My Kind of Girl (20 page)

“
I have to keep my strength
up, girl. Chasing after RJ, and of course you, is a full-time job.”
They walked away arm-in-arm to join Cannon and Yasmine at the table
inside of the veranda. Unfortunately the rainy day prohibited them
from hanging outside.

“
I think we’re done here,”
Sean said, placing the last rib in the pan. “Let’s go inside with
the others.”

“
Yep, this rain is
beginning to blow under the cover.” Traci hurried ahead of Sean.
They passed through the veranda to the kitchen where Shelbi was
making a chocolate and strawberry punch bowl cake.

“
Mmm … I know I’m eating a
piece of that. Looks good, sis.”

“
Thanks. I hate to leave
soon, but I have a double at the hospital. I can’t wait until my
residency is over with in December, and I can work at the practice
with all of you,” Shelbi said, swirling whip cream on top of the
finished dessert.

The doorbell chimed. Sean glanced at
the security monitor above the entrance way of the kitchen to the
dining room. “Babe, can you go get that?”

“
Sure,” Traci said, leaving
the kitchen.

Shelbi stared at Sean in amazement.
“You must really like her if she’s answering the door.”

“
Yep, plus it’s for
her.”

Traci rushed back into the kitchen
with a dozen pink roses in a crystal vase. Sean was elated with the
breathtaking expression on her face. She’d never looked more
stunning.

“
Sean, these are gorgeous.”
He could see the tears welling up in her eyes.

He took the vase from her trembling
hands and set it on the middle of the island that was packed with
food from the cook out. “I’m glad you love them.”

“
I couldn’t believe when
the delivery guy said they were for me.”

“
Well, I remembered when we
first met you mentioned you love roses, preferably
pink.”

“
Wow, you
remembered.”

He drew her in his arms. She was a tad
taller today because she had on a wedge sandal, but he still picked
her up as promised so she would never have to strain her
neck.

“
I listened to everything
you said.”

“
I’m speechless. These are
gorgeous. Can we place them on the foyer table so they won’t be in
the way on the island?”

“
Of course.” He placed her
back on the floor and retreated to take the roses into the foyer.
As he sat them on the credenza, the doorbell rang again, but the
door opened and Teresa walked in. Before he could utter a word, she
charged forward and kissed him, pulling herself up and wrapping her
long legs around his waist before he had time to push her off. He
heard a loud, curling scream just as he’d managed to get Teresa off
of him. He knew the owner of the scream, and his heart stopped
beating. He turned and saw Traci frozen in the entry way of the
foyer with Caitlyn by her side and the rest of his family standing
around.

“
This is about to get real
good,” Rasheed said, swigging his beer as the rest of the family
shushed him.

“
Oh, isn’t that the worker
who did your backyard, sugar?” Teresa asked. “What is she screaming
about?” Teresa slid her arm possessively around Sean’s waist.
“Oops, I got lipstick all over you.” She tried to wipe it from his
lips, but he stepped away from her.

“
What are you doing here?”
Sean demanded.

“
I’ve tried calling you,
but your number has been disconnected. You told me when I got back
to the States you’d make it up to me for kicking me out of the
house that day.”

Sean racked his brain. He had said
that to her the next day on the phone, but it was before he started
to see Traci. He hadn’t given Teresa a second thought.

“
Look, you’ve been gone for
a while and I have a girlfriend now. Traci, the horticulturist who
landscaped my backyard.”

“
Oh … why didn’t you say
that when I walked inside instead of French kissing me liked you
missed me?” Teresa turned and walked out of the opened door just as
Garrett was walking in.

“
What did I miss?” Garrett
asked as he glanced around at everyone in the foyer.

Sean stepped toward Traci, who hadn’t
moved or said a word. Instead, she stared at him in
bewilderment.

“
Traci … babe?”

“
I trusted you,” she
whispered, as the tears fell out of her eyes like the big rain
drops were falling outside.

Sean’s stomach turned into one big
knot as the pain crossed her face. “No, wait she’s lying. I didn’t
kiss her first or at all. She grabbed me and—” He couldn’t finish
as Traci rushed passed him, snatched the roses out of the
vase—which crashed to the floor—and whacked him on the arms and the
chest with them over and over screaming as the petals fell off and
scattered on the floor. Caitlyn pulled Traci away and held her
tightly while she still tried to lunge at him.

“
Stop it, girl. He’s not
worth it,” Caitlyn yelled, still pulling on her best
friend.

“
I hate you!” Traci threw
what was left of the roses at him. “I hate you!” she screamed at
the top of her lungs.

“
Where’s your purse and
keys?” Caitlyn asked.

“
In the bedroom, but my car
is in the garage. It’s blocked.”

“
Mine is on the street and
my purse is in the coat closet. We’re leaving.”

Raven hurried to the closet. “I
remember you had a brown LV.” Raven retrieved it and handed it to
Caitlyn. “Get her some safely, and I’ll make sure her car gets to
her sometime today.”

Sean stepped toward Traci. “No, wait!
You aren’t leaving. We need to talk about this in private. Nothing
happened.”

“
Liar! I was standing there
when you were holding her up … just like you do to kiss
me.”

Traci and Caitlyn passed by him and
his body numbed. He couldn’t fathom what was happening as she
bolted out of the door and down the steps. He stepped forward, but
Garrett held him back.

“
Stop, man, let her
go.”

“
Hell no!” Sean wiggled
free of his friend and ran across the grass barefoot to the street
where Traci was getting into the passenger seat of a Toyota Camry.
She shut the door when she saw him approach. He tried opening it
but it was locked. The wind was blowing the rain sideways and he
peered through the dark tint of the car.

He banged on the window. “Baby, please
open the door.” He continued banging until the car sped
off.

