I took a deep breath and said, “Shayla, honey, are you sitting down?”
“Oh, no. Should I be?”
“Please sit down, so you can help me sort some things out. First of all, you will never guess what just developed when I called Brenda Jackson to thank her for the Miami getaway hookup.” I stood up and walked over to look out of my large office window. Cars thirty feet below were bustling through the digested Atlanta downtown traffic. Everyone knew exactly where they were going. Yet, I was stuck in place in my office wondering what my next move would be.
“What…. what is it? Did she invite you to another one? Because from what you told me so far, Stella’s groove is already back. If you mess around and go on another one of her trips, there could be wedding bells ringing even though you’re already married. Just make sure he ain’t gay like Stella’s man, okay?”
While allowing the realization that Brenda had not invited me to Miami sink in, I contemplated how to tell my friend the news. “No. It’s nothing like that. Brenda wasn’t even the one that invited me to the party.”
“Huh?” Shayla turned off the water that was flowing in the background, and her line was completely silent.
“I know this sounds crazy, but when I called her to thank her just a few minutes ago, she was completely clueless about the whole Florida thing. She said she had not been out of New York City in three years, so there was no way she could have invited me to a party in Miami.”
Still speechless, Shayla only said, “Oh,” It was apparent she was just as confused as I was about the whole ordeal. “I see,” she sighed when the hazy details appeared to sink in.
“So, you see that I have quite a maze to figure out – like who concocted this whole Brenda-Jackson-is-throwing-a-party-in-Florida deal. I have a pretty good idea of the direction
to start out in, but I do not know why he would try to get me down there under false pretenses.”
“Maverick?”
“Exactamundo!”
“You think he set the entire weekend up?”
“At first, I was surprised at the coincidence that we ended up in the same place at the same time with the same amount of passion burning for each other, but now knowing that Brenda didn’t set it up stacks up against coincidence.” I walked back to my chair and solemnly sat back down burying my head into my free hand.
“How would you feel if you knew he was the one that arranged it all, using Brenda’s name as an alias, to get you there?”
“I don’t know how to feel about that. I’ll know how I feel after I call him to get this cleared up.” I was about to say my goodbyes, but Shayla cut me off.
“Do you want to know what I think you should do?”
“Sure, what would my sister do?”
“First of all, I think it was a very sweet gesture of Maverick’s and knowing that he set the entire thing up makes for a nice setup of a romantic tale. Setting him up to sweep you off of your feet and steal you away from your everyday grind to give you a magical weekend… A weekend that you said yourself you will never forget. I think you should be happy that he cared enough to do all of that for you is what I’m trying to say.”
“And Shayla, trust me I am happy. But this changes the dynamics of everything. Sure, it’s a sweet gesture, but I’m the type that likes to know what’s up without too many surprises, you know? If he’ll lie about something as special as our reason for reuniting, what else has he lied about?” That thought touched a chord. My mind was full of questions, and my heart was tugging in different directions. Should I be happy? Should I be sad? Is it possible to be both at the same time? I could feel a sense of déjà vu coming upon me – was I finding another reason to get angry at Maverick just when things were going well, just like back in college? Could I be setting myself up for a fall again, possibly risking losing the best thing to ever happen to me besides having my children?
“Well, let me know as soon as you talk to Maverick. On a lighter note, make sure you are at my surprise party Saturday, bright and early, and dressed to impress. I need you there, because I don’t know what Rhonda and Titus are up to exactly.”
“I will be there, and don’t I always dress to impress?” We laughed at the inside joke. Shayla was always teasing me about the way I dressed. Then, she became silent and I realized I was the only one laughing.
“Gladys?” she asked, sounding as if something was bothering her suddenly.
“Yeah, honey?” I asked, wondering what could be the matter.
Instead of answering, she quickly brushed it off, and said, “No comment.”
“Are you sure you don’t have something on your mind, Shayla?”
“I’m sure. I’ll talk to you later,” she said before adding, “love you.”
“I love you, too.” And with that said, we hung up. I had a important call to make to Mr. Douglas.
Chapter 20
Shayla