Some Came Desperate: A Love Saga (24 page)

       “It’s okay.  Not hungry at all, un uh.  See you girls later.  Ethan, call me.”  She mimicked a phone to her ear when she said those words to Ethan and then hurried out of the restaurant.  Her forced smile was gone before she cleared the door. 

       Simone exhaled.  She had already seen the pain in her eyes.  Shay, however, couldn’t stop shaking her head.  “She’s pathetic,” she said and Simone looked at her.

      
“She’s
pathetic?” Simone said.  “What about Jeremy?  He’s the one who’s accepting an award from a bunch of racists.  And he didn’t even have the decency to so much as mentioning it to her.”

       “That article didn’t say he asked them to give him that award,” Shay said. “It said they gave it to him.” 

       “That’s not the point, Shay,” Simone said.  “The point is that they would even consider him for it, which means he’s doing something right in their eyes.  And he didn’t tell Jules a thing about it.”

       Shay’s expression changed and concern creased the soft folds of her face.  “She looked petrified, didn’t she?”

       Simone nodded.  “Yeah.  Poor thing.”

       And just like that, Shay’s expression changed again.  Back to cynicism.  “What’s so poor about her?  That’s what she gets for fooling around with the same dude for all these years.”

       Simone frowned.  “What?” she asked her.

       “You heard me.  She’s been with Jeremy since she was sixteen years old, okay?  It’s like hel-lo.  What man gonna respect a woman who ain’t going no-where?  That’s why all these men I got, and I mean every one of them, respects the hell out of me because I tell them every day how I’ll leave their stank behinds in a heartbeat if they try that mess on me.”

       “What mess?”

       “Uh hun.  Ask Jules.  She knows.”

       “Shay, what are you talking about?”

       “I’m talking about Jules.  I’m talking about knowing how to roll.  I’m talking about doing what mama made us swear we’d never do: giving our milk away for free.  And Jules sho’ did that. Year after year after year.”

       Simone couldn’t help but wince when Shay mentioned giving milk away for free because seven years ago she gave hers away, too, foolishly thinking that it was just a down payment on a lifetime investment.  Only to have her loan rejected and her down payment returned- but not before all of the fees and costs had depleted it to nothingness.

       But she promised herself that she wouldn’t go there; that her time in Miami would not under any circumstances be spent re-living all of that past stuff.  This wasn’t about her.  This was about Shay and her mess, which, she hoped, was soon to be cleared up.  And now Jules who, over the last few years anyway, Simone actually worried about the most, had a problem on her hands, too.  And his name, as usual, was Jeremy Druce.  Simone picked up her latte and stared at the foam on top.  She nearly killed herself over a man.  Shay nearly went to prison over a man.  Jules had lost every inch of the woman she could have been because of a man.  As if they didn’t get it.  As if the Rivers sisters never tried to understand that the love of a man, that true, pure love of a man, was never in the cards for any of them.

EIGHTEEN

After lunch, when Simone, Shay and Ethan were walking out of Starbucks, Ethan hurried up beside Simone.  “Have dinner with me,” he said to her.

       Simone didn’t expect that.  She looked at Shay first, who had a look of encouragement in her eyes, and then at Ethan.  “I’m sorry,” she said, “but I can’t.”

       “Why not?”  Ethan and Shay asked at the same time.  They looked at each other and laughed.  Then they looked at Simone. 

       “I just can’t.”

       “Ah, come on, Simone.  You have this wealth of time on your hands, especially now that Joan of Arc over there has decided to save herself—”

       “Very funny, Ethan,” Shay said, putting on her gloves.  “I can always change my mind, you know.”

       “To your own detriment, go right ahead.  But I won’t be the one with Sally for a boyfriend for twenty-five years, okay?”

       Shay couldn’t help but smile.  “There is something wrong with you,” she said and laughed, slinging her scarf around her neck.  “Anyway, I gots to run,” Shay added.

       “You riding with her?” Ethan asked.

       “Yes,” Simone said.

       “No,” Shay said.  “At least not until you set a date with Ethan.”

       “It’s all right, Serita,” Ethan said, looking flustered again.  “I shouldn’t be putting your sister on the spot this way.”

