Kendal came to sit in the chair across from the sofa. “You should have called me so we could discuss it.”
“No, you would have shot the idea down without giving it much thought…like you’re trying to do now. I know you. You would have compared him to Russell Kline, and Jamison is nothing like Russell. Besides, you’ve always had this big crush on Jamison, and I figured—”
“I know what you figured, Tonya, and it won’t work. That crush was years ago. I wasn’t Jamison’s type then, and I’m not his type now.”
Tonya leaned back on the sofa. “And how do you know what his type is?”
“I know. I can clearly recall the type of girl he dated in school. The type of girl he ended up marrying. I’m fine within my own skin with my size and the weight loss I’ve managed to accomplish. But I’m doing it to improve my health and not to get a man. Whatever man I marry needs to want me for who I am, just like I am.”
“And you don’t think Jamison could?”
Kendal waved Tonya’s words away. “I think Jamison is just like a lot of other men…including Russell. To them, a beautiful woman is one with a gorgeous face and a supermodel figure. I look okay, but the supermodel figure I don’t have and never will.”
Kendal meant what she said, every word of it. She’d lost fifty pounds over the past eight months for health reasons. Her doctor had told her two years ago that her weight was causing health problems, namely high blood pressure and an increase in her cholesterol levels. At the time, she’d merely shrugged, taken the pills that he’d prescribed, and gone her merry way without any intent to change her eating habits or lifestyle.
Then Carr happened. From the day Kendal had buried her brother and sister-in-law, she knew maintaining good health was no longer an option. It was a necessity. Her motto became:
Your life does not get better by chance; it gets better by change.
She knew she had to live to raise her niece and needed to be in the best shape to do so. That meant a membership at the Y and cutting out certain foods she thought she could never live without. It hadn’t been easy, but Kendal smiled each and every time she weighed in at the doctor’s office. She was shedding the weight, and her dosage of medication had decreased tremendously. According to her doctor, if she kept it up, she could be medication-free pretty soon.
“I think you’re selling yourself short if you think you’re not everything any man would desire. You’re beautiful, smart, intelligent, thoughtful, and considerate. You go out of your way to help others. There are some men who can look beyond an hour-glass shape and appreciate a woman with all you have to offer. Need I remind you that both Tyler and Blake married full-figured women? And they love the ground Megan and Justice walk on and wouldn’t have them any other way.”
No, Kendal thought, she didn’t need to be reminded, but neither Tyler nor Blake was Jamison. She’d seen Jamison’s ex-wife before, and the woman was simply gorgeous.
“I know what you’re thinking, Kendal, but just remember that Jamison found out the hard way that beauty is only skin deep.”
Kendal didn’t say anything as she glanced over at Tonya, convinced she still didn’t understand. Tonya, who was a beauty herself, never had a weight problem. At five-three, she barely weighed one hundred and twenty pounds. Back in the day, when Kendal had had a school-girl crush on Jamison, Tonya had had one on Bryan Manning, another one of the guys Conley hung out with. No one was surprised when Tonya finally snagged Brian and the two had married a couple of years ago.
“And there’s something else you need to remember,” Tonya broke into her thoughts and said.
“What?”
“According to what you’ve told me about all the crazies who called today, Jamison may be your best bet. Meet with him. Cover all aspects of the position with him. Remember, it’s only temporary until you get custody of Carr free and clear and feel it’s safe to dissolve the marriage.”
Tonya’s words brought it back home to Kendal. In all honesty, she wasn’t looking for a match made in heaven. She was looking for a match made anywhere, just as long as it was legal enough to satisfy the courts. The Ryans were petitioning for custody on the grounds that they felt a household with two parents would offer their grandchild more stability. Kendal was surprised they hadn’t included anything in the petition about the fact that they had a lot more money than she did.
