by Rhonda Bowen
JJ watched Simon’s profile from the backseat, more curious than ever about all that had gone on in his past. What kind of woman would Simon Massri love enough to marry? Who was Elena? And why in the world would she not choose Simon?
A plane ride and another two hours in the Jeep, and JJ was standing on her curb. As she watched Simon disappear down the road, she realized she now had more questions than she’d had when he had picked her up early that morning.
She had just climbed her front steps when a silver Escalade pulled up. She walked back down to the street as the window rolled down.
JJ rested a hand on her hip. “Were you following us, Nigel?”
“Absolutely,” Nigel said. “How else could I invite you to dinner at my penthouse condo?”
“Are you hitting on me?”
“Sorry, no,” Nigel said. “I’m not dating black women right now.”
“Of course,” JJ said, knowing that with Nigel there was no point getting offended. “So what’s this dinner thing about then?”
“I’m having a few friends over tomorrow evening,” he said with a grin. “Would love it if you could join us.”
“When did we become friends?”
“When I realized that my best friend’s going to stay miserable if we don’t get you back on his good side.”
JJ sighed and looked off in the direction where Simon’s Jeep had driven. “You might be talking about the impossible there.”
“Aren’t you a Christian? Don’t you folks say all things are possible with Christ?”
“When did you ever go to church?”
“Every weekend until I turned sixteen,” Nigel said. “My parents were Catholic.”
“Ahhh.”
“So, can I tell my housekeeper to buy more steaks?”
“I don’t eat red meat.”
“Come on, JJ,” Nigel said, getting impatient.
“I don’t know . . .”
“I’ll tell you the rest of the Elena story.”
JJ perked up. “Okay, fine. But if it gets more awkward with Simon, I’m leaving.”
“Sure, sure,” Nigel said. “You have sisters, right?”
“Yes,” JJ said cautiously.
“Bring them with you.” He reeled off the address to his home, which happened to be a condo building JJ knew very well because she had seen it on a celebrity homes show.
“See you tomorrow at six!” Nigel said. Then, before JJ could protest, he was peeling off down the street.
She sighed. One of these days her neighbors were going to complain because of all her speeding visitors.
Chapter 31
“You’re being a jerk. And I should know because all my ex-girlfriends seem to think I have the corner on that market.”
Simon scowled at Nigel and went back to grilling veggies at the barbecue pit set up on one side of Nigel’s rooftop entertainment space. He hadn’t really wanted to come to Nigel’s little dinner shindig. He had been to his friend’s similar get-togethers in the past, and on every occasion, without fail, they had descended into drunken revelry as soon as the food was gone and the drinks came out. Simon wasn’t in the mood to navigate that kind of crowd that night, but his friend had insisted, pulling the we-don’t-hang-out-like-we-used-to card that he used whenever he wanted to get Simon to do something. Nigel knew Simon felt guilty for neglecting their friendship, and he used it to his advantage. Simon hadn’t figured out why Nigel had been so insistent, until the terrace doors to the roof had slid open and JJ and two of her sisters walked out. He could have strangled his friend.
“I’m not being a jerk,” Simon growled. “But if I was, it would be your fault.”
“How is it my fault?”
Simon glared at Nigel.
“Look, just because you don’t want to talk to Elevator Girl—”
“Her name is Judith.”
“—doesn’t mean I can’t be friends with her.” Nigel took a swig of his drink. “In fact, her sister’s kinda cute. I might have to ask them all over again. Soon.”
“And you wonder why we don’t hang out as much anymore.”
Nigel leaned back against the railing. “You’re just mad ’cause she’s having more fun than you.” He chuckled. “Look at her.”
Simon had done nothing but look at her all night. No matter how he wanted to ignore her, he couldn’t. Even now, though he wanted to defy Nigel’s suggestion, his eyes drifted over to the other side of the deck, where she was chatting and laughing with a couple whom Simon had seen before at Nigel’s events. Nigel was right. She was enjoying herself. Definitely not experiencing any of the discomfort Simon was writhing in.
