Easier Said Than Done

by Nikki Woods

  “Kingston,” Keela said as she braked at a red light and looked at me. “You’re not saying anything.”

  I shrugged and picked at some chipped polish on my nails. “Sorry, but there’s not much to tell; just a lot of family drama. It’s sad the things relatives will do over money—money, no one even knew Mama Grace had.” Adjusting the vents on the dashboard, I said, “But I can’t be worried about that. I’m have to call my grandmother’s attorney in the morning, break down my situation and see what he says. As far as Damon goes, well, he’s the same old Damon. I’ll tell you everything when we see Essence so I don’t have to repeat it. I’m just glad to be home and away from all that mess.”

  “Have you called Randy?”

  “No, and don’t plan on it.” Randy hadn’t crossed my mind in close to three days and I didn’t want to think about him now. Of course, I left out the part that Randy hadn’t bothered to get in touch with me either.

  Keela started to push for more details, but one look at my frown and she let it rest, rambling about baby stuff for the remainder of the ride home. Vertebrae by vertebrae, I relaxed. Now that I was home, I could work on trying to get some semblance of normalcy back into what had become my life.

  * * *

  Two hours later, after making a drive-by stop at my house to dump my suitcases and calling Jonetta to let her know I had made it home—Essence, Keela, and I sat around a high round table at a local pub on 51st street. We smiled as the waitress set frosty mugs of Margaritas in front of us. Essence and I had requested ours be made with double shots of Grand Marnier while Keela’s was non-alcoholic.

  “I’ll be right back with your appetizers.” The waitress flashed a dazzling smile before swishing off to the next table.

  After two sips, Essence turned to me. “Start talking.”

  “You guys don’t waste any time, do you?” I kidded. “Can I take a sip first?”

  “Yes,” she answered with a straight face, “but just one.”

  “You are a trip!” I threw my head back, laughing so loudly that people sitting near us also looked to see what the commotion was about. Essence didn’t find it funny at all.

  Clearing my throat, I said, “Everything was a mess. Come to find out during the reading of the will, Mama Grace was a millionaire. Can you believe it? A millionaire,” I repeated as their faces reflected their shock. “I was sending her money every month like she was barely scraping by and she was sitting on a truckload of dough. Apparently, she saved all of her money and invested wisely.”

  I took another sip, the lime from the margarita tickling the roof of my mouth. “She put the majority of the money into an estate trust fund, designed to support different programs like scholarships, but here’s the kicker—she allotted thirty thousand dollars a year to help Damon with his clinic. And to top it off, Mama Grace chosen me to be the administrator. She left me the house and everything. So you know my aunt and uncle are up in arms because they feel they’ve been cheated out of some huge inheritance.”

  Keela and Essence sat back, taking it all in. Their eyes widened when I mentioned the part about Damon, but they didn’t say anything. They would work their way back to that juicy tidbit, wanting to clear up the preliminaries first.

  “How are you going to be the administrator of a fund in Jamaica when you live in Chicago?” Essence raised an eyebrow. Before I answered, the waitress placed our Buffalo wings and mozzarella cheese sticks on the table.

  I filled a plate. “I have no idea. I’ll be talking to the attorney first thing in the morning. In her letter, Mama Grace said that she left me the house in order to,” I used my fingers as quotation marks, “encourage me to stay and take care of the estate fund. But I can’t see giving up my life here. Damon thinks she did it to bring us back together.”

  “Why would he think that?” Keela munched on a hot, spicy chicken drummette, licking stray sauce from the corner of her mouth.

  “Isn’t that going to give you gas?” I asked, concerned at the amount of wings Keela was consuming. “I’ve heard about how delicate the stomachs of pregnant women can be.”

  “Trust me,” Essence cut in. “That hasn’t been a problem for her. She eats like food is going out of style.” She twisted her nose and looked at Keela’s belly. “You’re gonna be so fat.”

  Keela made a face and kept right on eating. “Don’t try to change the subject, answer my question.”