Okay, she would admit things had been rough financially after losing her job six months ago. She’d had to cut back on some things since she’d refused to use any of the insurance money from Conley’s and Cynthia’s deaths. She’d placed it in a trust for Carr so she could have it for college. Luckily, Kendal had come up with the idea to work from home as a virtual assistant. Now she had over twenty clients and was making twice as much as she had while working nine-to-five as a claim adjuster for an insurance company. Still, her income couldn’t compete with the Ryans’ had it been an issue.
Kendal sighed and glanced over at Tonya. “Jamison wants to meet with me to discuss it.”
“Then do it. And afterward, if you really feel it won’t work out, then let him know. Walk away, do not look back, and go to your Plan B.”
Kendal drew in a deep breath. Now that was the kicker. She didn’t have a Plan B. Cynthia’s parents’ petition for custody of Carr had come as a surprise, and the judge had given her less than thirty days to prove she would be the better parent.
“I know my cousin, Kendal,” Tonya broke to her thoughts saying. “Right now, a permanent relationship with any woman is the last thing Jamison wants. But he knows it’s what he needs because of Kia. He doesn’t need any woman, especially one who’d try to compete for his daughter’s time and attention, and so far since he’s been back, that’s all he’s been getting. He needs someone who’ll be an asset by helping him out with Kia. You’ll be able to do that since you’re doing an excellent job in caring for Carr. In return, he’ll be doing you a favor by making sure you get to keep her.”
Kendal didn’t say anything for a while, and then she told Tonya, “Okay, I’ll call Jamison back to arrange a meeting with him.”
***
Jamison lifted his head from the papers he had spread out on his kitchen table. He knew that ring tone since he’d deliberately set it to play the wicked witch theme from the Wizard of Oz. It was Vonetta calling.
At least he hadn’t gone to the extreme like one of the lawyers in the firm where he used to work had. The man had despised his cheating ex-wife to the point that he’d given her the ring tone of a boisterous Santa saying over and over, “Ho, Ho, Ho.” That left little doubt in everyone’s mind just what he’d thought of his ex.
Jamison glanced at his watch. It was close to eleven. Why would Vonetta be calling this late? It had been five months since he or Kia had heard from her. He clicked on the line. “Yes, Vonetta?”
“Oh, so you knew it was me?”
He lifted his brow. From her slurred speech, he could tell she’d been drinking. “Yes, I knew it was you. If you’re calling to speak to Kia, she’s asleep. It’s past eleven here on the east coast, and she does have a bedtime, you know.”
“Yes, I know, and you were such a good daddy to keep up with that stuff.” She paused a moment and then said, “I’m here alone. Omar left me.”
He wondered what she wanted him to do about it or whether she thought he really gave a royal damn that her lover, the man she’d left him for, had left her. He bit back the retort he really wanted to give and instead said, “Goodbye, Vonetta. I’ll let Kia know you called.”
“No, wait, don’t hang up. I was wondering…”
He sighed as he leaned back in the chair. “Wondering about what?” he asked. The sound of her slurred speech was getting to him, pissing him off. He couldn’t help wondering whether she’d hit the bottle this one time because her dude had split or whether it was something she’d started doing regularly.
“I was wondering if I can hop a plane and come home.”
His sensors went on red alert, and he sat up straight in his chair. “You are home. I gave you the house, remember?” And the dog. She hadn’t asked for the house, but he’d given it to her anyway. She’d claimed she and her lover had made love all over the house while Jamison was at work. Whether she’d been truthful or made the claim to spite him Jamison hadn’t been sure. All he knew was that he hadn’t wanted the place after that.
“No, you don’t understand,” she broke into his thoughts and said. “I want me, you, and Kia to be a family again.”
When hell freezes over.
He sat up straight in his chair. “Don’t even think it. If I recall, Omar was the one you wanted, so stay with him.”
“But he’s gone, and I’m lonely. Capone doesn’t even like me anymore,” she said of the dog. “I need money to go shopping. I need—”
He’d heard enough. “Look, Vonetta. I really don’t have time to sit here and listen to your issues. Call somebody else.”
