The Savvy Sistahs

by Brenda Jackson

  She flipped her calendar to the month of November. The St. Laurent was one of the hosting hotels for the Florida Classic, the big rival football game between Bethune Cookman College and Florida A and M University. Over a hundred thousand people were expected in town, which meant hundreds of guests would be arriving expecting top-notch service, which she and her staff intended to give them. Things were going to be insane and she was going to love every minute of it.

  She checked her watch again, knowing she had to get moving. She had several meetings she needed to attend, including one with Roy Foster, her personnel manager, to discuss the extra staff she’d hired in preparation for the Florida Classic. She also had a meeting with Perry Hall, her security manager. He had called earlier stating there was a matter he needed to discuss with her. She hoped nothing was wrong. If there were any more screw-ups today, she really would scream.

  Then again, she probably wouldn’t. She was way too dignified, too much of a professional to ever let loose like that. And she refused to get stressed out over her mother. Valerie would have to deal with her own problems with the Bennett family because Brandy had enough on her plate. God knows her mother could be such a drama queen sometimes. And as for Lorenzo’s unexpected visit with an offer to buy the hotel, she hoped that he’d gotten her message loud and clear.

  Her thoughts drifted to the dinner she’d had with Carla and Amber last week. While celebrating their individual successes, the three of them had shared moments in their pasts, and she couldn’t help but admire how they had overcome very bad times in their lives. She appreciated Carla and Amber’s friendship and enjoyed doing things with them like going shopping, going out to dinner, and taking in chick flicks. And they were totally honest when their opinions and thoughts were solicited. They didn’t play games with each other, since they had been involved with men who’d played enough games with them to last a lifetime.

  When she returned from California, it would be time for her monthly Savvy Sistahs Mean Business meeting. They tried to meet at least twice a month for their sistah-circle dinner. It was during those times that they focused on the challenges they faced in their relationships at work and at home, drawing on the experience and the wisdom they’d obtained to help each other out. Also, each time they met, someone was charged with bringing to the table some sort of principle they’d discovered for total emotional and spiritual fulfillment. It was something they had come to think of as “food for the soul.” The sistah-circle was meant to uplift each of them and it always did. They talked about everything—their faith in God, their fear of failures, their fear of giving their hearts to the wrong man…again, and how to go about chipping away at the insecurities they each harbored.

  The last time they’d met, Amber had been the one who’d brought the principle to the table, one they would dwell on for the remainder of the month and talk about again at the next meeting. The principle Amber had shared was one of true happiness. That night they had left the restaurant believing that you weren’t actually free until you felt happy and secure within yourself, and that true happiness was something no one could ever take away from you.

  What Brandy had told Lorenzo was true. She no longer felt anything for him. She had grown beyond that point in her life and was too busy trying to discover her own source of joy, true happiness, and contentment to waste time dwelling on all the pain he and Jolene had once caused her.

  Beginning tomorrow, she would be spending a week with her cousins. As she picked up her briefcase and purse and headed for the door, a smile touched her lips. Although they made it a point to have a conference call at least once a week, it had been almost six months since she’d seen her cousins, and she was looking forward to seeing them again.

  Brandy came down the stairs of her cousin Alexia’s beautiful California beach home and entered the huge family room where most of the guests had gathered. She had arrived over an hour ago and had only taken time to freshen up. Alexia was a nationally known recording artist and was married to Quinn Masters, a highly successful entertainment attorney.

  Glancing across the room she saw Alexia talking with some of her guests. Tall, dark, and breathtakingly stunning, Alexia Bennett-Masters looked and carried herself like a professional model and was the epitome of femininity. It was hard to believe that during her childhood there had been some family members who’d considered her the “ugly duckling,” since she’d been born with skin darker than most Bennetts, and had unruly hair and a weight problem.

  It was only when Brandy saw all the people in attendance that she remembered the birthday party was a joint affair. Alexia’s husband Quinn’s twin sister, Quinece, had also given birth to a set of twins, two beautiful girls, a week before Alexia, so the birthday party was for all four children.

