Cutting Loose (20 page)

Sabrina butted in and said, “Yeah, she
knew because I told her not to tell you because I know how you are.”

Larissa turned to Sabrina and asked,
“Oh, and how is it that, huh?”

“You act like you’re all high and mighty
because you only date black men and you don’t think people should date outside
their race and it ‘disgusts’ you whenever you see it.”

“Damn, Rina, you hit the hammer right on
the head.” She broke off as her cell phone rung. After she was done with her
brief conversation she said, “I have got to see this.” She turned the TV on and
flipped to a station where a woman was speaking:

“Hello everyone out there! It’s Eva the
Diva here with a Hot and Now News exclusive. While everyone was relaxing and
taking a break, the co-Editor-in-Chief at
Fabulous
Magazine, Sabrina
Evans, was spotted videotaped via cell phone in a love triangle. Roll the
footage people! Here Sabrina is seen at the wedding of her ex-boyfriend, whom
earlier in the relationship dumped her for the woman he was supposed to get
married to until she changed her mind at the last minute, but that’s only half
of the drama! Things go from bad to worse.

“Enraged by the standup, Carl decides to
take his anger out on Sabrina with a sucker punch to the jaw! Then her new beau
steps in and saves the day—girl, I hope you put some ice on that! Well that’s
all for now and until next time keep it fresh and as always, scandalicious!”

For a while the room was quiet. Almost
too quiet.

Larissa broke the silence. “So, what is
the real story? Or should I say, what is your side of the story? Enquiring
minds would love to know.”

Sabrina paused and said, “Well, I went
to Carl’s stupid wedding with Brett and things got out of hand when Jasmine
left Carl at the altar and he got pissed when Brett stepped up and basically,
Carl got his ass whipped.”

Cassandra chuckled. “Well, at least now
you don’t have to worry about if he can stand up for you. And Carl got what he
deserved.”

“Sure did.”

Larissa said, “So why did they say in
the news thing that you were in a love triangle?”

“Because they don’t know the truth. Do
you really think I’d be dumb enough and trick on a good man like Brett with a
low-down, dirty jerk like Carl? Hell to the no!”

“So why did it have to be a white guy? I
thought you said a long time ago that you would never date a white guy?”

“That was a long time ago. And it’s not
like I just chose to go looking and ducking for the perfect white guy, it just
happened.”

Cassandra chimed in and said, “Does it
matter who she dates? I mean, at least she found someone.”

“I’m just saying,” said Larissa coolly,
not backing down from her position, “Of all the guys out there, you just said,
‘Okay, I think I want to date a white guy now.’ Am I right or am I right?”

“You’re wrong,” said Sabrina. “Why do
you keep making it such a big deal? You of all people should at least be glad.
Why do you have to be such a hater? You don’t see me judging you and telling
you what I think of all the men you sleep around with.”

Larissa shook her head and said,
“Whatever, Sabrina. It’s your life. If you want to date white men, fine. It’s
your life and you’re going to do whatever you want to do regardless of what I
say. So do you.”

“That’s exactly what I plan to do.”

So, just as fate would have it, when
Sabrina showed up for work the following day everyone had their own opinion on
her scandal and whispered behind her back or whenever they thought she was out
of earshot to hear. And every time she heard them gossiping the story about her
and her so-called love triangle always seemed to change and never once had she
heard the same story twice.

She would have been lying her ass off if
she said she didn’t like the attention she was getting—a little bit. After a
while she grew tired of having to explain what happened and why she was there
in the first place, and then there were the people who kept asking her about
Brett and why she kept her love life a secret. Then she got fed up and fired
anybody who came up to her asking about him or the whole ordeal.

Brett had no problem with the attention
he was receiving as well from his colleagues and friends. He claimed that he
was able to talk himself out of getting a speeding ticket because the female
officer recognized him from a magazine. That wasn’t to say that he was famous
or anything but if it took the strain that was beginning to build on their
relationship, Sabrina was all for it.

Sabrina shouldn’t have been surprised at
all when Camille decided to open her big mouth and blab to Sean about Sabrina’s
business and come to find out, he already knew and was just waiting for Sabrina
to explain it herself.

“So, what exactly happened?” Sean asked
in the middle of the week after a staff meeting in his office.

His demeanor was very calm, almost
father-like as if he knew to be gentle, but not too hard either.

“Well,” Sabrina said calmly, “it’s quite
simple; I didn’t think I would get this much drama from going to an ex’s
wedding, which turned out to be a disaster, as you already know.”

“I see,” he said as he opened a drawer
in his desk and pulled out a magazine. He flipped through the pages and stopped
at a picture of Sabrina. He looked at her and asked, “This guy that supposedly
‘came to your rescue,’ who is he?”

Sabrina paused for a moment. She thought
about how she pictured Sean reacting to everything and figured if he was being
so calm about being in a magazine for something not so great, he wouldn’t blow
a gasket when she told him she was dating someone outside her usual comfort
zone.

She said, “His name is Brett
Deltour...and um, I’m dating him.”

A smile creased Sean’s face.

“I guess it is good to see that you’ve
finally moved on.” He looked back at the magazine and added, “He looks like
well-put-together kind of guy. How long have you been seeing him?”

“Uh, a couple of months.”

“How did you guys meet, if you don’t
mind my asking?”

“Oh, not at all. We met at the grocery
store, then we ran into each other again at a club.”

Sean closed the magazine. “Must be nice.
I’m sure he’s treating you right and all that other good stuff?”

“Yes, he is.”

