Risking It All (28 page)

“What about you? Have you obtained any new clients?”

“Michael, you know that I obtain at least one new client every week.”

“What about that guy…Quinton? Did you ever help him find a property?”

“Yes.”

“Oh, he must be quite
the businessman. I heard through the grapevine that
he’s made Atlanta his permanent home.”

“Yes. I think so.”

“When was the last time you saw him
by the way
?”

Julissa pushed the wine glass up to her lip
s and drank before responding.
“Oh…that time you invited him to the party. Can you pour me some more wine, please?”

Michael lifted the wine bottled and filled her glass. Julissa
w
as so nervous, her heart beat
rapidly
, but she tried her best not to show any sign of panic on her face. Why was he asking so many questions that were in every way connected to Quinton? Surely, he didn’t suspect something. She thought she had done a very good job of covering her tracks and having an alibi when she needed one. There was no way. Surely, if he knew something, he would have already told her.

“The lasagna is really good, Julissa. You’ve gotten to be a pretty good cook over the past three years.”

“I had to. Cooking for you all those years…I learned quite a lot. With the help of the Food Network Channel of course.”

“Uh-huh. Well, I would hate to lose you
. Not only are you a good cook, y
ou keep me looking good, as well.”

Now, instead of feeling panicked, she was now feeling guilty. How did it ever come down to this? She felt like a complete hypocrite.

For the rest of dinner, they made small talk back and forth about absolutely nothing. She tried to pay attention, but her mind was elsewhere. Her mind was on how she could erase this situation from her life. What choices would she be forced to make? Perhaps, they could make it easier on her and make the choice for her. Perhaps, Quinton woul
d get tired of sharing
and brea
k everything off with her. Then
she could go back to her normal, routine life with Michael.

**

Shanice called Julissa
on Sunday morning wanting to k
now if she could borrow a silver
handbag and
matching
pumps for a date she was going on tonight. It was the perfect alibi to get away from the house and the long list of chores she had to do, so she jumped on it.

With Michael in earshot, she stuffed the handbag and pumps into a duffle bag.

“Are you s
ure you want me to bring the silver
ones?” Julissa asked Shanice.

“Yes, I have a hair appointment in about two hours, so I won’t be able to go shopping without being late for my date.”

“As a matter of fact, I could bring it right now. I’m sure Michael wo
n’t mind me coming to visit you.
” Julissa looked at Michael, who was reading an article in GQ magazine. “I promise I’ll come back and finish dusting.”

Michael looked over the magazine at her and raised both eyebrows.

“Aw! Aren’t you being the good housewife,” Shanice gawked. “Do me a favor and say hello to Michael for me.

“Say hello yourself.” Before Shanice could object, she handed Michael the phone. Julissa stood there as Michael and Shanice shared a greeting and a few words.

When he hung up, Julissa sai
d, “I’
ll be back this afternoon. We’ll probably go out for coffee to catch up on a few things, and then I need to stop by the shopping mall to see if they have my favorite shade of lipstick in stock.
They were out last week.
”

“Can
you bring some bagels? You forgo
t to get some ye
sterday.”

“Sure.” Julissa
grabbed her purse and ke
ys from the closet in the foyer, and rushed out the door.

**

It took Julissa thirty minutes to drop the
handbag and purse off to Shanice
. T
wenty minut
es
afterward, she
pulled up in front
of Quinton’s home. One of the doors to his three car garage was open and she could see his Range Rover parked inside, so she knew he was home.

H
e answe
red the door for her, smiling
.
“I was expecting you.”

She smiled back entering his home.
“How did you know I would come
today?”

“Let’s just say that I miss you as much as you miss me. In fact, I ne
ed to get you a key, so you can
come and go as you please.”

“What have you been up to?”

“Unpacking some boxes. I didn’t know I had so much junk.”

Julissa followed him downstairs into the basement media room. Several boxes
full of electronics, wires,
CDs, and DVDs
w
ere lined up against the wall
. “I thought you got rid of some of this stuff back in Florida.”

“I thought I did, too,” Quinton said bending down and picking up a box and putting it on the couch. “I guess I just couldn’t bear parting with most of it.”

Quinton sat down on the couch and Julissa sat down beside him. “Quinton, I need to know something.” Julissa was tired of sneaking around with Quinton. She was tired of keeping things from Michael, in fear of how he might retaliate.

“What do you need to know? Anything.”

“I want to be with you.”

“Me
, too.”

“I mean, I’m ready to leave Michael.”

Quinton stopped short of opening the box between them. “Do you really mean it?”

Julissa nodded. “I wanted to…for quite a while. The thing is, Q…you don’t know Michael. He has a temper.”

Quinton got up and knelt i
n front of her. “Are you afraid
of him?”

Julissa nodded again.

Quinton kissed her chin and lips. “I’m here for you. Just tell me what you want me to do.”

“I don’t want you involved in the worst part of this. It’s my time to face my own problems. There were problems in our relationship even before you came along, Q, and it’s time that I let go.”

“What will you tell him?”

“That I want to leave him.”

“Why are you so afraid to tell him that?”

“I’m afraid of what will happen after that. And I’m afraid of losing you more.”

