CHAPTER TEN: in which she asks for advice part 2- VEGAS

Present day

VEGAS

“Well, you know what we have to do, right?” Shondra said, bending down and picking up her chair. “We need to go to that party.” She sat down delicately, like a princess on her throne.

Shondra was indeed that—more than. “A Queen among mere mortals,” one of her “dates” told her a few months back. We’d laughed about his cornball sentiment, but it was true. Shondra, who’d come up from nothing, had an empire. She was royalty.

“I think I can wrangle an invitation,” she said, nodding to herself.

“Wrangle? You mean wangle. You must have been looking at an old western or something.” I took a handful of popcorn. It was cold. I winced as if it burned me and dumped it back in the bowl.

Yuck!

“Cold popcorn is so gross.” I dusted my hands over the table, trying to get rid of the nasty, shivery feeling.

“Bitch, don’t be correcting my words and don't be f-wuckin’ with my popcorn.” Shondra’s fine brow scrunched like torn up concrete and her mouth rested in a scowl. “Did you even wash your damn hands?”

“Uh, f-wuckin’ is too close to the real thing and you know I don’t like you saying ‘b’ and ‘d’." I shook my head in mock disgust. “I suggest you moderate your language, Triple T.”

Shondra shook her finger at me, leaning forward in her chair to speak her piece. “She won’t get what I’m saying, no how. And don’t ‘Triple T’ me in my home, dagnabit.”

I pushed the popcorn bowl closer to her. “Hey, just because you own a company with thousands of employees, don’t think you can lord over me.” I smiled at the end to let her know I was kidding. Shondra had saved me a thousand times over. I owed her more than I could ever repay.

I rose to make another cup of tea. Shondra rolled her eyes before drumming her fingers once again on the table. Sho, lost in deep thought, worried about the turn of events.

Hell, I was too.

Lifting the copper kettle, I poured steaming water into my china cup. The Earl Grey I removed from the metal tin had come from Harrods of London.

Shondra might have grown up at the low end of the middle class spectrum, but she was doing more than fine now. Her kitchen alone was the size of my college apartment. 

The maîtresse de la maison snorted behind me and I moved so she could throw her popcorn into the stainless steel recycle bin under the sink.

“Let’s get back on track.” Shondra placed the bowl inside the dishwasher and shut it with her hip. The door closed with only a whisper of a sound. I loved her appliances—actually, the entire room. The kitchen was a chef’s paradise with all the latest top-notch equipment. Though she could cook, Shondra barely used it. That was what the cook, Ms. Richfield, was for.

“What is there to discuss?” I said, blowing on the brown liquid. “I’m up for going to the party.” My stomach fluttered at the thought of seeing Jae again.

Just seeing him was enough. I can make do—

“Won’t your man say otherwise?”

The weight of an anchor replaced my good feeling.

Terence.

I had completely forgotten about him.

Don’t you love him?

I do. But Jae ...

Hands, lips, tongue... soul.

Shondra snapped her fingers, bringing my thoughts back to the matter at hand.

“Terence knows about Jae,” I said, pouring the rest of the tea down the drain. “Uh, um, we talked about him. We had to, after all. He wanted to know... well, let’s just say we discussed Jae in great detail.” 

Too much detail. I’d told Terence everything before I moved up here. I wanted there to be no secrets between us. When I was through, Terence not only offered to help me find Jae, he suggested something so preposterous, I still couldn’t wrap my head around it. I had declined his offer, but told him I would think about his suggestion.

Oh yeah. I will think about it. A lot.

Shondra leaned back on the island, one hand on her hip. “I know that look, Vee. What did he say?”

“Terence said ... “ At Shrondra’s impatient look, I rushed through the rest. “He wants to give me closure if that’s what it takes.”

Shondra’s mouth gaped open and her neck swiveled back in surprise. It relieved me not to have to explain. Shit was too deep.

When my roommate gathered her composure she asked, “And what did you tell him?”

Of all the questions she could have posed to me, that was the easiest one.

“I told him I wasn’t sure.”

Yet.

After seeing Jae in the flesh...

Still lean. Still handsome. Still a part of my life... for years to come.

Shrondra flapped a hand. “Damn ... oops! I mean darn. I’d have to take him up on that.” She winked. “At least twice.” Shondra started fanning herself under her arms, eyes rolling in her head. She was acting a fool to get me to laugh and relieve the tension. 

I let out a chuckle or two before reality hit, as swift and as sudden as nightfall, and my face collapsed into seriousness once again. One night with Jae wouldn’t be enough. The fire he’d lit three years ago still burned within me. Just seeing him had rekindled the embers of my feelings.

Shondra stopped her antics and her president-in-the-boardroom attitude came out to question me.

“What are you going to do, Vegas Shipley? Are you going to accept your free pass and end whatever it is between you and Jae, or will you run again like last time?”

I jutted my chin out angrily. “I didn’t run.”

Shondra patted her hand over her scarf, twisting her lips and looking up at the recessed lighting. “Mmm hm.”

“Look, I-I don’t know, all right? I’m still not sure.” The equation for the best outcome had so many variables, it would take a supercomputer to work everything out. “Before I can decide on Terence’s suggestion, I need to talk to Jae.”

Shondra perked up.

“In private, Sho.”

My best friend, my sister, deflated. Shondra had played a part in every big decision I’ve made, but in this one, I had to do alone.

Shondra smiled, lighting the way in the darkness. “Then it’s settled. We’ll hit that party. You and me.”