Can't Get Enough (3 page)

PEARL SHUT THE door to her town house, tossed her Adidas sports bag, newly acquired online from eBay, on the passen-ger seat of her Dodge minivan, and hopped behind the steering wheel. She loved shopping online, and the sports bag was her latest purchase. Her salon was open Tuesday through Saturday, and some days she didn’t get done until nine p.m. That didn’t leave her a lot of time to run around malls searching for what she needed.

She always looked forward to Monday mornings, when her salon was closed and she could wait until midmorning to hit the gym at the country club. Normally she had to rise at six a.m. to squeeze in an hour of exercise before coming home to shower and grab a quick breakfast of cold cereal. Then she dashed out again to open the salon by nine a.m.

Barbara Bentley, Pearl’s long-standing and dearest customer, had been generous enough to give Pearl a membership to the club on the tenth anniversary of the salon’s opening. Barbara had also paid Pearl’s membership fee each January as a Christmas bonus. Pearl was eternally grateful for Barbara’s generosity. Lord knows she couldn’t have afforded the $30,000 initiation fee herself, let alone the $3,000 annual membership fee. The salon did well, but not
that
well.

Her earnings had allowed Pearl to raise her son as a divorced single mom, to send him to Morehouse College, and to buy a house in Silver Lake. It might be only a town house on the southern side of the community, rather than the more prestigious north side where Barbara Bentley and Jolene Brown lived and where that new humongous mansion was being built. But it was still Silver Lake, the most exclusive community in Prince George’s County, and that was what counted.

Pearl and Jolene hardly spoke to each other since Pearl had started dating Patrick. Not that they had ever been all that friendly. Jolene was a snob as far as Pearl was concerned. She hated everyone who lived in the town houses, except maybe Patrick. After the divorce, he had wanted to stay near his daughter, and a town house was all he could afford in Silver Lake since he had to pay child support.

The town houses were a good half mile from Jolene’s precious mini-mansion, yet Jolene still thought they degraded the upscale neighborhood and she was never shy about saying so to anyone who would listen. Before the town houses were built, Jolene had organized some of the other families to try and stop the builder from constructing them, and she and her followers had continued to protest even after construction began and Pearl and some others had made deposits.

Fortunately, Barbara Bentley eventually stepped in and supported the town houses. Barbara had initially been against them herself, but as she later explained to Pearl, she began to see the value in supporting economic diversity in Silver Lake. There was so much racism in the world, and she hated to see black people discriminating against one another for any reason. Once Barbara came around, Jolene’s objections meant little, given all the clout that Barbara wielded as the wife of one of the most successful businessmen in the county.

Pearl parked her minivan and walked across the parking lot to the main entrance of the club. She smiled and nodded at John as he held the door open for her. The country club had valet parking, but she used it only in bad weather. She was perfectly capable of parking her own car and walking to the door of the club, especially since it saved her a few bucks in tips.

She entered the locker room and quickly changed into a black T-shirt and baggy workout shorts, then checked her rear end in the full-length mirror to make sure her panty line wasn’t showing, and patted her short natural hairstyle in place. She couldn’t afford the designer workout clothes that most of the women here like Barbara Bentley wore, but she always tried to look halfway decent. She was just thankful that she no longer had to shop at Lane Bryant as she did when she was a size 16.

She pushed the door open to the weight room and the first person she ran into was Barbara Bentley. They hugged and exchanged air kisses.

“How are you?” Barbara asked.

“Oh, hanging in there. Working hard at the salon as always, you know.”

Barbara touched Pearl’s arm. “I’ve been meaning to ask, you know the house that’s being built across from Jolene Brown’s?”

Pearl’s eyes grew wide. “It’s unbelievable, isn’t it? It gets bigger and fancier every time I drive by.”

Barbara nodded. “Have you heard anything more about the owners? I thought maybe someone at the salon . . .”

Pearl nodded eagerly. “I’ve heard plenty more.”

Barbara leaned in closer. “Yes?”

Pearl lowered her voice. “Well, I can’t be sure, but Diane Hamilton—you know her? She lives two doors down from Jolene.”

Barbara nodded.

“She claims the couple moving into that house is royalty and . . .”

Barbara’s head snapped back. Royalty? Silver Lake had dozens of illustrious families living inside its gates, from professional ball players to prominent businessmen and local politicians. But royalty? She was impressed. “Really? I had no idea.”

Pearl nodded vigorously. “A count and countess from some small country in Europe, is what they’re saying. Some place called Chateau de something or other.”

Barbara’s heart picked up a beat. “You’re kidding. Sounds like they must be white then.”

“From what I understand, he’s European and she’s African American. She met him over there and they got married.”

Barbara blinked. A count and countess in Silver Lake! And the countess was black. This would lend a lot of cachet to the neighborhood. Not that Silver Lake needed it, being one of the wealthiest communities in America. But it was a predominantly black community, and some people tended to write off anything mostly black no matter how much money was involved. “This is so exciting. I can’t wait for the party this weekend so we . . .”

Pearl narrowed her eyes. Party? What party? She hadn’t received an invitation to any party. She tightened her lips. No doubt because she lived on the wrong side of Silver Lake.

Barbara paused at the expression on Pearl’s face. Oh, dear, she thought. How rude of her to blurt out about the party like that. But she had assumed that everyone in Silver Lake received an invitation. “I’m so sorry, Pearl. I thought . . .”

Pearl tried to smile. “Don’t worry about it,” she said curtly. “You can fill me in when you come and get your hair done.”

“Nonsense. I’m sure it was a simple mistake. The new owners probably got our names and addresses from the Silver Lake Neighborhood Association and somehow you were missed. I’ll look into it for you.”

