“What’s going on?” Aaron asked.
Roger lifted his head. “I had a stress test yesterday and the doctor found blockages. Next week I’m having triple bypass surgery. It’s routine and nothing you all should worry about.”
Janiyah sank into the couch next to Kareem. Her dad’s words and visions of him rubbing his chest, out of breath, and sweating from the day he’d moved the boxes whirled around her head like a tornado. Blockages. Surgery. Doctors. She should have seen the signs that something was wrong. He could have had a heart attack right then and there. Right in the middle of their argument. The thought made her stomach queasy.
Her brothers each wore different expressions of disbelief mixed with fear. They started firing questions, but it was a muffled sound to Janiyah.
“Calm down,” Roger said, silencing his sons. “They wanted to rush me straight into surgery, but I refused. For this very reason. I don’t need the four of you overreacting. This is a wake-up call and proof that it’s time for me to get my things in order.”
“You’re not going to die,” Janiyah said.
“Maybe not today, but one day I am. That’s why I called you all here the other day and asked about your plans. The chest pains made me realize I need to make sure you’re taken care of.”
“Come on, Dad, you don’t need to be thinking like that,” Aaron said.
Roger held up his hand. “Yes, I do. Your mom and I worked hard to build the business and support you. You think it was easy to go from selling cars in a gravel lot to owning four dealerships? I’m not going to die knowing you three will let it all fall through the cracks. I’d rather sell it now than let that happen.”
David sat up. “Come on, Pops. You know I won’t let that happen.”
“You’ve sacrificed yourself enough. You kids don’t give a damn about keeping it.”
Kareem stiffened beside Janiyah. “We care.”
Roger turned to Kareem, a sad look on his face. “I’ve put too much pressure on all of you and in return you all made choices you normally wouldn’t have. Now I’m going to make things right.” He stood. “This conversation is over. All I ask is that you keep my surgery to yourselves. I don’t need sympathy in the form of get well cards, useless flowers, or a bunch of visitors.”
“What day is the surgery?” Aaron asked.
“I’ll call you the morning of.” When they began to protest, Roger cut them off. “I’m not having my kids treat me like a baby. I’m still the parent. You worry about how you’re going to use the money from the sale.”
David stood. “Dad, you can’t—”
“End of discussion,” Roger said in a sharp tone. He looked at the four of them, his eyes softening when they landed on Janiyah. The love in his eyes after fighting with him the last time they were together made her feel like the head of Bad Daughters Are Us. “Don’t look so sad. Everything will be okay. Selling the business is for the best. You’ll understand that later.” He took Loretta’s hand and went into the sunroom.
An uncomfortable silence remained. Her dad was ... sick. He needed surgery. And bypass surgery wasn’t something you just jumped out of bed after. What if something went wrong? She couldn’t fathom a world where he wasn’t there.
She shook her head. No, she couldn’t think like that.
But with ice cold clarity she realized her daddy wouldn’t always be there. She cringed when she remembered saying he looked like he was about to keel over. Those words were closer to the truth than she’d like to admit. That could have been the last time they talked.
She thought of Henderson Automotive. She didn’t want to run it, and he didn’t want her to, but David said he would fight to keep it. Aaron and Kareem wouldn’t let it go either. There might come a day when she would need to help out. No wonder her dad was so worried about his kids’ disinterest. He was facing a real threat to his life and had no comfort that his kids could carry on his legacy.
What if she couldn’t? It was already a struggle to stay interested in her first corporate job. The monotony. The set schedule. The repeated stories from co-workers. It was tedious at its best. If she couldn’t get used to being an assistant, how in the hell would she help run Henderson Automotive?
What if, at the end of all this, she only realized she really was just a big joke?
“Janiyah, are you okay?” Kareem asked.
She looked at her brother, and smiled to try and erase the worry on his face.
“I’m fine. Dad’s right. We need to get our lives in order. He … he won’t always be here.”
Kareem flinched and looked away. David and Aaron both shifted uncomfortably.
The weight of a future she wasn’t sure about caused a frantic beat of her heart. She couldn’t stay here. “I’ve got to go. I’ll see you all later.”
She jumped up from the couch and rushed out of the house before they could answer. She wanted to feel better. Wanted to think about something other than her dad being sick, and a life she wasn’t sure she could manage.
She’d find Freddy. A few hours with him would do it. His calm, focused demeanor always prevented her from a meltdown.
Suddenly she understood David’s sacrifice to the business. Because she’d do whatever it took to ease any worry her Daddy carried. He’d done so much for her; she had to do the same for him.
CHAPTER 15
Fredrick was leaving his apartment for an afternoon at his favorite used bookstore when Janiyah came up the stairs. Her smile lit up her entire face when she saw him. A twist of longing tightened in his gut. In her seventies-inspired outfit, wide leg jeans and flowered blouse with the ends tied beneath her breasts, her curves brought to mind the Commodores song “Brick House.”
“Where are you going?”
He turned his back on her enticing image to lock his door. “Out.”
“Out where? Maybe I can tag along.”
He turned around and leaned against the doorframe. “I doubt you’ll want to come with me. I’m going to the bookstore.”
