BIG DADDY SINATRA 2: IF I CAN'T HAVE YOU, Book 2 (16 page)

“Okay,
Norm,” Jenay said, looking over her reading glasses at him.
 
“We get it.”

Megan
laughed again.
 
Norm smiled.
 
“Let me get back to work,” he said, and
headed back toward the café.
 
“These
people trying to get my blood pressure up.”

He
left.
 
Jenay looked at Denise.
 
“Are you sure you want to do this, Dee?” she
asked her.

“What’s
the matter?” Denise asked as she continued to check the boxes on the vendor
form.
 
“I’m doing it wrong?”

“No,
you’re doing good,” Jenay said.
 
“Your
competence has never been your problem. Your inability to make up your mind
has.”

Denise
looked at her.
 
“What do you mean?”

“You
have a hot date with Brent on Friday night, and now suddenly, on Monday, you’re
totally certain about the career course you want to take.
 
Now you want to be my assistant, when you had
turned me down just a week ago.”

“You
said the job was still open,” Denise responded.

“Yes,
it’s open.
 
But why the sudden change of
heart?
 
You told me you were perfectly
content being a waitress for now.
 
What
changed?”

Denise
wasn’t sure if she should discuss this matter with Brent’s stepmother, but she
had to get it off her chest.
 
“My
prospects changed,” she said.

“You
want to be with Brent?”

“I
want to see if we can make something happen, yes,” Denise admitted.
 
“We really connected Friday night, and he
took me out again Saturday night.
 
We are
really great together, Nay.
 
He’s
fantastic in bed.”

“That’s
the same thing you said about Mark.”

“Well
it’s true!
 
They are both great in
bed.
 
Brent gives me exactly what I
need.
 
That white boy is good, I’m
telling you.
 
If his father is as good in
bed as he is, then I see why you relocated here to be with him.”

“But
it wasn’t all about sex, Dee.
 
Charles
and I had an emotional connection too.
 
There was a sense that I needed him, and he needed me.”

“That’ll
come,” Denise said.
 
“Right now it’s pure
lust and I love it!
 
And I figure I might
as well stick around for that bed action because girl, it was good.
 
It was better than good.
 
My vagina is still jumping because of how
good it was.”

Jenay
smiled.
 
At least Denise could be
depended on to tell it straight.
 

 
“Anyway,” Jenay said, “let’s get back to
work.”

Denise
smiled.
 
“So am I officially your
assistant now?” she asked.

“You’re
officially my assistant on probation now,” Jenay said.
 
“If it doesn’t work out, friend or no friend,
you will be terminated.
 
My husband
entrusted me to run his hotel efficiently.
 
And that’s exactly what I intend to do.”

Denise
nodded.
 
“You’ve never been accused of
not being efficient, Jenay.
 
I’ll give
you that.
 
And don’t worry, as long as
Brent is giving me that good love, I’ll be the best assistant you’ve ever had.”

“And
if he stops giving you that good love?”

“I’ll
be the best problem assistant you’ve ever had.”

Jenay
laughed.
 
“And you will be the best fired
problem assistant I’ve ever had.”

Denise
laughed.
 
“That’s only fair,” she agreed.

But
then Jenay’s smile was gone.
 
She turned
serious.

“What
is it?” Denise asked.

“You
ever thought that maybe you’re repeating a pattern here.”

Denise
apparently hadn’t thought about it.
 
“A
pattern?”

“You
graduated with your certification in hotel administration.
 
You could have gotten a job then, but you,
instead, fell in love with Mark and decided to devote your life to that
relationship.
 
It didn’t work, but you’re
ready to jump into another one and base your future on the success or failure
of that relationship.
 
Do you think
that’s wise?”

Denise
had to think about that.
 
As she did, a
guest entered the lobby and walked up to the front desk.

“Welcome
to the Jericho Inn Bed and Breakfast,” Megan said as he approached.
 
“It’s not wise,” Denise said, responding to
Jenay’s question.
 
“No, it’s not.
 
But that’s how things have always gone for me
in my life. I’m not fulfilled unless I have a man in my life to gush about.”

“Don’t
you think it’s time to gush about yourself?” Jenay asked.

“
Jenay
?” a male voice said, and Jenay
recognized the voice.
 
She quickly turned
to the sound.
 
And standing in front of
the desk, in the lobby of the Jericho Inn Bed and Breakfast, was Quince
Franklin, her ex-husband and the one man who once tore her world apart.
 
He was looking no longer like the
up-and-comer she divorced, but like the successful attorney he had every intention
of becoming.
 
The successful, gorgeous
attorney.
 

Her
heart fell like a rock to the bottom of the world.

CHAPTER TWELVE

Jenay
still couldn’t believe it.
 
The man she
once loved so completely was sitting right across from her.
 
The fact that she had agreed to walk across
the lobby to the Hot Spot café and have a drink with him was amazing, but when
he mentioned his two little girls, and how much they so wanted to see her
again, it was an easy walk.

