Just Another Damn Love Story (19 page)

Gianna nodded.  “I like the sound of that.”

Again Sterling leaned back in his chair.  “Well, at least I solved one problem today.”

“Sterling, do you want me to kick her ass for you?”

“No thanks, Gianna.   I’m not sure you could handle her anyway.”

“Don’t let my size fool you.”

Sterling laughed.  “I’m going to call Wilson and tell him the good news.”

Gianna rose.  “I’ll need an office here.”

“You already have one.  We cleared out an office down the hall for whoever the new VP was going to be.”

“Hmmm.  Well, I guess I’ll go and check out my new office.”  Gianna turned and headed for the door.   She paused and turned back to him after opening it.  “Sterling.  I’m worried about you.”

“Why?”

“Because I don’t want you to grow an American heart,”  she told him.  “You can’t stop giving chances to others.  Even to this woman who won’t give you chance.  Send her flowers, and don’t stop giving her chances.  It is good for your heart.”

Sterling nodded. “I won’t give up, Gianna.  And, Gianna…”

“Yes?”

“Thank you for not giving up on me.”

Chapter Twenty Four

Kimberly ran her thumb down the seam of her panties, pulling them out of her butt, before flouncing down onto Mia’s bed.

“Girl, you still got a booty bite!”  Brittany told her.

“That’s because she’s put on about six pounds in as many days,”  Mia said.

“You and those Bon Bon ice cream balls ain’t no joke,”  Brittany told Kim, slapping her across her booty.

“Can’t you two just let me wallow in my depression in peace?”  Kim asked.

“Don’t think so.”  Brittany said.

“Why are you depressed again?” Mia asked.

“Don’t be funny,”  Kim said rolling her eyes.  “Your man is down in the polls by two percentage points.”

“Okay, you didn’t have to go there!”  Mia said, standing up.  “Those polls don’t mean a thing!  They were expected to get a bounce after their little lying convention!  Don’t you take your little hysterics out on my candidate.  Just because you and your little boyfriend are having problems, you don’t have to go there!”

Mia lifted her stuffed Barack Obama doll and hugged it and kissed it.  “Don’t you listen to her, my little baby Barack.  We are going to win re-election, and we are going to stay inside of that big old White House.  Yes we are, my little pookey, because
yes we can!
”

“You need some mental help,”  Kim told her.

“Both of you are crazy,”  Brittany told them.

“She’s the one that’s crazy,”  Mia said.  “Girl, so what, your man is a CEO of a major company?  What, you want to break up with him because he can afford to buy the island instead of just vacation on it?  Girl, you are tripping!”

“Tripping?”  Kim asked, peering up at Mia.  “See, no more BET for you.  You and those damn music videos…”

Brittany burst into laughter.  “Okay?”

“And for your information, it’s more than just the fact that he has money,”  Kim continued.  “I knew that he had money, it’s the principal of the matter.  He should have told me who he was.”

“Didn’t he introduce himself as Sterling Williams?”  Mia asked.

“Yes.”

“It’s not his fault that his name didn’t register,”  Mia told her.

“Mia, I showed this man my
designs
!”  Kim said.

“Oh, so
that’s
it!”  Brittany shouted.  “This is really all about Kimberly!  Someone is embarrassed about opening up to someone else.  She feels exposed.  She showed her design sketches to someone in the industry.  Someone who could help her, by the way, and so she feels exposed.”

“I knew the truth would come out,”  Mia said, staring at Brittany.

“Don’t you guys even care that he deceived me?”  Kim fired back.  “This man has an entire family out there, that he didn’t bother to tell me about.  Don’t you think that I should have been told?”

“Okay, I agree with you on that one,”   Brittany told her.  “He should have told you about his son.”

“He’s divorced, Kim,”  Mia said.  “He doesn’t have an entire family out there, he just has a son.  Granted, he should have told you about his son.   But, think about it like this, would you have given the relationship a chance had you known about his son?”

“No, but that’s my
choice
!”  Kim told her.  “I have a right to make that choice!”

“You think that you get to choose your life’s direction?”  Brittany asked with a smile.  “You think that you have a choice who you fall in love with?”

