Chapter 2

 

The next morning, the three sisters stood outside the Breakfast Klub, thankfully, close to the front of the long line. Harper was growing more and more irritated by the moment.

"Sloane, why did we have to come here?"

"They have fantastic breakfast, and if you didn’t notice, it’s a black-owned business. Support! Besides, Barrett says you guys are their lawyers. You could have gotten us in, Harp." Harper shot Sloane a look from behind her vintage sunglasses.

"Well, hell, why didn’t you tell me that before? Did he mention who the owner was?" She said, pulling out her phone and sending a feverish text message. Sloane shrugged.

"I’m sure, but I don’t remember." Harper’s phone rang.

"Yeah. Okay." Harper looked to her sisters. "Let’s go in, my secretary called for us. We’re in."

Once they were seated and eating, Grier looked to her sisters. Harper went back and forth sending texts and taking tiny bites of food, and Sloane ate like it was going out of style. Not that her crazy eating habits deterred any of the people in the place from looking at her.

"Well, hello there, Grier." That smooth, silky, and just slightly Texan voice belonged to Harper’s husband, Parker Davis, who had been known around the Mayfield house as Tall, Dark, and Handsome. He kissed Grier’s cheek, and she inhaled a truckload of undoubtedly expensive cologne.

"Hi, babe. What are you doing here?" Harper asked as her husband sat down next to her and kissed her cheek.

"Was in the area. Hey, Sloane." He said.

"Park. Lovely to see you." Sloane said sarcastically, and glared a little at him, and Grier was a bit confused. Harper noticed, and shrugged.

"They’re being brother and sister again." Harper explained. Sloane and Parker had a love-hate relationship since Harper had met him. Sloane was possessive about her big sisters, and Parker had swept one of them away. Parker had always tried to convince Sloane that she wasn’t losing a sister so much as she was gaining a brother, but she never bought it. Parker reached across the table and ruffled Sloane’s hair, which earned him another dirty look.

"Harp, control your husband, please." Sloane shot daggers at him as she settled back into her meal. Parker rolled his eyes.

"So… Grier. How have you been? What’s been up?" He sat back in his chair. Grier ate slowly.

"Ummm.. nothing much. Just work. How have you been? What’s new with you guys?" She tried to deflect, but Parker and his wife were just alike. He saw right through it.

"Work? Damn, they must work you like a Hebrew slave, you never come home. Some dude around here that you’re running away from? Or you got one up there that you’re keeping a big ol’ secret?" Parker smiled, and his perfect smile looked rather voracious to Grier. She quickly looked back at her food.

"Lay off, Park." Sloane muttered through her food. "She’s working, and that’s it."

"Well, Sloane, she ain’t been home in years, and already, you’re co-signing for her."

"Well, that’s just fine if I am. She’s my family, my sister, not yours. She’s cool. She got it."
"That’s fine, Sloane. Call her next time you need to borrow some money." Parker shot right back. Grier looked quickly to her sister, whose eyes were burning.

"Parker, shut the f**k up. This was our brunch, and you had to come busting all in it, asking a million questions. Get the hell out of here." Parker grinned. He thoroughly enjoyed irritating Sloane. "Harper, get your goddamned husband." She said and threw scrambled eggs at him that landed squarely in the middle of his shirt. He laughed. "And I don’t never call your ratchet a*s to borrow money anyway. I always call my sister." She said as he continued to laugh and sweep the eggs off his shirt.

"Sloane, you know I love you, boo." He said and tried to hug her. She swiped at him but missed.

"Harper." She complained. Harper finally laughed at the two of them.

"Baby, leave her alone." Harper nudged her husband who continued to laugh. "Sloane, you messed up his shirt!" She complained to her sister. Sloane slid on her sunglasses.

"Those are the breaks." She said and shrugged.

"How much was the food, guys? Sloane’s right, I did ruin brunch. Sorry, Grier, I was just teasing. It’s been a while since I’ve seen the Three Musketeers in one place is all."

"It was a bill. Cough it up." Sloane demanded. Parker rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, right. Here you go, ladies." Parker slid a $50 on the table, and stood. "Good to see you all together. Love you, babe." He kissed Harper’s cheek. "See you at home later." Parker left before they could tell him that the restaurant had given them their food for free. Sloane took the money and slid it into her bra.

"That’s his fee for irritating me. Come on, let’s go." She said devilishly and pranced out of the restaurant. Grier walked her sisters out.

"Well, it was good to see you, sissy." Sloane said and hugged Grier tightly. "I wish I could say don’t make it so long until the next time, but I don’t think we can even plan that far in advance." Grier hugged her back.

"I’ll be back soon. I promise." She said, and meant it. Surprisingly, Harper joined in, and hugged Grier too.

"Oh, it’s like when we were little. A group hug." Sloane said with a smile in her voice. Harper nodded.

"I miss you guys every single day." Harper’s voice cracked a little when she said it and both of her sisters looked up, shocked. "Well, I do." She cleared her throat and straightened up a bit. "It’s not very often that we’re all together. I miss it."

