Love, Honor or Stray: New Day Divas Series Book Three Read online

  And there it was: the beginning of Deborah getting to know everything there was to possibly know about the man she’d been dodging for months and months. She’d never lied to herself by denying an interest in Lynox, even an attraction, but she wasn’t ready back then. She needed some fixing, some deliverance. There was a healing that needed to take place within her before she could even think about sharing herself, any part of herself, with a man. But after her breakthrough that started in the New Day sanctuary and completed in her very own living room, and after the sabbatical, she was ready. She was delivered and healed and ready to walk in it. And who better to walk with her than a fine, sculptured specimen of a man like Lynox?

  Even if it turned out that Lynox wasn’t the one for her, for now, he would serve as the perfect distraction from Elton.

  Chapter Seventeen

  “I’m so sorry, honey. I know you were really looking forward to driving up to Cleveland to watch the game, but I can’t miss this cocktail party. A bunch of big wigs are going to be there. Three years ago, at this very same party, a coworker landed a deal that sends him, his wife, and kids to the Mediterranean every year to their vacation home. Just imagine that,” Blake said, trying to convince Paige that in the long run it would be worth canceling their plans tonight.

  “It’s hard for me to imagine you ever even finding time to make our honeymoon happen, let along going on vacation every year,” Paige whined. “I miss you, Blake. You’re always working.” She sat down on the queen bench at the foot of their bed and watched him loosen his tie.

  “I miss you too, sweetheart, but like I said, I’d love for you to go with me.” Blake took off his tie, followed by his light blue dress shirt.

  Paige ran her hands down her body. “Look at me. Do I look like I’m dressed for a cocktail party?”

  Blake admired his wife’s jersey and nice fitting jeans that she dressed up with a pair of wine-colored stilettos. “Just change into something else real quick while I’m in the shower,” he suggested as he took off his pants, preparing for a shower.

  “I don’t want to change into something all fancy schmancy. I need more notice if I’m going to represent as your wife.”

  “Babe, you represent me well no matter what you’re wearing.” He looked down at her feet. “Even if you were just wearing nothing but those pumps.” He winked a mischievous grin. “Especially if you were wearing nothing but just those pumps.”

  Paige matched her husband’s mischievous grin with one of her own as she stood up and moved in closer to Blake. “Then why don’t we say the heck with both the game and the cocktail party and I show you just how well I can represent in nothing but a pair of four-inch wine-colored stilettos?” She went to kiss him, but he backed into the bathroom to turn on the shower.

  “Honey, I can’t. Klyde will be here in a few minutes. I’m going to follow him because I don’t know exactly where I’m going.”

  Paige was determined—or desperate. “Let him wait,” she said, putting her arms around Blake as he adjusted the shower water. She planted kisses up and down his back.

  “Come on now, honey.” Blake gently removed Paige’s hands from his body as he turned around and faced her. “I don’t want to have that man waiting.” He kissed her on the forehead and then got into the shower, closing the door in her face.

  “Oh, so you’d rather keep me waiting?” she pouted.

  “You know it’s not like that.” As Blake lathered himself up, he peeked out of the shower door. “Why don’t you…” He thought for a moment and then a light bulb went off in his head. “Why don’t you ask Norman to go with you? You seem to enjoy his company better now that he’s been visiting church and gets the whole Christian thing.” He went back in the shower.

  “He’s been to New Day about as much as you have lately,” Paige mumbled under her breath. She was referencing the fact that for the past month, Blake had worked himself so sick throughout the week, right down to Saturday evenings, that come Sunday morning he’d be too worn out to attend church with her. He’d ordered her to grab a twenty out of his wallet for offering, promising to write a check for his tithes the following week. But the next week would only be a repeat.

  “Did you say something?” Blake asked from inside the shower.

  “I’ll call Norman up, but it’s too short notice. I’m sure he won’t be able to drop everything. I’ll just hang out here alone.” She turned to walk out of the bathroom.

  “The offer still stands for you to come with me. Matter of fact, I think Klyde’s wife is joining us.”

