Just Another Damn Love Story (7 page)

“Okay, you showed your ass, this year,” Kimberly told him.

Sterling turned in her direction.  “Hello!”  He was surprised out of this world.

“Allow me to introduce my friends and colleagues, Pamela Winslow, and Aisha Green,” Kimberly told him.

“Please to meet you,” Sterling told them, shaking each of their hands in turn.

“Kim said that you work for Vespasian,” Pam said nodding.  “I have to admit, you guys stole the show this year.”

“That white Kimono was off the chain!”  Aisha told him.  “And that model, with her teeny-tiny feet in those high ass wedges, she looked just like a damn Geisha!  You guys are off the charts this year!”

“What exactly do you do for Vespasian, Sterling?”  Pam asked.

“Everything!”  Sterling said laughing.

“He’s right, I saw him carrying boxes,” Kimberly said laughing.

“Oh, so you’re just like us,” Aisha said.  “A jack of all trades, but under appreciated by all the higher ups.”

The ladies all lifted their glasses in a toast.

“To the under appreciated!”  Kim said.  “The ones that make the company go round and round.”

“But who get stepped on!”  Pam added.

“And who get the shitty assignments, and the worst pay!”  Aisha added.

“This is not exactly a shitty assignment,” Sterling said, waving his hand around at the beautiful set up.

“No, not this one,” Pam agreed.  “But wait until you’re on that plane flying coach.”

“With that hollering baby in the seat across the aisle,” Kim said, shaking her head.

“And that bad ass little boy behind you, kicking the back of your seat,” Aisha added.

“And that fly mouth, flippant stewardess who looks down on you because you’re flying coach!”  Kimberly said.

“And the cheap motel room, the funky crowds of journalists, the…” Aisha started.

Sterling held up his hands.  “Okay, okay, I get you.”

Aisha pulled out a tiny digital recorder.  “So, can I interview you?”

“Are you somebody worth interviewing, Sterling?”  Pamela asked.

Sterling laughed.  “That depends on who you ask.”

“Okay, okay, I’m not going to let y’all torture my friend,” Kim told her friends.  She interlaced her arms with Sterling’s and led off.  The two of them slowly made their way through the crowd, toward the pier.

“So, are you here on assignment?”  Sterling asked.

“Something like that,” Kim replied.

“So, what exactly do you do for Mocha?” 

“I’m an ad executive.”

“Oh, that explains it.”

“Explains what?”

“Why you were in the building that day, and why you’re at this fashion event today,” Sterling explained.  “You’re lining up advertisers for your magazine.”

“Correct.”  Kim said nodding.  “And you’re here because?”

“Working for Vespasian, helping out with the fashion show, making sure everything goes right.”

“Okay, so what exactly do you do for them?”  Kim asked.

“Everything.”

“Everything,” Kimberly laughed.  “There goes that answer again.  You’re real mysterious, you know that?”

“I’m not trying to be,” Sterling smiled.  “In fact, I really want you to get to know me a lot better.”

“Really?”  Kimberly said, lifting an eyebrow.

Sterling nodded.  “Really.  You running off without giving me your telephone number was torture.”

“Torture?”

“Torture,” Sterling confirmed.  “I couldn’t sleep at night, I couldn’t eat.  All I could do was think of you.  Your smile haunted my thoughts and dreams, all day and all night.”

“Oh, you’re good,” Kim told him.  “You’re a charmer.  I don’t give my number to guys as smooth as you.”

“I get penalized for telling the truth?”  Sterling asked.  “I put it on everything, I thought about you a lot since that day on the elevator.”

“Why?”

“Because it's not everyday that one comes across a sister so beautiful, so charming, so intelligent, so well together as yourself.  You’re a very memorable person.  A person who I would really love to get to know a lot better.”

Kimberly swallowed hard.  She found herself staring into this man’s hazel eyes and almost melting.  He was definitely a charmer.  Smooth as silk, with a voice that had her feeling moist in places that shouldn’t be feeling moist.  The two of them approached the pier and peered out over the yacht filled waters.

“Wow, what do you think one of these runs?”  Kimberly asked.

“That one, about fifteen million.”

“Wouldn’t that be nice to have,” she said softly.  “I would live on it, and just sail around the world.  The only time I would stop, would be for food and fuel, and maybe to walk on an occasional beach, or to take in an occasional sunset.”

