Unresolved Issues Read online

  Unresolved Issues

  Unresolved Issues

  Wanda B. Campbell

  www.urbanchristianonline.com

  All copyrighted material within is Attributor Protected.

  Table of Contents

  Unresolved Issues

  Title Page

  Dedication

  Acknowledgments

  Epigraph

  Prologue

  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

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  Chapter 46

  Epilogue

  Discussion Questions

  About the Author

  UC HIS GLORY BOOK CLUB!

  Urban Christian His Glory Book Club

  Copyright Page

  Dedication

  For my brothers and sisters in the kingdom who are struggling or who have struggled with low self-esteem. Know that your true validation comes from our Heavenly Father.

  Acknowledgments

  Once again, I am humbled by the grace God has extended to me with the gift to pen this work of ministry. Unresolved Issues is my fourth published novel in as many years. I am truly amazed and breathless from the exhilarating ride. Father, thank you for the journey and for entrusting me to minister to your children.

  To my best friend, soul mate, and life partner, Craig: I am able to do all that I do only because of all that you do. Thank you for twenty-three years of unwavering support and devotion. Celine Dion sings it best: I’m everything I am because you loved me.

  To my daughter, Chantel: Keep pressing toward your goals. You have the power in you to accomplish anything.

  To Jonathan & Craig Jr.: You give new meaning to the term, mama’s boy. Thanks for looking out for me, but you can drop the “clothes police” routine.

  Dinari: You will always be my favorite first grandson. Mimi loves you.

  Israel Houghton: Thank you once again for providing the fuel to keep pressing on. I Know Who I Am and Nothing Else Matters.

  To Readers and Book Clubs everywhere: Thank you for taking the time and using the resources needed to support this project. Enjoy!

  For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not evil, to give you an expected end.

  Jeremiah 29:11

  Prologue

  Countless thoughts bombarded Staci’s mind as she stared out the window. The gray clouds peeking through her bedroom window reminded her of the rain forecast from the previous night’s news weather report. She turned her head to the left, trying to decide which pair of leather boots she’d wear and where she’d last seen her umbrella. The outcome of the basketball game between the Golden State Warriors and Sacramento Kings the night before, as well as what to get her father for his birthday, puzzled her.

  She closed her eyes and remembered she needed to pick up her dry cleaning before her wardrobe dwindled down to jeans and sweatshirts. Then, thoughts of her brother/boss nagging her for the quarterly report forced her eyes open once again. She placed her hands behind her head, then rolled her eyes toward the ceiling, where a large spiderweb caught her attention. She made a mental note to spend Saturday morning deep cleaning her bedroom.

  Staci shifted her body and began counting. Ten, nine, eight . . . It was just a matter of time before the killer bear would roar. What did I ever do to deserve all this? Staci wondered. Five, four, it was almost over. Three, two, finally, the killer bear roared, then collapsed on top of her.

  Staci quickly pushed her husband off of her and went into the bathroom and started the shower. If she hurried, she could stop at Starbucks before going into the office.

  Chapter 1

  After securing her seat belt, Stacelyn Garrison checked her rearview mirror before backing her silver Mercedes out of her three-car garage and on to Tunnel Road. As she slowly drove away, the massive image of her house filled the rearview mirror and Staci wondered how two people could live in a house as beautiful as hers and not be happy.

  The Garrisons lived in the Oakland-Berkeley hills overlooking both Oakland and Berkeley and the Caldecott Tunnel. From her hilltop home, she enjoyed great views of both the Oakland and San Francisco skylines. The two-story, six-bedroom, Mediterranean-style home was a wedding present from her parents nearly one year ago. “It’s only been a year,” she stated out loud while driving down the winding narrow road that would lead her to Highway 13. It felt more like a decade.

  Her husband, Derrick, had opened his dental practice just one year ago and had already established a steady flow of patients. Staci served as chief operating officer of MS Computers, a company founded by her brother, Marcus. Lack of money was not an issue for the Garrisons. Their stock portfolio looked good. Real estate investments showed marginal profits thanks to the real estate boom in California before the current slump. The couple could drive the best and wear the best. If they so desired, they could eat at five-star restaurants every night. So why weren’t they happy? Staci had been asking herself that question quite often lately.

  The two met in her sophomore year at Humboldt State where she was a business major. Derrick was a senior and a biology major. Staci remembered the day Derrick walked into her life as if it were yesterday.

  After three days of pestering, Staci allowed her roommate, Crystal, to talk her into going to a football game against Fresno State. Crystal dated one of the wide receivers on Humboldt’s team and wanted to match Staci up with one of the linebackers.

  “What’s wrong with him?” Staci had asked for the umpteenth time.

  “Nothing is wrong with Derrick,” Crystal answered.

  Staci wasn’t convinced. “Then why are you trying so hard to fix him up? I’m sure there are plenty of females on campus ready and willing to date a jock. Especially, if he’s as great as you claim he is.”