       “It’s okay,” Simone immediately found herself saying, and immediately regretted saying it.  “I mean, you didn’t put me on the spot.”

       “Then you’ll go out with him?”

       “I didn’t say that.”

       “Understood,” Ethan said.

       “No, I, what I mean is, I’m not ready ...I mean, I’m not... Listen, I’m planning to go to church with Jules on Sunday.  You’re welcome to come too.”

       Shay looked at Simone is if she had lost her mind. 

       “Church?” Ethan said.

       “Yes,” Simone replied.

       “Church?” Shay said.  “What kind of date is that?  I’ll bet your boy wishes he’d never brought it up now.”   

       “I accept,” Ethan said and Simone smiled.  “Just tell me what time and what church and I’ll be there,” he added. 

       Simone looked smugly at Shay as she told him the name of the church.

****

Although Shay couldn’t stop bemoaning how lousy Simone’s choice of a date location was, Shay found herself going too.  Simone was amused when Jules arrived at Shay’s condo to pick her up and Shay came hurrying out as if it wasn’t odd in the least.  Jules looked at her over her shades as they piled into her SUV, but she didn’t say anything.  They drove on.

       While Shay sat on the backseat talking on her cell phone, Simone looked over at a seemingly preoccupied Jules.  “Did you talk to him?” she asked her.

       Jules hesitated.  “No.  Not yet.  He was supposed to come over Friday night, but he couldn’t make it, then Saturday night and he couldn’t make it.  He says he’ll drop by tonight.”

       “That is so crazy, J.  They’re writing articles every day about his so-called award and he still haven’t even discussed it with you.  It’s as if what you think doesn’t matter to him anyway.”

       “That’s not like that at all, Simmie, and you know it.”

       “No, I don’t know it, either.”

       “Look, can we talk about something else?  I’m going to church and I really don’t want to be bothered about Jeremy and his nonsense today.”

       “Amen to that,” Shay said as she flipped shut her phone.

Ethan was waiting outside the church when the three sisters arrived.  Simone admired how nice he looked, in his tailored grey suit and shades, and even Shay had to admit that he didn’t look half bad.  “He’ll do,” she said as they stepped out and greeted him.

       Simone, however, wasn’t trying to make him do.  She wasn’t interested in the least in going there with Ethan, or any man for that matter, and she regretted her invitation to him almost as soon as she had made it.  But it was done now.  He was right there in the flesh.  So she smiled and complimented his appearance and allowed him to escort her into the church.

After the service Ethan decided to go in for the kill, inviting all three sisters to lunch although only one was his real target.  Simone, the target, declined.  Jules had somewhere else to be.  And Shay, to everybody’s surprise, already had a date.

       “You didn’t mention any date before service,” Jules said, calling her on it.  In two days, just two days, Shay was scheduled to sit down with the prosecutor and cut a deal that could ensure her freedom.  It wasn’t too much to ask, it seemed to Jules, for Shay to show a little appreciation for the attorney who had made it possible and have a little lunch with him.  But Shay, being Shay, didn’t see it that way.

       “I didn’t mention any date before service because I didn’t have a date before service,” Shay said with an all-knowing smirk on her face. 

       “Shay,” Jules said, already shaking her head, “don’t tell me you was sitting up in the Lord’s House this morning trying to pick up some man.”

       “I don’t pick up men, okay?  He picked me up - and I ain’t mad at him, either.”  This time she was grinning, which prompted Simone to shake her head.

       “Who is he?” Jules asked.

       “You’ll see.”

       “He’s that dude with the dreads, isn’t he?”

       “You’ll see,” Shay said again, loving it.  Ethan looked at Simone.

       “I really wish you’d re-consider,” he said.

       Simone looked at him.  He was obviously a nice guy, at least on the surface, but how could he understand?  She wasn’t going down that road with any man ever again, she didn’t care if he came highly recommended by the Pope.  “Look, Ethan, I appreciate your gesture, I really do, but, to be honest, you’re wasting your time in this direction.”

       “I accepted your invitation,” he said, and Simone frowned.

       “What invitation?”

       “To come here, to church with you.  It seems to me the Christian thing to do is to return the favor.”

