Diary of A. . . (14 page)

Her smile was breathless. I could
immediately see why the judge thought I reminded him of her.

She had this seductive sultriness that was
very rare in a woman to show naturally. I could see it in her as
she walked toward me. I found myself entranced. I could immediately
see she was assessing me. As she visually frisked me like she was
waiting for me to pull out a glock on her ass, I instantly knew
this was a hood chick. I wanted to laugh in relief.

I thought it was amusing that a woman, who
looked so sophisticated, could look so hood one moment and then go
back to her elegant self two seconds later. No, this wasn’t a
bourgeois bitch or a gold digger. This was a hood chick in disguise
and I immediately had respect for her.

“Good evening, Ms. Banks. I’m Tanner
Sanchez. Godfather Knowles said you were from Detroit.”

I stood to shake her extended slender hand,
ready to test her. “Yes, I am. Eastside – Grand and Gratiot - born
and raised.”

“Westside – Livernois and Lodge.” she said
with a proud smile.

Yep, she was a Detroiter!

Tanner briefly looked homesick. “Devlin and
I have been so busy with the baby and the new assignment he has
over in Africa that I haven’t been to visit lately. I miss some
Coney Island chili fries.”

She rubbed her stomach and I laughed.

Laughing with me, Tanner said, “Devlin says
I can get those fries anywhere, but I told him I can’t.”

“I know what you mean,” I agreed. “I went to
college in Florida and was pheening for White Castles for four
years.”

She held up her hands dramatically as if she
were in deep prayer. “Please don’t say that. I made my husband jump
on the plane when I was six months pregnant to get me a case of
them. I’m almost tempted to see how I could get some chili fries on
Internet order.”

Oh, she was hilarious – I liked her.

“I do miss the city, though,” she said
solemnly.

How could she miss that run down city when
she lived in a palace? “I don’t see how,” I said out loud.

Tanner laughed, immediately catching my
humor. “I know. This place is a city in itself. But in all my
travels since meeting Devlin, I really can say there’s no place
like home.”

“You can say that again,” I teased.

Wow! A duchess, I thought. FROM DETROIT! Who
wasn’t anything like I thought she would be. It was great!

“Richard, were you flirting with our guest?”
Tanner questioned accusingly, directing her attention to her
brother-in-law now. “Why don’t you let the dowager know Ms. Banks
has arrived before she sends Godfather Knowles to sleep with all
her complaining?”

“No doubt all about you,” Richard said under
his breath standing up.

Tanner put her hands on her hips and
completely turned into the hood chick I secretly saw before, right
before my eyes. “Listen here, Dick, I promised Devlin I wouldn’t
get into an argument with any fools tonight, so quick acting like
one.”

Richard’s eye twitched and he left the
room.

In two seconds, Tanner composed herself yet
again and smiled graciously to me. “Sorry ‘bout that. He brings out
the ghetto in me. Him and his mother, but I’ve learned from my
husband how to control my mouth.”

She and all she had obtained astounded me.
“How did you meet a duke?”

Tanner blushed. “Fate. Destiny. It’s all a
long story, but in the end I’ll say that you meet someone who you
think is just a passing fancy and they suddenly become the man you
can’t live without.”

I’d had a lot of passing fancies, but none
of them were ever something I could do without. “But a duke?”

“Gurl, I was the first one to think I was
unworthy. And when he first asked me to marry him I told him
straight out, you can’t make a ho into a housewife.”

Gasping, I asked incredulously, “You said
that to him?”

She nodded.

“And what did he say?” I know I was being
very nosey, but damn! This sistah had balls.

“He said he didn’t need a housewife because
he had servants to pick up his mess.”

That was hilarious. I almost choked on my
drink laughing and again when the biggest damn white man I’d ever
seen suddenly walked in the room.

He wasn’t fat. He was as tall as the
doorway, which was way past six feet, and he looked like he ate
bricks for motherfucking breakfast.

Handsome as hell. I could see why this
sistah fell for him. Even my panties were getting wet.