Kim nodded.  “Yes.  We all have a choice.  We can make good decisions with our life, or we can make bad ones.  I chose to go to Princeton.  You two
chose
to go to Princeton.  We could have all skipped college, and went to work at McDonald's.  But we didn’t.  We chose to make a good decision and go to an Ivy League school.  Life is about the choices we make.  And I’ll be damned if I let someone take away my
choices
!”

“No one has to take away your choices, Kimmie,”  Brittany told her.  “You've taken them all away on your own!  You’ve put blinders on, and you’ve narrowed the path that you have to walk in life so much that you can’t see the wonderful things that blindside you sometimes.  Don’t be afraid of getting blindsided by happiness.  That’s how God sends some of the most wonderful things our way.”

“It never happens by design, or when we plan it to,”  Mia added.  “Remember the saying?  You want to see God laugh, make a plan.  You remember that, Kimmie?”

“Sterling came out of nowhere, and he struck like a thunderstorm,”  Brittany continued.  “He hit hard, and fast, and furious.  He took you out of your doldrums, and he showed you that it was okay to love again.”

“We hadn’t seen you that happy in a long time,”  Mia told her.

“But you know what, Kimme?”  Brittany asked.

“What?”  Kim asked softly.

“As much as he showed you that it was okay to love again, you have to convince yourself that it’s okay to trust again,”  Brittany said.  “No one can give you permission to do that.  That’s something that your heart has to do for itself.”

“How can I trust a man who didn’t tell me that he had a kid?”  Kim asked.

“That’s an answer that you have to find for yourself, kid,”  Brittany told her.  “But I do know, that that man loves you.”

“How do you know that?”

“Because I got a damn living room full of roses that he’s been sending here for the last three days!”  Mia said.  “Bitch, if he sends anymore, I’m kicking you and your flowers out!”

The three of them burst into laughter.

“Why would he hesitate to tell you about someone so important in his life?”  Brittany said.  “David said that he absolutely adores his son.  That he gave tens of millions of dollars to a school, and donated a library in his son’s name.  Now, why would someone who loves their child so much, hesitate to tell you about him?”

Kimberly rolled over on her back and stared at Brittany.

“Because he loves you just as much, and was afraid of losing you,”  Brittany told her.  “How can you run away from a man who loves you that much?”

Kimberly punched the bed with her fists.  “Just let me be angry, you two!”

The doorbell rang, and Mia rushed to her door and opened it.  It was a delivery man with more flowers.

Mia signed for the flowers, and then turned toward Kim.  “Bitch get out!”

Again they laughed.

“Get some Claritin and leave me alone,”  Kim told Mia, before rolling over onto her stomach again.

“You’re not sleeping in my bed again tonight, Kim,”  Mia told her.

“Why not?”

“Because, last night, I thought I felt you rubbing on my titties.”

“Uuuuughhhh, you two are nasty!”  Brittany said laughing.

“Bitch, please!”  Kim shouted.  “You don’t even have any titties!”

Mia lifted her shirt and began dancing around the apartment.

“I know what we need,”  Brittany told them.  “We need to hit the club.”

Kimberly shook her head.  “No, I know what I need to do.”

“What’s that?” Mia asked.

“I need to go home to my Mommy and Daddy,”  Kim told them.

“Are you sure you’re ready to deal with your mom right now?”  Mia asked.

Kim shook her head.  “Of course not.  But I need to curl up in my old bed, surrounded by all of my stuffed animals, and think about my life.”

“You want me to go with you?”  Mia asked, rubbing Kim’s back.

“No, I can handle it.  I just want to go home.  To that familiar place where I can walk around, feel safe, and think.”

“I understand,”  Brittany said, nodding.  “But I do have a question.”

“What’s that?”  Kim asked.

“I thought your Porsche was in the shop?”  Brittany asked.  “How are you going to get there?”

“It is,”  Kim said with a smile.  “But your Benz isn’t.”

“My new Benz?”  Brittany asked. 

Kim held out her hands for the keys.   Brittany went into her purse and tossed Kimberly her keys.

“My new Mercedes SLS  AMG Black Label convertible,”  Brittany whimpered.  “Be careful with my baby.”

“Westchester County in a car that goes two hundred miles per hour?”   Kimberly smiled.  “I’ll be there and out of the car in a flash.”

Brittany shook her head.  “Don’t play with me.”

“I’ll be back Sunday night, Monday at the latest.”  Kim said, rising from Mia’s bed.  She grabbed an outfit from Mia’s closet and tossed it onto the bed.

