by Shelia Goss
They greeted each other with a hug. They hadn’t seen each other in months. Janice usually came to visit with her, because she didn’t like going to Los Angeles unless she absolutely had to. After a two year romance, Janice was now happily married to Terrence. They didn’t have any kids, but it never seemed to bother the happy couple.
“How’s my brother-in-law?” Violet asked.
“He’s fine. He told me to tell you hi and he’s counting on you to keep me out of trouble.”
“I’m in social work, but I’m no miracle worker.” Violet laughed.
After they picked up Janice’s bags, they decided to go to a popular soul food restaurant in the area before heading home. “We could get the food to go, if you like,” Violet stated.
“No. I don’t get out much without the company of my husband and you’ve spoken highly of the restaurant, so I want to enjoy the ambiance.”
They made it to the crowded restaurant, but didn’t have to wait long. Once they were seated, they resumed their conversation. Although they communicated regularly through email or by phone, it wasn’t the same as being face to face; so they took this time to get caught up with what was going on with each other.
In between eating her hot wings, Violet asked, “Does it bother Terrence that you haven’t had any kids yet?”
“No. If he is bothered, I’m unaware of it. We both decided to let things take its course. We’ve even talked about adoption.”
“There are plenty of kids out there who need good loving parents and you both are good role models.”
“Thank you for saying that. For awhile, Terrence thought you didn’t like him, because he was friends with Marcus.”
“I hope you set him straight. There’s a big difference between the two. To think you couldn’t stand him, when you guys first met and I was all goo-goo eyes over his trifling friend.”
Janice wiped her mouth with her napkin. “I know. He almost missed out on this.”
They laughed. Violet said, “I’m glad to see you happy. He’s been good to you.”
“I know; he’s definitely a jewel. I don’t know if you care or not, but Marcus hasn’t had any good luck since you dumped him. He has so many paternity suits out on him. The way things look most of those women will get his pension; that is if he even makes it to retirement. I know he’s struggling financially because of all of the back child support and lawyer fees.”
“Really. It’s that bad. Well, every dog has its day as they say,” Violet said, in between bites.
They toasted to that thought as they waited for their dessert. They both ordered peach cobbler topped with vanilla ice cream. Janice wasted no time getting straight to the point.
“How are things going with you working with David so closely?” Janice asked.
“I was wondering when you would get around to David. It’s actually better than I thought it would be.” Violet continued to sip on her daiquiri.
“You know I was shocked when you told me he was the developer. I could imagine how you felt.”
“Let’s just say, I had butterflies. As I was telling you on the phone, I no longer felt any anger towards him. It was just an awkward feeling.”
Janice looked at her as if she didn’t believe her. “Anything else you want to tell me?”
“There isn’t anything to tell. We meet at least a few times a week. Normally there are other people around. I’m supposed to meet him next week to give them the approval on the final draft. The house will be built with the special requirements that are needed and I will no longer have to deal with David.”
Janice looked at her with her mouth turned up. “Sounds like you’re trying to convince yourself, more than you’re trying to convince me.”
“Whatever.”
Janice laughed at her and almost spit her drink out and pointed towards the door. Violet turned to see what caused the mishap and noticed David walking in with a beautiful redhead. She turned around
Janice said, “Don’t look now, but Mr. Whatever is walking this way.”
Violet didn’t look in his direction again. “Act like we’re in deep conversation and maybe he won’t see us or will walk on by.”
It was too late, because David spotted her and along with his companion walked directly to their table. “Hi. Violet and who do we have here?” He leaned down to hug Janice. “How are you stranger?”
Janice stood up and gave him a hug. “I’m doing lovely and yourself?”
He released a hearty laugh. “Great now that I’m in the company of all of these beautiful women.”
Violet noticed the interchange, but still remained quiet. David’s companion began to clear her throat. “Oh. I’m sorry. Ladies, this is Cherokee. Cherokee this beautiful lady to your left is Violet. I don’t know if you remember her and the lady that I hugged is her best friend Janice.”
Cherokee gave Violet a tight hug. “I’ve missed you Aunt Violet.”
“Cherokee, you’ve grown into a beautiful young lady,” Violet stated.
Cherokee blushed. “Thanks.” She turned toward David. “Uncle D, excuse me for a minute. I need to powder my nose. I’ll meet you at our table.”
He responded, “Okay. Sweetheart.”
Janice blurted out, “Uncle D.”
“Yes. That’s my brother’s daughter. She flew in last night and I promised to show her a night out on the town. I feel like an old man, with her around.”
Violet cracked a joke. “Hate to tell you, but you are getting up there in age. I’ll send the waitress over shortly with some Geritol.”
David enjoyed her playfulness. “Oh I got your old man. Well ladies, it’s been a pleasure. Violet I’ll see you next week and Janice I’ll see you when I see you.”
Janice lowered her voice before saying, “Now see that wasn’t too bad.”
