Society Wives (6 page)

Nadalia looked at the clock – it was almost midnight. Who would be calling at this time? Tipping toward the items he'd just discarded, Nadalia fumbled through the dark and pulled his cell phone from his pants.

Coffey Davis
lit up the screen and Nadalia released the breath that she was holding as her hand went to her heart. Alarm struck her again, assuming that if Coffey was calling at this time, there might be an emergency. Nadalia ran with the phone and burst into the bathroom, startling Sage.

“Babe. Coffey's calling. He called more than once. It woke me up,” she stammered. “I thought it might be important.”

Sage sighed with relief. “I thought something had happened.” He waved his hand dismissively. “I can call Coffey back when I get out of the shower.”

“It's late. Something could be wrong.”

“I just left him. He's probably just calling to make sure I got in okay.”

Nadalia stood stark straight. “I was sitting here waiting on you all night, thinking you were working and you were out gallivanting with Coffey? You could have called or something.” Nadalia stood with one hand on her hip and his phone dangling from the other. She felt like throwing it into the commode.

“I was working, babe.” Sage turned the shower off and stepped out. “Coffey is being courted by some other networks so he's in town for negotiations.” Toweling off, Sage headed back to the bedroom with Nadalia in tow. “My company is working with his team on his branding to get the best set up for him. We discussed the plans over dinner and had a few drinks. Not to mention, they shut down one of the tubes on the Midtown tunnel for overnight construction so traffic was horrendous. That's what took me so long to get home.”

Nadalia narrowed her eyes. She wasn't sure she believed him.

“I was the only one who had to drive a distance, so I told them I'd call Coffey when I got in. He's probably wondering what happened.”

Nadalia continued to eye him as he dried off and then stepped into his boxers. She looked for any signs that would indicate whether he was lying. “Well call him back and let him know you're fine,” she said, holding out the phone.

Sage looked at her with creased brows, reached for the phone and dialed Coffey's number. “What's up, man?” He kept his eyes on Nadalia, standing with her hands on both hips. “Traffic was crazy…yeah.” Sage laughed. “Yeah man…I know…” Nadalia was still staring in his face. “Well, Nadalia said to tell you hello…I will…cool…later, man.” Sage ended the call, walked into the bedroom, and tossed the phone into the fluffy pile of covers on the bed. “You happy now?” he said to Nadalia.

Nadalia rolled her eyes and got in bed. Sage snuggled behind her and fell right off to sleep.

Chapter 10

Nadalia

As expected, Sage was gone before dawn. Again, Nadalia pretended to be sleeping when he kissed her goodbye. Between Sage's snoring and her mulling over their lack of romance, Nadalia had tossed the entire night. Her sleeplessness showed up in the deep crevices around her eyes. It had been years since she'd taken a day off, but today, she needed the break.

“Hey, Sweetie,” her mother, Mina, sang into the phone when she called.

Mina had rid her tongue of her Armenian accent a long time ago when she started the company. Mina and her sister, Sona, wanted to be taken seriously when they launched their business rather than risk sounding like naïve immigrants.

“Hey, Mom! I'm exhausted I'm going to take a day off.”

“Dali! Are you sick?”

“No.” She thought about telling her mother more, but refrained. “Just tired. I've got a lot on my plate.”

“Yeah. It gets so busy around the holidays. Get your rest. We will be fine. You know, some famous reverend is bringing his wife in today to be fitted for a coat. He heard about us through Sanders. You know, Dayton, who used to play for the Cowboys?” She didn't give Nadalia a chance to answer. “She loved the coat we did for Dayton's wife last winter, and now she wants something designed for herself.”

“That's cool! I have the girls working on a coat for one of the wives for Christmas.”

“Oh! Nice. Which one?”

“Ryan.”

“That's the petite one, right? Her husband is that actor?”

“Yes. That's the one.”

“Oh! He's a real looker.”

Nadalia laughed. “Mom. No one says that anymore.”

“Well, I still do!”

“Okay. I'll see you next week for the monthly meetings. I still think you and Aunt Sona should come to Long Island more often. That big ole house is just sitting there and Manhattan life can be brutal. When I come out there, I can't wait to get back to the Island.”

