Date Cute Marry Rich

by Alexis Nicole

  “What are you doing here?” I asked her. “What are you doing in New York?” But then I held up my hands. “Wait,” I said to her. To everyone else, I said, “You heffas have taken enough pictures. Put your daggone cameras away!”

  The women were squealing all around us, making calls to friends. Lawd, you just couldn’t buy enough class for Black folks.

  I grabbed Simone’s hand and dragged her to my station.

  “Uh, Ms. Thang, you’re gonna have to get up.”

  “Why?” Jennifer, my current customer, asked me. “You in the middle of doing my hair!” But though she had an attitude with me, she was grinning away at Simone. “I am such a fan of yours,” she gushed. “I’m probably your biggest fan. I have all of your CDs. Will you take a picture with me?”

  “Yes,” Simone said.

  “No,” I said, pulling Jennifer out of the chair. “If she takes a picture with you, then she’ll have to take a picture with everyone, and I ain’t having that.”

  “Hater!” Jennifer growled. “And what am I supposed to do about my hair?” she said, swiveling her neck at me.

  “Katrina will take care of you,” I said, pointing to the only stylist who didn’t have a customer at the moment. “She’ll whip you up something fierce. Don’t worry. She can handle you. That’s why we call her Katrina, like the storm!”

  Katrina sucked her teeth as she led my customer to her station. “Y’all call me Katrina ’cause that’s my name.”

  “All of y’all need to go back to work,” I said to the rest of them as Simone sat in my chair. I wished there was someplace else where we could talk, but all we had in the back was a storage area and a bathroom, neither of which was fit for my girl, Simone, the superstar.

  “So, what’re you doing in New York?” I asked her again.

  She filled me in on how she was taking Ciara’s spot at Madison Square Garden tonight. “That’s why I’m here. I want you to come to the Garden early to do my hair.”

  “Are you kidding me?”

  “No, I’m not kidding,” she said as she slapped my arm. “You know that I would have you on the road with me if I could afford you.”

  “And you know if you could afford me, I’d be right there.”

  We laughed together.

  I said, “It would be an honor to hook you up tonight, Ms. Simone. So, how long are you here?”

  “I got here last night, and we’re leaving first thing in the morning. Jaylen and I hung out with Skye and Trent last night.”

  “And y’all didn’t call me?”

  “I’m sorry, boo. I just wanted to spend some time with Skye since I hadn’t seen her in over a year. And I wanted to meet her man.” Simone leaned back in the chair. “So, tell me about Trent. What do you think?”

  “He seems really cool,” I said. “We haven’t spent that much time together. But I like him. And, I can tell that he loves your sister.”

  “That’s what I’m sayin’. You should see the way he looks at her. He is so far gone, which is why I can’t figure out why they’re not married already.”

  I shrugged, though I had an opinion about this. I was sure that Ms. Skye was still hung up on Mr. Locks and Lips. Yup, that was what I was thinking. I wanted to shake her out of it, tell her that she was living the epitome of my motto.... She had dated cute—Noah. Now it was time to marry rich—Trent. But I wasn’t gonna say a word to Simone. I valued my life, and Skye would kill me if I told her sister about the man that was surely still in her heart.

  “So, what’s up with you?” Simone asked. “What’s going on in your love life?”

  It must’ve been the way my lips spread into an instant grin that made Simone gasp.

  “Oh my God!” She put her hand over her mouth. “I was just kidding. Don’t tell me that you’re dating, too?”

  “Ssshhh!” I said, looking around the shop. I whispered to her, “I don’t want these people in here all up in my business.”

  “Okay,” she said, standing up. “We’ll talk later.”

  “What? You’re leaving already?”

  She nodded. “I have to. We have to do sound checks at the Garden. But here . . .” She pulled a ticket from her purse. “This will give you full access to get to me tonight. I wanna have my hair done around five, ’cause I’ve gotta look fresh. Will that work for you?”

  “I’ll be there at four!” I said. “Shoot! I’ll go with you now.”

