Page 33 of Happy Is On Hiatus
“Email blasts,” Rita said, feeling her own excitement grow. She loved planning and executing events. Not as much as she loved cooking, but in this instance, the two would go hand in hand. “We should do a massive email blast.”
“Right,” Sharae added. “It’ll announce the opening of your business and promote the event.”
Was this really happening? In the midst of all the turmoil she’d been going through these last two weeks, was she actually sitting here feeling the giddiness of planning what she already knew was going to be a spectacular event? Why, yes. Yes, indeed, she was!
Rita smiled nervously. “I’m opening my own business, and you’re gonna be my first client.” She squealed and jumped up out of her chairto run over and hug Jemel. “Thank you!” While she hadn’t thought it would be a problem to get clients because she’d been booking between three and five catering jobs throughout the year already, having this fundraiser be the first from her new company could be huge. And she owed it all to Jemel.
“No,” Jemel said, standing to return Rita’s hug. “Thank you for the initial idea. You’re always so full of good ideas, Rita. I’m glad your next one is to start your own business.”
“Wait, don’t leave me out,” Sharae said and then joined them for another hug.
Rita held on to them tightly, reveling in the sisterhood that they shared and the rejuvenating spirit she always found when she was with them. For the next hour they talked about plans for the event, tried out names for her business and for the event, and Rita didn’t think about how anybody else would feel about her new venture in life. As long as her girls had her back, she had nothing to worry about.
It was well past midnight, and Sharae’s mind still buzzed with all the plans she, Jemel, and Rita had made tonight. Her cousins were both doing something new, while Sharae ... well, she was still Sharae. And amid those plans were the worries that had been steadily creeping into Sharae’s mind every day since she’d learned Sanford had died.
Sitting in her car across the street from the cemetery, she let her head fall against the headrest and sighed. It was too late to visit her mother’s grave. Besides, that was something she usually did with Jemel, Rita, and the Aunts. She’d never gone alone, and whenever she went with them, she never said a word. The Aunts always talked to her mother as if she were standing right there with them, giving her a recap of things that had happened in the family over the previous year as if she cared. If what the Aunts had told her all her life was true—that hermother had been looking down on Sharae, watching her grow up and keeping her safe as she interacted with criminals on a daily basis—then they shouldn’t have had to tell her anything. At least Sharae always used that as her excuse for remaining silent.
“Are you watching me now?” She spoke into the silent interior of the car. “Do you know what he’s doing to me?”
Sharae didn’t really know, or she couldn’t figure out why it was such a big deal that Sanford was dead. She hadn’t loved him. Not anymore. And she’d barely thought about him in the past years. At least she cursed herself each time she did. So it didn’t matter.
Yet, it did. Because of him she was the woman she was today. The woman who was so hell-bent on being the best cop she could be that she never took a moment to consider there could be something else in her life. Or someone else?
With a heavy sigh, she shook her head. “You are not thinking about that guy again.”
“That guy” being her attorney. Why Desmond kept popping into her mind, she had no idea. Their only interaction had been about the business of Sanford’s estate. Except when she’d shared her sandwich with him. Well, no, that was still business. It hadn’t been her intention to feed the guy. And yet, she’d watched him chew and hadn’t balked as he’d unnecessarily touched her hand as he gave her a pen.
“Foolish!”
She lifted her head and slammed her palms against the steering wheel.
“You’re sitting in a car talking to yourself. That’s the definition of being foolish.”
Or was it just that she didn’t trust her thoughts or—apparently—her cousins enough to share any of this with them. Jemel would have opinions. Jemel always had opinions. And Rita would rationalize the situation. But in the end, it would be Sharae who decided what she would do, how she would make it through this new scenario. Becauseitwasa scenario. One where she had to again push Sanford out of her life and at the same time confront what her issue really was with being attracted to Desmond or any other man, for that matter.
“I wish you were here,” she said, more quietly this time.
If her mother were here, she’d talk to her the way they always used to talk. And Justine would tell her what she should do. Sharae had missed that most of all. Talking to her mom and hearing her mother’s voice in response. That couldn’t be done at the grave site, and it wasn’t going to happen as she sat here in her car alone.
Still, before she started the engine and pulled off, she whispered one more time, “I really wish you were here.”
Chapter 14
THECURSE.
“How you gon’ look at me crazy ’cause there’re spots on your glasses?” Vi frowned. Her caramel-toned sixty-four-year-old skin didn’t show one crack as she continued to shake her head. Using the napkin that had been folded neatly on the table when they were seated, she cleaned every utensil before setting them on one of the new napkins she’d already requested.
The server had looked at her like she’d spoken a different language when it was clear as day that the glass had spots on it, most likely left over from the detergent they used in the dishwasher. Still, Vi had a tone to her voice that could immediately offend. Rita had watched her use it endlessly at church whenever somebody thought they were gonna come at her sideways about anything.
“She’ll bring you another glass, Mama,” Rita said, already regretting agreeing to have lunch with her mother today.
But it was something that had to be done, and handling things sooner rather than later was Rita’s new mantra. It had taken her way too long to decide to leave Nate and to realize she wanted to open her own business. But there was nothing she could do about that now. Nothing but move forward. She wasn’t putting off doing anything anymore, andscratching items off her always lengthy list of things to do was a new hobby.
She had no other choice, really. After the many hours she, Sharae, and Jemel had spent talking about and planning her new business and Jemel’s fundraiser, she had a ton of things she needed to do to get ready. Streamlining and prioritizing were the only ways she was going to survive the next few months. That, and finally getting on even ground with her mother.
Her purse hung on the side of the chair, but she set her phone on the table and placed her napkin neatly in her lap.
“That meeting went well past an hour, and they knew it would,” Vi continued, her lips curved upward at the corners as she did one of the things she loved to do—complain about church stuff.
