A Los Angeles Passion

by Sherelle Green

  Carmen was already out the door before Trey could formulate a response. Once they were alone in his home, Trey glanced down at the wide-eyed baby in his arms, unsure if he should be more worried about babysitting Matthew or if Matthew should be worried about him being the babysitter.

  “We’ll get through this, right, M-dog?” In response, Matthew blew a couple of spit bubbles before scrunching his forehead. “What does that face mean?” Trey asked, observing his nephew a little closer. “Are you agreeing with me?”

  Matthew gurgled some more bubbles before he spit up and let out a loud wail.

  “Oh, hell,” Trey yelled as the spit-up ran from Matthew’s mouth down to Trey’s hand. Acting fast, Trey grabbed one of the blankets Carmen had left and began wiping off the baby’s face.

  Several minutes later, Trey still couldn’t get Matthew to stop bawling. “Could this night get any worse,” he said between the wails. On cue, his iPhone rang, displaying the last name he expected to see. Reginald Moore? What does he want?

  Trey answered on the fourth ring. “Hello, this is Trey.”

  “Trey, this is your father. I have both your brothers on the line as well.”

  Trey pulled back to look at his phone as if it were contagious. “Max and Derek both?”

  Each of his brothers greeted him. Trey rarely talked to his father and both brothers, so if they were all on the line, it had to be important.

  “Trey, is that a baby in the background?” Reginald asked. Trey glanced down at Matthew, who was still crying.

  “Yeah, I’m babysitting my nephew. Let me put you all on a brief hold.” Acting quickly on his feet, Trey managed to configure the pop-up crib with one hand and carefully place Matthew in the middle of the crib. As soon as he popped the pacifier into his nephew’s mouth, the crying stopped.

  Thank goodness. Trey glanced back at his phone, which was still on hold. One problem down. One more left. He sat on his large plush armchair that was next to the crib before resuming the conversation. “Okay, I’m back. So, tell me...what’s the purpose of this call?”

  He tried to leave the bitterness out of his voice, but it had been a long few months, and a call with his father never ended well.

  Reginald cleared his throat. “Now that I have all of you on the phone, there’s something very important that I need your help with.” There was a slight pause before Reginald continued. “I know I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my life, but I would never do anything to hurt Prescott George, and I definitely did not do anything to the San Diego chapter. Granted, it was hard for me to accept that they would be named chapter of the year, but I would never stoop so low as to sabotage them. I gave Prescott George more than twenty-five years of my life, and as I’ve stated before, someone framed me.”

  Trey squeezed the bridge of his nose as his father continued to voice his innocence. Prescott George—or the Millionaire Moguls, as they were informally known—was a prestigious, all-male national organization that was as powerful as it was discreet. Until six months ago, Reginald had been a respected board member of the LA chapter of Prescott George, where his sons were also members.

  After an internal investigation that proved Reginald was guilty of trying to sabotage the Prescott George San Diego chapter to keep them from winning the annual award, Reginald had been kicked out of the organization.

  Trey, along with his half brothers, was horrified by the accusations and embarrassed that their father would try to harm the chances of another chapter. All of Reginald’s sons were subjected to an internal investigation to make sure they hadn’t assisted Reginald in his activities. And even though all three of them were cleared, the damage to the Moore name had already been done.

  “I never believed you could be guilty, Dad,” Max said. “I agree with you. I think you were framed.”

  Trey huffed into the phone. Innocent? I doubt it.

  “Max, thank you for believing me,” Reginald said. “Trey. Derek. I assume your silence means you don’t believe I’m innocent. Quite frankly, I didn’t expect either of you to believe me, but my innocence isn’t the only situation I need to discuss with my boys.”

  The endearment Reginald voiced was probably the first Trey had ever heard. My boys? Max was close to Reginald, so it wasn’t strange to hear him refer to Max with affection. However, Trey couldn’t recall a time when his father had ever addressed him or Derek in any sort of way that indicated he was proud to be their father.

