“I should petition the courts!” she finally screeched. “Get those girls away from you.”
“Try it,” Ashanti said.
“You shouldn’t be raising my brother’s children!”
“I am tired of your bullshit, Anita. You hadn’t talked to your ‘beloved’ brother for over three years before he died. I know my dad tried to contact you, and you ignored him.”
“He was not your father!”
“Fuck you! Heismy father. He loved me and treated me like his own flesh and blood. You, on the other hand, who actuallywashis flesh and blood, didn’t want anything to do with him until he was buried in the ground. And all because he took your mother’s dishes.”
“It was her wedding china and it was mine!” Anita said. “And it has nothing to do with you.”
“No, it doesn’t. I don’t care why you cut your own brother out of your life. What Idocare about are my sisters. You talkabout wanting to raise Kara and Kendra? You live an hour away and saw them five times in the first ten years of their lives.
“I know what this is, it’s guilt,” Ashanti continued. “But you don’t get to alleviate the shame and regret you feel at the way you treated your own brother by making my sisters’ lives hell.”
Ashanti took several steps back. Her chest rose and fell with the deep breaths she pulled in and blew out. When she could finally speak, she issued a warning: “Unless you have a dog to board, you’re trespassing. Leave my place of business or I’m calling the police.”
Anita’s nostrils flared, but she didn’t say another word. She turned and marched away, leaving the stench of indignation in her wake.
Ashanti walked over to the wooden fence and leaned her forehead against it, flexing her fingers to relieve the rage still flooding her senses.
Let Anita try to take her to court. She was ready for her.
Her phone rang. It was the daycare’s number again.
Ashanti closed her eyes. Whatever it was, she didn’t want to know.
But she couldn’t ignore the call.
“Yes, Deja?” she answered.
“Uh, Boss Lady?” Deja asked in a cautious voice. “I know this is probably a bad time, based on the way Atilla the Hun stomped out of here a minute ago, but you said you would handle reception while I bring P. J.’s cookie cake to school.”
“Yes, of course,” Ashanti said. She’d encouraged Deja to take the day off to celebrate her eight-year-old’s birthday. She was now grateful her receptionist had turned down the offer,choosing to bring a cookie cake to school to share with the class instead. “I’ll be up there in just a minute.”
Ashanti made the decision then and there to put Anita and her threats out of her mind. Whether they were empty or not, she would deal with it later.
She had a business to run.
34
Once again, Ashanti found herself in awe of Deja’s ability to handle the madness that had become Barkingham Palace’s reception area. She’d been trying to place a supply order for the last twenty minutes, but every time she so much as looked away from the phone, it rang.
And she thought she wouldn’t be able to get Anita’s visit off her mind. She barely had time to take a breath, let alone devote brain function to Anita and her threats.
The front door opened and a woman walked in with a gorgeous brindled Akita Inu on the end of a leash.
“Welcome to Barkingham Palace,” Ashanti greeted. “Can I help you?”
“Yes. This is Sano. We have a reservation for three nights of boarding.”
Ashanti skimmed through the reservations for today. “Found him,” she said. “It looks as if Sano had his observation day a week ago.”
She had been in New York at the time. That would explain why she didn’t recognize this stunning dog.
“Let me make sure all is set with your reservation, and I’ll bring Sano in the back.”
