Cloudy with a Chance of Rain

by Patricia Balentine

Overview

The glamorous world of music and fashion set the stage as the story takes you on a sexy, and compelling journey into their world. Your heart will be torn in several different directions as you step inside and share their joy and their pain.

 

Lanise Avery is a gorgeous and talented Supermodel who is a big name in the fashion world.  Lanise is married to handsome and sexy Record Producer, Tyrese Langston, whose business is on the rise. They love each other very much, but every relationship has problems, and Lanise can't forgive herself for disappointing her family and friends.

 

Sparks fly and the road gets bumpy when her emotions become harder and harder to contain. Life is rarely easy when it comes to matters of the heart.  Situations like this can make your sunny day 'Cloudy With a Chance of Rain.'

 

ASK YOURSELF…WHAT WOULD YOU DO?

 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781449088866
Publisher:	AuthorHouse
Publication date:	07/14/2010
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	168
File size:	352 KB

About the Author

Patricia Balentine tugs at your heart strings with this powerful love story. The characters come off the page and into your circle like a good friend. Her writing has twists and turns that you don't expect that keeps you guessing and wanting more.

 

Patricia Balentine is a Real Estate Broker and the mother of 3 children. She lives in Milwaukee, Wisconsin with her husband.  She is currently working on a new novel for your reading pleasure.

Read an Excerpt

Cloudy With a Chance of Rain

---

By Patricia Balentine

AuthorHouse

Copyright © 2010 Patricia Balentine
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4490-8884-2

---

Chapter One

What day was it? Was it Monday, or Saturday? Lanise had lost track a week ago. Why keep track anyway, she had nowhere to go, no one to see, no one to be with. This was not exactly true, but it may as well be because she had ruined everything. She drove her silver Mercedes along the highway slowly and cautiously like a little old lady. A loud burst of thunder roared and scared the hell out of her. She hated driving in the rain. She hated rainy days period. She thought the weatherman said it was supposed to be sunny today. The weatherman is the only person who can mess up half the time and still keep his job. While she was taking her frustrations out on the weatherman, she realized that, that was the weather report for Los Angeles where she had just flew in from but she was back home in Atlanta now.

Safely home peering through the thick rain, Lanise reluctantly pulled into the big circular driveway of her luxurious Atlanta mansion. Her left knee began to shake and conflicting thoughts rushed through her mind. Her heart was beating two hundred miles a minute. The weather added to the gloominess of her mood. The sky seemed to be crying with her as the rain poured down, the thunder screaming out her pain. She didn't know how her life had gotten so out of control, but it had and she needed to fix it. Unfortunately, what she was about to do would hurt everyone that she loved. For her it was the only way out but it was tearing her apart.

Lanise Avery was a very successful supermodel, who also did a little acting, and was working on becoming a successful singer as well, once her first CD is released in the very near future. She should be on top of the world, but today was the beginning of a future that she never expected.

She pressed the button to open the garage door, while the windshield wipers kept beat with her racing heart. She needed to know where Ty was before she could muster up enough courage to go inside. She just couldn't face him. The garage door opened too slowly for her racing emotions. She fought back tears that had almost blinded her as she was driving home from Hartsfield Airport. Life as she knew it was over and she couldn't help shedding tears about that.

She looked inside the huge 5 car garage and saw Ty's Porsche was missing. He always drove the Porsche when he was upset about something. He said that the speed helped him out run his problems. She always worried when he drove it, because he would break every speed limit in town, almost begging for trouble. Today was especially not a good day to drive a fast car like that.

When he was in his 'I don't care mood,' she kept a low profile and didn't try and talk him into or out of anything. She had learned early in their marriage that it was no use anyway. But he always came home in one piece and in a better mood. They would always make love and everything would be back to normal. That wouldn't happen this time. A long drive was not going to help this time.

With no time to waste, Lanise closed the garage door and rushed into the house. As she hurried into their spacious master suite she noticed the baby blue, chocolate, and beige silk comforter was spread neatly across their large California King sized bed without even a wrinkle. Ty never made the bed and on the rare occasion that he attempted to, the covers were always just thrown onto the bed any ole kind of way. So that told her that he hadn't slept in their bed last night.

Feeling a little queasy, she grabbed clothes off the hangers and stuffed them into a large suitcase. Her heart was breaking as she rushed around snatching clothes, and shoes, and toiletries. She retrieved her large shoe bag from the back of the closet, opened it and swept all the shoes off the top shelf into the bag with one swoop of her hand. She took two pair of her favorite running shoes from a lower shelf and threw them in as well. She was done. She had enough to get her through a week or two; she would buy whatever else she needed once she made it to her destination.

She rolled the big suitcase into the foyer and dragged the shoe bag behind her to the front door. She heard Ty's car pulling into the driveway; her heart almost stoppped. She held her breath as she peeped out the window and realized that it was only the neighbor down the street who owned a Porsche almost exactly like Ty's. She let the air out of her lungs and quickened her step. She started to hyperventilate when the reality of what she was doing started to sink in. She was giving up her whole life and everyone and everything she loved. It was almost too painful for her to take one more step until the thought of facing Ty gave her the strength to keep going. "Dear Lord, stay with me, because all I have now is you. Strengthen me Lord and forgive me for hurting the one's I love ... Amen."

