The Best Thing He Never Knew He Needed (24 page)

The number you are trying
to reach has been disconnected or is no longer in
service.

Disconnected? He pulled up
her name in his contacts again and, with a thumping heart, he
dialed her number again.

The number you are trying
to reach has been disconnected or is no longer in
service.

That’s when he remembered
she told him she’d gotten a new phone and a new number. The problem
was, she hadn’t given him the number.

He picked up his cell phone
again, dialed Emily’s number, and as soon as she answered, he
asked, “Do you have Sherita’s new phone number?”

Detecting a hint of panic
in his voice, she said, “No. Why, Desmond? Is everything all
right?”

“
Yes. I’ll call you
back.”

“
Des—”

Desmond glanced at his
phone when he heard the call-waiting indicator. He hoped it was
Sherita, but when he saw Dante’s name, he grew crestfallen. “Emily,
I’ll call you back,” he told her and didn’t give her any time to
respond before he clicked over. “What’s up, Dante?”

“
I’m sitting in front of
your house. Where are you this morning?”

“
I’m here. Come on in.”
Desmond, ended the call, but held on to his phone. When he heard
Dante walk in, he yelled, “I’m in the kitchen.”

Dante headed that way and
when he saw his brother sitting at the table, he asked, “Hey, where
is your jeep? Didn’t think you parked it in the garage.”

His jeep…Sherita had been
driving his jeep. He’d never let a woman do that before. He wanted
her to be safe, which is why he requested she take his vehicle, but
that didn’t stop random images of her dozing off, running off the
road, or crashing into a guard rail from popping in his head. Each
time it did, it rattled him. Unnerved him.

“
Des?”

Withdrawing from his
trance, his leg bouncing up and down underneath the table, he
looked at Dante. “What?”

“
Where’s your
jeep?”

“
Sherita has
it.”

The visions were eating at
his soul. Sherita was in his head, her voice calling for
help:
Help me, Des!
Her face was covered in blood. A semi had slammed into her,
trapping her inside the vehicle. And she couldn’t get out. She was
dying, and she couldn’t get out.

Dante took a seat close to
him. “What do you mean she can’t get out?” he asked.

Had he said that out loud?
It wasn’t intentional, and since he didn’t want his brother to know
how petrified he was, how troubled he was, he said, “Nothing. So
what brings you to the Southside, Dante?” Desmond asked. He wasn’t
in the mood for company, especially unannounced company.

“
I was concerned after
what happened at dinner last night.”

Help me, Desmond, he heard
her say, reaching out to him with a bloody hand.
He glanced at his phone. She needed to call him
now. This needed to stop. “There’s…no need to be
concerned.”

“
Oh, I think there is,”
Dante said. “You requested to speak to Sherita alone and the next
thing I know, she’s in tears.”

“
Well, she’s—”
Lying in the road, bleeding from her mouth while
paramedics try to stabilize her, attempt to secure her on a
stretcher and…

“
She’s what,
Des?”

Desmond glanced up at Dante
again for before glancing at his phone. “She’s fine.” He checked
the volume. Sherita was due to call any minute now.

“
Where is she, by the
way?” Dante asked.

“
Who?”

Okay, something was
definitely wrong with his brother, Dante knew. He was completely
aloof, in the same room with him, but not really. Something had him
shook, and he had a feeling it all centered around Sherita.
“Sherita, Des. Where is she?”

“
She’s on her way to
Myrtle Beach to work,” he answered, setting his phone on the table
and wiping his sweaty palms on his pants.

“
And what was last night
about?”

Desmond sighed. “Why are
you asking so many questions, Dante?”

“
Because I’m worried about
Sherita. And you.”

Shattered glass and blood
was in her hair.
Desmond glanced at his
phone. “Sherita is…Sherita is fine. There’s nothing for you to be
concerned about.”

“
Then I need to talk to
you about something.”

Fingers tapping against the
table, leg steadily bouncing, Desmond asked, “About
what?”

“
Mom and Dad.”

Desmond shook his head.
“Not in the mood.”

“
Des—”

“
I don’t want to talk
about them, man. Why do you insist on bringing them up like you can
miraculously make them come back? They’re gone. Dead. Done. They’re
not coming…” Desmond stood up, walked to the sink and stared out of
a window into the backyard. “They’re not coming back.”

“
Come on, Des, man, talk
to me. Every time I bring up anything about Mom and Dad you dismiss
it. I know it’s affecting your life.”

He glanced at his phone
again. “It’s not affecting my life.”

“
It is, and why are you so
fidgety right now?”

Desmond turned around and
met his brother’s inquisitive gaze. “Because I’m waiting on a phone
call.”

“
From who?”

“
From Sherita.” Desmond
walked back over to the table and sat down again. After taking a
moment to get his thoughts together, he said, “I think about them a
lot…Mom and Dad. I don’t talk about it because it’s difficult. I
remember…I remember Dad playing the piano and singing to her. He
loved her and when he died, something inside of her died, too. It’s
like the light had went out. I tried to make her happy, but…” He
took a breath and shook his head. “Dimitrius tried playing the
piano for her, but she wasn’t happy because she didn’t have him
anymore. She didn’t have Dad.”

Dante nodded, reminiscing
on what Desmond was saying.

“
She had us,” Desmond
continued, “But we weren’t enough.”

“
She was grieving, Des.
You know Mom loved us as equally as Dad did.”

“
Then why did she give up
so easily after Dad died? Why did she forget about us and allow
herself to fall into a state of despair?” Desmond dropped his head.
“Losing them was the first time in my life I’d felt real pain, and
I told myself it would be the last.”

