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I swooped in to grab her luggage before she could. “I will. Would you stop worrying? Everything will be perfect, Rhonda.”
“I paid a lot of money, that’s all.”
“And that’s why it will be perfect. Now do me a favor, while you are in Cali can you relax some?”
“You’ve got to be kidding me? I’m going to a conference; this is not a retreat.”
“Conferences end at night.”
“Then I have calls that need to be made and meetings I need to be in on.” She was making excuses as usual.
“I know, but life is passing you by and you need to relax a little.” She stared at me before turning away. “Go have a drink with somebody or something. You know, have some fun for a change.”
“There’s never any time for relaxing. So please tell me if something goes wrong.”
We never talked about it, but Rhonda was once engaged. That was five years ago and now, she’s all about work and the family. Family, and then work. No time for love. I get it. Heartbreak isn’t easy. I hated what John did to her, but she was pretty and still young enough to find the right man, get married, and maybe have that baby she’s always wanted. If only she stopped to smell the roses, she could find the one.
The one. Like I have.
It was then that the doorbell rang and Rhonda was about to go answer it. “It’s probably Paul. I’ll get it,” I said, and went to the door to let him in.
“What’s up, Vic?” Paul said, and we did the man-hug thing.
“What’s up?”
“Hey, Paul,” Rhonda said. “How’s married life?”
“Great,” he said and hugged Rhonda.
“Uh huh. I hope so. Y’all married now, so you can’t get mad at Vanessa and go to your apartment anymore. The two of you need to work it out.”
“I know, Rhonda.”
“You can come crash at my place,” I said.
Rhonda gave me her stern look. “Don’t encourage him.”
“Sorry,” I said. But I meant it; and me and Paul acknowledged that fact. I was a little over a year older than Paul, but we grew up together. He was my boy.
“And no more of that other foolishness,” Rhonda said, and gave Paul the same stern look. She knew about Paul and Bria.
“That is long since over,” Paul said and cut his eyes at me.
“Make sure. Vanessa will cut you down to the white meat.”
“She is very fond of reminding me of that,” Paul said.
Rhonda started moving toward the kitchen. “You need to call and check to see if the arrangements have been made for Uncle Pete to dialyze on Saturday morning.”
“I will, but I still think Aunt Maria can handle it.”
“Please, the last time I asked her to call our family in New York, none of them showed. She left a message on Poochie’s voice mail, and everyone knows Poochie doesn’t have a number that stays on long enough.”
I laughed.
“Just call.”
“Fine, like I said, I will.”