She sat in the driveway for a moment taking a final glimpse of her life. Fresh tears started to flow as she forced herself to put the car in gear and leave her love, her life, and her home. She felt like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz ... there's no place like home. She thought about all the things she had done in her life as she headed back to the airport she had just come from.

She'd had a wonderful life until now. Traveling all over the world, from New York to Paris and everywhere in between, modeling, acting, and developing ideas for her first CD. This was so painful she was unable to keep going. She pulled over at a park not far from her home and tried to get herself under control. She couldn't see the road through her tears and the rain. 'If only you knew' by Patti Labelle played softly on the CD player. She had started playing this song a lot lately, though she didn't know if the song was expressing her feelings for Ty or Ayoboni. She laid her forehead against the steering wheel and cried uncontrollably for a good while before she was able to go on. She drove slowly on the highway, far under the speed limit which annoyed several drivers to the point where they honked their horns, yelled and made obscene gestures at her. She didn't even notice.

Finally at the airport, she stepped up to the counter and bought a first class ticket to Paris, France. It suddenly occurred to her that it didn't make any sense that she had driven her Mercedes to the airport since she had no plans on returning. She couldn't just let it sit in the parking lot forever collecting $30 per day parking fees.

She saw a young Black man that appeared to be maybe 19 or 20 years old sweeping up trash. She waved him over to her; he immediately recognized her. He was tongue tied, his eyes wide as saucers. "Do you have a driver's license?" She questioned. He shook his head yes. Lanise handed him the keys to her Mercedes, it was paid in full; she had paid cash for it less than a year ago.

He stood speechless and bewildered, wondering if she had mistaken him for the valet. "What's your name?" He had to think about it for a second, "Demetrius." "Demetrius what?" "Demetrius Levins," he barely remembered. She pulled out an 8 x 10 photo of herself from her large carry on bag, a habit she had picked up early in her career; you never knew when an opportunity would come up, so she was always prepared with photo's handy for any occasion. She wrote on the back of it; I, Lanise Avery, am giving ownership of my Mercedes Benz over to Demetrius Levins as a gift. Beside his name, Demetrius Levins still couldn't speak. She signed it and handed him the picture. He stared at it for a moment, then turned it over and read it. Now he really couldn't speak or breathe.

"You can say thank you now." She smiled at him as he continued to stare astonished. "I need you to go to Lot C row 3 and take the plates off the silver Mercedes and bring them to me. The plate says LANISE. After that, the car is yours. Can you do that?" He just shook his head. She was sure there was nothing else of value in the car, maybe a few CD's; she only used it mostly to drive herself back and forth from the airport. She didn't like being chauffeured around at home, only when she was out of town. And Ty was just as busy as she was and couldn't be counted on to pick her up every time she flew in and out of Atlanta.

Fifteen minutes later Demetrius came back with Lanise's license plates and a friend. "Man I thought you was lying ... this is definitely Lanise Avery, I have her pictures all over my wall. Can I shake your hand Ms Avery?" She extended her hand to this new young man, but he hugged her instead. She hoped she wouldn't have to call security. Demetrius must have seen the apprehension in her eyes so he pulled his friend away from her. He finally found his voice. "Man, you're embarrassing me and you're bothering Ms Avery ... step back." "Sorry, I didn't mean no harm." "It's okay, no harm done." She stated politely, but she was ready to be left alone now.

"Can I ask you a question," the new guy continued. Are you really giving De your new Mercedes?" Mentally questioning herself, she responded with a sigh. "Yes I am." "Man you must be the luckiest Motha ... dude on the planet." He found his manners just in time.

"Can you gentlemen please do me a favor and not tell anyone else about this or bring any more of your friends over. I'm trying to keep a low profile, OK?" "No problem Ms Avery, I won't let nobody else bother you I promise." Demetrius seemed to have gotten over his shock and was finally feeling the effects of his good fortune. The smile on his face was so big; he looked like he wanted to break dance. Demetrius picked up his broom again, but didn't do anymore sweeping. He moved a short distance away from Lanise but watched her like a hawk. He was determined not to let anyone else bother her.

Lanise was kind of amused as Demetrius took on the role of her personal bodyguard. Her flight was finally called and she got in line to leave. Demetrius waved goodbye to her. She beckoned him to come over to her. She felt so lonely at that moment that she needed someone beside her to help her take those final steps. Her stomach was suddenly tied up in knots; she became very nauseous and thought she might vomit. He came over to her and she hugged him as if he were a family member. When she let him go, he saw the sadness in her eyes. He wondered what that was all about. He would certainly never forget her.

