by Vera Roberts
“I can watch any movie or TV show and support a killer,” Jocelyn mentioned, “it doesn’t mean I support them in real life.”
“Do you support our troops?” Cameron asked.
“Well, yes.”
“Then you support killers,” he replied. “Tell me what Black man hurt you in your life? Your dad? Your brothers? Childhood punks?” He asked. “A guy who pumped and dumped you? I’m just curious why White guys are on this grandiose scale when you look back on every horrible crime committed in the U.S. history, White men were behind that shit.”
“Besides not all White men are bad.” Krista countered. “Black men, however…”
“Oh?” Cameron’s curiosity piqued. “White men aren’t bad but there has to be something wrong with Black men? Sure White men aren’t bad,” Cameron shrugged, “When’s the last time you heard of a Brotha going into a church or an elementary school and spraying people? You do realize no matter who you get with, your son will be considered a Black man, right?”
“You’re getting on my fucking nerves,” Jocelyn warned him.
“I’m making your simple ass critically-think, Miss Thots-A-Lot.” He argued. “Of course, your ass would defend Bird-livia Pope. You’re still fucking that married racist Republican with the sick wife?”
“Speak for yourself, Krista,” Kimberly shook her head, “I got me a fine one at home. Besides Cameron does raise a point, though. If Fitz and Mellie were Black and Olivia was White, everybody would be Team Mellie.”
“Thank you!” Cameron clapped. “That’s all I’m saying!”
“You Black men are a trip,” Krista smirked, “you always want to complain about what Black women are doing, what they should be doing, who they should be doing, and yet when something happens to your simple-minded asses, we’re the first in the streets protesting and protecting you!”
“Okay, so how did a complaint about you supporting bird behavior turned into why you’re not leading the Black Lives Matter movement?” Cameron asked around. “Did I accidentally board the train to Crazy Town instead of the one to Common Sense and Logical Discussion?”
“I got your Crazy Town right here,” Krista pointed to her crotch.
“That’s all right,” Cameron shook his head, “I don’t eat rotten fish.”
“You think you are so high and mighty and you sound just like all those Hotep Negroes I see on Facebook and Twitter, talking about how they’re queens and kings with some jacked-up memes and look down upon everyone else,” Kimberly shook her head. “We all bleed the same and spend the same green.”
“And this is why I don’t fuck with vegans. You bitches always have an air about you that your shit doesn’t stink just because you don’t consume animal products. Yet, each time I see one of you assholes, you look like you’re in dire need of a nap because not even NARS concealer can fix how busted you look around the eyes.” Cameron smirked. “I bet you anything if I slap your ass with a cheeseburger, you’ll suck my dick.”
“Children, children, children,” Faith entered MillionHair, “I heard all of you from outside.”
“My dearest Faye,” Jocelyn began, “please school this little boy, Cameron, that women who watch and support Olivia and Fitz, do not condone adultery in real-life.”
“Oh, I don’t watch that show anymore,” Faith opened the door to her office, “Olivia’s too much of a bird for me.”
Cameron clapped and cheered amongst groans from everyone. “Thank you! Thank you! And the Queen has spoken!”
Krista followed her best friend into the office. “What’s the what? Are we still on for wine and tacos tonight at your place?”
“Yes ma’am!” It was a tradition the ladies started long ago back when neither of them had money and all they could afford to feel rich were cheap tacos and a bottle of wine. Even after Faith married into the D’Amato family, they still had the wine and taco nights every month. “Nicola has the boys this weekend so it’s a par-tay!”
“Party over at Faye’s!” Krista laughed. “Ah sookie sookie now!”
“I have a lunch meeting,” Faith began, “so I won’t be here for very long.”
“A lunch meeting,” Krista looked at her calendar that also contained Faith’s, “I don’t see a lunch meeting scheduled. Did I miss it?”
“No, because I didn’t tell you about it,” Faith motioned for Krista to close the door and she promptly did it and sat back down, “I’m meeting with Darren.”
