“Hi, I’m Lei,” she said, looking past Kaitlyn, into the apartment.
Kaitlyn eyed her. “Hi, Lei. I’m Kaitlyn.”
“I know,” she said simply, breaking into a smile. The dimples she had inherited from her father deepened in her cheeks.
“Can I help you with something?”
“I thought since you was busy moving all day that you didn’t have a chance to eat yet,” Lei said, extending her arms to hand the bowl to Kaitlyn. “So I’m sharing the jambalaya my daddy made for dinner tonight. It’s real good.”
Kaitlyn eyed the bowl before she took it. “Can your daddy cook?” she asked.
Lei shrugged. “A few things. Jambalaya is one of them. Can I come in?”
That caught Kaitlyn off guard. “Uhm . . . yes . . . I guess so,” she said, stepping back to let her in. “Does your father know you’re up here?”
Lei walked into the apartment and looked around as she shook her head. “No, he went running, but he wouldn’t mind, and I left a note,” she said as she stood before the huge black-and-white photo of Kaitlyn hanging on the wall over a buffet table and centerpiece.
Kaitlyn closed the door and took the foil from the bowl. It looked good. Damn good. Plenty of shrimp and sausage, just the way she liked it. Her stomach grumbled.
“Why’d you cut all your hair off?” Lei asked, turning away from the photo.
“I wanted to try something different.”
“Was your moms mad at you?”
Kaitlyn headed toward the kitchen, and Lei followed close behind. “No, she wasn’t mad. It’s just hair,” she said, scooping the rice onto a plate and grabbing a fork.
Lei sat on one of the high stools with a back that surrounded the tall wooden dining-room table in a deep mahogany stain. “My moms woulda freaked out.”
Kaitlyn grabbed two bottles of fruit juice from the fridge, setting one in front of Lei, before she sat across from her at the table. She eyed the girl as she slid a shrimp into her mouth. “Uhm, so you live with your dad?” she asked, thinking of him and then pushing all thoughts of him away.
Lei nodded as she sipped the juice. “My mom moved to Hawaii with her new friend and I moved in with my dad two years ago.”
“At least you get to visit Hawaii,” Kaitlyn said, all enthusiastic.
Lei made a face. “I ain’t never seen Hawaii,” she drawled dryly. “But it’s cool. I got my dad, and my mom sends me all kinds of gifts. So I’m good.”
Kaitlyn bit her bottom lip to keep from asking her why she hadn’t seen her mother in two years. Instinctively, she knew the girl would much rather have her mother than the gifts, but she was putting on a brave front. That made her heart ache.
“Want to see my closet?” Kaitlyn asked, wanting to change the subject.
She figured all little girls were like her niece, Kadina, who loved Kaitlyn’s clothes.
“Your closet?” Lei asked, looking skeptical.
Kaitlyn left her food behind and grabbed Lei’s hand to guide her to her guest room. She opened the door and stepped back.
“Wow!” Lei sighed.
Kaitlyn used the bookcases she had in her old living space to place on either side of the window and then line them with her shoes. She used a dark bamboo blind on the window and then placed her oversized framed mirror in front of it. On opposing walls were the clothing racks. In the center of the room, her favorite Persian area rug warmed the room beneath the oversized round ottoman. On the wall opposite the shoes was a dresser holding her pricey lingerie; it was topped with her perfume bottles and jewelry cases. It was a miniature department store.
Kaitlyn actually loved the room, and she could see from Lei’s eyes that she loved it too.
“Here, try on these,” she said, crossing the room to grab a pair of gold-glittered flats.
Lei sat on the ottoman to kick off her Jordans and yank off her colorful sock so she could slide her now-bare foot into the shoe.
“They’re so cute . . . and they fit,” Lei said, rushing to yank off the other sneaker and sock to slide her foot into the other shoe, which Kaitlyn handed her.
“They are way cuter on your feet than they are on mine,” Kaitlyn assured her, enjoying the girl’s excitement. “You can have them.”
