Honey’s arms fell against her side. “No?” she repeated.
“It’s the truth!” Sasha challenged.
“How the hell do you know?” Honey asked. Especiallysince she never bothered to mention she’d ended her relationship with Lavell.
Sasha gave a defiant smile. “ ’Cause I know you.”
“What-the-fuck-ever,” Honey murmured.
Rolling her eyes, Honey tried to turn the chair back around, but Sasha latched on to her wrist. “Don’t you want to hear the rest?” she asked, her tone one of faked innocence.
Honey’s eyes sparkled. “There’s more?”
Sasha nodded, releasing her grip. “I was eavesdroppingon the two of them this morning, and I heard Jay talkin’ to Terraine about you.”
“What did he say?”
“Well, when I heard your name, I tried to lean in so I could hear better, and ... well, shit, my stomach got in the way and pushed the door open.”
Honey’s lips curled downward. “You ain’t no help.” “Help for what?” Sasha asked. Receiving no response,she folded her arms on top of her stomach. “Girl, you know you like him, so quit trippin’ and tell me the truth.”
Honey positioned herself behind the chair and resumedher work. “There ain’t nothin’ to tell. Jay and I are friends.”
Blowing out an exasperated breath, Sasha sputtered, “But you two barely speak to each other anymore.I do have the right to know.”
Honey smirked. “How the hell you figure that?”
“ ’Cause I’m supposed to be your best friend.”
Parting her hair, Honey snorted. “Girl, puhleeze.”
“I want to know what the hell happened,” Sasha said, her request a demand now.
“Quit trippin’. Nothing happened,” Honey said, combing the relaxer through Sasha’s hair. “Jay and I decided we were spending too much time together. So we backed off.” She looked down at Sasha through the mirror. “Damn, Sasha. We’re just friends.” She said the word slow enough for even a five-year-old to understand.“Do I need to spell the shit out for you?” Using hand gestures, she gave her best shot at sign language.
Sasha huffed. “Friends, my ass! I’ve seen the way the two of you look at one another. Like y’all need to go rent a room or somethin’. Why can’t you just admit that you like him?”
“Okay ... I like him,” Honey said.
“I knew your ass was lying!” Sasha gave a triumphantlaugh.
“That’s it, Sasha ... nothing more.”
Sasha clicked her tongue knowingly. “Uh-huh, whatever.”
Honey had had enough. “Why don’t we talk about somethin’ else? Like ...” Forced to think fast, Honey said, “... Like what’re we gonna name my goddaughter.”
Sasha rolled her eyes heavenward. Sooner or later, Honey had to open up to her, because the secrecy was driving her crazy. Even her own husband wouldn’t tell her what the hell was going on, and she felt left out. She hated secrets.
She and Honey had known each other since high school, and she couldn’t ask for a better friend. They had gone through a lot of shit together over the years. Honey always had her back. Sasha had tried to return the favor, but felt like Honey was hiding something. No matter how much she tried to get Honey to open up she never would, telling her only what she wanted her to know. Well, Sasha was sure there was a lot more going on between Honey and Jay. At one time she was certain that the two of them were fucking, and she was going to find out the truth if it killed her.
With that in mind, Sasha decided to leave the shit alone for now, and began rattling off the list of baby names she and Terraine had come up with.
Dory McDonald looked up from her computer to find her boss standing over her desk wearing a Cardinalsbaseball cap, a tattered T-shirt, and a faded pair of jeans spattered with paint. “I’m almost afraid to ask what you’ve been doing today.”
Looking up from the pile of mail he was thumbing through, Jay smirked. “Terraine conned my ass into helping him paint my niece’s nursery.”
Dory’s eyes were wide with delight. “Sasha’s havin’ a girl?”
“That’s what her doctor says.” Jay tucked the mail under his arm and headed toward his office door, locatedbehind Dory’s desk. “Let’s hope they haven’t made a mistake.”
Dory twirled around in the swivel chair. “Why’s that?”
“Sasha’ll go off.” Jay was shaking with amusement. He knew from experience that once his sister-in-law set her mind to something, it was next to impossible to change it.