Chapter Two

Lanise sat on the plane lonelier than she'd ever been in her life. She reminisced about her life as the plane took off and put thousands of miles of distance between her, her husband and her home. Paris would be her new home now. She took her handkerchief from her purse and blew her nose. It was already wet from earlier tears. She made a mental note to herself to buy more handkerchiefs. She had a feeling she would need them for some time to come.

She attempted to relax as her thoughts took her back to her home in Atlanta. Her husband Tyrese had only purchased their home one month before their wedding 3 years ago. It was his wedding gift to her since he always heard her complain about apartment living and her dreams of one day settling down in her own little piece of the world-as she put it. He had arranged for the Realtor to put a big red bow on the huge mahogany hand carved double doors that made the entrance to their home look even more luxurious.

She had squealed with such delight when they returned from their honey moon in Brazil and Tyrese had pulled into the big circular driveway and announced 'Honey we're home'. HOME-she just loved the sound of that word, she couldn't believe it; he had pulled his load in making the arrangements for the wedding and still went out and bought this beautiful home for them right under her nose. She still wondered where he had found the time to pull that off. That really didn't matter, the point was that he did, and she was so happy. He must have listened to her intently as she described what her dream home would look like, because it had everything she had wanted. They had made love more passionately their first night in their new home, than they had the entire four weeks of their honeymoon. And he deserved every luscious minute of all the pure exotic pleasures she lavished on him in payment for her wonderful surprise. She reaped the benefits as well, this was a no lose situation. Tyrese was glad that he was able to make her so happy, something he planned on doing for the rest of their life.

Lanise really hadn't planned on marrying so soon, she figured she would put her all into her career then marry and have a family somewhere down the line; after she had done all the things she had dreamed about while staring out the window of Auburn High School. She learned very quickly that things don't always work out the way you've planned as soon as she laid eyes on Tyrese Dashoun Langston. It was slightly more than two years after she started her modeling career. She was modeling lingerie at a private show at the mansion of some Beverly Hills billionaire for Victoria's Secret new summer line when her eyes connected with a beautiful brown nerve wrecker staring up at her. He had this sexy, oooh baby, baby look on his face. Oh yes, he was too fine not to look at, too smooth not to swoon, and too sexy not to sweat. He was every young girl's wet dream, and every old ladies secret fantasy. Oh yes, old ladies have fantasies about riding a young stallion off into the sunset. And you could tell by looking at this young sexy that you would get the ride of your life.

Lanise found herself blushing from her imagination and a little moist in a couple different places, neither of which was a good thing while modeling lingerie. She didn't know what had come over her; she usually didn't have those kinds of thoughts. She had been swept up in his sexy brown eyes and couldn't help but wonder what a night with him would be like.

His smooth, flawless skin the color of dark brown sugar made his deep brown eyes seem to sparkle when he smiled in your direction. And he did quite a bit of smiling in her direction, which made her stumble a time or two-totally unprofessional.

After the show he was waiting for her. He stood about 6'2," flashing a crooked little smile that was so sexy and self confident. He wore his hair low cut, faded on the sides and in back. It was trimmed to perfection. He had a nice medium build not too big, not too skinny-just right. He wore one of those nice throw back suits from the 70's with the skinny straight legs, like the singer Maxwell always wears ... it was olive green. To top it all off, he was leading man gorgeous.

Lanise found herself wondering what he looked like beneath those clothes and she started to blush. He introduced himself with a little smirk on his face, knowing that he had unsettled her. "Hi, my name is Tyrese, what's yours." As if he didn't know; he had a collection of magazine covers and news clippings all over the place at home. But he was glad that she didn't know that. He didn't want her to think he was a stalker. "Lanise Avery ... nice to meet you Tyrese." He asked her out on a date, and 9 months later she became Mrs. Lanise Langston. However, she decided to retain her maiden name for career purposes. Lanise was a fabulously well paid supermodel who was already well known in the industry as Lanise Avery, she had made too much progress to just become Mrs. Langston.

The flight attendant interrupted Lanise's thoughts with the offer of a beverage. Lanise chose a glass of wine. She dug into her purse searching for her compact, she was sure she looked the way she felt. Something fell from her purse. She picked up the small piece of stationary and immediately recognized what it was.

Lanise,

I want to thank you for agreeing to do my Avery Woman clothing line. You were a joy to work with, you did a wonderful job, and I had so much fun, I hate to see you go. Please know that mi casa es su casa, so you have an open invitation to return anytime.

Your best friend in this world, Ayoboni

She sat gazing through the window staring into the dark gloomy clouds, re-living the amazing time she had with Ayoboni. Those thoughts were immediately erased by the memory of Ty's strong angry words of accusation. She put the cold glass to her forehead and closed her eyes hoping for a little relief from her thoughts. How in the world could she have explained to her husband that in two short weeks, she was having fantasies about another man? Is that what you're calling it ... fantasies? Her conscience was mocking her.

(Continues...)

---

Excerpted from Cloudy With a Chance of Rain by Patricia Balentine Copyright © 2010 by Patricia Balentine. Excerpted by permission.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

---