God Ain't Blind by Mary Monroe

sounds like your relationship with him done already got personal to me. I got clients that I’ve been dealin’ with for twenty years, and they still call me Mr. Davis. I want to keep it that way.”
    “Uh, it was his idea. He wants to be addressed by his first name.
    He’s from down South.”
    “I see. That figures. It’s a Southern thing. I don’t want to touch that one with a stick, with my Pennsylvania-born self. The South is another planet, if you ask me. No wonder we Northerners call it Bigfoot country.” He laughed again. “Now I got to get off this phone and get back to work.”
    C H A P T E R 1 2
    I didn’t waste any time addressing the second issue on my mind.
    I called Louis at his work. I was on hold for five minutes before he came on the line.
    “Louis, are you still going to see me this evening?” I asked, wrapping the telephone cord around my finger.
    “I hope so. Unless you can’t make it.”
    “I just talked to my husband. He’s going to pick up one of your meat-loaf dinners on his way home from work this evening,” I stated, forcing the difficult words out of my mouth like an extracted tooth.
    “Oh?”
    “Yes, and it sounds like he’s going to become a regular customer,”
    I said in a nervous voice. “Like everybody else, he likes good cooking.”
    “Good. I’ll fix his plate today with my own two hands. If there’s anybody I want to keep happy, it’s him. As long as he’s happy, we’ll be happy. You sure he doesn’t suspect anything? I am sure that if he was smart enough to get a woman like you, he’s not so stupid that he won’t get suspicious if you give him a reason.”
    “My husband has no reason in the world to think that I’m up to no good. I haven’t done a damn thing to make him suspicious, which is more than I can say about him.”
    A long silence followed. I didn’t want to be the one to break it, GOD AIN’ T BLIND
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    because I didn’t know what else to say on the subject. But I was willing to respond to his comments and concerns.
    “Annette, I don’t think it’s my place to get nosy about what goes on in your personal life, but if you want to talk to me about something, please feel free to do so.”
    “I’m glad to hear you say that.”
    “I mean it. I want you to know now that I am here for you, day or night. If you are willing to talk to me about your problems or concerns, even if it’s a problem with your husband, I am willing to listen.”
    “Louis, let’s confine our relationship to just you and me for now.
    If we don’t have to bring my husband into our conversations, we won’t.”
    “But if your husband is going to be a problem for us, I need to know.”
    “My husband is not going to be a problem. My marriage is not a problem.”
    “Well, there’s a problem somewhere, baby. There must be! I can hear it in your voice. The man sleeps in the same bed with a juicy-butt woman like you and has not made love to you in almost a year.
    You told me that yourself. If that’s not a problem, I don’t know what is.”
    “I’ll call you just before I leave work, and don’t worry about anything I just said. It’s nothing that I can’t handle by myself,” I assured Louis. But it was. As soon as I hung up with him, I called Rhoda back.
    “He lied like a rug,” I said as soon as she answered.
    “Who?” she asked with a snort.
    “Pee Wee. I called him up and gave him every chance in the world to tell me he’s been seeing a doctor.”
    “Maybe he doesn’t want you to know. Maybe he’s goin’ for somethin’ that’s too embarrassin’ for him to discuss with you. Like ex-cessive gas.”
    “Rhoda, if my husband was farting all over the place, I’d know about it,” I snapped.
    “It could be somethin’ else then. Like one of those things that men don’t like to talk about because they think it’s too embarrassin’.”
    “I’m his wife!” I hollered. “If he can’t share something embarrassing with me, who can he share it