19
It's Just a BBQ, People
ReneeâSunday, September 8, 7:00 p.m.
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tacie's parents came and left early. Roni Mae's mom only stayed long enough to visit with Jewel's mom. Roman's folks only came to get a glimpse of Jewellen, then left. She charmed the hell out of them, of course. Tomorrow, she's going over there for the Montgomery Labor Day celebration. The rest of the parental types left two hours ago. Which was good because there were things that might need to be said out here that didn't no parent need to hear. Greggy been sending me these looks. Jewel shooting me little glances. Saw Roman eyeballing Patrick. Aaron looking at Roni Mae. Jewel looking at Roman. And Beau looking at me.
I can't believe Jewellen hadn't said anything to me about Beau before. He said he met her way back in June. Now I wondered where she had been hiding him all this time. My homegirl been holding out! This boy was
something
. Don't get me wrong, Greggy wasn't chopped liver and I loved him and all, but
this
? This was the kind of man every woman wanted a shot at once in her lifetime. The guy every other woman wanted. Not only pretty, but tall, intelligent, well bred (how he and Roman are related, I'll never know), funny, spontaneous,
fine,
and sexy as all hell with those light eyes and that Cajun thing he did. Did I say fine?
I felt bad for thinking this, but to tell the truth, Greggy was bread and butter, chicken and rice, my everyday-great-for-the-long-run man. The one I wanted to build a life with, have a future with and all that. Beau ... Beau was dessert. Mocha chocolate cheesecake with café au lait on the side, you understand? Beau was a fling waiting to happen. Just right there, patiently waiting for your resistance to drop and temptation to take over.
Thing of it was, I didn't wanna risk my thing with Greggy for Beau. But I still wanted Beau. Have you ever had this, oh, let's call it wild sexual curiosity about someone? Like, you just had to know if it was as good as it looked, at least once before you missed your chance and ended up rocking on the front porch with your grandkids, still wondering about it? This was terrible; Gregory had been nothing short of perfect, emotionally, psychologically, and definitely sexually. Nothing could possibly be better than what we had. I glanced over at Beau. He was getting out of the Jacuzzi. Water rolled off of that body like a liquid caress. My God, 6'4”. I took a sip of my drink to moisten a suddenly dry throat just as he looked up. He caught me staring, and a slow, sexy grin spread across his face. He only looked away when Kat called his name.
This was Jewellen's fault. If she hadn't kept Beau hidden away like some forbidden fruit, I wouldn't be in this predicament now. I wouldn't have met Beau right in front of Greggy. God knows he was watching me like a hawk, probably reading my thoughts right now.
I slanted a glance over at him. Damn, he knew. I don't know what he was all pissed about; he had been salivating over Kat since she got here. I was surprised he didn't have eye strain trying to keep his eyes focused on the both of us at once.
I just wanted to spend a minute with Beau just to see if he was really “as advertised.” So if I could get Jewel to take me with her to the Montgomerys tomorrow, then I could ... no, I couldn't. I was going over to the Samsons. Wished I didn't have to but as it was, his mother didn't like me much. No need to give her another reason to dislike me. His father I got wrapped around my finger. But for some reason, Moms was still pretty cold toward me.
Maybe if we go early and leave early ... I commenced to scheming. Looking over, I saw Jewel. She had come back out after putting Chase to sleep. She was curled up in Rome's lap, and he was stroking a hand down her back. If you had told me three months ago that the two of them would still be together, I'da laughed you outta town. He was not her type at all. Good for a drop-'n'-roll but a relationship? Please! She was so much into the well-bred, yuppie, take-him-home-to-Momma type . . . like Patrick. He was perfect for her. I could tell there was still something there between them. If Rome would ever give her an inch of room to breathe in, she would see it herself. And Cleo? Cleo didn't make no bones about who she preferred for her daughter. Made me wonder what my mom will think when she comes up to meet Greg in a few weeks. I'd love for her to see Greggy and Beau in the same room and tell me what she thinks. Not that Beau was really an issue ... yet.