  “Derrick plays football, but he’s not a jock, at least not in the way you may think. He keeps to himself and is very polite.” Crystal fell to the floor and looked underneath the bed for her brown, fur-cuffed boots. “He’s different, like you,” she said once she found the boots.

  Staci was really concerned now. She folded her arms. “What do you mean he’s different like me?”

  “You know, he’s a church boy.”

  Staci leaned against the closed door and exhaled. “You assume I’ll like him just because he attends church?”

  Crystal slipped on her boots, then turned to face Staci. “Look, girl, you’re always talking about how you want to find a saved man to have a godly relationship with. I don’t think you’ll find anyone more saved than Derrick Garrison. He’s so saved, he carries his Bible with him everywhere he goes. When he’s ask
ed how he’s doing, Derrick replies by saying, ‘Blessed and highly favored.’” Crystal laughed.

  With that comment, both their eyes fell on Staci’s bed, where her Bible lay open. “I’m telling you, the two of you will be good together.”

  Staci’s resolve waivered. “What does he look like?”

  Crystal stretched to reach the photo album from the top shelf of her closet. The picture she had of the Lumberjacks didn’t offer a good image of Derrick Garrison. But from what Staci could make out, he didn’t look like a serial killer. He appeared tall and well built with curly hair. “He might be okay,” Staci conceded.

  Reluctantly, Staci agreed to meet number seventy-two because she hadn’t yet met anyone suitable to her spiritual and physical taste, and mainly because she didn’t want to stay in her dorm all weekend. After the football game, the team was meeting at the team’s dormitory for what they hoped would be a victory celebration. A party might be just what she needed.

  “Just this once,” Staci said and went to her small closet to find something to wear.

  Staci watched sports with her two brothers and many uncles and was familiar with the game of football. During the game at the Redwood Bowl, Staci followed along with such intensity that Crystal had to tell her to stop yelling in her ear. Staci observed number seventy-two for the Lumberjacks tackle runners with little effort and sack the quarterback three times. After each play, number seventy-two always offered a hand of assistance to his victims. Staci thought the gesture nice. Maybe he really was a Christian. She was well aware of brothers using the “Jesus card” to get the sisters underneath the sheets, and then leaving them to face judgment alone. Several guys had tried the exact thing with her, but she stood her ground vowing to remain sexually pure until marriage.

  While waiting for the team after the game, Staci’s nerves got the best of her and she changed her mind about meeting Derrick, but it was too late. Rodney, Crystal’s boyfriend, approached with what Staci considered a giant. Up close, Derrick Garrison was huge! Six feet five and Staci guessed, over 250 pounds. Like in the photo, his black hair was thick and curly. On his bright-complexioned face rested a thick mustache. She thought he resembled Tom Selleck with a tan on the vintage show Magnum PI. As for his torso, former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in his youth never looked as good as Derrick Garrison did at that moment. As he got closer, she noticed the Bible tucked underneath his arm.

  “Staci, I’d like for you meet the Preacher Man,” Rodney chuckled, then turned to Derrick. “This is Missionary Evangelist Stacelyn Simone.”

  After rolling her eyes at Rodney, Staci smiled at Derrick.

  Derrick didn’t respond to Rodney’s mocking. Staci assumed he was accustomed to it. Crystal had mentioned his teammates referred to him as Preacher Man or Church Boy.

  “Hello, Ms. Simone. My name is Derrick Garrison.” He extended his enormous hand to her, and she slowly, almost timidly, shook it.

  “Hello, Derrick, it’s nice to meet you. Please, call me Staci.” The temperature outside was less than fifty degrees, but Staci suddenly felt a heat wave.

  “Sure,” Derrick said. “Although I think Stacelyn is more beautiful.”

  Staci wasn’t sure of what to say next. Derrick appeared not to know either. They stood there in silence smiling at each other.

  “We’ll see you guys at the party, providing the two of you remember how to walk and talk before midnight,” Crystal teased. Then she and Rodney sprinted away before either Derrick or Staci could protest.

  Staci and Derrick never made it to the party that night. After the awkwardness passed, they went back to Staci’s dorm. Barely anyone hung around the dorms on Saturday nights. They had the lounge area to themselves. That first night, they sat on the couch eating Chinese takeout and discussing the Bible for over two hours. When Derrick finally left, the only things Staci knew about Derrick Garrison, outside of his love for God, were that he had also grown up in the Bay Area and planned to attend the University of San Francisco’s School of Dentistry.

  For the first two months, they met on the weekends and discussed the Bible. If their schedules permitted, they would attend Sunday services together at a local church. The services weren’t as lively as the Bay Area services, but it was enough to get them prepared for the week ahead. After service, they would grab a bite at Porter’s, the favorite local BBQ spot, and just talk. They weren’t dating, just spending time together and getting to know each other.

