Page 50 of One Good Reason

“Twin girls. He and his wife work diligently to keep them out of the spotlight given their condition, but the world knows they exist.”

“Wow!” she effused. “And the two of you are friends.”

“Went to Howard U together.”

“I didn’t know you went to Howard. That was the first acceptance letter I received after applying for college.”

“I come from black royalty, of course I went to Howard. It was my birthright before I was even born.”

“I wanted to go so bad but that would have meant leaving Gema and Papa Joe. I settled for Spelman and while I don’t regret it, I do wish I could’ve gone away for school.”

“Didn’t you say your grandfather passed your sophomore year?”

Talitha nodded.

“Maybe it was God’s plan for you to be close to home.”

“I believe that. Things worked out the way they were intended to.”

Before I could offer more reassurance, the door to the limo was pulled open. “Mr. Harvey, you’re up next.”

“Ready?” I asked her.

“As ready as I’ll ever be.” She smiled.

“Smile. You’re officially on camera now,” I stated as I took her by the hand and ushered her out of the car.

I was unintentionally thrusting her into my world; a world that I was certain she wasn’t ready for. This red-carpet appearance would be the first of many for her, especially since we were actively working on getting the tech school off the ground. Pretty soon it will be me playing the background while she’s being interviewed.

CHAPTER 12

Talitha

“Boy, am I glad that’s over!” I groused as Law led us into the building.

“Me as well. Unfortunately, it comes with the territory, so I’ve gotten used to it over the years.”

“Do they always ask questions like that? Like what does the African American versus African diaspora war have to do with autism?”

The media interviews lasted roughly fifteen minutes. I was under the assumption that Law would be interviewed about the cause or his contributions, and boy was I wrong. Listening to their line of questioning had me fighting to keep from frowning up my face.

One of the reporters even asked him how he felt about the current status of the upcoming presidential election. Being his candid self, Law made a joke and skipped right over that question. The only outlet to ask him anything of substance was Black Enterprise. They wanted to know if he was working on anything new and if he was, they wondered if he would give them the first formal announcement.

“Nothing at all,” he chuckled. “Prior to these events, my publicist sends out a list of topics that’s off limits. So, since theycan’t ask me about my personal life, they figure they could trap me up by asking things about foreign policies, meaningless wars, and the list goes on.”

“You have a publicist?”

“I do. I run several multimillion-dollar businesses on top of being a household name. A publicist is crucial in my line of work.”

“Learn something new everything.” I smirked.

“Like I said, it comes with the territory.”

“One thing that’s puzzling to me is… I’m standing right there on your arm and you made a purpose to introduce me, but no one asked who I was to you. Why is that?”

“Who and what you were to me was on the list of things I wouldn’t discuss with them.” He winked before pointing at the chair marked for me.

“Wasn’t that chivalrous of you,” I giggled.

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