they said. I didn’t agree with them, of course.”
“Thanks, Colleen, I appreciate that.”
“But now they do have me thinking.”
Opal turned toward her cousin. “Thinking about what?”
“You are the most easygoing, tolerant and optimistic person I know. You always look on the bright side and usually don’t let anything ruffle your feathers. But D’marcus Armstrong has been doing just that.”
“There’s only so much any one person can take, Colleen. I’m not a saint.”
“No, but why is he getting next to you? If he’s that bad, just quit.”
Opal released a groan of frustration. “Mr. Armstrong is not all that bad, really. I think his bark is worse than his bite, and a part of me wants to think he deliberately tries getting on my last nerve.”
Colleen arched a brow. “Why do you think he would do that?”
Opal shrugged. “That’s the way some bosses are, I guess. They like to be in control. He just has a rough-and-gruff demeanor. I’m getting used to it. But trust me when I say that I don’t have a crush on the man. Of course, I think he’s good-looking and all that, but he is not someone I want to get to know personally. I like my space and I’m sure he likes his.”
Colleen nodded. “What do you know about him…personally?”
“Just what the gossip mill around the office says. He was raised by an aunt and uncle after his parents were killed in a car accident when he was six. He was engaged to marry his high-school sweetheart in his last year of college when she was killed in a boating accident two weeks before their wedding.”
“Oh, how awful that must have been for him.”
Opal nodded. She knew that Colleen, who was pursuing a degree in psychology, was probably trying to figure out if D’marcus’s past somehow had had an effect on his present state.
“You’re back,” she heard Pearl say behind them as she came out of the house carrying another bowl of potato salad. “What was so important that The Hunk had to call you away?”
“Nothing important,” she said quickly. Because of the often confidential nature of her job she never divulged any private information. “He just needed me to take a few notes for him.” And to change the subject quickly she glanced around and asked, “Where’s Ruby?”
“She’s inside trying to bring order to the kitchen,” Pearl responded over her shoulder.
“I’ll be back in a minute,” Opal said to Colleen. “I need to talk to Ruby about something.”
As she entered the back door into the kitchen, she paused. Ruby, who had fixed most of the food and gotten the meats ready for Luther to grill, was sitting at the kitchen table while Luther massaged her shoulders. It seemed her sister was taking a much-deserved quiet moment.
Opal smiled. Not for first time, she wondered when her oldest sister would finally open her eyes and realize that, although they claimed to be only friends, she and Luther were meant for each other.
She went back outside. She shook her head when she found Pearl and Reverend Kendrick involved in another debate. As long as this one didn’t turn as heated as the last, then it should be okay.
She noticed the couple who owned the house next door, Keith and La Keita Hayward, had arrived while she was gone, and she decided to go speak to them. As she walked crossed the yard, she glanced back and studied the Tudor-style single-family brick home. Located in inner-city Detroit, it had always been a home filled with love and warmth.
After their father’s death, she and her three sisters had been raised by their widowed mother, and their family had been one of the first African-American families to integrate into the neighborhood. Despite the urban blight that now surrounded the area, they had remained in their majestic family home basically on principal, not to mention their shoestring finances. Now everyone but Ruby had moved out. Opal couldn’t help wondering what would become of their home if Ruby ever decided to go live some place else. Would they sell the house? Rent it out? Or, now that it was paid for, would they leave it as a place they could come back to whenever they felt the need to escape and chill? Whatever decision she and her sisters made would be the right one.
Her thoughts then drifted to D’marcus. She couldn’t help but wonder if he was still at the office and if he had gotten something to eat. She knew how easy it was for him to work through lunch. Then she remembered the chill in his tone when he’d dismissed her offer of food. Well, as far as she was concerned, it was his loss.
She sighed deeply, thinking that she should be used to his curt and unfriendly nature by now. But there wasn’t a day that went by that she didn’t hope his attitude would improve. So far it hadn’t.
As she stopped in front of the Haywards, she smiled and quickly decided that D’marcus Armstrong was the last person she wanted to think about. She refused to let his behavior completely ruin her day.
D’marcus tossed aside a file he’d been working on and glanced over at the clock. It was after five already. Where had the day gone? He heard the growling of his stomach and immediately thought of all that food Opal had named when she’d offered to bring him a plate from her family gathering. Maybe he should have accepted her offer. But a part of him felt he’d done the right thing by not doing so.
He leaned back in his chair as he picked up the framed photograph of the young woman. The woman who was to have been his wife. The pain of that loss was still with him even after six years. Tonya had been the one thing he had wanted in his life, the person he had loved with all his heart, and he’d lost her in one afternoon, two weeks before they were to marry. What really had torn him in two was finding out that at her death she had been a month pregnant with their child. He hadn’t just lost the woman he’d loved but also the baby that would have been theirs.
He placed the photograph back on his desk and walked over to the window. It had been a beautiful day, warm for the first week in October, although the forecasters were predicting a cold front sometime next week.
His gaze swept the empty parking lot where Opal’s car had been parked earlier. A part of him regretted his rude behavior to her. That same part knew there was no excuse for it. But another part, that part of him that had been protecting himself for the past six years, refused to agree. It believed there was an excuse. Opal Lockhart was a woman who could wiggle her way inside a man’s head and heart if he wasn’t careful. She was the first woman since Tonya who had ignited even a spark inside him. What was so sad was that he hadn’t been trying for that spark.
She had worked late one night, her first week with Sports Unlimited, and he had left the office for the day. He had gotten as far as the third floor when he remembered that he had left behind a file he needed to take home to review. He had returned and walked into her office area to find her standing at the window in deep thought. Because of the long day, she had taken off her shoes and jacket, and the fashionable scarf was no longer around her neck. He had stood studying her. Without knowing he was there, she released her bun and ran her hands through her shoulder-length hair. Without the jacket he’d seen her small waist and the delicate curves of her hips. She had looked beguiling, sexy, a total turn-on.
For the first time in six years, he had felt long-buried sensations. Sexual chemistry to a degree he’d never known before had nearly driven him to
