“Bridget, please.”
“Bridget, please. Is that all you have to say, girl?” She took a long drink of juice. “You know you are feeling that man. Just let go, Sasha. Let yourself be free. Take your attorney hat off and put your freak hat on!” Bridget giggled at her own comment.
“I had my freak hat on last night and then you showed up at the door.” Sasha laughed.
“I knew it!” Bridget exclaimed. “I knew y’all were doing something freaky up in here.”
They both laughed.
“I’m happy for you, sis. Vince is a good man and I think he makes you very happy. He tends to bring out the best in you. You’re different these days. And it’s a good thing.”
“What’s up with you today? You going to the boutique?” Sasha asked.
“Not today. Derrick’s coming home,” she said. “He’s ready to talk.”
“Really?” Sasha grabbed her sister’s hand and gave it a squeeze. “That’s good, Bridge. You happy about it?”
“Ecstatic!” She closed her eyes and lifted her head upward. “I’ve missed him so much. And I heard you the other day...about considering his feelings and stuff. I’ve been a horrible woman to him. I don’t know how he’s put up with me for so long.”
“My sentiments exactly,” Sasha mused.
“Anyway,” Bridget said, ignoring the comment, “I’m ready to do this the right way.”
“I’m happy for you, love. Go get your man!”
Before leaving the kitchen, Bridget hugged her sister’s neck.
* * *
Sasha decided to take her time getting into the office. She made herself another cup of coffee and sat at her kitchen table, looking out the kitchen window and enjoying the view. The trees in her backyard displayed a kaleidoscope of autumn colors. While she was fighting tooth and nail for an office with a view, she realized that the perfect view was right here in her backyard.
Sasha had asked Keira to schedule a meeting with Kyle, and to have the ProTek file available for her. When she walked in, Keira handed her the file and her usual Frappuccino.
“Thanks for the Frap, but you don’t have to get me Starbucks anymore,” Sasha told her. “I’m going to have coffee at home from now on.”
“Really? Good for you, Sasha Winters,” Keira said. “The little short man is waiting for you.”
Sasha stepped into Kyle’s office. He was leaned back in his chair with his feet atop his desk. He was speaking with someone on the phone, but motioned for Sasha to take a seat. She sat with her legs crossed and waited for him to complete his phone call.
Once he was done, he looked at his watch. “You just getting here?”
“Yes.”
“You’re usually here earlier.” He looked confused. “So what’s up? You have questions about ProTek?”
“I have to remove myself from the case. There’s a conflict of interest with me and one of the litigants.”
“How so?”
“I know the plaintiff, and I feel that my relationship with him might conflict with the best interests of the firm’s representation of ProTek. I don’t feel that I can be objective in this case.”
“I see. So you think that the case should be reassigned to another attorney?”
“I believe that would be best.”
“You don’t know what you want, do you, Sasha? One minute you’re begging me for this case, the next minute you’re crying about a conflict of interest. Sometimes in this field we call law, we have to do things that are a bit unethical.”
Sasha stood. “No, we don’t. I’m an ethical attorney, and I won’t do anything that makes me uncomfortable. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have tons of work to do.”
Sasha sashayed out of his office. She shut the door behind her. She felt good. Empowered.
Chapter 20
Vince paced the floor at the gym—back and forth. He was nervous. His youth basketball team was down by two points with just minutes left on the clock. He needed someone who could score, and he knew exactly who that was. Taja was his best scorer, but after the third quarter, she’d been out of breath and he wanted her to rest.
“Put me back in, Coach,” she begged.
He looked over at her but continued to pace the floor, his arms folded across his chest with his finger beneath his chin.
He glanced into the stands and searched for Sasha’s pretty face. She’d promised to drop by after work to check out his team. He managed to find her in the midst of the crowd. When their eyes met, she blew him a kiss and he smiled. He moved closer to the kids on the bench. Taja grabbed his hand.
“Coach,” she whined, “put me in! We’re down by two points. I can hit them and get fouled. They’ll send me to the free throw line, and you know the rest.”
She had it all worked out in her little mind. It was the same play that he’d concocted in his own thoughts just a few minutes earlier. It was as if the child had been here before.
“We can’t afford to lose this game.” She gave him a look with those beautiful eyes.
He glanced over at her grandfather, who was seated just behind the bench. Otis gave him a nod that said it was okay to put her in. He knew how persistent and persuasive his granddaughter could be. She was a professional negotiator, and an even better ballplayer.
Vince told her to go check in at the scorer’s table. Her replacement, Josh, looked disheartened as he took his place on the bench, folding his arms across his chest in a huff.
Taja’s ponytails bounced up and down as she rushed down court with the ball. When she went up for a layup, she was fouled by a boy from the other team just before the ball swished into the basket. Vince gave Otis a huge grin.
Taja stood at the free throw line and positioned herself just as Vince had taught her in practice. With a square stance and her feet shoulder-length apart, she dribbled the ball. With a quick toss, the ball went into the basket. The crowd went crazy. Vince glanced into the stands again and looked at Sasha. She was standing now and cheering. She gave him a thumbs-up, and his heart soared. He was so happy that she was there supporting something that he loved so much.
