Wives and Champions (23 page)

“
I am myself.”

“
Everything good with you
and Melanie?”

“
Yep. All is well on the
home front. What about with you and Emily?”

Dante nodded. “Couldn’t be
better.”

“
Good morning, fellas,”
Desmond said, stepping into the room.

“
Morning,” Dante
said.

“
What’s up, Des?” Dimitrius
asked.

“
Not much.” Desmond pulled
out a chair and sat down.

“
How’s the family?” Dante
asked him.

Desmond smiled. “They’re good. I got
up early this morning, had breakfast with them. Celeste spilled
apple juice all over me, so I had to rush and change clothes. Then
Nolan got me right here with his sharp fingernails,” Desmond said,
pointing to the red scrape underneath his nose.

Dante laughed. “Sounds
normal.”

“
Yep. Normal.”

“
And Sherita’s
okay?”

“
Yeah. She’s good. Still
trying to find a way to make her happy with this work situation
though. I know she wants to work more than a few days a week. She
wants to be at the studio.”

“
Then let her be at the
studio,” Dante said.

“
It’s not a matter of
me
letting
her do
anything. It’s the simple fact that she wants to do it all. She
wants to work and take care of the kids.”

“
Emily wanted to do that,
too. The solution we came up with is, she would work part-time,
four hours a day, and we would both be at home on Mondays with
Ezra. In fact, I don’t see why all of us can’t take one day a week
to be at home. We all have home offices. We don’t have to be here
every, single day.”

Dimitrius nodded. “Sounds good to me.
I’ll talk to Melanie to see which day she’ll need me the
most.”

“
I’ll do the same with
Sherita, but that still doesn’t solve her problem. I—I want my wife
to be happy. If she’s not happy, how can I be happy? She’s happy
when she’s with me and the kids, and she’s happy knowing she’s
working and has a purpose, you know. I need to combine all those
things for her somehow.”

“
I got it,” Dante said,
sitting straight up in his chair. “We’re starting renovations on
this building in the summer.”

“
Yeah…adding the fitness
center, cafeteria and daycare facility,” Desmond said. “How does
that help me?”

“
What if you took one of
those extra rooms in her studio and made it a little daycare room?
You could put a couple of cribs in there, a couch, TV, mini-fridge,
microwave and make it a cozy little home for Celeste and Nolan.
Your sitter or Sherita’s mother could come right there and watch
the kids while she’s working, and when she’s on break, she can see
them. You think she might like that?”

“
I think she would.”
Desmond grinned. “As long as the kids don’t disturb her
clients.”

“
That’s a simple fix. Just
soundproof the room.”

Desmond nodded. “Why didn’t I think of
that?”

“
Sometimes you’re too close
to a situation to see a viable solution to a problem.”

“
You’re right,” Desmond
said. “I’m going to run it by her…see what she says.”

“
Good. Now, let’s talk a
little business,” Dante said. “I had time to think about GHC while
I was in Jacksonville. After talking it over with Emily, I realize
that I can’t go through with it.”

“
What?” Dimitrius
asked.

“
I can’t, no—let me
rephrase—I
will not
go through with the name change. GHC means something to me. I
opened it to help people. It’s not bringing in as much money as the
other businesses, true enough, but GHC was never about the money.
Des, I appreciate all the work you and Kurt did behind the scenes.
Dimitrius, I know you’ve invested time in testing and I thank you
for that. But let’s drop further discussions on GHC. I’ll explain
to Steven what’s going on. Questions? Concerns?”

“
Nah. I’m good,” Dimitrius
said.

“
Me, too,” Desmond
added.

“
So,” Dante said, standing
up, sliding his hands inside of his pockets. “Let’s talk new
business. Des, have you heard anything regarding Blackstone
Financial?”

“
No, but that very well
could change being that they’re doing some research on us. Harding
said he received a call from Garrison Blackstone, so something is
moving on their end.”

“
All right. Stay on top of
that.”

“
Victor Westwood has
referred several clients our way. I’m going to have Phyllis book
meetings, so you’ll see those meeting request invites within a few
days. Just be sure to add them to your calendars.”

“
Yep,” Desmond
said.

“
All right. Then that’s all
I had,” Dante said, taking his hands from his pockets and bringing
them to a clap. “If there’s nothing else, this meeting is
adjourned.”

“
Cool,” Desmond said. “If
you need me, call me on my cell. I’ll be out of the office for the
next hour.”

“
Okay, Desmond,” Dante
said.

Chapter
Twenty-Six

Sherita walked into Emily’s boutique,
waved at Carly and continued on back to Emily’s office. She peeped
around the door and said, “Knock, knock.”

“
Hey, Rita!” Emily said.
She stood up and hurried around her desk. Enveloping her in a hug,
she said, “It’s so good to see you.”

“
Good to see you, too,”
Sherita replied.

“
Where are the babies?”
Emily asked.

“
I dropped them off with
mom since I’m heading to the studio this morning. I figured I’d
stop by here to speak to you since my first client is not due until
10:30 a.m. So what’s been going on? The store looks
nice.”

“
Thanks. Carly has been
helping me out tremendously, but I do miss you working
here.”

“
Aw…you’re too
sweet.”

Emily smiled.

“
Anyway, nothing’s going
on. I feel better. My blood pressure is normal again. I think Des
and I finally figured out a way for me to relax and spend more time
with Celeste and Nolan.”

“
Oh, yeah?”

“
Yep. I’m only working
three days a week. Wish I could work a five-day work week but hey,
I’ll take whatever’s not going to stress me out.”

“
Girl, I hear ya. I changed
my schedule, too. I work from eight to noon at the store, then
finish up the workday at my home office. That way, I can be home
with Ezra.”

