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I was so damn jealous.
Jealous and determined to keep this job. Sharla had given me a gift and I was not going to blow it.
“Here you go! Orange soda,” Bailey said, handing me a glass of my favorite beverage.
“Thank you, baby,” I said, taking a sip as I watched her open the pizza box and put a slice on a plate for me.
Minutes later, we were sitting side by side on the sofa stuffing our faces with slices of the greasy pepperoni pie while Whitney Houston belted outI Will Always Love You.
“She really is the queen,” Bailey declared wistfully.
“Yeah, there’ll never be another her,” I agreed, softly humming along with the song.
“You can sing like that, though. Plus, you can dance.”
“I can sing and dance, but my voice is nowhere near that good.”
Tearing her attention away from the TV, she met my gaze with a tiny frown. “Yes, it is. You used to sing all the time, so I know. You never sing anymore though. I wish you would.”
My heart skittered in my chest. Singing was...a sensitive subject for me. It was something I loved, but it was tethered to the condition of my heart, and at that stage in my life, my heart needed an overhaul. So, I made a rather inept attempt at deflection. “I’m...things have been...”
“You’re sad?”
Shit.
“No, just haven’t been in a singing mood lately.”
“Because of the divorce?”
Fuck it. “Yes, that and a lot of other things but nothing for you to worry about. Why don’t you show me what you’ve been working on for Britta?”
Since my girl was a consummate performer and on track to be an even better singer than me, she grabbed the remote, searching the YouTube app for her assigned song, and as it played, she stood frontand center, her posture reflecting Whitney’s on the TV screen behind her as she performed the hell out ofI Have Nothing, making me more than proud.
The new job was...hectic.I was responsible for so much—Sharla’s calendar of meetings, events, speaking engagements, sending emails and memos on her behalf, being present at meetings and on and on. Hence my daily exhaustion when you couple all of that with my evening class and its required coursework on top of my mommy duties when it was my week with Bailey. But I liked it. I liked seeing my friend in action, ever beautiful and intelligent. I loved seeing the dominance she exuded, the respect she commanded. Sharla was a boss in every sense of the word. Her standards were high, she was serious about her job, and honestly, I grew prouder of her every day. She was inspiring but not inspiring enough to make me like the class I was taking or want to take on more of a course load. Yeah, I still held a deep dislike for school, but I realized it was a necessary evil unless I wanted to be a secretary and my friend’s subordinate permanently.
On this particular day, while I was deep into composing an email regarding a department-wide meeting for Sharla, a male voice made me shoot straight up in my seat.
“Hey,” was all he’d said, but see, Sharla’s husband had this nice, cognac-smooth voice and the view?
Damn, my friend was blessed.
Jovani Higgs was all bulk and height and good looks, thick hair pulled into a curly ponytail at the back of his head and a broad smile on his face. He was kind, too, and as titanic as he was in stature, he managed not to feel or appear menacing.
“Hey, there!” I greeted him.
“My wife busy?” he asked.
“Now you know she’s not too busy for you.”
Grinning, he gave me a shrug. “You never know.” Then he walked across the space that served as a reception area that also happened to house my desk, knocking on the dean’s door before opening it. He’d walked inside her office and just as he closed the door, I heard Sharla sweetly say, “Hey, Mr. Higgs.” The bossy lady tone was absent. She loved that man, he loved her, and I loved that for them.
So why did I feel like shit?
Several minutes later, Jovani left and Sharla called me into her office. She was wearing a smile, her skin glowing. Damn, love looked good on her, just as good as it looked on Nadia.
“You summoned me, Dean Dr. London-Higgs?” I said in a horrible fake British accent.
Rolling her eyes, she replied, “I oughta fire you for coming in here sounding like a drunk Peppa Pig. Anyway, Jojo just reminded me about our get together tomorrow night. Drinks, Black Card Revoked, his dad’s surf and turf. Noddy and Nate are coming. Be there at 7:00 PM sharp.”
