“Good evening Sunny.”
“Don’t tell me. You’re doing a documentary on former female athletes who can’t let go of the Olympic dream.” Her remark carried over the ripples in the pool lingering in front of her admirer.
“Actually, that would make a good film. I’ll have to take that under consideration,” he replied. “The truth is, I noticed you panting up a storm out there and thought it rather amusing. Still, I didn’t want to disturb the workout.”
“You do realize that I’m still working out.” Sunny swam to edge of the pool closest to her visitor and then lifted herself out of the water.
“Yeah, but I couldn’t wait any longer. I had to know what you looked like in a bathing suit.”
“And…”
“It’s a nice view. I’m surprised that you don’t have more lingering eyes from the men out there.”
“Whatever,” she said and grabbed the towel that she’d placed near the edge of the pool. When she finished drying herself off, she saw his feet step into view. She looked up at him.
He helped her stand. She hurriedly wrapped the large towel around her body, and then walked briskly into the women’s locker room. A group of women flounced past Jaden, deterring his pursuit, before finally catching up to her.
“Uh Jaden, do you mind?” Sunny’s eyes shot daggers at him.
She nodded her head toward a sign against the wall, which blatantly read “Women’s Locker Area.” Instead of feeling embarrassed a slow grin appeared. He softly grabbed her forearm.
“Excuse you.” Sunny’s said snatching her arm back.
“I’m famished aren’t you?”
“No, I don’t eat after eight.”
“It’s not,” he replied.
“It will be by the time I get home,” she stepped to the side as another group edged past them.
Sunny didn’t rightly know why she treated him so rudely. After all, he had nothing to do with the drama in her life. Still he was one of them, part of the male species and that was the last thing she needed.
“Can’t I workout in peace?”
Jaden reached for Sunny. She folded her arms in front of her to keep him at bay.
“You know, I’m beginning to think that you don’t like me.”
“Seriously, I just want to go home, soak in a tub, and prepare myself for our collaboration tomorrow.”
“Just agree to have dinner with me tomorrow. We can discuss the changes over a light mea.”
“If I say yes, will you leave,” Sunny asked.
“Only if you say yes with a smile,” he teased.
“Yes,” she said through a fake thousand-watt smile.
“Chat tomorrow,” he agreed.
She watched his departure until he rounded the corner. Minutes later, she met her sister at the elevators.
“Was that who I think it was?”
“Please Demi don’t start.”
“I’m just saying that I might be coming to the gym more often.”
Sunny pressed the elevator button and leaned against the wall. “He’s a pain.”
“He’s sexy.”
“That’s because you’re in this gym lighting. Believe me, with good lighting, and the right angle, even the hunchback of Notre Dame could have been attractive.”
“No you didn’t compare him to the hunchback,”
“He’s not as cute as everyone thinks he is.”
The elevator doors opened and Demi replied, “Sunny, denial is not just a river in Egypt.” Then she stepped into their steel chariot and added, “You ready?”
Sunny nodded, following her sister’s steps and said, “I better call Jared so he knows my decision.”
Sunny pulled her from behind back as she leaned against the wall of elevator and fished her cell from her duffle bag. She gaped at the display which had Jaden’s name and number, and the word, “Connected”.
“Oh my god…”
“What! What happened?”
Sunny shoved the phone in front of Demi and whispered, “I butt-dialed Jaden.”
Demi covered her mouth in surprise and shoved the phone back to Sunny. Sunny then covered the mic of the phone and pleaded with her sister.
“Demi, please! You have to do this for me.”
“What the hell am I supposed to do?”
Sunny shushed Demi and then put phone in her face. “Act like you have a foreign accent and pretend like you have the wrong number.”
“Uh huh. You’re stirring that pot all by yourself girlfriend.”
Sunny stomped her foot, “Demi!”
Demi responded with a profound stomp of her own.
Sunny rolled her eyes and brought the phone to her ear. ”Hello? Jaden…hi yeah. Oh really? How long have you been on the phone? Is that so?” Suddenly Sunny began making crackling noises. “Uh, I’m…shhh…on the elevator…shhhh…the reception is…shhh… Call… shhh…later.”
Demi snickered and said, “Oh how the mighty have fallen.”
“I can’t believe I just did that.”
“I know. I’m embarrassed by association,” Demi leaned against the wall giggling.
“You see? This is what he does to me. He makes me so cuckoo.
“Don’t worry about it. Butt-dialing is part of our digital age. Kind of like a technical initiation of sorts,” Demi informed. When her words didn’t seem to comfort her sister she added, “Email him. Say you’re sorry and get it over with.”
“No this is something that should be done in person. We have lunch tomorrow I’ll do it then.”
“Sunny, you tend to put your foot in your mouth when you get nervous. Emailing will allow you to edit before you send. But that’s only if you still want the job. You said earlier that you didn’t. Which is it?”
