Page 3 of Beyond Reach

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Chapter 1

“Chanda, hey, girl. It’s been too long,” Marcella gushed. “How have you been?”

Chanda took a moment to gather her thoughts and to stem the memories that flooded her mind. She didn’t relish hearing her cousin’s voice. Not that anything went down between them. It was just that Marcella was home—family. To have all that emotion hit her in the face was too much.

“I’m good,” Chanda breathed. “What about you?”

She didn’t really want to go into how her cousin was doing. Marcella could be too blunt sometimes.

“I’m doing great!” Marcella gushed. “Remember when I emailed you a year ago to tell you about Garner?”

Chanda froze. She waited to fall apart at hearing his name, but nothing happened. It wasn’t that she didn’t recall how it felt to love him. No, she was stronger. Relief flooded her mind, and she relaxed just a bit.

“I remember,” she said. “You managed to track me down.”

Marcella laughed too loud into the phone. Chanda would have to be deaf, dumb, and blind not to pick up on the fact that her cousin was on cloud nine. “I can find you wherever you go.”

For a split second, the statement sounded threatening, but Marcella laughed.

“We’re family. We’re connected down to our genes and DNA. Or is that the same thing?”

“Don’t ask me.” Chanda shuffled across the room, intending to tackle the load of laundry she had lying near the closet. The motivation wasn’t there, but she kicked a pair of jeans that had grown tighter lately.

“Never mind about science.” Marcella brushed aside her own claim. “I wanted to be the first one to give you the good news and to invite you home.”

“Home?” Chanda’s breath left her lungs too quickly.

“Chandelier, I’m getting married!”

Chanda ground her teeth. Her first reaction was to cringe at the old nickname her cousin and a few others in her family had given her years ago. They thought it was funny, but Chanda hated it. Who wanted to be named after a light fixture?

Clarity hit when she replayed Marcella’s words in her head. “W-what did you say?”

Her cousin giggled like a teenager. “You heard me, girl. I’m getting married. Garner and I have set the date. We’re going to be married in two weeks.”

“T-that’s pretty soon.” Chanda kicked herself for the shaky voice, but Marcella didn’t seem to notice.

“I know. We’re so in love we can’t wait. Garner is eager to give me his last name. Isn’t he the sweetest thing? Now you can’t say no, but I’m going to ask you anyway.”

“Ask me what?”

Dread washed over Chanda. Marcella was going to ask her to come to the wedding. As kids, the two of them were close. Of course Marcella wanted her there. Chanda felt sure she could fly into her hometown, attend the wedding, and get the heck out of there. If worse came to worse, she could find an excuse not to show up at all.

“Cuz, I want you to be my maid of honor.”

Chanda dropped the phone. It bounced on the carpet and landed face down. The screen remained in tact, and she thanked God she’d sprung for the good cover. Then again, she wished it did break. She could have an excuse not to continue this conversation.

“Hey, Chanda, you there?” her cousin called over the line.

Nervous fear tightened her gut.

This isn’t a big deal. You show up, you say congrats, and you go home. Easy-peasy.

She thought it could work because honestly she wasn’t languishing over the lost love of her life. She had recovered. Didn’t she? Her heart mended—she hoped. Even if she did feel a little sad, it was the idea of losing a good man that made her feel that way. Not to mention the other loss—no, she wouldn’t allow her thoughts to go there. Either way, her hesitance wasn’t about lingering love for Garner.

“I’m here,” she said. “But why would you ask me to be your maid of honor? Won’t your girlfriends feel slighted? I don’t want to step on anyone’s toes.”

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