Black Coffee (Tara's Dream)|Dearest Diary, - Book 1 (unedited)

I don't Give Mindless Flattery!

Dearest diary,

Surprise! Surprise! I am no longer one for love triangles! Sure, I once thought it extremely exhilarating and entertaining, but that has changed now. It no longer does it for me. It's extremely tiresome and tricky and creeps up on you like a predator, entangling you in it's web of maliciousness and before you know it, you're pulled in so deep, you can hardly breath.

Therefore, for all these good reasons, I'm aiming at avoiding such distracting situations! Not just because it is unhealthy for my heart, but also because it undermines my sense of independence and the budding entrepreneur within me.

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"Who is that?" a curiously malicious Shea voices her thoughts after I enter the dining room bearing my flowers in a clear transparent vase.

"A colleague." I reply noncommittally as I set the vase in the middle of the dining table.

"A colleague who gets you flowers and chocolate?"

I don't respond. Instead, I turn around and walk back to my study and to Davis, not ready to hear what my mother's or Troy's input on the matter is. In fact, I make sure not to look at either of their faces since I do not want them to haunt me through out my meeting.

"I hope you're hungry." I tell Davis as I settle in my seat that is across from him. "I asked for some snacks to be brought to us."

"Sure," he says, putting a sheaf of papers before me. "I hardly had my breakfast when Linda called."

"Great." I reply, staring down at the pages before me and a frown forms on my face.

"It says here forty instead of twenty." I spout out, pointing out the problematic clause to him.

"Oh yea. We changed that. Since the bookshop retailers have already started ordering, we thought it good to give you the second and third installments together."

"And Linda knows about it?" I ask thoughtfully.

He nods and my frown turns into a grimace. It not that I am opposed to getting the money, but I am quite cautious, especially when it involves changing agreements and fourty million Kenyan Shillings that happens to belong to me. If anything went wrong, I would end up the losing party. The publishing house may still lose something, but not much. They still have other writers but I have nothing.

"Come on Attara. It's in our best interest that we take care of you." he adds, trying to ease away my tension with a smile. It does not work. Instead, my neck muscles are strung up tighter than they've ever been.

"I don't like surprises Davis, or deal changes without being consulted!" I tell him sternly.

"I understand that and I respect that, Attara. I am sorry for springing it up on you like that but Linda assured us that you will not mind."

"Of course she did" I mumble angrily to myself. Can I blame her? No, not at all. After all, I've done such a poor job of keeping my love affair with money a secret.

"Davis, Let me be honest with you. I don't feel like signing anything right now. Infact, I won't until I get to talk to Dr. Mwangaza and Linda to have this matter cleared out." I tell him, placing the papers back on my desk. It's a surprise that I don't even slam them.

On the other hand, I am expecting Davis to be surprised, angry even, but he isn't. Instead, he surprises me with his level of preparedness, and I am finally able to understand why he is so good at his job.

"That can be arranged. Infact, I already have both Dr.Mwangaza and Linda waiting on skype for a conference call." I nod and he slides his chair over to me with a tablet now in hand.