“You should never turn down the opportunity to take in a sunset,” Sterling said, leaning forward and whispering into her ear.  He caressed the side of her face, and gently touched his lips against hers.  “Especially, if you have the opportunity to watch the sun’s reflection in the eyes of someone as beautiful as yourself.  You should see the sun radiating off of your skin right now.”

Kimberly leaned forward and pressed her lips against Sterling’s, kissing him softly at first, and then more firmly the second time.  On the third kiss, their tongues met.  He tasted like cinnamon to her, while she tasted like mint to him.  She became lost in his embrace, and felt herself floating away.

“Don’t do this to me,”  Kimberly whispered.

“Do what?”  Sterling asked.

“This.  Don’t do this.”

“You’re going to have to explain to me what you’re talking about,”  Sterling told her.

“What is this?  What are we doing, Sterling?”  Kimberly turned away from him, and peered out toward the ocean.  “I’m not ready for another one of these.  I can’t afford to go through another one of these.  Not right now, not yet.”

Sterling rested him hands on her shoulders.  “Afford another what?  I’m not asking you to invest in anything that you don’t feel you’re ready for.  We can take our time, be friends, get to know one another.  I’m willing to go as slow as I have to, I’m willing to walk with you until the end of time, if that’s what it takes.”

She turned back towards him.  “Why?  Why are you willing to commit that type of time?  You hardly know me.  Am I your investment on the side, while you fulfill your needs elsewhere?”

Sterling let out a half laugh.  “You give me too much credit.  I don’t have another woman, and I’m not in a relationship right now.  I don’t sleep around, and that’s for two reasons.  One, because my Momma raised me right, and two, because I’m afraid of HIV.  I’m willing to put the time into this relationship because that’s what commitment is all about.  You’re worth it, Kimberly, and whoever led you to believe that you weren’t worth a man’s full commitment has you fooled.  You’re an extraordinary woman, and I’m glad that I met you.”

Kimberly reached into her purse, pulled out her business card, and handed it to Sterling.  “My cell phone number is on there also.”

Sterling smiled and tucked the card into his pocket.  “Thank you.”

“No, thank you, Sterling,” Kim told him.  “I haven’t had a man make me feel like that in some time.”

“Feel like what?”

“Worthy.”

“Sterling!”  A voice called out to him from behind.

Sterling and Kimberly turned in the direction from which it came.

“I just had to come and shake your hand personally.”  The gentleman told him.

“Sergio!”  Sterling said surprised.

Another gentleman walked just behind Sergio.  He kissed Sterling on both cheeks.

“Georgio!”  Sterling said, greeting him.

“
Bellisimo
!”  Georgio declared.  “You stole the show, my friend!”

“That kimono was exquisite!”  Sergio told him.  “And those shoes!”

“And that parka!”  Georgio said, kissing the tips of his fingers.  “Marvelous!”

“Well, Georgio, you and Sergio inspire me,” Sterling told them.

Kimberly backed up and turned toward the ocean.  Her mind was on Sterling.  Could he really be all that he was cracked up to be?  He seemed like a nice guy.  In fact,
too
nice.  That brought two questions into her head.  One, was he just a big sham?  Or, was he too nice for her to risk hurting?  She had heard about those rebound relationships.  The ones where the next guy comes along, picks you up off of your feet, and then ends up getting hurt once you’re feeling better and ready to move on.  Could she hurt him like that?  And what about John?  A man that she had loved with every fiber of her being.  What if he came to her and said that he loved her, and wanted to be with her, and that he was willing to move away with her and start life fresh somewhere else?  What would that mean?  Would she go?  Could she hurt this man standing behind her like that?

Kimberly stood facing the ocean, lost in her thoughts so much, that she never realized that she had three of the biggest designers in the world standing behind her talking.

Chapter Nine

St. Phillip’s Episcopal Church was a one hundred and ninety year old neo-gothic style church, planted in the middle of Harlem’s West 134th Street.  It was home to the city’s African American movers and shakers, and had been for most of its nearly two hundred year old existence.  The Church’s history read like a history book, as it had bore witness to most of the nation’s great events.  It even had plenty of history of its own.

