Chrissette is in her kitchen resetting and
rethinking her almost dinner with Sean; she turned on
the lights and blew out all the candles after his
departure. He was up to something more, she just
did not know what. What she did know was that she
was not giving up her house for him. She loved that
house. She loved him also, but he wasn’t trying to be
her husband. Everyone has their breaking point. His
not marrying her made her believe he loved his semi-
singleness more than her. She had no family left, but
she had her friends and this house. She was not
giving him her love when he wouldn’t give her all of
his.
“What would I have then?” she wonders out
loud to herself.
Walking briskly to the door she swings it
open happy to see her friends, surprised they are all
there on time but happy, happy to see their beautiful
smiling faces.
“Wow, everyone on time and in attendance,
Penelope,” she laughs.
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A Friendly Betrayal
Penelope bounces in with her hair wild from
her shower tryst, “Well I got something hot at home
so that’s why I'm early. Let’s get this started,” full of
joy giving her friend a hug before entering.
“And I got something coming a little later so
no rush, but if we finish early no skin off my nose,”
Jasmine says stepping in next.
“I have a complete weekend of nothing fun to
do but stuff for work so I can spend the night if you
want,” Kennedy says lastly as Chrissette is closing
the door.
Chrissette was delighted to see her friends all
smiling and contented. Entering the kitchen they all
start grabbing plates piling the plates up with salad,
pasta and bread. Chrissette and Jasmine carried the
bowls of crab legs and fruit into the living room to eat
picnic style while Kennedy and Penelope carried in
two bottles of wine and glasses. Once all the girls
were seated and eating, Jasmine kicked off the
conversation.
“Penelope have you heard from Charles, have
you called him?”
Penelope didn’t give thought to the fact that
this could be a topic of discussion. No she hadn’t told
Jasmine that it was not to be discussed, but she didn’t
tell her it was either. Michael had come over, eased
the tightness in her chest and made the memory of
the night before seem like a bad dream. Thanks to Jas
the feeling was back. The tightness was returning
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Bambi St. James
along with the anxiety. Keeping him off her mind
was going really great.
“What about Charles?” asked a bouncing
Kennedy.
Everyone knew about Charles, everyone knew
Charles was Penelope’s most eligible bachelor.
Everyone secretly hoping he could make her an
honest woman.
“Yeah what about Charles?” Chrissette is
asking.
“He asked me to marry him,” she blurts out
hoping it will loosen her chest. It did, but only
slightly. She couldn’t wait to get home to Michael.
“Really??” Kennedy asks before her phone
vibrates beside her. Looking at her screen she sees it’s
her lover. She thinks her friends don’t notice but they
do, at least Jasmine and Chrissette. Both see a glow
on her face, but continue with Penelope.
“What did you say?” Chris asked amazed, but
mostly envious.
“What do you think I said?”
“Aww come on Nell, Charles is a good guy.”
“I know that, but it’s what’s best. And I don’t
want to talk about this.” She states with finality
taking a gulp from her glass, wishing she had stayed
home.
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A Friendly Betrayal
Jasmine sat across from her sorry she had
brought it up. Her response to the group showed a
different emotion than when she was at her house.
Never did she think her friend was hurt by the
situation. Hell, she had new company waiting for her
at her place as they ate.
Chrissette was also feeling some type of way.
She didn’t understand what was wrong with
Penelope, how could she turn down something so
good. This made her angry at her friend. Angry yet
jealous. Here she is wanting someone to ask for her
hand, not just anyone but a man she had invested her
heart and time into and this ungrateful chick goes and
gets an accidental proposal. Chrissette would never
speak these words out loud and she hated herself for
even thinking them, but it was her truth.
Kennedy, though not upset was the only one in
the room who could understand Chrissette’s anger.
She too had been religiously looking for a husband.
Obeying all the moral rules had gotten her nowhere
so now she is trying something else. Something that
is wrong, but if after the life Penelope has lived she
could get a good man like Charles on one knee then
so could she.
“Kennedy you want to tell of who you over
there texting and cheesing with?” Chrissette asks
changing the direction of the interrogation. Each of
the girls was grateful for the change except Kennedy.
“When you start paying my bill,” Kennedy
snapped uncharacteristically.
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Bambi St. James
“Damn why everybody on edge,” Jas laughs
filling each of the girl’s glasses to the rim before going
to get another bottle out of the fridge. When she
returns no one is talking, just eating and drinking.
Sitting the new bottle between them she states,
“Well maybe we should just have open discussion no
prying.”
“Yeah maybe,” Kennedy says solemnly while
Penelope is still in her thoughts. Thinking maybe she
should have just stayed home.
“I met this guy at my showing today.”
“Like a guy?” Kennedy asks with arched
eyebrows.
“Possibly not, I don’t get that feel from him but
definitely for sex.”
Penelope busts out laughing at the confused
look on Kennedy’s face.
“Shut up Penelope or are you ready to talk?”
“Bitch,” Penelope mumbles as she starts in on
her food again.
“I’m sorry Ken, but no sweetie.”
“No that’s cool. I just am hoping we won’t be
single forever.”
“Yeah me too.”
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A Friendly Betrayal
“I'm good.” Penelope says although she no
longer felt it.
“Well the not so single life isn’t all it’s cracked
up to be either,” Chrissette says with a neck role.