“So, uh, when can I meet him? I mean,
you do plan on introducing him to your family, right?”

Sabrina felt a lump in her throat and
found it hard to swallow as she pictured herself introducing Brett to her
family. It had the words “chaos” written all over it.

She waited a beat and said, “Uh, I don’t
know yet. There’s a lot of planning involved and, you know, my plate is kind of
full right now and I don’t have much room left for personal stuff.”

Sean cackled. “Sabrina, you are
something else. It doesn’t take all but a nice, quiet dinner at our place. We
can all just kick back and relax and get to know this guy. What do you say?”

“I have to really think about this,
Sean. But if I change my mind, you will be the first to know.”

Satisfied, Sean smiled and said, “All
right. I’m going to hold you to that. And please don’t have me waiting two
years for you to make up your mind.”

Sabrina cackled and said, “Okay, I’ll
try my best.”

Normally a person would be ecstatic and
bouncing off the walls with excitement and joy of introducing their partner to
their family to get their approval, so to speak. But Sabrina on the other hand
was not so thrilled. Not because it was Brett but because of her fears of not
living up to their expectations, which was kind of hard to do. And there was
only one thing to do get over her fears.

Chapter Seventeen:

The Cookout

Sabrina had just stepped out of the
shower when she heard the phone ringing. She was going to let it go to the
machine but decided against it.

“Hey, Rina,” Cassandra squealed into the
phone. “Do you have any plans for this week? Please tell me you don’t.”

“I don’t have plans. Why?”

“Well, see, I told my boyfriend that
since things are kind of, you know, fresh with us that I thought it would be a
good idea to have a small get together at my house, sort of like a dinner party
thing.”

“Uh…”

“Don’t you dare say no, Rina. You
already said you don’t have plans.”

“Yeah, well I don’t know if Brett has
plans already. Plus, it would feel weird if I showed up by myself.”

Cassandra paused for a split second.
Then she said, “Oh, I see what this is. You’re ashamed of him, aren’t you?”

“What? Cassandra, that is absurd. Why
would I be ashamed of him?”

“I don’t know, you tell me. Maybe
because he’s, uh, how do I say this? Different from all the other guys you’ve
dated?”

“That’s ridiculous.”

Cassandra waited a beat and asked, “How
come you’re taking so long for me and Larissa to meet him? After all, we are
your girls and should see if he’s a good fit for you. I’m just saying I think
it’s about time.”

Sabrina considered her words for a
second and said, “Okay, fine. What time is this thing supposed to start?”

“Like around four-ish, Friday. The
weather guy on the news said it’s going to be a nice, sunny day. Oh, and if you
can, try to bring something. Larissa is bringing the refreshments, so I guess
you can bring the desserts.”

“Sounds like a plan to me.”

“Then I’ll see you on Friday at four.”

Sabrina wasted no time getting Brett
over to her place to talk things over and see if he was comfortable with
meeting her friends. Rarely in the past had she ever ventured out and did this
sort of thing. She always thought that after Carl there would be no one else
and in the beginning she took forever before she introduced him to Cassandra
and Larissa and they didn’t like him until they eventually warmed up to him.

This time she knew she didn’t have to
worry about that because she knew regardless of what Cassandra or Larissa
thought, she was going to say otherwise. She constantly found herself
daydreaming of herself and Brett doing exotic things and sometimes even
pictured herself on her wedding day with him. She felt it deep down inside that
eventually would eventually make it to that point.

Once she got him on the phone she knew
it was going to be hard to get him to agree to accompany her to Cassandra’s
cookout thing, but she was not going down without a fight.

“I don’t know about that just yet,”
Brett said after a moment of thinking. “I have a lot a work this week and I
have to make a lot of house calls.”

He was coming up with just about any
excuse to get out of going. She already knew it.

“Don’t tell me you’re afraid to meet my
friends,” teased Sabrina. “Is that what it is?”

He cackled softly. “No, that is not the
case at all. Like I said, I’m going to be really busy this week, especially
Friday.”

“Aren’t you the boss? I’m sure you can
take the day off if you want to. Who do you have to answer to, besides yourself?”

He paused for a second. “You obviously
won’t take no for an answer, will you?”

“No, I can’t say I will.”

“Okay, well, um, let me see what I can
do. You owe me big for this.”

Her smile shined through her words when
she replied, “No problem. I’ll do whatever I have to in order make it up to
you.”

Brett chuckled and said, “That sounds
promising.”

After she disconnected from Brett,
Sabrina set off on a mission to clear her own schedule and make room for the
upcoming cookout. Even though she wasn’t self-employed like Brett and the
advantage of doing things without answering to any one, she did however have
seniority over certain people at work and the chances of her getting Friday off
were very high.

It was certain times when she worked at
Fabulous
that she wanted to either be the head of the operation or just branch out and
create her very own magazine from scratch. Then there was the fact that she
lacked some of the resources and other things she would need to get her
magazine started, let alone in the public eye. She liked the idea of starting a
magazine that not only featured trendy clothes for women and men, but also to talk
about other issues in the world. She figured one day she would fulfill that
dream, whether it be sooner or later, though she hoped it be sooner if
anything.

Once Friday rolled around Sabrina was
more than panicky about going to the cookout; she walked around her bedroom in
circles for hours it seemed, trying to pick out the perfect thing to wear. She
knew she was thinking way too much for her own good, but she wanted to look
nice, and maybe even show off a bit. After all, Cassandra and Larissa both had
been teasing her non-stop about the article in the magazine and were having way
too much fun to put an end to it.