Girlfriends (Patrick Sanchez) (40 page)

“My latest production?” Griffin asked, clearly agitated.

“You know, The Big G Cam you’re planning to launch.”

“What’s The Big G Cam?” Sophia asked.

“Should I tell her, Griffin? Should I tell her the short story about how The Big G Cam has to do with your job at PBS, or should I tell her the longer,
more interesting
version?” Gina threatened.

“Is everything okay, Griffin?” Sophia asked. “I’m sorry. Maybe I shouldn’t have surprised you. I should have called.”

“He’s fine, Sophia. He’s just nervous about the new Web site he’s planning to launch. You know, he plans to show clips from all his recent PBS documentaries. Don’t you, Griffin?”

“I guess,” Griffin said, confused about how to respond.

“In fact, Sophia,” Gina said, “we have some of his latest
documentaries
on video in the car. What do you say we go back to your room and pop a few of them in the VCR after dinner?”

“That would be lovely, dear. I never get to see my son’s work.”

“Mom, I’m sure you’re tired. We could do that some other time.”

“I guess we could,” Gina said. “Actually, Cheryl and I would like to have two of your films back to do some final editing before they go on the Web.”

“Editing?” Griffin said.

“Yes. Well, who knows. We may take a look at them and decide they have no business in cyberspace and just
destroy
them.”

“You girls are film editors?” Sophia asked.

“Yes, we work very closely with Griffin,” Cheryl said to Sophia before arching toward Griffin. “What do you say, Griffin? Do we get the films?”

“Yeah, Griffin,” Gina added. “Do we get the films?”

“Griffin, give the nice girls the films already.”

Looking baffled and defeated, Griffin relented. “Okay, girls, I’ll give you the films.”

“Then it’s settled. Cheryl and I will meet you at
PBS headquarters
tonight after dinner.”

“Does it have to be tonight?” Griffin asked.

“Now, Griffin, we don’t want you to have any time to make extra copies.”

“Fine. Tonight it is.”

“So when do I get to see my son’s documentaries?”

“Sophia, I think you’ll have to ask Griffin about that one. Why don’t we let you guys have a quiet dinner. Cheryl and I aren’t very hungry anyway.”

“Yes, that would be nice,” Griffin said, irritated.

“Good. We’ll meet you in a couple of hours, Griffin,” Cheryl said.

“It was so nice to meet you ladies. Thanks so much for the plane tickets and the limo and that beautiful hotel suite.”

“Don’t thank us. Griffin can expense it all and charge it to PBS. Right, Griffin?”

Griffin sighed. “Right. Good night, ladies.”

“Night,” Cheryl replied. “It was lovely to meet you, Sophia.”

“Yes, it was,” Gina said before standing up and flicking off Griffin’s cap with her finger, exposing his bald head. She set his hat down on the table before adding, “And, Griffin, mere words can’t describe my feelings.”

“The feeling is definitely mutual.”

“Good-bye, Griffin,” Gina said with a superior grin—the grin of a chicken that just outsmarted a fox—a nasty, fat, obnoxious fox. Gina and Cheryl walked out of the restaurant with gloating smiles. The pompous little man had finally gotten his due, and they no longer had to worry about showing up on the Internet in all their glory. It was over. The whole saga was finally over!

Griffin and Sophia watched the girls leave the restaurant as the waiter approached the table.

“Shall I wait for the young ladies to return?” the waiter asked.

“No, they’re not coming back,” Sophia said. “How about a nice bottle of your finest champagne for me and my son.”

“Do you believe those two?” Griffin asked his mother.

“Yeah, that’s too funny. You know, they flew me in first class. It was fantastic. PBS—that’s hysterical.”

“Mmm, I’m gonna get me some of that,” Griffin said as a platter of the Palm’s famous cottage fries went by. “And one of those,” he added, eyeing a three-pound lobster being carried to a neighboring table.

“Are you celebrating a special event this evening?” the waiter asked, returning to the table and popping the cork on a bottle of champagne.

“Most definitely,” Sophia said without elaborating.

As the waiter walked off, Sophia whispered to Griffin. “Honey, you may as well give the films back to those two broads. They’re hardly worth the trouble. Neither one had very big titties, and we got plenty others to load up on the Web.”

