The Real World: The Entangled Universe

By S.L. Harris

The Real World, Book Two of “The Story of Us” Series

What happens after the love-bubble phase of a relationship? What happens when you get to know the real person behind the flowers, dates, and out-of-this-world sex? Does the romance fizzle out? Does the love get stronger? These are some of the questions that are on Sabine’s mind—the mystery of the fairy tale between the happily-ever-after ending. Dating is one thing, but starting a life with someone is an entirely different thing.

From the day that Kelvin and Sabine met, she knew that she loved him. It’s that space in between the two extremes; “getting to know you” and “is this the person I’m going to spend the rest of my life with” that’s got Sabine so confused.

It seemed as if she had found everything that she was looking for in a mate with Kelvin, but why does it feel like something’s missing? Will Sabine’s fears of the unknown sabotage her relationship? Will the habits of Kelvin’s past tear the relationship apart?

The Real World explores these scenarios in the Entangled Universe as things relate not only to Sabine Stallworth and Kelvin Frey’s world but also with her sister, Samantha, and her husband, Malik Marcs, and in relation to Sabine’s good friend, William Witford and his ex-lover, Sara Mansfield.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Oct 15, 2018
• ISBN: 9781546264057

S.L. Harris

This is S. L. Harris first book subtitled, The World of My Dreams, which is a part of a three book series titled The Story of Us. This series explores what S. L. Harris feels embodies the challenges of life, love, romance, goals, and personal dreams, and the balance between those things on a spiritual, emotional, and mental level. S. L. Harris comes from a counseling background, and is very much interested in the balance of life. What constitutes a fulfilling life is the existential question that her book explores. The basic principles of finding yourself and your meaning of life through freewill and personal choice is the foundation of this book series. The idea is that we as humans exists first, and we find our way through life by our experiences, which shapes us into who we become.

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© 2018 S.L. Harris. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse  10/13/2018

ISBN: 978-1-5462-6406-4 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5462-6405-7 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2018912245

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

CONTENTS

Dedication

Acknowledgment

Chapter 1:     Time To Act

Chapter 2:     The Set Up

Chapter 3:     The Call From The Hospital

Chapter 4:     The Grand Opening (It All Comes Together)

Chapter 5:     Closing Shop

Chapter 6:     Kelvin’s Thoughts

Chapter 7:     William’s Research

Chapter 8:     Sabine’s Transition

Chapter 9:     Lamar’s Help

Chapter 10:   Samantha’s Appointment With Dr. Virginia Desmond

Chapter 11:   Insight Into History

Chapter 12:   William’s Lost Love

Chapter 13:   Malik’s Visit To The Hospital

Chapter 14:   William’s Sexy Night

Chapter 15:   Breakfast At The Café

Chapter 16:   The Entangled Universe

Chapter 17:   Session With Amanda

Chapter 18:   Sunday Dinner

Chapter 19:   Lovers’ Spat

Chapter 20:   Lunch Date

Chapter 21:   William’s Work

Chapter 22:   Sexy Night

Chapter 23:   Mysterious Situation

Chapter 24:   Kelvin’s Frustration

Chapter 25:   William’s Remorse/Paranoia

Chapter 26:   The Work Day

Chapter 27:   The Session With Amanda

Chapter 28:   Kelvin’s Unexpected Guest

Chapter 29:   Dinner With William

Chapter 30:   Meeting At The Cafe

Chapter 31:   William’S Reiki Session

Chapter 32:   Kelvin’s Return Home

Chapter 33:   Reflection

Chapter 34:   The Revelation

Note From The Author

DEDICATION

I dedicate this book to Grethel Ruth Brown, my fairy godmother, mentor, and coach. You are appreciated beyond measure. The impact you’ve made on my life is incredible.

I love you.

S. L. Harris

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

Thank you to my family, my friends, and for all of those who have taken the time to read my book and blogs. I love you and appreciate you so much!

S.L. Harris

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You can hear me without words because our souls speak to each other.

— KELVIN FREY

CHAPTER 1

TIME TO ACT

SAMANTHA

What a day yesterday, Samantha thinks.

On the one hand, it was a great day, the building met OSHA standards, Mrs. Gloria Wilson approved the inspection of the café, and they are due to open tonight at seven. Samantha thinks to herself, One thing I know for sure is that Mrs. Wilson was accurate in her remark, Now all of the real work begins. The preparation stage is over, it is time to act now…Heaven knows I don’t work well under stress. Good thing that’s my sister’s specialty.

Yesterday, Samantha and Sabine became the owners of S & S Café and Lounge, which was inspired by a dream their parents had of opening their own diner.

Well, Mom and Dad, wherever you are, out there in the universe, your legacy continues through Sabine and me.

Sabine has an uncanny ability to do her best work when there is a short deadline. So, Sammie is confident that the food will be divine and the decorations will be gorgeous. Sammie is all about preparing over time. She did more of the legwork over the months of getting the business up and running, such as setting up the interviews, going through a comprehensive checklist of the qualities she and Sabine felt would embody a stellar employee in a more intimate café setting, posting positions, buying supplies, working with vendors to negotiate the best deals, and working with contractors to get the space up to code. That was all easy for her. She’s a natural at organizing and structuring things. However, this time, her organizational planning served two purposes: one, to prepare for the opening of the café and two, to keep her mind occupied from what was really bugging her, that she is losing her husband, Malik.

It’s like everything she had blocked out in the last few months had come back full force: Malik. Casey. The affair.

