“What’s up, bitches,” Phia and Afrika’s heads snapped when they heard that familiar voice near their table.
When they saw their friend, Diamond, both ladies leaped from the table and the three women embraced. “Diamond, where did you come from? Are you back in New York now?” Phia asked as she released her friend.
“We wanted to surprise you,” Afrika said.
Phia gave Afrika a pretend dark look. “You knew about this?”
“Yep. I sure did,” Afrika acknowledged.
“You know us girls always have a few surprises up our sleeves,” Diamond giggled and her friends joined in.
Diamond too was stunningly beautiful. Both parents were fair-skinned African Americans and her complexion matched theirs perfectly. She had a small mouth and nose, a huge white teeth smile and killer green eyes. She was tall with full voluptuous hips and a pair of long shapely legs that got her as much attention a girl could ask for.
“You two surprised me alright. You two are gonna make me lose all of my makeup,” Phia teased and brushed away tears that had formed in her eyes and began to flow down her cheeks.
“What have you been doing?” She asked Diamond?”
“This and that,” Diamond answered, giggling and added, “Look at you two, looking all fly and fabulous.”
“Look at you. Girl, you are the bomb,” Afrika complimented.
“Yes you are,” Phia cosigned. “How long have you been in town?” she wanted to know, unable to disguise her excitement at seeing her two best friends since childhood. “Have you eaten?”
“Girl yeah, I had dinner with mother a short while ago. You know she had the chef to prepare some of my favorite dishes. She still thinks I am too thin and wants to fatten me up. Who does that these days?” Diamond chuckled.
“Well come on, sit and have something to drink.” Phia pointed to a chair at the table.
Diamond sat down and the girls began to catch up with her getting the details on Afrika’s married boyfriend and Phia’s cancer survivor situation.
“We still haven’t heard what you’ve been doing the past few years,” Phia said.
“One of those old Frenchman got her nose open,” Afrika said.
“What? If any nose gonna be open, I’m gonna be the one who does the opening. Girl bye,” Diamond replied, laughing. Diamond rose out of her chair. “We’ll catch up on everything later but right now, let’s get out of here and get our party on. I want to dance with some good looking guys, have a couple of great drinks, and turn up,” Diamond said.
As they were leaving their table, two couples entered the restaurant.
“That’s some good looking man meat right there,” Diamond said and they laughed.
“Obviously the ladies with them think so too,” Phia laughed.
“There’s nothing more attractive than another woman’s man,” Diamond commented.
“They are just kids. You’re almost old enough to be their mother,” Afrika pitched in.
“Yeah, they do look kinda young,” Phia said.
“By whose standards? Besides, when has that ever stopped me,” Diamond said.
“She’s got a point,” Afrika said.
“Come on. We’ve got so much to catch up on,” Phia said.
“Yeah, like what have you been doing in France all this time?” Afrika questioned Diamond.
“Nosey heffas,” Diamond giggled. “Seeing you bitches again is like old times.”
Giggling, the three ladies left the restaurant with their arms around each other.
* * *
“You remember that I will be out of town a couple of days at a meeting, right?” Mitch reminded his young son.
“I remember,” his son said. “You’re going to Myrtle Beach.”
“That’s right.”
“What are you going to bring me from your trip this time?”
“That’s going to be a surprise.”
“Ahhh, dad.”
“You know the rules, Sport. When I go away, I always bring you a mystery gift. We don’t talk about the gift before you receive it, right? But I’m willing to bet you’re gonna like it.”
“Alright,” his son said and forked the last bit of scrambled eggs into his mouth.
Just then, Mrs. Lucy entered the kitchen, carrying two bags of groceries that she set down on the counter.
“I see you two are still here,” she said. “Mitch Junior, are you ready to see the animals?”
“Yes, and I’m really excited too,” he replied.