Krista opened and closed her mouth a few times before she could form words together. When she finally did, it was brief. “Eli’s gonna kick your ass.”
“It’s just a platonic lunch meeting,” Faith defended.
“I love how you added platonic in there like it really matters,” Krista pointed out.
“I’m not doing anything wrong,” Faith shrugged, “we’ve been in contact for a while now and…”
“For a while now?” Krista asked. “How long have you been in contact with Darren, Faye?”
Faith bit her lip and pressed into a smile. “Since I was pregnant.” Krista’s lips pursed together in shock and awe and Faith immediately went on the defensive. “It’s been all platonic. Nothing sexual or even remotely close to it.”
“You are so dumb,” Krista shook her head, “just bird-level dumb. Like this is beyond Olivia and her quivering lips dumb.”
“How am I dumb?” Faith asked. “I’m not doing anything wrong!”
“If Eli was still contacting Simone and claimed it was just platonic, would you believe him?” Krista asked.
“Well, no.” Faith replied. “Because it wouldn’t be.”
“But he’s supposed to believe you’re just friends with your ex?”
“Eli doesn’t know anything,” Faith replied and Krista shook her head again, “why are you making me the bad guy in this?”
“What was the point of all that therapy, Faith?” Krista asked. “I thought you wanted to work on your marriage.”
“The therapy was for him, not me,” Faith defended again. “I didn’t need it.”
“All right,” Krista gave up arguing with her best friend. It was clear as day she wasn’t going to listen and Krista wasn’t about to spend another breath. She got up and headed to the door. “You do you, Faye.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Faith asked.
“It means if you really wanted to work on your marriage, you would’ve canceled that meeting. In fact, you would’ve told Darren not to contact you anymore. But since you love to play innocent in this, you’re risking your marriage to crumble. What Eli did to you years ago was foul but what you’re doing now is unforgivable.”
Seven
“I’m glad you’re all here,” Nicola gathered four of her sons with Kieran on speaker. It was the weekly Sunday dinner and the dining room table was filled with the remaining four D’Amato brothers and their families. “There’s something Art and I have to tell you.”
“Porca vacca!” Tony looked around the room, “you two are divorcing? Oh, hell, no! You two just got married, man! Why? How? How did this happen? Oh my God, are you two going to go to counseling? Some kind of therapy?”
Nick rolled his eyes. “Will somebody please…?”
Joey leaned over and slapped the back of Tony’s head. “Che cazzo!” He looked to their mother. “Now you can start, Ma.”
“Che scortese!” Tony rubbed his head. How rude.
“As I was about to say,” Nicola cleared her throat, “Art and I decided we’re going to move into his Park Avenue apartment. I’m moving out of the home.”
There was total silence amongst the brothers. Nicola studied their faces and saw they were too overwhelmed with shock to form a response. “I’m not selling the home,” she added.
“Oh, thank God!” Tony exclaimed.
“I’m giving it to Tony,” Nicola mentioned.
The brothers turned their attention to the youngest D’Amato. Though Tony was already in his mid-twenties, he had no desire to leave ho
me. Now he didn’t have a reason to ever. “What?” He asked.
“I thought about it long and hard and I decided I want to keep the home in the family. Too many memories here and too much history. Of course, when Tony decides to move out, I will need all of you to come up with some agreement on how to handle the home. I don’t want any fighting over it. The house is not worth any of you getting upset over each other.” Nicola stated. “I’ll put all of you on the deed so no one can sell it without expressed written consent from the other four.”
“Why are you moving, Ma?” Eli asked. “Why can’t Art move here?”
“Because I want to move in with him,” Nicola stated, “and three’s a crowd when you’re newlyweds.”
The brothers groaned and looked away. The thought of their mother having any type of sex made all of them physically ill.
“I think it’s a wonderful idea!” Zerrin broke the conversation. “I think we should celebrate.”
“Celebrate what?” Tony frowned. “Who’s gonna do my laundry?”
“Fool, with all of those thots and whatever else you have, you can’t find one of them to do your laundry?” Zoe asked.
