Total pages in book: 141
Estimated words: 143382 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 717(@200wpm)___ 574(@250wpm)___ 478(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 143382 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 717(@200wpm)___ 574(@250wpm)___ 478(@300wpm)
I made it into the main room to hear Luna say “Hey.” I vaguely noticed Harlow making an approach with an empty tray, but I skidded to a halt when I saw the two women sitting at the bar.
One was Shirleen, Cap’s mom.
He was adopted, which explained why he was white, and she was Black. She was also gorgeous, she had a killer wardrobe, shoe collection, and the biggest, finest Afro I’d ever seen.
The other was Daisy.
I’d met Daisy (emphasis earned by all that was Daisy) at Raye’s little sister’s funeral.
And I fell in love with her at first sight too.
I moved to her, clasped my hands in front of me, and gushed as a joke, “Oh my God, you’re my favorite recording artist of all time!”
People turned to look.
Strike that.
People were already looking (such was Daisy), now they were staring.
She laughed a tinkly-bell laugh.
“Well, that’d be sweet, sugar, if I was who you think I am. But don’t worry, it’s a compliment you think I’m her.”
This was a joke, and it wasn’t, because she looked exactly like Dolly Parton except younger: huge rack, big, blonde hair and plethora of rhinestones on her stonewashed denim jacket with its saucy peplum, opened at the chest for maximum cleavage potential, and a thick line of more rhinestones acting as a pinstripe down the sides of her skintight, stonewashed skinny jeans.
Her platform stripper shoes had a Lucite sole and pink line of marabou feathers across the top of her foot and at her ankle.
See?
Totally love-at-first-sight worthy.
She kept her narrow ass on her stool and threw out both arms, at the end of which were fingers, at the end of which were nails sporting long, lethal, almond-shapes that were entirely crusted in pink sequins.
“Give me some love, Jessie.”
I moved in for a hug. “So good to see you again, and better circumstances this time,” I said in her ear.
“You too, sugar bunches of love.”
Seemed Louise was going to have competition with the endearments.
I let Daisy go and turned to Shirleen.
“Heya, Shirleen.”
“Hey there, child,” she said softly and opened her arms too.
Oh man.
Someone told her about Jeff. I knew it just looking at her face.
Still, I’d had a hug from Shirleen before (yes, at the funeral), and learned they were very good, so I went in for another one.
I remembered correctly. They were very good.
The news on Shirleen, by the by, was that she and her husband Moses were moving to Phoenix as well.
Then again, Cap wasn’t her only adopted son. Roam, another member of the team, was too, with designs to move down, something it appeared he didn’t mess around in doing, seeing as I’d noticed just yesterday, he’d already been folded into the crew.
So, of course she’d want to be where her boys were.
“I’m so glad you’re moving to town,” I told her.
“I’m not,” Daisy chimed in as I stepped out of Shirleen’s embrace.
“You could move too,” Shirleen stated. “You been outside. Did you feel that? Eighty-four degrees. And it’s almost December.”
“I ain’t leavin’ my castle,” Daisy fired back.
Castle?
“Have Marcus move it for you,” Shirleen replied.
Move a castle?
“My babies are still in school,” Daisy retorted. “Annamae would never forgive me if I moved her at her age.”
“How old is she?” I asked.
“Ten.”
I winced. “Yeah. She’ll be forming her posse by now.”
“You got that right, sister,” Daisy replied.
“So, are you just here to visit?” I asked.
“Nope,” she turned and picked up a paper coffee cup from the bar, which meant she got it from the cubby, not from the restaurant. In other words, Tex made it, not one of the girls. She took a sip and said, “I’m here to help Shirleen with house huntin’.”
“Rad,” I drawled.
“We don’t need help,” Shirleen asserted. “My Moses isn’t gonna be outside, mowing a lawn in a hundred and twenty-degree heat.”
I heard that.
Though, it brought to mind that Eric liked yardwork, and he hadn’t lived in town for more than a few months, so he’d only experienced the dying breaths of a Phoenix summer.
I wondered how long it’d take before he hired a yard crew.
“So we’re gonna buy the condo in that high-rise Raye showed me on that website,” Shirleen concluded.
“You haven’t even seen it in person,” Daisy said.
“I don’t need to see it,” Shirleen returned. “It’s got a rooftop pool for me. It’s got a nice gym, for Moses. And it’s got valet parking, also for me.”
“And it’s also got seventy neighbors living right on top of each other,” Daisy pointed out.
Yeah.
Unless you scored a joint like the Oasis, that could be bad.
“We’re in Phoenix,” Shirleen replied. “At that price range, they’re all gonna be old as dirt, wadin’ in the rooftop pool, waiting to die. They’re not gonna throw wild parties. And they’ll all be retired, so they’ll be in good moods all the time. Alternately, they’ll be on the Phoenix Suns, and I’ll get to ride the elevators with a slew of fine-lookin’ Black men. Moses won’t mind. We’re allowed to look. Just not touch.”