The Best Thing He Never Knew He Needed (21 page)

“
I hope Sherita can make
it tonight,” Emily said.

Desmond stopped in his
tracks when he heard Sherita’s name. He stood there and listened
instead.

“
Why wouldn’t she? Is
everything good with her?” Melanie asked.

Emily sighed. “Did she ever
tell you about a guy named Thane?”

“
No.”

“
He’s her ex-boyfriend.
Apparently, he’s been trying to get her back. He even came by the
store today,” Emily said.

“
Does she want to get back
with him?”

Emily shrugged. “I’m not
sure. She was upset when he came by the store today. She threatened
him with a restraining order, but, then again, she told me at one
point that she was considering getting back with him…said may have
been her last chance at happiness.”

The frown in Desmond’s
forehead nearly became permanent. Instead of listening on further,
he continued into the kitchen and said, “Excuse me, ladies…just
need to grab some beers.”

“
No problem, Des,” Emily
said.

Desmond quickly grabbed
three beers then left out of the kitchen, returning to join the
fellas, only he wasn’t in the mood to shoot pool or do anything
else. Only thing he wanted to know was where Sherita was, and if
she was with Thane.

Did he not make himself
clear about Thane? He shook his head. She told him she didn’t want
Thane, but seemed she had told Emily something entirely
different.

“
Like I was
saying,” Emily continued after Desmond left the
kitchen, “She had told me that maybe Thane was her last chance at
happiness, but that was before she moved in with Desmond.
Today…gosh, Melanie, she was so upset. I’ve never seen her break
down like that. I’m really worried about her.”

“
Hey everybody,” Sherita
said from the front door.

Emily and Melanie walked
swiftly to the foyer to greet her.

“
Where are my babies?”
Sherita asked.

“
Oh, they’re in the family
room, sleeping,” Melanie said.

“
Can I help set the table
or something?” Sherita asked.

“
Sure,” Emily told
her.

“
I’ll go get the guys,”
Melanie said.

Sherita dropped her purse
in the foyer, washed her hands, then set plates on the table along
with silverware. Melanie came back, holding Dimitrius’ hand, then
kissing him before he took a seat at the dining room
table.

After placing the last
place setting on the table, Sherita looked up and caught Desmond’s
eyes. She’d gotten to know him a little more and by the look on his
face, she could tell he was disappointed about something, only she
didn’t have a clue what it was.

She shot him a slight
smile, remembering what he’d said – that he didn’t want the family
to know about them. Even after dealing with Thane, arguing with her
mother and having just left the cell phone store to get a new
number and phone, she still managed to smile at Desmond. But he
didn’t smile back.

Once everyone sat down,
they wasted no time diving into their meals.

“
Let’s not talk work
tonight,” Dante said. “Let’s talk vacation. Me and Emily were
thinking we should take some sort of exotic family vacation. What
do y’all think?”

“
It’s cool with me,”
Dimitrius said.

“
Me too,” Melanie
responded.

Sherita bit her tongue.
While they were talking family vacation, she was thinking about
where she would move in three and a half months.

“
What about you, Desmond?”
Dante asked.

“
Yeah. It’s
cool.”

“
Sherita, are you cool
with it?” Dante asked.

“
Oh, I’m sure I’ll be long
gone before you guys go on your vacation. I’m not necessarily
family.”

“
What?” Melanie
said.

“
As far as we’re
concerned, you’re family,” Emily said.

Sherita smiled and resumed
eating her food. She decided not to comment further surrounding a
family vacation because she knew she wouldn’t be with Desmond long
enough to join them on a family vacation. Desmond had already told
her that what they had was temporary, which she also knew was the
reason why he hadn’t wanted her to say anything to the family about
their relationship. It would be easier that way – easier for him to
walk away.

She looked up at Desmond,
watching him take a sip of water. Being with him this morning,
sharing laughs and helping him prepare for work had been a good
feeling. But that’s all it was – a feeling. A fleeting, hopeful
moment of sharing precious time with a man whom she loved. She was
creating memories with him, beautiful moments she would never
forget only for the purpose of torturing herself later when they
decided to go their separate ways. Correction – when
he
decided he had enough
of her, and it was time to move on to his next victim.

She hated to think about
him in that manner. When she was with him, she felt something
totally different. When she’d fallen asleep in his arms, she was in
heaven. Now, she was being tortured by the war she was waging
between her head and her heart. And it was all her fault. She
walked up on the snake. Did she really expect not to get
bitten?

She inhaled a breath and
shoved all of those feelings aside so she could have a shot at
enjoying the evening. She took a sip of water, glanced up at
Desmond again, watching him chew slowly as she stared at
her.

“
Hey, Sherita,” Dante
said.

Pulling her attention away
from Desmond, she looked at Dante.

“
You know about our
Grieving Hearts Connect Resort on Pleasure Island, don’t
you?”

She nodded. “Yes. Pleasure
Island is popular wedding destination. I’ve done a ton of photos
there…never been to the resort, though.”

“
You do know that’s where
Emily and I were married,” Dante said, looking at Emily,
reminiscing on how beautiful Emily was, standing there on the beach
along with plenty of other brides in the mass wedding they had
there.

“
Yes. I know the story,”
Sherita said smiling, remembering how Emily had told her everything
Dante had done to make sure he got her. He did a lot of scheming to
get his woman, but it all paid off in the end. Must be nice to be
loved by a man who would do anything for you…who would create a
fake profile just to get to know you. Well, that was a little
stalkerish, but still, he did it. And then, even after Emily had
tried to end things with Dante, he spent eight million dollars to
make sure she didn’t lose her boutique. Even as she sat at the
dining room table, looking at Dante and Emily staring into each
other’s eyes, she could feel the love they still shared.