  She laughed. “No, five will be fine.” She hugged me. “I can’t wait for us to hang out a little bit tonight. Skye has Chyanne’s ticket.” She leaned in closer and whispered, “Do you need an extra one for your man?”

  “Nah! Antonio won’t be able to go,” I said, knowing that I could never get him to do anything with me at the last minute.

  “Okay,” she said as she hugged me again.

  The women all squealed, “Bye, Simone,” as she trotted out of the shop and into the waiting limousine.

  Dang! My girl was all the way famous now. For real!

  And that made me feel good! I just wished that I could celebrate tonight at the Garden with Antonio. But he hated it when I sprang anything on him at the last minute, so I would just tell him about it tomorrow.

  Anyway, I had enough to do. I began packing my bag with all my tools and supplies so that I could hook my little sister up tonight. When I finished with Simone Davenport, aka Simone, she was gonna look something fierce!

  Chapter 35

  Chyanne

  “Oh, my goodness,” I said. “Yes, definitely. I’ll be there,” I told Skye before I hung up the phone.

  So Simone was in town. How cool was this? Our little Simone, now the superstar.

  I shook my head, so happy that I was going to see her tonight. And in concert, too. But then the love of my life interrupted my thoughts, and I rushed into my bedroom.

  Justice, my eight-month-old daughter, was awake, and she wanted me to know it.

  “Sssshhh,” I whispered as I cuddled her into my arms. “What’s wrong with Mommy’s princess?”

  Can I tell you how much I loved this little girl? And, the best thing of all was that everyone loved her, too. Not that my mother had been thrilled when I told her the news about my pregnancy.

  “What are you gonna do up in New York all by yourself?” she had asked me. “You need to come back to Atlanta.”

  “I’m not by myself. I have Skye and Devin. They’re gonna help me. Plus, I’m going to go back to work. I want to be a lawyer right here in the city.”

  The hardest part for me had been breaking this news to the Davenports. But surprisingly, they’d done nothing but tell me that they loved me, and then they sent me a check every month.

  Just a little something, the check always said. And, no matter if it was a fifty-dollar check or a one-hundred-dollar check, it always made me cry.

  But like I’d told my mom I would, I’d been handling it. Yes, I was in a one-bedroom walk-up in Brooklyn, but it was still Park Slope. And I was saving almost a thousand dollars a month in rent.

  Before I left the firm, I made a few calls to other companies who had been interested in me at the start of my career. With my growing reputation at Bailey, Booker, and Smith, it was pretty easy to find a position at Parker Graham as a freelance attorney. The money wasn’t as good and court wasn’t as often as I was used to, but it allowed me to be an attorney and a full-time mom. Really, I thought that my child support would’ve been settled by now, but I’d just gotten the summons for family court last week. I was pretty sure that if I’d contacted Malcolm, he would’ve given me something to help with his daughter. He wasn’t a monster.... He was just a cheater. But I wanted everything to go through the court so there would never be any misunderstandings.

  Malcolm hadn’t tried yet to see his daughter, which wasn’t really his fault. He didn’t know where I was. But once we had things settled, I wasn’t going to keep Justice from him. If he wanted a relationship with her, I was going to make sure that happened. I wasn’t going t
o be one of those bitter women, standing in the way of my daughter having a relationship with her father. Especially since I’d lost my father when I was so young.

  As I rocked Justice back and forth, I began to wonder what I could do about tonight. I really wanted to go to Madison Square Garden to see Simone, but life wasn’t as easy as it used to be. Not that I cared—all I had to do was look down at the face of this little girl and I was done. I never knew this kind of love was inside of me. My love for Justice came from deep inside of me. So even if I had to miss Simone tonight, even if I had to miss a million concerts, even if I had to miss days hanging out with my friends, I would give it all up for Justice.

  The knock on my door interrupted all my thoughts.

  “Hey, Mari,” I said to my seventeen-year-old neighbor. “What’s up?”

  “My mom told me to give you this,” she said, handing me an envelope. “It got mixed up with our mail.”