  Or was it a party for the adults, Brandy thought as she glanced around. In addition to a number of Bennett family members, it seemed that Quinn’s entire family, the Masterses, were there. From attending Alexia and Quinn’s wedding, she knew Quinn had come from a rather large family—seven siblings in all, who were spread all over the country. It seemed everyone had reunited to celebrate the birthdays of Quinn’s and Quinece’s offspring.

  “You’re all settled in?”

  Brandy turned to her cousin Taye. Like Alexia and Rae’jean, Taye was her first cousin and the four of them were the same age. Michael, Taye’s husband, was thirty-five and the adoptive grandson of Henry Bennett, her grandfather Ethan’s first cousin. When Michael and Taye professed their love for each other almost three years ago, some members of the Bennett family had gone bonkers. Although Michael had been adopted into the Bennett family at birth, everyone had always considered him blood and in their minds a love affair between Taye and Michael was akin to incest. It was only after Grampa Ethan and Cousin Henry had given their blessings over the match that the family had accepted it and moved on.

  Taye was the cousin everyone had considered “the smart one” while growing up. A math whiz, she now owned an accounting business in Atlanta. She was holding her eighteen-month-old son by the hand. She had named him Ethan Henry Bennett, in honor of Grampa Ethan and Cousin Henry.

  “Yes, I finished unpacking,” Brandy said in response to Taye’s question. “The flight was rather rough to say the least.” She looked at the little boy whose hand Taye held and studied his features, trying to determine if he looked more like Taye or Michael, and quickly decided he looked like the both of them. He had his father’s forehead and lips and his mother’s eyes and nose. “He’s adorable, Taye.”

  Taye beamed proudly. “Thank you.”

  “How are the girls adjusting to him?” she asked of Taye’s two teenage daughters, Sebrina and Monica, and of Michael’s daughter, Kennedy.

  Taye chuckled. “Oh, they’re a big help until he poops in his diaper. Then they are quick to bring him back to me to take care of.”

  Brandy laughed. “You can’t blame them there.”

  Taye shook her head. “No, I guess not.”

  “Don’t get too close to that kid or you’ll start looking like me,” Rae’jean Bennett Garrison said as she joined the group.

  Brandy looked at Rae’jean’s pregnant state and smiled. Rae’jean had always been the one everybody in the family considered “the pretty one” with her light-skinned features and naturally straight medium brown hair. A cardiologist who lived in Boston, Rae’jean was married to Ryan Garrison, a private investigator who specialized in missing persons. The two had met when Rae’jean had begun a come-hell-or-high-water search for her biological father. Now she was happily married with a baby less than a year old and another one on the way.

  “I don’t think you have to worry about that,” Brandy said, grinning. “I can’t remember the last time I was involved with a man. I’ve been too busy.”

  “A Bennett not serious about a man? You’re kidding,” Alexia said, coming to join the group. “I thought I was the only Bennett who could play that game. At least until I met Quinn.”

  A
concerned glint appeared in Taye’s eyes as she gazed at Brandy. “I hope you don’t plan to cut all men out of your life just because of what Lorenzo did, Brandy. I went through a similar thing after finding out that Monica’s father was a married man. I thought all men were liars, cheaters, and the scum of the earth. It took me ten years to find out how wrong I’d been in thinking that way.”

  “I haven’t become a man-hater, Taye. I’m just not ready to get seriously involved with anyone. I want to be by myself for a while, to get to know the real Brandy Bennett.”

  “And after you get to know the real Brandy Bennett, then what?” Rae’jean asked, eyeing her curiously.

  Brandy smiled as she remembered the last conversation she’d had with her grandfather and the things he had asked her to consider. She had called to tell him she had broken off her on-the-rebound engagement to Grant and that she had accepted a teaching position in Singapore. He had told her that there was no place she could run to for happiness until she was happy with herself. After talking to him that night, she had decided not to take the teaching position and instead stay in the States and take control of her own destiny. That was when she’d made the decision to manage and operate her hotel.

