Second Chance at Love (Love Conquers All) (15 page)

“That could be arranged you know.” Going over to the fridge, Karen took out the milk to go in her black tea. Just a few hours ago she was feeling a little blue about not having alone time with Dom. Sure, he would still come over to spend time with her and the kids, but they wouldn’t be free to spend nights together. However, if her sister was offering… What would be the harm of her children spending time with Starr, Kevin and the babies?

“Ooooh…you did the nasty with Dom!” Starr teased.

“Starr! Where are the kids? I can’t believe you said that in front of them!” Karen yelled at her sister incredulously.

“Calm down girl. Kevin was in the den with us so I left the kids with him. I’m in the living room now.”

“Oh,” Karen breathed a sigh of relief. Yes, she was a woman with needs. Did she want her children to know she and Mr. Dom were romping around between the sheets? Umm…no.

“Well, did you?” Starr pressed, anxious to be all up in her sister’s love life.

Karen giggled. “Gurrrrl, I’m just saying…”

“OMG! How was it?”

Karen giggled again. She could hear the glee in her sister’s voice. “Let’s just say I wish I hadn’t played so hard to get for so long!”

“Ooooh…you are sooooo bad. I’m telling.”

“You better not! I swear Starr I will beat you up.”

Laughing, Starr promised, “I won’t say anything to Summer or Ava.”

“Good…because I want to be the one to give them all the dirty details.” Both sisters laughed.

“What’s wrong?” Karen asked when Starr let out a long groan.

Karen turned off the water that had longed boiled. Pouring the water into the mug she sat at her kitchen table.

“Please tell me you didn’t have those butt ugly grandmom underwear on.”

Silence.

Karen was mortified. Leave it to Starr to bring up something like what type of underwear she had on.

“I knew it!”

“Well, I didn’t know we were going to do it!” Karen said, a little miffed with her sister.

Sucking her teeth, Starr asked, “What are you doing now?”

“Nothing. Why?”

“Good. Be ready in an hour. You need a doggone intervention.”

“What the—” Karen held the phone, staring at it. The loud dial tone told her Starr had hung up on her.

“I thought this was an intervention for me. You heifers are buying up everything in the store.” Karen teased.

Summer, Ava, and Starr had forgotten all about Karen as they went about the store shopping for lingerie that would be appealing to their husbands.

Walking over to Karen, Summer said, “Let me see what you got.” Holding up a sheer, fire engine red teddy with a matching thong, Karen held the sexy piece up in front of her.

“Aw, sooky-sooky now!” Karen threw her head back and laughed when Summer imitated Mike Epps’ dance moves from the movie
All About the Benjamins
. “Watch yourself, shake it fast, show me whatcha’ working with.”

Hugging Summer around the neck, Karen put her finger up to her lips. “Shh…girl you are crazy. How in the world does Nick put up with you?”

“Gurrrrl, I be shaking it fast!” Summer teased, doing the Beyoncé booty bounce.

“That’s the only way to do it,” an elderly woman standing within hearing distance butted in, giving Karen and Summer a wink. “We must look tasty for our men in the bedroom.” Lifting an arched brow she asked, “Am I not right?”

Summer and Karen exchanged a look. “Well, uh, yeah…I guess.” Karen stammered. This was just so weird, having this sideline conversation with an elderly stranger.

Grandmom was serious. She held up three pairs of lace boy shorts underwear in black, white, and pink.

Looking at each other again, the friends erupted into a fit of laughter as they both high fived the elderly woman. “I think I better get me a few a pair of those boy shorts,” Karen commented as they made their way over to the panty table near Ava and Starr.

“What’s so funny?” Starr and Ava both wanted to know. “We heard you two all the way over here laughing like hyenas,” Ava added.

Summer told them of their exchange with the older woman. Just as she finished her story, the woman walked past, stopping long enough to say, “Remember what I told you.”

“Yes, ma’am,” they both answered.

“Lord have mercy, that woman looks like the little old lady from
All About the Benjamins
,” Starr said, laughing.

Laughing, Ava said, “Yup, she sure does!”

“I think I have everything for now.” Karen said looking at all the sexy lingerie, panties, and bras in her black mesh shopping bag. She was going to pay a small fortune. But she didn’t care as long as she didn’t look like Grandmom Moses coming to bed.

“If y’all are ready we can head to the register and then go to the food court to get something to eat.”

Without waiting for a reply, Karen pivoted on her heels as the others followed. She couldn’t wait to see the look in Dom’s eyes when he saw her in her sexy new wares.

The food court was rather busy for a weekday afternoon. Most likely the volume of shoppers was due to having the holiday season off from work or school. Karen and the gang sat, talking leisurely after finishing their lunch. They were oblivious to the small crowd of teenagers the next table over lively carrying on about who said what on Facebook. This had been the first time in months they’d been alone to just sit back and enjoy each other’s company. The previous months they had been helping Ava prepare for her upcoming nuptials. Something as minor as a few rowdy teenagers wasn’t going interrupt a thing.

Munching on a piece of ice, Starr asked Ava, “So how is Lady B? Is she behaving?”

Everyone snickered. Lady B was their code name for bitch when they referred to Beatrice Warrington.