“Yes, he got up practically at the crack of dawn, Mrs. Lucy,” Mitch said to her and they chuckled. “Come on, Sport, drink your juice so we can go. You don’t want to be late for your field trip, do you?” Mitch said, looking at his young son whose eyes were an exact replica of his own. The boy’s hair was sandy, he was intelligent beyond his nearly six years, and he was already teaching his father computer games and was winning more often than not.
“No, dad. My teacher said we’re going to have a lot of fun.” His son took a huge swallow of his orange juice.
“Is that what Mrs. Barbara said?”
“Yes. She said we’re going to see all kinds of animals. The giraffe is my favorite animal.” His son turned and looked at his father. “Why is the lion your favorite animal, dad?”
Mitch thumped his chest with both fists. “Because the lion is the king of the jungle.”
“But the giraffe is bigger.”
“You’ve got a point there, Sport.” Mitch gave his son a high five.
“So you’ll be back from your meeting in Myrtle Beach day after tomorrow?”
“That’s right, son. And you be a good boy and mind Mrs. Lucy alright?”
“I will Dad, but you did say I could stay up on Friday night. Did you tell Mrs. Lucy that I could stay up late?”
“Yes, I did.” Mitch smiled at his housekeeper who returned the smile. “But only until 10:30, and don’t forget to brush your teeth. Now come on. Grab your backpack and let’s get this show on the road.”
“Bye, bye you two,” Mrs. Lucy said. “Have a nice trip, Mr. Harding.”
“Thanks, Mrs. Lucy.”
Mitch Junior hurriedly put on his backpack and headed for the door. After passing his father in the foyer, the young boy shouted. “The last one out the door is a nasty stinking rotten egg.”
“That’s no fair,” Mitch said, hurrying after his son. “Cheater!”
When they arrived at Special Times Day Care Center, Mitch shut off the engine, got out of the car and walked around to the back passenger door of the car.
As he opened the door to the car, his son was experiencing difficulties unbuckling his seat belt. Mitch was about to assist him when Mitch Junior said, “I can do it Dad.”
Mitch smiled and stood back as he watched his son fumble with his seatbelt. Seeing the difficulty his son was experiencing, he saw that Mitch Junior’s sweater was caught in the latch making it difficult to unhook it.
“It seems we got your sweater caught in the latch. Let me give you a hand there, Sport.” Mitch unhooked the seatbelt, lifted his son from the seat, and placed him on the concrete sidewalk. After closing the door, they walked up to the entry door to the center.
Mitch’s son rushed ahead of his father and reached for the doorknob. “Daddy, I can open the door.”
Because the door was heavy, Mitch knew his son wouldn’t be able to open it without help. “Okay, but let me help you with that. I’ll bet in a short while you’ll be able to open any door you want, but for today, just let daddy help you, okay?”
“Okay,” he replied happily.
They entered the building to see Mrs. Barbara standing in the hall with two other teachers. When she saw Mitch Junior and his father, she said to the teachers, “Alright, we should be ready to leave in a half hour.” Then she turned to Mitch and his son and said, as she approached them. “Good morning to you both.”
“Good morning, Mrs. Barbara,” Mitch Junior said, jubilantly.
&n
bsp; “How are you this morning, Mrs. Barbara?” Mitch greeted, pleasantly.
“There’s Bobby, dad.” Mitch Junior was about to rush off to his friend.
“Hey, wait a minute. Aren’t you forgetting something?”
“Dad.” Mitch Junior turned to his father and gave him a high five before rushing off to join his friend.
“No running,” Mitch called after his son. Then he said to Mrs. Barbara, “So you’ll be back here around 2 o’clock?”
“Yes.” Mrs. Barbara glanced at her watch. “We’ll leave for the zoo in about twenty minutes, and we’ll spend a couple of hours there, then take them to McDonald’s, feed them and bring them on back here. So he’ll be ready to be picked up at the usual time,” Mrs. Jackson said.
“Sounds great,” Mitch replied. “Well, see you later.” With that, he left the building, got into his car, and drove across town towards his office.
