Come Share My Love (34 page)

     “Her Zacky,” thought Shyla.  The look she gave him was priceless, not to mention loaded with enough venom to put a kimono dragon out of commission.  She turned her back to him.  “Men”.  This is what they do.  They try to get you and have someone already in the wings.  He probably never thought this woman would show up like this and yank his player card from him.

     “I just met him,” Kemah announced, “but he and my girl here, go way, way back.

     “Your girl?  Way, way back?  What does that mean?” she softly chuckled.  “Are you two like lovers or something?” 

Zackary jumped up.
  “Sandy?  You can’t ask her something like that.  You don’t even know them.”

     “But she said she was her girl.”  Sandy deliberately played like she didn’t know what they were talking about.

Shyla too, chuckled and shook her head.  ‘Lord a mercy,’ she said to herself.  ‘Where do these people come from?’

     “It means you need to get a clue,” Kemah thought, arching her brow.  Kemah was getting a little annoyed, then.  Neither she nor Shyla looked gay and the girl damn well knew it.  “It means that this is my best friend and she and Zackary have been friends for a very long time.  Almost married, yes they were,” she threw in just to get everyone’s juices flowing.

Shyla almost choked on her drink.  Zackary pulled away from his companion to tend to Shyla.  “Babe, you all right?” he raised her arms above her head.  She looked at him like he was crazy.  “It helps, trust me.”  She allowed his help and the choking did cease.

     “Sorry about that.  I nearly choked to death,” she said eyeing her friend.  Zackary retook his seat next to Sandy.

     “Sweetie you should be more careful how you drink those things.  You were probably drinking too fast.

     “Zacky has never mentioned a Shy, Shy…what?”

     “Shyla,” she pronounced.

     “Okay, yeah.”  She turned to Zackary dismissing both Kemah and Shyla, or so she thought.  “How long ago was this?  Before we met?”

     “Duh!  Friends, getting married-” Shyla kicked her friend under the table.

     “Umm, Sandy, Kemah was just-”

     “So, Sandra, was it?” Kemah said to get her attention.

     “That’s Sandy,
” she said, through clamped down teeth her tone a bit uptight and her nose flaring midair.

     “Whatever.”  Kemah waved her hand around.  “How do you know Shyla’s little Zackary?”  Shyla looked over
at her friend and then at Zackary.  She turned her head toward the water and just shook it.

     “We met one day and we’ve been together ever since.  Haven’t we Zacky?”

Shyla nearly choked again. Now, although she was saddened by those words she had just heard, Shyla tried not to be noticeable but at least two of the three saw her reaction.  One was Kemah, the other Zackary, but he wasn’t about to let those word be misinterpreted.

     “What Sandy means,” he pulled out of her clutches, “is that we’ve become good friend and we have mutual friends that spend a lot of time together.  Shyla wouldn’t look up at him.

     “We all came together at separate times, in separate vehicles.”  He tried to explain.  “There’s one other gentleman, two women and the guy hosting the week’s festivities.  We’re just friends.”

Sandy ignored that last comment.  “So Kemah and Shyla, what kind of names are those?”  She pointed at Kemah.  “Are you named after that cute little white lion from the old school cartoon?”

     “Oh shit, Kemah?”  Shyla saw the unpleasant look on her friends face. 

     “No, Shy.  I got this.”  She waved her off then pointed to the new comer.

     “Look-”

     “Sandy.”  Zackary turned to her quickly, to defuse what was to come.  He also saw that Kemah was all fired up, “That’s Kimba, The White Lion,” Zackary stated.  “Kemah is a beautiful African Queen’s name.  It matches her personality.”  He winked at Kemah and she smiled.

     “Oh, how…how silly of me,” Sandy said throwing her hand over her heart.  “Kimba your name is cute.”  Another deliberate misunderstanding.

     “Zack,” someone yelled from across the room.  Everyone turned to see who it was.