  “Apparently he spent a lot of time talking to Mama Grace while he was taking care of her and I guess some of those conversations were about me.”

  Essence wiped her mouth with a napkin. “Yeah, but to think based on those conversations, she would leave you the house just to get you and Damon back together seems like a stretch. There’s got to be more to it than that,” she concluded, signaling the waitress for another drink.

  I blushed and stuffed a cheese stick in my mouth. “I knew it! There is more,” Essence declared, clapping her hands and pointing at me. “Why do I always have to pull teeth with you, Kingston?”

  “All right.” I held up my hands in surrender. “There’s more. Damon and I talked after Mama Grace’s funeral. We went back to his house where he tried to explain why things happened the way they did. It wasn’t the best of explanation, but I guess it was better than nothing.”

  “Yada, yada, yada,” Essence said and motioned with her hands. “Get to the good part.”

  “She’s working her way to it, Essence, be patient,” Keela chastised and put her hand lightly over Essence’s mouth.

  “We talked in his hot tub,” I admitted, ducking my head.

  “See, I told you. That’s what I’m talking about, Kingston.” She slapped palms with Essence, then held her hand up to me for a high five, which I gave to her half-heartedly, still a bit ashamed that I let my guard down so easily.

  “We talked in his hot tub and then, we didn’t talk in the hot tub.” I popped another cheese stick in my mouth.

  “You did the nasty with Damon! Such a slut!” Essence said, before sticking a finger in her mouth, then touching it to her butt. “A sizzling hot mama!”

  “Shhhh, Essence, people are staring,” I said and leaned forward. “It started innocently enough. We were drinking wine and talking, then he told me he loved me and it was pretty much over.”

  Essence put her face right up in mine and tugged on a stray curl of hair. “So, let me get this straight. All he had to do was tell you that he loves you and you fell right back into step?”

  I slapped her hand away. “I wouldn’t put it like that. I agree I got caught up in the moment. But I’m not falling back into anything and I made that clear to Damon.”

  “But he said that he loves you,” Keela offered with a raise of her eyebrows as if that was supposed to make everything better.

  “So what?” Essence sneered. “We’re back to happily ever after and all that shit?”

  “He left me and for ten years never said a word. ‘I love you’ does not always make it better. I’m a single woman thanks to Randy’s trifling ass and I’m going to enjoy it, not jump right back into anything—with Damon or anyone else.”

  Keela’s eyes danced. “So, how was it? Good?”

  “Mind blowing,” I said, nibbling on a carrot, laughing at their shocked expressions.

  Essence snapped her mouth shut, then asked, “Really? That good?”

  “Better than it was ten years ago, if that’s possible. He wanted me to spend the night and I didn’t want to leave, but then I started thinking of the pain I went though when he left and just couldn’t. I was tempted, though. It was like we were in some kind of time warp, like we were back together again.” Images of Damon’s sweaty body covering mine popped into my mind and my eyes closed automatically, every nerve tingling.

  “Oh girl, you are so gone.” Essence balled up her napkin and threw it on top of a stack of clean chicken bones.

  Nodding, I picked up a celery stick and dipped it in the bleu cheese dressing. “I know, but there’s nothing
I can do but get over it—again. How in the world can Damon and I be together now?” I finished off the last of my Margarita and pasted on a smile that made my mouth hurt. “ Such is life.”

  We sat in silence for a few minutes, finishing what was left of the food.

  “When are you going back to work?” Keela finally asked. I dabbed at a spot of hot sauce on my sleeve. I had just bought this shirt and already it was ruined. I swore softly before answering. “ I need a couple of days to think, get my head together, but tomorrow’s Sunday so if I can get some rest, figure things out, I may be ready to go back to the office on Monday. With everything that needs to get done, now is not the time for me to be out for too long. Besides, I’m really itching to get Scooby’s project off the ground, and laying around feeling sorry for myself is not going to make that happen.”