Simon grunted and went back to the grill.
“I get it, Massri,” Nigel said. “You’re pissed off that she was involved with some other guy.”
“Is involved,” Simon corrected.
“Was, is, it doesn’t matter,” Nigel said. “She’s fair game as long as there’s no ring in the picture.”
“It’s not that simple.”
Nigel slapped his hand against the rail. “It is that simple. I don’t know why everything has to be so complicated for you. It doesn’t matter who homeboy is, you have home-court advantage. You have the whole romantic elevator backstory going on. Women love that crap, live for it. It’s the stuff chick flicks are made of. If I were you, I would be milking that all the way to glory.”
“She’s not interested.”
“Of course not,” Nigel said. “That’s why she’s wasting a night of her one-week vacation standing on my roof chatting with people she’s never met before, just so she can be close to you. Because she’s not interested.”
Simon frowned thoughtfully and glanced away from the grill over to JJ again. Nigel did have a point. But what was he supposed to do, when he wasn’t sure what was going on in JJ’s head? She claimed nothing was going on with her and Rayshawn, but that didn’t match up to the picture he had seen the day before. Furthermore, why had she never mentioned him before? She volunteered information about everything else in her life, everything that happened on tour, things Simon suspected she didn’t even tell her sisters. But this one thing she had kept back. Why?
“You need to quit sulking over this grill and go handle your business,” Nigel said. “Get over there and talk to her, tell her you can’t stop thinking about her, ask her out on a real date. Get in the game, Massri.”
Simon raised an eyebrow at his friend. “Is that what your game looks like? No wonder you can’t keep a woman.”
“You got jokes. That gives me hope.” Nigel took another swig of his drink before pushing himself off the rail. “My work here is done. Now to find that other Isaacs woman.”
“One of them is engaged,” Simon warned as his friend began to walk away.
Nigel grinned. “I know. I saw that ring from a mile away. It’s the other one I’m interested in. Wish me luck!”
“Good luck.” Simon shook his head. From what he had already seen of Lissandra, Nigel would need it.
Simon moved the cooked eggplant, zucchini, celery, and carrots to the warming rack and put away the tongs. He did a quick survey of the deck and found her at the food table. He took a deep breath. Might as well.
“There’s fish on the grill if you can wait a few minutes,” he said as he dug through the cooler for a bottle of water. She had been squinting at the grilled chicken suspiciously, and he knew that she would prefer another meat alternative.
She turned to look at him, surprised. “He speaks! And full sentences too.”
Simon tipped his head to the side and walked over to her. “Guess I deserve that.”
“Enjoying your friend’s dinner party?” JJ asked, bypassing the meat and loading her plate with broccoli and cauliflower instead.
“Not really.”
She poured a dollop of dip on the plate. “I could tell.”
“Didn’t expect to see you,” he said, stopping near her.
JJ smiled. “I think that was part of Nigel’s
plan.”
He had missed that. Her smile, the way her eyes crinkled at the side when she did, and the slight dimple in her cheek. He also missed their easy banter, their long talks, the way she looked into his eyes without looking away.
“What happened, Judith?” he asked quietly, even as he searched her face for answers. “I thought we were going somewhere.”
Her smiled faded. “I thought so too.”
“Then why didn’t you tell me about Rayshawn?” Simon asked, squinting at her. “You never mentioned him. Not even once. Why?”
JJ looked away, but not before Simon caught the regret that framed her features.
“I don’t know.” She raked a hand through her hair. “That’s a lie. I do know.”
She picked up her plate and walked away from the food table, and he followed her to a portion of the terrace where only a four-foot ledge separated them from everything below. He watched her play with her broccoli and look everywhere except at him.
“Judith, talk to me.”
She looked away at the Toronto city skyline.
“After how tense things were at first at the hospital, I guess I never thought anything was possible with us,” JJ began. “But then, when you came to see me in New York, it was like . . . I thought maybe . . . it felt like there was a possibility that there could be something.”
