Diamond Playgirls

by Daaimah S. Poole; Miasha; King Deja; T. Styles

  “Maurice, I have to go.”

  “Go where?” he asked.

  “Home.”

  “Are you serious?” He looked at her like she was crazy.

  “Very.” She grabbed her coat and headed for the door.

  “Hold on, hold on,” he said finally. “Let me help you catch a cab. I am a gentleman, you know.”

  “No, that’s okay. I’ll be fine. I’m sure we’ll talk tomorrow.”

  Once the cold air hit Tamara she was relieved that she left Maurice. She then realized she wanted her job more than she wanted him.

  “Hello,” Tamara said groggily into the intercom.

  “Hi, it’s me. Kyra,” a cheerful, vibrant voice answered.

  Tamara glanced over at the clock as she buzzed Kyra in. The girl was twenty minutes early, just as she had been since her first day.

  Kyra was really a godsend. Initially, Tamara thought it would be strange to have someone in her apartment, but it wasn’t. Tamara treated Kyra like a little project that she wanted to mold. She wanted to dress and teach her like a big sister. And even though they were cool, Kyra didn’t take Tamara for granted. She was very respectful and professional.

  Kyra walked in and handed her a cup of Dunkin’ Donuts coffee. “Want me to get started with the follow-up calls? I know exactly where I left off yesterday.”

  Tamara nodded as she gratefully took a sip of the hot brew. “I’m going to be making some calls, too. Hopefully between the two of us we can work some magic today.” She smiled. “We’ve got to earn our pay, you know.”

  Actually, things were going much smoother. She had yet to meet up with Maurice again, though they had spoken several times over the telephone. He had never mentioned what happened, but she hoped that they could face each other in person without it being too uncomfortable.

  “Hi, yes, this is Tamara Murphy. May I speak to Elizabeth Shoemaker?”

  “Yes, this is she. You’ve called me four times in the last two days. How may I help you?”

  “Hi, I wanted to invite your client Ayinde to the grand opening of the Onyx Lounge nightclub.”

  “Well—”

  Before the woman could finish, Tamara hurried on. “We’re so looking forward to her attending. We have a hotel room for her, and we’ll be glad to make the travel arrangements. First class, of course.”

  “Oh, well, what did you say the date was?”

  “February thirteenth. The day before Valentine’s Day, so of course we’ll make sure to have a complimentary bottle of Moët and large box of chocolates,” Tamara said quickly. “I think I read that she’s partial to strawberry-dipped chocolates, right? And of course everything she wants at the club will be comped.”

  She was laying it on thick, but after all, Maurice did say money wouldn’t be an object, and Ayinde was the hottest new actress on the scene. There was even talk about her getting a Golden Globe award for her latest movie, and she was scheduled to start a new film with Spike Lee.

  “Well, her schedule just happens to be free that day, so yes, I’m sure she’ll be glad to come,” the publicist said finally. “And she will, of course, be in the VIP section?”

  “But of course!” Tamara patted herself on the shoulder as she hung up and put a checkmark by Ayinde’s name.

  Tamara looked at the next item on her to-do list and smiled. She wasn’t sure why, but this was a call she was really looking forward to making. She put on her flirtatious voice and said, “Hello. Hi, Aaron, this is Tamara Murphy. Shaunell introduced us at the comedy club a couple of nights ago, remember? I was calling to see if you were able to talk to your sales manager.”

  “You know what? I have. I’ve been meaning to contact you. How are things going for you so far?”

  “It’s okay. Not what I expected.”

  “Really? What are you having problems with?”

  “I’m not used to people saying no to me. I’ve been calling people and some are not even returning my calls.”

  “Who hasn’t called you back?” he asked.

  “Well, I called Debonair, Calcutta, and Jay Lands, to name a few. And I still have to get a deejay and a caterer.”

  “Really? Maybe you need some help.”

