Southern Admirer (Southern Loving Book 2) (5 page)

***

Two Years Ago

The music was pumping loudly in the campus
newspaper, The Forum. This was Jasmine’s sanctuary, where her voice could reach
1000’s of students across Texas Southern University. She was in charge of
investigation, every week. Right now she was writing a piece on hazing,
hopefully in the coming days she would have an eye witness.

“Jasmine,” Tyrone called her name for the third
time. “Jasmine!”

“Geez,” Jasmine looked up.

“Dang girl, I called your name four times,” he
chuckled shaking his head. “There are two chicks outside wanting to speak to
you.”

She cursed under her breath. Standing up, Jasmine
closed her laptop and walked out the door. Jasmine stopped at the glass doors
when she realized who was standing there. Sarah McBride stood there with a
scowl on her pretty face. Jazz always thought Sarah was cute woman that
reminded her of the girl next door especially with her blonde hair, blue eyes
and petite figure.

“Is Shane okay?” she asked.

A laughter came from her right. Jasmine’s eyes
traveled to a woman who vaguely resembled Sarah. The strawberry blonde hair,
green- eyed model-tall woman appeared angry for some reason.

“It’s funny how you didn’t ask about your brother
since he is Shane’s partner,” the woman sneered.

“Okay.” Jasmine was taken aback by the woman’s
attitude. “I know if something happen to my brother my mother or sister-in-law
would call me.” Her gaze flickered back and forth between Sarah and the other
woman.

“Don’t mind my sister, Savannah,” Sarah said.

“Is Shane okay?” she asked again.

“My husband is fine,” Sarah replied.

In Jasmine’s line of work as a journalist, she
always pays attention to detail. She notices how Sarah emphasized the word
husband. In all her years of knowing Sarah, the woman was never this cattiness
to her. “Is something….wrong?” Jasmine questioned

“I’ll tell you what’s wrong.” Savannah walked up
on Jasmine. “You have this obsession with her husband.”

“What?” Jasmine realized that people were stopping
just to stare at them. “Why don’t we take this conversation to somewhere
private?”

“Sure,” Savannah said.

It was obviously to Jasmine that Sarah brought
Savannah along to be her mouthpiece. She guided them to an empty office and
closed the door. Sighing, she turned around and looked at the two woman, one
appeared docile while the other seemed to be geared up for a fight.

“Is there a reason why you ladies traveled three
hours to see me?” Jasmine asked.

“The relationship you have with Shane is
unhealthy,” Sarah started to say.

“I’ve known him for years.” Jasmine ran her
fingers through her black locks, she was absolutely confused. “I don’t
understand why you came all the way to Houston to confront me on something that
is foolish.”

“We came because we’re nipping something in the
bud before it starts. You may try to portray this young college senior, but I’m
not buying it. You have a crush on my sister’s husband, and he has one on you.”

“A crush,” she stammered. That was the first time
Jasmine ever heard someone saying that he had a crush on her. It was okay to
have a crush on someone from a distance, right? He never signaled to her that
he was interested in her but then again she never gave him any signals herself.
“Sarah, I never told him nor have I acted upon any crush that I have for
Shane.”

“So, you’re admitting that you have something for
him?” Savannah snapped.

“It was a teenage crush, I haven’t seen Shane in a
few years,” Jasmine said truthfully. When she was home, she kept her distance
from him.

“You’re a grown ass woman now, Jasmine St. Clair,
and we both know that you’re harboring feelings for Shane still. Is that why
you buy him gifts for holidays and birthdays?” Sarah said, looking Jasmine
squarely in the eyes.

“What!” Jasmine began to pace the small office
space; her palms were becoming sweaty. “We’ve been exchanging gifts since I was
sixteen years old.”

“My husband wears these shirts you buy him and
drinks faithfully from the mugs you send him,” Sarah snapped. “Every night I
have to hear about what Jasmine’s doing in college.”

“I don’t talk to him,” she said through clenched
teeth. “I buy him gifts that I don’t spend more than twenty dollars on.”

“What does he buy you?” Savannah asked.

“A leather planner for my birthday,” Jasmine
replied quickly. She cherished the gift that he gave her. Jazz knew it was a
friendly gesture, but she couldn’t help but fall in love with the planner that
had her name inscribed on it with silver letters or the card that accompanied
the planner.

“The relationship that you have with Shane is
inappropriate,” Sarah said in a shaky breath.

“Sarah, I can assure you that nothing is going on
between Shane and me. I would never cross those lines with him. I respect your
marriage.”

“Do you?” Savannah said, stepping toward Jasmine.
“Tell me you don’t want don’t want to be with him.”

“Every woman fantasizes about having this
wonderful, handsome man who she can’t get off her mind. If this was a different
time and place, I would want to be with him,” she confessed.

“I told you,” Savannah said sucking her teeth.
“Where do you women come off wanting someone who is already taken?”

“I don’t want Shane,” Jasmine said for the final
time, she wasn’t going to keep rehashing the same story over and over again.
“Do ya’ll have the slightest idea what a crush is? Eventually, the way I feel
will fade away.”

“Yeah, but you want him,” Savannah said. “He’s not
going to leave Sarah for you.”

Jasmine had enough of this woman’s mouth. It was
time for her to shut them up. “You came all the way here to talk about a
childish crush, are you insecure or something?” The quiet coming from Sarah was
all that she needed to know. “You don’t have to worry about little old me
snatching away your husband.” She rolled her eyes and opened the door for them
to leave.

“Stay away from Shane,” Sarah said, walking out
the door and stopping dead in her tracks. “Don’t accept any more gifts from
him, please send them to me if he sends you gifts for birthdays and your
college graduation that’s coming up.”