  “Nah. I’ll be okay.” Paige moped out of the bathroom, and although she felt it was a useless effort, she called up Norman and asked if he was free to join her for a little trip to Cleveland. “I’ll drive. We’ll come back tonight. It’ll be fun,” she persuaded him.

  Surprisingly, Norman agreed to go. She left the house before Blake even did in order to go pick up Norman. They made the two hour and some change drive and arrived at the game by the end of first quarter. The two had an absolute blast. The tickets were excellent, as they practically had courtside seats.

  During one of the time-outs, a song was played and the camera roamed around trying to catch people performing the song. When it landed on Norman and Paige, the two put on the best twenty-second Karaoke act they could. They ended up being the crowd favorite, and were given coupons for free souvenirs and team gear.

  When a team mascot shot rolled up T-shirts into the crowd, both Norman and Paige reached for one that was coming in their direction. At the same time, both their hands landed on it. They each gripped it and just stood there looking at each other.

  “You can have it,” Norman told her.

  “No, you take it,” Paige insisted, “as a thank you for coming with me.”

  “You sure?” Norman asked as the two stood there holding the shirt.

  “Positive. It’s the least I can do. This is the second time I didn’t have to be alone because of you.”

  “But I feel like I’m the one who should be thanking you. I mean, a free dinner at an amazing restaurant, courtside seats to an NBA game. I should have started hanging out with you a long time ago, Paige Robinson.”

  “Dickenson. It’s Dickenson now.” She reminded both Norman and herself of the new last name she held now that she was a married woman. And on that note, she released the shirt, relinquishing it to Norman.

  After that, the two smashed hot dogs, popcorn, cotton candy, and sodas. They cheered, clapped, and rooted for the home team, and they booed the away team. Paige couldn’t imagine having a better time even if she had been with Blake. She knew she wouldn’t have been able to have a tenth of this kind of fun at some boring old cocktail party. Norman had been the perfect person to go with. She had no idea he could be so much fun. And even more so, she had no idea that the two of them would end up in a hotel room together that night either.

  Chapter Eighteen

  “Are you feeling one hundred percent back to your old self again?” Maeyl asked Tamarra as the two stood and talked in the sound booth after Sunday church service. Tamarra had just entered after giving three people hugs and telling them she loved them, per Pastor’s request after church was dismissed.

  “Huh?” Tamarra had the most confused look possible on her face.

  “I said are you feeling better? Are you over the flu bug? You know, the bug that bit you and chased you up out of Sakaya’s birthday party?”

  “Oh, that bug.” Tamarra feigned a cough. She’d forgotten all about the excuse she’d used when Maeyl had finally gotten in touch with her and asked her why she’d left the party so abruptly. She’d told him that all of a sudden she’d became sick to her stomach and weak at the knees, and she threw in the loose bowels for good measure too. “Oh, I’m feeling much better. Not quite one hundred percent.” She coughed again. “But close.” She smiled.

  “Good, because I can’t have my girl sick. We have a wedding to plan.”

  And that’s when she notice
d it, the way Maeyl was looking at her. The way he had been looking at her almost every time he made a comment and then waited on her to respond to it. It was as if he were trying to read her, to see if her words, her voice, her tone, and her gesture matched the expression on her face.

  “Yes, wedding.” She swallowed.

  “And about our wedding, I was thinking maybe we shouldn’t wait. Maybe we should just do it.”

  Okay, now it was getting hard for Tamarra to keep her expressions together, but she was doing it nonetheless. “Just do it? You sound like it’s a Nike commercial or something. This is the beginning of the rest of our lives together.” Tamarra’s palms became sweaty. Just how soon was this man talking? She needed time, much more time.

  “I don’t mean it like that. It’s just that I love you, you love me…and you love Sakaya.” He was doing it again; looking at her.

  The lie almost got stuck in her throat, but she managed to force it through. “Yes, and I can’t wait to be your wife and Sakaya’s mother.” She looked down at her nose with crossed eyes. She knew it was just a fairy tale, but she couldn’t help but wonder if her nose was growing anything at all like that wooden kid named Pinocchio.