“Hey, that’s my Dolce & Gabbana!”  Mia shouted.

“Are you going to deprive a depressed woman?”  Kim asked, slipping into the outfit.

“If anything happens to that outfit, depression will be the
least
of your worries!”  Mia told her.

Kimberly opened her arms wide, and Mia and Brittany joined her for a group hug.

“I love you guys,”  Kim told them.

“We love you too!”  Brittany and Mia said in unison.

“Brit, while I’m gone, get Mia some help,”  Kim said.

“Why?”

“She sleeps in the bed with that little Chucky looking Barack Obama doll,”  Kim told her.

“You two bitches are the weirdest sisters a girl could ask for,”  Brittany said laughing.

“Kim, don’t go there with my little Barack!”  Mia told her. “I’ll get all Lucy Lu on your ass about my Little Barack baby.”

Again, the three of them hugged tightly.

Chapter Twenty Five

Marjorie Neel pulled her baking sheet out of the oven and placed in on top of her stainless steel stove.  She lifted a spatula, and lifted two piping hot cookies off of the sheet and placed them inside of a bowl.  She then walked to her freezer, pulled out a half gallon of vanilla ice cream, and took it back to the counter with her, where she scooped some of the ice cream into the bowl with the hot cookies.  Afterward, she carried her bowl of cookies and ice cream to the bar and presented it to Kimberly.

“Mommy’s little buttercup’s favorite!”  she said, placing the bowl down in front of Kimberly.  “You eat up.  Dinner will be ready in a little while. Mommy is making her baby’s favorite!  Lobster and shrimp, with garlic butter noodles on the side.”

Kimberly rolled her eyes. 

“So, when are we going to meet that wonderful boyfriend of yours?”  Marjorie asked.

“Oh, so now he’s a
wonderful
boyfriend?”  Kim asked, rolling her eyes toward the ceiling again.  Her mother had been treating her like she was Queen Elizabeth since she pulled into the driveway.  It was even worse than her constant berating.  At least she could say that her mother was only nagging because she cared, but this hypocrisy was a horse of an entirely different color.

“Yes, he’s always been a
wonderful
man in my eyes,”  Marjorie gushed.  “And your father and I can’t wait to meet him!”

“And this has nothing to do with the fact that he’s the CEO and majority owner of Vespasian?”  Kim asked.  “And it has nothing to do with the fact that he’s famous, and fabulously wealthy?”

Marjorie waved her hand dismissing her daughter’s statements.  “Oh, of course not.  But it doesn’t hurt that my future son-in-law is rich and famous either!”

“
Future son-in-law?
”  Kimberly recoiled.  “Mother!  Last week he wasn’t good enough to mow your lawn!  Now he’s your
future son-in-law?
”

“Oh, Kimberly, don’t be so overly sensitive!”  Marjorie told her.  “You always were a sensitive child.  Don’t take everything so literally.”

“Literally?  You were in love with John last week.  At least until you found out that Sterling was super rich!”

“What do I care about how rich he is?”  Marjorie asked, placing her hand against her chest.  “It’s all about how well he treats you, my dear.”

“And it isn’t about the fact that he’s wealthier than Mrs. Witherspoon’s son-in-law, who happened to be the richest son-in-law of all the members of your little bridge club?”

Marjorie’s wide grin was uncontrollable.  “It’s not about that old bat!  Even though I can’t wait to see the look on her face Thursday night!  This is about you, sweetie.”

“And it’s not about being able to brag about him in the church choir, or about throwing his name around at your next little Links meeting, or your Girlfriends Club, or at your little country club?”

Again, Marjorie waved off her daughter’s comments.  “What kind of pariah do you think I am?  Is that the kind of person you think I am?  A social climber who just wants to name drop?  Is that who you believe I am?”

“I believe that you’re a mother who is overly competitive, just like the rest of your friends.”

“Kimberly, stop it.”

“So, it wouldn’t bother you if I told you that Sterling and I were no longer together?”

“Child have you bumped your head?”  Marjorie shouted.

Kimberly smiled.  “I knew it!”

“What do you mean, no longer together?”  Marjorie asked.  “You are just testing me, aren’t you?”

“Sterling and I broke up.”

“Are you crazy?”  Marjorie snapped.  “What ever for?”