Chapter 29 #3
“Can I talk to you for a minute?” He asked.
I nodded and tucked the folder underneath my arm. “Yeah.”
He looked down before looking back up at me. “I’ve apologized a thousand times already, so I won’t do that. I just… I want to thank you, Mahogany.”
“Thank me for what?” I asked with dipped brows.
“For everything. Mainly the most important and happiest years of my life. I don’t think I’ve ever told you how much you meant to me, for real.
You… you and the kids meant—shit mean—the world to me.
Still, to this day, given everything we’ve been through.
” He looked down again. “Thank you for almost twenty years, Mahogany. Thank you for your constant loyalty. I look past what you did because shit… I pushed you there. You could’ve stepped out on me years ago, but you didn’t.
You continued to give me your heart and unconditional love.
For years I tripped about the way you responded to the pain I caused you, but I had no right to.
It took me a minute to reach this point of acceptance.
You deserve this and me… I deserve this too.
I don’t hate you for choosing you Mahogany, I hate myself for pushing you to a point where you had to. ”
I was a little lost for words. Really, truly did not know what to say.
I was quiet, just looking up at him with teary eyes.
He then stepped forward with opened arms, asking for a hug.
I swallowed my tears, nodded, and allowed him to hug me.
He exhaled when my arms wrapped around him and well…
I did too. When I exhaled, the tears I swallowed came up and I cried.
It was truly the end of an era. No more Mahogany and Duke.
Wow.
The rest of the week flew by. Before I knew it, it was Saturday evening and I was getting ready for Crescent company party. All day, my stomach was filled with butterflies, anticipating seeing him. So much so that on top of the mimosas from brunch with the girls earlier, I had me a glass of wine.
“I can’t believe you’re having a hard time picking a dress,” Sienna said, sitting her wine glass on the dresser, standing. “It’s a company party, right?”
“Yeah but… you know.”
She smirked. “Yeah, I know. I know very well.”
Shew knew about Crescent and I. Shit, all of them knew.
Her, Hazel and Naoki. During one of our monthly Zoom Ladies Nights, I told them all about Crescent and about how our first encounter was at Pandora’s.
Hazel thought I should tell him, SiSi and KiKi yelled in unison about not telling him.
As if they needed to tell me anything. I wasn’t uttering a single word to Crescent about Pandora’s.
I was perfectly fine with him assuming we met first at the meeting.
Pandora’s was a chapter of my life that I wanted to keep tucked.
Imagine having that conversation with him?
Imagine him asking if I’d ever seen Judah there.
Do you know how uncomfortable that conversation would be?
Nah, I was good. There were some things I was literally taking to the grave and Pandora’s was at the top of the list. And you know what? That was perfectly fine.
“You do not want to wear that damn dress to that party,” Naoki said with her face twisted up. “That don’t even look like you. Why do you own it?”
Kiki was in town. We were supposed to have ladies night at the house tonight since the kids were gone but since I had Crescent’s party to go to, we did brunch instead.
And after going to Home Goods, Ulta, and TJ Maxx, we came back to the house to find me something to wear.
Which, for me, was out of the norm. I could dress my ass off, but this party had me in my head, so I needed a little bit of help.
I picked it up and looked at it. “I bought it for one of my old clients’ funerals—
“Well, why in the hellll are you trying to wear it to a company party thrown by that man? NeNe, you trippin,” Hazel added, with her face in her phone.
“Pick a Pandora’s fit,” Sienna said. She snapped her fingers. “Oooh! Do you still have the dress you wore the night y’all first met?”
I sucked my teeth. “Yes, I still have it. I am not wearing it. What if it’s familiar and he realizes I’m the woman he saved from that funky ass couple?”
“So? Girl… That shit is cute as hell,” Hazel said. “The way y’all met all of those years ago and then reconnected. I say wear the dress.”
“No. I’m not wearing it,” I said. “I probably can’t fit it anymore anyway. I gained a couple of pounds.”
“Mmmhmm. Yo ass just scared,” Naoki said with her lips twisted up.
“Why y’all bitches campaigning for me to wear that damn dress? Y’all both told me not to tell him.”
Sienna shrugged. “I just think it would be cute. Plus, you know how many of those dresses were made? And it was how many years ago? You remember what he had on?”