  “Maybe I do.” Tamara smiled. Yeah, this guy was nice.

  “Well, I can help you, but…”

  “What’s the but?”

  “We’ll talk about the but later. However, I do know Deb is on tour. Calcutta, I got his number and I’ll call his manager. He owes me a favor. And Jay Lands is a good friend of mine. I’ll call her right now.” Tamara heard him call on another phone. “Jay, what’s up? This is Aaron. Yeah, a friend of mine is opening a nightclub. I need you there. It’s the thirteenth next month. Yeah, I’m going. Well, I’m going to give her your number. Come through, all right?” He then came back to the line.

  “See, I made that happen for you. So now you owe me.”

  “I owe you?”

  “Yeah, are you free this evening?”

  “It’s short notice, but maybe I could be.”

  “I know it is last minute, but I have two tickets to the Knicks game. It’s a station event. And we can discuss the package then.”

  “What time?”

  “Like seven. You could meet me there.”

  “Where should I meet you?”

  “The box office at Madison Square Garden.”

  Tamara repeated what he said and hung up the phone.

  Tamara took the number 3 subway train to the Thirty-fourth Street station and walked upstairs to the Garden. She hoped she remembered what he looked like. He was wearing dark blue jeans and a rust-brown corduroy jacket with a brown button-down shirt underneath it. She was surprised how cute he was dressed. He had light brown skin with waved and curled dark black hair going into a short ’fro. He greeted her with a big hug and led her inside the arena. They stopped at the concession stand and got popcorn and sodas and walked to their seats, which were four rows from the court.

  “These are really good seats,” Tamara said.

  “That’s one of the perks of working at the station.”

  Must be nice, Tamara thought. She wasn’t really into sports and had no idea what was going on. She tried to get conversation going during the game, but Aaron was really into the competition. After the game she rode with him to a live WKAZ broadcast event at a nearby club. She took a seat with him at a booth. It was a nice place. Not as nice as the Onyx Lounge, but it had the type of crowd they were going after—young, professional, and with extra money to spend. Tamara made a lot of contacts and gave out exclusive invites she’d brought with her to anyone who looked nice.

  “I see you working the room. Okay, I like that,” Aaron said.

  “Always. Thanks for bringing me out,” Tamara said.

  “You welcome, ma’am,” he said, mocking Tamara’s southern accent.

  “My accent came out,” Tamara laughed.

  “It sure did.”

  “I try to hide it.”

  “Where are you from again?”

  “Atlanta. What about you? Are you from here?”

  “No, I’m not, I’m from Connecticut. Are you dating anyone?”

  “No.”

  “Why not?”

  “I just got to town and I’m focusing on my business, that’s all.”

  “We are going to have to put an end to that and take you off the market,” Aaron said with a flirtatious smile. “Excuse me for a minute,” he said when someone began pulling on his arm. Everyone was coming up to him and needing something from him. He was very nice about it and she knew he was working and trying to have a good time at the same time, but after a few hours she was tired and told him she needed to get home. He walked her outside to her cab, and then before she opened her apartment door her phone was ringing.

  “Just making sure you got in okay.”

  “I’m fine, thanks. The club still packed?”

  “Yes, sorry I got caught up.”

  “No problem. I understa
nd you were working.”

  “So, can we get together again?”

  “Maybe.”

  He laughed. “Okay, I’ll let you get some rest. Call me when you wake up.”

  “Okay,” she sighed as she sleepily set her phone on the nightstand.

  The next morning Tamara was back at work. She went and met with a florist and picked out a red velvet cake covered with silver icing. The cake was going to read in black writing The Blackout. She got a call on the way home. It was Aaron.

  “Miss Tamara, I secured you our deejay, Problem Child. And I know this caterer who does a lot of our events and I gave him your number.”

  “You did? Thank you.” He was so sweet! And he was helping her make up for lost time.

  “Yeah, and the promotion packages with the giveaways I got for you for five thousand. They wanted ten.”

