Cutting Loose (22 page)

“You don’t have to apologize to her,”
said Sabrina. “Larissa is being a bigger bitch than usual.”

Larissa stood up and said, “Damn right.”
She turned to Brett and said, “I’m just going to say it: Of all the woman in
Miami, Florida, even, why did you have to date a single, successful black woman
like Sabrina? What, did you get tired of white females and felt like dating a
black one?”

It took everything inside of Sabrina not
to get up and knock the hell out of Larissa. She hadn’t known Brett for five
minutes and already she was starting shit. This was going to be one hell of a
cookout.

Brett didn’t flinch. He didn’t back down.
He stood his ground and said, “Larissa, is it?”

“Yeah?”

“All I have to say to you is that you
don’t know me and I don’t know you. I don’t think you have the right to judge
me because of what you think I am. And I’m not even going to dignify your question
with answer because it’s ridiculous.”

 “Whatever. As far as I’m concerned,
you’re just another white boy taking a good black girl away from all the good black
men out there who deserves a woman like her. You should be ashamed of
yourself.” She rolled her eyes at him and stomped off without another word.

“I’m sorry about that. Larissa can get
like that sometimes so don’t worry about her. She’ll warm up to you
eventually.”

He half-smiled and said, “I guess so.”
He glanced around and said, “It’s hard not to notice that I’m one of the only few
white guys here and I’m standing out like a sore thumb.”

“True. But I thought you said you liked
being different.”

Brett cocked his head to the side and
asked, “And when did I say that?”

“On our first date. Don’t you remember?”

Brett laughed softly. “You don’t forget
anything do you?” He rubbed his belly and said, “Man, I’m getting hungry. When
is the food going to be done?”

Cassandra broke away from smooching with
Chad and said, “Uh, I’m not sure. Mr. Barbeque man here was supposed to start
on the burgers and stuff but he was late so I tried messing with it but I
wasn’t successful. And I plus I’m not trying to get my weave set on fire
today.”

They all erupted with laughter.

Brett said, “Well, I know a thing or two
about grilling. In my family they call me the Grill Master.”

“Well, then,” said Cassandra coolly.
“Feel free to take over the grill and work your magic. That is, if Chad doesn’t
have a problem with it.”

Brett and Chad exchanged empty looks.

 Chad said, “Not at all. C’mon, Brett,
let’s see what you got.”

“Okay, let’s go.” He kissed Sabrina on
the lips and followed Chad to the grills and began chatting up.

Meanwhile, Sabrina and Larissa gossiped
about small stuff and tried to talk and watched how Brett and Chad were getting
along. Whatever they were talking about, it sure was an interesting subject
after about five minutes and they began attracting a few more guys to their
little group.

“Can you believe him?” said Sabrina as
she watched Brett in his moment as he laughed and joked with the rest of the
guys around the grill area. “Gosh, that is so sexy.”

Cassandra laughed. “Sabrina, you are a
mess. But I agree. I can’t take my eyes off of Chad. I love when a man can
handle his own and you know, blend in with other men in a social setting like
this.” She stood up and said, “I think I need some alcohol in my system to get
this party started.”

“I second that. But hell, I can’t drink
and drive.”

“Let him drive, duh.”

“Casey, I drove a seventy-five thousand
dollar car here. I’m feeling Brett, but I’m not feeling him
that
much,
let’s be real.”

Cassandra placed her hands on her hips.
“Rina, stop being a control freak. Fuck that car. I know you got some good ass
car insurance if he did wreck your car. You can always buy a new one.”

Sabrina thought about it. It wasn’t
necessarily the car that she was afraid of getting wrecked. She was considering
herself getting wrecked and her losing control. She felt like if she did that
things would be different and she wouldn’t have the upper hand and her
independence as a woman.

“That’s true, Casey. But I like doing
things on my own.”

Cassandra glanced at Sabrina for a
second and said, “Rina, it’s okay to take a break sometimes—even Wonder Woman
wasn’t always fighting crime.”

Sabrina laughed. “In that case, I’m due
for a damn vacation.”

“I think we both could use one.”

It didn’t take but a quick walk into
Cassandra’s house to where she kept a collection of wine and liquor that she
pulled out and turned into a self-serve wet bar. It was what everybody needed
to unwind and liven the party up some while they waited on the food to get
done.

Cassandra went back to playing “hostess”
and stressing about little things like making sure everybody was having a good
time and being on the lookout for any sign of cops trying to break up the party
due to the loud music that her neighbors didn’t like. A couple of hours later
the sun was going down and the real fun began with games that Cassandra
personally took the time out of her busy schedule to set up to ensure the party
would be anything but dull.

At the end of it all, the food was big
hit with everyone, especially the Cajun ribs that Brett whipped up and had
everyone begging for more. After a few drinks were in Sabrina’s system, she was
buzzed and hyper. It was all good at the party but when she got home it was
another story. She was just glad that Brett was there to rub her aching belly
before she went to bed with a killer headache.

Chapter Eighteen:

Dirty Work

Even the weekend wasn’t enough time for
Sabrina to recover from the hell of a hangover Sabrina endured from all the
drinking at the cookout and she was surely paying for it. It all started when
she rolled out of bed Monday morning an hour late and had to listen to Camille
bitch about her being late, even though it was rare that Sabrina slipped up and
was tardy for any reason.

Then it all went downhill after she felt
like her head was going to explode during a staff meeting that she could only
stand to make it halfway through before walking out and taking a quick nap at
her desk. If she didn’t learn her lesson all those times she had a hangover
even worse than the way she was feeling, this time she knew she had to come up
with a better way to handle her liquor and still pull her weight at work so people
didn’t look at her otherwise.