  “Ooh!” Keela exclaimed and with excitement flashing in her eyes, dropped her voice to a conspiratorial whisper. “I forgot. Remember my girlfriend Lola Baker? She said she saw Randy at his company’s annual Christmas fundraiser. Her current man works in the same department as Randy or something like that. She told me that Randy was all over that white girl—lots of public displays of affection. Didn’t he always tell you that he was against that—kissing in public and stuff? Well, Lola said that she had on this little piece of triangular material that didn’t leave anything to the imagination, had all the old white managers drooling. If you ask me, Randy is using her to help him climb the corporate ladder.” She sniped, “What happened to the modeling career he was so fired up about?”

  “I’m not thinking about Randy,” I retorted. “Don’t get me wrong, I wish him well, but I’ve never been able to remain friends with an ex—they’re exes for a reason. I’m certainly not going to waste any energy helping him further his career. Handling my own career is enough. Add everything else in there..." My words trailed off as I thought about Mama Grace and her will, then about Damon, and all the energy drained out of me.

  Keela smiled sympathetically as I shrugged my shoulders and fought back the tears. “ You’ve been through a lot. Just relax. If you’re not ready on Monday, then you’re not ready.”

  “Keela’s right, Kingston. Lord knows I need a couple of days off.”

  I shook my head. “You always need a couple days off.”

  “Working gives you wrinkles,” she shot back.

  “Are you really needing some time off or are you just trying to sneak off with your new man?” Keela asked Essence as she unfolded a Wet Ones and proceeded to clean the hot sauce off her hands.

  “What new man?”

  “You know what we’re talking about,” I replied.

  “No, I don’t.” Essence puffed up and pushed her plate to the middle of the table. “We almost ready to go?”

  I slurped up what remained in my glass then looked for the waitress. “I want one more drink.”

  “Okay. Be back, gotta potty.” Essence grabbed her purse and headed for the bathroom.

  “Anything for you?” I asked Keela after placing my order with the waitress.

  “No, I’m good. I can feel the other two already kicking in. It’s my turn to teach Sunday school at church. Gotta be ready for the babies in the morning.”

  “Yours didn’t have any alcohol in them,” I reminded her.

  “Yeah, but I think they gave me a double shot of strawberry.” Keela started to search through her purse for her wallet when a cell phone started vibrating on the table. “Yours?” she asked.

  “Nope, I left mine in the car on the charger. I’m not trying to talk to anybody right now.” The waitress set my drink in front of me, then checked the bill before sliding it on the table.

  “I’ll take it when you’re ready,” she said before hustling off to the next customer. The phone vibrated again.

  “It's Essence’s cell.” She grinned. “Watch this.” Picking up the phone, she spoke quietly, mischievously, trying to disguise her voice. “Hello?” Her smile disappeared and the light faded from her eyes. Her lower lip quivered. When she spoke again, it was with cold fury. “Why the hell would you be calling Essence? Whatever. God, I hate you,” Keela whispered before hanging up and replacing the cell phone on the table, the rage bubbling in her eyes.

  “What’s wrong, Keela?” I covered her hand with mine, but she yanked it away.

  “Nothing.” She threw fifty dollars on the table, then stood up so suddenly she almost knocked the stool over.

  Oblivious to the curious stares from those around us, I repeated, “Keela,” but she just looked at me before turning on her heel and storming out of the restaurant.

  “Keela!” I yelled after her, but she didn’t even pause. I ran to try and catch her when Essence walked up and grabbed my arm. “What just happened?” she asked. “Keela flew past me as I was coming out of the bathroom and didn’t say a word.”

  “I have no idea.” I shrugged and pointed to the phone on the table. “We were getting our stuff together, your cell phone rang and playing around, she answered it. Then she flew outta here. It must be something the person said to her.” I grasped at straws, “but she didn’t say who it was.”

  Essence snatched her phone before I finished my sentence and scrolled through the menu to find the last call received. Her eyes became as wide as saucers, and her hand flew to her mouth. “I gotta go after her. Explain things.” She slammed her phone in her purse and walked away, her face pale, as if she had seen a ghost.