  “He’s really gaining points with me,” Tamara said after he hung up.

  Kyra was still in the apartment when she got here, and so was a large bouquet of pink roses.

  “Those are for you.” Kyra smiled as she covered the phone receiver. Tamara walked over to the flowers and read the note attached. Enjoyed spending time with you. We have to do it again. Aaron.

  He was really gaining points!

  Kyra handed Tamara all her messages and told her that she had found a place to hire the dancers for the party.

  “Here are head shots and measurements of the girls. The woman said all you have to do is pick out the girls you want.”

  “Really? Well, I’ll let the men handle this. E-mail the information to the Harolds.”

  Three weeks to go and the club was almost completed, which was a good thing, but also a bad thing. Tamara now had to get up and go to an office every morning. She didn’t have the luxury of rolling from bed and going right to the office. Tamara walked in and saw that a lot of the work was still not completed. There was the sound of banging hammers and of drills. It was driving her crazy, but it was worth it because they were doing a helluva job. The club was beautiful. She just hoped she could pull off getting it filled to capacity.

  She went back into the office and turned the heat on. It was a big empty room, even with the office furniture, and there was a draft coming in from somewhere. They brought in a heater, but she and Kyra were still cold. In fact, Kyra had her coat on and was coughing. “I’m going to find out what’s going on with this heat. Then I’m going to get you something to eat,” Tamara said after making the girl sit closer to the heater.

  When Tamara came back into the office, Kyra handed her five or six messages. One read Maurice’s girlfriend. She just wanted to check out the club. And yet another read Maurice’s wife. She wants him to call her when he gets in.

  Tamara felt like she’d been punched in the stomach. “Maurice’s girlfriend and his wife?”

  “Yeah, they called back to back. I’m sorry, Tamara, because I might have gotten him in trouble because when his wife called I said he hasn’t come in since when you first called. Then she started asking me all these questions.”

  “Don’t worry, I’ll tell him,” Tamara said, throwing the messages back on the desk. “And next time tell them to call him on his cell.”

  Tamara couldn’t believe her ears. She was upset with Maurice, but couldn’t let Kyra know. She was mad because the women got smart with Kyra, but even more upset that she’d almost had sex with her married boss who also had a girlfriend. Even though she didn’t have feelings for him it was just the fact that he tried to play her.

  About an hour later Maurice came into the club, looking around and yelling at the construction workers.

  Tamara went up to him. “Oh, your wife and your girlfriend called.”

  It looked like the blood drained out of his face. “Yeah, I’ll talk to you about both situations later.”

  “So, let me understand this. You are not exactly divorced and you have a girlfriend? And you want me to date you?”

  “No, let me explain.”

  “There is nothing to explain. I’m not your woman,” Tamara said, stopping him.

  “You could be,” he said as he walked up closer to her.

  “I doubt it. I work for you, remember? What happened the other night was a mistake.”

  “Tamara.” He came closer and tried to kiss her.

  “Look, I can leave now or I can stay and finish your event. Plus, I don’t go on dates with married men or with other people’s boyfriends.”

  He backed away. “Well, maybe after this event we can talk about establishing an us.”

  Maybe? Puleeze, she thought.

  Two days later the heat was finally on and the club looked ten times better. Kyra and Tamara sat around talking and going over everything that needed to be done.

  Maurice came to the club with a young white guy about thirty years old with jet-black hair, fitted blue jeans, and a blue shirt with black shoes.

  “Hi, Tamara, I want you to meet Seth. He’s the club manager. I want you guys to work as a team.”

  “Hey, Tamara. Good to meet you.” The man stuck out his hand for Tamara to shake. She did so reluctantly, because with just one look at him she realized she did not like him at all. His smile was not genuine and he seemed shady.

  After Seth started walking around to look at the club, Tamara’s thoughts were confirmed when Maurice said, “Keep an eye on this guy. He is really good. We butted heads a couple of times already.”