“Oh, my God . . . thank you!” Lei hugged Kaitlyn and then eased past her to look at the reflection of her feet in the mirror.
In that moment Kaitlyn was surprised to find that playing the role of the Fairy Godmother instead of always being Cinderella at the ball wasn’t bad at all.
CHAPTER 5
Quint was jogging back from the Summerville and Charleston split, with Jay-Z music coming through his earphones on low. He kept his eyes focused on the traffic as he made sure to stay on the side of the road. He knew running at night was risky, but all his running clothes had some accent on it that was reflective, and he was always careful to stay aware at all times.
As he neared the Holtsville town limit, he picked up the pace and finished the last few miles at a full-on sprint, which left him breathing deeply for air. He headed to the store and walked in to purchase a bottle of water. He grabbed Lei’s favorite candy and headed for the register.
As she scanned his purchases, the cashier smiled and stared up at him.
“How you doin’?” Quint asked, trying to break the awkward silence . . . or at least break her staring.
“Good . . . and you?” she asked, stroking his hand as she took the money he offered for his purchase.
“I’m straight,” Quint said. “Thanks.”
He grabbed his stuff and headed out of the store. “Keep the change,” he called over his shoulder.
Young girls were so forward, and that never turned him on—especially to fill the role of his woman, and not just a late-night, drive-by jump-off. Some dudes would take a woman like her, who came off all thirsty for love and attention, and just straight run through her.
That was his MO before he got married, but he was older now. The cashier made him feel like if she got to touch his hand again, she would suck his finger or some mess.
Quint walked the short distance down the street to the complex and guzzled nearly half the bottle of water, enjoying the coldness of it going into his mouth and down his throat. He waved to Mrs. Hanson driving by in her Dodge Durango truck, heading to work at a gas station in Walterboro. Before he could get across the parking lot, Quint spotted her husband coming around from the rear of the building and easing down to knock on Mrs. Kilton’s door. Moments later it opened and all Quint spotted was a flash of brown skin before he slid inside the apartment.
Must be damn good, because he was working his neighbor’s wife just as hard as his wife worked her night shift. As good as it must be, the question was “Was it worth it?” Quint just hoped he wasn’t around if either husband or wife just backtracked or came home early on them.
Quint neared his door and spotted the folded notebook paper wedged between the door and the jamb. He opened it. A note from Lei. She was upstairs at Kaitlyn’s.
That news made him frown as he turned and climbed up the stairs. Plenty of questions ran through his head as he stood before the door.
Knock, knock.
For some reason he could only envision Kaitlyn having his daughter running and fetching things for her from around the apartment as she sat on her high horse and gave out tips like the queen of England.
The door opened.
Kaitlyn eyed him from head to toe. He was aware that he stood at her door in his running clothes. His earphones were still wrapped around his neck, and the front of his shirt was soaked with sweat and clinging to him.
“Lei here?” Quint asked, trying to ignore the fact Kaitlyn wore a unitard that might as well be second skin, since it was clinging to her so hard.
Kaitlyn glared at him. “Well, hello to you too,” she said dryly; then she turned to call Lei’s name.
His betraying eyes dipped, but he forced himself to look past her into her apartment. He had to
admit she had really transformed the place with her furnishings.
“Daddy, look what Kaitlyn gave me,” Lei said, pointing her toe out to him like a ballerina as she held her Jordans in her hands.
“Miss Kaitlyn,” he asserted, staring down at his little girl, who was wearing shoes that glittered more than a 1980s disco ball. Would it start at the shoes and travel up her body until his baby girl was a baby version of Kaitlyn . . . or worse yet—her mother.
“Sorry,” she said. “Miss Kaitlyn.”
“Uhm . . . thank you, Kaitlyn, but she can’t take those,” Quint said firmly.
“Why not?” Kaitlyn asked.
“Yeah . . . why not?” Lei parroted.
“Because . . . I said so,” he said even more firmly, knowing he sounded so cliché. “Now give them back and go downstairs.”
Lei eyed him with her usual sad face, but Quinton didn’t cave. So she kicked off the shoes and put her Jordans back on. Then she picked up the glittery flats to hand to Kaitlyn with obvious regret.