     “Those are our friends!” Sandy waved.  “We better get a move on,” she couldn’t get away fast enough.  She was sure Kemah wanted to kick her ass.

     “Yeah I guess we should.”  He sounded less than thrilled. 

     “Well it was nice meeting you both,” she said to Kemah and Shyla with sarcasm and a bitter sweet smile on her face.  She placed her hand in Zackary’s and began to pull him along.  He didn’t want Shyla to think that anything was going on with him and Sandy, but what could he say that wouldn’t hurt his friend’s feelings.  He would explain things to Shyla later.

Finally Shyla lifted her head.  She could see the wanting and desire that swam in Zackary’s eyes.  She almost thought her heart would stop beating, but he was with another woman, holding her hand.  Didn’t that mean anything to him?

     “Shyla,” he grabbed her hand in his free one then whispered.  “I really hope we can spend some time together before our vacations are over.”  She could only half smile.  To say something would only make her look like a bigger idiot.  He turned and shook Kemah’s hand as well.  “Nice meeting you, Kemah, and you do have a very beautiful name.”

     “Thanks!  It was nice me
eting you too.  You too, Sandra,” she said as an afterthought.

     “Sandy,” she said through clenched teeth. 

     “Kimba, Sandra, it’s all the same.  Have a good time.”

     “You two do the same.”  With that they strolled away, hand in hand.

     “Well, that was very interesting.

     “Yes, very.”

Shyla wasn’t speaking for now and Kemah wouldn’t pry, not just yet anyway.  But eventually Shyla would give up the 411 on Mr. Zackary Trellis.  Damn she never did get a chance to find out if he was related to her ex.  She hoped he wasn’t.  The last thing she wanted to do was run into him after all these years. 

C
hapter Three

     “Shyla, why are you so uptight?” 

     “I’m not. What are you talking about?”

     “Yes you are.  We’ve been here for three days already and you have yet to have fun.  Is it because of Zackary?  Fine ass, Zackary.”  Kemah licked her lips.

     “No!” she said all too suddenly.  “Why would you say that?  He’s where he wants to be and whom he wants to be with.”

     “And that’s eating you up inside.  Admit it,” she pointed.

     “I will not.  And stop licking your lips like that.  It’s not like you just had a damn piece of crumb cake or anything. I have no interest in Zackary, end of conversation.”

     “Of course it’s not.  Me thinks you lie, little lady.” Kemah said lying across the bed in the room Shyla used.  “I saw the way the two of you looked at one another earlier today.  There’s no mistaken that there is some chemistry between the two of you.  He tried to explain that home girl was just a friend.”

     “I don’t care about that, Kemah,” Shyla said in a falsetto voice.  “I am perfectly fine the way things are.  I told you how he is and I have no interest in him, now, nor will I ever.”  Another lie.  She was getting good at this but not where Kemah was concerned.  She knew that deep down in her heart she had feelings for that man but to keep him at a distance she had to pretend that there were no sparks between them. 

     “Besides when the right man comes along I’ll know.  Women have to be careful around these men.  They say what you want to hear and then they use you up until you can’t be used anymore.”

     “Shyla all men are not like that.  You can’t keep judging every man by that jerk Simon.  What kind of name is that for a black man anyway?  You should have known something was up with him anyway, with those beady little eyes.  Zackary is different.  He can’t keep his eyes off you.  I know that you have some feelings for him.  It’s in your eyes.”  Kemah took a sip of her drink.  “And eyes don’t lie.  Not these eyes anyway.  Now your eyes, those babies right there,” she pointed.  “Those bug beauties are telling a major whopper.  Uh huh, yes they are.”

     “My eyes don’t lie,” she lowered her shades over her eyes. 

Kemah laughed and snatched them off.  “There’s no sun in here.”

     “There are no feelings e
ither, so just stop it.”

     “No feelings at all?”

Shyla shrugged her shoulders.  “No positive ones.”

     “Liar.”

     “What?  How can you keep calling me a liar?”

