.
“You can also look at it this way,” he continued. “You and Brenda can go shopping for your wedding dress. I’m sure Virginia Beach has some different stuff than New Orleans.”
“Yeah, I can do that,” she agreed, “but what are you going to do? Your boy Kevin’s not coming up, is he?”
“No, he and his wife went to Arizona.”
“Are they coming back to New Orleans?”
“Yeah, they’re coming back. Just about everybody I talked to said they were coming back.”
“Well, that’s good,” Alexis said, leaning over and laying her head on Jamar’s shoulder. “Maybe we will have a city to come back to.”
“Of course we will,” he replied, wrapping his arm around her. “Just have some faith.” He glanced down at his fiancée and smiled. “And just so you know . . .”
She looked up. “What?”
“I don’t care what New Orleans looks like when we get back. I’m marrying you there, even if it’s in a rowboat floating down the middle of Canal Street.”
Alexis smiled, closed her eyes, then buried her head deeper into Jamar’s shoulder. Thinking of how she’d almost blown this relationship off, she could kick herself. When she had met him nearly two years ago, she was still struggling with her residual feelings for Tony and her rising feelings for her ex-boyfriend Reggie, whom she’d dated back in college. Neither of those relationships had ended well. So, in her eyes, agape love didn’t lie in her future.
For the life of her, she didn’t know why Jamar had hung in there. If she were him, she would have run for the hills long ago. How could a man who could have any woman he wanted put up with an attitude like hers? She wasn’t sure, but she was glad he did.
“Now that’s just nasty!” Jamar exclaimed.
“What?” Alexis asked, jumping from her position.
He looked at her and shook his head, his face still wearing a grimace. “I just looked out the window and saw a fat, hairy foot starin’ at me.”
Alexis looked past him at the car pulling ahead of them and caught a glimpse of the foot resting on the dashboard. She was disgusted but couldn’t help laughing.
“At least she’s comfortable.”
“Yeah, but I’m not,” Jamar responded, shaking his head.
She laughed again. “Now, don’t act like you always look perfect. I’ve seen you in the morning.”
“Yeah, and I’ve seen you when you sleep, but I would never let you go out in public like that.”
“Excuse me? I don’t know what you’re talkin’ about. I always look good.”
Jamar sucked his teeth and pursed his lips. “Let you tell it.”
Before Alexis could reply, her cell phone rang. She picked it up from the armrest on the door and checked the number.
“That’s Roman,” she said, then pressed TALK. “What’s goin’ on, li’l bro?”
“Nothin’,” he replied. “Momma told me to call and see how y’all were doin’.”
“We’re good. We should be hittin’ South Carolina in about an hour or so. Y’all in Houston yet?”
“Shit, the way this traffic is, we won’t be there for another couple hours,” Roman replied. “Seems like everybody and their damn daddy is headin’ into Houston.”
“I done told you ’bout your mouth, boy,” Alexis heard her mother, Mary, snap.
Roman sighed. “One of these days I’ma be a grown man.”
Alexis laughed. “Hang in there. Tell Momma and Frank we’re all right and we’ll call them when we get to Virginia Beach.”
“A’ight, cool,” Roman said. “Y’all be careful.”
“How they doin’?” Jamar asked as Alexis ended the call.
“Still truckin’. Traffic’s heavy.”
“We’ll check on them again in a few.”
Alexis nodded and laid her head back on Jamar’s shoulder. In turn, he wrapped his right arm around her while keeping his eyes on the road. He knew this wouldn’t be an easy trip for his fiancée, but he was determined to make the best of it. He had worked too hard to get this woman to let her down now.
Chapter 2
Brenda and Darnell swayed back and forth in unison to Zapp and Roger’s classic “Doo Wa Ditty.” The fast beat and the funky sounds of the harmonica had the car rocking, while poor nine-year-old Elizabeth sat in the back, shaking her head and cringing in embarrassment.
“Do I . . . let me know . . . do I did it!” Brenda sang loudly, getting caught up in the music.
The sound of his wife being loud, wrong, and excited all at the same time nearly made Darnell swerve off the road in laughter.
“All these years and you still don’t know the song,” he said, tears filling his eyes.
“What?” Brenda asked, looking at her husband in confusion. “That’s how the song goes.”
“Baby, the words are ‘Said I wanna blow . . . doo wa . . . just let me blow . . . doo wa ditty,’” he sang slowly, moving his finger like a conductor’s staff. “‘Blow my thing, baby.... Blow my thing . . . doo wa ditty.’”
“Blow my thing?” Brenda asked, in shock, eliciting screams of laughter from Elizabeth. “That’s nasty. Stop lying!”
Darnell laughed again and shrugged his shoulders. “That’s the words of the song. You know Roger was never known for being shy. Besides, I think he was talking about his harmonica.”