“The old bird is doing.” Ava shifted in her seat to lean her elbow on the table as she rested her chin in her palm. “I never thought I’d see the day when that woman was truly sorry for anything she’d done.”

Summer playful slapped Starr’s arm. “Stop crunching on that ice! You know that sound drives me crazy.” She laughed when her friend stuck her tongue out at her. Turning her attention to Ava, Summer commented, “I think you’re right. I bet it took lots of courage for her to admit in front of your family and friends everything she had done to you, Zoe, and Langston.”

Ava answered, “That’s how I know she meant it.” Ava leaned back in her chair. “Shoot, there was a time old Lady B would have rather cut her throat than admit she was wrong.”

Karen let out a soft, miserable sigh. She had debated for the past couple of days whether she would share with her friends about Gregory’s parents popping up, demanding to see the children. As she sat listening to the others go on about giving Beatrice a chance to prove herself since she seemed sincere at wanting to be part of a family, Karen wondered if her former in-laws had been sincere. No. They weren’t sincere at all. They hadn’t come back asking for forgiveness for how they had treated her and the kids after Gregory’s death. They hadn’t said they were sorry for abandoning her and the children, their own flesh and blood. They weren’t apologetic for telling her they had never really cared for her and that their son could have done better. Though all this was precisely true, a minute part of Karen wondered if she was doing the right thing by not allowing them to see Ashley and Kyle.

The barely audible sound Karen made hadn’t gone unnoticed by her sister. “What’s wrong, Big Sis?’

The concern in her sister’s voice was enough to bring her to tears. Because she hadn’t talked with Dom any further about her second guessing herself on whether she should allow the kids to see their paternal grandparents, Karen needed to unload.

“Gregory’s parents want to see Ashley and Kyle.”

“What!” Starr yelled, drawing the attention of the rowdy teenagers at the neighboring table. When they stopped their chattering to stare at them, Starr snapped, “Turn around. What are you looking at?”

The other women stifled their giggles as the teenagers quickly averted their gazes. One of them did the universal sign of circling her finger in the air near her head, signifying that Starr was crazy.

“Dag girl, you sound like me snapping at those kids,” Ava chimed in, snickering.

“Starr stop yelling at those kids,” Karen chastised. “I told them no.”

“As you should have. Who do they think they are waltzing back up in your life after the way they treated you?”

Making her hand into a T, Summer said, “Hold up. After all these years?”

Karen nodded her head. “Yup. After all these years.”

“Did you tell my brother?” Ava questioned.

“I sure did.”

“And what did he say?”

A tiny smile curved her lips as she remembered Dom’s reaction to the news. He had told her he loved her children and would do anything to protect them from harm, even if it was from their grandparents. “He pretty much forbid it.”

Ava lifted a perfectly arched brow, a crooked grin dancing across her lips. “Girl, you better watch out.”

“For what?” Karen was confused. What did she have to watch out for?

Karen, Ava and Starr looked at each other as if they knew a secret she didn’t know. Just as she was about to open her mouth to ask them what was up, her sister interrupted her.

“Karen, the man is staking his claim on you and your children.”

Shaking her head, Karen didn’t believe them. Sure he was really good to the kids. He had even stepped into the role of surrogate father. He made her feel sexy and desirable even before they had made love. But staking a claim on her and her children…no.

“What are you shaking your head no for?” Ava asked. “Listen, I know my brother. I saw the way he was with you and the kids at Christmas. I’m not saying my brother is a dog or anything, but he didn’t stay tied down too long to any woman after what went down with him and that skank.” Ava’s lip curled into a snarl as she refused to say Gina’s name. “And for the record, Dom doesn’t get involved in people’s business unless it’s family. So if he’s acting all possessive over Ashley and Kyle, you best believe he’s serious about his relationship with you.”

Oh God, I hope everything Ava is saying is true
, Karen prayed. She was crazy about Dom. No, she wasn’t just crazy about him, she was in love with him. And now that she had had a taste of what life could be like with him, she didn’t know if she could go back to existing without him. She also believed the same was true for Ashley and Kyle.

Karen offered her friends and sister a weak smile as they stared at her in anticipation of what she would say to Ava. “I guess,” she conceded as she changed the subject. “So Summer, when are you and Nick having another baby?”

Patting the blindfold covering her eyes, Karen asked again for the fifth time, “Where are you taking me?”

Dom briefly cut his eyes to look over at Karen as he drove to their surprise destination. Such a shame she couldn’t see the Colgate smile he beamed at her. “Woman, be patient. How many times do I have to tell you it’s a surprise?”

Karen huffed and crossed her arms over her chest. “I’ll ask as many times as I want to. For all I know you could be taking me somewhere to do a bunch of ungodly things to me.”

Dom’s laugh was deep and rich as they arrived to their destination and he parked the car. “Babe, I’ve already accomplished that.” He laughed even harder at Karen’s shocked gasp.

Karen had to laugh right along with Dom. She had to admit to herself that her reaction was rather on the dramatic side. “You are a dirty somebody, Dom. My mother warned me about boys like you.”

“Yeah, but you didn’t listen.” Dom jumped out of the car, escaping her blind swats.

He opened the car door and helped her out. Leading her to the sidewalk, he removed the blindfold.