Page 44 of The Secret to a Southern Wedding

She turned and quickly left the bar. She didn’t bother to look back. If she did, there was no guarantee that she’d be able to leave without crawling back into his arms.

After kissing Cyril, Imani didn’t know where to go. She couldn’t imagine facing her mother. Linda would be sure to ask her how things had gone with her meeting with Cyril and the kiss was too fresh in her mind to hide that something happened. She didn’t want her mom to know anything about the kiss. She needed to go somewhere to process everything, but she also needed to talk about what was going on. Which had her dialing Tracey to see if she could come by her bed-and-breakfast for coffee. She needed Tracey and Halle, but Halle was working and couldn’t come over.

When she arrived, Tracey was on the phone with Monique, the woman who worked at the front desk of her inn. “Don’t worry about it, Monique. Whatever you need to do just let me know,” Tracey was saying. She looked at Imani and shook her head.

Imani sat down in one of the wingback chairs in the living area and watched Tracey pace back and forth.

“Just be careful and let me know what you find out. Okay. Talk to you later.” Tracey pressed the button on her cell phone and sighed. “Well, that sucks.”

“What’s going on?”

“Monique says she has a family emergency and needs to take her cousin somewhere with her mom. I don’t know.” Tracey twisted her lips and narrowed her eyes at her cell phone.

“Do you think she’s lying?”

“I think she’s always got something going on. When I first opened this place she was great and I knew I could count on her. Lately though...she’s been distracted and out of it.”

“Maybe it really is a family emergency. She could have a lot going on.”

“It feels like something else.” Tracey shrugged and waved a hand. “Either way, it doesn’t matter. We’ve only got one couple staying today and they’re very low-key. Anniversary trip and mostly staying in their room. I’ll let Bernard know I’m staying here tonight.”

“You spend the night here?”

“Not a lot. Monique lives nearby, so she usually stays here until around ten then she locks up the place and I show up in the morning.”

“Then why are you staying? You’re not too far from here. You can go home.”

Tracey scrunched up her nose as if the idea of going home was distasteful. “I’m not far, but it’s still too far if something comes up tonight. It’ll be fine. So, what brings you here today? When you asked about meeting up with me you acted like something was wrong.”

Imani groaned and put her hand to her forehead. The reminder of why she’d sought out her friend hitting her. “I messed up.”

“Chile, please, of everyone I know you’re the one least likely to mess up.”

“No, for real, I messed up. Like, really messed up.”

Tracey’s eyes widened before she sat in the chair with Imani. They both could barely fit and giggled as Tracey wiggled her hips to push herself between Imani and the edge of the chair. “What happened?”

Imani laughed. “Are you serious?”

“When Imani says she really messed up then I need to hear it. What did you do?”

“I...” The words stuck in her throat. She placed a hand over her eyes and sighed.

Tracey tapped against Imani’s leg. “Don’t play with me. You’re about to make me worry. What’s wrong?”

“I kissed Cyril.” She said the words in a rush and kept her hand over her eyes.

The silence that fell was deafening. Imani spread her fingers and stared through the slits. Tracey’s mouth hung open. She stared at Imani with wide, shocked eyes.

Imani dropped her hand. “Did you hear me?”

Tracey blinked. Then used her knuckle to shake her ear before clearing her throat. “I think I heard you wrong. I thought you said you kissed Cyril.”

“I did.” She leaned forward and said in a softer voice. “And I liked it. A lot.”

“Oh my God!” Tracey exclaimed and tapped Imani’s leg again. “I can’t believe you did that.”

Imani slapped her hands over her face again. “I know. It’s messed up, right? I can’t be kissing Cyril.”

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