White Lines II: Sunny: A Novel

by Tracy Brown

  When she was done, her mood had shifted. She was angry with herself and she wasn’t sure if it was because of her unmistakable longing to get high again, or because she had deprived herself of doing so. By the time she washed her hands and emerged from the bathroom, she had a full-blown attitude.

  “Want to go get something to eat?” Lamin asked, smiling at her. He looked so handsome standing there in his tailored suit, his beautiful white teeth gleaming at her. But Sunny was oblivious.

  “No,” she answered flatly. “Just take me home, please. I’m tired.”

  She walked ahead of him to his car, and Lamin frowned, confused. He shook his head and followed her, wondering if he would ever be able to figure out why women could be so mercurial.

  * * *

  “Tell me again why you need to fly out to L.A. on such short notice,” Born said. He sat in his favorite recliner, watching Jada packing her suitcase with shorts, sundresses and sandals. The vein in the left side of his neck was visibly throbbing. He only half-noticed, as he chewed on a toothpick.

  Jada glanced at him, curiously. “I told you,” she said, resuming her packing. “Sunny’s gonna go talk to these producers about doing the movie. Malcolm said they might need my signature on some legal stuff and he wants me to hear the proposal before—”

  “But I thought you decided not to do the movie,” Born said.

  “I did. But you didn’t let me finish. Malcolm thinks I should hear what they’re offering before I say no. He thinks—”

  “No.” Born said it and the word lingered between them for several moments.

  Jada stopped packing, sat down on her chaise and faced him. She searched his face for a clue but came up empty. “What do you mean ‘no’?”

  Born had learned to mask his emotions behind a stoic facial expression after years of being a hustler. But inwardly there was a tug-of-war going on. “I’m not trying to tell you where you can and can’t go,” he said.

  Jada watched him closely. “But?”

  Born cleared his throat and twirled the toothpick between his fingers. He had watched in silence once before as Jada ran off after Sunny, chasing a good time and finding only the worst one imaginable. But not this time. He had to speak his mind and risk sounding like a control freak.

  “But … what could they possibly offer you that’s worth reopening that door?” Born’s words lingered between them again, the truth ringing in their ears. Jada’s mind traveled back to her days as a young lady full of promise and potential who had chosen instead a life of crack pipes, prostitution and prison. Born watched his words sink in. “What could possibly be worth walking back down that road again?”

  His question was rhetorical so he didn’t pause long before continuing. Just long enough for her to catch his drift.

  “If Sunny wants to fly out to L.A. and do a movie about the shit she did, I applaud her. But I just want you to stay here,” he said honestly. “Stay here with me.”

  Jada’s heart smiled.

  There was a time when she may have questioned Born’s motives for wanting her to stay, or maybe misconstrued those motives as him being overprotective. But in the years since they reunited—first as friends and now as lovers—she understood his intentions.

  She got up and walked over to Born. He spread his arms, welcoming her onto his lap and she kissed him.

  “Okay,” she said.

  * * *

  Sunny was heated.

  “You’re not going…” She shook her head and held the phone away from her face as if Jada could see her. Sunny took a deep breath, closed her eyes as she exhaled, and held the phone to her ear once more. “What happened? Born said you can’t go?”

  Jada wasn’t sure if Sunny was being sarcastic or not. “He didn’t say I can’t go.”

  “So why the change of heart?”

  “I need to stay and look after Sheldon…” Jada didn’t know why she was stretching the truth.

  “Mmm-hmm.”

  “Plus I’m still finishing up the synopsis for the book idea I had. By the time you get to L.A. I’ll have it done. You and Malcolm can just e-mail me or fax me whatever you need me to sign.”

  “Mmm-hmm.”

  Jada knew by now that Sunny had already checked out. Their friendship had changed. Gone were the days when they were carefree twentysomethings who had all the things girls dream of—down to their two Prince Charmings. Now they were two friends on completely separate paths. Seldom had that fact been more evident than right now. Silence filled the phone line and brought with it an awkwardness that caused Jada to fidget with some papers on her desk.