"Let’s take a picture." Sloane suggested, and whipped out her cell. The three of them smiled happily, brightly, not being their normal critical selves, wondering how it looked, and Sloane snapped the picture. "I’ll send it to y’all. Love you guys." A car pulled up. "I gotta run. I hate goodbyes." She said, and with another quick hug and a kiss for Grier, she dove into the back of the car. Harper gave off a little laugh.

"She’s probably crying her eyes out. We miss you, G." Harper said and hugged her little sister tightly. "I’m really proud of you." When she pulled away, her eyes glistened with tears, but neither of them fell. She slid on her sunglasses. "Bye." And off she went. Grier felt like s**t as she walked back to her rental and drove to the airport. While she was waiting for her flight, the picture of the three sisters arrived from Sloane. Grier saved it as the picture for both of them, and boarded the plane back to her other life.

When she arrived at the airport in Washington, Grier sent a text message to both of her sisters to let her know that she’d arrived back home. She grabbed her bag, and started walking to the front of the airport.

"Oh my God, I missed you so much." Grier’s big secret swept upon her and hugged her tightly. Tall, slim and of a profound beauty, Grier Mayfield’s girlfriend, Adrienne Lewis, was often mistaken for either a model or a pro basketball player. The model references irked Adrienne, who had always been rather nonchalant regarding her beauty, but the professional basketball player thing never bothered her as basketball had been one of her great loves. She and Grier had been together since college, and while Adrienne was out to her family and friends, Grier was securely in the closet. Although they had been with each other for six years, the thought of coming out to her family just made Grier queasy. So, to avoid that whole conversation, Grier fielded off several offers in Houston, and moved out to Maryland, to be with Adrienne. Two years, they both worked, and saved, and ended up buying the house of their dreams, a 4 bedroom white colonial in Bethesda. The mortgage still made them gasp, but they were perfectly comfortable. Everything in their lives seemed to be right, except for the fact that Adrienne was still Grier’s dirty little secret, even after all this time. Adrienne grabbed Grier’s bag and with a big grin, walked with her to the parking lot.

"So, how are your sisters?" Adrienne had encountered Grier’s sisters only once, while they were in college. Adrienne and Grier were living together in DC in an apartment, and Grier, ever concerned with keeping up appearances, got a second job so they could afford a two bedroom apartment. Harper had been cold and suspicious, and Sloane was flirtatious. Adrienne had ended up going to stay with a friend for the two day visit. When she came back home, Grier was in tears.

"Babe, what’s wrong?" Adrienne had asked, concerned. Grier wanted to tell them, then. It was clear she hadn’t.

"I just won’t ever go back there. I just want to be where you are. Screw the rest of it." She swore. And Grier had never looked back.

"Did you tell them?" Present day Adrienne asked, as soon she and Grier were secured in the car and making the half hour trip back to the house. Grier fidgeted. Not a good sign. Adrienne sighed.

"Well." She started, but then stopped. Nothing she could say would make Adrienne feel better. Adrienne sucked in a deep breath and then exhaled.

"Grier. When is it going to happen? Seriously. We have been together for six years. We love each other. We live together, hell, we are buying a house together. We have a joint checking account. We have leased cars together. Both of our names are on a lot of s**t for you to keep this from everyone important in your life." Grier nodded. She always nodded. She knew that everything Adrienne was saying was right. She knew that she needed to do this, or she could risk losing everything.

"Adrienne, I just don’t know… I don’t know why I didn’t do it, why I can’t do it." She finally offered in response. She felt Adrienne’s eyes burning into her as the garage door lifted on their house and she pulled into the garage.

"When is that going to stop being good enough?" Adrienne’s voice sounded tired, resigned. "G, I love you. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I don’t care who knows it. Why do you?" Why do I, Grier thought. She couldn’t answer the question. Adrienne disappeared into the house, and Grier brought her own bags in. When she finally realized that Adrienne wasn’t coming to bed with her, she allowed silent tears to slide down her face.

Adrienne left for work before Grier even woke up. She had, however, left her a sweet note, with a rose from their garden in the kitchen. Grier felt a bit bittersweet. She picked up the phone and dialed Adrienne’s cell.

"Dre." Grier called Adrienne by her nickname as soon as she answered.

"Good morning." Adrienne’s voice was somewhat short and clipped. "How are you?" Her voice sounded different when she asked. She sounded tired, but concerned.

"Dre, I miss you. I hate that you didn’t come to bed last night." Grier despised how pleading her voice sounded, how near tears she felt.

"Me too, Grier. We just have to make some changes. I’m getting so…. tired. Too tired. I love you, Grier, but I just don’t know how much longer we can do this." Adrienne said, her weary voice etched with frustration.

Reviews

[bluessadmood]

yes ,always Sloane is my favorite,i just loved the way she and her sister husband used to irritate each other and get on each other their nerves ,
could not think she was jealous of he brother in law,that he took her sister away,this just does not fit into her very outgoing personality
still its Grier that looks so mysterious about her life,getting a house well kept ,and good naibours who admired how she kept a good house but she will not invite her sisters .surely hiding some secret love as it turns out she is in love and will not say it,actually being so close for years ,sharing everything ,even buying that house and moving in but still kept it a secret from her family which made her bitter,again a good write,enjoyed it a lot..
lovely write..