The Confidant Tells

By Janice Elliott-Howard

A friend who is burdened with everyone's secrets and no outlet of her own until now. She passes the baton to you as a way of relieving the pressure of the burden she bares for the sake of her friendships. The book contains three short stories about friendships, relationships, love and deception and how the characters handle each situation while having one link to connect them all in the story teller. Dominica and Dragon meet by chance. Will their love last or will their secrets destroy them? Robert and Amy look happy from a far. Is marriage all they ever wanted? Josephina and Casper have a relationship that all their friends want in theory. Will it really be until death do they part? The answer awaits you and you might be surprised.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Janice Elliott-Howard
• Release date: Jul 29, 2015
• ISBN: 9781310834561

Janice Elliott-Howard

J Elliott-Howard is a native of New York, New York. She holds a bachelor's degree in Business Administration. She has had a successful career in corporate America. A divorced mother of two adult children and a grandmother of three. She enjoys photography and water color painting. She had been known to always see her glass as half-full instead of empty. She has a very interesting way of relating to people and her peers always seem to gravitate to her idealism. She has always been told that she ought to be an author based on her delivery methods of good, bad or indifferent news. She always manages to keep herself and those around centered in thought and action.

Book preview

The Confidant Tells

Copyright 2015 Janice Elliott-Howard

Published by Janice Elliott-Howard

Copyright © 2015 by Janice Elliott-Howard

All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof

may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever

without the express written permission of the publisher

except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements

Friends

The Lie

The Other Woman

Marriage on Paper

The Only Place

About Janice Elliott-Howard

Other books by Janice Elliott-Howard

Connect with Janice Elliott-Howard

Acknowledgements

For all the friends who believe in me and always challenged me to get my thoughts on paper and published. I hope that my freshman effort was worth the wait. Here is the beginning of wonder and crafty imagination that has become a rewarding endeavor. Cheers to you for all the encouragement and confidence.

Friends

We develop many different relationships throughout our lives.  These relationships serve as milestones for events that happen to us.  Of the many different relationships, we acquire friendships as one that has great importance.  Everyone needs someone to believe in him or her outside of what you believe about yourself.  Friends provide the support when you need it, the lesson when you want it and uplift you even when you believe that you do not deserve it.  In my adult life, I can say that I only have a handful of friends that I can count on one hand.  I have a friend from childhood, a friend from my college years, a few from stages in my career and one that just latched on without invitation which you stop trying to shake them loose and just allow them into the fold.  All of these friends from different backgrounds are of importance to me.  I think I get more out of the friendships then I give, but I do my best not to judge.  I would like to share with you who my friends are and how we became bonded.

Dominica Bradley is a friend of mine by chance.  I did not seek out her friendship it just developed out of a mutual connection.  I never really thought much of Dominica when we first met because she was not my type of personality.  She is not a bad person just someone who needs direction and always took the bad route instead of the direct, easy route.  I guess for some people the proper way to do things just seems like the road less interesting.  Dominica and I met through a relative and from that day forward, we seem to clash.  We did not have a friction but just not a solid connection.  I realized that Dominica was not going away and I began to feel sorry for what she lacks in her life; her family is fragmented.  She is not close to any of her biological relatives, and that is the reason why she behaves and travels the road that she chooses.  Dominica is very smart and uses her thoughts for evil and never good; or should I say her intent starts out good and slowly shifts to the diabolical.  I have learned so much from her friendship.  I respect that she is trying to raise her children, have a successful career, and wants to be in a sincere and loving relationship.  This is where a common theme cements our connection and why she has become important to me.  I believe that if you always feel like someone is out to hurt you, then your response is to hurt the other person first.  I think that because Dominica was let down as a child, she takes no prisoners as an adult.  Every time she thinks that she can find happiness with someone, she often winds up let down.  After a while that could make you bitter so I have the utmost respect for Dominica and her travels wishing her nothing but a peaceful existence.

Robert Wish is like family to me.  We met at the office several years ago.  He is a very likable person.  He is not a quick study, though; it took him a while to learn his job at the Network, but after a few months, he was moving up the corporate ladder.  Robert and I have similar family values, and we live in the same town.  Our families often get together for picnics and other outings where our kids can play.  Robert's wife Amy is a lovely woman.  She enjoyed being at home, cleaning, cooking and taking care of the children.  Robert and I often rode into work together because commuting is never any fun alone.  I helped Robert get the interview at the Network, so he was always trying to find a way to repay me for the gesture.  I am not now nor will I in the future look for anything from Robert.  He is a great person, and he has the talent to meet the requirements for the job, and that is why he got the position.  Robert treats me like a little sister and I treat him as a big brother.  Our relationship has never been a problem for his wife, Amy.  In fact, I believe she is glad that we work together to keep other women from trying to make a play for him.  He does have devilish good looks.

