Page 9 of Beyond Reach

Marcella chuckled. “You’re looking at my hair. I get the full treatment on Wednesday, and you’re going with us.”

“Us?”

Another woman elbowed Marcella aside. She wrinkled her nose when she spotted Chanda and stared wide-eyed. “This is her? God, I thought she was—you know—cuter than you. She don’t look like anything special.”

Chanda’s eyebrows rose, and she planted a hand on her hip. “Excuse you?”

Marcella rolled her eyes and waved a hand. “Don’t pay Lanae any mind. She says whatever pops into her head. I try to control her, but you know how that goes. Lanae, stop playing. I told you my cousin is beautiful. Come in, Chanda.”

Lanae’s nose didn’t uncurl as she followed the two of them inside the apartment. “What kind of name is Chanda? Oh! You said her nickname is Chandelier. I get it.”

“Lanae.”

Chanda was doing all she could not to clock this woman. She was just as hippy as Chanda, probably just as big. Her hair needed a new weave, and one of her fake eyelashes was crooked. But she had complaints about Chanda’s appearance? The nerve.

“Oh, okay,” Chanda said as she stepped farther into Marcella’s tiny living room. “Lanae is jealous. She thought you were going to ask her to be the maid of honor, and when you didn’t she got her feelings hurt.”

“You want to take me on?” Lanae got in her face.

Chanda pursed her lips and turned her head. Lanae came up to her chin if that much. Plus, she was young. Chanda put her at twenty-five at the most. Her cousin was twenty-nine. “Don’t get yourself hurt, little girl. I’m not here to get into fights with children.”

Lanae screeched in outrage. She stepped back and snatched her earrings off. “Them’s fightin’ words.”

“Lanae!” Marcella yelled. She jumped in front of Lanae and shoved her away from Chanda. “What did I tell you?”

“I—”

“What did I say?”

Lanae froze to think about it. A slow grin spread over her face, and she nodded. “You’re right, Marcella. This is your time, girl. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to pick a fight the second your cousin came. I want you to get everything you want. I’ll behave. I promise.”

Lanae strolled up to Chanda and held out her hand. “I can be the bigger woman. I’m Lanae if you haven’t figured it out.”

Chanda took her hand, although she didn’t know how Lanae was being the “bigger woman.” Chanda didn’t roll in trying to start immature mess. She wasn’t going to argue the point. Fact was, she was glad for the distraction. Those first few moments of meeting her cousin were over. The tension and pain in her shoulders could ease.

“Okay, ladies, we have a full day,” Marcella announced, clapping her hands. “We have to try on the dresses I chose, and the seamstress will adjust them.”

Chanda stilled. “I thought we were buying our own dresses. Tailoring takes time, Marcella.”

“They’re already chosen. That’s why I asked for your size when we talked. The lady I’m working with says she can get everything together no problem. I’m paying her extra.”

Lanae snorted. “You mean Garner is.”

“Garner?”

“Your ex,” Lanae supplied as if she’d forgotten. “He’s paying for everything. Marcella’s mom and dad don’t have to pay a thing. That’s what you get when you marry rich people.”

Chanda bit her tongue, but words slipped out anyway. “I’m sure my cousin isn’t marrying Garner for his family’s money.”

“I would,” Lanae admitted. “That is, if I was into white guys, which I’m not. To each his own, I say. Come on. Let’s go, Marcella. We can stop for lunch first. I’m starving after waiting forever for Chanda to get here.”

Chanda rubbed her temple.

“We eat after we do the fitting,” Marcella said, grabbing her purse. “I want to be as thin as possible for my wedding day. I’m not going to eat a lot from now until Sunday. I put on three pounds last month.”

“Three whole pounds?” Chanda looked from herself to Lanae and back again.

Lanae sucked her teeth. “I’m okay like I am, girl. I know I look good. Men like curves not skin and bones, Marcella. Remember that. You might have done some modeling when you were younger, but that’s for the ads not real life.”

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