“Jewellen, come here for a second,” I called over to her.
She looked at me. “Girl, I just got comfortable.”
I frowned. I hoped Rome didn't have my girl whipped. “Your man ain't going nowhere, girl, come here.”
I could tell from all the way over here that she was rolling her eyes. She leaned into Rome and whispered something in his ear. He looked over at me and laughed before standing up with her. He walked over to Beau, and they headed inside the house with Kat. Jewel came over and sat down.
“What is it, child?”
“Nice day, isn't it?” I wanted to lead into my pitch.
She shot me a look. “So far so good. Why?”
“Naw, I'm just saying. Food was great, weather held up, folks acted like they had sense. Look around, everybody's all nice and friendly.”
We looked around. Greggy was sitting at a card table playing spades with Arthur, Keisha, and Roni Mae. Kenneth, Aaron, Tammy, and a couple of Rome's boys were playing a loud game of dominoes. There were other people around, some from Jewel's office, some from Rome's, a few guys I recognized from the rec center, some girls from church. There was some dancing going on by the pool, a Scrabble game was going on inside, and there were still people eating.
“Yeah, it's nice,” Jewellen answered.
“So, you looking forward to going to the Montgomerys' tomorrow?” I looked as innocent as I could while I asked.
She turned her head until her eyes met mine levelly. “No, Renee. No, no, and hell to the no. And don't go there.” Damn, she was always trying to get inside somebody's head.
“What?” I blinked at her.
She shook her head. “I got eyes, I got ears, and I got good sense in my head, which is more than I can say for your stupid ass. Lord, I can read you like a book.” She pointed a finger in my face. “You wanna jack up your thing with Gregory, go ahead, but do it without involving me. You will not be joining me at the Montgomery party tomorrow, nor will you be invited to anything I think Beau has a chance of attending.”
I leaned in close. “Jew-Ro, you 'spose ta be my girl! Come on, catch my back on this.”
“Jew-Ro my ass, Renee. You want Beau? You wanna sneak behind Greg's back? Do it behind mine too.” She got up and stormed off.
Shit, I hated it when she got all up on her high horse like that. Worse still, she was right. I should just forget about it. After all, I was finally in a position to get everything I wanted. Why jeopardize that?
“
Bien-aimée
, want some dessert?” My eyes traveled up the long length of Beauregard Montgomery, who was standing by my side offering me, of all things, a slice of cheesecake. He was psychic. My eyes met his; then again, maybe that wasn't all he was offering.
“Thank you, I'd love some.” As I took the plate, I felt the weight of at least two sets of angry glares. Me being me, I ignored them and smiled. “Sit down, we can share.”
He felt the eyes and ignored them too. “
Merci
, Renee, if you're sure?” He sat on the chaise next to mine.
“It's only dessert, right?” I shrugged and smiled.
“
C'est vrai
, only dessert.” He looked up from the plate and straight into my eyes. Right then, we both knew. It might not happen today, tomorrow, or next week, but it was gonna happen. Consequences be damned.
20
Seriously, Go Home
JewelâSunday, September 8, 10:00 p.m.
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I
hated to be the hostess from hell, but I was ready for all these folks to rise up out my house and be gone. What did that comedian say? “You don't have to go home but ya sure gots ta get the hell up outta here!” I was feeling that.
It had been a long day, especially with Roman scaring the shit out of me with that talk. Granted, I had been a little weirded out seeing my ex-fiancé slobbering up on one of my best friends, but it did not detract from what I felt for Roman! I really needed to make myself clear on that. For a second today, I thought he was gonna walk, thought he was done. Felt like someone was ripping me apart slowly into small pieces. How quickly you can get used to someone in your life.
Shit, I was not ready to be single again; I was not ready to be without him. I was not prepared, period. Couldn't recall ever letting anyone matter to me this much, this fast before. Had to get a handle on this thing.
“Miss Joo-well?” Chase's little voice came down the hallway, reminding me that I had yet to go in to check and see if he was sleeping. Apparently not.