They finished their desserts and went to Violet’s house. They were both exhausted from their long day, but ended up talking until the wee hours of the morning. Violet sleepily said, “I don’t know about you, but I need to get some shut eye. Everything you’ll need to freshen up with is in the bathroom down the hall. I’ll see you in the morning.”
They gave each other a hug and called it a night.
44
ROSE
“Lance wake up.”
Lance turned over and placed his arm around her and mumbled, “What time is it?”
“It’s time for you to get your butt up and get out of here. I have a full day today.”
“Today is Sunday. Can’t you chill and relax for a minute?”
“I have things to do. You need to get your behind up now.”
He yawned. “I can stay here while you run your errands.”
She got up and yanked the cover off of him, exposing his naked body. “No, you can’t. When I leave, everyone else leaves.”
“You drive a hard bargain. You better be glad I’m crazy about you.”
She clapped her hands. “Whoopee. Lucky me. Now get your tail up and get dressed. You’re holding me up.”
While he showered in her bathroom, she used the shower in the bathroom down the hall. She found him fully dressed when she returned. In a seductive voice, he said, “You need to stop walking around in your underwear. You have me hard now.”
“Lance when are you not hard?” Rose asked.
He walked up to her playfully and whispered in her ear, “It’s your fault. You’re so beautiful.”
She kissed him and continued to get dressed. “I’ll walk downstairs with you.”
After kissing Lance, they went their separate ways. She let Lance assume she had errands to run, but she wanted to get out of the house to spend the day alone. She drove up the coast and found her favorite beach spot. She enjoyed traveling, but there was no place like home. Although Shreveport, Louisiana was her hometown, she had long ago adapted to Los Angeles as being her home. It had been a couple of years since she visited with her mother, so she made a mental note to make a special trip to the Bayou state
She stayed there for the entire day. Her mind was at ease. Her stomach growled reminding her she hadn’t eaten anything the entire day. She decided to get Chinese food. She got home and continued her day of leisure out on her patio.
She noticed that her voice mail light was blinking, but she ignored it and made a mental note to check her messages later.
She ate her food and relaxed with another novel. A light bulb went off in her head. The book she read while on the beach would make the perfect movie. She could see herself playing the heroine role. She usually did suspense and comedy films, but now she wanted to venture off into other areas and doing a romantic movie that was not a romantic-comedy would be exciting. She would pitch the book she just read to a couple of producers to see what their take on it would be. If not, she would get with the author and attempt to finance the project herself. She fell asleep under the starlit night with the novel over her chest.
The next morning she felt rejuvenated. She cooked an omelet and afterward checked her messages. She had several messages from Lance and one from Pearle. She decided to take a long hot bath before returning phone calls.
She lathered her body with rose petal fragrance lotions and her favorite French floral scented perfume. She dressed casually in a white pair of Capri pants and white cotton top. She found a pair of white slip-on sandals, grabbed her cordless phone and a glass of lemonade and headed to her patio to make some phone calls.
The first call she made was to Pearle. “Hi.”
“Rose dear. How have you been? Your Mama is getting up in age, so you might want to call and check up on me more often.”
Rose crossed her legs. “Mama, you’re as healthy as I am.” She uncrossed her legs and sounded concerned. “Is there something you’re not telling me?”
Pearle coughed. “I’m fine. I just have a little cold.”
“Are you sure? I can get you the best medical attention if you need me to. I wanted to surprise you, but I’ll be down to see you in a couple of weeks. I need to wrap up some loose ends here, but if you need me sooner, I’m only a plane ride away.”
“No baby. I’m fine. I’m taking the medicine the doctor gave me and I’m feeling better already.”
“Are you taking your insulin shots?”
“My sugar is fine. When exactly are you coming to visit?”
“It’ll be in a few weeks. I’ll call you a day or two before I come.”
“Good. I’m not going to keep you long. I know you’re a busy lady.”
“You make me sound like I don’t have time for my own Mama,” she said as she drank the last drop of her lemonade.
Pearle coughed again. “No dear, that’s not what I’m implying. Just hurry up and come see me okay. I better get off here now. Love you.”
“Love you too.” She hung the phone up and wondered if Pearle had been telling her everything.
She immediately found her palm pilot and checked her next available date. She called the airlines and made reservations. She let out a sigh of frustration, because under normal circumstances, she would have had an assistant take care of things like this, but after Lisa betrayed her years ago, she could never find an assistant that she truly trusted. She handled the major things through Carmen and her office, and everything else she personally took care of herself.
She was always happy to talk with Pearle, but it also left a bout of sadness. When Violet first stopped talking to her, she assumed in time she would come around, so she poured herself into acting and singing. As months went by, they were not making any progress. When Pearle told her Violet had moved to another city, it broke her heart and spirit. She knew it was a very slim chance of them reconciling. She only knew what was going on with Violet if Pearle volunteered the information. She cherished the two times of year that she would hear from Violet and those were during her birthday and Christmas. She never heard her voice, but would get a beautiful card in the mail acknowledging those two days. Other than that, she had given up hope.