“You
may not recognize them,” he said after they sat down at the booth near the
entrance and the waitress took their drink orders.
 
He handed her his cell phone.
  
“They’re big girls now.”

Jenay
was already smiling when as he handed her the phone.
 
And when she saw that grinning picture of
Carly and then Ashley, her heart melted.
 
And tears came to her eyes.
 
“Oh,
my,” she said, holding a hand to her heart. “They’re so big!
 
How old are they now?”

“Ash
is fifteen going on sixteen.
 
She’ll be
sixteen in a few months.
  
Carly’s
fourteen.
 
She never ceases to remind me
that she’s no kid anymore.”

Jenay
smiled.
 
“They’re so precious!” she said
as tears brightened her eyes.

“So
you didn’t forget them?” Quince asked.

She
looked at him. “Forget them?
 
How could I
ever forget them?
 
They were my stepdaughters!”

Quince
nodded his head.
 
“I’m sorry, Jenay.
 
What I did, the way I barred you from seeing
them like that, was wrong as wrong could be.”

Jenay
considered him.

“You
loved my girls, and they loved you.
 
I
should have never let Vernita talk me into separating y’all like that.
 
But she was so insecure, you just don’t
know.
 
She didn’t want them to have
anything to do with you.”

“You
didn’t want them to have anything to do with me either,” Jenay said.
  
“So look at yourself if you have to place blame
anywhere.
 
That court order would not
have happened if you didn’t allow it.
 
Vernita or nobody else was going to tell you what to do.”

Quince
smiled.
 
“You know me well, don’t you?”

“Too
well,” Jenay said, and then she continued to look at pictures of little girls
she never got to see grow up.

“So
Ash is sixteen now.
 
My my.”

“She’s
almost sixteen.
 
She will be in a few
months.
  
And Carly’s fourteen.”

“Fourteen,”
Jenay said, staring at the picture and shaking her head.
 
“And I remember when she was a baby.
 
My my.”
 
She looked at Quince.
 
“How are
they doing in school?”

“They’re
doing good.
 
I see to that.”

“Good,”
Jenay said, nodding her head.

As
they continued to talk about the girls and their education, the automatic doors
to the Inn slid open, and Charles entered the lobby.
 
He began heading to the front desk, to ask
the clerk if his wife was around, when out of his periphery he saw what he
thought was his wife.
 
He turned and
looked.
 
And sure enough there was Jenay,
sitting at a table with a tall black man, holding what appeared to be a cordial
conversation.
 
Charles didn’t have any
problems with his wife talking to men, even good looking men, but for some
reason that scene disturbed him.
 
The
man, for one, was looking at Jenay as if she was something good to eat.
 
She was, in every way, but only he got to
have a taste.

He
headed for the café.
 
When Jenay looked
up and saw him approaching their booth, she didn’t smile.
 
Not because she wasn’t glad to see him.
 
She was always glad to see him.
 
But because she knew, once he found out who
she was sitting here talking to, he wasn’t going to like it.

Quince
noticed that her attention had been diverted.
 
He glanced back.
 
He saw the man
he knew to be Charles Sinatra heading their way.
 
Sinatra was well- dressed in a sartorially
elegant Canali suit and was buffer in person than Quince thought he would
be.
 
He turned back around.
 
And played dumb.
 
“Who’s that?” he asked.

“That’s
my husband,” Jenay said.

Quince
knew that his job was to denigrate this man in Jenay’s eyes every chance he
could. He just did not expect the chance to come so quickly.
 
“He’s your husband?” he asked.
 
“Really?
 
What is he, like forty?
 
Come on,
Jenay!
 
You went from a guy like me, to
that?
 
You could do better than that.”

Jenay
knew he was full of it.
 
Charles was
gorgeous, smart, and rich.
 
“In your
dreams,” she said to Quince, “you’ll never be the man he is.”
 
Then she smiled when Charles was upon
them.
 
“Hey, babe.”

Charles
was a little more hesitant than he normally was with her, and he was looking
more at Quince than at her.
 
“Hey,” he
said.

“What
brings you over here?” Jenay asked him.

He
leaned over and kissed her on the lips.
 
“We’re having dinner with Bonita tonight.
 
No late nights tonight. I wanted to make sure
you remembered that.”

Jenay
smiled.
  
“I remembered.
 
I’m looking forward to it.”

But
it was obvious that going home to dinner was not uppermost in his mind
anymore.
 
“Who is this?” he asked her as
he sat down.
 
He didn’t wait to be asked.
 
He sat on down.

“This
is Quince Franklin,” Jenay said, immediately feeling warm and protected when he
sat beside her.
 
“This is my ex-husband.”

Quince
smiled and extended his hand.

“Your
ex-husband?” Charles asked.
 
“You mean
the scum of the earth who broke your heart?”

Quince’s
smile was withdrawn, and so was his extended hand.
 
This guy was not as country dumb as Arianna
led him to believe he was.

“He
can’t possibly be that ex-husband,” Charles continued.
 