“I don’t know. Whether or not we work together now, we do have mutual business associates. I can’t afford to burn another bridge. I have to patch things up. This time I was wrong.”
“Only this time?”
“Shut up, Demi.”
-NINE-
TWO HOURS LATER, Sunny plopped onto her sofa dressed in her favorite flannel pjs. She untied the scrunchie, allowing the dark tresses to cascade down her back. She then tossed the scrunchie into a wicker basket perched atop the end table.
Reaching over the sofa arm, she grabbed her laptop from the end table, and then placed it on her thighs. While the hard drive booted up she thought about the past few weeks working with Jaden.
The story was good and they did have a complementary writing style. So what was her issue? His teasing aside, he really wasn’t that annoying. So why did she get unglued every time she was near him.
You like him silly.
So just tell him.
But I Never mix business with pleasure.
She argued with the voice in her head until she had logged into her email account.
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: RE: your eBook
Date: Thu, 7 Feb 2013 20:50:00
Jaden,
Please accept my humblest apologies for the comments you may have heard me say about you yesterday over the phone.
Highlight text, right click, and delete
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: RE: your eBook
Date: Thu, 7 Feb 2013 20:59:00
Jaden,
The oddest thing happened yesterday. Someone who looks and sounds like me, stole my phone and made several prank calls to my contact list. If you were one of these unfortunate victims, please accept my apologies.
Highlight text, right click, and delete
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: RE: your eBook
Date: Thu, 7 Feb 2013 21:05:00
Jaden,
Now that I think about it, what kind of man ear hustles a private conversation? Did your mother not teach you common courtesy? I can’t believe
that I was contemplating apologizing when it’s obvious who the real sinister culprit is in this unfortunate miscommunication.
She mulled over the last email, deciding whether to send or not. She answered her, “Hey Demi,” and then dropped her hand to her laptop. “Oh no!”
“What happened?”
“I sent the email.”
“But that’s what you wanted to do.”
“No, no…I wrote different versions of it, and sent the wrong one.”
“So what, it’s gone and now you’re free.”
“Nooooo,” Sunny groaned.
“Sunny, what did the email say?”
“I have to call him before he reads that email. Bye Demi.” Sunny dialed Jaden’s number, it rolled to voicemail. “Jaden, I changed my mind. Let’s meet tonight for drinks. And whatever you do, please do not read any emails sent by me today.”
***
SUNNY’S GAZE FOLLOWED the flickering tea candles set in sconces on each wall, leading from the reservation desk to the dining room. The subdued romantic setting caressed her senses. She gave her name to the host, and he pointed to an empty table in the far corner of the restaurant. She followed close behind him as he ushered her to the table.
Once they arrived, he read the specials of the day. “Would you like an appetizer or something to drink?”
“Water please.”
“Sunny?” A deep baritone bellowed from a distance.
Sunny closed her eyes and took a breath before meeting the gaze of her Ex, Ramone. He was tall, and had high-yellow skin—as her grandma used to say when describing his skin type. He was dressed to the nines, another old saying, and had the same busty blonde on his arm.
“Ramone, how are you?” she stammered.
“Better than ever. Just taking my date out for special night.”
“That’s good.”
“You?”
“Doing well,” Sunny grabbed the water glass before the waiter could set it on the table.
“You know…it doesn’t surprise me that you’re sitting at a table alone.”
“She’s not,” another voice said. “Sorry I’m late, Sunny.”
“Jaden, what are you doing here?” Ramone asked.
“Having a meal. I suggest that you do the same.”
“Oh it’s like that?”
“Pretty much.”
Ramone grabbed his date’s hand and stalked to their table.
“Thanks,” said to Jaden as he sat. “I owe you one.”
“You can start with an apology.”
“You read the email,” Sunny said. It was more of a statement than a question.
“Of course I did,” he snapped. “And for the record. Don’t ever mention my mother’s name in the tone that you presented in that email, again. You don’t know her, or my life.”
“You’re right. I’m sorry.”
“Next, you can start by telling me, why you have such a huge chip on your shoulder over a jerk like that?”
“I don’t have a chip on my shoulder.”
“Woman…you have the biggest chip that I’ve ever seen on a person,” he countered.
Sunny winced and scanned the room quickly to make sure they didn’t have an audience.
“I’ve tried to make you smile and in the beginning, your attitude was kind of endearing.”
Jaden paused when the waiter refilled Sunny’s water glass. He shook his head when the waiter placed a glass in front of him. When he left, Jaden continued.
“I don’t know what it’s going to take for us to get past this wall you have, but I’m not putting up with it any longer. If you want to continue working on this project, then it’s time for honesty.”
“He was my first love.”
“So get it over him. Ramone hasn’t changed since high school. What you had with him wasn’t love.”
“You don’t know how I felt.”
“I think I have a pretty good idea, and it’s the wrong “L” word.”
“Who are you to judge me? You don’t know what it’s like to have to lose fifty pounds, just to get a guy to flirt with you. And you don’t know what it’s like to be a single woman in this country, especially a black, single woman.”