Epilogue

G
ina followed Cheryl down the center aisle of St. Margaret’s Church. As the maid of honor, she had the pleasure of pushing the stroller with little Grace in it. She had been born just a few weeks prior to the wedding. When Gina and Cheryl reached the front and assumed their positions, Dennis did some final primping on Linda and Rosa in the back of the church.

The wedding march sprang from the organ, and Linda began to walk down the aisle with both her parents. She was wearing a beautiful ivory gown with long sleeves and lace around the shoulders. Rosa followed in an equally stunning lavender dress with her father in tow. Linda had gotten more involved with Dignity, her group for gay Catholics, over the past year and, aside from the fact that there was no groom, she insisted on having a traditional wedding.

Gina watched the couple present themselves before the minister. Her eyes wandered around as she took in the beauty of the evening. It was Valentine’s Day weekend, and the church was decorated with red roses and soft white candles. There was snow on the ground outside from a brief dusting the night before. It was a crisp winter evening, but the church was warm, and the lit candles shined a glow on the two brides about to commit to a lifelong relationship. Gina couldn’t help but be touched.

She was in an extremely good mood. Earlier in the day, there was a clip on the news about an illegal porno ring being raided in her building. Not only were the culprits filming in the back of a D.C. bookstore, they also leased an apartment in Gina’s building. It was only a brief spot on the news, but the anchorman mentioned words like “criminal behavior,” “jail time,” and even “illicit drugs and prostitution.” It was one of Gina’s happier moments in life when she saw the police drag a fat little man out of her building in handcuffs. And what a relief it was to hear that in an effort to avoid being arrested, Griffin had destroyed all the films taken with The Big G Cam.

From the steps in the sanctuary, Gina could see everyone in the church. She smiled at Annie, who was sitting with one of Linda’s friends who Gina had introduced her to. In addition to her job at the bank, Gina was doing some part-time work for Annie while she took some computer classes. It wasn’t the ideal situation, but until Annie landed a few more contracts and was able to hire her full-time, Gina had to stay at the bank. Luckily, Premier had a tuition reimbursement program and was bankrolling Gina’s ticket out of there.

Gina looked at Peter sitting next to Cameron and then exchanged glances with Cheryl. Cheryl was particularly hurt by Peter’s sudden relationship with his nemesis, but she had little right to voice any complaints. She agreed from the get-go that she and Peter would just be friends, and deep down she knew it was best to let him go and get on with her life. It had been a rough year, but she wouldn’t have traded the experience for anything. The whole ordeal brought her friends back in her life and offered some closure to her pointless relationship with Peter. She learned how strong she could be and that good friends and a sense of humor could get you through almost anything.

Looking at Peter, Gina thought about how she and Cheryl had come to loathe Cameron, the perky little bitch who stole Peter’s heart. They also held the information that could destroy Peter and Cameron’s relationship in a nanosecond. One mention of Peter’s involvement in the Virtual Cameron occurrence, and he could kiss Cameron good-bye. But for all his faults, the girls cared deeply for Peter and wanted to see him happy.

Shirley was in the pew next to Peter, clutching her gift to Linda. It was a hand-painted tea set from Ireland that Shirley actually bought with her own money, something she recently had more of. Her pet-sitting business was taking off, and soon she would be able to quit her waitress job at Friday’s and take care of animals full-time. Her two jobs kept her so busy, she had to turn down the foster child the agency wanted to send her. No one knew what happened. Did the agency get Shirley’s paperwork mixed up with someone else’s, or did they figure she needed a foster child to take care of her?

Penelope was a few aisles over with Donny. Gina wasn’t even feeling jealous of her today, even though Penelope driveled on and on before the ceremony about her job and how she was remodeling her kitchen. She even bragged about how they had just hired a cleaning lady—some woman named Bianca who just moved to D.C. from Boston, and how, since he mostly worked at home, Donny was always there to let her in and keep an eye on her.