  “Okay, then,” Sunny said.

  “Have a safe trip and—”

  “Thanks.” Sunny hung up before Jada found herself uttering the generic “call me when you get back” and “I’m sure you’ll have fun without me.” She tossed her cell phone on her bed and resumed packing for the trip. Fuck it. She still had moves to make.

  * * *

  Ava sat cozied up on the chaise in her sister’s living room, sipping hot peppermint tea from a steamy mug. She was coming down with a cold and had sought the comfort and familiarity of Jada’s home to spend the weekend. Jada joined her sister, sitting on the sofa opposite her. The TV was on, but the volume was low and neither of them paid any attention to it. Instead, they were discussing Ava’s lack of a social life.

  Ava had become frustrated by the lack of good men out there. She was explaining to Jada that as an attorney making a high six-figure salary, most men were either intimidated by or resentful of her success. “It gets lonely sometimes.” She shook her head. Then her eyes took on a sudden glint and a slow smirk spread across her face. “But I think I might have met one guy who’s different from the rest,” she was saying.

  Jada stared at her sister, smiling. “Who?” she asked. “Do I know him?”

  Ava nodded. “Malcolm.”

  Jada frowned. “The lawyer who’s hooking up the movie deal?” He was handsome, Jada had to admit. She had noticed that her sister seemed a little shy around Malcolm when they’d all met in Ava’s office weeks ago. “Really?”

  Ava nodded. “I know it’s not easy to tell that I’m interested, cuz when he’s around me I get nervous. So my reaction is to be all no-nonsense and businesslike. I wonder if he even knows that I like him.”

  Jada noticed that Ava lit up as she spoke of Malcolm. “You should ask him out,” Jada decided. “Is he single?”

  Ava nodded. “Divorced.” She frowned. “But I don’t ask men out. That’s not the way it’s supposed to go, in my opinion. He should ask me out.”

  Jada frowned. “That’s old-fashioned. You’re gonna mess around and let some other woman come and snatch him up right before your eyes.”

  Born entered the house, then. “Who’s getting snatched up?” he asked, entering with his key, one hand tucked behind his back.

  “Ava’s new man,” Jada said, facetiously.

  Ava sucked her teeth. “He is not my man—yet. He’s a guy I have my eye on and Jada is trying to get me to step to him and embarrass myself.”

  Born showed Jada the flowers he had brought for her, watched her face light up and smiled as she showered him with kisses. She ran off to the kitchen to place them in water and Born sat down on the sofa opposite Ava. “Now why would you be embarrassing yourself if you ask him out?”

  Ava blushed. She hated the very thought of placing herself at risk of rejection. “What if he says no?” she imagined, shyly. “I would be so embarrassed and then I would have to see him at work every day and remain professional.”

  Born smirked at her. “He would be crazy to say no.” Born said it flatly, but meant it with all his heart. He had always thought that Ava was drop-dead gorgeous. In fact, there had been a time when the two of them had enjoyed a dangerous flirtation that may have led them down dark corridors had circumstances not separated the two of them. Now that so much time had passed, Born was glad that he hadn’t crossed the line with his fiancée’s siste
r all those years ago. He loved Jada more than he had ever dreamed possible and would never want to cause her any more pain.

  Still, being a man, he couldn’t help but notice that Ava was the kind of stunner that would make any man with a pulse do a double take. In Born’s opinion, Ava was only having a hard time finding a man because she was being too picky. “You should let me hook you up with one of my boys.”

  Ava laughed. “No thanks,” she said. “I don’t think I’m ready for your boys.” Ava thought about the ups and downs Sunny and Jada had seen and knew she wasn’t cut out for that.

  Jada reentered the room with a frown on her face. “Sheldon was sitting at the kitchen table eating a sandwich as if it’s not hours past his bedtime.”

  Born glanced at his watch. It was well after midnight.