“Good, I need to read more. Let’s go.”
“You can’t be serious.”
She cocked an eyebrow and propped one hand on her hip. All she needed was an afro instead of the sleek bob to look like a diva from one of those Blaxploitation movies.
“Is there some reason why I can’t read, Freddy?”
“I have no problem with reading. You’re the one who always searches for a reason not to.”
“I know how to read.”
“No one said you didn’t.”
“Well you’re acting like it’s unheard of for me to read.”
He pushed away from the door. “You wanting to go to a bookstore is unheard of.” He made a move to walk around her but stopped. Moisture glistened in her eyes. She blinked and turned away.
“Fine, have fun.”
He gently took her elbow in his hand and turned her to face him. She avoided eye contact and visibly struggled to keep the tears from falling. “Are you okay? Why the tears?”
“It’s nothing … just … I’m tired of being considered a joke.”
“You’re not a joke. I’ve never considered you a joke.”
Her lip trembled and something snapped. The need to save her swelled up. It made him want to stop her from crying ever again and make sure she only smiled that beautiful smile that drove him crazy.
“That’s sweet of you to say, but we both know you don’t take me seriously.”
“If I didn’t take you seriously, I wouldn’t have agreed to interview you in the first place, and I definitely wouldn’t have given you the job. I wouldn’t listen to your ideas about how to improve things in the office.”
“You don’t listen to me when it comes to clothes.”
She tugged on the collar of his shirt. It was a plain blue oxford shirt that he hadn’t tucked into his khaki shorts. Her actions pulled him close enough for him to catch a whiff of her vanilla fragrance.
“If it’ll stop you from crying today, I might start l
istening to your fashion advice.” And if her body continued to brush against him he would let her pick out his clothes for the rest of the week. His blood heated with the memory of their kiss. Her eyes darkened with the same inviting look she’d had the night before.
“Sometimes I think you listen to me just to make me happy. Or get me to shut up.”
“Mostly to make you happy.” The words slipped out. Her lips parted, then spread with a satisfied smile.
Sanity slammed into him. He blinked, and stepped away. He was falling into her trap again—becoming a carbon copy of his dad and making decisions just to make a woman happy.
“It’s the least I can do,” he said. “I wouldn’t want Aaron and the rest of your family angry because I upset you.”
The glow dimmed in her eyes, and her shoulders slumped. “I guess not.”
The guilt for adding to her upset prompted him to say, “If you really want to come, then that’s fine.”
“Sure, it’ll give me something to talk to Gerald about.”
And just like that, the last vestiges of Janiyah’s spell wore off. This was all about impressing a guy—a guy that wasn’t him.
He gripped the keys in his hand, though he wanted to throw them. “Let’s go.”
• • •
Janiyah was quiet on the ride to The Book Dispensary, and only raised an eyebrow when they got out to go inside the white brick building located on the frontage road off Interstate 26.
“You buy from a used bookstore?” she said as they entered the store. “I know you can afford new books.”
Something his mom would say, though there was no judgment in Janiyah’s voice. “I can, but I prefer the atmosphere here. Not so many people hanging out and buying lattes like at the chain stores.”
“Hey, Fredrick, good to see you,” the man behind the counter said.
“Hey, Bob, how’s it going today?” Fred walked over and shook his hand.
Bob shrugged. “Not too bad. Quiet for a Saturday.”
Janiyah walked over and cleared her throat. Fredrick pulled her closer to the counter. “Bob, this is Janiyah.”
Bob raised an eyebrow. “Hello, Janiyah. Nice to meet you.”
“Same here.” Janiyah flashed her smile and Bob’s smile turned into a love-struck grin. Another man turned silly by a glance from Janiyah.
“Any new arrivals?” Fred asked.
Bob looked back at Fredrick, but he darted glances at Janiyah. “We got some new biographies traded in this week. I think you’ll find some that you like.”
Fred nodded. “Sounds good.” He looked at Janiyah. “What are you interested in?”
She looked around at the crowded shelves and wrinkled her nose. “I’m not sure.”
“We have a great selection,” Bob said. “We get a lot of people trading in fairly new books.”
“I don’t know what I’m looking for.”
“Well, I’m happy to help.” Bob made a move to come around the counter.
Fredrick held up his hand, then placed it possessively on Janiyah’s back. “We’ll figure it out.”
Bob looked between the two and turned red. “Yes, Fredrick knows his way around. You’re in good hands.”
Janiyah leaned in close. “I couldn’t be in better hands.”
He ignored her suggestive tone, and the way his body wanted to react to it. He pulled her away from the counter, then dropped his hand. “Look around. You might find something you like.”
He went to the biography shelves. Janiyah followed and skimmed through some of the books beside him. She pulled out a few to read the first few pages, but eventually put them back. After a few minutes she strolled away to check other shelves.
Before long he was engrossed in looking. When he finally checked his watch, forty-five minutes had passed. He looked up, but didn’t see Janiyah anywhere. He looked to the front, where Bob pointed to the room in back.