  Great, she thought after Maurice left, one more thing for me to worry about.

  Actually, things were going a lot smoother at this point. Return calls were finally beginning to trickle in, six sponsors were in place, and thanks to Aaron she had her deejay and her caterer.

  Thinking about Aaron made her feel guilty. He had been so sweet to her, yet she hadn’t really spoken to him in almost three days. Not because he wasn’t trying, but every time he called she was too busy to talk. And she always meant to call him back but never seemed to get a chance. Her thoughts were interrupted by Kyra telling her that she had a call.

  “This is Tamara Murphy,” she said, picking up the phone.

  “When are you going to make time for me? I know you’re Miss Busy, but do you think you might have to take a break this evening to go to a speed-dating event?”

  Tamara smiled. “You’re going to live very long. I was just thinking about you.”

  “Good thoughts?”

  “Maybe.”

  “So does that mean you’ll do the event with me tonight?”

  “Possibly. Let me get back to you.”

  “You can spend time with me and give out some more invitations.”

  That sealed the deal. “I’ll be there,” Tamara said.

  “I knew that would make you come,” Aaron said with a laugh.

  The speed-dating event was boring as far as Tamara was concerned, but at least she was able to give out dozens of invitations to the Onyx Lounge. The next night Tamara was sitting on Aaron’s cream sofa in his apartment since he’d invited her over for dinner. He had a huge flat-screen television and black and cream end tables. It was a pretty nice place, but kind of small. A real bachelor’s pad.

  She’d been on a total of five dates with Aaron, and she had to admit he was really growing on her. He was always so sweet and helpful. The right kind of guy if she were looking for the right kind of guy. The problem was, she wasn’t. Still, he was good company, so she had readily accepted when he invited her over for a home-cooked meal. She was sitting in his living room looking at his parents’ wedding picture.

  “My parents have been married for thirty-five years,” Aaron said proudly when he noticed her looking at their wedding picture.

  “That’s nice. I never knew anyone that stayed married that long. It seems impossible. One person all those years,” Tamara said.

  “What do you mean? That’s not impossible.”

  “I think so. I’m not sure if anyone in my family can stay married for five years. Men always want a different woman.”<
br />
  “Not me. I only want one woman. I want my one and only soul mate.”

  “Yeah, right. All men want more than one. Marriage is overrated. I know for sure that a woman can have everything going for herself, a body, house, and money, and a man will still find a flaw and cheat or leave her.”

  “Let me find out you have a pessimistic view on marriage,” Aaron said, laughing.

  “My mother has been married three times. It is a fact. And do you know my grandmother is on her fourth husband? Marry, get a divorce, marry again, get another divorce, what the fuck? I would never put my kids through that. It just isn’t fun.” Tamara stood up and walked to the window. “I had so many stepdads and families. My mom would tell me ‘Go say hi to your aunt Beatrice,’ some lady I didn’t know, or ‘That’s your uncle Frank,’ and they would only be around for a couple of months,” Tamara said, laughing. Behind the laughter was a little pain. She really did resent her mother bringing different strangers into her life temporarily and labeling them family.

  “So instead of getting a divorce do you think your mother should have stayed in bad marriages?” Aaron asked.

  “No, but how about not get married at all and wait and get to know somebody? That’s why I’m not getting married and having kids anyway.”

  “So you’re going to let their mistakes and mishaps dictate how you live your life?”

  “Of course not,” Tamara said.

  “Seems like you are.”

  “No, I’m not,” Tamara said, getting upset.

  Aaron walked over to her and held her from behind and said, “You know good people do still exist.”

  Tamara didn’t answer him. She just thought about what he said.

  Dinner was so good Tamara felt sleepy and full, and lay down on the couch, and Aaron cuddled up next to her. He had made green beans, corn on the cob, and fried chicken, and he had done too good a job at it. It reminded her of home.