I can do this, I can do this is what she keeps telling herself. Face your fears, Samantha.

She doesn’t know if she has the energy to participate in the grand opening of the cafe. She barely has enough energy to get out of the bed, shower, and go to the café to meet the cable guy. She needs to be there between the time slot of nine and eleven to wait on the cable installer to get there. I can never understand why they have such a huge window of time. Surely their technicians should be skilled enough and have enough confidence of when a job will be finished so that they can give actual times for appointments. A simple 9:45 a.m. would’ve sufficed for me. Aagh! I am so moody.

As Samantha walk to the bathroom to get herself together, she glanced at the clock. It read 5:55 a.m. She knows Sabine has been up for at least three hours already, cooking and getting her mind right to decorate for the grand opening of the café.

In the recent past up until now, Sammie was able to hide behind the business and the preparation that came with it. Now there is no way to avoid this situation anymore. She thinks, Damn, Casey’s salon is literally right next door to our café. What are the odds of that? What are the odds of a woman whom my husband has known since his childhood randomly popping back up into his life years later and with an agenda?

As she brushed her teeth, showered, and put on her clothes, it seems that she is in a perpetual haze. Be in the moment, focus on your task, she must keep reminding herself. There is a part of her that knows she needs to explore her feelings, but her mind keeps going back to flashes of conversations—well, more like arguments—she and Malik had, and she keep just skipping the exploring her feelings part and jumping right into making a decision part. I need to make an appointment with Sabine. Hey, that’s the benefit of having a sister as a counselor, she thinks to herself. If I could just hide in my feelings a little longer, that would be great. I know it’s inevitable I’ll have to face this situation sooner or later. I can feel that empty pull in my heart starting to come back. It feels as if my heart is dropping inside of me. Her eyes started to water as she remembered the conversation and arguments she and Malik had over the past months.

Pull it together, Samantha Marcs, she whispered to herself.

As she finished up in the bathroom, she stumbled across a little note from Malik in the middle of their two sinks with a box next to the note that was covered by a towel. The note read,

I know we are going through a rough patch, Sammie, but my love for you is always strong. We’ll get through this, I promise. The box has a little token of my appreciation and love for you.

Happy Birthday!

Malik

She stared at the note for several seconds, then she grabbed the box, walked out of the room and threw it in her purse without looking at its contents.

As she warmed up a bagel, she thought, How did this woman get so intertwined into our lives in such a short time? I mean, really, can my situation get any worse? What are the odds of a woman whom my husband confessed to sleeping with days before our marriage having a salon right next to our café? What did I do in my life to deserve this? I am ruminating Sabine would say.

Malik is out of town visiting with his mom—a much-needed break for them. He will be back in time for the grand opening tonight. He has been so distant lately. Whatever is in that little box, is his way of trying to bridge them together again. It’s going to take a whole lot more than material things to make this work, Sammie thinks. It feels as if I am living with a ghost now. I guess all of the disagreements get to a person after a while. Me accusing him of cheating, him denying the allegations…This seems to be the way of life for us now. Things use to be so different. It was so loving and peaceful between us. Now my days are filled with questions about how did it come to this. What makes the situation even more bizarre is that she nor Malik can answer that question. One day they were talking about having babies and being together forever, the next day she woke up to a whole different man.

Then, when she tried to make amends and was open to keeping things fresh, thinking that’s what their relationship needed. She introduced him to Club Enticement, a swinger’s club. Things went even further downhill after that. Whatever Casey slipped into Malik’s drink at that club scared Malik so much he couldn’t keep the lie up, and he admitted his infidelity more than just before their wedding but a second and third time after they were married. He admitted that when Sammie and her sister were at the resort preparing for the wedding, something happened between him and Casey.

The day of his confession, when he returned from the hospital after having his stomach pumped, he was so scared. It was like a wakeup call for him. Samantha knew the situation got real for Malik. Actually, to say he is scared really is an understatement, he’s more like petrified. I guess I wasn’t the most supportive person after he admitted his actions, but hey, what did he expect? Sammie recalled the conversation they had yesterday after she came home from the walkthrough of the inspection of the café, after getting her hair done at Mz. Ingram’s salon.

Sammie, your hair looks good, Malik stated casually, turning the television down as he sat up to take a closer look.

You think? she asked sarcastically.

Yeah, he answered hesitantly. What’s wrong? Why did you say it like that?

What’s Casey’s last name? she asked.

Oh, so we’re back on that subject again? He rolled his eyes.

I don’t care if I bring it up one hundred times, you owe it to me to talk about it. What’s her full name? she said loudly and slowly, enunciating each syllable.

Malik rolled his eyes for a second time. Casey Sabryna Ingram, he stated. Are you about to investigate her now?

It’s too late. I should have done that months ago.

What are you talking about Samantha?

So, you like my hair? she asked calmly, swinging it from side to side.

Malik nodded. Yeah. So?

Well, sweetheart… she said slowly, I got it done at Mz. Ingram’s salon. she paused and looked at him.

What? he asked, perplexed.

Casey has a salon right next to our café. And today, before I found out about the location, we signed a five-year lease.

Samantha called her sister as she left the house, she was thinking that she knows Sabine is probably concerned about her emotional health lately. She’s been to herself a lot these past few months. Sabine is normally her sounding board, the one who can bring her back to center when she’s traveled all the way off base. Sammie hasn’t wanted to concern her lately with her marital issues, especially since it seems as if Sabine has met her where-have-you-been-all-my-life guy, Kelvin. They’re developing a future together, and Sammie’s wondering if her