End Game

Chapter 16

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Chapter 16

Byron used his key to let himself into his mother’s house. It was the same house he and his sister had grown up in. As his success bloomed he tried to convince her to let him buy her a newer, bigger house, but she wouldn’t hear of it. Their old house was just fine and held too many memories for her to leave it.

It was the house she and her husband had purchased as their forever home. It was where they had planned to raise their children and grow old. Despite her husband being gone for nearly fifteen years, she wasn’t ready to let go of that plan yet. So, Byron did the only thing he could do; he paid off her mortgage and had some renovations done. He made sure his mother had whatever work she wanted done on the house and keep it upgraded with all the newest appliances.

He walked through the house to find her standing at the stove stirring what smelled like beef stew. She glanced up and smiled when she saw him leaning in the doorway.

“Hey baby.”

He no longer tried to stop her from using that term of endearment. It embarrassed him as a teen but whenever he complained she always gave him the same line: “I don’t care how old you get, you will always be my baby boy.”

“Hey mama, it smells good in here. What are you cooking up?”

“Beef stew.” She answered , as she turned toward the spice cabinet. “And get your filthy hands out of my pot. I don’t know where them hands have been.”

Byron tried to chuckle around the chunk of meat that he indeed had in his mouth. “How did you know? You weren’t even looking?”

Having grabbed what she needed, she turned back to face him before she answered. “It’s the same thing you always do.” She propped her hand on her hip. “I don’t know who you thought you were fooling. ‘What you cooking?’” She mocked him. “Boy, you been smelling my stew from a mile away since you turned thirteen and started eating like you were half giant.

Byron threw his head back and laughed at that. It was the truth. At thirteen he hit a major growth spurt and it was like his mother couldn’t cook food to feed him fast enough.

“Where is Shiera?”

“At a friend’s house working on a project. She should be home for dinner.” She added her seasonings and stirred the pot.

“She going to freak out when she finds out who I’m working with. She might already know though.” Byron’s little sister Shiera was a mini fashion guru. She followed all the fashion blogs and magazines she could get her hands on. She even had her own blog that had quite a following for her being only sixteen.

“Oh yeah, who would that be?” His mother placed the lid on her stock pot and directed Byron to sit at the dining table.

“Cera Michaelson.” At his mother’s impressed nod he continued. “We just signed the contract a few days ago. You know she’s one of her top five designers. I wonder if Cera would mind me bringing her to the studio one day. I’ve been there a few times already. Her work is really good, Ma. I agreed to let her be my stylist, too. I’m excited to see what she does with that. I’ve even seen some of the work for her next line. I don’t see why she’d want my input for her men’s line cause it does not look like she needs it. ”

Dyanne sat and listened to her son ramble. She tried to hide her surprise but it was proving very difficult. He had never shared this much information about a woman with her. Not even one that was a business partner. She could hear the admiration in his voice and see the awe in his smile. Her son was smitten and he didn’t even know it.

****

Cera sat, notebook in hand and a plate of garlic pasta and pan seared fish in front of her. She had joined her sister in her office at the jewelry store where she designed custom pieces from time to time.

Cera was so focused on the work in front of her that she didn’t notice her sister studying her intently. They all knew how deep into her work Cera could fall and all felt it was their responsibility to make sure she took care of herself while she was making her moves.

Coletta, being the oldest, felt it was on her to look after all of her sisters no matter how annoying they felt it was.

“Eat your food, soeur.”

Cera glanced up, having barely heard Coletta, “Quelle?”

Setting her own work aside, Coletta repeated herself. “Eat your food, soeur. We both know you haven’t had anything since the smoothie you had for breakfast.”

Cera scoffed, setting her sketches down and picking up her fork. “I had a muffin, thank you very much.”

“Glad to hear it,” Coletta replied dryly.

They ate in silence for a few minutes before Coletta resumed her inspection. With her no longer having her work to distract her Cera did notice this time.

“Why are you staring at me woman?”

Coletta stared for a minute more before deciding that her sister seemed to be healthy enough. She shrugged, “No reason. Did you want matching pieces for each idol line or different ones for every outfit?”

Cera stared at her for a minute before deciding to let go of her storage behavior. “I think for the show they can match to not distract from the clothes, but we can add more pieces later for the official drop. Maybe when we do the photo shoots.”

“Okay then I’ll have some sketches and probably a few preview pieces to you by next week.”

Cera nodded. “Hey, how was that last date you went on? Did Mère and her friend do a good job this time?”

Coletta nodded. “He was cute. And not completely boring. I told him he could call me and set up a second date.”

Cera saw how uninterested Coletta seemed to be about her potential suitor. She had been having bad luck when it came to dating, so she finally relented and let her mother set up a date with her friend’s son. Mère knew her daughters well and had pretty good taste so Cera didn’t think the date would be that bad.

“Well that’s something at least. Better than the guys you’ve ever been seeing before right?”

“Yeah I suppose. He didn’t talk about work the whole time and didn’t cringe when I told him my position at the company.” Coletta perked up a bit at that admission. She believed that a big part of her dating troubles came because the men that asked her out couldn’t handle her being in one of the top positions at her father’s publishing company.

“Well that’s even better.” Cera tried to offer some encouragement. “But I hope you have more enthusiasm when you’re with him more cause right now, soeur, you look like you’d rather have a root canal.”

The women giggled and Coletta threw a napkin at her sister.

“Now seriously, if you want this to even have a shot of going anywhere you gotta act like you actually want it to go somewhere. Don’t let all the other fools who couldn’t handle your success bring you down. Not all men are stuck in the dark ages thinking a woman should be barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen. Go out with him again and just try to have fun.”

Coletta nodded then shook her head. “Right because I should be taking dating advice from you, Ms. Fun-Only-No-Strings-Attached?”

“Hey, just because I choose to not be in a relationship doesn’t mean my advice isn’t sound. Do you need me to plan an outfit for you?”

“Oh you mean you actually have some time for me? Not spending it in the studio or with James or-”

Cera cut her off, “Do you want my help or not woman?”

“I suppose I can let you help me. I’ll call you when I have the details for the date. Speaking of James how has he been? He hasn’t been coming by the house with you lately.”

Cera tilted her head to the side, thinking. “He’s good. Been traveling a lot more trying to secure clients for when he starts his own agency.”

“Well that’s good for him. How are you handling all that time apart? I know he’s usually here to be your rock when you’re working on a big project.” James’ absence was actually a big part of Coletta’s worry. With the nature of his and Cera’s relationship, the family always knew that there was someone around to make sure Cera didn’t completely lose herself in her work.

“I’m fine, Coco.” Cera raised an eyebrow at her sister. “I don’t rely on him that much. And like you just said it’s not he’s my man or anything.”

Coletta bit her tongue to keep from upsetting her sister. She obviously couldn’t see what was right in front of her.