“You won’t lose me.
” Quinto
n rubbed her arms and shoulders.
“I’ll be here for you forever.”

“I
love you, Q.
That first night when we kissed I knew there was something about you that I could never resist. The connection was there from day one.”

“I’
m so glad to hear
you say that. So glad that you feel the same way. I wasn’t lying when I told you that one day you would be my wife. Now, it’s just a matter of when.”

They kissed each other for what seemed like several minutes.

“Will you spend the night with me?” Quinton
’s
eyes were eager, excited.

“Q, let me do this.” S
he care
ssed the sides of his face.
“Let me take care of my business first. Please understand what I have to do now.”

“I’ll go with you.”

“No.” She grabbed his shoulders. “I got myself into this by myself…”

“I understand. Will you tell him tonight? Tomorrow?”

“Very soon.”

Quinton
sighed,
got up
,
and began to open up the box next to her again. He pulled out several photo albums and Kodak envelopes. They looked as if they were filled with pictures. Putting the albums back in the box, he mumbled, “I think I’ll keep this one in storage.”

“Are those pictures? Why would you keep them hidden away?”

“They’re just pictures.
” Quinton shrugged.

“Can I see them?” Julissa was curious. A photo album could really tell you a lot about a person.

Quinton reluctantly handed her a photo album out of the box. “Most of these came from my parents’ house.” He sat beside her and watched as she opened the photo album to the first picture.

It
was a bit faded and was of a man and a woman. They were a good looking couple. “Your parents?”

“Uh-huh
. They live in Miami. They’re retired
. They weren’t too happy about me moving back to Atlanta, but when I told them about my plans to expand my business
, they gave up on trying
persuading
me to stay
.”

The next couple of pictures were of Quinton’s parents together, labeled first married Christmas, first new year, first vacation together, etc. Several pictures filled the album of Quinton’s happy parents together. She stud
ied the picture of them
holding a naked baby boy in their arms. “Is that you?”

“Yep. In my birthday suit.”

“You’re so cute!” There were several more pictures of the fat little baby that was Quinton. Julissa flipped through the pictures of Quinton when he was age one, two, three, and four.

There were several pages missing pictures in the album as if someone had taken them out. For whatever reason, they weren’t in the album. Several pictures sticking out of the back persuaded Julissa to move on. These pictures were of many kids grouped together, playing together, eating birthday cake, throwing balls, playing in the dirt. Julissa figured these may have been his brothers and sisters. There was one picture of several boys lined up shoulder to shoulder standing against a brick wall. The basketball goalie
in the background
and basketballs under several of their arms indicated that they m
ust have been playing a game
.

“Are you in this picture?”

“I am.
” Quinton nodded. “Me and my cousins. That was the picture we took together just before I graduated middle school.”

“Which one?” Julissa looked amongst the pictures and couldn’t quite pick him out from the group.

“See if you can find me.”

Julissa smiled. “I think I can do that. Just
look for the cute one.” She
went from left to right, looking at the faces, and making comments.

“This one’s a little too short to be you. Also, he has big cheeks. That can’t be you…what about this one?” She looked closer at the picture. “Is that Ed?”

“Yep. Edward Martin.”

“And this is his brother, Richard.” She pointed at the two of them. “They never looked alike. They’re like
yin
and yang.”

“They have two different fathers.”

“I knew that. This little one is kind of cute, but that can’t be you. His skin is a bit lighter than yours is now. But, you have the same nose. Is that you?”

“You tell me,” Quinton teased.

“No, can’t be. Oh, who is this guy? Those have got to be the thickest bifocals that I have ever seen in my life. Look at him!” T
he boy she was looking at appeared
tall and gangly. The two front teeth were missing from his smile. Julissa giggled. “Look at him trying to flex muscles he doesn’t have like the other boys. You boys were too funny!” The shoulders on him were awfully wide for a skinny boy. His feet were noticeably bigger than the rest of them. “How could he see out of those things? He looks a mess. He must have been a real geek of a cousin. He looks like Urkel from Family Matters. Oh, my God! What a mess!” Julissa moved her finger to the next boy. He was also light-skinned and skinny, but did not resemble Quinton in the least bit. The last boy was a little on the heavy set side. He also had a set of lips that were way bigger than Quinton’s. “Are you even in the picture?” Julissa looked up at Quinton, a little disappointed that she hadn’t noticed him.

“I am.”

“Okay, I give up. Which one?”

“Believe it or not
…I was the one with the glasses.
” Quinton frowned.

“What?” Julissa looked down at the photo again. At the boy that looked like the type of geek that she and her friends used to make fun of in middle and high school. She stared at the picture for a few seconds and finally she saw past the thick, fogged up bifocals, and the missing front teeth. She saw the beautiful dark set deep brown eyes and the full sexy lips with the slight qu
irk when he smiled. Oh, my God…
it was Quinton. “I…I…is that really you?”

“Yes, that’s me.”

“I am so sorry.”
Her cheeks grew hot with shame. She
felt like a complete idiot for talking about Quinton
’s childhood pictures right in front of him
.
She
buried her face in his chest in
embarrassment
.