“Today the meal that we munching on...”
“Is damn good.” Jasmine interrupted.
“No silly,” Chrissette laughed. “It was for
Sean and me earlier today but we got into an
argument.”
This peaks Jasmine’s interest since she saw him
only hours ago and really feels he was up to no good.
“What was the argument about?” she asks.
“Well apparently he wants to buy some
property. Move us into that and rent out my house.”
“Are you serious? Why?” Penelope asks, quite
curious.
“He says he wants to own property. He feels if
we break up he would be the one put out on the
street.”
“So he would rather you be the one put on the
street. And the dude is not broke-- all the businesses
he scamming people out of. He would not be
homeless,” Kennedy speaks up.
Sean is into buying companies out of
bankruptcy and fixing them up, selling them off and
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Bambi St. James
making a profit. It’s the same as buying a busted
house fixing it up then selling it for more. Except in
Sean’s case a lot of people lose jobs and livelihoods,
making him plenty of enemies. In Kennedy’s eyes he
was just as bad as a crooked politician or cop,
legalized. Each girl had their own reason for not
liking Sean and Kennedy’s was his backsliding along
with womanizing. Being in the business of helping
people she naturally disliked anyone trying to bring
any of them down.
“Well I didn’t even think of that. What worries
me is that instead of marrying me and making
everything ours he would rather do this.”
“Do you think it could be something else?”
Jasmine asks.
“Like what?”
“I don’t know and I didn’t know if I should say
anything. But I saw Sean earlier today looking at a
penthouse opening I had.”
“Was he there with his cousin Lizzy?”
“Is she the one we met at your last birthday
party?”
“Yeah long hair looks a little Mexican.”
“I can’t lie I didn’t get a good look at her.
Could have been with a new hair color. His cousin’s
hair was dark, this chick had light hair with honey
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A Friendly Betrayal
blonde highlights. Oh and some bad Louboutin’s,”
she adds excitedly.
“Well he can stop looking. I'm not leaving my
baby. They are starting on my back yard next week
and I can’t wait to host the next girls’ day.”
Everyone is momentarily concentrating on
their plates. Looks like Sean is staying true to himself.
When Lizzy came to visit two months ago she had a
red bob. Now Chrissette does know she could have
gotten a weave but to go from red to blonde. She also
knew that Lizzy couldn’t afford a pair of Louboutin’s.
On the other hand she could have gotten the money
through other means; we all have at some point or
another.
Jasmine glances at her friend and sees the
worry on her face. She feels sorry for her. This is
why she stayed away from relationships. She knew it
would hurt her more if she told Sean’s reaction when
he saw her, his sudden need to depart before even
viewing the penthouse. It made sense to her that he
came up with this lie about Lizzy after he got home,
decided to woo her friend into believing his motives
just in case Jasmine said something. This is when
being a good friend gets real complicated. She didn’t
want to hurt her, so not telling seemed better. The not
telling would be lying by omission and could hurt
their friendship. What if she found out some other
way, then questioned why Jasmine didn’t say
anything. But she didn’t have proof.
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Bambi St. James
Kennedy felt that the mood needed to be
lightened, “What movies do we have?”
“For Colored Girls, Burlesque and Takers,”
Chrissette announces.
“Put in Takers with all those fine men. We just
gone end up talking over it,” Jasmine says.
“Yeah but we can look at the men,” Penelope
says excitedly.
Kennedy laughs and gets up to put in the
movie. Penelope runs to the kitchen to grab another
bottle of wine.
* * *
Three hours later Penelope and Jasmine were
gone to see to their night’s company. Kennedy was
making good on her promise. She and Chrissette
were in Chris’s kitchen cleaning up the dishes after
straightening up the living room.
“How long have you been dating this mystery
man? Or am I not allowed to ask that question?”
Chrissette asks while washing the dishes.
“Oh stop it. I just feel that talking about every
detail makes it harder when it doesn’t last,” Kennedy
answers putting food into the refrigerator.
“Why wouldn’t it last?”
“They never do.”
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A Friendly Betrayal
“Then why are you doing it?”
“I want it to last. I want to be in love. And I
don’t want to give up like Nell. Don’t tell her I said
that,” she smiles. “So I'm just trying some things
different. And I met him last year at the mayor’s
Christmas party.”
“Just enjoy yourself and have some fun.”
“I am,” Kennedy answers smiling.
They continued to clean and talk, both women
avoiding what was really going on in their lives.
Kennedy didn’t want to talk about the truths of her
relationship just yet. She needed to know that more
was going to come out of it besides sex and fun. She
actually wanted a relationship and maybe a husband
one day. She didn’t know if it was her Lover Man,
but she did know it could be found anywhere and
with anybody. Kennedy continued to smile to herself
as she finished putting things away.
Chrissette was also in her own thoughts.
Should she confront Sean or let it go. She knew
saying something would start a fight. She also knew
that she just wasn’t ready to give up on their
relationship. Her love for him was too deep. In the
last four years she liked to think that they helped each
other grow. She knew all men cheated. But he always
came home. He always took care of home. She told
Kennedy she was going to bed and since all the girls
spent time at each other’s homes, Kennedy knew
where to sleep. With her thoughts traveling to her
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Bambi St. James
bedroom with her Chrissette acknowledged that it
was starting to hurt more.
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