“
Nice. Now let’s talk about
the new baby!” Sherita said, glancing at Emily’s stomach. “Do you
know what you’re having yet?”

“
Not yet. We find out on
Friday.”

“
I bet Dante wants another
boy, huh? So he can have his own little Champion tribe around
there.”

Emily giggled. “Actually, he wants a
daughter. And I do, too, but we’ll be happy either way.”

“
That’s awesome. Anywho, I
don’t want to hold you up,” Sherita said, checking her
watch.

“
It’s no problem,
Sherita.”

“
I better get going,
anyway, though. I still need to set up. Hey, what about dinner on
Friday? We haven’t had a family dinner at our place in quite some
time.”

“
Sounds good to me,” Emily
said.

“
Cool, that way, you and
Dante can tell us the gender of that bun in your oven.” Sherita
giggled.

“
All right. I’ll let Dante
know.”

“
And I’ll call
Melanie.”

“
Oh, and please make some
of that banana pudding. Dante won’t stop talking about it. He wants
you to show me how to make it.”

Sherita laughed. “Okay. I’ll make
some.”

The women hugged again before Sherita
exited the office.

* * *

Sherita turned into the driveway of
her studio to see Desmond’s car parked in the space where she
normally parked. She smiled. What was he up to?

Desmond got out of the Mercedes
holding his cell phone at his left ear.

Sherita got out of her jeep and walked
near him as he wrapped up a call.

When he slid his phone into his
pocket, she asked, “Hey, what are you doing here?”

A playful smile touched his lips. “I
came to see my hot, baby mama.”

Sherita’s cheeks reddened.

“
Where are you coming
from?” he asked.

“
I stopped by the boutique
to catch up with Emily.”

“
Oh. Okay, well, come on.
I’ll walk you in.”

Sherita headed to the door with
Desmond walking beside her, tall and built like her personal
protector. She remembered when Desmond surprised her with this
place. When he had blindfolded her, drove here and told her that
the building was hers. Once a flower shop, he had the building
renovated to a top-of-the-line portrait studio.

She walked into the back office, sat
at her desk and set her purse on the floor. Desmond hatched up a
leg to sit partially on her desk while he looked at her.

Mildly amused, she asked, “So are you
going to tell me why you’re here, or do you want me to
guess?”

He smiled wide, big and bright. “Just
had a team meeting with my brothers not too long ago and the topic
of Sherita came up.”

Smiling, she asked,
“Really?”

“
You asked. I told them you
were cutting your workdays back to three days a week, but I didn’t
think you were happy with that. Am I right?”

“
I’m not happy about it,
but if the doctor thinks that’s what I need to do then so be
it.”

“
But that’s not what you
want to do. You goal was to work and be able to keep Celeste and
Nolan.”

Sherita nodded.

“
So, Dante offered up an
idea and I think you’ll like it. That’s why I’m here,
princess.”

“
And what might that
be?”

“
Well, he suggested we use
one of the extra rooms here to make something similar to a hotel
room. We can put a fridge, TV, microwave, bed, couch, cribs, toys
and whatever else we need in it to make the room as comfortable as
possible for the twins.”

“
So I’m supposed to bring
the babies to work with me?”

“
Yes. That’s the idea. And
you can get your mother to watch them here or have Sharon come by
on days your mother isn’t available. That’s the beauty of having
your own business. You can do whatever you like when it comes to
your schedule. You have the ultimate flexibility.”

Sherita smiled. “You’re right. If the
twins were here with me, I don’t think I would feel so anxious and
guilty all the time.”

“
Exactly. That’s the idea,
and don’t worry about the setup of the room. I’ll take care of
everything.”

“
You always do,” Sherita
said, her eyes glazed over with happy tears that she managed to
hold inside. And then she stood up, leaned forward and pressed her
lips against his, taking a small kiss. “I love you,
Desmond.”

“
I know you do. I mean,
what’s there not to love?” he asked smiling.

On her tiptoes, Sherita wrapped her
hands around his neck, squeezed and felt a calmness settle over
her.

“
I love you, too, Sherita,”
Desmond said, encircling his arms around her. “I know you have to
set up, so I’ll get out of your hair.”

“
Okay.” Sherita took his
hand inside of her grasp as they walked to the front
entrance.

“
We’ll do something later
on. In fact, be thinking about what you want for dinner.
Okay?”

“
Okay.”

“
And I’ll swing by your
mother’s after work to pick up the kids.”

“
No,” Sherita said. “I got
it under control. I only have this one appointment today and after
that, I’m free.”

“
All right,” Desmond said,
looking at her with concern in his eyes. Framing her face with his
hands, he said, “If you need me for anything, call me.”

“
I will.”

With that, he left a kiss at her
temple and sauntered to the door with that sexy walk of his – one
that had Sherita nibbling at her bottom lip. He was a man that had
amazed her, well after she’d gotten to know him. Before, she saw
him as a motorcycle-riding, bad boy – a man with abs of steel who
had everything anyone could ever want in life. She doubted she
could get his attention until that infamous day at the coffee shop
when he took over her order and stared her down with his intense
eyes. Back then, she hated him. Now, she didn’t know what she would
do without him.

She sat down at her desk. After
dealing with postpartum issues and witnessing how Desmond was there
for her every step of the way, consistently looking for ways to
make her life better and more comfortable, she decided it was time
to do something nice for him for a change, like maybe show him that
the old Sherita was back. When was the last time he had a chance to
take a ride on his motorcycle? How long had it been since he felt
the wind on his face? She had only ridden with him once and that
was before the babies. It would be nice to sit on the back of his
bike with her arms around him while they went for a long,
adventurous ride.