  “I sent him back to bed, but…” Jada’s voice trailed off as she collapsed onto the couch beside Born, exhausted mentally and physically. She shook her head. “He’s starting to worry me,” she admitted. “He’s up all hours of the night. If I get up at one in the morning, I find him wandering around the house, looking through drawers and cabinets. He says he can’t sleep, but then he goes to school and sleeps in class.”

  Ava was clearly concerned for her sister, and her nephew as well, as she listened to Jada speaking. Ava’s brow was deeply creased as she imagined what it must be like to have a child like Sheldon.

  Born cleared his throat. “Maybe this is none of my business,” he began. Born tried to stay out of decisions concerning Sheldon, aware that he wasn’t the boy’s father and that, in fact, Sheldon’s father had been someone Born hated deeply. But his conversation the other day at the Benz dealership with Sheldon had resonated in his ears ever since. “I think he’s acting up cuz he’s curious about his father.”

  Ava looked at Jada for her reaction. Jada stared blankly at Born. She let his words settle in her mind. Jada hated the very thought of Jamari. And, although she had resolved years ago that she would do her best not to speak ill of him, she had never figured out how to find anything good to tell her son about him. Instead, she had repelled any questions Sheldon asked about his dad, changing the subject or offering vague answers to his increasingly frequent questions.

  “Jada?” Ava nudged gently. “Could that be it? Does Sheldon ask about Jamari?”

  Hearing his name made the hairs on the back of Jada’s neck stand up. She shook her head.

  Born watched Jada retreating inside herself. He knew her well enough to notice whenever she did that; escaping from an uncomfortable subject by withdrawing from the conversation and going somewhere else in her mind—somewhere sad and isolated.

  “He asks,” Born said. Jada looked at him. “And when he asks you start to cry. At least that’s what he told me.” He understood Jada’s reluctance to discuss the bastard who had fathered her son, but the kid was suffering as a result of her inability to face the past. He wasn’t gonna let her turn a blind eye to what was going on.

  Jada felt a lump in her throat. “He said that?”

  Born nodded. “Like I said, it’s none of my business…” He thought about what he was saying. “Then again, it is my business. We’re gonna get married, so that makes us a family. He’s curious about his father, like any kid his age would be. So I think you need to sit him down and have a conversation with your son.”

  Jada stared at Born in silence, hearing him echo Sunny’s advice at lunch the other day. Jada had to face the fact that she was at the point where she had to reveal some ugly truths to Sheldon. But she worried that if his recent misbehavior was any indication, they were in for a long, hard road.

  “I’ll sit there with you, if you want. But that’s a conversation that has to happen.”

  Ava felt like she was witnessing an intervention. Jada’s and Born’s eyes were locked on one another and the love between them was palpable. Ava felt a twinge of envy for a love like that. She watched as Jada nodded slowly and took a deep breath. “Okay,” she said.

  Born nodded also. The gravity of the moment resulted in a few silent moments as everyone sat lost in their own thoughts. Then Born laughed as if to himself and said, “Yo, when are we getting married? Let’s plan this shit out. We’re already having married-people conversations.”

  Jada laughed. “What are you talking about?”

  Born sat forward, directing his words at Ava. “I used to take this lady out for nights on the town, fly wherever she wanted to go, shopping sprees…” He shook his head. “Now it’s late nights whispering in the bed cuz we don’t want the kids to know we’re fucking.”

  Ava and Jada both laughed. Born did, too, but he was serious.

  “Watching our spending cuz the kids got tuition and team dues and allowances…” He looked at Jada and shook his head. “And I still love her the same way; the same way I used to get excited when she came around and my heart would speed up—I still feel like that.” He looked at Ava. “I know that sounds corny and shit—”

  “No,” Ava said, shaking her head vehemently. “That’s not corny at all. It’s romantic.”

  “It’s sincere,” Born said. “And that’s how I know I’m supposed to marry her and make everything right for her from now on.” He rubbed his hands together. “So, let’s start planning for the big Electric Slide party.”