  “So let’s not put it off any longer.” He stopped what he was doing and grabbed her hands. “It’s not like we were going to have some big ol’ wedding anyway. We have plenty of time to throw something together by next month.”

  “Next month?” Tamarra hadn’t meant to shout, but shout she had. The few congregation members who were still hanging around directed their attention to the sound booth.

  Too embarrassed to look and apologize for her outburst, Tamarra cast her eyes downward and stared at her hands intertwined with Maeyl’s.

  “Hold on a second,” he told her as he wrapped things up in the sound booth and then proceeded to lead her out of the church. “I don’t want you to feel as though I’m rushing you or anything. It’s just that I’m ready to start living our life together. I’m ready to give up my place and live with you as man and wife, coming home to you after work, me cooking dinner for you every once in a while.” He brushed his finger across her nose as they made their way through the sanctuary. She smiled as he continued. “Us sitting up watching the game one night, then a Lifetime movie the next night.” She knew he didn’t mean that last thing, but Tamarra smiled nonetheless. “And us putting Sakaya to bed together with a bedtime story when she comes to visit on the weekends.”

  That was it. The needle had been ripped across the record, leaving traces of peeling vinyl. Tamarra’s smile was gone. When she noticed that Maeyl was doing it again, looking at her, she tried to muster one up real quick.

  “Is there something wrong? Not feeling well all of a sudden again?” Maeyl asked her in a tone that she could have sworn was condescending.

  She stopped in her tracks just as they made it to the church foyer, right outside Pastor’s waiting lobby. “As a matter of fact…” Tamarra grabbed her stomach. Sweat poured from every part of her body. She turned a pale color.

  “You don’t look too good,” Maeyl stated as he lent his fiancée support in standing. “Want to go in here and sit down?” he suggested, nodding toward Pastor’s waiting area.

  “No! No,” Tamarra quickly shot out. “I… just…need to…get some air is all,” she managed to get out.

  “You sure, babe? I think you might need to sit down in here for a min—”

  “I said no!” Tamarra repeated, not embarrassed at all about her loud tone like she’d been in the sound booth.

  Maeyl was embarrassed, but his concern for Tamarra overshadowed his embarrassment by a couple of points or so, so he did as she asked. He led her outside, where she inhaled and exhaled deep breaths of God’s air once she hit the doors. “Feel better?”

  After a few seconds, Tamarra was starting to feel better, but then she looked up. With Maeyl supporting her outside of Pastor’s office, where nothing separated them but a huge window, she saw the window blinds open; then she saw Pastor offer the other occupant in the office a seat.

  “This can’t be happening,” Tamarra said under her breath and started taking deep breaths again. But it was happening.

  “Maybe we should get you to the doctor’s. The ER, or urgent care, at least,” Maeyl suggested, followed by that all too familiar knowing look.

  If Maeyl thought she was faking, Tamarra had news for him. She thought Maeyl might have been on to her cover-up, but this was no cover-up. She was truly having what medical professionals might describe as a panic attack. She’d heard of them, but had never had one before.

  “Is everything okay with Sister Tamarra?” the church secretary asked Maeyl as she approached them.

  “She’s just a little—” Before Maeyl could finish his answer, what was left of last night’s dinner tumbled up out of Tamarra’s mouth and onto the secretary’s patent leather pumps.

  “That’s it.” Maeyl pulled a handkerchief out of his suit pocket and handed it to Tamarra as he led her to his car. “We’re going to get you checked out, baby,” were the last words he said before putting Tamarra into the car and driving her to the emergency room. “Everything is going to be all right once I get you to the emergency room.”

  Maeyl had said it with a reassuring tone, but unless Jesus Himself was waiting for her in His scrubs, she knew nothing was going to be all right. Nothing at all.

  Chapter Nineteen

  “I honestly can’t believe that I’m sitting here across from you, on a real date. No trying to get you to agent my manuscript, no pretending to be some make believe client, and no cyber space in between us.” Lynox gloated as if he were on cloud nine.

