It had been less than twenty-four hours since she’d gotten engaged and Lamesha wanted to tell everyone she knew about her it. But since she wanted to break her good news while having an engagement ring on her finger to prove it, she was going to wait. Her and Donovan were going ring shopping later on in the evening. But at that particular moment, she was at her job getting her work hours in.
"Lamesha, can I talk to you in my office for a minute, please?"
Lamesha and Sharita both looked up when their boss had asked Lamesha that question.
Lamesha stood up and gave the man in uncertain smile. She didn't know why he wanted her to come to his office, but she knew that whenever he called one of them in, it was generally for something serious.
Ten minutes later, Lamesha was back at her desk with an even wider smile on her face. She was looking like the Kool-Aid man up in there.
Sharita treated her girl to a half smile/half frown. “What is it, boo? What did he want to talk to you about?”
“Girl,” Lamesha whispered in an excited voice. “He gave me a raise. And not a little one either. It was a full two dollars per hour. He said I’ve been doing a really good job around here...that I’ve been going above and beyond what I was supposed to be doing. He said he likes to reward hard work. Can you believe that, boo?”
Since Lamesha was her friend, Sharita wanted to be happy for her. She just couldn’t bring herself to do it. All she felt was jealousy. She somehow managed to put a tiny little smile on her face. “Oh that’s nice, Lamesha. I guess your savings account is about to get real fat. You’ll probably be able to afford to put a down payment on that house you wanted to buy now.”
Not even thinking, Lamesha shook her head. “No. I’m not gonna be buying a house, boo. I won’t need to. I’m just gonna move into my baby’s place when we get married. His house is plenty big — nice too. It’s a freaking mini mansion.”
A nice/nasty smile came on Sharita’s face. She couldn’t hide it. Then she let out a little laugh. “Girl, you only been dating that boy for a month and you talking ‘bout getting married. You ain’t even gave him the cooch yet...with your saved self. I’m sure he ain’t about to up and ask you to marry him any time soon.”
Lamesha was so caught up in her recent blessings that she didn’t even notice the shade Sharita was throwing her way. She smiled and said, “Boo...he asked me to marry him day before yesterday and last night I said yes! I’m jumping the broom, Sharita and you’re gonna be one of my bridesmaids.”
Sharita looked at her girl in total disbelief. She’s telling the truth. That fine ass dentist did ask her to marry him. Well, damn.
Lamesha kept on speaking. “You gonna help me plan my wedding aren’t you, girl?”
Sharita nodded her head. “Uh, yeah, Mesha. I’ll help you.”
<<<<<>>>>>
Just like Lamesha had suspected was gonna be the case, her mother loved Donovan. He’d gone to church with Lamesha on the Sunday after they’d gotten engaged and he’d gotten to meet her mama and her friends.
Standing in the sanctuary of God's House of Deliverance with her fianceé’s arm around her waist, Lamesha smiled up at her baby then turned to her peeps. "Babe, I'd like you to meet my mama and my two besties. Everybody calls my mama Ms. Diana and this is Sharita and Yvette." Then Lamesha held her hand up in the air. “We’re getting married ya’ll!”
“Lord have mercy, Lord have mercy,” Diana kept repeating over and over again while thinking to herself: God done answered my prayers and sent my baby somebody.
Yvette flashed the couple a genuine smile. Sharita flashed them a smile, too, but hers wasn’t so genuine.
Full of happiness for her child, Diana caught a glance of Yvette out of the corner of her eye. She couldn’t help but think: That girl ain’t right. She got something in her heart against my baby. I ain’t gonna say nothing to Mesha right now, but I’m gonna have to keep a good eye on that one right there. She pursed her lips. A real good eye, Lord.
As soon as she made it out of the church and settled herself into her ten-year-old Chevy Malibu, Sharita pulled out her cell phone. She went straight to her speed dial numbers.
"Hey, sexy lady. I wasn't expecting to be hearing from you for a while. I told you I'm between jobs right now, so I can't be paying you for your services."
Sharita laughed. "I know you ain't got no money right now, Calvin. But I was figuring you could pay me in another way."
Calvin didn't know what other way Sharita was talking about, but he was sure he was gonna be down for it. For whatever reason, Sharita was the only one who was able to help him get a nut. He was already getting turned on just thinking about her.
He smiled into his phone. “A’ight, shawty. Bounce your way on over here. Let’s talk about it.”
Sharita had a sly smile on her face. She was glad she’d put on her brand new Victoria’s Secret panty set that particular Sunday. She was gonna have to pull out all the stops to get Calvin to go along with what she wanted.
<<<<<>>>>>
Fifteen Minutes Later:
“You want me to do what?!”
Sharita rolled over in Calvin’s arms and propped her naked body up on one elbow. She looked him dead in the eye. "You heard me, boy. I want you to hook back up with Lamesha."
