and not the real her.
“If it’s all well and good, I think I’ll pass on being set up.”
“Come on,” Callie said. “What could it hurt?”
“I never do well on blind dates. I don’t know why, I just don’t. I guess I feel too awkward, which causes the whole date to spiral downhill.”
“Then don’t think of it as a blind date,” Callie said. “Think of it as an evening where you’ll be meeting someone new.”
“I’ll still say no,” Deanna said with a frown.
Callie shook her head. “So stubborn.”
“What could it hurt to meet him?” Natalie asked. “Maybe Callie and Nigel could have us all over, so it’d be less awkward.”
“Right now, the last thing on my mind is dating,” Deanna said. “I’m more interested in finding our mother.” She didn’t want to add that the experience with her ex Brian had really
shaken her. She could happily remain single for a long, long while.
Deanna hadn’t chosen wisely before when it came to love. She’d had her heart broken, and she knew that she had also broken her share of hearts. There had been men who were into her—perfectly nice men whom she hadn’t been able to give all of her heart. For the most part, her career had been her everything, her main focus.
Which was what made the demise of her relationship with Brian even harder to stomach. In a sense, he had been the perfect man for her because he was involved in the music industry. He was an established producer, and Deanna had met him at a party and had been ecstatic when he told her that he admired her music and wanted to work with her. It hadn’t taken her long to realize that Brian was also romantically interested in her. They’d gotten along well, their banter had been easy and the flirtation had been fun. So Deanna had decided to throw caution to the wind and take a chance on love with Brian. She had begun to fantasize that they could become a music industry super-couple….
Instead, Deanna had learned a horrible lesson about mixing business with pleasure.
It was a lesson she had learned when she first left Cleveland and went to Hollywood. When, as a twenty-one-year-old girl, she met the man who would help get her career off the ground.
“Dee?” Natalie said tentatively.
Jerking her eyes to her sister’s, and seeing the look of concern, Deanna realized that she was gripping the beer bottle in front of her…one that didn’t even belong to her.
“You okay?” Natalie asked.
“Sure,” Deanna replied, trying to sound as casual as possible.
She released the bottle, but she couldn’t as easily release the painful memories that plagued her.
Chapter 2
Deanna saw Kwame waving enthusiastically as she approached the doors to his school. The same school she had attended as a child.
It was weird being here after all these years, like a definite step into the past. The building looked so much smaller than Deanna had remembered. Funny how when you became an adult your perspective changed.
It was two days after Kwame had asked if she would come talk to his class, and he had called her over the lunch hour to say that his teacher would like to meet her to discuss the idea. Deanna had promised that she would come at the end of the school day to speak with the teacher, which she guessed would be a meeting to determine how best to incorporate her visit with whatever studies the children were doing.
Kwame was beaming now as she approached, clearly thrilled at the fact that his idea of her talking to his class was one step closer to coming to fruition.
Deanna couldn’t help but smile in return. A child’s energy and happiness were infectious, and giving just a little bit of her time was clearly worth it. Just seeing how happy it made her nephew was already repaying her in leaps and bounds.
Kwame opened the door as she reached it, saying, “Auntie
Deanna! I already talked to the principal about it, and he thinks it’s a great idea. And he wants to meet you, too. Actually, he says he knows you already but that he wants to see you again.”
Kwame was speaking in a rush, and Deanna quietly shushed him. “Whoa, you’ll have to slow down. Your principal wants to meet me?”
“Uh-huh. He said he knows you.”
“He knows me?” Deanna gave Kwame a skeptical look. “Or he knows who I am?” She would bet that it was the latter. Given that she had grown up in Cleveland, most people here knew that she was the Deanna Hart who had made a name for herself in the music industry.
“He knows you,” Kwame stressed. He took her hand. “Come this way. He’s in the office.”
“I’m sure he means that he knows who I am,” Deanna said as Kwame led her toward the office doors.
Kwame stopped mid-stride and faced her. “Uh-uh. He said he was excited about seeing you again.”
“You mean he knows me knows me?”
“Yeah. He said he knew you before you got famous.”
Deanna frowned slightly, now curious. Had she known any principals?
Before she even thought to ask the man’s name, Kwame was opening the office doors and leading her inside. And that’s when Deanna stopped dead in her tracks.
Eric Bell. Good Lord in heaven, was it really him?
His lips curled in a smile—the same room-brightening smile she had seen many times years ago—and Deanna was absolutely certain. Just over six feet tall, with that flawless golden-brown complexion—yep, it was definitely Eric Bell.
Her former boyfriend’s brother.
“Eric?” Deanna said cautiously, though she knew it was him. He was more muscular than he had been before—most notably in his chest and his shoulders. And unlike years ago, he now had a neatly trimmed goatee framing his mouth. A decidedly sexier look, Deanna couldn’t help thinking.
“Deanna.” He stepped toward her, his dimples evident as he continued to grin. His smile always did exude warmth. It had brought her comfort in the aftermath of Marvin’s betrayal. “You’re back in town.”
“I can’t believe you’re here.” Though where she had expected him to be, she wasn’t sure. “I can’t believe you’re the principal at this school.”
“Is it really that surprising?” Eric asked. “I’d just started teaching when I knew you, and I used to say that I planned to become a principal one day.”
She nodded, remembering now. But the truth was, she had forgotten about Eric’s ambition. She had been so absorbed in her own drama at the time that his career goals hadn’t been at the forefront of her mind. He had been her friend—the brother of the boyfriend who had done her wrong—and a person who had given her many pep talks and tried