  Ava laughed while Jada’s eyes spilled over with tears of joy.

  * * *

  Sunny landed at LAX on Friday morning and immediately turned her cell phone on as the plane taxied down the runway. She checked her messages and listened to her mother rambling on and on about how Mercedes was fine, that she should remember the importance of sunscreen since California sun rays were twice as deadly as New York ones, and that she should be careful out there “all alone.” Sunny shook her head, thinking that Marisol sounded like a protective PTA mom rather than the parent of a woman who had seen and done it all.

  Next, Sunny listened to a message from Jada. She rolled her eyes unconsciously as she listened to Jada apologizing for backing out of their trip at the last minute. “I know you’re pissed even though you’ll say that it’s all good—”

  Sunny pressed the delete key and progressed to the next message. This time, the caller’s voice caused a smile to spread slowly across her face.

  “So…” the sexy baritone sang in her ear. “I hear you’re coming out to my neck of the woods for a few days. Make sure you set aside a little time for an old friend. I can’t wait to see you again. Call me as soon as you land.”

  Sunny’s involuntary grin was plastered on her face until the pilot turned off the fasten-your-seat-belt sign. She got up and retrieved her baggage from the overhead compartment. As she made her exit, Sunny thought about that voice on the phone.

  Sean Hardy had been a running back for the New York Giants. He and Sunny had enjoyed a steamy and stormy affair about a year after her book had debuted.

  Sunny and Jada had been doing press at an event sponsored by the New York Public Library and he’d sidled in alongside some teammates. He had seemed bored at first as his eyes scanned the crowd of bookworms, young and old. But then his gaze fell on Sunny in the corner standing beside Jada, engrossed in a conversation with a fan. Sunny eventually noticed him staring and she stared right back at him, bored also. There had been a steady stream of signings, meet and greets, and luncheons. This sexy stranger watching her from across the room was a welcome distraction.

  When their eyes locked, Sunny was intrigued by what she saw behind them. She took a look at his stocky frame, estimated him to be about 5’ 10”, and decided that he was fine enough to look further. He reminded her a little of the rapper 50 Cent. He wore a dark suit, but no tie. Sunny decided immediately that he was a rebel. She didn’t see danger in his eyes but she did see mischief there, and Sunny was intrigued. She smiled.

  Sean had smiled also, seeing her there in her red dress and gold accessories, her hair hanging over one shoulder.

  Before Sunny could inquire about who the handsome strange
r was, he was crossing the room in her direction. She took in his stocky build, his perfect teeth as he smiled.

  “Hello,” he said, his voice making her sway a little. “Are you a librarian?”

  Sunny laughed, caught off guard, and then covered her mouth, remembering that they should be keeping their voices down. “No,” she said, extending her hand with a smile. “I’m Sunny Cruz. I’m here with my coauthor, Jada Ford, promoting our novel.”

  Sean had smiled. “Wow, beautiful and smart. What a deadly combination.”

  Sunny smiled slyly. “You have no idea.”

  Sean had raised an eyebrow, wondering what she meant by that.

  “And you are?” she asked.

  Sean was the one caught off guard now. He was used to being instantly recognized, especially in the city he played for. Clearly the beauty before him wasn’t a sports fan—or a sports groupie for that matter. “I’m Sean Hardy, running back for the New York Giants.”

  “Oh. Okay.” Sunny excused herself for a moment while she and Jada greeted a fan. Once Sunny had posed for a picture with the reader—holding a copy of the book, of course—she turned her attention back to Sean, who was instantly intrigued. He wasn’t used to meeting women—no matter how beautiful—who weren’t impressed by his status as a pro athlete. But Sunny had received that news with the same enthusiasm as if he’d revealed that he was a vacuum salesman. She was certainly not impressed as she commented, “So you play sports. That sounds interesting.”

  “Interesting?” he repeated, chuckling to himself. “I guess. But if you let me take you out, I think we’d have an interesting time. And that’s putting it mildly.”