On my way back over to the closet, I looked over my shoulder at Sienna. “Yes, I remember what he had on. A dark grey Armani suit. I remember everything about that night. The way he smelled too. He still smells the same.”
“Damn,” mumbled Naoki before picking her glass of Caymus up.
“You spent years thinking about him though,” Sienna reminded me. “You don’t know if it’s the same for him. You know what I mean? And… like I said… it’s just a dress. It wasn’t the only one made.”
I bit down on my bottom lip and turned to face the closet.
Fingering through my clothes, I stopped when I got to it.
The red, mid-length, V-neck dress screamed at me, urging me to slip it on.
It was fitting for the event. Not too short, not too long.
Not too tight, not too loose. It was sexy enough.
Maybe they were right. What were the odds of him remembering it?
And if it did ring a bell, so what? It didn’t automatically put me in Pandora’s.
I was wearing a mask. He had no clue what the lady underneath the mask looked like.
“Okay… I’ll wear it.”
Hazel danced around in her chair. “Okay bitch let us see this infamous dress!”
I pulled it out of the closet and laid it on the bed.
Naoki talked about how it was kind of out of style.
Sienna said that didn’t matter. Hazel begged me to wear it with the shoes I wore that night too.
I stood there with heavy shoulders, butterflies filling my stomach, staring down at it.
It was a little outdated and… I did gain a few pounds.
It was tight back then. There was no telling how tight it would be tonight.
I bit the corner of my lip and picked it up. “If I can fit it, I’ll wear it. The shoes too.”
When I went into the bathroom to change, they stood outside of the door waiting for me.
I slipped my silk kimono robe off and tossed it on the vanity before sliding into the dress.
It was a little struggle getting it down over my hips, but I did, with a shimmy.
After sliding the straps over my shoulders, I turned to look in the mirror.
I looked good in it. The spandex in it definitely saved my life.
I stared at my reflection, into my eyes and wondered what he would think if he did know I was the woman from the club. Would that change anything? Most likely it would. And not for the best. I couldn’t imagine him being into me as much as he was now, if he knew.
With a deep breath, I turned to walk out of the bathroom.
When I did, they shrieked, telling me I looked good as fuck.
Naoki went to touching my hair, talking about I should wear it down, to the side, over my shoulder.
Sienna said I needed to wear a bold red lip, and Hazel searched my closet for the Tom Ford heels I told her I wore that night.
While they went crazy, acting like school girls, my mind swam with thoughts of him.
What would the night be like? Would he be standoffish and an asshole? Or would he talk to me? And what would we talk about? I was antsy as hell, and I did not know why. The man drank my squirt for crying out loud. Apparently what we did didn’t matter because a bitch was a nervous wreck.
Before leaving the house, Naoki did my hair, Sienna helped with my makeup, and I doused myself in Marc Jacobs Daisy Love—a scent I used to wear faithfully years ago—before finally killing another glass of wine and heading out.
“You here?” Asked Tamia on the other end of my phone.
“Yeah, I just pulled up. I’m trying to find a parking spot. Damn it’s crowded.”
Beep! Beep!
“I just blew my horn—it’s a spot over here by me.”
I looked around the parking lot and told her to blow again.
Following the sound of her horn, I found a spot right next to her.
She waved, with a big smile on her face and I laughed, waving back.
We got off the phone and I did the usual—flipped my sun visor down and checked my appearance.
Wearing my goddess locs down, to the side was a good choice.
Just as much of a good choice as the bold, red lip.
I wondered if I was overdressed for a company party.
I ran my hands down the front of my dress, over my thighs and took a deep breath. Relax Mahogany, you look fine.
I adjusted my gold necklaces and checked the gold stack on my wrist before grabbing my purse to add a clear gloss on top of my red lip. While I was getting ready, Tamia jumped in the car.
“Whew! You smell good. Damn,” with raised brows, she eyed me up and down. “Okay, bitch. You look good. Why didn’t you tell me you were dressing up? Look at me, with this damn work suit on.”
I looked over at Tamia and giggled. She had on a skirt and a blazer. Shaking her head, she came out of the blazer and tossed it in the backseat, exposing a white tank. “You coming sexy as hell. I see what type of time you on.”