“
So am I right to assume
you’ve been avoiding commitment because you’re afraid of something
happening to the person you would commit to?”

Something happening to the
person you would commit to…

He was sweating thinking
about that person now – thinking about her being involved in a car
wreck, about her dying. How could he be in a relationship with a
woman, with Sherita, if he was constantly worrying about her
whenever she was out of his sight? He couldn’t be. He’d never been
so shaken by a woman in his life, and he didn’t like this feeling
one bit. It was taking over his life, controlling him. He needed to
take the control back. Answering his brother, he said, “Something
like that…guess that makes me a coward.”

“
It doesn’t make you a
coward, Desmond. It makes you human. Listen, bro…when Anita died,
it tore me apart. I loved her. We were close. I had already planned
our life together. Our kids. Our home. Her dying wasn’t a part of
the plan, but she died, and I’m not going to lie…it was one of the
hardest, most heartbreaking trials I’ve ever faced. To this day I
don’t know how I was able to get myself out of bed the few days
after it happened, but I did. I got up, moved on and found the
courage to love again.”

Desmond nodded.

“
You’ve been saying, for a
while, you never wanted a wife and kids and if that’s really the
way you feel, the way you are, then I won’t try to convince you to
change. But if you’re that way because of what happened to Mom and
Dad, then, Des, I urge you to sit down and reconsider, maybe even
get some counseling.”

Desmond shook his head,
unsure if that’s what he wanted to do. He had his mind made up
already, especially after these visions in his head. There was no
way he could live like this.

“
Emily and Ezra are my
world,” Dante said. “When I leave work, I have them to come home
to. A family. There’s no better feeling than that,
Desmond.”

“
And what if something
happens to them? Then what? What if you lose them like you lost
Anita? Like we lost Mom and Dad?”

Dante sighed. “What if the
earth blew up and wiped out all human existence? You can’t live
your life based on
what
ifs
, man.” Dante stood up, frustrated. Why
was it becoming increasingly difficult to get through to Desmond,
lately? “Listen…I’m on my way to pick up Emily and Ezra. We’re
meeting Dimitrius, Melanie and Grace at the zoo. You’re welcome to
tag along if you would like.”

“
No. I have some errands I
need to get done today. And I’m sure Emily doesn’t want to see me
anyway.”

“
Oh, that reminds me,”
Dante said. “I don’t know what’s going between you and Sherita. I
hope you will talk to me if you need some advice, but while you
work through whatever it is that’s bothering you…that’s making you
irritable and spastic, I need you to be considerate of Emily. I
understand problems arise, tempers flare…we work together. I know
that. But don’t ever raise your voice at my wife. I won’t tolerate
that, not even from you.”

“
I was out of line. I’m
sorry.”

“
Don’t tell me…tell her,”
Dante said. “I’m out.”

“
All right.
Later.”

CHAPTER 27

A little over an hour into
the drive, Sherita took her phone from the passenger seat, finding
Emily in her contact list. She dialed her number.

“
Hello.”

“
Hey, Em. It’s Sherita. I
just realized I didn’t give you my new number.”

“
Apparently, you didn’t
give it to Desmond either. He called me about twenty minutes ago,
asking me for it. What’s going on with you?”

Detecting panic in her
voice, Sherita said, “Emily, I’m fine. Why do you sound so
worried?”

“
Because I
am
worried. I haven’t
spoken to you since you left last night, Sherita. You were in
tears, telling me you were leaving and—”

“
I know, but I’m okay
now.”

After a few seconds of
silence, Emily asked, “What’s going on between you and Desmond?
It’s obvious something is going on.”

“
Emily—”

“
No, Sherita, be honest
with me. I’m worried, okay.”

“
You have no need to
worry.”

“
Sure I do.”

“
Why?” Sherita
asked.

“
Because I don’t think
Desmond is right for you, and I don’t want you to end up getting
hurt.”

“
Am I hearing you
correctly? You were the main advocate to get me and Desmond
together, but now you don’t think it’s a good idea.”

“
No, I don’t. You were
right. Desmond
isn’t
like Dante and Dimitrius. He always said he never wanted to
get married, didn’t want children, so why link up with someone who
doesn’t want the same things you want? Gosh, Sherita…you were so
upset last night. I thought you were on the verge of a nervous
breakdown or something.”

“
Emily, I appreciate you
for trying to look out for me, but I’m okay. I really am. I got
this.”

“
So in three months, after
TCC finalizes the deal with Victor, you have no problem walking
away from Desmond?”

Sherita pulled in a breath.
She would have a major problem walking away from Desmond. She was
in love with him. Still, she hid her feelings and said, “If we need
to go our separate ways after three months, then we’ll go our
separate ways.” It hurt to say that because she wanted Desmond as a
permanent part of her life. But, she had to face reality at the
same time – Desmond had never been in a serious relationship so why
would he start now? Why would he give up everything for
her?

“
Okay,” Emily said,
sounding relieved. “What are you doing? Sounds like you’re in a
car.”

“
I’m on my way to Myrtle
Beach. I have a job booked every day beginning today and on until
Friday.”

“
You’re
driving?”

“
Yes. I’ll be back Friday
evening.”

“
Good. Work will help you
get your mind off of things.”

“
Yep. How’s my baby? I
hear him trying to talk.”

“
He’s fine. He was running
a slight fever last night. Don’t know what that was about, but he’s
fine now. We’re actually getting ready to go to the zoo whenever
Dante gets back.”

“
Okay, Girl. Well, I’m
going to go so I can concentrate on the road. I’ll talk to you
later.”