       “What?”

       “He’s got a point, Simone,” Jules said.

       “No, he does not.  He asked me out.  He started it.”

       “Y’all sound like children,” Shay said, and then began waving in the distance.  “Here he comes now,” she added, looking towards the church entrance.

       Simone and Jules both turned in that direction, expecting some young thug-looking brother not unlike all those other young, thug-looking brothers Shay favored.  To their shock, a very good looking, very provincial-looking brother was headed their way.

       “You gots to be jivin’,” Jules said, still staring at him.  “He looks normal, Shay.”

       “I know,” Shay said, smiling from ear to ear.  “He’s a banker.”

       Jules looked at her.  “A banker?  What a banker want with you?”

       “Forget you, Jules.  Can’t stand the fact that I’m gonna be respectable, too?”

       “Respectable?  Because you’re going out to lunch with a banker?”

       “And dinner and a movie and who knows what else.  Maybe even a wedding.”

       “Shay!” Simone said, alarmed.  “What are you talking about?  You just met that man!  You don’t know anything about him!”

       “I know enough.  Besides, you know us Rivers sisters.  We don’t know what takin’ it slow means.  Hello, Ham.”

       As Shay went to meet Ham halfway, Simone tried not to show her concern.  Shay didn’t understand what she was saying.  She didn’t understand the pedigree, that being a Rivers meant being vulnerable to love and that vulnerability almost always would do them in. 

       “I thought I’d never get out of there,” Ham said to Shay as she met him.  “I wasn’t sure if you’d still be here.”

       “I ain’t goin’ no-where,” Shay said, placing her arm around his.  “I want you to meet my family.”  She walked him briskly over to her sisters.  “This here is my sister Jules.”

       “Nice to meet you, Jules,” he said, shaking her hand, “I’m Hamilton Lucas.”

       “You’re a member here?”

       “Not yet.  I drop by every now and again.”

       “Funny, I don’t ever recall seeing you here.”

       “It’s a big church,” he reminded her.

       “You don’t say?” she replied.

       “Yes, he does say,” Shay replied, then leaned toward Ham.  “She owns her own consulting firm and thinks she’s a big deal, so you have to excuse her.”  Then she spoke loudly.  “This here is my other sister, Simone.”

       “Hi.”

       “She owns her own business, too.”

       “Very nice.  What kind?”

       “Hair Care Products,” Shay said just as Simone was about to respond.  “In Atlanta.  Very major.”

       Simone looked at Shay.  She owned a small salon, and Shay knew it.  She didn’t appreciate being lied about, she didn’t care how badly Shay wanted to impress the brother. 

       “And this is Ethan Graham,” Shay kept going, “her friend.”

       “Nice to meet you,” Ham said as they shook hands.

       “He’s an attorney,” Shay added.  “So you’d better watch out.”

       “Why?  He’ll sue me?”

       Shay and Ham laughed.  Nobody else could see the humor.

       “Anyway, we’d better get it on,” Ham said.  “Shay, you’re ready?” 

       “As ready as I’ll ever be,” she replied smilingly and they, arm in arm, left.

       “What is Shay thinking?” Simone asked.  “That man has one thing and one thing only on his mind.”

       “And he’s not trying to hide it, either,” Jules added.  “‘We’d better get it on,’ you heard him say that.  And that fool thinks he’ll be around long enough to marry her and make her respectable.  Please.  Anyway, I need to get going myself.  Ethan, you’ll drop Simone home, won’t you?”

       “Jules!” Simone said but Jules started walking away, her high heels clanging against the asphalt.

       “That’s a sweetheart,” Jules said as she walked away.  “See you guys later.”

       Simone couldn’t believe it.  She almost ran after Jules.  But that, even to her, would have been silly.

       “I win by default,” Ethan said.

       “Seems like.”

             “Let’s get it on then.”                                               

Simone looked at him and then they both laughed.

It was well after midnight when Jeremy finally made it to the quiet home he shared with Jules.  Jules had not been asleep, she couldn’t even think about sleep, and was so relieved that he showed up that she almost forgot how angry with him she still was.  Some nights, to her shame, he didn’t show up at all.