But I believe Tanner was like she was on
purpose. The way she was clearly suited this man that she
introduced as her husband, Duke Devlin Sanchez.

Devlin had Richard’s startling green eyes
and the naturally tan Hispanic skin, but his features were more
aristocratic, topped off with a beautiful smile that took my breath
away.

His broad chest was adorned with medals of
service and honor.

A duke! Damn!

“Godfather apologizes for not coming,”
Devlin said politely.

“Oh, she’s fine, Devlin, once I got Richard
off her ass,” Tanner said. “He was sniffing around her like a dog
in heat.”

“Tanner,” Devlin said in a warning
voice.

She tightened her lip and winked at me
playfully.

A bell rang.

“Oh good,” Tanner said. “Dinner is
served.”

He turned to me and held out his massive
thick arm. “Would you do me the honor of allowing me to escort you
to dinner, Ms. Banks?”

I glanced at Tanner for a brief moment and
saw a hint of jealously. She smiled stiffly and nodded her consent.
Yet I could almost read her mind.

‘Yeah, you can touch him, but don’t think
you taking him away from me.’

I’d be saying the same things to myself,
too, if this were my man. Hell, I was the one honored as I wrapped
my small arm around Devlin’s while Tanner took his other arm.

“Did I tell you how beautiful you look
tonight, wife?” Devlin said, looking heatedly down at Tanner.

She blushed and smiled even more
breathtakingly than before. “No, hubby, but you keep looking at me
like that and we won’t make it through dinner. Now stop
embarrassing me in front of the guest.”

Devlin only chuckled and began to escort us
out the room.

As I walked, surrounded by wealth, power and
close to a very gorgeous man, all I could think about was…

Entry Twenty-Three

Right now I’m comfortably flying back to
Detroit, but I wanted to wrap up what else happened in New
York.

First of all, I was almost late for my
videoconference with my managers. Secondly, I learned from them
that Earl Howard had discussed some things about upcoming changes
in the office.

My managers were worried that the owner
might be closing down the office and laying people off. It turns
out that a lot of responsibilities of the Detroit office would
shift to the Florida or west coast offices, but we would still
handle the customer service.

One of my managers pointed out, “With that
being said, Ms. Banks, since you’re the supervisor of the customer
service, wouldn’t that really make you in charge of the east coast
office?”

It would seem that way, but I didn’t want to
say that out loud. “Did Mr. Howard state this?”

She answered, “No.”

“Then we’ll go on as usual keeping an even
better watch on all current accounts. I do not want any mess-ups at
all and if for any reason you think something isn’t right, please
tell me. Keep your ears open and your mouths closed. What you hear,
tell me. What you suspect, tell no one. If any shits about to hit
the fan, I want our team to look like sunshine after the rain.”

My managers, even those twenty years my
elder, had respect for my authority and I knew they would make sure
my orders were obeyed.

After our meeting was over, I was very
tempted to call Cassandra. But I remembered about her husband
taking her out, so I opted to write down my concerns instead to
kind of give myself a heads up of where I was going with all
this:

1.What is the deal with the company and
should I be in fear of not having a job soon?

2.Should I go over Erin’s head and just
speak to Earl Howard even though he has not spoken to me since I
worked in Florida? And that was once or twice over the phone.

3.Why did I completely stop that last entry?
Am I afraid of my own feelings? It’s too early to say I have true
feelings for any man in my life right now, no matter how
magnificent he is in bed. Yet sitting around that table last night,
watching Devlin and Tanner making love to each other with their
eyes - and I really believe she was doing something with her foot
to him, but I wasn’t gutsy enough to look under the table – made me
really long to have something permanent in my life. BUT WHERE THE
HELL AM I GOING TO FIND A DUKE? LMAO.

Still that last thought, as I looked at it
down on paper, scared me and completed me at the same time.

Entry Twenty-Four

While in New York, I called Rick after my
last meeting. He said he needed to speak with me, but it sounded
like he couldn’t really talk at the time. I swore I heard opera
music in the background, but I didn’t comment on this. I just
understood he couldn’t talk right then.