“Thanks, anyway, Miss Kaitlyn,” she said softly. Then she brushed past her father and ran down the stairs.
He turned to follow.
“You really are an asshole, Quinton,” she said from behind him.
He turned to face her again. “My daughter doesn’t need anything from you . . . including your influence. We’ve already had one woman like you in our lives, and that was enough.”
Kaitlyn’s mouth opened in surprise. She stepped back and began to close the door, right before telling him, “Fuck you.”
Kaitlyn paced every square inch of her apartment as Quinton’s words played over and over in her head. It had been almost two hours since he hurled an insult and she hurled back an expletive—a word choice that she meant with the utmost seriousness.
She was highly offended.
“Humph, I would never leave my child behind! So oops, you wrong, Quinton,” she said sarcastically, slashing her hand through the air like he was there in front of her. “Even a dog raises its puppies.”
She moved to sit on the sofa and crossed her legs. “Humph. I’m sorry your ex-wife was in such a rush to get away from your mean ass that she ain’t take time to pack up her child. Not my fault. Hello, and hello again. Boom!”
Kaitlyn jumped up off the couch and headed for the kitchen. The bowl of jambalaya still sat on the table. She snatched it up and opened the back door to throw it in the covered garbage can outside the door. “I’ma put your jambalaya where I put your opinion of me. In the trash. Boom!”
She opened the lid, but she changed her mind. I’m hungry.
Kaitlyn looked down at the light on in the shed, at the rear of the property. She squinted her eyes in curiosity as Quint came out of the shed and locked the door. Her stomach burned at the very sight of him, and she knew she had to get some things off her chest. She flew down the back stairwell in her bare feet—usually a big no-no for her.
Kaitlyn boldly stepped in his path. “You owe me an apology,” she told him.
Quint looked up in surprise and then looked down at the bowl in her hands. “Is that my bowl?”
“So now you gonna accuse me of breaking into your house and stealing a bowl of jambalaya,” she snapped, her animosity and dislike of him brimming inside her. “See, unlike you, your daughter has manners—thank God—and offered me dinner, while you have given me nothing but rudeness, attitude, and—now tonight—insults.”
Quint opened his mouth.
“No!” Kaitlyn snapped, holding up her hand.
“Even though I don’t have children, don’t ever question the type of mother I would be.”
“I—”
“I’m sorry your ex-wife was in such a rush to get away from your mean ass that she ain’t take time to pack up her child. Not my fault,” she said, pulling from her earlier thoughts about him. “Even a dog raises its puppies!”
Quinton’s eyes hardened. “Don’t talk about something you know nothing about,” he said in a cold voice, which probably would have chilled Kaitlyn if she wasn’t so heated in anger.
“No, don’t you talk about something you don’t know,” she shot right back. “I only offered her the shoes because she had just gotten done telling me how she hadn’t seen her mother since she moved to Hawaii.”
Quint’s face softened a bit.
“I was trying to take her mind off it, so I showed her my closet,” Kaitlyn told him, flailing her hand and causing some of the rice to fly over the side of the bowl. “She liked the shoes. I never wear them, so I gave them to her. Big deal.”
Quint wiped his face with his hand.
“So that shit you said to me earlier was completely uncalled for, and I didn’t appreciate it,” Kaitlyn told him forcefully, her anger making her eyes glisten. She turned from him, tired.
Quinton wrapped his hand around her wrist. “Kaitlyn—”
She whirled back around with her chest still heaving from her tirade and her emotions.
His eyes dropped down to take that in before his gaze shifted up to meet her eyes again.
Kaitlyn’s heart raced at that, and then she noticed the heat of his hand against her flesh as he held her wrist. “The apology you owe me certainly ain’t in there,” she said, arching her brow.
Quint bit his bottom lip and looked away from her briefly. Then he turned his head back to look at her.
“Daddy . . . telephone,” Lei called from the front of the building.
Kaitlyn’s heart was pounding like crazy and she felt slightly breathless as his thumb pressed against her pulse point.