Jay took a seat in his chair and set the mail on the corner of his desk to go through later, then reached for the stack of pink message slips sitting on top of his phone. Kendra had already called twice this morning. Damn! She’d been calling him for three days, and there was no point putting the shit off any longer. They needed to talk. Soon.
“Where’s Chad?” he said. Chad Hamilton was the firm’s most promising investigator. As a former St. Louis police officer, he was thorough, reminding Jay of himself.
“He’s in his office,” Dory said, closer than before.
Jay glanced up to find Dory leaning against his door frame.
“I think he’s interviewing another missin’ person’s case,” she added.
Jay frowned. “Shit. That’s just what we need.” Chad had been reassigned to handle all missing persons—one thing Jay preferred not to do. Most of them were due to broken homes or sexual abuse cases. Things that pulled at his heartstrings.
“I’m on my way out to lunch, you want anything?” Dory moved toward his desk, carrying a straw purse over her shoulder.
Looking up at her friendly, light brown eyes, Jay smiled. Dory had been twenty-one when he first met her. She’d just given birth to a son and was desperate for a job. Responding to an ad he’d run in the newspaper, she arrived at his office looking like a straight-up hoochie in a skintight, lime-green dress with white platform shoes. Dory had very limited skills, but was willing to learn. She had pleaded with Jay for a chance. Jay saw something in her that he hadn’t found in any of his other candidates. Determination. He hired her on the spot, and not once had he regretted his decision. Two years later, she stood before him dressed appropriately in a gray turtleneck sweater dress, her jet-black hair pulled back neatly with a hair clip.
“Yeah, grab me two cheeseburgers and a large fry.” Jay reached into his pocket, pulled out several bills, and handed them to her.
Unzipping a side compartment, she slipped the money in her purse. “You’re gonna clog your arteries,” she scolded. The health-conscious Dory was planning on picking up a salad for herself.
“Yeah, but at least I’ll die happy,” he joked.
After Dory departed, Jay laced his fingers behind his head. Rocking in his brown swivel chair, he allowed his eyes to travel across the parade of framed news clippingsand awards that adorned the walls. Fifteen years of accumulation. He sighed as his mind filtered back to thoughts of self-worth. There was proof right in front of his face that his career meant something. The numberof cases his firm had been successful at solving was a phenomenon in itself. Yet it still wasn’t enough.
He needed something more.
Jay heard heavy footsteps moving across the floor outside his office. Looking up, he watched a rugged ebony man stroll through his door. He reared back in his chair and propped his feet on the end of his desk. “What’s up?”
Chad pulled a chair away from a small conference table in the corner. Planting the chair in front of Jay’s desk, he straddled it with his large legs and rested his arms against the back. “I just had an interestin’ interview.”He lowered a thin manila folder onto the desk.
“How so?”
“I met with this fine-ass widow who is certain her husband’s still alive.”
Jay’s eyes sparkled with interest. “How’s that possible?”
“Check this shit out. She was in Kansas City for a conference over the weekend and says she saw her husbandcoming out of a restauran
t with another lady.”
Jay’s brow quirked. “Why didn’t she just go over and ask him?”
“She tried, but the brotha pulled off in a Benz before she could stop him.”
Jay reached for the file labeled Jocelyn Price, and without looking at Chad, asked, “Do you think she’s a crackpot?”
“Naw,” Chad said, and smiled. “She’s a pediatrician.”Rubbing a hand across his chin, he added, “With a nice body.”
Jay opened the file. “You never could resist.”
Chad flashed him a pearly-white smile. “One of the pleasures of being single.”
Jay looked up to see the man’s walnut eyes sparkling with mischief. Chad loved beautiful women in all shapes and sizes. Commitment was impossible. He believedthere were too many options. Only a damn fool would settle for just one chip when he could have the entire bag. As active as Chad’s personal life was, Jay was amazed at the time and dedication he was able to put into his cases.