She placed her plate on the ledge and pressed her hands against the concrete. “I didn’t say anything about Rayshawn because I knew that if I did, you would back off immediately, and I didn’t want that. I didn’t even know what was going on with Rayshawn. We hadn’t spoken for weeks, and before that, it was bad. And you, Simon . . . you were like . . . like a breath of fresh air. I didn’t want to lose that.”
She covered her face with her hands. “Geez, when I’m with you, it’s like I have no filter . . .”
Simon smiled and gently eased her hands away from her face. “It’s okay. I kind of like it.”
“Sure you do,” JJ said. “You get to know everything I’m thinking and I’m the one who ends up wondering if I’m the only one. . . feeling things.”
He tugged at her wrists, pulling her closer to him.
“Judith.”
She looked up at him, her eyes wide-open windows to the vulnerability in her heart. He felt a crushing sensation in his chest. Yes, this woman was definitely going to be the end of him. Slipping his hands around her neck, he slid his fingers into her warm, soft curls and pulled her even closer. He watched her eyes slide closed, her glossed lips part, and her breathing grow shallow.
Then he did the thing he had wanted to do since the moment she had turned around in that hospital room and jumpstarted his heart. He kissed her. Slowly at first, savoring that first contact, boxing up the memory of the sweet fullness of her lips so he could revisit it in the future. But then her arms slipped around him, her fingers tightened around his shirt and pulled him closer, and the urgency in her touch gave him the freedom to probe her lips further, kissing her deeper, losing his fingers in the glorious thickness of her hair until a tingling somewhere far, far away in the back of his mind reminded him where they were.
He pulled away from her lips but not from her embrace. It took her a moment to catch her breath and open her eyes, and when she did, the look she gave him nearly knocked him over.
A whistle and a wolf call drew his attention to the eyes whose attention they’d attracted. The gleeful look on Lissandra’s and Nigel’s faces told him the source of the whistle and the wolf call. Across the terrace, smiles and chuckles greeted them.
“Oh God.” JJ hid her face in his chest, and he laughed, running a hand over her hair.
“I can’t believe you did that,” she mumbled into his chest.
“Excuse me? We did that,” Simon corrected in amusement. “You were just as much involved as I was.”
JJ lifted her head from his chest and grinned. “I was, wasn’t I?”
“You definitely were.”
They gazed at each other a long moment, and Simon instinctively knew what would happen next if they kept staring at each other like that.
“How about we go chat with your sister and my friend, so we keep out of trouble?”
“Why?” JJ asked, slipping her hand into his as they headed across the terrace. “Trouble isn’t so bad.”
He chuckled. “You do have a point there.”
“See why you should come to my parties, ladies?” Nigel said as Simon and JJ joined their group. “I always provide the best entertainment.”
“I’ll say,” Lissandra agreed.
“I can’t lie,” Sydney said, winking at JJ. “I’m pretty impressed, Nigel.”
“Is he always like this?” JJ asked Simon. “Taking the credit for everything?”
“Yes,” Simon said without hesitation. “For as long as I’ve known him.”
Simon entertained them with a Nigel story from their undergraduate years, and when Nigel attempted to outdo him with a Simon story from their medical school days, the women seemed to enjoy it just as much. But what Simon enjoyed most was the feel of JJ by his side. Even as the conversation continued within the group, a more personal conversation seemed to pass between Simon and JJ with each squeeze of their enjoined hands, every nudge of their shoulders, every private exchange of glances. Simon could get used to this, get used to being with her all the time. It was only Tuesday, but the fact that she would be gone again on Sunday was already bothering him.
When she stifled her third yawn, Simon knew it was time to call it a night. He lowered his mouth to her ear. “Looks like it’s someone’s bedtime,” he murmured.
“Whose? Yours?” JJ murmured back. “I hear as people get older, they need more sleep.”