On the drive, an old song played on his car radio ‘It Don’t Hurt Now.’ That was a song that he and Sophia danced to in Myrtle Beach the night they met. Sophia. Mitch had to admit that he’d thought of her often, well, every time he looked at his son. His mind would wonder to that night years ago when he’d held her in his arms, the way she’d wrapped her body around his and held him as though he was the only man on the planet.
Mitch and Sophia were together more than six years ago, when she was sixteen. He’d tried not to allow himself to think of Sophia in a sexual way. But now, although he was forty-something and she was no more than twenty-two, he had to wonder what her life was like now. Did she drop out of school to have the baby? Did she go back to school afterwards? Was she married? Was she happy? Did she ever think about the baby—or him? Mitch had a lot of questions, but he only had one answer. Sophia was a very pretty girl when they met but a year and a baby later when Mitch had last seen her, Sophia was absolutely gorgeous.
Mitch pulled his navy blue late model Lexus into his parking space outside his office building and took the elevator up to the fifth floor. In his office, he checked in with his secretary, made a few phone calls, and then he left his office and drove to the airport.
When Mitch was on the plane, he located his seat and opened his briefcase. He removed a folder before closing the case and sliding it under his aisle seat. He removed a pen from his jacket pocket, opened the folder, and began reviewing his notes.
It wasn’t long before a flight attendant made the announcement. “Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen, we are approaching the Myrtle Beach Airport and we will be landing shortly. Please put your seats in the upright position and prepare for landing. We hope you have enjoyed your flight. It was a pleasure serving you this afternoon; we hope your stay in the Myrtle Beach area will be an enjoyable one and that you will fly with us again in the future.”
Mitch, along with more than a hundred other passengers exited the plane. He made his way through the crowded airport to the outside where he checked his watch, and noted he had less than an hour before his meeting. He hailed a taxi and went to the hotel where his meeting was being held and where he would be staying the next two days.
Mitch arrived at the hotel and took the semi-crowded elevator up to the twelfth floor conference room with only minutes to spare. After a short meet and greet with the new realtors, they all gathered around the huge conference table where agendas were placed on the table and the meeting began.
“Good afternoon to you all,” Mitch greeted. “First, let me welcome the new realtors to this conference and to say that it is great to see the rest of you who have been a part of Harding Realty Company as well. What we would like to do is go around the table and allow everyone to introduce themselves and state your main objective being with the company.” When that was done, Mitch gave a few more remarks and afterwards, he turned the meeting over to one of the other realtors.
After more than an hour had passed, Mitch got up from the table and left the conference room. He took the elevator down to the fifth floor where he knew there was a cigarette machine. He was walking down the hall toward the concierge’s room when suddenly a conference room door opened. Mitch was startled. Not by the two women rushing from the conference room and whisking by him. It was the voice of the speaker coming from that room—a voice that sounded awfully familiar. That couldn’t be who he thought it was, yet he had to see. He had to be sure.
Mitch opened the conference room door to a room filled to capacity. He eased into the room and he turned and looked in the direction from where the familiar voice was coming. There she was in all her splendor. Sophia! Mitch was frozen in his tracks. He felt the anger that he’d harbored for years flare with an even greater intensity. He must have had shock written all over his face because when the two women who left the room earlier returned, one of them gave him a very odd stare while the other asked, “Sir, are you all right?”
“Ye, ye, yes,” he stuttered. “I’m fine.” He turned slowly, left the room and he took the elevator back up to the twelfth floor but not before he’d made a note of the time Sophia’s conference would end. Five o’clock.
When Mitch re-entered his conference room, the rest of the afternoon went by in a blur. He was grateful he’d done his presentation before he went out in the hall and saw Sophia because now he could not focus on anything that was happening in his conference room. His only thought was of Sophia’s beautiful face, her makeup flawless with lips that perfectly matched the soft pink suit she was wearing. The copper hair that once hung below her slender shoulders was now not much longer than the pixie cut that Halle Berry wears so well. Hair or no hair, Sophia was even more gorgeous than she was six years ago when he met her.