“He couldn’t be that stupid.
 
After how he treated you, he couldn’t be
stupid enough to show his face around you again.”

“Apparently
he is,” Jenay admitted.
 
“Because he’s
the only ex-husband I have.”

“I
think, however,” Quince said, attempting to defend himself, “anytime there’s a
divorce, especially a less than amicable divorce, both parties are a little at
fault.”

“Not
in your divorce,” Charles said.
 
“You
were one hundred percent the asshole in that divorce.”

“And
you know this how?” Quince snapped.
 
“You
weren’t there.”

“I
know Jenay doesn’t play with people’s emotions the way you played with
hers.
 
So knock off the boy scout
routine.
 
What do you want?”

Jenay
knew Quince wasn’t accustomed to anyone talking to him as if he was his equal,
but if he planned to deal with her, he had better get used to it.

“I wanted
to talk to Jenay about her stepchildren.”

“Her
stepchildren?” Charles asked.
 
“You mean
those two little girls you court-ordered her to stay away from?
 
Those stepchildren?”

A
waitress arrived and placed Jenay and Quince’s drinks on the table.
 
“Good morning, Big Daddy.”
 
The waitress looked flustered.
 
“I mean Mr. Sinatra.
 
May I take your order, sir?”

“Nothing
for me,” Charles said without looking away from Quince.

“Yes,
sir,” the waitress said, and gladly left.

Quince
smiled. “Big Daddy?
 
What’s that about?”

But
Charles wasn’t deterred.
 
“Why would you
suddenly care so much about your daughters that you would come all this way to
Maine to tell Jenay about them?”

“I
was passing through, for your information,” Quince said.
 
“That’s number one.
 
And number two,” he added and looked at
Jenay, “they’ve endured a lot of tragedy lately.
 
They need you.”

“Tragedy?”
Jenay asked.
 
“What tragedy?
 
Your divorce from Vernita?”

“That,
yes.
 
It was very tough on them.
 
But also their mother.
 
She passed away a couple days ago.”

Jenay’s
heart dropped. Even Charles was surprised to hear that twist.
 
He placed his hand around Jenay’s waist.
 
“She died?” Jenay asked.
 
“My goodness, Quince.
 
What happened to her?”

“Car
accident. It was really bad. She apparently fell asleep behind the wheel and
went over a cliff.
 
It was awful.
 
She and I didn’t get along, but she was still
the mother of my children.”

“Of
course,” Jenay said.

Charles
continued to stare at Quince.
 
“What do
you want from Jenay?”

Quince
looked at Jenay.
 
“The girls are in a bad
state, Jenay,” he said.
 
“Really
bad.
 
You know I wouldn’t bring it up if
they didn’t need you.
 
If I didn’t have
to handle some business in Canada, in Quebec, I would have never left their
side.
 
I was going to lay over here tonight,
and then get a flight out in the morning.
 
But fate had me to come into this particular hotel, in this particular
town, on this day, and see you again.
 
I
mean, what are the chances of that happening?”

“Yeah,”
Charles responded.
 
“What are the chances
of all of those things lining up so neatly for you?
 
It’s the kind of chance that’s more like a
fat chance than fate.”

Quince
was angry now. “I’m talking to Jenay!” he blared.

“And
I’m talking to you motherfucker!” Charles blared back, causing some in the café
to look at him.
 
“Who do you think you
are?
 
You treated my wife like she was
made of stone when you were married to her, and you expect me to appreciate
your reappearance in her life?
 
You
wouldn’t even give her a kid.
 
Had her
thinking something was wrong with her.
 
That’s the kind of twisted fuck you are!
 
So excuse me if I doubt everything you say, including this so-called
great need your daughters have for her now.”

“Charlie
stop!” Jenay said.
 
“He wouldn’t use his
own children like that.”

“Tell
him, Nay!”

“He
was a lot of awful things to me,” Jenay continued, ignoring Quince, “but he
loved his girls.”
 
Then Jenay looked at
Quince.
 
“But I fully understand his
doubt.
 
I don’t trust you as far as I can
throw you either.
 
So answer my husband’s
question.
 
What do you want from me?”

“I
want you to come and see about the girls.”

Like hell
, Charles thought.

“I’m
heading back to Richmond tomorrow.”

“Richmond?”
Jenay asked.

“That’s
where we live now.
 
Just after I married
Vernita she got a position there, so we moved there.
 
So I’ll be heading home tomorrow.
 
There’s probably seats still on that
flight.
 
You can fly out there with me if
you care to.”

“She
doesn’t,” Charles made clear.

Quince
wanted to fight back.
 
That was his
natural instinct.
 
But he also knew he
had to remain focused on the goal.
 
He
already hit a nerve with Jenay.
 
Since
that was all he was after with this initial visit, he was satisfied.
 
He knew he needed to quit while he was
ahead.
 
“Anyway,” he said, rising to his
feet.
  
“I’m going to see if I can get a
room in this establishment and get me some shuteye.”