He chuckled at her jab at their age difference. “I’m not the one yawning after every syllable. This is what happens when young girls try to play grown-up.”
JJ slapped his arm chidingly. “You’ll pay for that comment, mister. Let’s hope you can keep up with this young girl tomorrow morning.”
He raised an eyebrow, intrigued. “What’s tomorrow morning?”
She grinned mischievously. “Pick me up at six a.m. and you’ll find out.”
Then she tipped up and planted a kiss on his lips that extinguished any further inquiries. Moments later, as she and her sisters exited the terrace, Simon was still staring after her.
“See?” Nigel said, placing a soda in Simon’s hand and slapping him on the back. “Things are always more fun when you’re hanging with me.”
Simon chuckled and took a sip of his soda. For once he had to agree with his friend. Hanging out with him tonight might just be the best thing he’d decided to do in a long time.
Chapter 32
“Okay, I’m here and I brought gifts!” JJ announced as she breezed into Sheree’s hospital room around midday the next day.
Sheree clapped her hands excitedly. “Ooh, let’s see!”
“I’ve got a copy of the latest Essence magazine and also, against my better judgment, the newest Enquirer magazine,” JJ said, pulling both out of her black canvas shopping bag and laying them on the bed.
“Don’t hate,” Sheree said, grabbing the Enquirer magazine first. “This is where I saw that infamous picture with you and Mr. Hill.”
JJ grimaced and kept digging in the canvas bag. “I also have a bar of Cadbury dark chocolate, approved by your doctor; Essie nail polish in Beach Bum Blu, as requested; socks; new headphones; and the Soul Food season one DVD, which, by the way, was the hardest thing to find on this list!”
“Thank you, my-baby’s-favorite-auntie! You’re the best,” Sheree said, blowing kisses at JJ. “Now bring your butt over here and come try out my new bed.”
JJ squinted as she examined Sheree’s sleeper more carefully. “Wait, you got a bigger bed?”
“Yup,” Sheree said with a grin as she scooted over, making space for JJ beside her. “They brought it in yesterday.”
“Wow,” JJ said, settling in beside Sheree.
“This is nice. My whole butt can actually fit on it this time.”
“Yeah,” Sheree said. “And I still got tons of space. Awesome, eh?”
“Okay, spill,” JJ said with a smile. “Who hooked you up? Nurses stole a bed from the VIP wing for you? I hear you’re in with them like that.”
“Nope,” Sheree said, shaking her head. “Dean got it done.”
JJ’s eyebrows went up. “Dean!”
“Yup,” Sheree said with a smile. “And he didn’t even tell me. I went to have some tests done, came back, and it was here. No one would tell me where it came from. But you know me, I started doing some digging and I found out he arranged it. I don’t know how, but I know it’s him.”
JJ squinted at Sheree for a long moment. “Okay, so I feel like I’m missing out here,” she said. “I know that he’s been visiting and you guys have been spending time together, but are you two . . .?”
“No,” Sheree said, shaking her head. “Too much has happened for us to just get back together without some serious third-party intervention. But we’re both committed to this kid having the best parents in the world, and for that to happen, we have to at least have a decent relationship with each other. That’s what we’re working on.”
JJ smiled. “Is that the rehearsed speech you’re giving everyone?”
Sheree sighed. “Yes.”
JJ laughed. “I knew it!”
“I can’t lie,” Sheree said. “I love that man something terrible. Always did, though it might seem hard to believe, given what I did. But if I could take it all back, I would. I would do anything for another chance to make it right with Dean.”
“I don’t know,” JJ said. “I don’t want to get your hopes up, but it looks like he might be opening the door to that.”
“Yeah, but what if it’s just all this baby stuff?” Sheree asked, worry lining her forehead. “You know how people get at the prospect of a child. And then the baby comes. . . or doesn’t, given my state . . .”
“Stop,” JJ said, sitting up suddenly. “Don’t let me ever hear you say anything like that again.”
