In My Sister's House (11 page)

Mike graciously accepted, and he and his wife looked excited. Holding onto Sidney’s hand, Skylar was so proud of her man and happy for Mike and Sara Chin. For a moment she had forgotten all about what Cleet said to her about DuBoy, until she looked up and saw Storm entering the club with none other than Joshua Tillman, aka DuBoy, at her side. She tightened her grip on Sidney, who, after looking at her, knew something was wrong.

Sensing that Skylar knew that she had come in, Storm looked through the crowded room until their eyes meet. Sidney wouldn’t let go of Skylar’s hand and decided that they should all have a toast there at the table to celebrate Mike’s good news. Skylar calmed down long enough to relax her hand and joined in on the toast.

Storm’s entrance caused a stir. Not because she was known, but because she was stunning! Wearing a simple black Nicole Miller minidress and a pair of Antonia Melani high-heeled sandals, and carrying a black beaded Louis Vuitton purse, Storm looked as if she had stepped right off the pages of
Vanity Fair
. DuBoy’s thuggish b-boy appearance seemed almost acceptable to the crowd witnessing this unexpected entrance. He was in a pair of loose-fitting Sean John jeans, a clinging black wife beater, and a pair of black Tims. A black leather belt with an oversized gold and silver belt buckle, a skull with tiny sparkling gems entrenched in each eye socket, gave the illusion of expensive jewels.

Nettie noticed Storm and immediately went over to her with her arms outstretched. She greeted her warmly and gave DuBoy a quick disapproving nod. He returned the sentiment. When Storm took off her sunglasses to give Nettie a peck on the cheek, it caused several customers to do a double take. Some were speechless at the resemblance to Skylar. Some had heard that Skylar had a sister; certainly most of the employees knew of a sibling; but no one outside of Nettie and Sidney knew that she was a twin.

“Excuse me,” Skylar said to the Chins and Sidney as she stood up.

“Baby, be calm, okay?” Sidney whispered to her.

“I’m fine, Sid. Everything is fine,” she assured him. With that she headed over to the table where Storm and DuBoy were sitting
down. Ruta Lee told them a waitress would be right over to take their order. Skylar signalled to Quince to lower the music. As she approached the stage, Flynn handed her the microphone.

“Ladies and gentlemen, please join me in welcoming home my sister, Storm Morrison.” At that moment a light shined on a surprised Storm, who managed a nervous smile. “You’ll be seeing quite a lot of her, because as of next week, she will be our new assistant house manager. Our regular colleague, the wonderful Ruta Lee, will be traveling back West for a while on some family business.”

Skylar continued. “I can assure everyone that Ruta Lee
will
be back and that this is only temporary. But I can also promise you that Storm will be just as great in the position. We’re all lucky to have her here.”

Nettie couldn’t hide the gleeful look on her face upon hearing this news. Skylar caught Sidney’s eye and his trademark smile indicated his approval. He was proud of his woman for this gesture.

As the cheers and congratulations simmered down, Skylar motioned for Quince to start up the music. “Okay everyone, enjoy the rest of the evening.” With this she started to leave the stage, when Storm stopped her.

“Skylar, I … I don’t know what to say. I mean, I really appreciate this to the highest.” Storm was shocked. “I wasn’t expecting—” Not allowing her to finish, Skylar assured her that she could handle it. That they would spend the next few days having Ruta train her and show her the ropes.

“Wow, you have that much faith in me?” Storm asked in a cautious tone.

“Sure, why not? Is there any reason why I shouldn’t?” Not allowing Storm to respond, she continued, “Just keep your nose clean, do the right thing, and surround yourself with people of substance.” She made sure Storm saw her glance DuBoy’s way when she said that last sentence. “Everything will be cool. Besides, it’s what Dutch would have wanted,” she said.

“And you? Is this what you want, sis?” Storm searched the eyes of her sister for the truth. There was a moment of silence before
Skylar told her, “Yes, this is my wish, too. Okay, so look, we’ll talk more about it tomorrow. Like I told you earlier, tonight just sit back and enjoy the evening because next week, you’ll be on duty.” With that Skylar excused herself and made her way back to Sidney, leaving Storm standing alone.

In a weird sort of way, watching her sister walk away from her saddened Storm, who for the first time in a long time realized that she had missed her. She even thought of reaching out and hugging her.