***
My dear sister, the one time I was telling you the truth, caused a rip between us that’s lasted for more years than I care to count. I hope one day you’ll be able to forgive me.
***
Rose wiped tears from her eyes with her hand. “What is wrong with me? I can’t let this get me down.” She reached for the phone and made the rest of her phone calls.
45
VIOLET
Janice and Violet ended up rushing to the airport. They overslept and Violet didn’t count on Monday traffic being as horrendous as it turned out to be. “Janice, call me when you get there.”
Janice gave her a quick tight hug. “I will and don’t forget about what I said about Rose. Just think about it.”
“You won’t stop will you?”
“Not as long as I’m your friend, you can count on it.”
They hugged again and Janice went to catch her flight.
Violet had some free time, so she decided to do something she hadn’t done in awhile and that was shop. She pulled up to the nearest mall and ended up buying herself four new outfits and a couple of sexy lingerie items. Although she didn’t really date, she liked to feel sexy and satin or lace lingerie made her feel that way. As she was walking out the door to her car with all of her bags, David’s niece opened the door for her.
“Aunt Violet.”
“Cherokee.”
“Nice seeing you again; my uncle has only nice things to say about you.”
“Nice seeing you too. I hope you enjoy your stay here.”
“Maybe we can get together for lunch or dinner before I leave.”
“Let’s do that.” She didn’t really mean to make plans with David’s niece. She remembered as a little girl, Cherokee always looked up to her.
She had a time trying to open her car door, but managed to do so without dropping a bag.
Once she reached home, she was in the mood to cook some baked chicken, so she put it in the oven and put up the items she recently bought. As she was unpacking, her phone interrupted her. She almost tripped over a bag trying to answer the phone, but avoided falling by an inch.
“Hello.”
“Hi. My flower.” The sweet sounds of Pearle’s voice came from the other end.
“Mom. Whew. I was trying to avoid tripping on something I had on the floor.”
“You okay?”
“Yes. How are you? I just talked to you a few days ago. Is that cold better?”
“Yes,” she said as she cleared her throat. “The medicine the doctor gave me is working fine. I feel fine, but this nasty cough is lingering.”
Violet didn’t like the fact that she had been sick for almost two weeks. “Just make sure you do what the doctor tells you.”
“I am. I wanted to see if my baby could come see me sometime soon.”
“I can be there tomorrow if you’d like.”
Pearle interrupted her and said, “No baby. You don’t have to rush. How about coming down in two weeks? If you can, try to come for an entire week.”
“Sure. I’ll make my reservations today.”
“Good. I will see you soon. Now take care.”
“Take care of yourself. Love you,” Violet said, before hanging up the phone.
***
Violet overslept the next morning, but instead of rushing, she took her time getting dressed. After her shower, she sprayed on some lilac smelling perfume. She went to her closet and took out her favorite lilac suit. Instead of wearing her hair pinned up as she normally did, Violet decided to wear it down. She found her lilac pumps and some accessories and although she didn’t wear much make-up, she put on a color of lipstick that complimented her outfit.
Violet encountered rush hour traffic as she headed to David’s office; however, she s
till felt like she had enough time to get from one side of San Jose to the other. Violet barely made it to her meeting in time. She rushed to get on the elevator and whoever was on it, held it open for her, before it could close all of the way.
“Thanks.” She looked up into David’s gorgeous eyes.
“You are quite welcome,” he responded with a twinkle in his eyes.
She tried to ignore the feeling of attraction that seemed to linger between them. When she was in Los Angeles, he hounded her to get back with him. Here it was years later and since they’ve come in contact again with each other in San Jose, he had yet to make a pass. She could feel his eyes roaming over her body. She began to fidget with her purse as if she were looking for something. The elevator stopped on the top floor. He held the elevator door for her again.
She refused to look up. She said, “Thank you again.”
David looked as if he was going to say something else, but Helen, one of his business associates, came up and interrupted. “We have a problem on line one. I was trying to reach you on your cell phone and since you didn’t answer, I figured you were in the elevator on your way up.”
David responded to Helen. “Excuse us for a moment.” He turned and addressed Violet. “Today’s meeting will be in my office. Helen will show you the way. I’ll be there as soon as I can. In the meantime, help yourself to some danishes and coffee.”
Violet followed Helen to David’s office. She took a danish off the tray and made herself a cup of coffee with two packages of sugar substitute. She admired David’s office and noticed a picture of a little girl on his desk that looked as if she was either three or four years old. He didn’t have any other personal photos on his desk. She made a mental note to ask him about the little girl. She was daydreaming when David entered the room. She didn’t know how long he had been standing observing her, but when she felt his eyes on her, she acknowledged him and walked around his desk and sat on the other side. For a moment neither said a word.
46
ROSE