I went into the guest room, and there was Roman's son, bouncing up and down on the bed like he was on the playground.
“LaChayse!” He stopped instantly and crawled under the covers. I sighed, children and their little tests. I pulled the cover up to his neck and leaned over him. “What's the problem, Little Montgomery?”
“Don't wanna sleep.” His eyelids were drooping as he got the words out.
“Why not?”
“Wanna stay up and play with you, Miss Joo-well. I never gets to just stay with you. And you know lotses of games and stories and stuff.”
I smiled. At least I didn't have to worry about Roman's child liking me. We had become pals early on, and I finally got him to the point where he respected my requests and rules. We did have this one conversation quite a bit, though. “Well, Chase, you have to stay with your parents. They love you and want you with them.”
His eyes went wide open. “Don't you love me?”
Kids can sucker punch you with the emotions, damn! Thought I was gonna tear up for the second time today. “Of course I love you.”
“I love you too. So why can't I stay here sometimes like I stay with Dad sometimes and Mom sometimes?”
“Chase, I'm not your mom or your dad.”
“If you married my dad, you'd be my set-mommy.”
“Set-mommy?”
“Yeah, Ricky's dad got remarried and he got a set-mom, so that's what you'd be; then I could stay.”
“
Step mom,
Chase. And I don't know if I'm marrying your dad.”
“You don't?” He looked hurt. “Don't you like my daddy? He cooks pancakes and drives a fun car and makes his own money.” Chase broke it on down to the least common denominator.
I was trying to come up with an answer when Roman spoke from the doorway. “Yeah, don't you like his daddy? He's potty trained, too, you know.”
Chase giggled and I tickled him a little. “Daddy is housebroken, huh?”
“Better than a puppy!” Chase said.
“I can paw, growl, and lick with the best of them,” Roman said in an all-too-adult tone.
“Guess I'll have to keep him,” I told Chase. “Did I tell you the story of the little dog that lost his spots?” I launched into it for a few minutes before he fell asleep.
Roman and I closed the door and went back to the living room. I looked around; it was empty. “Is the party over?”
“I chased most of them away; you still got some diehards out back.”
I sank down onto the sofa with a sigh. “They'll get the hint when I turn the lights off in a little while.” Roman sat down next to me and started massaging my shoulders. “It was a nice day, huh?”
Roman quirked a brow. “Overall, yeah. But if you looked at all the damn drama going on, it was
Days of Our Lives
up in here.”
I turned to look at him. “What about us? Are we a drama too?”
“I guess we'll see. As long as it's just about you and me.”
I nodded. Yeah, him and me ... I put my head on his shoulder and relaxed. “So, Chase wants me to be his set-mommy.” I felt Roman go absolutely still beside me. Interesting.
“That's what he said, huh?” His tone was the most guarded I had ever heard it.
“Yep, any comments?”
“Ah, not sure I'm very marriage inclined.”
My head swiveled to the side. “Seriously?”
“My first marriage was such a nightmare, Jewel.”
“No doubt. So you don't plan to try again?”
“Not without really looking before I leap. I don't want to go into another marriage without knowing where all the skeletons are buried and the land mines are hiding.”
Whew, marriage with land mines and skeletons, this was good to know. It was also a topic to explore later, not today. As I said, it had been a long day. “Well, Roman, that's some romantic view of marriage you have there.”
“It's real, baby.”
“Is that why you are so crazy about Patrick?”
He shot me a look. “First off, I'm not crazyâI'm cautious. Second, based on my experience, when something feels like it might be trouble, it usually is. So, yes, I am sensitive to potentially bad juju.”
“Juju, huh? Your Cajun is showing, player.” I leaned up and kissed him on the cheek.
He put his lips next to my ear and whispered, “I can show you more than my Cajun, baby.”
I hopped up and stalked to the back door. “Lights out, people. Anyone not off the property in ten minutes gots to start paying rent.”
As the last person skittered out the yard, I turned back to him. “Let's see what we can do about that juju, hmm?”