  Over time, Staci learned that Derrick was from a single-parent home. He was the product of an interracial, extramarital affair; his mother, an African American nurse, and his father, a white cardiac surgeon. It would be years later before Staci learned how much growing up without a father had damaged Derrick. He had a younger teenage sister and considered himself to be the man of the family.

  When Staci told Derrick she was from a wealthy family, he didn’t seem to mind and didn’t treat her any differently. She appreciated him for that.

  As time went on, Staci found herself growing fonder of Derrick. From day one she was physically attracted to him. Secretly, Staci nicknamed him teddy bear, because when he hugged her good night, he felt like a big teddy bear. She looked forward to his compliments and his nightly phone calls almost as much as she did going to class. It was during one of those eleven-fifty-nine phone calls about six months into their friendship that he invited her to dinner in his dorm kitchen.

  That night after she finished the dinner he’d prepared for her, Derrick asked her in his special way to be his girl. While taking away her dirty dishes from the table in the dorm lounge, he handed her a folded note that read, Will you go with me? Staci thought it was cute and immediately checked the yes box.

  Suddenly, the words on the green and white billboard caught Staci’s attention. She was so caught up in her trip down memory lane, she almost missed her exit. She quickly darted over into the far right lane amid honking horns and offensive hand gestures. Staci apologetically waved to the drivers behind her and exited the freeway.

  She pulled into her reserved stall at the Emery Bay parking garage, but still couldn’t take her mind off of her marriage. Since their honeymoon almost a year ago, Derrick seemed to have lost interest in her. Lately, he was always too busy to spend time with her except when he wanted to have sex. That was only once or twice a month, on the days he thought she was ovulating. At first, Staci overlooked his behavior because she knew how much Derrick wanted a baby. She figured she would have conceived quickly since they didn’t use any form of birth control, but that didn’t happen.

  At first, Staci didn’t mind, but now his lack of interest was slowly depleting her self-esteem. She was beginning to think the only reason Derrick married her was so he could have a baby to replace the one she aborted. The encounter this morning was evidence of that. Derrick had pounced on her the second the alarm sounded. Her soft teddy bear transformed into a killer bear seeking its prey. He didn’t even say good morning.

  Staci reached into the backseat for her briefcase and tried to remember the last time Derrick told her he loved her, and couldn’t. She couldn’t remember the last time they had a romantic evening alone. Or the last time he held her just because. Or the last time he called her his beautiful Stacelyn. The last time they took a shower or bubble bath together felt like a lifetime ago. She could, however, remember the last time she had a satisfying sexual experience. That was three months ago.

  “God, help me find ways to please my husband,” she whispered as she stepped from the car and entered the building. “Show me what to do to renew his interest in me.” She voiced the frustrated prayer before stepping into the elevator.

  Chapter 2

  Derrick walked into his dental office wearing a big smile. “Good morning, Phyllis,” he greeted his office manager on his way to his office.

  “Good morning, Doctor. What are you so happy about this morning?”

  He looked over his shoulder and answered, “Life.”

  Tod
ay, life was good for Derrick Garrison, DDS. He’d been tracking Staci’s menstrual cycle for months, and he was sure he had the right day. If anything was going to happen, it was going to be today. To ensure the connection was made, he had denied himself the entire month to make sure he had a plenteous supply for this day. Yes, today was the day. He was sure he’d impregnated Staci this morning.

  He knew Staci hadn’t enjoyed their encounter this morning, but that was a minor detail. Once she was pregnant, he would take more care and more time to satisfy her needs.

  You said the same thing last month and the month before that and before that, his conscience reminded him, but he quickly shook that thought away. Surely Staci understood how much he wanted to have a baby after what happened before. They would have the rest of their lives to enjoy their lovemaking. He wanted a baby right now, especially since his boys, Marcus and Brian, were expecting.

  True, Derrick hadn’t been able to hold a conversation with his wife without it turning into an argument, and, yes, he spent more time than needed at the office, but his office had only been open a year and he needed to work hard to survive, he rationalized. Derrick completely ignored the fact that his first year had been so successful, he had to hire another dentist and a hygienist to assist with the patient load. He attributed his phenomenal success to the favor of God. Now, if God would favor him with a baby, he’d be happy.

  “Maybe I should bring her some flowers or cook her favorite meal for dinner,” he mumbled from his guilty conscience. He considered the notion, but then decided against it, not wanting to leave the office early.

  Derrick sat at his desk and studied his schedule for the day. Three root canals, six fillings, and a crown. Not bad, he thought. His eyes roamed his office. Staci had done a wonderful job of decorating it for him. The doctor’s private office resembled the office of a business executive. He loved the oversized oak desk and matching custom cabinet and bookshelf. The blue window treatments matched perfectly with the blue specks in the plush gray carpet. One wall was reserved for his degrees, the other three were covered with framed African American art. On his desk, a fourteen carat gold-trimmed name plate read: Derrick Garrison, DDS.