An impatient DuBoy called out for her to come join him. He’d moved over to Torch’s table. They’d ordered a bottle of champagne and awaited her arrival with raised glasses for a toast.

Flynn determinedly took a seat at the bar within eyesight of this troublesome scene. Nettie, witnessing this from her perch, frowned disapprovingly.

“So, what you thinking, Nettie?” Flynn asked without taking his eyes off Torch’s table.

“About Sky and Storm? Oh, they’re gonna be fine as soon as they realize that no matter what they do or say, at the end of the day they are still sisters, sharing the same blood. It’ll take some time, but I’m hopeful things are going to be fine,” Nettie said while fixing him a club soda with lemon.

Taking a sip of his drink, he asked, “What about DuBoy?”

“Can’t stand that chile!” she spat out. “He ain’t never been no good. Mamma wasn’t good either. Nor his daddy. So I guess he got it honest. Same thing with Torch. I’m surprised that boy ain’t dead yet with all the mess he’s been involved with.”

“I heard he had a few girls on the street now, too,” Flynn offered.

“Probably!” Nettie shook her head.

Looking at Cleet, she continued her rant. “And Cleet, with his ol’ dumb self, will do anything Torch says to. Just a
show monkey
. Once she gets settled I am going to have a talk with Storm.”

S
kylar and Sidney almost completed their ride home in silence until Sidney turned on the radio. It was set, as always, on the Quiet Storm station of WDAS-FM. The Michael Jackson classic “You Are Not Alone” played softly. Resting against the soft leather headrest of Sidney’s black-on-black BMW 750, Skylar closed her eyes and lightly smiled. Sensing her melancholy mood, Sidney tenderly took her hand in his own. The unexpected, comforting gesture seemed to relax her tense state.

“I was very proud of you tonight, baby, you know that?” he said softly.

“Really? Why?” Skylar asked in a whisper.

“Just the way you handled your sister and the whole situation. I know it wasn’t easy. Especially after seeing her with that dude DuBoy.”

“Don’t remind me,” she said. “I just couldn’t believe that someone could be so stupid as to hook back up with a jerk like that after all he had taken her through. She hasn’t been home a good forty-eight hours and who’s the first person she calls? DuBoy!” Skylar’s body grew more tense as she released her hand from Sidney’s calming grasp. His immediate reaction was to envelop it once more.

“How long were they together before she went in?” Sidney inquired.

“I don’t know. They were always off and on. Storm has so much to offer, you’d think that her choices in men would be better. But as long as I can remember she’s always gone for these no-good thugs.”

“Well, baby, you like who you like, right? I mean, evidently there is still some kind of spark left between the two of them. Especially the way they were carrying on in the booth tonight,” he said, starting to laugh. Skylar threw him a look.

“Disgusting, that’s what it was. Did you see how he was all over her?” Skylar sat up and folded her arms across her chest. “And there’s nothing funny about it, Sid!”

“I know, baby, I know.” He remained playful. He always knew how to make her smile. “But actually it was more your sister on the brotha man, than him on her.” Sidney saw that Skylar was not in a playful mood so he attempted to smooth things over.

“You’ve done your part, baby. Storm is going to have to step up to the plate and do what she needs to do to make things happen in her life,” he said.

“I’m proud of you, too, honey.” She leaned her head on his shoulder.

“Me? What did I do?” His facial expression indicated that he didn’t have a clue as to what she meant.

“Helping that young couple the way you did tonight. Baby, you made their night.” She reached up to kiss him on the cheek.

“Hey, hey, don’t start nothing you can’t finish,” he teased.

“Seriously, neither one of them will ever forget tonight,” Skylar said.

“He was the most qualified candidate I interviewed. Know what impressed me the most? He didn’t spend a whole lot of time trying to impress me with a bunch a bull. My man came in there, answered all my questions and concerns honestly, and convinced me that although he didn’t know everything, he was still eager to grow. That’s the kind of employee you want by your side, baby. You get someone who thinks they already know everything, I promise you there won’t
be any growth.” Sidney’s voice took a serious tone. “I need to have someone I can mold into the kind of person I need to help me run my business. So if I need to take some time off, my clients won’t panic. This person needs to be an extension of who I am toward my clients. I believe that’s Mike.”

