Page 42 of Divine

I was afraid to bring it up because it didn’t seem like it was something he meant for me to hear. It felt intrusive to ask him about his private thoughts. I was afraid of what the conversation might entail and more importantly what it would do to our friendship. The last thing I wanted to do was lose him as a friend.

My house was practically a flower shop with the way he continued to bring me flowers. They were not bouquets of long-stemmed roses and tulips either. Liam brought potted plants and even tended to them during the days when I wasn’t even sure if I could move.

He explained how anger management had gotten him into gardening. Liam felt like seeing something pretty every day would help lift my spirit, and he was right. Thank goodness he had a green thumb because I didn’t know anything about plants or flowers.

Between him, Candice, and Tremaine, I didn’t think I could have asked for better friends. Syre had run off and gotten married during all the chaos that took place at Bishop’s engagement party. First I had to confirm that the whole thing wasn’t one of his jokes. After meeting his beautiful wife, I liked her.

It was easy to see why he had fallen head over heels for her in just a short period of time. Royelle was really sweet and seemed just as crazy about him as he was about her. I loved that for him. Her calm was the perfect contrast to his intensity. With as crazy as it sounded he seemed happy, which was new. Did I mention that I really liked her? It was a plus that Syre’s new bride kept him out of my hair. I felt more comfortable to step out on the town and let my hair down these days.

The possibility of ending a six-month drought lingered at the back of my mind. The least that could come of the night was me getting lucky. Grief had skewed the timeline so much that I didn’t even think about sex for a while. I barely wanted to get out of bed let alone let someone else into mine aside from Liam during one of our late-night TV binges.

There was a time when I would jump at the chance to go out and eat and drink good. Now it was a task just to put on clothes and leave the house. Before I became a recluse, going out with my girls had been a welcomed reprieve from my all work and no play lifestyle.

I wasn’t 100 percent back to myself, but it felt good to start coming out. The only thing that had gotten me out of the house at first was the fact that I knew Liam and my brothers were worrying themselves to death about me.

I’d been keeping myself busy as hell just going between Bishop’s place, home, and work. I pushed myself to the limit, juggling running my business and my mom’s restaurant. Eventually, I had to accept that it wasn’t in the cards, nor was working myself to death going to bring her back. After a couple of months, I fell back. I’d kept my mom’s current manager on and let her handle the day-to-day affairs at the restaurant. Now, I only checked in when necessary.

Thankfully, Sherrod was in town and wanted to spend some time together. We had been seeing each other here and there for months between his being on and off the road. I was even thinking about giving him some. Lord knows it had been far too long. Trying to have morals was leaving me sexually frustrated.

For a while, Sherrod felt like the perfect candidate to help me break my drought. For the past thirty minutes, I had been cursed with the task of sitting across the table from him and keeping a straight face while watching him pack his mouth with food and drink more shots than he could handle.

Instead of watching the fool I had graced with my company down another drink, I picked my phone up to verify that his time was indeed up. If it weren’t for the apology Rolex that my companion had given me earlier this week, I wouldn’t have been sitting across from him right now.

Although Liam was off tonight, I let him know that I had a date. Like he loved to say, somebody needed to know where I was. I was seeing a couple of guys, but I hadn’t gotten too serious with anyone. After losing my mother, I knew life was too short to waste time.

Sherrod was the most consistent. He showered me with gifts but never had time for me. Now, I regretted even wasting my time and coming out with him tonight. I fought the urge to roll my eyes unsuccessfully as Sherrod’s greedy ass flagged down a waitress that wasn’t even working our section. He was getting on my already frayed nerves more and more by the minute. As soon as our real waitress came over, I was going to put rush a on my dessert.

“Hey, lil’ mama. Let me get another platter of sushi and some of those crab puffs,” he requested.

“Sure. I’ll send your server right over,” the young girl explained.

“You don’t have to send anybody anywhere. I just told you what I wanted,” he barked.

“Are you really doing this right now?” I asked, lifting my brows as I sat back in my seat and folded my arms over my chest.

“Aye chill, ma. It’s her job to get me whatever the fuck I want. I’m paying for this shit. That lil’ girl already about to lose her tip if she don’t hurry up and get her ass back over here with my drink!” he shouted as he pulled out a few twenties and passed them to the waitress he’d inconvenienced.

This was why I liked to drive myself to dates. Sherrod or Rod had been so sweet on our first date a few months ago. From just texting and talking to him on the phone, I’d gotten comfortable enough to let him pick me up. He hadn’t told me where we were going because he wanted to surprise me. It was indeed a surprise.

A while back, I mentioned how I missed getting sushi with my girls. Candice was the only one who loved it as much as I did. My bestie Candice had been working so much lately that even now that I had started to get my mojo back, we barely got a chance to link up anymore.

Going out with Sherrod had been a welcomed reprieve from my all work and no play lifestyle. Now, he seemed different, and I had regrets. I wasn’t sure if he was finally showing his true colors or what, but I didn’t like it. I couldn’t stand a man who couldn’t hold his liquor. I’d told him the exact same thing before leaving his loud-mouthed ass in a bar a few weeks ago when he was in town.

After a dozen missed calls and unanswered texts, he sent over a huge bouquet of roses, a gold watch, and a designer bag as an apology. The card attached was etched with a promise to be the perfect gentleman if given another chance. Now, I saw that not only was he a loud drunk, but he was full of shit too. I shook my head, wishing that I would have returned his package to its sender.

Sherrod was the worst kind of date. It shouldn’t have taken three tries for me to realize that I didn’t like him. Actually, I couldn’t stand him. Obviously, someone else was sending all of those sweet and heartfelt text messages. I wouldn’t be surprised if he had someone picking out gifts for the women he offended on a daily basis.

The man sitting before me was the real Sherrod Bates. He was flashing money like a new-age drug dealer, tipping everyone who approached our table but talking down to them like they were beneath him just because they worked in a restaurant.

He was making such a scene that I just knew word would get back to Syre that he and I were seen out together. I wanted to hide under the table, but there was no use. Thankfully, he wasn’t a big enough celebrity to have paparazzi taking pictures and following us around. He was already bringing enough attention our way to get a few sets of eyes on us. I could only pray that he took the spotlight off me enough that no one would even notice me sitting here looking like a fool for entertaining his company.

“Aye, let me get another round of shots. Do they let you buy the whole bottle here? Y’all act like y’all think a nigga broke up in here!” he yelled to no one in particular.

I was mortified. Unable to take any more of his foolishness, I stood to my feet and crossed my arms over my chest again.

“I’m out,” I announced only as a courtesy.

I didn’t want him waiting for me, thinking I was in the bathroom or something. He needed to know that this was probably the last time I would do him the honor of trying to tolerate him.

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