Pearl wasn’t so sure it was a mistake, since Patrick hadn’t gotten an invitation either. It sounded more like another anti-town-house thing to her. Even the Europeans were in on it.

OLENE GRABBED HER sports bag and climbed out of her Lexus. She held her keys out to John and dropped them into his extended palm. There was a time when she would have smiled at John as she handed him the keys, but then he started trying to make a lot of small talk with her and that was getting a little too damn familiar. He was the help, not her buddy. She had quickly put a stop to all the chatter by avoiding his eyes. It was good to see that he remembered his place, even though it had been almost a year since she was last at the club.

She entered the locker room and changed into her workout clothes—a sexy pink Lycra bra top and black short-shorts. She had stopped coming to the club after word got out about her affair with Bradford Bentley. But she was tired of hiding, she thought as she studied herself in the floor-length mirror. She paid a lot of money to belong to this country club—had even taken out a home equity loan to pay the hefty initiation fee—and she had as much right as anyone else to be here. She pushed the door to the locker room open and walked out.

“DON’T GO TO a lot of trouble, Barbara,” Pearl said.

“It’s no trouble,” Barbara insisted. “I’m on the Silver Lake Neighborhood Association board and I’ll call . . .” Barbara paused and nearly gasped as she caught a glimpse of Jolene Brown entering the weight room. Barbara was shocked that the woman had the nerve to show her face here. And as usual Jolene looked like a tramp, with her boobs popping up out of that pink workout bra like two brown balloons.

Pearl noticed a change in Barbara’s demeanor and turned to see what had caused it. She spotted Jolene walking in their direction and quickly looked away. This was the first time she’d seen Jolene up close in ages. She occasionally saw Jolene driving by in her car or from a distance at the supermarket and that was close enough for her.

“Whoa,” Pearl whispered. “Wonder what made her decide to show up here.” She knew that if anyone disliked Jolene more than she did, it was Barbara Bentley.

“I’m the last person to ask,” Barbara said. She abruptly stopped speaking as Jolene approached.

Jolene noticed Barbara and Pearl whispering to each other and she suspected that they were gossiping about her, judging from the cold expressions on their faces. So what. She wasn’t going to let their pettiness bother her. The affair between her and Bradford had ended almost a year ago, and it was time for that anal bitch Barbara Bentley to let it go.

“Good morning,” Jolene said, smiling brightly as she nodded in the direction of Barbara and Pearl. To her astonishment not only did they both ignore her but Barbara had the gall to turn her body away, and Pearl studied her fingernails as if she had just discovered them. Jolene was furious. Who the hell did they think they were?

She clenched her fists, whirled around, and stomped all the way back to the locker room. “Fuck,” she muttered as she flopped down on a bench, arms folded. They had no right to keep treating her this way. Especially that salon frump Pearl Jackson. Come to think of it, how the devil could she even afford a membership here? Did Patrick get it for her? He better not have. They were deep in debt and barely making ends meet, with two mortgages, a home equity loan, and saving for college for Juliette. Not to mention the annual fee for her own country club membership.

Jolene jumped up and opened her locker. She yanked her gym bag out and threw it on the floor. She was so pissed off, she didn’t even feel like working out anymore. Being snubbed by Barbara Bentley was bad enough, but being snubbed by Patrick’s town house trash was intolerable. She never should have come here.

She slammed the locker door shut with a loud bang, and a woman a few lockers down turned and stared at her. Jolene couldn’t remember the woman’s name but she recognized her as Barbara’s snobby next-door neighbor. She turned pointedly toward the woman and fixed her with a long, icy glare. The woman quickly turned away as Jolene snatched her gym bag off the floor and marched out of the locker room.

She was halfway to the exit when she changed her mind about leaving right away. She stopped and whirled around. She wasn’t going to take this shit one more minute. She burst through the weight room door and found Barbara and Pearl still talking near the entrance. They both froze the minute they saw her.

Jolene stomped up and inserted herself between them. Pearl stumbled and had to catch herself to keep from falling as Jolene turned toward Barbara. “I’m tired of being dissed by you all the damn time,” Jolene yelled.

Barbara coolly looked away. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Two women walking by with tennis rackets slowed down and stared in their direction. Jolene ignored them and leaned in closer until her nose was within inches of Barbara’s face. “You know
exactly
what I’m talking about. It’s been almost a year since I screwed Bradford. Get over it. You don’t have to keep being so fucking rude to me.”

This was too much, Barbara thought. She pointedly looked Jolene up and down with disapproval. “You’re the last one to talk to me about rudeness,” she said, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

Jolene put her hands on her hips. “God, you’re such an uptight snob. I . . .”

“You can call me whatever you want,” Barbara said coolly through a sly smile. “At least my husband didn’t walk out on me.”

Pearl blinked hard. Oh, lordy. What did Barbara have to go and bring
that
up for? The last thing she wanted was for Miss Barbara Wannabe to turn her attention to her.

Jolene backed away. “Fine, Barbara,” she said calmly. “If that’s how you want to be.” Jolene whirled around. “Bitch,” she muttered as she stormed off. She was going to get her annual fee refunded and she was never coming back to this snooty club again. Hell, she might even move out of Silver Lake. She didn’t need this.

“Whew!” Pearl said, fanning herself with her hand as soon as Jolene was out of sight.

“God, I can’t stand that woman,” Barbara hissed under her breath.

“Take it easy, Barbara.”

“Did you see how she just ignored you?” Barbara asked, still fuming. “And she calls
me
rude.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Pearl said. “I’d rather be ignored by Jolene anyway. ’Cause she scares the heck out of me.”