Breezing through his notes, Jay read that J.W. Price had died a year before in an automobile accident, his body burned beyond recognition. “So, I guess you want to take on this case?”
Chad raised a hand and ran it across the ten jet-black cornrows his younger sister had braided the night before.“I do. For more reasons than one.”
“No doubt,” Jay replied in a dry tone.
“Actually, man, I think you should take it.”
“Why me?” He closed the file and placed it on the corner of his desk.
“Shit, man. I already have a heavy caseload. Tyler and Paul also.” They were the operatives responsible for all the grunt work.
Jay dropped his feet to the floor and, turning in his chair, quickly logged on to his computer. Dory input all cases into a database, and each was flagged active until solved.
Jay whistled. There were over thirty active cases. “Fuck! When did all this happen?”
“Since your black ass left town.”
“Naw. They weren’t in here on Monday.” The day after he returned from Memphis he had dropped by the office. There had only been twelve active cases then.
“That’s ’cause I asked Dory not to enter them until you were officially back in the office. I knew if you saw them as soon as you got back, you wouldn’t have taken a few days off.”
Jay smirked. “You think you know me well.”
“I do. It’s like looking at a mirror image of myself.”
Jay agreed ... except that Jay had changed in one aspect. “Leave the file,” he said. “I’ll look at it tonight.”
“I thought you’d say that.” Chad rubbed his hand across his goatee. “Did I mention she’s fine?”
“Yeah, you did.” Jay frowned. “But unlike you, I don’t mix business with pleasure.”
“Since when?” Chad looked at him with surprise.
“Since I realized there are other pleasures in life.”
Chad chuckled. “That bullet did more damage to your ass than I imagined.” But he had the perfect cure for his boss—fine-ass Dr. Jocelyn Price.
“So, how did it go?” Mercedes asked when her boss returned to the shop later that afternoon. The snow had stopped falling. Honey’s cheeks were rosy from the cold wind, but an excited light was in her eyes.
“I got the loan,” she announced.
“Yes!” Candy exclaimed.
“Hell yeah!” Mercedes and all her other staff—Aisha, Sonya, Terry, and Peaches—chimed in from their workstations.
“I can begin construction as soon as the permit is ready.” Honey frowned, then mumbled, “That is ... as soon as I can find my brotha’s worthless ass.”
Mercedes stopped applying styling gel to a customer’shair long enough to point toward the back of the building. “Speak of the devil, Rashad’s in your office.”
Honey’s eyes widened with delight. She quickly removedher jacket and headed toward the rear. Entering her private office, she found him sitting behind her desk on the phone.
“Get off my phone,” she mouthed while trying to keep a straight face. Her recent good fortune kept her from truly getting an attitude. However, after her last encounter with one of her brother’s women—who took it upon herself to dial star-sixty-nine to find out what number Rashad was calling from, then bark, “Who da hell is dis?”—Honey had banned him from using her office telephone.
Rashad dropped his brand-new Jordans from the edge of her desk and put a fingertip to his full lips, signaling for her to be silent. Honey, in turn, propped a hand on her hip, then pressed her lips tight with false annoyance and tried to disguise her admiration.
Both of her brothers were fine, but Rashad had always been the looker. While Honey inherited petite features like her mother, Rashad took after their no-good-ass father,with a tough, stocky build and broad shoulders that filled his green and white jogging suit. His complexion was similar to his sister’s, and also considered “high yellow.”He had sandy brown hair that was startling against his fair skin, and eyes so gray they were often mistaken for contacts. With large fingers wrapped around the receiver,he ran his tongue across thick, sensual lips surroundedby a carefully trimmed goatee.
“Boo, I’ll holla at you tonight,” he whispered into the receiver, trying to keep his sister from overhearing.
Honey, finding his discomfort amusing, suppressed a chuckle and edged across the desk.
Giving her an annoyed look, Rashad swiveled the chair away from her outstretched ear and told the unseencaller, “All right, baby, later.” Turning back around, he hung up the receiver, leaned back, and grumbled, “Damn! Can’t a brotha have privacy?” Then his face melted into a buttery smile.