  “After getting to know the real me, then maybe I can find true happiness,” she said, finally answering Rae’jean’s question. “This has nothing to do with Lorenzo but is all about me. I need to figure out what will make me happy and content. I’m striving to become a take-charge woman, a woman who’s strong, self-reliant, and, more than anything, self-confident. I don’t want to be a need-a-man kind of woman,” she said softly. “I’ve been there and done that.”

  “Then my prayer is that you find true happiness, Brandy,” Rae’jean said, reaching out and giving Brandy a hug.

  “Ours, too,” Alexia and Taye chimed in, also giving her hugs.

  Brandy sighed deeply when they released her. It was times like this that it was hard to believe that while growing up they didn’t get along. Rae’jean, Taye, and Alexia had always been close, but thanks to her mother Valerie, Brandy had always felt like a step-cousin. That insecurity had always kept the four of them at odds with each other.

  “Okay, this is not the time to get sentimental,” Rae’jean said, wiping a tear.

  “Yeah, but I bet Grampa Ethan and Gramma Idella are in heaven smiling from ear to ear. They’d always wanted peace, harmony, and love between us, you know.”

  Yes, Brandy did know, and she was glad that her grandparents’ wish had truly come to pass.

  A few minutes later, Brandy found herself alone when Quinn, Ryan, and Michael came to claim their wives for some task or another. She then caught sight of her brother in the swimming pool. She and Victor Junior, who was three years older than she, had the same father but different mothers. He was a married man but still managed to take the word player to another level. From the looks of things it seemed that he had conveniently left his wife at home.

  Brandy was crossing the room to refill her punch glass when she happened to notice a man whose profile was toward her. He was standing alone on the patio watching the kids play in the pool. She wondered who he was, and when he leaned against a wall she had an unsettling thought of just how alone he appeared. He turned slightly and she got a better look at him, and the resemblance to Quinn was astounding. He was definitely a good-looking man and the woman in her couldn’t help but appreciate just how good he looked.

  “It’s good seeing you again, Brandy.”

  Brandy shifted her gaze from the intriguing gentleman to the woman who’d come to stand next to her at the punch bowl. She smiled. “It’s good seeing you again, too, Quinece. I can’t believe how big the twins have gotten,” she said of the two little girls who were sitting at the edge of the pool with their father.

  Quinece smiled. “Yeah, they’re growing up rather quickly. It seems like I just gave birth to them yesterday and now they’re two years old already.”

  Brandy glanced at the man standing alone on the patio and cleared her throat. “That guy over there in the jeans and blue shirt, he has to be your brother but I don’t recall meeting him at Alexia and Quinn’s wedding,” she said.

  Quinece’s gaze followed hers and a sad smile touched her lips. “Yes, that’s my brother Grey. He’s a year older than me and Quinn, and for the longest time everyone thought that he and Quinn were the twins since they look so much alike.”

  Quinece then released a sigh. “He wasn’t at the wedding because a month before it took place, his wife was killed in a car accident. Grey took Gloria’s death hard and hasn’t been himself since then. He blames himself for her death.”

  At Brandy’s questioning gaze, Quinece said, “Grey was a FBI agent at the time, head of an undercover operation to expose this international baby-selling ring. He’d been away from home for quite a while and his absences had always been a sore spot with Gloria. He had planned to return a few days before the accident but got detained. She was on her way to visit a friend when the accident happened. Of course Grey feels had he come home when he was supposed to, the accident wouldn’t have happened.”

  Quinece blinked back her tears. “And although all of us have tried convincing him that that may not have been the case, he still feels responsible for her death.” She smiled that same sad smile again. “Grey used to be the life of any Masters party.” She shrugged. “Now, he’s like a stranger. Chances are he’ll be gone before the day is over.”