The current building had been constructed in 1910, and had been designed by the first African American licensed as an architect in the State of New York.  The building had been designated as a New York City designated landmark, and during the 1950’s, was home to the largest Christian congregation in the United States.  Such proud history is what kept the church so prominent in the eyes of the east coast’s wealthy African American community.  It’s what kept the church’s membership swollen, and what kept its coffers full.  It’s also what kept the wealthy Westchester crowd driving into the city for Sunday service; including the Neels.

“Glad you could make it this Sunday, darling,”  Marjorie Neel told her daughter.

Kimberly exhaled forcibly, and plopped down on the pew next to her mother.  “Mom, don’t start.”

“Why, were you out late last night sinning, in that big giant nest of sin you call the city?”  Marjorie asked.

Kimberly leaned forward, peering around her mother.  “Hi, Dad.”

“Hi, baby,”  Thornton Neel greeted his daughter.  “Good to see you.  You look really pretty today.”

“Thanks, Daddy,” Kim smiled.  She could always count on her father to make her feel good.

Marjorie struck her husband with her church fan.  “She does
not
look good, she looks tired.  Tired, and thin, and exhausted from that dead end job of hers.”

“Mother, we’re in church,” Kim whispered.  “Can we not have this discussion right now?”

“Church is the best place to discuss that sinful place you live in,” Marjorie continued.  “Who ever heard of living in Times Square?”

“Marjorie…”  Thornton said, trying to hush his wife.

“Really,” Marjorie pressed on.  “She should move back to Purchase.”

“I can’t move back in with you,” Kimberly whispered.

“Not with us.  You can get your own place.”

“And have to commute for thirty minutes to an hour twice a day?  No thank you.”

“You always were a stubborn child,” Marjorie huffed.  “Now I see why John left you.”

“John didn’t leave me, Mother,” Kim said sternly.  “I left him.”

“Another bad decision,” Marjorie countered.  “He’s getting married, did you know that?”

“Yes, I know it,”  Kim whispered.  “And good for him.”

“That could have been you walking down that aisle,”  Marjorie told her.  “You could have been the wife of a doctor.”

“What makes you think that I want to be a doctor’s wife?”  Kimberly asked.  “Or anybody’s wife for that matter?  Mother, it’s the twenty first century.”

Marjorie gasped.  She turned toward her husband.  “Did you hear that, Thornton?  Did you?  This is what happens when you send your children off the National Cathedral School in D.C. to be educated.  They come back as liberal lesbians.”

Kimberly gasped.  “Mother!  I am
not
a lesbian,”  she said under her breath.

“What is wrong with marriage?” Marjorie asked.  “Marriage to a good and descent man like John?”

“There’s nothing wrong with marriage to a good and descent man, I just have to find one first.  John isn’t it.”

“You know, your sister wouldn’t have thrown him away like that.  She knows what to do with a doctor.”

“I’m sure she does,”  Kim said sarcastically.

“And what’s that supposed to mean?”  Marjorie asked.  “Your sister and her fiancée, Dr. Giddings, are very happy.  He may only be an OB-GYN, but at least that’s something.   He’ll have his own practice one day, and they’ll be very comfortable.”

“And I’m happy for them,”  Kim whispered.  “But what’s good for her, isn’t necessarily good for me.”

“You difficult difficult child you!”  Marjorie said.

“I’m an adult now, Mom.”

“Adults make adult decisions.  They don’t walk away from good relationships at the first sign of a little trouble.”

“They broke my windows out of the Porsche you and Daddy bought me!”  Kimberly said under her breath.  “Another one of his ex’s, spray painted my car, while another one keyed my door!  I had to deal with the phone calls, the death threats, and all the other drama.”

Marjorie exhaled and waved her hand, dismissing her daughter.  “Come, it’s almost time for the choir.  Let’s go and put on our choir robes.  You do still sing for the Lord, don’t you?”

“Of course, Mother,”  Kim said rising, and following her mother back into the choir room.

*****

The Visionaire was unlike any other apartment building in the world.  The massive mirror glass structure had been designed by none other than world renowned architect Rafael Pelli.  Not only was the design of the wedge shape building breathtaking to behold, but the building’s surroundings were equally impressive.  Nestled on the tip of Battery Park City, the building held a commanding view of neighboring Battery Park, the Hudson River, the Manhattan skyline, and The Statue of Liberty.  Those lucky enough to live in the building were gifted with some of the most incredible views the city had to offer.