Total pages in book: 75
Estimated words: 69170 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 346(@200wpm)___ 277(@250wpm)___ 231(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69170 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 346(@200wpm)___ 277(@250wpm)___ 231(@300wpm)
“How do you know he’s looking over here, Maeve?”
“You must’ve forgotten because your kids are grown, but I’ve got a three-sixty visual on this bitch. Come here a minute. I said come here.”
I was already feeling self-conscious in this getup and now she was making me stand. I walked over to her, and she beckoned with her finger for me to lean in closer. “There you go; I just wanted to give him a shot of that ass. Yup, he just swallowed his tongue. Sheila, we need a bathroom break.”
“I don’t need the bathroom.”
“Bitch, neither do I, but she needs to walk across this floor in those fuck me heels that make her ass pop. Get your ass up.”
I looked at Sheila with pleading eyes, which she ignored again. I’m gonna have to rethink this friendship. “You ain’t said nothing but a word, sis. Let’s go. Walk slow, Jo.”
“How do you walk when you know someone is looking at you?”
“Like Loretta Devine walking away from Gregory Hines in Waiting to Exhale.”
“Oh hell no, I can’t do that.” I know exactly what she’s talking about because Sheila made me watch that movie on repeat when she was in her killing phase earlier in my divorce.
“You two walk, one in front and one behind.”
“Fine!” I should’ve known the way Maeve said fine was not to be trusted. She waited until we were directly in his line of vision to decide she needed to ask Sheila something.
There I was, standing in the middle of that club, feeling like there was a spotlight on me, showing every pore in my face and feeling the heat from his gaze. Don’t look, Jolene, just don’t.
I looked, and looked right into his eyes. Mercy!
“Good, merciful heavens, was that a smile, a smirk, or a threat? You’re married, Maeve, you’re happily married with a hundred damn kids. Keep walking, ladies. Jo snap out of it. We’re gonna make him work for this shit, and you fixin’ to just give it away already.”
She wasn’t lying. I was mesmerized by his stare, and he wasn’t shy. Most men of my acquaintance would’ve looked away once caught, but he didn’t even blink, not even when he raised his bottle of beer to his lips.
Sheila ended up having to frog-march me to the bathroom, where the line was not bad considering the size of this place. That’s because there were a lot of stalls, and the bathroom area was a thing of art.
There were attendants waiting there with baskets that held every amenity you could want, and the stalls themselves had a free dispenser for sanitary products. There was also a phone with a direct line for security in each stall, which I didn’t understand until I read the notice above.
Did he do this? If so, he was very thorough and very thoughtful. The phones were for anyone who felt like they were in danger or anyone who saw something they found suspicious. I don’t know how to feel about the man himself, but all I could think about was my Savanah finding herself in a situation where she might need help and having something like this at her disposal.
The three of us met up at the sinks, and that was all we could talk about. I guess when you get older, you see things differently, and for some reason, his thoughtfulness was hitting me somewhere deep.
He wasn’t standing where he was when we came out of the restroom, and I felt a little disappointed when we walked back to our spot. Five minutes after we sat, I saw Maeve’s eyes open wide as she sat across from me, and then I felt something or someone at my ear.
“Let’s dance.”
Sheila had to kick my ankle to get me out of my stupor. He didn’t even wait for my answer; he just reached around, took my hand, and helped me up and around until I was standing beside him.
He didn’t say a word as he held my hand and walked over to the DJ booth. “Wait right here.”
He was gone for less than a minute, and when he returned, he seemed to find the darkest corner in the building, and just as we reached it, One In A Million You started playing.
He pulled me in close, though even with heels, I barely reached his chin, and as the strains of the music filtered through the air, I think I got lost. First, in his scent, then the feel of his hard chest against mine.
“Do you know why I asked him to play this song?” I shook my head because although I knew the song and actually adored it, I couldn’t remember a word of it. I just knew it was a beautiful love story.
“Because I never forgot you after that day we met. I asked around and learned about your divorce. I won’t say I’m sorry about that; that would be a lie, but I am sorry that you felt that heartache.”