Everything had fallen right into place and Vince’s team was up by one point. His players rushed down court as the opposing team tried to make a basket before the buzzer sounded. But it was too late. The game was over, and his team had prevailed.
Taja rushed toward her grandfather, who was standing on the sidelines waiting with open arms to give her a celebratory hug. She stopped just two feet short and fell to the floor with a loud thump. With her eyes rolling into the back of her head, she began jerking. Vince and Otis rushed to her side, and people began to gather around her. She was having a seizure.
“Please step back,” Otis ordered the crowd. “Give her some room, please. Thank you.”
Vince’s heart raced as he watched Taja continue to jerk, but he knew that she’d be fine.
Someone in the crowded gymnasium asked, “Should we call the paramedics?”
“No,” said Otis. “She’ll come out of it.”
Sasha appeared at Vince’s side. She held him around the waist and watched as Taja jerked for several minutes. Soon, she stopped jerking and became extremely still and silence filled the gym. Every eye was on Taja as if it were a show. Her breathing changed and it appeared that she’d fallen asleep—a deep sleep. She snored even. Otis shook her out of it.
“Taja, wake up,” he ordered. “Taja!” He called her name a few more times, and she slowly opened her eyes, looking disoriented.
She glanced around the room, trying to make sense of where she was and what had happened.
“There’s an office in the back,” said Vince. “Let’s take her there.”
Otis lifted Taja into his arms and pushed through the crowd, calling out, “Excuse me...coming t
hrough.”
He followed Vince to an empty office in the gym. Sasha came along, as well. Otis placed Taja atop the desk and kissed her forehead.
“You okay, baby?” he asked.
“My head hurts,” said Taja.
“What happened?” Vince asked, trying to make sense of everything. “Was it because I put her back in the game?”
“It’s her meds. She’s missed a couple of doses,” he explained. “She rarely has seizures, because we keep them under control with her meds. But she ran out and I wasn’t able to fill her prescription. Damn it!” he yelled at the top of his lungs.
“Look, bro. You’ve got to let me help you. There’s no way around it. Taja’s life is in danger if she doesn’t get the proper medication on a consistent basis,” Vince said. He was becoming angry over the situation. “I know that you’re a man with pride, but everyone needs a little help from time to time. I’m filling her prescription myself, and that’s the end of it.”
“This is all your fault.” Otis pointed his long finger in Sasha’s face. “You and your crooked law firm. Did you think I wouldn’t find out? Did you think I wouldn’t know that you were the attorney assigned to my case? You and your fancy talk, pumping me for information, all the while representing the scumbags who fired me!”
“What?” Vince asked, trying to make sense of things. “What are you talking about, Otis? Sasha, what is he talking about?”
Otis answered first. “She’s the lead attorney on the case against me. She represents ProTek. She’s defending them.”
“Is this true?” Vince asked Sasha.
“Yes, my firm represents ProTek. And yes, I was assigned to the case—”
“Did you know this when we met with Otis in my dental office that day?”
“Not at first. Not until—”
“So you knew and you didn’t say anything?” Vince interrupted.
“Yes, but—”
“Yes, but what?” Vince asked.
“Yes, but I wanted to tell you. It was never the right time...”
Otis interrupted. “She pumped me for information that she could use against me in court. And that’s just wrong.”
“I need some air.” Vince held his hands up and walked toward the door. Sasha tried to grab his arm, but he jerked away.
How could the woman he claimed to love do something so low-down?
By the time he cleared his head and came back inside, Sasha was gone. Taja was up walking around but complained of a headache.
“Let’s go by the pharmacy and get that prescription filled,” Vince told Otis.
“I’m going to pay back every dime I owe you,” Otis said.
“You don’t owe me anything,” Vince said, and he meant every word.
* * *
After dropping Otis and Taja off, Vince slowly drove away. The day’s events had left him baffled—and possibly without Sasha in his life. He couldn’t be with someone who was unethical, or who treated people with blatant disrespect. There was a point in which doing the right thing trumped your career. And if she didn’t know that, then she wasn’t the type of woman he wanted to spend his life with.
Chapter 21
Sasha was stubborn. As much as she wanted to pick up the phone and call Vince, she couldn’t bring herself to do it. And he hadn’t bothered to call her either. If he wasn’t going to give her the benefit of the doubt, then he certainly wasn’t the type of man she wanted to spend her life with. He hadn’t given her a chance to explain that she’d removed herself from the case when she found out there was a conflict. She missed him but was glad that he’d shown his true colors early on. He was judgmental, in her opinion. And she was glad to rid her life of him once and for all.
Love wasn’t all that complicated, she thought. Once you closed your mind to all possibilities of it, you were well on your way to having an uncomplicated life. That’s what she had before Vince waltzed into it. He’d come in and shook things up, changed things around and then disappeared. She wouldn’t let anyone do that again.