     “Because we have known each other the better part of our lives and we know each other inside out so I know
that you are sitting here lying.  And I won’t elaborate on how I know because then you’ll try and change it up.” 

     “Can we please stop taking about this?  Let’s go shopping.”

     “Only if you admit that you care about this man.”

     “Not for all the Haagen Daz in the world.”  And Shyla loved Haagen Daz ice cream.

     “Okay, Miss Wilkes.  You just wait.  Your feelings are going to up and bite you in the rear and you had better hope it’s not too late.”  Shyla rolled her eyes.

     “Roll your damn eyes all you want.  That man is not going to keep after you forever.”

Where had she heard that one before?  “That’s what you think.  He only wants me because I don’t want him.”

     “But you do want him,” she stomped her foot and poked out her lips.

     “Let’s not get into this again.  And will you calm down, please.  There’s no need to be throwing tantrums.  You’re not three years old anymore.”

     “If we are going shopping let’s go.  I am tired of talking to you.  It’s like a merry go round.  You say you don’t like him knowing that you do.  Then you say he only wants you because he can’t have you.”

     “That’s not what I said.”

     “Forget it.  Let’s just go.”  Kemah picked up her purse and walked out the door leaving Shyla standing in the middle of the floor laughing.

     They shopped for six hours straight getting souvenirs and such for family and friends.  Any time Shyla picked out an outfit she had Zackary in mind.  Would he like this sundress, would he like the color on me, she said to herself.  She liked Zackary a little more than she was willing to admit.  She didn’t want to get hurt.  Although she had several male friends, there wasn’t one among them that she would want to have an intimate relationship with.  Zackary was the closest that came to mind and she wouldn’t dare let that happen.  For one he was her cousin’s best friend and business partner and for two he had too many lady friends that were always hanging around.  The last thing she needed was to be labeled one of Zackary Trellis’ women or have to hear about her intimate relationship from her cousin.  Men always talked about their sexual escapades with their friends and don’t care if it hurts you.  She couldn’t let that happen.  No it was best to keep her feelings well hidden.

     “So do we hit up the casino first or do we go to dinner and the club?”

     “It’s still pretty early so why don’t we go to the casino for a couple of hours.  I heard about the new one they just built near Port Maria, it’s about 20 minutes from here.”

     “Was that in the advertisement?” she grabbed for the brochure.  “How did I miss that?”

     “Don’t know but maybe we could have dinner there, say about eight or nine.  The club is opened all night long.”

     “That is so true,” she read on amazed at how much more
of the island they had to tour.

     “Just be ready to go in about five minutes.”

     “Ten!  I have make-up to do.”  Kemah ran to her room to ready for the outing.

     They went to the casino where they had so much fun.  Kemah liked the tables whereas Shyla liked the slots, but not just any slots.  It had to be the multi lined slots and have some kind of funny bonus to it.  You hardly ever had any luck winning on the one lined ones, but fate was good to them both that evening.

   Kemah hit a jackpot for eleven thousand dollars and then Shyla turned right around and hit a jackpot for over thirteen.  They had to wait there until one of the cashier managers and a cashier of the casino came to give them their winnings.  They each put a one hundred dollar bill in their machine and played it until it was time for dinner or until the machine ate up the funds. 

     “How are you doing over there?” Kemah asked Shyla.

     “I still have forty-eight dollars.  What about you?”

     “I’m just about tapped out.  I have five dollars left.”  An hour later they headed over to the Reggae Lounge for dinner and then to Club Vodavi in Ocho Rios.  The machines decided to keep them playing a little while longer, each cashing out with more than fifty dollars in their machines.  They chose to give it to the counters at the cashier window and the waitresses for tips.  Kemah couldn’t leave without putting something on the tables.  She bought twenty dollars in chips for roulette, played it all on black nine, and won.  She put her four hundred dollars’ worth of chips in her bag and strolled out the door.  No sense in staying to play it.  Tomorrow would be another day.  Besides they were starving.