“Yeah,” Savannah chimed in.

Sarah’s behavior was new to Jasmine; she used to
tease her mercifully a few years ago about the crush on Shane and now here she
was reprimanding her for something that was so silly. “Okay,” Jasmine replied.
There must have been an underlying issue in Sarah and Shane’s relationship for
her to be coming here.

The rumble in the distance caused Jasmine to snap
out of her daydreaming, she remembered the day Sarah and Savannah visited Texas
Southern like it was yesterday. She never told anyone about the conversation.
Jasmine always wondered if Sarah told Shane about the day she confronted her
about the crush. She turned around at the sound of Shane’s voice and Shay
crying.

“I’m coming,” Jasmine said looking at her watch,
it was almost past the time Shay received her feeding. She hoped that Sarah
didn’t tell Shane about her crush and most of all she hoped that Shane would
never find out about the wish she’d made for them to be together.

***

Shane turned around and laughed at Jasmine, she
decided that their trip to Babies-R-Us would be un-forgetful. He couldn’t
believe that she was dressed incognito, wearing dark shades and his Dallas
Mavericks basketball cap.

“Yeah, Jazz I can barely recognize you,” he
chuckled.

“Shh….don’t say my name too loud,” Jasmine said,
looking around them. “Someone will recognize us.” She steered them toward the
baby items. “We need a lot of things.”

“I have money, honey, so don’t sweat your pretty
little head about anything,” he drawled.

Jasmine nodded her head and went to picking out
things that Shay’s needed. “We already have the Moses bassinet back at your
house.”

“It’s your house too,” Shane mumbled. He picked up
a few outfits and toys and placed them in the buggy.

Jasmine didn’t reply. She pointed at an all-white
crib that matched the one that she purchased in Denver. “I want that crib
and….. oohh look at the cute butterfly bedding,” she gushed.

“Jazz,” he groaned. “No more pink stuff. Can we
get something neutral instead? What if I have to take her to a doctor’s
appointment and all I have is the pink and black diaper bag, not to mention
everything you have purchased for Shay is a tad bit Pepto-Bismol.”

“Okay…This is nice and sophisticated.” Jasmine
held up bedding with large rings of dots in shades of turquoise, off red, soft
grey and black. “It’s a 10-piece set so we’re getting everything.”

“We should,” Shane said, looking at the price on
the bedding set. It was over a hundred and thirty dollars. “This is what I
need,” he said wheeling the shopping cart to the daddy diaper bags.

Jasmine made a face at Shane as he went to pick
out a diaper bag solely for his use. “Shane, you don’t have to get a fifty-dollar
man bag.”

“Yes I do,” Shane said, holding the bag in his
hands and looking at it. “It’s perfect.”

“I think we’re done.” Jasmine looked down Shay,
who was snug in the baby sling on her chest. She was surprised they managed to
get all they need while the baby slept.

“We have to get a baby tub,” Shane said.

Jasmine watched as Shane looked at different bath
tubs, he stood there comparing safety and durability. A smile crept onto her
lips as she watched him; he was a man full of secrets. Shane never talked about
his years in the military; she knew that he served for seven years before
getting out after his last tour.

“Jasmine,” Shane said, standing directly in front
of her. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah…did you pick out a tub?”

“Yep.” He pointed to the white tub with a cream
sling in it. Shane was about to say something when he saw Jasmine’s body
stiffen…Then he heard the voice.

“Jazzy is fine! She called and told me to expect
her in town next week.”

“Is that who I think it is?” he asked.

“My mother,” she said in a hushed voice. Jasmine
eyes traveled to the front of the store and saw that it was raining cats and
dogs outside. “Damn,” she swore. Her mother Dena had a loud mouth, you could
never get lost in the store because all you had to do was follow her voice.

“I’ll go pay for the items, you stay here and
maybe she will see me and strike up a conversation. Watch for me to pull the
car up.”

“Okay,” she said, and walked over to the girls
baby clothing section, far away from her mother’s voice.

Shane sighed and walked toward the front of the
store. He almost made it to the checkout counter when he heard his name being
called.

“Shane is that you?” Dena St. Clair called out.

Shane grimaced and turn around slowly and came
face to face with a lady he called his third mother. Dena reminded him of Clair
Huxtable from
The Crosby Show
; a woman who wore an age with beauty and
grace along with her Native American heritage. Her brown eyes sparkled as she
looked back and forth between him and the buggy filled with baby items.

“Hi.” He greeted the woman with a hug and kiss on
the cheek.

“It’s been almost what… a month since I last saw
you,” Dena said, with her eyes glued to the shopping cart.

“I went on a mini vacation with my cousin’s
soon-to be-wife,” Shane said as he tracked Jasmine near the baby clothes.

“Why are you buying all this baby stuff?” she
said, looking through the cart and back at him.

“Ranger Townsend is expecting his first child, so
I purchased a few things.” He chuckled uneasily. “Wouldn’t you believe that my cousin,
Austin, is expecting a child too?”

Dena's eyes became huge “You don’t say,” she said
with her hand on her hips. “Something must be in the water.”

You have no idea
, Shane wanted to say instead he nodded his
head. He was never a person to lie, what was that saying? If you tell one lie,
you have to tell a couple more to cover the first one. Plus, Dena was like a
mother to him, he couldn’t just stand up there lying. The truth was eventually
going to come out in a few days.

“When are you going to have one?” Dena asked. “I
was telling Reginald just the other night that I was worried about you.”

“Worried about me?”

“In three months, it will be two years that Sarah
passed.” Dena’s face softened as she touched the side of his arm. “I don’t want
you to waste the years you have left on this earth mourning. Think about moving
on.”