She would have joined her family at their small church in Fayetteville for a Sunday morning service, but she wasn’t in the mood today. Instead she glanced at the television, where her favorite TV evangelist was asking for support of his megaministry.
It had been weeks since Sasha did Sunday dinner at her parents’ house. She’d always come up with some excuse: she had a deposition on Monday and needed to prepare, she had a new client or she had a rough week and needed to rest. Usually, she would pop a frozen dinner into the microwave and then curl up on the sofa with a law book or someone’s file in hand. That was Sunday dinner.
But today, she’d dressed in a pair of skinny jeans, a nice cardigan and knee-length boots. Her hair was styled to perfection, and her eyes danced with a natural shade of brown on her eyelids. She stopped by the corner bakery, picked up a New York-style cheesecake and then headed to her parents’ home in Fayetteville.
Sasha parked her car in the circular drive behind Bridget and Derrick’s SUV. When she stepped up to the front door carrying the dessert, she could hear Vanessa’s children running around inside. They were laughing, and when she stepped inside the door, all three of them rushed up to her and gave her hugs.
“Hi, Sasha!” the oldest one yelled. “Everyone’s in the kitchen.”
“Are they?” She picked up the two-year-old and held her in her arms for a moment. “Have you been good?”
The toddler nodded her head yes, and Sasha placed her back onto the floor then kissed the forehead of the middle child.
She could hear her father’s and Derrick’s banter in the family room. They watched football on the family’s big-screen television. There was laughter and loud conversations coming from the kitchen, which is where Sasha headed to first.
“Well, look who’s here!” Vanessa spotted Sasha first.
“Hi, Vanessa.” Sasha gave her cousin a hug. “Love your hair.”
“Well, Mother, if it isn’t your long-lost daughter who rarely shows up for Sunday dinners.” Bridget gave her a wicked look. “We’re glad you could join us.”
Sasha approached her mother and kissed her cheek.
“Hi, sweetheart, we’re so glad you’re here.” Charlotte placed her hand gently on Sasha’s face. “And you’re looking so pretty. What is going on with you? You look different.”
“She looks like she’s getting some,” Bridget stated inappropriately and then winked.
Sasha hadn’t shared with her sister that she and Vince had broken up.
“Bridget! Behave,” their mother warned.
“I brought dessert,” Sasha announced with a grin, totally ignoring her sister.
“Is it store-bought?” Vanessa asked. “Because you know we don’t do no store-bought desserts around here. I make the best sweet potato pie this family has ever known.”
“That’s very conceited,” Sasha teased.
“The truth is the truth, honey,” Vanessa boasted.
“And her chocolate cake is to die for,” Bridget announced.
Sasha placed the cheesecake in the refrigerator and headed for the family room, where her father was. She knew she’d receive a favorable reception from her daddy.
“We missed you at church this morning!” her mother yelled as she left the kitchen.
Sasha didn’t respond.
“Who’s winning?” she asked as she stepped into the family room.
“Sasha, baby!” The excitement on her father’s face was priceless. “Get over here.”
Sasha plopped down on the sofa next to her father and he wrapped his arm around her neck and kissed her cheek. She needed that.
“Hey, Derrick,” said Sasha.
Derrick wore an Atlanta Falcons jersey and held on to a bottle of beer. “Good to see
you, sis.”
“It’s been a long time since you’ve come for Sunday dinner. We’ve missed you,” Brian Winters said while holding on to his daughter.
“I know, Daddy. I’ve just been busy.”
“You have to make time for family. When work is gone, all you have left are the people who love you. Please come by more often,” Brian said.
“I will. I promise.”
“Good.”
“How’s Vince?” Derrick asked.
She wasn’t sure how to respond, so she said, “I haven’t talked to him in a few weeks.”
“What? I thought you two talked every day.”
“Not anymore.”
“He didn’t say anything,” Derrick said. “What happened?”
“Just didn’t work out.”
“Vince is the guy I played a round of golf with in the Bahamas, right?” her father asked. “The best man at the wedding?”
“Yes, that’s him,” Derrick answered for her while never taking his eyes off the television screen.
“Were you dating him, honey?”
“Who’s she dating?” her mother asked as she approached the room.
“No one,” Sasha answered abruptly.
“Derrick’s friend, Vince,” her father answered for her. “The one we met in the Bahamas.”
Suddenly Charlotte remembered. “Oh, yeah, the young man who whipped you in golf.”
“He does have a pretty good handicap,” Brian stated.
“Is that who you’re seeing now?” asked Charlotte. “What does he do for a living?”
“Seeing who?” Bridget asked and then plopped down on the sofa next to her husband. She was eating a huge plateful of chocolate cake.
Derrick took the plate from her hand. “Not good for the baby,” he said and gave her a peck on the lips.
Bridget rolled her eyes at her husband, but then smiled. He finished her cake in one bite. Sasha zeroed in on Bridget’s stomach. She noticed that there was a small pouch forming in her midsection and she’d gained a few pounds.
Tropical Fantasy Page 15
