“Damn,” Destiny says, her wine glass halfway to her mouth.
Pamela, who has Ari sleeping on her shoulder, cups a hand over her mouth, her eyes growing watery.
“Oh, Ella,” Meagan sings with a hand to her chest. “You look incredible.”
My face heats up with my blush.
I walk further into the room. “I feel sexy,” I admit.
“And you should,” Jada stands and walks over to me.
She walks around my body, admiring every angle. She stops in front of me, taking her necklace from around her neck. It’s one of those long pendant necklaces that rest between the cleavage. And knowing Jada, it was expensive.
She places the necklace over my head and adjusts it so that it lies exactly where it should.
“Yes,” Kyra claps. “The necklace is perfect. A few gold bangles and this clutch.” She walks over to the rack and pulls a simple black clutch with a gold buckle down and hands it to me. When she steps back, she smiles brightly.
“Kyra, I never doubted your skills, but girl, you are damn good,” Jada says, and I couldn’t agree more.
“Thank you.” Kyra smiles as she gives a little bow.
“Yes, you did amazing. Now let’s hope my conversation can keep his attention the entire date,” I joke, taking a seat on the couch beside Meagan.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Pamela asks.
All the women are staring at me with raised eyebrows. I lean forward and grab a strawberry off the charcuterie board and bite into it with a shrug.
“Just something Andrew said.”
“And why are we listening to anything that asshat says?” Jada asks, placing her hands on her hips.
I know I shouldn’t take to heart anything Andrew said that day at my house, but those words seem to keep popping up in my head.
“No man is going to go chasing after some divorced mother of two who can’t hold a conversation past books and fucking cake recipes.”
I quickly recanted Andrew’s words that day to the ladies.
“You know that’s all bullshit, right?” Destiny asks leaning forward in her seat. “You have way more to talk about than that.”
“And even if you didn’t,” Jada chimes in. “Books are interesting, and with the way your ass can bake, you should talk about that shit. Fuck him.”
I laugh at her comment. The girls are always complimenting my baking skills. It was these women who encouraged me to sell my cakes and baked goods. Jada was my very first customer, even though all the girls have purchased from me multiple times.
“I know he’s lying and was just saying things to hurt me. But even though I know that to be true, those words still bother me.”
Look, I’m not new to Andrew's snide comments. I’m used to his cutting words and over the years have learned to block them out, but there are still moments when something he says seems to chip away at a hidden insecurity.
“And that’s why he says them,” Pamela says. “He knows that they still have the power to harm you. So he uses them like daggers. Amir told me on the day we had our last court date for the divorce that he’s glad we never had a baby because he didn’t want me to carry his children.” Her face pinches as she repeats the words. “Although I knew he was lying, those words still hurt me.”
She drops a kiss on Ari’s little head. It was no secret that Pamela wanted children. She struggled with infertility in hermarriage for years, which made Amir’s betrayal that much more awful.
Meagan places her hand on Pam’s knee. “You’re going to be a mother one day. I just know it in my soul.”
Pam smiles at Meagan, but I can see she isn’t so sure about her words.
“This all proves one thing,” Jada says, getting our attention.
“And what’s that?” Destiny asks with a chuckle.