  I balanced Justice in one arm and took the envelope from her with the other hand. “Thanks,” I said.

  “Can I play with Justice for a minute?” she asked.

  “Sure, come on in. I wanna ask you something, anyway.”

  With the door closed behind her, I asked if she was doing anything tonight.

  “Nah!” She was standing right in front of me, cooing at Justice. “I was supposed to go out with my boyfriend, but I found out that he’s been kicking it with one of my girls, so I’m just pissed and . . .”

  I held up my hand. I had to stop Mari right there, or else she was going to go into one of those long teenage soliloquies. “So, then . . . can you babysit tonight?”

  She grinned. “Oh, yeah,” she said, taking Justice from my arms.

  My baby cooed when she looked into Mari’s face, and that pleased me. I often asked Mari to babysit for me when Mrs. Wallace—the woman who watched Justice during the day—was unavailable at night.

  “That’s great. Now, it maybe a late night.”

  “That’s okay,” Mari said. “I’ll just sleep on the couch, if that’s all right with you.”

  I told her what time to be back here, then took Justice from her arms and closed the door behind her. Now that that was settled, I had to find something fabulous to wear, which wasn’t going to be easy since I was still ten pounds over my pre-pregnancy weight. But I had a lot of faith in that new Pilates video I’d bought.

  Inside my bedroom I tucked Justice inside of a fort that I made with six pillows so that she could sit up and watch me. She gurgled and smiled and made my heart melt.

  Oh, yeah. I was in love.

  I turned toward my closet, but then I remembered the envelope, which I’d dumped onto the dresser. Grabbing it, I looked at the return address. It was from Kayla.

  I sighed. I hadn’t heard from Malcolm’s wife since I’d testified at that hearing, and I had been glad about it. I didn’t want anything to do with Kayla or Malcolm, and my life had been good that way.

  But somehow, this woman had found me.

  I ripped open the envelope, pulled out the letter, and groaned. What now? I wondered as I read through Kayla’s words. She thanked me for all my help, told me that she’d won and that she had some news she wanted to share with me.

  I wasn’t interested in a thing with Kayla, but she promised that after next Tuesday I would never hear from her again. She wanted to meet me at the café where we’d met before.

  One last time, was the last line in the letter.

  Already I was thinking about not going, but the thing was, I had a feeling that Kayla wouldn’t leave me alone until she had the last word.

  Okay, I would meet her. But after next Tuesday I wanted Malcolm’s wife to be out of my life.

  Chapter 36

  Skye

  In my head I could still hear my sister singing. And, I could still hear the crowd roaring. From our first row seats we’d seen everything up close and personal, and my sister had done her thing on that stage, a force to be reckoned with.

  I couldn’t have been more proud of Simone.

  But now it was time to get up. Even if it was Saturday, I didn’t want to sleep the day away. I let my eyes kinda just flutter open, then reached across the bed. But the space where Trent was supposed to be was empty.

  I sat up and let my eyes wander around my bedroom. His slacks and shirt were still tossed across the chair, right where he’d left them last night. So, I plopped back down.

  As soon as my head hit the pillow, Trent came strolling in, carrying two cups of coffee. I was surprised he was already dressed.

  “Good morning,” he said and kissed my lips.

  But I kept my mouth closed—morning breath!

  He sat on the edge of the bed as we sipped, but Trent was quiet. Usually by now he’d ask me what I wanted to do for the day, or he’d tell me if he already made plans. Or he’d apologize if he had to go out and work. But this morning he just stared straight ahead, gazing out the window, as if there was something deep on his mind.

  “Did you enjoy the show last night?” I asked as I rested my cup on the nightstand.

  “What?” he asked, as if I’d interrupted his thoughts. “The show? Oh, yeah. Your sister was great.” He looked at me. “Greatness just runs in your family, I guess.”

  I chuckled. “I’m not doing anything great. Not like Simone.”

  “No, you’re living your own dream. And now you’re part of mine.” He kissed my forehead. “Okay, get dressed.”

