Excerpt of When A Man Loves A Woman by LaConnie Taylor-Jones

Vic paused and sucked in a long breath. He was doing it
again. Every time they disagreed about something, he’d
lower his tone and then give her that sideways grin when
she raised her voice.

“I’m moving to Atlanta.”

He gave her a sympathetic nod. “I understand you think
you’re moving, but it’s not going to happen.”

Vic stared at him as if he’d just mistakenly been released
from the nearest mental ward. Baptiste, you don’t have the
sense God gave baby geese. Have you totally lost your mind?

Ignoring the jab, he eyed her intently. “Why can’t you
accept the fact that we’re going to be together?”

“I swear, man, you’re U.S. certifiable, Grade-A,” she
paused, searching for the right word, then shouted
out, “incorrigible.”

He lifted his brow. “You really think so?”

Dear God, help me,” Vic muttered softly and dropped her
head.

She silently counted to ten and looked back into the
mirror. “Baptiste, there’s not one good reason you can give
me why I shouldn’t move.”

Observing their reflections, he shook his head in
disagreement. “You’re wrong, Honey. I can give you two.
Number one, I love you. And number two, I intend to marry
you.”

“I’m not gonna marry you, Baptiste.”

“You’re wrong, Honey.”

“Why can’t we just enjoy the feelings we have for each
other without any commitments?”

“No,” he countered quickly, “I’m not going to settle for a
casual affair.”

“Why not?”

“Because you’re worthy of more, and we deserve better.”

Momentarily speechless, Vic took in a deep breath. Whatever
response she’d expected, the one she’d just heard wasn’t
it. “Baptiste, I’ve always been honest with you. I’ve told
you a thousand times, I don’t do the love boat.”

Reaching out, he turned her around to face him. “Is that
why you’re moving to Atlanta, because you’ve convinced
yourself not to fall in love with me?”

“Boy, listen——”

“I’m not going to let it rest until you answer me.”

“Baptiste, I told you shortly after we met, that I wasn’t
going to let history repeat itself with you or any other
man.”

“What did Ron do to hurt you so badly that you can’t learn
to love again?”

Oblivious to where she stood, Vic recoiled, her hips
colliding with the sink. For eight years, she’d been asked
that very question more times than she cared to remember.
Yet hearing it come from the man who stood in front of her
packed the same force as a two hundred mile-per-hour
hurricane making landfall.

“I-I don’t want to talk about it,” Vic finally managed to
say in a strangled voice.

At that moment, A.J. saw such profound pain surface in her
eyes that he felt it, too. The question he’d just posed was
the one he’d avoided asking for months. What could a man
possibly do to cause a hurt so deep? He reached out and
caressed her shoulders. “Honey, whatever Ron did, he was a
fool.”

“Y-You don’t understand, Baptiste,” she cried out, lowering
her head to hide her tears.

With his index finger, he tilted her chin up. “Baby, if you
tell me, perhaps I would.”

“I-I can’t tell you,” she whispered, her words catching on
a strangled sob.

“And I can’t help you if you don’t,” he whispered back.

She wiped the tears from her face with both hands and
glanced up at him. Maybe, just maybe if he knew, he’d
understand there was no way they could ever be
together. “You can’t tell…”

“Tell what, baby?” He stroked his thumb along her brow,
coaxing her into finishing her sentence. “Honey, I’m a lot
of things, but I’d never share with anyone what you tell me
in confidence. Understand?”

“H-He cheated on me…”

Finally, after ten, long agonizing months, he knew the
cause of her hurt. He pulled her gently against his
chest. “Honey, I’m sorry,” he uttered softly, cajoling her
face into the space between his neck and shoulder. “Whoever
the other woman was, she doesn’t measure up to you.”

Vic’s spine went rigid and she retreated to a private place
inside where loneliness and pain resided, the place she
never allowed anyone to enter.

The depth of the agony she’d borne alone made her pull
back. She stared up blankly at him. Before her brain had
time to consult with her mouth, she blurted out the rest of
the secret she’d kept hidden for eight long years.

“It was a man.”

With that, she bolted from the room.