Everything was back to normal by Tuesday
morning and Sabrina was back in charge, next to Camille, which she always had a
problem with, even if she smiled in Sabrina’s face one minute and then talked
smack behind her back when she wasn’t around. It was nothing Sabrina wasn’t
used to and simply did her job as best she could. Deep down she was just
waiting for the final day when Sean would fire Camille’s lazy ass and give
Sabrina the job she deserved and be done with everything.

“What is she doing that is so great?”
Sabrina asked Sean when she went to talk to him in private about Camille. “You
and I both know sales have decreased within the last month and it’s all because
Camille doesn’t know what she is doing. Am I right?”

“Yes. But, however,” he said, sitting up
in his chair. “We both also know that if I fire Camille and give you her
position, she and everybody will think I’m playing favorites.”

“That’s somewhat true. But they’ll just
have to get over it. I can take this magazine to a higher level and do so many
things. Camille only works here because she’s your daughter and you feel
responsible for her, right?”

“A little.”

“Well, she’s a grown woman. I think she
needs to learn how to handle things on her own and not run to you whenever
things go bad. Like the other day for example when the computers crashed and we
almost missed the printing deadline. Who did she get to fix the problem? You.
Who did she blame it on? Me. See my point?”

Sean leaned back in his chair and said,
“Yes, I do, Sabrina. And I think you’re making an excellent point.”

She felt like finally she was getting
somewhere and a little closer to getting what she really wanted. At this point,
it was still early so she didn’t want to get ahead of herself.

She said, “Camille sometimes does her
job but most of the time I’m doing all the work and she gets all the credit
because she is the editor-in-chief and she’s over me, even though we’re
supposed to work together. I think we argue more than we agree on anything.”

Sean chuckled and said, “Well, you know
how Camille is. She craves attention and if anyone takes that away from her she
will lose her mind. I know how you feel when you come up with an entire concept
and have someone take the credit for it. I’ve been there, done that.”

“So, what should I do? Wait for her to
drop dead from a mysterious illness?”

Sean looked at Sabrina and paused before
saying, “In a way, but I don’t want you plotting against her. It’s not in your
character and its’ not necessary.”

Sabrina sighed and said, “Well, I have
to do something. Honestly, I’m tired of working with Camille and doing all her
dirty work. I’m so much better than that, not that I’m trying to sound
conceited or anything. I feel like my true talent is going to waste.”

Sean studied Sabrina’s face for a moment.
She wondered if he really knew how hard she was fighting for something—something
she had always known should have been hers every sense Camille got her job and
turned
Fabulous
upside down, leaving Sabrina to come to the rescue every
time something went array.

She was certain Sean knew from the very
start that he made a mistake hiring Camille but he felt bad after she damn near
begged him to hire when she got fired from two previous jobs due to her lack of
focus, among other things. He decided to take a chance on her, despite his
better judgment and his own knowledge of how she ran things. And now he was
feeling the after effects. It was his mistake and Sabrina’s constant headache.

Pulling away from her thoughts, he said to
Sabrina, “I can’t promise you that things are going to change, but I can
promise you that from now on, I’m going to be on Camille’s ass and make sure
she does her job like it is supposed to be done.”

That’s all? Sabrina thought to herself.
You need to fire her lazy ass!

She refrained from saying what was on
her mind and instead smiled and said, “Great. There isn’t much I can do about
that, huh?”

Sean smiled. “Nope. Just sit back,
relax, and continue doing your job. Oh, and if you have the time, look for
someone to replace you, you know, just in case you move up the latter.”

“I can definitely do that,” Sabrina said
as she began to feel warm inside like she already had been promoted.

When she left Sean’s office she was
still smiling on the inside and no one knew why she was in such a good mood.
She looked at Camille with new eyes, wondering when she was going to slip up
and get herself into a situation that she couldn’t turn to Sabrina or Sean to
bell her out of. Sabrina didn’t worry about finding a replacement just yet. She
really never thought about that aspect of moving up and having someone who she
trusted to get the job done to work by her side.

Since she had plenty of time to think
about that in the future, Sabrina shifted her attention to the focusing on the
here and now and didn’t let anything distract her. She sat down at her desk and
saw Brett’s picture on her screensaver and immediately thought about the idea
that he gave her to do a feature on what men thought about fashion and whether
or not it was important to some and no so much to everyone else. She called in
her assistant Raquel to get a list of male subscribers who frequently wrote to
the magazine and see if anything interesting stuck out.

After a few days of working on that
project she had to work on a proposal for a fashion show that was taking place
to show the latest spring trends. She also had to come up with a budget, cast
models, set a spending budget, make sure all the clothing was up to date and to
many other things. Two weeks flew by and all her work was about to pay off when
the day came for her to stand in front of the board with Camille doing all the
talking while she sat back and watched Camille do her job for once in a while.
All was going well until Camille called in saying she forgot about the proposal
and that she was stuck in New York.

Sabrina swallowed her pride and went
into the meeting feeling intimated as hell as she looked upon the faces of
middle-aged white men who looked at her as if she was out of place and didn’t
belong there. She was dressed in a nice pantsuit, hair was looking professional
and she spoke clearly, so there was no reason anyone should have been looking
at her the way some of them did.

“In conclusion,” Sabrina said at the end
of the meeting, “everything has been laid out on the table and it is a great
benefit to both this company and your company to feature your spring collection
in our fashion show. Are there any questions?”