  Brandy nodded, not knowing what to say as a rush of sorrow ran through her. And here she thought she had problems.

  “Excuse me for a second,” Quinece was saying. “Kendall is summoning me over. Evidently one or both of the girls are in need of a potty break. I’ll chat with you later.”

  Brandy nodded as she watched Quinece cross the patio to her husband, Kendall, who handed her one of the twins. She then turned her attention back to Grey Masters. A shiver touched her and her breath caught in her throat when she saw he had turned and was looking directly at her. His eyes were dark, penetrating, and she was suddenly flooded with a sensation that totally unnerved her.

  She drew in a deep, steadying breath as her pulse began to race, and she inwardly asked herself what there was about the man that was jarring her senses, her mind…and her body. The undeniably disconcerting effect he had on her made her want to run for cover. He wasn’t smiling nor was he frowning. His expression was unreadable, distant, and impersonal; yet she could not downplay the tingling of desire he elicited from deep within her. It may have been one-sided, but it was something she hadn’t felt in a long time.

  Finally he turned away, presenting his back to her. She quickly took a sip of her punch and tried to shake off the disturbing feeling that Grey Masters was definitely a dangerous man to any woman’s well-being.

  She heard one of the kids let out a chilling scream as they jumped into the pool, and turned to make sure no one was hurt. A few seconds later when she glanced back she noticed that Grey Masters was gone.

  A week later Brandy was back in Orlando. She entered her office, kicked off her shoes, and dropped her briefcase on the floor. At the moment she didn’t give a royal flip that it was a Louis Vuitton, one of a kind that she had paid well over a thousand dollars for. She was too mad to think about it.

  She had just ended a lengthy meeting with Wilbur Green, her food and beverage manager. They were not seeing eye to eye. Brandy wanted the poolside snack bar’s hours extended, since from the written feedback she had gotten from hotel guests, the change in hours would have made their stay at the St. Laurent more pleasurable. But Wilbur Green felt that, like in the past, they would put out more money to operate the snack bar than they would bring in.

  Brandy sighed deeply. Evidently somewhere in the mix of things Wilbur had forgotten that she was the one who made the final decisions on what she wanted and didn’t want for the hotel; further, it seemed the man lacked vision. Every time she made a suggestion he quickly followed it with a “But Mr. Ballentine never did it
that way.” She’d had to keep a firm grip on her lips to stop from saying anything that would make her openly clash with the man. She had appreciated his opinions but he had to realize that she was the one in charge, not Lorenzo. And she had the final word.

  Brandy was bending down to pick her briefcase up off the floor when she saw a vase holding a single red rose sitting in the center of her desk. She smiled, thinking that someone was glad she was back from California and had been thoughtful.

  Walking over to her desk, she lifted the vase and took a sniff of the red rose. It smelled heavenly. She placed the vase back down on her desk and picked up the card that had been left beside it.

  She quickly opened it, and moments later her hands began to shake.

  Welcome back. I’ve missed you. I think it’s time you know that I’ve been watching you for quite some time and I like what I see. I want you and I will have you.

  The Man

  Chapter 2

  Carla

  Will there be anything else, Ms. Osborne?” Carla smiled, her expression thoughtful as she tilted her head back. It had been a long day and she was looking forward to its ending. “Yes, one other thing. I still have to make a decision about James Mason’s party.”

  Her secretary, Michelle Winthrop, nodded as she placed her writing pad aside. Michelle had started working as her secretary last year and had come highly recommended from her retiring secretary, Ora Hansberry. Ora had been with the company longer than anyone, starting out as Carla’s father, Craig Osborne’s, secretary right out of high school. Michelle was Ora’s granddaughter, so of course she would have nothing but high praise for her. But Michelle had the goods to back up the praise. She had attended two years of junior college and was now attending night classes at the University of Central Florida to obtain a degree in Business Administration. The two of them worked well together and Michelle was turning out to be as efficient a secretary as her grandmother had been.