Calvin shook his head. "Girl, you must be crazy. You know what foot me and Lamesha broke up on. She ain't gonna want to get back with me. Why you want me to get back with her anyways?"
Sharita shook her head. "I want you to pretend that you want to get back with her. Make her think that you want to. And as for the why... That's my business. I just want you to do it. Wine her. Dine her. Pretend that your ass is saved. Women always have a soft spot in their hearts for their first love. You were Lamesha's first. She used to love you. All you have to do is confess your love for Jesus, and next convince her that you’ve changed your ways...that you made a mistake when you dumped her ass.” Sharita nodded her head. “She'll let you back into her life."
Calvin rubbed his hand over his head. He frowned. "I don't know about all that, Sharita."
Her eyes suddenly got a hard glint to them. "If you don't do this for me, then I'm not coming over here no more and doing what I do for you. You only kicking me back fifty bucks each time anyways."
Getting sexual gratification was important to Calvin. He blew a breath out on a sigh. "All right, shawty.” He looked her in the eye. “And you said I could get all the sex I want from you for a year for free? No more paying fifty bucks to get my rocks off?"
Sharita thought that Calvin was pathetic, but she gave him a little smile. "Yeah, that's exactly what I'm saying."
Ten minutes later, after she’d left Calvin's apartment, Sharita had a devious little smile on her face. That was part one of her plan. “Now it’s on to part two. Lamesha’s fake, wanna-be-saved ass don’t deserve a man like Donovan Walker. Shoot...I could tell from the way he looked at me back there that he wants to sample some of this. She all at work bragging about how she ‘bout to go live in a mini mansion.” Sharita sucked her teeth. “She gonna stay her ass in that tiny apartment that she got and we about to flip the script. I’m gonna be the bitch moving in with the good doctor.”
<<<<<>>>>>
Across Town:
Diana looked around the restaurant that her future son-in-law had brought them to. They were there because Donovan had said that he’d wanted to take them out to celebrate him and Lamesha getting engaged. There were five people sitting around the table — Yvette and Yvette’s fiancee, Malachi, Lamesha and Donovan, and of course Lamesha’s mother, Diana. Donovan had invited Sharita to come along too, but she hadn’t taken him up on his offer.
Diana grinned. “Well, well, well future son-in-law...this sure is a nice place that you brought us to.”
Donovan nodded his head and returned her smile with one of his own. “I think it’s nice, too. My younger brother actually owns it. He’s a professional chef.”
Diana’s smiled widened. “Is that right?”
“Yep. Sure is.”
“I guess we’ll be getting to meet him today then.” She looked around. “Where he at? In the kitchen helping to get all the delicious food that I’m smelling cooked up?”
Donovan shook his head. “Actually, Ms. Diana, him and his girlfriend went out of town today for a church convention.”
Diana nodded her head in understanding. She liked hearing about people being active in the church. “Oh, okay. I guess we’ll maybe meet him next time then.”
“Yep. Maybe so.”
Then she reached out both of her hands on the table. “Come on y’all. Let’s bless the food so that we can chow on down. Donovan, you do the honors.”
Donovan took Diana’s hand in his left one and Lamesha’s hand in his right. Then he closed his eyes and prayed over their meal like his future mother-in-law had asked him to. He was thankful to be about to marry into a God-focused family.
<<<<<>>>>>
Later on that Night:
Diana had been snuggled under her comforter in bed for a little over two hours in a deep sleep. Then her eyes flew open and she sat upright. The dream she’d been having had been so disturbing that it had woken her right up out of her sleep. She shook her head as the memory of it washed over her again.
Her dream had been about Sharita and Lamesha. Both of them had been standing on the edge of a cliff laughing and talking together — they’d been having a good time. Then suddenly out of the blue, Sharita had pushed Lamesha over the edge. Diana had watched her baby hit the hard ground several hundred feet below the spot where she’d been standing. Of course Lamesha had not survived in Diana’s dream.
Diana shook her head. There’s no way anyone could’ve survived a fall like that.
Then Diana felt something in her spirit. “Lord,” she whispered to the empty room. “You’re sending me a message ain’t you? A sign?” She shook her head again. “That girl is trouble for my daughter. That’s what you’re trying to warn me about isn’t it?”
In her spirit, Diana knew that the answer to her question was yes. She knew God was sending her a forewarning. A caution sign.
Minutes later, when she’d laid back down in bed, she made a deal with herself to talk to Lamesha about her relationship with Sharita the following day. “I been trying to stay out of my daughter’s business, but this is just too important. She’s just too important. I’d rather have her be mad at me than let that friend of hers harm her.” Then she began shouting in bed. “Thank you, Jesus! Thank you, Lord! Thank you for sending me a beacon of light in the darkness.”