  “Haven’t you involved us in your recent situations enough?” Trey asked, finally getting over the surprise of the call. “It wasn’t enough for our character to be questioned because of this investigation, but now you suddenly decide you want to have a heart-to-heart with all your sons when you’re at your lowest?”

  “I agree,” Derek said. “Our lives were turned upside down from your mistakes. I think I’ve heard enough on this phone call.”

  “Just hear me out.” Reginald cleared his throat again. “It’s a little over three months before Christmas, and although I know I’m decades too late, it’s time for me to make amends. When the investigation was going on this past spring, after a while, I became too weak and tired to continue to protest my innocence. But now I can’t imagine going into the New Year with this burden on my back.”

  “What are you saying?” Max asked. “Why now, Dad?”

  “Because now is all I’ve got, son.” Reginald sighed. “I’ve just been informed that I have stage four prostate cancer. The doctors don’t think I will live past the New Year, and although I know my sons don’t owe me anything, I’m innocent of these crimes I’ve been convicted of. Before I die, I’d love nothing more than to clear my name, and my hope is that my sons will help me do that and preserve the Moore legacy.”

  Trey sat upright in his chair. What? He’s dying? In some ways, Trey had felt like Reginald Moore would live forever, if only to remind him that he hadn’t had the benefit of growing up with a father. Reginald didn’t make Trey’s top-one-hundred list of favorite people in the world, but even he’d admit that he’d always imagined Reginald lingering somewhere close by, hoping to appear on the list one day.

  “Wow,” Trey whispered, unable to take the sudden silence that filled the line. It only took a few moments for him to feel like the breath had been sucked from his lungs. Being a screenplay writer, he loved several things about films, but one of his favorite parts of a movie was the element of surprise. It was a scene that was so perfectly written and directed you couldn’t predict what would happen next. When a surprise scene was written well, even the film crew applauded after it was acted out.

  Since he was a screenwriter, he was often the one who wrote the surprises, not the one who was surprised. Even though Trey prided himself on always being able to see what would come next, he hadn’t been able to predict the direction of this phone call. Nor could he have foreseen the sudden ache he felt in his heart at the thought of losing a father he’d never even gotten the chance to truly know.

  Chapter 2

  “Please tell me that is not my old college roomie, because I haven’t seen her in so long I almost forgot what she looks like,” said twenty-eight-year-old Kiara Woods as she stood from the outdoor table at a chic restaurant to give her friend a hug.

  Miranda Jensen Ellicott shook her head before returning her embrace. “Girl, stop. It hasn’t been that long.”

  Kiara gave her the side-eye. “Yes, it has. I haven’t seen you since you got married to Vaughn.”

  “I know,” Miranda said with a smile. “The newlywed life is keeping me pretty busy these days.”

  “With a husband like that, I’m sure it is.”

  Miranda smiled even wider. “If it were up to Vaughn, he’d have me pregnant and barefoot before the month is over. Luckily for me, he understands the importance of my work right now.”

  Kiara nodded in agreement. “And how are things going with Vau
ghn?”

  Miranda’s eyes lit up. “Wonderfully. He’s actually a couple of blocks away, taking care of some business. We drove into LA together, so I just walked here.”

  “Aren’t you guys cute,” Kiara teased. “Even riding together for meetings and whatnot so that you don’t have to be away from each other for long.”

  Kiara laughed when Miranda didn’t try to deny it. “Seriously, it’s great to see you so happy. How are things at your luxury B and B?”

  “Everything is wonderful,” Miranda said as the waiter approached. “Fall and winter are always busy for the B and B, so I expect to be at full capacity throughout the rest of the year. I can’t complain.” They placed their lunch order before they resumed their conversation.

  “What about you?” Miranda asked. “How are things?”

  Kiara grinned as she thought about the preschool and day-care center that she owned. “I’m honestly so proud of how much LA Little Ones Daycare and Preschool has grown. It’s amazing to see my vision turn into a reality.”