Day one of Mitch’s meeting ended at three forty-five. They went down to the hotel dining room and ordered a late lunch. When Mitch took the elevator back to the fifth floor, he couldn’t remember whether he ate the plate of prime ribs, red potatoes, green beans and the salad that was placed on the table before him or did he just toy with it a moment before excusing himself to rush off to be face to face with Sophia. He’d waited for the day that he would lay eyes on her again and now she would have some explaining to do.
As he thought about her, he wondered how she would respond to him. Would she be distant, hostile, or would she offer a friendly face? She probably wouldn’t be friendly towards him, Mitch concluded. He could scratch that off his list. Why was he wondering what Sophia’s behavior would be with him anyway? Why would he care? She was the one who brought the rage of hell into his home, causing his wife of more than twenty years to leave him, or rather kick him out of their home, destroying their marriage, his life. She should be the one wondering how he would treat her. Mitch had to admit that he stayed angry with Sophia a long time but the years have calmed that anger and pain somewhat. He was just grateful now for the son she’d given him.
Mitch got off the elevator and rushed to the conference room where he hoped Sophia would still be. He poked his head in the door to see Sophia shaking hands with another speaker who’d just finished her speech and walked off the platform. There was a vacant seat on the wall by the door and without taking his eyes off Sophia, he walked over to it and sat. He looked down at his hands that were clenched together between his legs that were spread apart. When he looked up, he made eye contact with Sophia. She hadn’t seen him dressed in any other attire other than the normal casual beachwear, but today he looked unbelievably handsome and professional in the dark business suit that he was wearing. The years that they hadn’t seen each other hadn’t hurt his good looks at all. In fact, he was even more handsome than Sophia remembered, but she could see that he was very angry.
The impulse to run to him, to feel his strong arms come round her again was so strong, so powerful that she involuntarily took a step in his direction and was stopped by another young girl who approached her and not only shook her hand but embraced her as well. Mitch couldn’t deny that the look Sophia gave him made him wonder whether she’d been expecting him. Yet, how could she know he’d be th
ere? Had she seen him when he was there earlier? She couldn’t know him that well. Or could she? Mitch thought.
He waited until the event was over and while Sophia talked with women who went up to shake her hand. After saying goodbye to others, she then put some documents into her attaché case. As people left the conference, Sophia approached Mitch assessing him all the while. He was a little older. He looked a little tired but he was still well built and still very attractive, distinguished and a little visible gray in his hair added to his sophistication. He noticed the pink ribbon on her jacket as he got up from his seat.
“Hello, Mitch. How are you?” she asked.
“I’m good, Sophia. How are you? You look great.”
“I am great, Mitch, and you look great as well.”
“I see that you were the guest speaker.”
“Yes. They invited me and I was more than happy to come.”
“Where are you now? Do you still live in New York?”
“Yes I do.”
“You are a long way from home,” Mitch said and felt silly as soon as the words left his lips. After all, they had met right there in Myrtle Beach.
“You could say that.”
“You do these speeches often?”
“Just the past two years. I do three or four a year.”
“I was here earlier today when you were giving your speech. I caught the end of it. You were imparting some really positive messages to those women. That was wonderful to see.”
Sophia looked into Mitch’s eyes. She smiled at him and his heart almost stopped beating. “Thank you.” After a moment, she said, “I always knew I’d see you again. I was absolutely certain about that. Before today, I just wasn’t sure what I’d say to you. But now I do. There really is only one thing that I want to know.” Then she said it. “How is our son?”
Mitch was completely taken aback. “Our son?” he exploded, angrily. Then his reply became a statement. “Our son. Can you really call him our son? You dropped the baby off, gave your little two second speech and you were gone. You never even called back to check on the baby, to see whether he was alright. Who does that? Hell, it’s not like you didn’t know how to reach me.”
The Sin, The Sun, & The Shame Page 12