“Can she have the shoes? I’ll take that as an apology,” she said to him softly. She was a lot shorter without her heels.
“I apologize, Kaitlyn,” he said, looking down into her face as he finally released her.
She felt the loss of his warm touch, but she still licked her lips because they suddenly felt parched from the heat she felt rising in her.
I must be horny.
Kaitlyn turned and headed back up the stairs. At the landing she looked down to find he was standing there under the circle of light caused by the light pole. He was still watching her.
“Can Lei have the shoes?” she asked, nudging her chin forward in a small act of defiance.
He just shook his head with a little laugh and walked away.
In Kaitlyn’s world not saying “no” was just as good as saying “yes.” She entered the apartment, dropped off the bowl in the kitchen, and then grabbed the shoes from where she had placed them back on the shelf. She slid them into one of her shoe bags. Just to be a pain in his ass, she added the black sequined version of the pair that she had as well.
She slipped on her shoes and headed out of the apartment to take the stairs. She paused, seeing Quinton sitting at the bottom of the steps, talking on a cordless phone.
“Your daughter needs to see you, and you promised to come for her birthday next month, Vita,” he said.
Kaitlyn paused, grimaced, and then turned to creep back up the stairs.
“I’ll pay for her plane ticket to come see you this summer, then,” he said.
Kaitlyn rushed into her apartment. He probably would swear she was ear hustling on purpose. She set the bag on the table under her photo.
I’ll give them to her tomorrow.
Kaitlyn walked into the kitchen and warmed up her jambalaya. She was leaning against the kitchen counter, tearing it up. She thought she would try her best tonight to enjoy a hot aromatherapy bath in her little tub before dropping into bed, naked, and letting sleep win that round.
She ate every last bite and set the bowl in the sink.
Knock, knock.
“Now what?” she wondered out loud as she paused to look at her front door.
Even with a family as large as hers, she never had this much company in one night. She paused on the way to the door when the thought crossed her mind that it could be her parents coming to tell her that the nightmare was over.
Kaitlyn s
natched the door open. She couldn’t help the disappointment she felt at Lei standing there. She set aside her disenchantment and smiled at the girl, hating that her father had to beg her mother to make a way to see her.
“Does your father know you’re here?” she asked, just as she did earlier.
“Yes, ma’am. He said I could have the shoes if I wanted them, and to make sure I thanked you and called you Miss Kaitlyn,” Lei said.
Kaitlyn turned to grab the shoe bag. “I had a black pair that I wanted to give you too, if that’s okay.”
“Oh, thank you, Miss Kaitlyn,” she said.
She couldn’t believe Lei was younger than Kadina, who was straight up and down, with barely a hint of boobs and no sign of hips.
“You’re welcome.”
Lei turned to leave with a wave.
Kaitlyn stepped out onto the balcony and leaned against the railing as she looked out at her new home. It was quiet enough. She mainly just missed her view of the lake.
She spotted Quinton coming out of his office with his cordless phone in his hand. Kaitlyn figured that when Lei came outdoors, he went in there to finish the conversation with her mother in privacy. She watched as Lei met him halfway and showed him the bag with two pairs of sparkly, girlie, supercute shoes.
Quint happened to look up and spotted her on the balcony. He waved, but his smile was faker than a hundred-dollar Louis Vuitton bag.
Kaitlyn’s smile in return was full and toothy and completely genuine. She wiggled her fingers at him until he and his daughter disappeared from her sight.
Yet another man who has learned that Kaitlyn Strong always gets her way.
CHAPTER 6
Lisha Strong looked over the rim of her glasses as her husband stood on the balcony of their bedroom and looked out into the darkness. She bit her bottom lip as she closed the book she was reading and climbed from the bed to join him. She pressed her side to his, and he immediately brought his arm up to surround her shoulders. Since long before she could remember, this man was her lover, her friend, and her backbone.
His highs were hers.
His lows were hers.
And ever since they put their daughter on financial restrictions, there had been more lows than highs.
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