  “Kiara, it’s not just a preschool and day-care center,” Miranda said. “It’s the Hollywood preschool and day-care center. It’s the place where LA’s rich and famous want to take their children. Hell, I’m already hoping that I can get bumped up your waiting list when Vaughn and I start popping babies. We’d drive to LA for a great center like yours.”

  Kiara laughed. “You already know I’d bump you up the list.”

  “I’m just saying. Back in college, you always talked about owning your own day care, but I don’t even think that you considered it would grow this much. And after the few rough patches you had a couple of years ago, you needed your business to be a success.”

  The waiter returned with two glasses of water and a plate of sliced lemons. “Thanks, girl.” Kiara squeezed a lemon slice into her water before taking a sip. She thought about the words that Miranda left unspoken. Kiara had accomplished a lot before the age of thirty, but one circumstance that she’d never wanted to be a part of her journey was becoming a divorcée.

  Everything had been going so well for her during the early years of her marriage. She’d thought that her unlucky days in love were finally over when she’d met Jerry. Little had she known that after two short years of marriage, she’d be getting a divorce and saying farewell to the one man who had promised to love her forever.

  Diving into work had been the perfect distraction, and as the articles about her in the media put it, Kiara and her day care had become an overnight success in the childcare business. She hadn’t had time for love, and quite frankly, she hadn’t felt like anything was really missing from her life at that time.

  But you feel like it is now. She briefly sighed as that little voice crept inside her thoughts, reminding her that she had once been a happy newlywed, too. She’d once worn the same smile that Miranda was wearing right now. She had once seen her future bright and clear with the man she loved before it was all taken away when he suddenly asked for a divorce.

  “When was the last time you went out?” Miranda asked, breaking her thoughts.

  Kiara took another sip of her water. “I go out.”

  Miranda pinned her with a hard stare. “Let me repeat my question. When was the last time you went out?”

  “I can’t remember,” Kiara said with a shrug. “Maybe last month?”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Hmm.” Kiara thought about it some more. “Maybe two months ago. Or three. I can’t really remember.”

  Miranda shook her head. “Friend, the last time you told me about you going out was when a couple of your employees convinced you to check out that new jazz lounge. And that was way more than three months ago.”

  Kiara rapidly blinked. “Oh my God, I think you’re right! That’s the last time I remember going out just for the sake of going out.”

  “That’s sad,” Miranda said with a laugh. “The Kiara I knew back in college would never miss a party or pass up an opportunity to go out.”

  Kiara downed the rest of her water, wishing it was something stiffer. “Girl, that was before being an adult happened.”

  Miranda shook her head. “More like it was before life happened. Being an adult doesn’t mean you can’t have fun. Trust me, I understand being all about the business, but you’ve got to have a little fun, too, or before you know it, your life would have passed you by and you’ll be wondering when was the last time you stopped to truly live in the moment.”

  As their food arrived, Kiara contemplated her friend’s words, immediately realizing that Miranda was right. “I do need to learn to live a little more,” Kiara said after a few moments. “But I also plan on building a franchise, so my schedule is bound to get even crazier.”

  “Building a franchise is a great idea,” Miranda said. “Just keep in mind that a busy schedule doesn’t mean you have to neglect your social life.”

  “True,” Kiara said, nodding.

  Miranda’s phone dinged, interrupting their conversation. She frowned as she read the text message.

  “Is everything okay?”

  “Yeah.” Miranda shot a quick reply. “I’m just worried that Vaughn is taking on too much. You know how we always teased a couple of our girlfriends back in college who used to say their main goal was to marry a Millionaire Mogul?”

  “Of course,” Kiara said with a laugh. “And then you go ahead and marry a Prescott George member despite how much we teased them.”

  Kiara knew all about the Prescott George organization, also called the Millionaire Moguls. She respected what they did for the community, but she never did understand why some women made it their main goal to land an elite member. Her ex-husband had even wanted to be a member, but Prescott George was exclusive with their membership, so he hadn’t stood a chance.