Honey clicked her teeth, resisting a grin. “Not in my office you can’t. Out of my seat,” she said, pointing her thumb at the door.
Rashad pushed out of the chair, surging to his full height of six feet, and perched his hip on the end of her desk.
“I haven’t heard from your ass in almost two weeks.” Honey rose on tiptoe and planted a kiss on his cheek, then stood back with arms folded beneath her breasts. “Whatcha been up to?” When younger, she often felt like the big sister, especially when Rashad worried their mother about his whereabouts.
Rashad smiled and tilted his head, then said, “You know I’m always doing a lil’ somethin’ somethin’.”
Honey pursed her lips before replying, “Uh-huh. That’s what I’m afraid of.” Suddenly, that little somethin’caught her attention. She leaned forward to take a closer look. “Is that another gold tooth?”
Rashad nodded with pride. There wasn’t much he could get past his little sister. Widening his smile, he gave Honey a clear view of all three gold crowns dominatingthe front of his mouth.
Honey groaned at the gold open-faced heart that added to his collection and walked around her desk, shaking her head. St. Louis had the reputation of being the gold-tooth capital of the Midwest. With Rashad, Mercedes, half of their clients, and the cashiers at Church’s Chicken, she could no longer argue the statistic.“You look straight-up ghetto,” she said.
He waved a dismissive hand at his sister’s disapproval. “Damn, sis. I thought you’d be happy to see a nigga.” Pulling a stick of chewing gum from his pocket, Rashad quickly stuffed it into his mouth. When she chose to roll her eyes instead of commenting, he decided to change the subject. “How’d it go at the bank?”
Lowering into her chair, Honey nodded, amazed that he had remembered, but she found herself often surprisedby her unpredictable brother. “It’s on like popcorn.I got the loan.”
Even though her face was unchanged, he heard the excitement in her voice. “All right, lil’ sis!” Rashad gave her a high five, then slapped his palms together roughly as if they were on fire. “Shit, I knew my hands were burnin’ for some reason. So when do we get down to business?”
“I’ll get the check on Tuesday.” Honey leaned forwardin her chair and pointed a stern finger at him. “But let me tell you something, Rashad Dante Love ...” She narrowed her eyes. “I�
��m not putting up with any of your shit.”
Rashad sucked his teeth. “Girl, puhleeze.”
“Don’t ‘girl, puhleeze’ me!” She planted both hands on the desk and rose out of her chair. “If you’re gonna do this job for me, you’re gonna have to forget I’m your sister and think of me as one of your clients.”
“Yeah, what-the-fuck-ever.” His lips twisted. “I know how to handle my business.”
“Good, then we shouldn’t have any problems,” she said. She knew the saying “never mix family with business,”but she was proud of Rashad. Even though she was giving him shit, Honey knew he was the best man for the job. He was a skilled laborer who learned the job while working as an apprentice for an older gentlemanwho’d taken him under his wing many years ago. There wasn’t much Rashad couldn’t do. He was an all-aroundjourneyman, and because of it, Honey knew she’d get top-quality work at half the price.
The only problem was making sure his ass came to work. Rashad had a tendency to get a little lazy, and from time to time, he seemed to drop off the face of the earth. “I’ll have the plans for the addition drawn up on Friday,” she said. “Then you can get me an estimate on the cost of materials.”
“Not a problem.” He smiled in the old, familiar way that used to make her relinquish the last cookie in the jar, but was all business when he said, “I’m lookin’ forward to workin’ with you.” Extending his hand, they shook.
“Don’t make me regret this.” Honey rolled her eyes and returned to her seat. “Mom advised me not to even fuck with your sorry ass.” She remembered all of the projects Rashad had started at their mother’s house that he had yet to complete. Rashad’s excuse was “Freebies are done when I have free time.”
Rashad scowled at being scolded like a child. “Good ole’ Mom, what would we do without her?” He’d moved around her desk and now stood across from her. Having enough of his sister’s nagging, he shifted to something of mutual interest. “Whadda you want to do for her birthday?”
When It Rains... Page 6