In Between Lies

This book is a work of fiction.
Characters and companies portrayed in the book are
drawn completely from the author’s imagination
.
 
Any
resemblance
with real people
, living or dead, companies, locations, or events i
s
purely coincidental
and
unintentional.

Copyright © 2009 by Shawna Hill

All Rights Reserved. Outside of excerpts/brief quotes used in reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any form without prior written consent from the author.

Titles a
lso by Shawna Hill

Coming
Soon

             
Dark Whispers

Why I Can’t Get Married

Black Housewive
s

First, I want to thank God
and my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ,
for blessing me, my life, family, and friends. Without Him, I am nothing. With Him, I’m strengthened by His will and glory, and through Him I am able to express love, humbleness, and compassion. Most of all, I’m able to use and enjoy the talent that He has given me to touch the lives of others in a positive way.

This book is dedicated to my great grandmother, who is no longer with me physically, but is with me in spirit everyday.  Frances Parks, whom the family lovingly called Nanny, was the one who started and nurtured my thirst for reading and writing, as she was a huge literacy advocate to not only me, but to us all.

I also want to thank my family and friends that have encouraged me throughout the years. Thank you all because without your support or encouragement, writing may have still been just a dream and not a reality.

Thanks,

Shawna Hill

Prologue

Sade’s sultry, melodic voice in
“Somebody Already Broke My Heart”
filled the car as Savannah Summers sped down Chicago’s Dan Ryan expressway, once again late for work. With precise awareness she adjusted her rearview mirror to face her, carefully dabbing on her caramel tinted foundation. She thoroughly blended it into her already blemish free complexion. Settling back, and finally buckling her seatbelt in her sleek black BMW, she proceeded to outline her brown eyes.
             

“Girl why don’t you do that at home?” Jasmine, her best friend said, grasping the dashboard. “We are late. Do you suppose that maybe you could do something like get your lazy butt out of bed earlier?” She questioned and smirked. “And besides you, unlike others, don’t need to wear make up. Girl you can go au natural and still be on point. Seems like you would do something different….and cant we listen to something else? Like some Old School? Like Cameo or something a little more upbeat this morning?”

“Perhaps you’d like to find your own ride to work?”
Savannah
suggested. “Besides, I do go natural from time to time…it just won’t be today”. “Hum, well excuse me I was just making an observation and giving a possible solution that would help you out.” Jasmine rolled her eyes and sat back in the passenger seat.

“When I need your observations and solutions, I’ll let you know…otherwise sit back and enjoy the ride.” Satisfied with her eye makeup, she moved to her lips.  “It’s Friday anyway. You know hardly anyone is at work today.”
Savannah
continued to apply her makeup and was adding the finishing touches as she switched lanes.

Being the Assistant to the VP of the Production Department at Exclusive Creative Solutions Inc. did have its advantages. The fact that she was late, on occasion was one fault that was overlooked by most of the department since she was the woman behind the V.P. of productions. She was the one person whose opinion counted the most. If
Savannah
said the sky was green, it was. Her finger stayed close to the pulse of things and her every word was gold. She’d earned her spot as Assistant Producer due to just having an eye for flair, a determined attitude and getting the job
done
quickly and flawlessly.  Delving into work was her coping mechanism to deal with her painful split with her past fiancé. Focused, she climbed the ranks, proved herself, managed to get a degree in journalism along the way, while her personal life fell apart.

“I’ve been meaning to tell you, Missy that ever since you and Kevin went your separate ways you have really been off the hook.  What’s up with that? Why don’t you just go ahead and admit you got
turned out….it’s okay. You know the saying that the first step to recovery is admitting the problem
,” Jasmine flicked her hands in the air as if
Savannah
had been dismissed.

“Whatever-”
Savannah
cut in.  Heat rushed to her face at the mere sound of his name. Her thoughts traveled back a year earlier, before Kevin entered her life and centered on her then fiancé, Andre. Thoughts of Dre’s would be affair had they married flashed through her mind. Her whirlwind romance and fairytale wedding all but went up in smoke. Bringing herself from the past, she shook Dre off and continued. “Besides your mind need not be on me or Kevin, it needs to be figuring out what you are wearing to the banquet tonight.” She glared at Jasmine, letting her know that the subject of Kevin was over. “You’ll get to see all the hard work we put into the publicity for The Place pay off tonight.  And you know your incognito, under the cover wanna be lover is gonna be there.”

“And who is that?” Jasmine asked, snapping her head around to face her.

“Thomas, girl. Don’t act like I don’t know what’s going on with you two. I can see and read between the lines. Who do you think you are fooling?”

“What!? C’mon we are just friends. However, I would like to test the equipment out… see what he is working with.” Jasmine wiggled in the seat and clapped her hands. “Give me some time, I’ll let you know.”

“You heard me.” Switching lanes again as she got off the expressway, she shot Jasmine an “I know what you did” look. “I see the way you two talk and laugh. I also see the way you look at him. I’m just waiting to hear the details from you. I’m supposed to be your best friend. I thought you would have told me a while ago.”

Jasmine continued, not responding to
Savannah
’s begging question.  “I thought Richard was your best friend,” Jasmine commented. “He could be more than that but you keep him at arms length,” she slid in. Anyway, as I was saying, you were running around here listening to people who have nothing to do but gossip and spread lies and rumors. You let a good man like Kevin get away. Humph, let me get one like that ….see how far he gets.” Jasmine gathered her belongings and exited the car when it stopped. “I thought I taught you better than that.”

“Shut up Jazzy
, I don’t want to hear about that man anymore today.” She slammed the car door shut and headed for the entrance with Jasmine following closely behind. “And as for Richard, he is my best male friend. Hell, we’ve been friends since way back. I can’t even remember how long its been. He’s like my brother.” She didn’t mention that thoughts of Richard crossed her mind from time to time. Since they were such good friends, she didn’t want to risk being intimate with him for fear of ruining their many years of companionship. 

“At least give him the opportunity to talk. I mean you did break it off abruptly.”

“Anyway…don’t act like things just happened between us. He played a very big part…enough to make me call it quits before I really got hurt,”
Savannah
cut in, not wanting to entertain her friend with her true feelings of Kevin. I’ll talk to you at lunch. Same time, same place.”

Savannah
plopped down, pen in hand and the phone in the other. Her voicemail messages ranged from inquiries to fees to questions of full blown out commercial ads. Then there it was. That same low voice she heard every night on the early evening news. Since their break up of their unofficial, unspoken but understood ‘togetherness agreement’ they had previously made, she’d never admit to still watching him every night, at least never to him. He sounded strong and way too seductive to be leaving messages on her phone, like liquid chocolate, as if they were intertwined in an intimate moment. At the same time he sounded kind and loving. “Hi babe, I was just thinking about you and I know you don’t want to talk to me, but I just want you to listen.”