Page 1 of Mahogany 2
PREVIOUSLY
“So you okay?” asked my dad, on the other end of the phone.
“Yes, dad. I’m fine. I just needed a day,” I said, as I swiped around on my iPad, steady going over today’s portfolio.
About two hours later, I was at the firm, preparing for my meeting, on the phone with my daddy pretending that yesterday did not happen. Trying to at least. He kept asking if I was okay and talked shit about ‘fucking Duke up if he hurt his baby girl’. My dad was a mess. Loved all three of his daughters with his whole heart and treated us like princesses instead of grown ass women. As nice as it was, I needed to get off the phone before my mother woke up. The last thing I needed to hear about was how wives didn’t sleep outside of the house without their husbands. A whole bunch of bullshit I’d been dealing with since I got with Duke’s ass. My mom was like that. All righteous and stuck to her vows. Hell, it was her fault I was in the mess I was in. The first time Duke cheated, I ran to her, told her how he broke my heart and how I planned to leave him. She sent my ass right back to the house and told me not to be out telling my business. Said men matured slower and that I needed to forgive him because the flesh was weak, but the heart was willing. A lot of bullshit anineteen-year-old little girl should not have had to hear. What I didn’t know then was that that was the start of conditioning that would follow me for the rest of my relationship and marriage. So yeah… the very, very, very last person I wanted to hear from was Evelyn Mills,theeStepford wife.
I sighed and on cue, my daddy caught it. “What’s that sighing about then, NeNe? Na, I’m really not tryin’ to be up in y’all business but?—”
“Daddy I’m preparing for one of the biggest meetings of my career. This ain’t got nothing to do with Duke or anything else, alright? I told you I was good, old man.”
I was good.
I left the broken, battered Mahogany on the other side of Couture’s doors, remember? I had my game face on, ready to secure the biggest deal of my career. Next to talking to Evelyn, the last thing I needed was to worry about a Ducati muthafucking Morris. He’d ruined enough for me; I wasn’t letting him get in the way of work too.
“Alright Pickles, I hear ya,” he said with a light laugh. “Breathe baby.”
Pickles was my nickname. For him it was, at least. I loved them. Growing up, I would eat a jar in a day if they didn’t tell me not to. I still ate them. Religiously, too. Ironically, the only time I hated them was when I was pregnant.
“The meeting starts in an hour, and I just need?—”
“What I always tell you if we talk before these meetings?”
“I can do it,” I paused, steady flipping through Skylight Industries TikTok account. This was nothing new. I treated every client the same when it came to briefing. That was why I had secured as many as I did. But this one? This one could take Couture to new heights so a bitch was nervous. Probably should’ve spent last night prepping instead of getting drunk and high. Or at least gotten up earl?—
“Confidence, NeNe,” My dad said, pulling me out of my thoughts, right at the brink of me having an anxiety attack. “You excel at everything you do. And you’re worried about some company choosing you? Those muthafucka and any other muthafuckas you meet with would be a fool not to partner with you. You aretheeMahogany Mills-Morris. Top interior designer in the region, baby girl. When that meeting starts, you better not be on no scary shit. Claim it! You know what you did? I mean… really. You know but you don’t know. You are a walking testament baby. Shake that shit off and turn into the boss you were born to be.”
I dropped a couple of tears. Shit. I was so got damn emotional it made no sense. My makeup would need to be touched up, for sure. I was a boss. I did life as if I was a warrior. Handled challenges like they meant absolutely nothing but sometimes I wasn’t as confident. Didn’t have that umph. I was intimidated and I wasn’t intimidated often. In all actuality, I was afraid of failure. I’d talked so much about the meeting today, that I was afraid that I’d be knocked off my high horse. Afraid that all of the positive, cocky shit about securing the deal would be diminished by a rejection.It had to be what I was going through with Duke. Couldn’t be anything else.
“I hear you daddy. I got this,” I fronted.
“You do. That contract is yours baby girl. Now, wipe your tears and fix yourself up. Call me as soon as the meeting is over with the good news.”
“I will. I love you.”
“I love you, too, Pickles.”
After we hung up, I sat the iPad down and called Tami to gather the team for one final meeting before Mr. Carter and the team at Skylight Industries arrived.
About forty-five minutes later, I was standing in the lobby, at the door, waiting with my hands resting comfortably in frontof me. I had my game face on. Tami was right beside me, but I hadn’t said a single word to her. She knew how serious today was for me and didn’t take it personally. I was every bit of Mahogany Mills-Morris the mogul, standing at the door waiting for them. When I told Tami I wanted to do something different, she had no idea I meant waiting in the lobby at the door. I didn’t do that. Didn’t have to. But as I got ready earlier, I decided that for high profile clients, I would.
A couple of minutes later, ten minutes before our scheduled meeting, a fleet of black vehicles swarm the small parking lot. Mercedes Benz’s, Porsche’s, and Audi’s too.
“Damn,” mumbled Tami. She glanced at me. “My bad?—”
“No… exactly.Damn,” I mumbled in return. “And you weren’t able to find me anything on the CEO?”
She looked over at me with furrowed brows and a look of concern. “You didn’t ask me to, boss lady. Should I have?”
I swallowed and apologized. “No, I’m sorry. I’m just… a little nervous,” I said before turning my attention towards the osculating doors.
Seeing the way, they pulled in intimidated me a bit more. I was worried about what to expect. Skylight Industries was the biggest investor firm in the Midwest. They had their hands in just about everything from chain restaurants to clothing stores, and the slew of hotels they wanted me to work with them on. They would be my biggest contract yet. As I stood there, I wished I had done a little more digging on the company and their values. What if Mr. Carter was a racist whi?—
What the hell? I was caught off guard by the black Wagoneer pulling into the parking lot. Duke’s ass. Knew it was him by the license plate. I paced, worried because at any given moment Mr. Carter and his team were going to be walking through the doors. I couldn’t put into words what it was like, standing there with a smile on my face, wanting to scream at the top of my lungs. Icouldn’t believe this muthafucka. How in the hell did he even… oh yeah, he knew because I told him. One of the reasons we didn’t take a trip out of town this birthday was because I had a meeting scheduled today. I was pissed.
“Tami,” I said through my smile, noticing as the associates at Skylight Industries began to get out of their cars. “Duke just pulled into the parking lot.”
“Oh shit,” she mumbled, through a tight-lipped smile of her own. Because she was invited to the party yesterday, she knew something was going on. That and the fact that Duke’s annoying ass stopped by the job yesterday with flowers too, and had no idea I wasn’t in. “What are we going to?—”