“You’re speaking of long-term commitment, Zo.” Tony shook his head. “I ask a girl to do my laundry and I might as well ask her to move in with me.”
“Man’s got a point,” Joey agreed, “the laundry move signals to a girl he’s serious about her and he can’t have that shit.”
“Excuse you!” Zoe scowled. “I did your laundry back in L.A. and you had no issue with that.”
“I was serious about you,” Joey defended, “that was different.”
“Yo, Zerrin!” Tony asked her. “Did you ever do Nicky’s laundry when you two dated?”
Zerrin glanced down at her half-eaten plate of lasagna and hoped the crimson on her cheeks wasn’t too obvious. She pressed Sir’s shirts, fixed His buttons, and folded His clothes. Sometimes she wore high heels and stark naked as she did while He watched. Oh, how Zerrin missed how carefree and reckless she and Nick were before commitments and plain ol’ adulthood sucked the life out of their marriage. “Yes.”
“See?” Tony defended. “Only serious women. I don’t have any serious women in my life.”
“There’s Krista,” Faith commented, “she likes you, Tony.”
“She friend zoned me for life.” Tony shook his head. “Onto the next one.”
“Whatever you decide to do your laundry, I hope she’s someone for life.” Nicola chimed in. “There’s another thing I want to discuss with you all since you’re all here.” She briefly paused and rubbed her hands. “I had a dream of rainbows last night!”
“Not here,” Kieran commented over the phone. “We’re four and done.”
“We got lucky with twins and we’re so damn good,” Joey replied. He and Zoe just found out about the twins at the first ultrasound a few days before.
“That leaves you two,” Tony pointed to Eli and Nick. “Who’s gonna get knocked up first?”
Eli played with his food. He and Faith hadn’t had sex in several months. He wanted to blame schedules and a fresh newborn in the home. He knew the real reason – he wasn’t about to sleep with his wife if she potentially was seeing her old boyfriend again. “We’ll see. We’ll just see.”
Eight
Everything was bigger in Texas.
The hair.
The attitudes.
The cars.
The land.
And most important for Simone, the wallets.
Becoming the premier event planner in Houston was no small feat, after her brief successes in Savannah and New York. It was only when Simone went back home, she realized she should’ve never left.
Houston was where it was.
Simone oversaw the SHE employees as they decorated the St. Regis for a spectacular wedding. Or was it a wedding spectacle?
Working with the largest budget to date – shy over two million – Simone had the world looking at her and the pressure was heavy. Opulence and a good old fashion case of ‘Look how much money we have!’ was the name of the game. White roses, peonies, and hydrangeas covered the aisle and were a part of the monstrous centerpiece on each dining table. Pink was the bride’s favorite color and a sea of pink from neon to pastel covered the chairs and tables. Black tablecloths offset all of the pink and perfectly accented the reception.
Simone cringed at the request the bride, Shannon, wanted at first. All of that pink? What was that going to do other than looking like a Pepto Bismol nightmare? Simone immediately knew what to do. It needed to look so glamorous, people would possibly forget they’re surrounded by pink.
She had white tulips and calla lilies as favors along with a box of freshly baked Krispy Kreme donuts. Each seat was personalized with the guest’s initials in gold. Dinner was filet mignon with lobster and asparagus. The wedding cake was winter wonderland dream filled with layers of German chocolate, red velvet, and vanilla. And since they were in Texas, an open bar was necessary.
A former Miss America was marrying one of the most popular NFL quarterbacks. Celebrities and athletes would attend and the wedding had its own primetime special. Simone couldn’t afford to mess up.
“You sure know how to turn a heinous request into the miracle of all miracles,” Simone’s assistant and best friend, Pepper, admired the ballroom. “This is absolutely gorgeous!”
“I only had a few months and boy, did she work me those few months!” Simone’s eyes widened at the intense pace of the wedding planning. The couple just got engaged that March and their wedding was September, a few months later. Shannon knew what she wanted and didn’t want to waste any time. “But it’s almost over. I need to go check on the bride to make sure everything is running smoothly on her end. The groom and his party should be arriving anytime now.”