After giving the church one final sweep, Gina again focused on the happy couple at the altar. For the first time, she was happy as a bridesmaid, and she actually liked the evergreen velvet dress, which Linda let her pick out herself. She wanted for herself what Linda and Rosa had found, but she truly was happy for both of them, especially for Linda. And Gina was glad that she had played a role in bringing them back together. She’d learned a lot over the past year, and having so many awful things happen to her gave her a new appreciation for the little things in life. She realized how stupid it was to be at war with Cheryl for so long when they were so good for each other. She also realized that life had to be about more than just finding a man. The more she thought about it, the more she realized how full her life was without one. It wasn’t like she was going to stop trying to land a man with every feminine bone in her body, but, until then, life was going to be okay—life for Gina Perry was going to be okay.

Feeling only genuine happiness and joy for Linda, Gina could hardly believe it herself. There was no envy, no fear of losing a friend, no hopes for disaster. That’s how she knew Linda was a true friend. That’s how she knew she herself was a true friend.

Following the initial blessing, Linda and Rosa took their seats behind the altar, and Gina and the others stepped down from the sanctuary into a pew. The priest stepped to the pulpit and began the Mass. He was a tad long-winded, offering all sorts of advice, thoughts, and feelings on marriage. He rambled for quite some time about fidelity, trust, “until death do us part,” blah, blah, blah. By the time they got to the first reading, Gina was uncomfortable in the hard church pew. Damn Catholics, she thought. Their weddings are just too fucking long.

Please turn the page for an exciting sneak peek of

MURDER WITH FRIED CHICKEN AND WAFFLES

the first book in Patrick Sanchez’s

Mahalia Watkins Soul Food Mystery series

coming from Kensington Publishing in March 2015!

Welcome to Mahalia’s Sweet Tea!

When I launched Mahalia’s Sweet Tea I dreamed it would be a success, but I had no idea it would become
THE
restaurant of choice for delicious soul food. When I came up with the idea to open my own establishment, which that would allow me to prepare and serve my favorite foods, I couldn’t have predicted that “my baby” (which is how I often refer to Sweet Tea) would make the Top 100 restaurant lists of local magazines and newspapers, or that people traveling from as far away as California and Texas would make a point of stopping by for a glass of iced tea and a taste of my collard greens topped with homemade hot sauce.

Many of the mouth-watering items you see on the menu are based on my grandmother’s recipes . . . if you can call my grandmother’s way of adding “a dash of this” and “a sprinkling of that” a recipe. I prepare many of the dishes the same why I did thirty years ago when I learned how to cook by helping Grandmommy make Sunday dinner for crowds of up to thirty people every week. Entrées like my fried chicken and waffles and my cream of turkey over thick cut Texas toast are made just as they were when I was child. The complementary sour cream cornbread we bring to your table—that’s Grandmommy’s recipe through and through. And, although I’ve updated a few recipes to make them a bit more contemporary and add a little flair (e.g., Grandmommy didn’t include roasted red peppers in her macaroni and cheese), I mostly like to keep things simple here at Sweet Tea. You won’t find any cilantro or curry in my kitchen, and a few menu items, like my creamy mashed potatoes for instance, are simply seasoned with only salt and pepper.

We make virtually everything here at Sweet Tea—from my chicken and dumplings to my fried catfish to my salad dressings and even my croutons—from scratch. About the only thing not made in-house is that bottle of ketchup you see on the table (and don’t think I haven’t considered making that as well).

I could go on for days about my food, but let me take a moment to talk about something even more important than that: YOU.

You
, the customer, are what makes Sweet Tea great, and no matter how many best-restaurant lists it graces or how long a wait we have for a table on a Saturday night, my staff and I strive to treat each and every one of you as if our very existence depends on you thoroughly enjoying your guest experience with us. Why? Because it does!

We make every effort to ensure we provide the best food and the best service at reasonable prices. If you ever find we are doing otherwise, I hope you’ll let me know. I’m usually on the premises and easy to spot, running around keeping this wheel of a restaurant in motion.

Sincerely,

Mahalia Watkins

Proprietor

Chapter 1

I
still remember the first time I tasted my grandmother’s cornbread. I was maybe four or five. It was some time in the seventies. If I close my eyes, I can still see the heavy cast-iron skillet being set on her wobbly table with a couple of pot rags underneath to keep from burning the laminate.