  Deborah had no idea this man, who had initially come off so cocky and strong almost to the point of conceit, was showing his vulnerability. On purpose. It wasn’t wimpy like the character of Kenny on the series of Soul Food sometimes came across. There was just enough sensitivity and flattery to let a woman know that he was still the man.

  “I’m glad we could start fresh,” Deborah stated. She figured she could let her guard down a little too, as she didn’t want to come across as Terry from Soul Food; although she was indeed guilty of having several of the character’s traits.

  “Are you guys ready for me to take your orders now?” the waiter asked as he set Lynox’s strawberry lemonade in front of him and Deborah’s water with lemon wedges in front of her.

  Neither Deborah nor Lynox had looked at the menus yet.

  “Can we have a couple more minutes?” Lynox asked on their behalf as the waiter granted it to them then walked away.

  It was as though the couple had come full circle as they sat in Max and Erma’s, the restaurant where they’d first met in person. Only this time, they sat smack dead in the center of the restaurant.

  “And I’m glad we’re not hidden back in the cut in some booth like the last time,” Deborah teased.

  “Hey, I’m sorry if I just happen to favor booths…and more privacy. I promise that day I wasn’t trying to be low key so that one of my many girlfriends wouldn’t catch me dining with you. Like I told you then, it had been a while since I’d dated—really dated.”

  “Oh, don’t try to clean it up now. So, you admit you had many girlfriends,” Deborah pressed with a raised eyebrow. She was teasing, but still awaited his reply.

  He nodded with some reluctance. “In complete honesty, I might have dated a woman or two in my time, trying to find that perfect one. It was difficult, focusing on the writing of my book and all, but like I said, when I met you, I knew I’d found her. I’ve never been this serious about anyone, especially not…” His words trailed off. He didn’t know if it was safe to mention the name that had halted his speech. He remembered Deborah’s reaction the last time he’d mentioned the woman’s name. It was like Kryptonite: it got Deborah all rattled up.

  “Especially not Helen?” Deborah finished his sentence. Not only could she now stand to hear the name, she could say it herself without her blood boiling or ne
rves getting out of control. She’d forgiven Helen for taunting her with the fact that she was there at the abortion clinic the day Deborah had terminated her pregnancy. Never mind the fact that Helen had gotten one of her own, but because Deborah had been late term and visibly pregnant, Helen had made Deborah feel as though her act was ten times worse.

  But that was all water under the bridge. The two women had moved on. Deborah was back to helping out with the New Day Singles’ Ministry, and praying and fasting to see what else God would have her do in His Kingdom. Helen was helping out in the New Day Children’s Church. The two women had come to a crossroads and had forgiven where forgiveness was due, but most importantly, God had forgiven them both.

  “I wasn’t sure if it was safe to say her name,” Lynox noted.

  Deborah smiled. “I know, but everything is good. Matter of fact, I owe you an apology for the way I acted about you and Helen. It wasn’t about you; it was about some history she and I had. But like I said, everything is good between us now. We’re not BFF’s or anything like that,” Deborah made clear.

  “I hear you, because I hope you don’t mind me saying, but that woman was a nut case.” He chuckled. “I only went out with her a couple of times. It had been months since I’d last seen her that day she showed up at the restaurant acting like a complete luna—”

  “No offense, Lynox”—Deborah held up her hand—“and I know you’re probably just trying to make me feel secure about the whole ‘you and Helen’ thing, but I don’t care for you to talk about her negatively. No, we’re not BFF’s or anything, but she is still my sister in Christ, and I don’t take too kindly to folks talking about my family.”

  Lynox wasn’t offended, not the least bit. He was impressed, now more attracted to the woman who sat before him than ever. “I’m not offended at all.” He smiled. “And I apologize. It won’t happen again. I won’t monopolize our time together bad mouthing someone else. This is about us.” He reached over and grabbed her hands. He was just about to kiss them when he felt a presence at their table. He sighed, thinking about the waiter’s bad timing.