Josephina Simon is my best friend in the whole world.  We met in junior high school and had had a sisterly bond ever since.  Josephina and I are the exact opposites in many ways but they say opposites attract and I have to believe that is why we get along so well.  Josephina is tall, and I am short.  Josephina has a fair complexion, and I am of brown complexion.  Josephina is not so interested in education, and I am very book smart.  As the years have passed, Josephina gravitates to younger men, and I like my men older.  Josephina is about a year older than I am but we both maintain a very youthful appearance.  Josephina has managed to stay married, and I have tried marriage a couple of times.  We both have beautiful children.  Josephina has several, and I have a few.  I believe the one area where Josephina and I differ greatly is that I have a very low tolerance for foolishness when it comes to relationships and my good friend has a huge threshold.  Often, I have wanted to save my friend Josephina from herself, but just like a drug addict, you cannot help someone who does not want to be saved.  It took me many years to discover that to be a good friend sometimes you have to stand by and watch things happen.  As long as at the end of the day, you are there to help collect the pieces, as the chips always seem to fall where they may.

Everyone else that I know is only an acquaintance.  They call me friend and they trust me or should I say feel comfortable with me to share the goings on in their lives.  I often listen and sometimes offer a kind word or two.  I have learned over the years that there are certain people that you just do not ask the dreaded question when you see them.  We all know what the question is but tend to use it casually as a greeting not thinking about what response you will get.  I think we should all refrain from using the greeting unless we are interested in knowing the answer.  Upon greeting people, the polite thing to say is Hello, how are you doing?  I have found this to be a loaded introduction and realize that the response you normally get is never the one that I receive.  When I extend the greeting, I do not get a response in kind.  I get the whole life story of everything that has gone wrong in the individual's life-to-date.  I was just trying to exchange idle pleasantries but it just never works out that way for me.

Now this revelation does not just happen with the people that I call acquaintances but strangers in the mall, supermarket, nail salon, theater and gas station.  I do not know what it is about me, but people feel at ease and want to share information.  They share information that has no bearing on my life or my circle of people with whom I exchange thoughts, feelings, personal wins and losses.  I find it incredibly odd that someone who does not know you for more than two seconds can blurt out their troubles on the job, at home, with the children, and with their mate in detail and not even pause to examine whom they are sharing the intimate details of their life.  I believe in optimism and the power of positive thinking.  I always try to see the glass as half full instead of half empty.  I have a pleasant disposition and maybe that is why people always want to share with me.  It can be a burden sometimes being a walking confessional for people.  You carry the weight of everyone's troubles on your shoulders to give them relief even for a few moments.  Often you do not know anyone with whom you can share your troubles.  Usually, when you do, it is just shrugged off like your worries are really not worries at all because you will always miraculously work everything out even when you cannot make it happen amongst your circle.  Your peers pride themselves on making sure that you sooth them but are never quite able to return the favor.

Sometimes I am in search of someone that would have a solution to my troubles.  I guess that is just dreaming on my part.  I have a great responsibility in seeing to it that my friends' secrets are safe and they do not feel judged for their actions, however bizarre they might seem to me.  You must wonder; why do I choose to be part of this diverse circle of friends?  The answer is simply; your friends let you see what you can be as well as what you do not want to be professionally, intellectually and morally.  I often sit back and watch to see what not to do in certain situations that arise within my circle.  Then in other instances, I see occurrences where I wish one day that I would have the courage to overcome situations.  Friendship is a balance.  Now, I am not saying that friendship is fair.  There is a difference between balance and fairness.  Balance is where you are comfortable with what the other individual brings to the relationship and not saying that everything is equal because it will never be equal.  Some of your friends might need you to build them up, and others might need you to keep them in touch with reality.  There are people who want to be more than they can achieve but believe that they have arrived.  You know the friends that I am talking about.  These are the friends that you have to put in their place every now and again.  They thank you for it and are glad you are the morality check for them.  You may be thinking, who is the sanctimonious individual, allow me to introduce myself, I am Sonia Ennd.

I am an average woman of African-American descent who comes from humble beginnings.  My folks are good old Americana for the southern region of United States.  I was born and breed in the North and had a very normal childhood.  Well, at least what was normal during the 1970s.  You know, two parents in the household, where mom stayed at home to meet you at the bus stop after school and dad barely kept his eyes open in his easy