  “Wait!” I screamed. “What is going on? Who was on the phone? Tell me something.” My voice echoed through the room. Once again the click and clanking of utensils and glasses ceased, and I felt all eyes on me.

  Essence stopped dead in her tracks and spun to face me.

  “Who was it?” I roared at her again.

  “Brandon.”

  “Keela’s Brandon?”

  She didn’t answer, but then again she didn’t have too. She lowered her eyes and when she looked at me again, they appeared hollow as if all the joy had been chased right out of them.

  My heart sank.

  Chapter 20

  Lake Shore Drive was a mess.. Thick flakes of snow fell in sheets, blanketing the roads, causing cars to slide every which way. Traffic was at a crawl.

  On an emotional roller coaster for almost a week now and with this latest bump, I was tired; tired and confused. I couldn’t reach either Keela or Essence on their cell phones, so I was in the dark about what had transpired after they had run off into the night. I watched the windshield wipers swoosh across the glass, making perfect arcs out of the snow, as I asked the same question that Keela had posed to her boyfriend while on the phone earlier.

  Why the hell would Brandon be calling Essence? And if it had been an innocent call, why wouldn’t Essence just offer an explanation on the spot? It made her appear guilty. But guilty of what? I stopped myself before even trying to answer that question. I didn’t want to get ahead of myself. I knew Keela and Essence. I mean, really knew them. We’d been best friends for almost fifteen years. I knew what each of us was capable of and what lines wouldn’t be crossed under any circumstances. Didn’t I? Sure, Essence had been known to date a married man or two. Yes, she had slept with other women’s boyfriends and not even blinked. I slung the uncertainties to the back of my mind and concentrated on the road. With no proof that she had crossed that invisible line, there was no use in getting all worked up. All I had right now were assumptions.

  Hoping for some distraction, I flipped on the radio and sang along with Mint Condition, but nothing could take my mind off the earlier scene in the restaurant. I merged into traffic, exiting onto 47th street and checked my cell phone, but the display flashed zero new calls. Not wanting to be alone, I pointed my car south and drove to the kennel.

  Open 24 hours, the Paw House Hotel looked just like a miniature Holiday Inn. A painting of a droopy-eyed beagle with a Toucan parrot sitting on its back was plastered just perpendicular to the front door. Other than a blue Volvo with a dented
rear bumper, the parking lot was deserted.

  Barks blended with meows greeted me as I stepped through the door, my arrival announced by a tinkering bell. Legs were propped on the counter, a hand thumbed through a calculus book, and a head bobbed to a silent beat. By all appearances, the front desk attendant couldn’t have been any older than sixteen.

  “Can I help you?” Snatching a pair of headphones from her head, she asked the question with a pop of gum and bounced to her feet. Her brunette ponytail swayed as she punched some keys on the computer, scrolling through several screens. I peered at her crooked nametag. Missy. I should have known.

  “I’m here to pick up my dog, Cocoa.”

  “The chocolate Lab?”

  “That’s her.” I pulled out my Visa as she punched a few more buttons, then yanked a freshly printed sheet from the machine behind her and laid it neatly on the countertop.

  “Here’s your bill. Why don’t you look it over while I go get Cocoa and we’ll get you all checked out?” The pair of Reebok Crossfits disappeared around the corner and I glanced at my cell phone again. Still nothing. Heartworm pamphlets were displayed next to the computer and I made a mental note to schedule an appointment for Cocoa’s annual checkup.

  Toenails clicking on the green tile floor brought a smile to my face. Cocoa bounded around the corner, dragging Missy behind her. She picked up my scent and her tail started whipping, almost causing her to turn in a circle. Dropping to one knee, I suffered through a fierce tongue lapping spurred on by ear scratching and baby talk.

  “Everything okay?” Missy asked as she swiped my Visa through the credit card machine.

  I nodded, stuck the receipt in my purse and turned to leave.

  “By the way, your friend’s boyfriend is gorgeous. He oughta be a model or something. But then she looked like one, too.” She smiled and fitted her headphones back over her ears.