One Toe Out (A Complicated Love Story) (3 page)

Simone wanted to hug him. His hurt radiated off him. Oh heck. She reached over and wrapped her arms around him, J.T. stiffened then he relaxed, letting himself be soothed.

“
But what about you?” Simone asked when they separated. “Are you still going to see men?”

J.T. was going to lie, but since he was so upfront with her so far, he wanted to continue being so. “I will, but I will be discreet…very discreet. You will not hear or see anything. I promise.”

“
What about me. I have needs too.”

J.T. had thought about this. It wasn’t reasonable to ask her to squelch her natural urges. “I trust that you will be equally discreet. And I’ll need for you to be discreet about our arrangement. I picked you Simone because I think that you are a honest person and I think we can be good friends. So what do you want to do? Will you marry me?”

Chapter
5

With her reading glasses perched on the end of her nose, Lillian perused the pre-nuptial agreement. As promised; J.T. had it hand-delivered to her the next day. She glanced up at her daughter. “Do you think we should have a lawyer take a look at this for you?”

“
I don’t know Mom, I trust J.T. he’s been so upfront and honest with me. I don’t think he has anything to hide.”

“
If he didn’t have anything to hide, he wouldn’t be marrying you,” Lillian quickly reminded her.

“
That’s true Mom.”

“
And look at this. It says that you cannot participate in any type of reality show without his permission and the same goes for the children.”

Simone laughed. “Oh, that’s okay. I don’t see myself signing on for the next season of Football Wives or the Housewives series; it’s all a bunch of crap to me.”

“
Well, you say that now…”

“
But if some really sweet reality show comes out, then I’m sure J.T. would let me do it.” When the enormity of what she was considering sunk in, she looked at her mother, Simone had the same confused expression on her face that she had when she was five-years-old after Lillian had explained to her how babies got out of their mother’s belly.

Lillian grabbed her and pulled her into her arms. “It’s okay baby.”

“
I don’t know what to do; it’s all very overwhelming to me. I’m thinking about marrying someone that I don’t love and he’s a gay professional athlete using me to make his life look normal. This is just too much.”

Lillian stroked her daughter’s hair. “You don’t have to do this,” she said. “You’re under no obligation to him. If you don’t do it, realistically, he’ll find someone else.”

Simone pulled away from her mother; she straightened her back and pulled back her shoulders as though she was ready to take on the world.

“
I know. But on the other hand. I finally won’t have to think about money, I can travel the world,
we
can travel the world,” she said excitedly. “I can start a business; I don’t think his pre-nup nixed that idea. And Momma I can buy you a new house. And you won’t have to work anymore,” she said breathlessly.

“
What about you? What happens when you want to date?” Lillian asked, ever the practical one. “Obviously, you two won’t be having any type of marital relations, so what are you going to do about your womanly urges?”

Simone blushed. While she and her mother had an open relationship and talked about everything under the sun, it still embarrassed her to be talking about sex, specifically her sex life with her mom. “We talked about it. As long as I’m discreet it’s okay. He was very sweet and understanding about it.”

“
But will that be enough?”

“
It will Mom,” she insisted, but her mother still looked skeptical.

“
Money doesn’t keep you warm at night.”

Simone eyed her mother. “Sure it does, it keeps the electricity from being turned off,” she said sadly, remembering when she was younger there were times when their electricity was cut off, because her father, Lillian’s ex-husband had spent time in and out of prison, and there were times when Lillian didn’t have enough money to pay their bills. And when he was out of prison, he rarely spent time with his children or provided any financial support. No one had heard from him in years. They didn’t know if he was dead or alive.

“
I’m sorry baby. I know growing up was hard…very hard. I know you remember us getting evicted from apartments and taking the bus to the welfare office. But we’re okay now. We overcame all that. I just don’t want you to get yourself into some crazy situation, because you’re afraid that you’ll end up like me.”