“We love it here. It's convenient, close to the business and we have everything we need right around us. Don't worry about us, honey. You should be the one to get a place out here. You're all alone in that big house with no kids. With the long hours Sage works, it has to be lonely. You really should come to the city more.”

“Okay. Okay! I need to call the office.” Nadalia didn't want to hear anymore. She had to get off the phone before she revealed her true feelings. “Talk to you later, Mom.”

Nadalia loved her big house. It was one of her trophies for the wealth and accomplishments she and Sage had garnered. One day she'd add a kid or two—maybe. Right now she needed to worry only about lighting a fire under her marriage.

Since she wasn't going into the office, she decided to take the time to come up with more ideas to usher the romance back into her bedroom.

Nadalia thought about Mike and Vonnie and how into each other they always appeared to be. Mike looked at Vonnie as if his heart would cease to beat if he took his eyes off her. Vonnie sucked in every bit of the lavish love he doused on her. They held hands, pecked for no reason and openly doted on each other. If she didn't know better, she would have thought they were newlyweds, yet, they had been married the longest out of the four couples. Nadalia had to find out their secret.

Nadalia didn't doubt that she was still desirable. As the product of an interracial union, her mixed ancestry blessed her with a full head of long, beautiful, jet black hair, supple olive skin and a slim, yet curvaceous body. Men confirmed that every day by the way they poured themselves all over her. The one man she desired most seemed oblivious to her beauty and charm. She wondered what it would take and questioned if children had anything to do with it. Did Mike appreciate Vonnie more because she was the mother of their child? Though she wasn't ready to have children, she needed answers.

Nadalia dialed Vonnie's number and was grateful that she picked up after a few short rings.

“Hey.” That's all Vonnie said when she picked up.

Nadalia understood since she didn't usually call Vonnie. They never had casual conversations outside of the times they hung together with their husbands.

“Hi, Vonnie. Are you available for lunch today? I'd like to chat with you about something.”

“Uh…sure!” Vonnie paused. “I'm sorry. Actually, I'm not free for lunch. I'm looking at my calendar now. What about this evening? I see my last patient at four-thirty.”

“Okay!” Nadalia had been taken aback at first when Vonnie said yes and then no, but now she brightened up a little. “We can meet at the Beck around six?” Nadalia thought about her suggestion. “Better yet, do you mind coming here? I have wine!” she coaxed.

The Beck was her husband's thing. Besides, she knew that Sage wouldn't be home anytime soon and she preferred a more private setting for their discussion.

“Wine!” Vonnie joked. “You said the magic word. I'll be there at seven!”

Both ladies laughed.

“Perfect! See you then.” Nadalia hung up feeling renewed. After speaking to Vonnie, she'd get her other efforts in motion.

There was only so much she would reveal to Vonnie. She certainly didn't want to leave her with the impression that there was serious trouble in her marriage. A little light girl talk and advice would do. One way or other, she'd get her marriage back on track—no matter what tactics she had to resort to.

Chapter 11

Vonnie

Vonnie couldn't shake the curiosity that rose in her after Nadalia's call. First Ryan, now Nadalia. Two people she had never received random calls from before.

As she finished with her last patient for the day, a little rosy cheek girl with a head full of blond curls that reminded her of Shirley Temple, Vonnie thought about whether she should go straight over to Nadalia's or stop at home to freshen up. Vonnie often felt like she was under the microscope in Nadalia's presence, so she decided to go home and at least change.

Vonnie checked her messages one last time and shut down her computer. Mike sent a new text asking if she had a boyfriend. She laughed and dialed him instead of texting him back.

“You didn't answer my question,” he teased.

Vonnie shook her head. “No, I don't have a boyfriend.” She went along. “But I am happily married to a crazy man and I don't think he'll take kindly to you texting me.”

“Yeah, well wait until he sees what I send to you next time.”

“Mike!”

Mike laughed that infectious laugh that always stole Vonnie's heart.

