CHAPTER NINE: in which she asks for advice- VEGAS

Present day

VEGAS

“Would you like to come in?”

Now why did I ask that?

The excuse was always the same.

“No.” Terence shook his head, averting his baby blues by fiddling with the radio. “I need to get up early.” He leaned over and gave me a dry kiss on the cheek. It was the last act before he left me- like he usually did. “I’ll call you tomorrow.”

My hasty exit didn’t compare to Terence’s. I stepped from the car, closed the door, and turned for a final wave goodbye. I barely caught the gleam of his taillights right before his car disappeared around the corner.  

What’s the hurry?

Since I moved back to Chicago, Terence and I have shared a total of three passionate kisses and half a dozen cuddles. He said he wanted to wait for the night of our marriage to do more. I agreed with no reservations. My reasoning was: if he loved me enough to want our second-first-time to be special, who was I to argue?

Only recently had I questioned his choice and try to wear down his determination. Against all my feminine wiles, he’d held steadfast. A solid rock of iron that couldn’t break. This night, my feelings had changed. As I watched his car zoom away into the darkness, I breathed out a sigh of relief. I wasn’t angry that he didn’t say “yes”.

***

Shondra greeted me when I entered the double iron and glass doors. Her manicured hand was finger deep inside a tub of buttered popcorn. She wore a purple nightgown, the one with the small white polka dots that reminded me of tears. On her face, the makeup she applied for the party she’d attended was absent — and still she was beautiful.

“So how was it?” she asked, eyeing me from head to toe. What she was looking for, I could only imagine.

I started in without preamble. “Jae was there.”

The handful of popcorn that was on the way to her mouth fell back into the bucket. Her eyes grew round under her eyelashes and her wide mouth broke out into a grin. “What happened? What did you say? When are you going to meet again?”

I sighed and kicked off my heels. “Nothing happened. I said little, and we aren’t.”

Shondra crossed the marble foyer and grabbed my arm, leaving a greasy print on my skin. “What dafuq you mean by that?”

She won’t let it go until she knows everything.

I broke from her grip and rolled my neck and my shoulders, preparing for a grilling of epic proportions.

“If I’m going to give you a blow by blow account, I want to make a cup of tea first.”

It will give me time to figure out what to say.

Shondra eyed me suspiciously. “You won’t disappear in your room, will you?”

“No, I want to talk. I need your advice.”

She rolled her eyes in disgust. “You ran away, didn’t you?”

“Tea first.” I turned and headed to the kitchen without waiting for her reply.

***

The copper pot whistled its ready tune. Shondra, with a humph in my direction, sat down on a kitchen chair, which creaked under her bulk.

Shondra was a big girl. She was the size of a high school linebacker, and she weighed just as much. Her even-toned skin was the color of a seventy percent cacao bar, and her eyes were a natural Kelly green. My girl had a shape like an hourglass, with a triple helping of T and A.

The men that laughed at Shondra when she first approached them, soon wished they hadn’t. From her first words, she held them captive, and by the time she turned them loose, they were on their knees.

Shondra could get any man anywhere, and they always wanted seconds. When they called her up the next day, begging to go out again, it was her turn to laugh. She rarely went out with the same man twice.

“Okay, Vee, spill.”

“Maybe I should check—”

Shondra lifted an eyebrow—a perfect arch. “Now, Vee.”

As I sipped my tea, and she munched her popcorn, I told her everything. I withheld not a single detail. Out of pity, Shondra kept her eye rolls and tsks to a minimum. When I came to the part about Jae’s wife, Shondra started asking questions.

“So you were in the bathroom when his wife entered.”

“Yes.” I blew on the contents of my cup before taking a small sip. “That’s why I didn’t leave. I wanted to hear what she had to say.”

Shondra shifted. The chair whined. “How do you know she was his wife?”

“Because the woman asked if Shelia, that’s the wife, and Jameson would go to the Baker’s party on Saturday night.” I gave her a pointed look. “How many people do you know have the name Jameson?”

Shondra tapped her lacquered purple nails on the wood of the kitchen island, staring off into space. It was her way of thinking everything through.

While I waited for her thought process to finish, I held my cup in both hands, trying to warm them. Seeing Jae again had left me cold. There was more at stake than just me. All the entanglements that surrounded me would eventually come out. The trajectory had begun from the moment I saw him.

“Well, you have a point,” Shondra said, conceding. “Then what happened?”

I quickly swallowed the tea in my mouth. “They discussed her ... Shelia’s, new job at the hospital.” Shondra didn’t make the connection, so I added another clue. “Her Emergency Room duties.”

The light bulb over my best friend’s head grew to full wattage in less than a second. She leaned forward and slapped my knee. “Nuh uh. No way. You mean to tell me his wife is gonna work with you?”

I shook my head. Shondra leaned back, relaxed.

“She won’t work with me,” I said, setting the cup down. “I’m working for her. Shelia Caldwell is Shelia Caldwell-Thijssen. My new boss at the hospital.”

Shondra jumped straight up. Her chair fell backwards, clattering to the floor. “Dafuq you say?”