Simone hugged her mom. “Of course, that’s why I’m doing it,” she said honestly. “It’s like I won the lottery. I don’t want to be poor anymore. He and I will have an agreement, we’re partners. Isn’t that what most marriages are anyway? We’re just upfront with it that’s all.”

“
It sounds fine…but I still don’t like it.”

“
Trust me Mom. It’ll be the best thing I’ve ever done and as soon as the first two million is deposited into my account. I’m gonna buy you a new house.”

“
Simone, you don’t have to,” Lillian protested.

Simone took in their two-bedroom ranch house. They had a kitchen so small that they couldn’t open the oven door and the refrigerator’s at the same time, and bedrooms that could barely hold a full size bed. Her mother had been so proud when she had purchased the house fifteen years ago. She and Simone had shared a bedroom until her brother Lawrence had moved out, then Simone had moved into his room. “But I want to.”

“
Are you going to have a lawyer look at it?” Lillian asked.

“
I’ll see,” she replied airily and strolled off to work.

“
Hey baby, what your name is?” a man-boy asked and Simone cringed, occasionally she’d run across men-boys like him, who still thought it was okay to not speak intelligently. She took his order then checked on her other customers. From the beginning of her shift she had been moving on auto-pilot, she couldn’t get J.T.’s proposal out of her mind.

When it was break time, Simone grabbed a soda and went through the kitchen and stepped out into the alley. She had a chair there that she liked to sit in and rest her feet. With a sigh, Simone sat down. “If I take J.T. up on his crazy offer, I wouldn’t have to work for six dollars an hour, carrying food,” she muttered and took a sip of her drink. Simone sniffed deeply and almost gagged on the stench from the garbage.
I’ll be making two million dollars a year.
The amount still boggled her mind.

“
And it’s not like I’ll be losing out on a relationship,” she whispered sadly, thinking of the man boy in the diner who wanted to holler at her. He was typical of the men who were interested in her. At twenty-eight she had only one loving and positive relationship and that was with her high school sweetheart, Sean Miller.

They had dated for three years and when she was fifteen, they had made love for the first time. He had taken her to her senior prom. One summer night right after they graduated from high school he had been standing in front of, Moxie’s, a corner store, hanging out with some friends, when a car drove by and pelted the group of young men with bullets, three were killed and four were critically wounded. Sadly, Sean was one of the fatalities.

Rodney, her last boyfriend, had spent ten years in prison for selling drugs. They had started dating after he had been out for a year, whereas some women wouldn’t have given him a second glance, she believed in giving people second chances.

But it didn’t take long for him to show his true colors. Not only did he return to selling drugs, but he convinced a couple of nineteen-year-old girls to strip and prostitute themselves and give him the money. As soon as she found out, she dropped him faster than a bag of burning shit. “If I marry J.T., I won’t have to deal with that crap! But is it worth it? Can I live a fake life for millions?”

Chapter
6

Simone nervously glanced at her fiancé then at her ring. J.T. had given her a twelve carat emerald cut platinum engagement ring, which cost more than her mother’s house.

Engrossed in reading and responding to his e-mails on his Phone, he didn’t notice her nervousness. Simone picked up the latest
Essence
magazine from the table and thumbed through it. But she ended up throwing it down after skimming the first few pages.

Her life had changed tremendously over the last month. She had gotten engaged. And to show his commitment to their arrangement, J.T. had surprised her by writing her a check for half a million dollars and buying her a new car, a new GranTourismo Convertible Maserati. After a lot of persuading and some begging, Simone had purchased a modest home for her mother. Anyone would have thought Simone had bought her mom a mansion based on her reaction when she saw it, she had cried so hard that Simone was afraid she’d make herself sick. The small ranch that she currently owned could easily fit inside the five bedroom, four sided brick home. With the move-in date only a couple of weeks away, Lillian was scrambling around packing up keepsakes and family pictures. She was selling everything since Simone had promised to completely furnish her new home. Simone’s next item on her to-do list was to buy her mom a new car and taking her shopping for a whole new wardrobe, she planned on doing that as soon as J.T. gave her her two million dollar check.