“Maybe if he has some single friends, you can get hooked up with someone,” Pepper walked over to Simone and rubbed shoulders with her. “When’s the last time you got some?”
“New York,” Simone truthfully answered. It’d been a long three years. She had her trusted vibrator that she put to great use but it was nothing compared to a breathing, sweating, thrusting man on top of her.
“Well, that was a mistake but we all have to do something stupid to grow.” Pepper remembered. “There are a lot of single men out here in Houston and you haven’t found you one?”
“I put all of my energy into starting up SHE again and raising Elena. Dating wasn’t a priority.”
“Well, now that Elena is about to start preschool, you need to go out and get your feet wet – along with something else.” Pepper smiled before a group of muscular men captured her attention. “Speaking of feeling hot and bothered in every place.”
Simone turned around and greeted the groom, Colin Smith. He was a bald Black man with a trimmed goatee and brilliant smile. “There’s the groom!” She gave him air kisses. “You look amazing!”
“Thank you but speaking of amazing,” Colin looked around the room and was in awe. From the crystal chandelier to the upside down wedding cake suspended from the ceiling, Simone outdid herself. “This…I think we underpaid you!”
Simone laughed. “It was a pleasure.”
“I’m sorry I’m being rude here. Simone, these are my groomsmen – Chuck, Taylor, Mike, Eric, and Darren.” Colin pointed to all of them as he introduced them to her. “These are the guys who I’m going to blame for any pictures from last night ending up on TMZ.”
“Hey, that stripper was nice!” Chuck mentioned and the other men shushed him. “What? I didn’t force him to get several lap dances.”
“And this is why we can’t have nice things,” Darren replied. “I apologize for the crudeness of our friend here. He fell from a tree when he was younger and hit a few stupid branches on the way down.”
“Laugh now, Sir Chokes-A-Lot,” Chuck recalled Darren’s disastrous Super Bowl performance when his team lost by a wide margin, partially because he kept getting sacked. “We�
�ll see who’s laughing come postseason.”
“One bad game and y’all think it’s the end all for me,” he shook his head before he turned back to the ladies. “They’re so mean to me.”
“Maybe Simone can help you smooth over your wounds,” Pepper smiled before Simone elbowed her. “I need to go check on the bride. Toodles!” She waved.
Simone cursed under her breath. She knew what Pepper was trying to do, what she’d been trying to do for the past two years. Even when Simone was very pregnant and couldn’t see her feet, Pepper was still trying to set her up with someone. She loved her better than Alicia but Pepper had a tendency to work Simone’s very good nerve. “Please let me know if there’s anything else Colin needs,” she stated before she began to leave.
“What about the groomsmen?” Darren asked and Simone stopped walking. “The groomsmen need extra care, I think.”
Simone turned around. “All of you need extra care?”
“Well, not all of us,” Darren approached her with a charming smile, “just me.”
“I don’t even know your full name,” she grinned.
“Darren Matthews,” he kissed her hand and Simone felt her heart flutter. He was a gorgeous man with the right amount of dishwater blond bed head, sparkling blue eyes, and perfect white teeth that stood out in his bronze skin. “And you’re about to become Mrs. Darren Matthews.”
****
The wedding went off without a hitch. Shannon and Colin wrote their own vows and promised each other forever. Colin promised he would always listen to her rant on about her Housewives shows. Shannon promised she would show a pinky’s worth of interest in his football replays. Both promises generated a lot of laughter from the audience.
Simone watched from the back and wiped a small tear that fell down her cheek. She wondered one day if she would ever find that perfect and everlasting love every little girl dreams of. Being a single mother hindered her chances but she still held out hope. She wanted Eli be a part of her still did but she also had to get real – Eli was still very much married to his wife as evident by their reality show. Simone could tell Faith still didn’t appreciate Eli despite how much he’d spoiled her.