“But I don’t have somebody else. If Omar doesn’t come back, I won’t have anyone.”
“Your choice.”
“I want Kia.”
His heartbeat kicked up a notch, and he then remembered Tonya’s prediction in his office earlier that day. “No, you don’t. You signed her over to me to get your freedom. You didn’t want her then, and you don’t want her now. Goodnight, Vonetta.”
His hand shook as he clicked off the phone. But what if she’d changed her mind? What if she decided she did want Kia back? If Omar was really out of the picture, she would need an income, and getting Kia back and hitting Jamison up for sizeable amounts of child support payments was one way to get it. And if she decided to take him back to court in California, he would have to fight to retain custody of their daughter. The courts there tended to be more liberal and leaned in favor of the mother in most custody situations.
The only good thing was that he and Kia would have lived in Virginia for a year in a few months. That was long enough to establish residency in the state if a custody battle did ensue. They would have to use the Virginia courts, which leaned more to the conservative side.
Now he wished he had recorded the conversation. Letting a judge hear her call him while intoxicated would be one in his favor if it ever came to that. Lord knows he hoped not, but …
Now more than anything, he hoped Kendal called tomorrow. The last thing he intended to happen was for Vonetta to try to weasel her way back into their lives. And to stop her from doing so, he needed to cover all bases…including his marital status.
“Mr. Savoy, you have a Kendal Fischer on the line,” Jamison’s administrative assistant said through the intercom.
He placed down his ink pen. “Thanks.”
He’d been waiting for this call and had hoped it would come. Vonetta’s late night call still had him on edge. Hopefully, this morning when she sobered up, she would have forgotten her crazy notion of wanting Kia, but with Vonetta, anything was possible, and he refused to take any chances. Yesterday, Kendal seemed to have some misgivings about placing the ad. He needed to convince her that the ad might be a blessing for both of them.
Butterflies lifted off in his stomach when he heard her click on the line. “Jamison?”
“Yes, Kendal. I’m glad you called.”
“Do you still want to meet with me?”
“Yes, did you check your schedule?”
“Yes, and I’m available tomorrow at lunch. I can get Mom to watch Carr for a couple of hours.”
“Carr?”
“Yes, that’s my niece’s name.”
Jamison couldn’t help but smile. “Now, isn’t that a coincidence. My daughter’s name is Kia. Umm, sounds like we have a connection already.”
Kendal breathed in deeply, surprised he was looking for one. “Glad you think so,” she said, not knowing what else to say. She placed her hand to her stomach to steady her nerves as well as the stirrings she felt there. If she thought he sounded good yesterday, he did doubly so today.
“I do. So, what about lunch at Parker’s? If I recall, you used to love that place,” Jamison suggested.
“Yes, but only because of the ‘all you can eat’ portions.” Kendal’s parents hadn’t helped by taking the family there every Wednesday night before prayer meeting at church. Going back for seconds and thirds didn’t hurt Conley since he played in a lot of sports. But she was never a sports kind of chick, and all of the extra helpings had gone straight to her hips, thighs, butt, and breasts.
She was about to tell him that she preferred eating someplace else when she decided maybe going to Parker’s would be her first test. They made great salads, and that would be all that she would eat.
“Parker’s is fine,” she heard herself saying. “What time do you want me to meet you there?”
“What about noon?” he asked her.
“No problem. I’ll see you then.”
“Okay. And I forgot to ask how your parents are doing.”
She drew in another deep breath. “Better. Losing Conley was hard on everyone, but having Carr has been such a blessing to all of us. You look at her, and you see Con.” She chuckled and added, “And on the days she wants to be an angel, you see Cynthia, since we all know what a devil Conley could be.”
“Well, I think it’s wonderful you have his daughter.”
Kendal thought it was wonderful as well and could only hope she could keep Carr. “Thanks. I think it’s wonderful that I have her as well. I’ll see you tomorrow. Goodbye, Jamison.”