With a sigh and a suppressed smile, he headed to the room where the romance novels were stocked. He shouldn’t be surprised. The last book she’d read was some type of romance, though the appeal of sex with the undead he couldn’t understand.
She turned to him and grinned from the stepstool she was sitting on when he walked in.
“It was my intention to find something serious, but these seem pretty good.”
He walked over and picked up one of the books in her lap. “Seem good or look good? There’s a man with no shirt on the front.”
She snatched the book away. “Don’t judge a book by its cover.”
“Point taken. I don’t care what you read. The joy of reading is getting lost in a story that appeals to you.”
“So you don’t think it’s silly to read romance? Or that I’m foolish for not automatically gravitating to the non-fiction section?”
“As long as you’re reading and enjoying the book, it’s not my business what you read.”
Her head tilted to the side. “Don’t you think reading true stories of perseverance and triumph are better than made up ones? Or that if I’m going to read fiction it should be some great literary work of art?”
“That would be hypocritical of me, considering I’m a fan of mystery novels. I admit I read non-fiction more than I do genre fiction, but sometimes it’s fun to get caught up in a story just for the sake of the story.”
She got up to lean against the bookshelf. “It’s kind of how I felt about that book Liz gave me. I never would have thought I’d get into romance, but besides all of the sex, there was a good story. I can see the appeal.”
“Then read what you like.”
Her face lit up like he’d told her she won fifty million dollars. “I love that you’re not pretentious. You’re smart, but you don’t flaunt it in people’s faces.”
“I’m not trying to impress anyone. Pretentious people often are.”
“So what did you pick?” She straightened and pulled one of the books out of his hand. “A biography of Clarence Thomas.” She scowled. “Didn’t he sexually harass some woman back in the day?”
“He was accused of sexual harassment, but that doesn’t mean I can’t read his biography. He is one of the few black Supreme Court justices this country has seen.”
“I wouldn’t want to read it.”
He held up another of his books. “You don’t have to like a person to learn about what they accomplished.” He held up the biography of Condolezza Rice. “Try this one.”
“Are you serious?”
“Yes. You might like it.”
The look she gave him said she doubted it.
“You’re worried about people seeing you as a joke; well, I guarantee she’s not viewed as a joke. She was the first black female Secretary of State, served as President Bush’s national security advisor, and taught political science at Stanford. You might find it inspiring.”
“I know who she is, that doesn’t mean I want to read her life story.” Janiyah took the book out of his hand and eyed the picture on the cover with a raised eyebrow. “Her hairstyle isn’t inspiring.”
“Just give it a try.”
A wicked twinkle came to her eye. “Alright, but I think you should step out of your comfort zone, too. She pulled out a book from her stack. “I’ll read the biography, if you read this for me.”
He looked at the cover and groaned. The chest and abs of a man who probably lived in a gym were on the glossy cover. “You can’t be serious.”
She leaned in. Her vanilla perfume made his mouth water as she pressed a kiss to the side of his mouth. Her soft body sank into his and just as quickly she pulled away, a cute pout on her lips. “Please.”
It was just a book. No real harm done if he did her this one favor.
Spoken like the son of Christopher Jenkins.
He took the book from her hand and squeezed it tightly in his. The cover bent from the pressure. He was hopeless. “Fine.”
CHAPTER 16
On Monday morning, Janiyah sat at her desk searching for something to do.
She wasn’t succeeding very well, and the work she had wouldn’t take long, so she was pushing it off until after lunch. She’d filled an hour checking on her dad. There’d been no call from her parents. She wouldn’t be surprised if her dad didn’t call until after the surgery. So she’d called the local hospitals to see if any had him as a patient. They didn’t, and calls to Aaron and David, who’d both gone by their parents’ house, confirmed their dad’s heart wasn’t being operated on just yet. Without that to worry about, her day was truly going down as the most boring day in history.
The monotony was broken when her cell phone rang. Liz’s face from one of their wine and art outings lit up the screen. She ignored the call on her cell, but picked up her desk phone to call her back.
“Still staying off the cell phone at work?” Liz asked.
“Yeah, got a few side eyes last week.”
Freddy hadn’t said anything about her talking on her cell, but one of the newly hired accountants always gave her annoyed looks. Stupid really, considering she quickly completed all of the work she was being paid for. It wasn’t as if it took eight hours of day to type letters, review spreadsheets, and take messages.
“You didn’t call over the weekend. How did the date go with Gerald?”
Oh yeah. She hadn’t thought about him again since her dad’s announcement and her bookstore date with Freddy.
“It was okay. He’s kind of conceited. I don’t think it’ll go anywhere.”
“I told Fredrick you weren’t interested in that guy.”
Janiyah sat up in her seat. “When did you talk to Freddy?”
“On Saturday when he called for Missy’s phone number.”
“What?” She stood and paced back and forth behind her desk as far as the phone cord would let her. “Why didn’t you tell me this?”
“Because he said you were out on a date and wouldn’t care.” There was a pause. “Do you care?”
Janiyah leaned her hip against the desk. “I don’t know. It’s complicated.”
“I knew it! You two are making this complicated. Just do something before he calls Missy. I’m not trying to lose my job over your love triangle.”
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