I drew back and rolled my eyes. “What type of time am I on, Tamia?”
“Trying to throw it back on Mr. Carter tonight, hm?”
I sucked my teeth with a grin. “Shut up. What is that in that bag?”
She held her brown paper bag up and pulled a bottle of Don Julio from it. “Pregaming baby. You want a shot?”
“You pregaming but decided to wear a damn suit? Make it make sense,” I said with a laugh. “I’m good. I had a couple of drinks already.”
“I did too. But I need a lil’ mo. You remember how many fine black niggas walked into Couture that day?
I got a feeling it’s about to be doubled.
I need a couple dranks. Plus… I’ve been thinking about shooting my shot at Orion’s fine ass.
If that’s okay with you Boss Lady. I mean, it should be okay with you… you gave the nooky to—
“Okay, okay, shut up. Hurry up with your shot so we can head inside.”
After about five more minutes of talking shit and her tossing two shots of Don Julio back, we got out of the car.
She joked with me about my heels, calling me the baddest thing walking, and I just laughed it off.
Maybe I was overdressed. I hoped not. I hoped I wouldn’t stick out like a sore thumb.
Oh God. What if everyone else was in business casual?
I should not have let them ho’s talk me into wearing this damn dress. It was too late to turn back now, huh?
When we walked into the venue, we were greeted by a doorman.
He was a young man. Couldn’t be no older than eighteen.
What the hell did Crescent have going on?
He was polite and motioned for us to help ourselves to the open bar and refreshments.
We thanked him and continued into the party.
Meek Mills’ Dreams and Nightmares boomed from the speakers.
The venue was just as crowded as the parking lot.
And the niggas were out. Tamia wasn’t wrong when she said the numbers would double.
Hell… yes she was wrong. The numbers quadrupled, quadruple times.
“I told you it was going to be a lot of niggas in here, Ne,” she said, leaning in. “And I’m in here with this long ass pencil skirt on.”
I giggled. “It’s tight. At least that ass is poking.”
She tapped me on my ass. “Not as much as yours. Damn girl. You got a BBL when you took that week off?”
“Girl bye. I would have needed more than a week off. Silly self.”
My ass had gotten bigger. At first I picked up stress weight, but as time went on and the stress melted off of me, I started to pick up happy weight.
I found myself snacking in bed damn near every other night.
Before SiSi and them came into my bedroom earlier, I had to clean all of the snack wrappers off the side of the bed that used to be Duke’s.
Yeah, it was bad. But I was getting a handle on it. I refused to let myself go.
As we maneuvered through the crowd, my eyes found Judah’s. He put his cup up to his lips and chucked his chin. In return, I threw my hand up with a soft smile. His eyes traveled the length of my body for a second before he turned his attention back to the man he was talking to.
With a deep breath, I started to look for Crescent.
The place was packed. I couldn’t imagine all of these people working for Skylight Industries.
Well… then again, they could. He had a nice sized company.
But I wasn’t sure. Seemed like there was a mixture of associates and family, the way they partied.
There were older people in the mix, on the dancefloor, doing outdated dances like the bump and the cabbage patch.
One older couple grinded on each other. It was a vibe.
Too much of a vibe for this to just be a company party.
And it wasn’t business casual. Everybody was dressed nice.
The women had on dresses. Some too short, some too tight.
The men didn’t just have on suits—they were dressed in jeans and joggers too.
As I was walking through the crowd, trying to find Crescent, I spotted him by the bar.
I was just about to walk up and greet him when a woman wearing a white dress walked up to him and gave him a drink.
Pivoting, she turned and stood next to him, wearing a big smile.
And they were wearing the same color. Who was she?
Had to be his girlfriend. Who else would give a man a drink and stand next to him?
They were close too. So close that their arms touched.
As the gravity of what they could have been hit me, my stomach dropped and I immediately wanted to leave.
Why though, right? He wasn’t mine. I cut him off.
We were past that, right? But… still… It stung.
Why would he invite me if his bitch was going to be here?
I swallowed and shook my head. Because you helped him bring The House of Nova Ray alive and he’s celebrating that, that’s why, dumb ass.
The invite didn’t mean anything more than that. I just… man, I was in my feelings.