  Miranda grinned. “I know. I still can’t believe it, either.” She took another bite of her fruit salad before speaking again. “Well, Vaughn has been really busy with his San Diego chapter, but now he’s also helping the LA chapter get back on their feet.”

  “Why? What happened?”

  Miranda sighed. “I really shouldn’t be saying anything, but they were suspended for six months when one of the LA board members tried to sabotage San Diego being chosen as chapter of the year. The person responsible orchestrated several break-ins, hacking of computers and files, and even the vandalism of some of the property. It got pretty bad, but finally, they figured out the man behind everything was Reginald Moore, a high-ranking board member.”

  “Wow,” Kiara said, shaking her head. “I didn’t hear anything about this.”

  “That’s not surprising. Prescott George didn’t want the bad press, so the board and the national organization declined to press charges and instead expelled Reginald Moore and placed the LA chapter on a six-month suspension. And apparently, he put up quite a fuss about everything.”

  “Of course he did.” Kiara rolled her eyes. “There’s nothing more annoying than a person who does something wrong, yet feels entitled and above the law. I’m sure he got what he deserved, and if you ask me, it even sounds like he got off easy. So, how was Vaughn looped into helping the LA chapter?”

  Miranda opened her mouth to speak, but was cut off.

  “We’re a brotherhood,” a voice said behind Kiara. “I’d never turn down helping out another chapter.” She turned to see Vaughn Ellicott approaching their outdoor table.

  “Well, if it isn’t Miranda’s new husband...in the flesh.” Kiara stood to hug Vaughn before he hugged his wife and sat in an empty seat.

  “It’s good to see you again, Kiara,” Vaughn said with a handsome smile. “And I can answer your question more fully, since I’m sure my wife was dying to give you all the dirty details.” To this, Miranda gave Vaughn a Chuck E. Cheese grin.

  “I’m just helping them by supporting some of their charity initiatives and communi
ty involvement. One man’s mistake doesn’t mean the entire chapter has to suffer.”

  “That’s nice of you,” Kiara said.

  Vaughn shrugged. “It’s what I do.” He looked toward his wife. “Are you ready to go shopping, baby?”

  “I think so.” Miranda pulled cash out of her purse to pay for her portion of the meal.

  Kiara lifted an eyebrow. “Vaughn, what in the world made you agree to go shopping with Miranda? She takes forever to make up her mind.”

  Miranda rolled her eyes. “I don’t take as long as a certain brown-eyed friend of mine. Besides, I can’t believe I forgot to tell you... Vaughn is jet-setting us away for a while to Dubai for a long and much-needed vacation, so there are a few things we have to pick up first.”

  Kiara smiled. “That’s wonderful, you guys. I’m sure you’ll have so much fun.” Goodness, I’d love for a man to take me away on a romantic vacation. Her eyes widened. Where did that thought come from? Kiara fidgeted in her chair. It was official. Being around Miranda and Vaughn was making her long for things she’d given up on over a year ago. She didn’t need to date. She didn’t love. All she needed was her business, and if there was anything she’d learned from her ex-husband and the man she fell for after her divorce, it was that love wasn’t forever. She had to remember that.

  “I have an idea,” Vaughn said, breaking her thoughts. “You should come with Miranda and me tonight to the party we’re having to celebrate the LA chapter being back on their feet.”

  Miranda clapped her hands together. “That’s a great idea, Vaughn!”

  “I don’t know,” Kiara said, shaking her head. “Isn’t it an exclusive party? I’ll probably feel out of place.”

  Miranda rolled her eyes. “Right, because you don’t own one of the most exclusive day cares in the city.”

  “Your sarcasm isn’t needed,” Kiara said with a laugh.

  “It will be fine,” Vaughn said. “There will be plenty of friends, family and supporters of the organization there. I consider you a friend and Miranda considers you family.”