“Sorry,” she said, backing away, but he waved her toward him.
“There’s no reason for you to be sorry.”His smile was apologetic as he said, “I was finished with the call.”
She lowered herself next to him.“Didn’t sound as though it was going your way.”
He massaged his forehead and sighed.“No, it wasn’t but lately, life has been lifeing something fierce.”
She smiled and patted his arm.“I can only imagine.”
When he didn’t respond but stared at her, she broke the awkward silence.“Relationships can be hard, so there’s that.”
Shaking his head, Shomari said, “I’m not in a relationship.”
“You’re not?But …”
He shrugged.“I’m coming off something I thought was one, but it turns out I was mistaken.”
His tone was bitter, which made her curious.His need for a job and lack of money confirmed he had a lot going on.Somehow, she’d believed he was still with Natanya’s mother.From everything she heard, their relationship was acrimonious, which could be why Shomari always seemed to be in a bad mood.
She corrected herself,not all the time.He’d been laughing and chatting it up with her family at dinner without a hint of being bogged down with problems.The phone call wiped all his good humor away, and here they were.
The twinkling lights on the eight-foot Christmas tree in the corner put his face mostly in shadow.He stared at the fragrant pine as though he were a million miles away, so she was startled when he asked, “How come you’re not in one?”
“What?”she said, although she could make an accurate guess about what he meant.
He chuckled.“A relationship, of course.”
“No reason, really.”Shrugging with one shoulder, she added, “I’ve been busy at Wintertime, so I don’t have time.”
What she wouldn’t express was her disappointment over knowing the man she’d been seeing when she started Wintertime thought her skills would have been better put to use cleaning up after him and having his babies.
Jonathan was a throwback from the dark ages, who finally quit on her with the excuse that her family was too overwhelming and they wanted different things; code for him not being able to browbeat her into his way of thinking.
Eli and Zack set him straight one evening, when he tried putting his hands on her because she’d opted to order in, instead of cooking.Only by locking herself inside the bedroom had she escaped his over-the-top response to not having a home-cooked meal, and they weren’t even married.While he beat on the door, she rang Zack shaking so badly she could barely dial the phone.Even today, she didn’t know what her brothers said or did to Jonathan.Neither of them would tell her, and she wasn’t offended when Jonathan ended their relationship by text.Good riddance, was what she thought at the time.Since then, she’d been careful who she invited into her space and her family circle.She shut away the memory and focused on the man next to her.
“Seriously?That’s it?”Shomari gave her a disbelieving once-over.
“Is something wrong because I choose to focus on building my business?”
“Not at all.”Hands raised, he said, “No disrespect.It’s just that you’re the kind of woman who’s never on the market for long.I mean, you’re every man’s dream, so …”
“You’d better stop ‘cause what I hear you saying is that my role is ideally at someone’s side.”
“Not at all.What I meant was …” He stopped and squinted, as if working out what to say.
“Is it inconceivable that I’d choose not to be with someone?”she asked.
“No.It’s just that most women tend to settle down at your age.”
She covered her face with both hands, then inhaled slowly and shook her head.“You have some caveman ideas, you know that?”
“My sister would agree with you.”
“Why?”she asked, sitting sideways to face him.
“Rochelle also runs her own business.”Laughing, he said, “When I ask about children, she tells me to mind my beeswax.”
“And she’s perfectly justified.”