He didn’t know how long he’d stood
watching the headlights disappear as the heavy rain beat down on
his body. After a while, he felt comforting arms around him leading
him back into his house. He was in a daze, but he could smell his
mother’s Chanel perfume as she helped him up the steps. His
siblings were all in the doorway. Shelbi tossed a blanket over him
and Raven patted his back. He noticed Sadie and Yasmine cleaning up
the broken glass and the rose petals off of the floor. He saw
Rasheed trying to explain to Garrett what had happened before he’d
arrived.

Somehow Sean made it to his bathroom
and Cannon instructed him to take off his clothes before he caught
pneumonia and died. Not that he cared about that. He felt like he
had died the second Traci walked out his door and took his heart
with her.

*****

“
Girl, who died?” Caitlyn
asked as she strolled into Traci’s loft with a carry-out bag and
noticed the twenty-five bouquets of yellow and pink roses displayed
all over.

Traci closed the door and walked
through the maze of roses that had been delivered that morning
before crawling back into her bed and flinging the comforter over
her face. She yelled out, “Me!” Cait plopped on the bed and pulled
the cover back from Traci’s face.

“
Well, if it wasn’t for the
scent of the roses I would agree. When was the last time you
showered or brushed your teeth?” Caitlyn scooted away, wrinkling
her nose.

“
At Sean’s …”

“
That was four days ago.
Now look, you can’t keep using your vacation days to sulk over a
man who didn’t deserve you in the first damn place.”

“
I go back to work on
Monday. I’ll be fine by then.” She propped herself up on her
pillows. “The rose gardens are fine, and luckily I was already done
with the orchid project.”

“
Have you spoken to him?”
Caitlyn retreated to the kitchen and rummaged around in a drawer.
Pulling out a garbage bag, she began picking up containers of
barely touched leftover food that had sat out for days.

“
No, I blocked his numbers
so he can’t call or text.”

“
Look, get up and take a
shower and brush your teeth. Twice. And gargle.”

Traci pulled the comforter back and
swung her legs over the side of the bed. “You’re not funny. What
did you bring me to eat?” She ran her fingers through her hair, but
they got stuck in the tangles.

“
You’re finally hungry
today?”

“
A little.”

“
I brought you the chicken
Caesar salad we both love at the garden’s café and some white zin.
Take your shower and then we can eat. I’ll burn your sheets and
comforter while you’re in bathroom.”

Thirty minutes later they sat on the
couch eating since there were four dozen roses sitting on the
kitchen table and six on the island.

“
You have to talk to him,
Tray.”

“
No, I don’t. I don’t ever
want to see him again,” Traci said, sipping her wine.

“
All jokes aside, what if
he’s telling the truth? You know he’s dated plenty of women and
some of them may not have gotten the memo that he’s no longer
single. That one apparently had not. She saw him and kissed him.
Probably freaked Sean out. He said he was trying to get her off of
him and that’s when you walked in and screamed like a
banshee.”

Traci cut her eyes at her best friend.
“Whose side are you on?”

“
Yours, but I just don’t
want you to throw away your relationship. I know I’ve been calling
him an asshole and all, but he seems really into you and you two
were so happy together.”

Traci picked up her fork and dug into
the salad. “You’ve been talking to Garrett, haven’t
you?”

“
Just once. He wanted to
make sure you were okay. He said Sean is a wreck.”

“
Good for him. He should’ve
thought about that before he kissed that trifling slut knowing I
was in the next room.”

“
I still say talk to him
and hear his side of the story.”

After Caitlyn left, Traci settled on
to the couch. She glanced at her cell phone on the coffee table
sitting between two vases of roses. Reaching for the phone, she
scrolled through the numbers until she saw Sean’s. After she
pressed the “unblock” on the screen, twenty voicemails from him
that had been in the blocked box appeared, She listened to them.
The first ones were mostly begging for her to talk to him. Some
were simply “I miss you” and the last one was “Did you like all of
the roses?” It had been received less than hour ago. The phone
vibrated in her hand, and it was a new text from Sean.

It simply read, ‘Did you watch the
video I sent?’

Puzzled, she didn’t know what video
because when blocking a number one can’t receive texts messages but
the voicemails are stored. She didn’t want to text him back, but
she was curious as to what kind of video he’d sent. She prayed he
hadn’t taped them making love without her permission. She texted
back, ‘No, please resend it’. A moment later a video appeared on
her screen. She pushed play and it showed him in the foyer of his
home placing the pink roses on the credenza. The front door opened
and Teresa strutted in, kissed Sean, and jumped up on him as he
tried to push her off with the most grotesque facial expression
she’d ever seen on him. His mouth was completely closed when
Teresa’s lips were on his.

Traci had completely forgotten about
the security cameras in his home. She called Caitlyn and who was
there in a flash to watch the video.

“
Girl, I’m so glad you
showered,” Caitlyn said, pulling Traci off of the couch. “Now jump
in your beetle and go over to that man’s house right
now.”

Rushing to the door, Traci grabbed her
keys and purse from the hook. Opening the door, she gasped when she
saw Sean standing there as if he was about to knock. He looked
tired and a slight beard had formed.

“
I was just coming to you
…” Traci stammered, holding up her purse and her cell phone with
the video still playing. Tears rushed down her cheeks, and she
dropped her purse on the floor as her body trembled.

Caitlyn squeezed past them and Sean
walked in, shutting the door.

“
I’m sorry … I didn’t
believe you, but we kept running into all of your … exes, or
whatever they are …”

Sean drew her to him, gazing at her
tenderly. He ran a gentle hand down her cheek. “Shh … you don’t owe
me an apology. I can see how that would look to you walking in
considering my back was to you and my past isn’t exactly squeaky
clean. I’m sorry you had to go through that, dimples.”