  I frowned. Obviously, he had something planned for the day, but usually he told me what we’d be doing. But that was it? Just get dressed?

  “Where are we going?”

  He smiled. “It’s a surprise.”

  I studied him for a little while, trying to figure out what he was up to. I never did like surprises, but that was before I met Trent. This man was all about surprising me, all the time. No matter how many times I told him that I would rather be involved in whatever he was planning, he just kept shutting me out and surprising me.

  So, I had given up a long time ago. I’d learned to go with Trent’s flow.

  “What am I supposed to wear?”

  He wrapped his arms around me. “Well, I prefer you naked, but that won’t work for today.”

  Now, that got me. I laughed. “Okay, I’ll choose something besides being naked.”

  It never took me long to get ready. My closet was so organized, it was easy for me to see what I had and what I could pair together. Plus, I cut my hair a lot shorter, so it never took me long to style it, which drove Devin crazy!

  In just under an hour I stood in the living room, wearing a sweetheart sundress that I knew for sure showed off all my curves. And, I had hit all the right notes with this outfit, because the moment I sauntered into the living room and Trent saw me, he jumped up from the couch and grinned.

  “Damn!”

  I laughed as I grabbed my purse and a shawl. “I aim to please.”

  “If that was your aim, you hit your target,” he said, putting his hand over his heart.

  Right then I decided. I was just going to have to find a way, find a way to love this man, who loved me without even thinking about it. I was just going to love him, and maybe one day it would come as easy for me as it did for him.

  Outside, after we got his car out of the garage, I asked him again where we were going.

  “What part of ‘It’s a surprise’ didn’t you understand?”

  So, I did what I always did—I just sat back in Trent’s car and enjoyed the ride. As he drove, all kinds of thoughts swirled through my head. I thought about Simone and Jaylen and how both of them were living their dreams. I thought about Chyanne and how she had turned her challenges into a joy. I thought about Devin and his love for Antonio, whom we still hadn’t met, and how he’d found his tempo in New York, too.

  And then I thought about my life. I was happy, no doubt about it. My career was coming together, I loved the city . . . and then there was this man sitting next to me, this wonderful man wh
o deserved to have my heart. I was going to find a way to give it to him.

  When we pulled up in front of Vibe, I remembered the time we’d come to this restaurant together, and I was thrilled to be back. It felt like we were coming full circle, being here today.

  The hostess smiled at us as we came in.

  Trent told her, “You have reservations for Trent Hamilton.”

  “Oh, yes.” Her smile seemed to widen as she looked at me. “Right this way.”

  I followed the hostess and was surprised as we kept walking farther back, past a bunch of empty tables. I frowned. Trent had probably gotten another private room. But why? We were just having brunch.

  At the very back of the restaurant, the hostess swung open the double doors, and a rush of “Surprise!” screams came at me.

  I stood there, stunned for a moment, because surely I had to be dreaming. How could this be?

  Before me stood my parents and Trent’s parents and Simone and Jaylen—who were supposed to be gone—and Trent’s sister, Tracie, and Chyanne, with Justice in her arms, and Devin.

  “What . . .” I said to the crowd, and then I turned to Trent. “What is this? Why is everyone here?”

  It wasn’t my birthday; it wasn’t Trent’s birthday; it wasn’t any kind of holiday. I couldn’t imagine what this celebration was about.

  Until Trent took my hand and said, “Sweetheart, I asked all of our family here today because I’m praying that this is going to be a day that you’ll never forget. And, I want all the people who are important to us to be here with us.”

  Okay, but I still didn’t get what was going on.

  He said, “Skye, I have loved you for a long time. I never believed in love at first sight, until I met you. And over the year that we’ve dated, my love has just grown stronger. When we’re together, I feel complete. When we’re apart, I can’t wait to get back together with you. Not a moment goes by when I don’t think of you. Even when I’m asleep, I dream about you.”

  “Awww!”

  I wasn’t sure who said that, but if I had to guess, it was Devin!