Page 7 of Love Me Carefully
Chapter Two
Rosie and Donald spent the entire weekend together at a little bed and breakfast on the Eastern Shore. And on Tuesday morning Rosie was glowing like a light bulb when she walked into Innovations.
“Good morning, Ms. Rosie.” Keesha was sitting in Rosie’s chair talking on the phone when she came in.
“Good morning.” Rosie took off her coat and hung it on the coat rack near the door. Moving toward her station, she signaled for the girl to get out of her chair. “My clients will be coming in soon. It don’t look good with you sitting there on the phone.”
“I’ll be done in a minute.” Keesha continued with her conversation, one long skinny leg propped up on the counter as she giggled into the receiver.
“You’re done now, girlie.” Rosie snatched the phone out of her hand, pressed “end call” and handed it back to her. “Now get out of my chair before I hurt you.” Rosie stood over the girl, waiting for her to move. She knew she would. For as sassy and mouthy as Keesha was, she knew that when Rosie meant business, she meant business.
“Alright, you don’t have to get all uptight. What’s the matter, you didn’t get any over the weekend?” Keesha smiled coyly as she made her way out of the chair.
“That ain’t none of your business. Now move, I gotta see when Leah’s coming in again.” Rosie flipped through the appointment book, looking for the name.
Rosie had been doing Leah Graham’s hair since Leah was in high school. Leah was a good girl, punctual, professional and pretty as a picture. On more than one occasion she’d wished Leah could turn her son’s head. But they both seemed focused on their careers they didn’t have time to find the right person.
Leah was a wedding planner who ran her own shop down in Mount Vernon. When Cheryl Pinder had gotten married last summer, Leah had planned her wedding and reception and it had been beautiful. That was the kind of wedding Rosie pictured for herself.
Per Donald’s instructions, she was to plan the wedding however she wanted, and she wanted it to be perfect. She’d married Paul Pierce in her mother’s living room with twenty-five of her closest family members assembled, flocking around the floral-patterned furniture as her father led her down the staircase to meet the man she planned to spend the rest of her life with. Potted plants had lined the living room, while two-dozen daisies had been perched high atop the mantelpiece behind the minister. The ceremony had lasted all of fifteen minutes before it became a regular family gathering with cousins and uncles and aunts filling and re-filling their plates, then sitting around talking about old times.
They hadn’t had a honeymoon because Paul was leaving for the army two weeks later. So Rosie had moved into their one bedroom apartment and set up house by herself. She’d worked at the Hecht Company eight hours a day and come home at night to the quiet little apartment. Then she’d found out she was pregnant.
“Hey, did y’all hear what went down last night?” Nikki came out of the bathroom talking, and approached Rosie and Keesha’s station with a catlike saunter.
Rosie paused and looked over at the young girl. Nikki and Keesha were Leah’s age—all of them young enough to be her daughters, most of the time acting just like they were. “What happened?” she asked.
Nikki rested her big breasts on the back of the chair while surveying her nails. “Some dumb ass drug dealers got into a fight out in the parking lot. By the time the police got here, one person had been stabbed.”
“Is that why I saw all that yellow tape out there this morning?” Keesha asked.
Nikki nodded. “Yup. I heard it was a mess. The cops will probably be snooping around here this morning.”
Rosie half listened to them, her mind still on her pending nuptials. She’d put her hands in her lap the moment the girls came near enough to see. She planned to tell them about her engagement but wanted the timing to be perfect. Still, she chimed in. “Good, maybe those trespassers will get the hint once they see the police and stop hanging around here. Some of my customers are starting to complain. They’re afraid to take late appointments because they don’t want to be out there at night.”
“All they need is a good ol’ can of Mace, like I carry in my bag,” Keesha said.
Nikki sucked her teeth. “Girl, please, Mace ain’t no match for a gun.”
Keesha rolled her eyes. “Anyway, Ms. Rosie, why are you looking for Leah?”
Lifting her hands and placing them flat on the ledge at her station Rosie smiled. “I’d like her to plan my wedding.”
“Your wedding!” Keesha screamed first. “Ms. Rosie, you gettin’ hitched?” She’d been walking back to her booth when Rosie’s words stopped her cold. Now she all but ran back to where the woman stood.
Nikki moved in closer, scooping Ms. Rosie’s left hand from the ledge. With her free hand she covered her eyes as if blinded by the glare. “Damn, that’s a pretty piece of ice! Who’re you marrying?” she asked while still surveying the jewel. Then, as if the revelation finally hit her, she looked at Rosie. “Uh-uh, wait a minute. I know Mr. Donald didn’t ask you to marry him.”
When Rosie didn’t answer, only smiled, both girls broke into screeches and screams.
“Oh my God! That is so cute.” Keesha leaned against Rosie’s high-backed chair and put her arms around her. “I’m so happy for you and Mr. Donald. Y’all make a cute couple. And he’s got good taste in jewelry,” she added, after her own perusal of the engagement ring.
“That limo and those roses, that’s what that was all about? He proposed on Valentine’s Day! That is so romantic!” Nikki clapped her hands together in excitement. But as quickly as it had come, Nikki’s elation faded slightly. “Are you sure about this, Ms. Rosie? I mean, Mr. Donald’s cool and everything, but you know what they’ve been saying.”
They had all heard the rumors, but Rosie would put a stop to them right now. “Chile, that’s nonsense and a bunch of foolishness. That stuff happened a long time ago, before me and him even started seeing each other.” Rosie huffed and went about taking her combs and other accessories out of her drawer. “Donald’s not like that now.”
Both Keesha and Nikki knew when to keep their mouths shut. In fact, Nikki felt like a total idiot now for even bringing it up. “Well, Leah will definitely plan you a slammin’ wedding.”
Rosie grinned, relieved that they weren’t going to have a long, drawn-out conversation about Donald’s past. “That’s what I know. She’s coming in at eleven today. I’ve got to hurry up and call Terrell.”