“You are such a fool. Listen, I was calling to see what you had planned for the evening. Nadalia asked if I could stop by to chat and have a drink.”

“What?”

“That's what I said. She didn't say what she wanted, but I can only assume it must be important. I'm still wondering why she called me.”

“Well, she wouldn't call Pearson, and Ryan doesn't seem like she makes for interesting conversation.”

Vonnie snickered, then asked, “Are you going to be home?”

“Actually, I need to run to Queens,” Mike said and Vonnie creased her brows. “I need to take care of something for Aunt Kat,” he continued as if he could sense her pondering.

“Oh. Okay. I'll see you later tonight. I should't be long.” Vonnie wondered what his trip to Queens was about since he rarely dealt with his family there. When they reached out to him, it was usually for money.

“Cool.”

“Love you, babe.”

“Love you more.”

“She must have asked for money,” Vonnie said aloud, after she hung up. “Good ole Mike to the rescue.” She grabbed her keys and purse, and headed home.

As she drove, Vonnie focused her attention back on the matter at hand, finding something nice to wear to Nadalia's. Effortlessly cute was the look she was going for.

She pulled into their circular driveway and hit a remote, simultaneously disarming the house alarm and turning on lights. She smiled as she made her way up the walkway, leading to the opulent double wood doors, feeling like she had to pinch herself even though it had been years. As ambitious as she was, she never imagined herself living in a home like this. Their life together and the wealth they acquired far exceeded her most imaginative expectations. She knew they would be successful, but never anticipated Mike's company taking off the way that it had. A few years in, larger companies came knocking on his door with lucrative offers to buy him out and Mike refused them all.

They would have never been able to afford the lifestyle they enjoyed on her pediatrician's salary. She didn't need all these luxuries to be happy, but she sure did enjoy having them.

Once inside, Vonnie shuffled through the mail, and then wound her way through the halls to the master bedroom. Stepping into her walk-in closet, she sifted through the section with all of her shirts and pulled out a sheer violet one with bishop sleeves, then, she searched the drawers for black leggings before grabbing a pair of tall lace-up boots with comfortable cat heels.

Vonnie tossed the selection across the king-sized poster bed and headed to the bathroom for a shower. Within minutes, she was standing before the mirror fully dressed, applying a light coat of lip gloss. On the way out, she grabbed a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon from the wine fridge. Even after stopping by the bakery for her favorite pecan pie, she managed to get to Nadalia's right on time.

“Welcome!” Nadalia sang and ushered Vonnie in with a wave of her hand. She closed the door and sauntered toward the back of the house into the family room where she had a quaint set-up of wine, cheese and a few other finger foods.

Vonnie took notice of the red dress hugging Nadalia's curves and wondered who dressed that sexy at home. She could only imagine what the outfit cost.

Vonnie still shopped the outlets and stores like Marshalls, Century 21, and TJ Maxx, making only occasional visits to places like Saks and Bergdorf Goodman. Great bargains sent adrenaline coursing through her veins.

Vonnie followed Nadalia and offered up the wine. She suddenly felt a little self-conscious about her choice as she handed it over to Nadalia, who glanced over the bottle and then forced a smile. It was a brand she and Mike enjoyed for around twenty bucks, not the three-hundred dollar bottles that Sage or Anderson often ordered at dinners. She shook off her discomfort, deciding she didn't care what Nadalia thought.

“I bought pie!” she said, holding it up sheepishly. “It's pecan. My favorite.”

“Yummy! Sage's grandmother used to make a pecan pie that was sinfully divine.”

“Well, I don't know if it will beat granny's pie, but it's damn good.”

Nadalia lifted the box and sniffed the pie, then closed her eyes and drew in a deep breath. “Let me get a knife for this baby. I'll be right back.”

When Nadalia left the room, Vonnie placed her purse down, but remained standing. Rubbing her hands together, she looked around, admiring the ornate décor, specifically the large flat-screen TV hanging over the fireplace, which was surrounded by a wall of windows.

“Don't be a stranger, girl. Sit down!” Nadalia said when she returned with two slices of pie on saucers. She handed Vonnie one of the saucers, then poured two glasses of wine.