“
I wanted to offer you the
job of being our photographer this year. It’ll just be for a
weekend, the last weekend in August. If you’re not already booked,
I would love for you to work with us.”

Sherita smiled.
“Oh…ah…umm…I may be booked that weekend, but I’ll check my calendar
and get back to you.”

“
All right.”

“
Thanks for thinking of
me.”

“
No problem, sis,” Dante
said. He glanced at Desmond, wondering why his brother had been so
quiet during dinner. Earlier while they were playing pool, he’d
been himself. Now, he was withdrawn and he hadn’t taken his eyes
off of Sherita since she’d sat down.

Desmond pulled in a long
breath. He couldn’t help but think of what he’d overheard Emily say
– that Sherita was thinking about getting back with Thane. Had
Sherita lied to him? She told him it was over with Thane, that she
didn’t want him because he’d hurt her. He’d broken her heart. Now,
she was considering getting back with him.

Desmond dropped his fork in
the plate in front of him. He’d barely touched his food, not like
him at all. Usually, he’d chow down and burn it all off at his home
gym. Tonight, his unsettled stomach kept him from eating. All he
could think about was another man’s arms around Sherita. Another
man holding her. Kissing her lips. Submerging hands inside of her
hair and—

He pushed away from the
table and disappeared down the hallway. The moment he was out of
sight, Dimitrius looked at Dante and said, “What’s with
him?”

Dante shrugged his broad
shoulders. “I don’t know. He was fine earlier.”

He was fine this morning,
too,
Sherita thought to herself. Now he
was disengaged. He’d flip-flop occasionally – reminded her of the
time when they were babysitting. They were having a decent
conversation and he just got up, walked away and avoided her for a
week.

“
I hear my babies,”
Sherita said, giddy-like, pushing away from the table and rushing
off to the family room. She took Grace from the Pack-N-Play and
bounced her up and down. Melanie had dressed Grace in a pretty,
pale pink dress with the matching socks.

Emily came in, took Ezra
into her arms and said, “Look at mommy’s big boy. You love your
mommy don’t you?” She kissed his cheeks then lifted him in the air,
watching him smile again.

The women returned to the
dining room with the babies, at which time Sherita noticed Desmond
had returned to his seat. She sat in the same chair as before, in
front of him, holding Grace saying, “Hey pretty girl. Goodness,
Melanie. She has the most beautiful eyes. And so does Ezra,
Emily.”

“
Those are the eyes of a
Champion,” Dimitrius said.

Sherita smiled. “And I love
her cute little outfit. It must be so much fun to shop for little
girl clothes.”

“
It’s fun to shop for
little boy clothes too, thank you very much,” Emily chimed
in.

“
I know, but girls seem to
have such a wider selection,” Sherita said.

“
Well anytime you want to
come shopping with me, let me know,” Melanie said. “And when you
have a little one, I’ll go shopping with you.”

“
Well, you’ll never go
shopping with me, then,” Sherita said, rubbing Grace’s silky-smooth
hair.

“
Why not? You don’t want
children?” Melanie inquired.

“
I do, but I have to find
a man first,” Sherita said.

Dante looked up at Desmond
the same time Dimitrius had.

Desmond’s face tightened.
Darkened. If he had to sit here and endure anymore of this, a blood
vessel would burst in his head. He stood up, pushed away from the
table and said, “Sherita, can I see you outside for a
moment?”

And all eyes were on
them…

Sherita looked up at him,
confused. He wanted their relationship, or whatever they had, to go
unnoticed by the family, but yet he was requesting she step outside
with him. Alone. She could only imagine what his brothers were
thinking. What Emily and Melanie were thinking. “Yeah, okay,” she
said lightheartedly. She handed Grace to Melanie then followed
Desmond through the kitchen and out of the back door.

Standing on the patio with
his hands in his pockets, a dark sky overhead, he asked, “Why have
you been ignoring me all night?”

Sherita frowned. “I haven’t
been ignoring you Desmond. I’m doing exactly what you requested of
me. You said you didn’t want the family to know about
us.”

“
I didn’t say to ignore
me. You can still talk to me. But you’d rather take
passive-aggressive shots at me instead.”

“
I’m not taking shots at
you.”

“
Really, because Melanie
just asked you if you wanted children, and you told her you had to
find a man first? That’s not a shot at me?”

“
No. It’s not,” Sherita
replied. “You’re not
my
man. How can you be my man when I can’t even
claim you in public? When you don’t want your family to know you’re
slightly interested in me?”

His lips tightened. “Guess
that’s why you’ve been thinking about getting back with Thane,
huh.”

“
What?” Sherita asked, her
eyes blazing with anger from his accusation. “I’m not getting back
with Thane. What are you talking about?”

“
I’m talking about the
reason you got here late tonight, Sherita. You think I’m stupid?
Actually, I must be to believe anything you’ve ever told
me.”

“
Desmond—”

“
Tell me something…when
you’re with him, do you think about me?”

“
Desmond—”

“
Do you whisper in his
ear? Play with his hands?”

Sherita shook her head.
Since she couldn’t get a word out, she decided to say
nothing.

“
Do you?” Desmond
asked.

Sherita’s lips trembled. “I
don’t know what you’re talking about, Desmond.”

Raising his voice, he took
a step closer and said, “I’m talking about the fact that you lied
to me when you told me there wasn’t anything going on between you
and Thane. Yet, you show up here, late, and can barely make eye
contact with me. You’ve been avoiding me all night,
Sherita.”