“You’re right, babe. Just from our brief meeting tonight I’d say you made the right choice,” Skylar said. “Not so sure
I
did.” She sighed heavily.

“Give your sister a chance, babe. When I talked to her the last few times she called, I got a sense that she knew where she went wrong in her life. If prison taught her nothing else, it gave her time to think about her life and the choices she made,” Sidney said as he pulled into their driveway.

“I hope you’re right, baby, but I know Storm. I know her very well and I need to keep my eye on her,” she warned.

“Just don’t go looking for anything, Sky.” He looked at her while getting out of the car.

“I am,” she replied. He gave her a look. “I
am,”
she said louder. “I’m giving her a chance.”

Walking hand in hand up the driveway, he suddenly turned and, facing her, lightly stroked the tip of her nose with his index finger. “Yeah, but when will you give
you two
a chance?”

Looking up at Sidney, she paused as she gazed into the eyes of the man who brought her so much happiness. The man who made her feel like, no matter what, everything would be all right.

“I love you, Sidney Francis.” Tears of joy formed in her eyes.

He pulled her closer and whispered, “And I love you, Skylar Morrison.” He kissed her passionately, until she collapsed into the security of his embrace. They got lost in their lust and love, forgetting for a moment where they were. As a warm breeze brushed against their heated bodies, Sidney carefully pulled down each strap of her dress and Skylar’s fingers delicately unbuckled his pants. It was evident that she wanted him just as much as he wanted her—right there. Inching away from their deep kisses, Sidney used his tongue to paint light strokes of passion on Skylar’s neck. She tilted her head
back ever so gently, the scent of his cologne intoxicating her with memories of their first meeting. She closed her eyes and enjoyed the sensual motions of his wet pink brush. The lovers’ moans of ecstasy joined with the melodic sounds of restless crickets echoing in the midnight air.

“Excuse me.
Excuse me!”
A loud voice startled both Sky and Sid. They turned to face the direction it was coming from. “I’m assuming you two are locked out?” It was their seventy-two-year-old neighbor, white-haired Mrs. Reed, walking her pit bull, Doug.

Flustered, Skylar immediately lifted up both straps of her dress while Sidney pulled his buttoned-down shirt out of his pants so it could fall over his embarrassing bulge.

“We’re fine, Mrs. Reed. Sidney seems to have misplaced our door keys.” Skylar tried to refrain from laughing as she made up this ridiculous story.

Pretending to search for them, Sidney joined in by adding, “They must be somewhere around here, honey.”

“Did you try looking in your front pants pocket, Sidney? Looks like something is in there,” Mrs. Reed suggested while she and Doug planted themselves in the street directly facing Sidney.

Locating the keys on the shelf by the front door, Sidney smiled and shook them in her direction.

“Got ’em, Mrs. Reed. Good night,” he said. Skylar quickly scooped them out of his hand and opened the door. Abandoning him at the entrance she darted up the stairs, leaving behind only the faint sound of her laughter. With one last farewell to his neighbor, Sidney flashed a nervous smile and waved good-bye.

He quickly closed the door, intending to follow Skylar upstairs, but shortly thereafter, he heard a knock at the door.

“Who is it?” he asked.

“Mrs. Reed and Doug.”

What in the hell is wrong with this woman?
he thought to himself. “Yes, Mrs. Reed?”

“Can you open the door for a minute? I got something I want to show you.”

She has something to show me? What the hell?
Sidney didn’t know what to do.

“C’mon, baby, it’s cold out here,” Mrs. Reed whispered. Getting closer to the door and shaking his head, Sidney took a deep breath and slowly opened the door.

“You left your keys in the door.” She dangled them and handed them over. “You never know who might come in and surprise you one night. You got any protection?” She gazed into his eyes.

“Excuse me?” Sidney asked, confused.

“Protection, you know—like I have old Doug here.” She gently began to pet her dog and looked up at Sidney.

“Oh, that kind of protection.” Relief momentarily washed over him as he laughed. “No, no, there’s never any trouble around here. We’re fine, Mrs. Reed. And thanks again.”

“You sure you don’t have a big ol’ nightstick that you carry around with you?” Speaking softly and biting her bottom lip, she shifted her eyes downward.

“Good night, Mrs. Reed!” he said in a stern voice. “Tell
Mister
Reed I said hello.”