“You’re right. But I know Ramone. He’s always with a different woman. And he never introduced you to me,”
“What makes you so special?”
“He’s my first cousin,” Jaden replied.
“I guess you told me,” Sunny said.
“We used to be thick as thieves until he hit the pros. We still hang out, and he’s still a jerk, but he’s fam. No matter how famous he is, if you were someone special to him, he would have at least introduced us. That’s just what we do.”
“I guess that you’re getting a gallon of laughs off of this,”
“It does not amuse me to see any woman in pain,” he responded. “Listen, how about we call a truce and get our dinner to go. I have something that I want to show you.
***
JADEN SWIVELED IN his chair, rolled forward and adjusted the Bose headphones hanging around his neck.
“So this is your studio.”
“The first one. It’s where the dream started,” Jaden replied as he gently tapped random knobs of his the mixing console. “I had a lot of good times here.”
She pointed to his desktop. On the screen, a still frame in a video captured a shot of a woman behind a camera “Who’s that?”
“Footage of my mom that I’m editing.”
“She’s beautiful,” Sunny replied. And then more humbly, “Look…I’m really sorry about what I said.”
“It’s cool.”
“I bet she’s proud of you.”
“I’m sure that she would be, if she were still alive.”
“Shoot me now.” If she had a shovel, she’d start digging her hole. “I didn’t know,”
“I know,” his said in a barely audible whisper.
“My sister always said that I have a tendency to put my foot in my mouth. What happened to her?”
“She died of cancer. She was the creative one in the family. She was feisty, a go-getter. She always had a sparkle in her eye every time she had a great idea. It dimmed over the years, and her and my father began arguing a lot. When I was ten, she took off to New York. My brothers, Drake and Josiah, took it hard and my dad threw himself into work. I felt that her leaving wasn’t about us. It was more about her seeking a dream that she couldn’t let go of, even after marriage and three kids. Unfortunately, her dream never came true. My dad eventually wanted a divorce, and just when he was about to move on with his life, she returned. We had five good years and then she died.”
Sunny couldn’t hold back her tears. She turned away from him and muffled her sobs. Everything was beginning to make sense. Esmeralda Jones, the main character in his movie, was about his mother.
“I watched her deteriorate day after day, but she left a piece of her with me in her dream. She taught me everything she knew about filmmaking. In fact, she had me record a video of a last message that she wanted me to play at her private wake. That experience put me on the road to producing memorial docs, short videos diaries that terminal patients make for their loved ones. Each second that had passed while I edited videos, I realized how many stories of everyday people deserved to be told to inspire another generation.”
“I don’t know what to say,” Sunny said. “What happened to your family is sad. But what you’ve done is beautiful.”
“Look, I, never tell anyone about his. I don’t think my brother knows why I do what I do. Hell, I don’t think he realizes that A Storm to be Weathered, is about our mom. ” Jaden quickly swiped a tear from his eye and patted the console. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to dump this on you.”
“It’s okay.”
“Anyway, life is too short to be bitter, angry, and regretful. What’s done is done. I know your history Sunny. I think what Ramone did was bogus and the way your business associates and employer treated you afte
r everything went down was unfair. But you have choices. You can mope around and cry over a man who didn’t deserve you. Or you can take a chance on me.”
“What?” Sunny squeaked.
He clasped clasping her hand in his. “Ever since the day that we met, I wanted you. I love that you’re spirited, and…a little hard-headed.”
Sunny giggled through her tears.
“I love that you put your foot in your mouth. You make me laugh. That’s why I asked Jared to bring you aboard this project. Now that you know more about me, I thought it would help you see the bigger picture.”
“And what is that?”
“Well that’s for you to figure out.”
“Why me?” she asked breathlessly.
“I still remember the article that you wrote about me. It gave me my first real connections. You seem to pop into my life whenever I need that extra something. Let me rescue you for once,” he said inching his chair towards hers.
“Jaden, it’s not that easy. I don’t know how to be that damsel in distress. I’ve always had to be strong for my family. We didn’t’ have much but what had, we worked hard to get. I don’t know any other way to be,” her voice trailed off. She pulled away from his touch and added, “I think that’s why Ramone cheated…because I didn’t know how to be more submissive.”
“I’m not Ramone,” he responded.
“I know.”
“I’m not asking you to placate me or be anyone but who you are. I just want a chance to provide for you, and protect you,” he said, lifting her right hand. Will you let me do that for you?” He brushed his lips cross her…
“I don’t know how, Jaden,” she murmured between kisses.
He leaned in and Sunny traced his lips with her fingertips. He kissed them as they glided over his mouth. Catching her index finger, he slowly slid his tongue along its tender underside. Sunny melted, feeling the warmth of his tongue. Her breath caught in her throat and something primal smoldered within.
Rescuing Mr. Wright (Texas Treasures) Page 7
