In the Light of Love. Deborah Fletcher Mello

      Chapter 5

      “Can you believe she paid twenty thousand dollars for the man?” Mya exclaimed as they rode home, the bright lights of the hotel dimming in the distance behind them.

      Talisa shook her head, then changed the subject, not wanting to be reminded yet again of her loss. “What I can’t believe is that you bid on an evening with that anchorman and that you won.”

      “The way those women were acting I consider myself lucky. For only five hundred dollars my date was a bargain.”

      “Your date is going to be a nightmare. The man is an ass.”

      Mya rolled her eyes. “Don’t hate.”

      Talisa shook her head at her friend. “Why am I dropping you off at Kenny’s house?” she asked, pulling her car onto Interstate 285. “I would think you’d want to go home to bask in the light of Charles Barrow on the eleven o’clock news.”

      “Kenny misses me. He called today and invited me to come hang out with him.”

      Talisa laughed. “I forgot. It’s the first of the month. Kenny paying the rent this time?”

      Mya laughed with her. “He better. I do not intend to endure bad sex for absolutely nothing. Besides, the last time I broke up with him, he didn’t send me anything. He needs to make up for that.”

      “Just because he’s sent you a check the last four times you cut him off doesn’t mean he’s going to keep doing it. The man may have grown a backbone.”

      “When that happens I will definitely be through with him. Until then, I plan to bait him along just enough to keep my checkbook out of the red. The relationship works for us. Don’t hate the player, just hate the game.”

      “Personally, I think he’s gay. He’s just not ready to admit it.”

      “That’s his problem. My bills are mine. If he can’t fix anything or keep my car tuned up, then he needs to just keep coming up off the cash. Then he and I will be just fine.”

      “So what about your anchorman?”

      “What about him? I’ll play him just like I play all the others. I’m sure he’ll be useful for something.”

      Talisa laughed. “I know this is ugly to say, and Lord forgive me for it, but that’s one man I think will deserve any game you run on him and then some.” She pulled her car onto a tree-lined street, large old oaks adorned with Spanish moss cascading overhead. At the fifth house on the left, she pulled into the driveway and shifted the engine into Park. “Stay safe, Mya. Please. I don’t have time to be worrying about you.”

      Her friend smiled. “Don’t worry about me, girlfriend. I’m going to be just fine. You need to worry about yourself. When’s the last time you had a man? High school or junior high?”

      “It hasn’t been that bad.”

      “It might as well be. I suggest you spend more time hanging out with me and less time down at that foundation. You need to devote more time to you and having yourself a good time. Life is too short and that do-gooder stuff you keep doing isn’t going to keep you warm at night.”

      “I love working at Wesley. You know that. And knowing I’ve done something good for someone else more than warms my heart.”

      “Sure you do. But trust me, you and that warm heart of yours will love a little Saturday-night Johnson much more.”

      The two women laughed as Mya kissed her cheek then lifted her petite body out of the passenger seat. Talisa watched as her friend eased her way inside the house, turning to toss her a quick wave as she did. Pulling out of the driveway, Talisa couldn’t help but notice as Kenny Davis greeted her friend excitedly, pulling the woman into a deep kiss in front of the home’s large bay window. Talisa suddenly thought of Dr. Jericho Becton and wondered what a Saturday night with that man might do for her.

      It had been a long time since she’d last had a date. Dating had never been easy for Talisa, feeling more like a chore than an event to look forward to. Talisa had always been more comfortable volunteering her time for some worthy cause than trying to make polite conversation with a man over a meal she was too anxious to eat and enjoy. It didn’t help that the few men she had dated had not met her mother’s approval, each having some moral flaw or imperfection Mary London found fault with. Insult to injury was Mary’s quickness to point these flaws out with such sheer venom that it caused Talisa to question and doubt her own judgment.

      As Talisa maneuvered her car toward home, she heaved a deep sigh, her gaze dancing between the road and her rearview mirror. Reflecting back on the evening’s events, she was suddenly appalled by her behavior. What had she been thinking to bid thousands of dollars for a date with some man? Dollars she knew she didn’t have no matter what her dear friend had promised her. Talisa shook her head. Jericho Becton had made her lose her mind. Talisa had been so enamored with the prospect of seeing him again that she had allowed the possibilities to sap every ounce of common sense from her head. If her mother ever found out there would never be any peace between them, Talisa thought, imagining the ranting that would ensue if Mary ever gained knowledge of her daughter’s actions.

      Talisa was suddenly dismayed. Obviously the interest had not been mutual, she thought. After the auction, he had made no effort to find her, hadn’t even bothered to seek out her company, if only for a few minutes. The man barely knew her name and didn’t have a clue how to reach her. Clearly, she mused as she pulled into the driveway of her home, getting to know her wasn’t something Jericho Becton was interested in doing.

      The young man’s silence had begun to wear on her nerves and Irene Becton said so. “What is your problem, Jericho? You’ve been pouting since before we left the hotel. And you were downright rude to Shannon Porter.”

      Her son cut his eyes in her direction, his large palms gripping the steering wheel of his father’s latest acquisition, a steel-gray Jaguar XKR sportscar. The vehicle accelerated ever so slightly, the tires spinning over seventy miles per hour in a fifty-five mile per hour zone. The movement was not lost on his mother.

      “Slow down before you wreck your father’s new car and I have to hear about it. Besides, you don’t need to be getting any speeding tickets. Did you drink tonight? Good Lord, that would be all this family needs, you being stopped for a DUI. Slow down right now, Jericho!”

      The man pursed his lips, biting his tongue as he pulled the car into a parking space in front of the Corner Bakery Café. Shifting the car into Park, he turned off the engine. Still refusing to meet his mother’s gaze, he could feel her stare boring a hole straight through him. “I need a cup of coffee,” he muttered under his breath as he stepped out of the vehicle, pretending not to really care if his mother heard him or not.

      Irene slammed the car’s door as she made her exit and headed into the café behind her son. Taking a seat in an empty booth she watched as he headed into the men’s room before returning to take the seat across from her. Jericho focused his attention on a menu, still pretending to ignore her presence.

      Irene smiled. “If you were three I’d have smacked that behind of yours already. Now, I’m not going to take but so much more of this foolishness. You’re almost thirty-four years old, Jericho. So, act like it. Tell me what has you so upset.”

      Jericho allowed his gaze to rest on his mother’s face. As they both studied each other, he heaved a deep sigh, filling his lungs with air. “I’m sorry,” Jericho said, the beginnings of an apology painting his expression. “I’m just irritated that Shannon did what she did. Why didn’t you warn me she was coming?”

      “Because I didn’t know Shannon was coming. But if I had, and if I had told you, you would have refused to participate.”

      “You’re right. I would have. I may still not participate.”

      Irene shook her head. “Shannon is a sweet girl and she adores you. She comes from an excellent