As soon as J.T.’s check cleared, she’d quit her waitressing job. The five dollar tips that she had coveted just a month ago, seemed like pennies now, she was on the cusp of becoming a multi-millionairess. Joe’s eyes had gotten as big as one of the pies sitting on the dessert carousel when she’d flashed her ring. He had congratulated her with a hug and had given her a free lunch on the house as an engagement gift.

Simone glanced at her outfit and hoped that it would impress Marcella. J.T. had warned her that she could come across as a bitch, but she was a bitch who cared about her clients. The girl at the store in the mall who had helped her pick out her outfit had called it casual chic and Simone loved it. With the weather being cool for April, Simone had picked out a pair of leggings and paired it with an oversize sweater that she belted, showing off her small waist. She finished it with a pair of peep toe shoes and a Louis Vuitton bag. She thought she looked nice.

“
Marcella should be here soon,” the receptionist said. “She’s stuck in traffic.”

“
Thanks,” Simone said. J.T. didn’t bother to acknowledge her.

Simone had worked in Corporate America a while ago for six months, as a receptionist in the same affluent neighborhood, Buckhead. And she hated it, she couldn’t go to the bathroom without telling half the office where she was going. And the office politics were enough to make her quit, which she did. But her former place of employment was nowhere as nice as this office. Plush furniture filled the reception area, fresh cut flowers decorated the room and the neutral color palette oozed sophistication. The view of Buckhead was breathtaking and this office was just a few short blocks away from Lenox Mall and Phipps Plaza, two malls known for celebrity sightings and its pricy shops.

Simone was debating whether to take the receptionist up on her offer for coffee when Marcella stormed into the office. That’s the best way Simone could describe her entrance. Even though the office was on the tenth floor, she brought the brisk April air in with her. Simone wrapped her arms around herself and shuddered.

With a curt hello, she marched to her office and J.T. and Simone trotted after her.

She immediately started talking as soon as they sat down. Simone had never seen anyone move so fast. She whipped off her black leather jacket, pulled off her earrings, then strode over to her wet bar, where she reached into her mini fridge and pulled out a bottle of Perrier. “Your travel arrangements have been made, you leave for Vegas tomorrow. Barry signed off on the team’s jet,” she called over her shoulder.

Simone turned to her fiancé. “What? Why are we going to Vegas?”

Marcella settled behind her desk. She ran her hands through her luxurious black hair, as though calming herself. “You haven’t told her yet?” Marcella scowled at J.T. “We’re moving things up just a tad. You two are getting married tomorrow in Vegas.”

“
What?” She knew that they weren’t going to have a huge five hundred person wedding and reception but she wasn’t expecting a quickie wedding in Vegas. “But I want my mom there.”

“
As long as she can be packed and ready to go by tomorrow, she can ride the corporate jet with you and J.T. if not, oh well,” Marcella said with a shrug then took a sip of water.

I’m getting married tomorrow?
Anger struck Simone as though it was lightning and she turned her simmering rage on Marcella. “Oh fucking well?”

J.T. rested his hand on her thigh and squeezed it. “She didn’t mean it like that, did you Marcella?”

His publicist sighed. “Of course not. I’m sorry, Simone, I can be a bit brash at times, please excuse me. I’m so used to working with men and telling it like it is that I find it hard to soften myself to a woman.”

“
Yeah whatever,” Simone muttered.

“
Oh, and Ms. Chanté will be joining you two on the jet.”

“
Who’s that?” Simone asked.

“
A stylist. She dresses celebrities.” Marcella rattled off several A-list and some B-list celebrities. “And right now she’s working with Rihanna, and you know how gorgeous she looks. She has some free time, so I convinced her to work with us.”