After I arrived from New York, I arranged to
meet Rick at the airport. He picked me up and we went somewhere to
sit down and eat. We found a casual dine-in restaurant without a
lot of people around.

“You look vibrant, Sheryl,” Rick
complimented. “Life has been treating you well.”

“You think?” I asked. The older I get, I
think Rick will be the only man in my life that’s constant. That’s
a scary thought because he’s married and I would never knowingly
sleep with a married man – although Peter was sort of an exception
to that rule. Yet since we aren’t actually sleeping together, he
doesn’t really count in my book. And I don’t count Theo either
since he’s almost divorced.

“How’s everything?” I questioned after the
waiter delivered our food to the table. “You didn’t sound happy
about something.”

“Work is good, life could be better,” he
said nonchalantly, avoiding eye contact.

“And?” I waited.

“And that’s it.”

“Your wife. How is she?”

“We’re both working now a lot. We were
struggling a lot financially, but then she got this job with good
hours and decent pay. It’s helping a lot and she even made the
suggestion that by next fall I should be able to return to school
to finish my Masters.”

That had been a sore spot with Rick and his
wife. He had to drop out of school and take on a second job about a
year and a half into his Masters. Their marriage had been very
strained back then and I really thought Rick was going to divorce
her.

“But?” I asked, still sensing that
everything wasn’t better between Rick and his wife.

He shrugged. “Things are okay, Sheryl.”
Pushing his plate away, he said, “But lately I’ve been wondering
how it might have been if I had stayed with you.”

I stopped eating and stared at him as if
he’d lost his mind. “Stayed with me?”

“When you told me about that unbelievable
job offer in Florida, I seriously considered moving down there with
you.”

“But you hadn’t finished your bachelors yet.
I graduated early,” I pointed out.

Rick sighed. “I could have gotten into
school down there.”

As much as I hated to admit it, Rick had
made a valid point. He could have gone with me. During my first
months down in Florida I had a lot of animosity towards him because
he hadn’t made that decision on his own.

Yet being a good friend, I couldn’t ask that
of him and wouldn’t even imply that I wanted him to go with me when
I was offered the job. I jumped at the chance to work at Earl
Howard’s company faster than an addict offered free crack - without
thought to my heart or my personal happiness.

Reaching across the table, Rick took my
hand, but didn’t look up at me. “I’ve been doing a lot of thinking
about us, Sheryl. I miss us.”

I tried to play it off, praying he wasn’t
going to say what I was thinking. “Rick, there’s still an us. We’re
still friends and we’ll always be friends no matter what.”

“I was talking about when we were more than
friends.”

I couldn’t believe what he was saying to me.
Deep down inside I wished he had said it so long ago.

“Rick,” I stuttered, lost for words. “What
are you saying?”

“I’m saying that I want us to be more than
friends again, Sheryl. I want to make love to you.”

I snatched my hand away abruptly. “Have you
forgotten you’re married? Just because you’ve hit some seven-year
itch it’s not right to use me like that.”

“But-”

I cut him off. “Furthermore, I have mad
respect for you and our friendship. What happened in the past,
stayed in the past, Rick. We’ve moved on and I thought matured.” I
knew my words were cruel, but I really didn’t think he was thinking
straight and thus needed a serious wake-up call.

Rick smiled uncomfortably. “Yeah, you’re
right, Sheryl. I’m sorry for even asking. Please forgive me. I
guess I was acting kinda crazy because… well, I think I’m jealous
that for the first time, she’s found something to make her happy
other than me. Before she was always dependent upon me to keep her
busy. Now it’s like she’s blossomed into this independent woman
ever since she started working again.”

I remembered exactly why his wife had hit a
stunt in her emotional growth. But I wasn’t going to drag that back
to the surface again because I knew it had been emotional for him,
as well.

“You should be glad that she’s at least not
depending on you so much anymore,” I told him. “I remember when you
used to complain to me that she was always crying for you to come
home. How you didn’t have any time to yourself. This is a blessing.
Don’t try to look too much into it, Rick, and enjoy the fact that
she’s actually stepping out of her shell.”