“The key word here, Traci, is they’re expecting you, not me.”
“So, we’ll add one more person to the mix. Their house is big enough to hold us and if it’s not, we’ll stay in a hotel. If Mom weren’t so terrified of flying, I would try to get her to come as well. I just know what the answer is going to be.”
Darren chuckled. “You can forget that,” he said.
“Yeah, I know. Anyway, Darren, I’ve got a lot of studying to do. Promise me you’ll think about it and don’t be such a stranger, okay?”
“I promise.”
“You know I love you, right?” Traci asked.
“Of course I do. I love you too, Traci.”
“Stay safe,” Traci added.
“Always. Later.”
After she hung up, Traci realized her comment about safety was more than general. She worried so much about him. Being a black gay man in the South couldn’t be easy.
Glancing at the clock, Traci realized that she and Darren had been on the phone for almost two hours. She grabbed a quick bite to eat from the fridge, while looking through an old photo album with pictures of her and Darren when they were kids. Pleasant memories of her childhood lulled her to sleep. Unfortunately, those memories didn’t sustain her through her dreams. Those were full of Bryan. As hard as she had tried, she still couldn’t shake him, not even when she slept.
Some time around midnight, exhilarated voters shouting four more years awakened Traci from a sound sleep. The voices full of enthusiasm chanting outside her window were almost enough to help her forget her dreams, and Bryan. Despite the fact that she was embarking on what she hoped would be a great new start, she couldn’t help but bemoan her former life. In that life she had been in love with the same man since she was a girl. She and Bryan had been dating since they were both in high school. After college they moved in together and she believed that they would eventually marry. That is, until she had arrived home early from work one day to discover the love of her life in bed with her best friend. There had been lots of tears, and even more yelling and screaming, before Traci slammed the door behind her, leaving Bryan and everything associated with that old life far behind her. She decided it was time for her to live the life she was intended to live and not Bryan’s life or the life everyone else expected her to live. That meant trading the “burbs” for a place in the city and her nice safe job at the insurance company for school, once again. She had always wanted to teach but Bryan and her mother had convinced her it was mostly a thankless job and not very financially lucrative. Clearly, Bryan was no longer a consideration and her mother would have to understand that she was a grownup and therefore had to make her own life decisions.
When Traci moved, she took very few of her belongings with her. Somehow, everything seemed to remind her of Bryan. Instead, she convinced herself that it might be fun to start from scratch. That’s what she was doing when she met Bill.
“You need some help with that?”
Traci turned to find an attractive man with penetrating grayish-green eyes and olive skin smiling broadly at her.
“Um, yeah, I could use a little help,” she admitted.
He hoisted the large box onto his shoulders and, for the first time in a long time, Traci found herself attracted to someone other than Bryan. Despite the fact that he wasn’t a large man, physically, his presence was one of great stature. He seemed to possess an air of strength and power from within, by which she was instantly intrigued.
“What floor?”
“Oh, yeah, I’m on the third floor; three A,” she responded, distractedly.
“Three A it is!”
“Thank you so much. I was just taking a little rest.”
“No problem. Besides, no woman as beautiful as you should be reduced to doing manual labor. Where is your husband, at work?”
“Don’t have one of those.”
The expression of pleasure emanated from his entire being.
“I guess that’s all the more reason I should have paid for white glove delivery.”
“No worries. Bill Bianco at your service.”
As soon as he entered her apartment Traci was aware of how sparsely furnished her place was.
“Just moved in?” he asked.
“I’ve been here a couple of months. I don’t have much furniture, but I do have coffee. Would you like some?”
“I would love some.”
Traci was surprised at how easy it was to talk to Bill. It was as if she had known him for years. She knew she should probably put on the brakes on the runaway train in her head, but it all reminded her of one of her favorite films, Cloud Atlas. She somehow felt as though she had known him before, maybe in another lifetime.
