God Ain't Through Yet by Mary Monroe

somethin’ to think about, but whether it’s a man or a woman, it could be more trouble than it’s worth. If I hire a young woman, she might run off and get married. An older woman might call in sick with a different female ailment every other week. A man, well, whether the man was a f—uh, gay man or not, people would think he was.”
    â€œLet me find somebody for you.”
    â€œYou? You want to find somebody to work for me in my shop? Since when did you become a headhunter? I don’t know about you gettin’ involved in this.”
    â€œI can talk to Claudette and some of the women who come to her beauty shop. They know everything that’s going on in this town. They’ll even know a good manicurist’s dog’s business.”
    â€œI don’t know about that Claudette. I hear she spreads more gossip than the Enquirer .”
    My jaw dropped. “Look, do you want me to help you or not? I have to talk to somebody to get the information we need. And Claudette is a good place to start. She knows everybody and everything. Being a gossipmonger is good for something.”
    â€œAll right, all right. If that’s what you want to do, go ahead and do it.”
    â€œMaybe I should stay out of it. If I do something you don’t like, or if something doesn’t go the way you want it to go, I’ll never hear the end of it. And to be honest with you, I don’t want to have another conversation like the one we had today anytime soon. Now, do you want me to talk to Claudette or not? Because if you want to deal with this problem on your own, that’s fine with me. I’m getting tired.” My outburst seemed to help.
    Pee Wee attempted to smile, but he was taking his time replying.
    â€œWell, do you or don’t you want me to talk to Claudette, or somebody? At this point, I’d be willing to talk to Satan if it’ll help,” I said.
    Pee Wee abruptly stopped trying to smile. He sniffed and moved his lips in silence for a few seconds. It seemed like he was having a hard time getting his words out now. When he did, it sounded like he had a frog in his throat.
    Whether he was done with this discussion or not, I was. I looked at my watch and then at the door, and I was glad he saw me doing that. I wanted him to see that I was impatient. “Well, if you’re goin’ to do it, you better get on it right away,” he said with a heavy sigh.
    â€œDon’t worry. I am going to find you somebody that you won’t be able to live without. Trust me,” I told him, squeezing his hand.
    It felt good to know that I had a new mission to accomplish. One that would benefit me as much as it would Pee Wee, and everybody else concerned, for that matter.
    Unfortunately, the problems I usually faced had a domino effect. I knew that if I didn’t resolve this one, it would eventually muddy my relationships with everybody else. I didn’t need any more of that right now.
    I smiled to myself because I was feeling so much better now. I was confident enough to know that I would find just the right person to help bring my husband out of the doldrums.
    And it definitely had to be somebody who could fulfill all of his needs. I had no idea at the time that I would end up regretting those thoughts in the worst way.
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    I already had enough problems in my life, but I seemed to be adding more and more all the time. And if it wasn’t one thing that drove me up the wall, it was another. One of the “new” problems that I had in my life now was that I was often so preoccupied that when people addressed me, it took me a few moments to react. I didn’t know if it was part of the “reward” I got for reaching middle age or what. But it was not something I spent a lot of time worrying about. My mother did enough of that for me. When I visited her the day after my conversation with Pee Wee, she jumped on me like a grasshopper.
    â€œWhat is