These were the times when she got angry with Bryan and Jennifer all over again. She missed having a best girlfriend to bullshit with. She talked to Darren all the time but it was different with a really good girlfriend. Traci made a mental note to get out in the world and mix and mingle. That was what Darren told her; that she couldn’t meet anyone, male or female, by sitting in the house, although her encounter today had proved a loophole in that statement.
She hoped her handsome neighbor wasn’t married or living with someone. That seemed to be the other problem she had. Every time she met a man, he was already involved with someone else. What the hell was wrong with people anyway? Wasn’t it hard enough spending time with one person at a time without making things extremely complicated? When she was dating someone, she enjoyed focusing all of her attention on that one man. The thought of a steady influx of multiple men made her feel exhausted. She had enough to think about with work and her dreams for the future without trying to keep straight which man was which. Although she was willing to admit that was probably a woman’s way of thinking. Men seemed to have no problem at all with juggling more than one woman at a time with ease. Or, maybe it wasn’t with as much ease as it appeared.
Her ex, Bryan, apparently, not only enjoyed juggling, but couldn’t control himself enough not to juggle with her best friend, or to do it with her in their bed. That’s why she was here and he was there. Traci could tolerate many things, but displaced loyalty was not one of them. So, she had given Bryan, the love of her life, the boot. Or, technically, she had booted herself, since she was the one that moved out. She realized she would never have been able to stay in the apartment. Everything she looked at would have reminded her of him and, at some point, of her.
Traci was online cruising Facebook when she saw a friend request from her handsome neighbor. She was flattered. Obviously, she had made an impression. Traci was blown away by how quickly he had moved.
She hit the button to accept his request and hoped he wouldn’t end up as yet another one of those friends on Facebook she never even talked to. Somehow, she didn’t think that was the case.
As soon as she accepted his friend request, there was an IM from him.
“So, how do you like the new digs?”
“Getting used to it,” she replied. “How long have you been in the building?”
“Not long. I was living in New Jersey and I decided it was high time I got out on my own.”
“Same here.”
“So, we’re embarking on new territory. Isn’t it exciting when you try new things?”
“Yes, it most certainly is.”
“I’m glad this is the building you chose. It’s great having nice new people in the building. See you around the building,” he said.
“See you.”
Traci had gotten the distinct impression that she was going to like it there.
After she logged out of Facebook, she got another IM Message. This time it was on Hotmail and it was from Bryan.
“I miss you.”
She wasn’t sure whether she should ignore him or verbally spar with him. She was still so mad. What he and Jennifer had done was unforgivable. There was no way she could talk to him without saying something she would feel ridiculous about later or, worse yet, something she woul
d truly regret.
Courtesy of Michelle Janine Robinson
Michelle Janine Robinson is the author of Strange Fruit, Serial Typical, More Than Meets the Eye and Color Me Grey. Her short story “The Quiet Room” was a featured story in the New York Times bestseller Zane’s Succulent: Chocolate Flava II. In addition, Michelle has contributed stories to Zane’s Caramel Flava, Honey Flava, Purple Panties and Busy Bodies: Chocolate Flava 4. Michelle is a native New Yorker and the proud mother of identical twins. Visit the author at www.facebook.com/michelle.j.robinson, www.myspace.com/justef or follow Michelle at www.twitter.com/MJanineRobinson.
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ALSO BY MICHELLE JANINE ROBINSON
Strange Fruit
Serial Typical
More Than Meets the Eye
Color Me Grey
Strebor Books
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This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
© 2014 by Michelle Janine Robinson
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means whatsoever. For information address Strebor Books, P.O. Box 6505, Largo, MD 20792.
ISBN 978-1-59309-455-3
ISBN 978-1-4516-9651-6 (ebook)
LCCN 2013950693
First Strebor Books trade paperback edition May 2014
Cover design: www.mariondesigns.com
Cover photograph: © Keith Saunders/Marion Designs
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On the Other Side Page 26
