At first, Dominique didn’t know how to handle these taunts, and she tried to diffuse them by becoming everybody’s friend. When that didn’t work, she resorted to serving up fist sandwiches to those who opened their mouths with put-downs. That solution wasn’t satisfactory either. Anita wasn’t trying to have her daughter in the principal’s office every other week, nor was she willing to take off work to attend counseling sessions. Then one day a teacher took note of Dominique’s gift of writing and encouraged her. That and a school outing helped to build her esteem and boost her confidence. She worked on the student newspaper and yearbook through junior high and high school, and even had an article published in a regional magazine. Dominique never stood a chance of being voted Most Popular, but she had a place where she felt her power. When she hung out with the people putting pen to paper to create inspirations that people read... she belonged. She graduated high school, got a degree in journalism, and never looked back.

Her first boyfriend was a math and science whiz who was labeled a nerd because, well, because he was. William was a year younger than Dominique. He was a senior in high school when they met at a party. She was a freshman in college who figured that to lose her virginity she’d have to take the proverbial bull by the horns. They dated off and on for three years before Dominique decided she needed a little more excitement in her life than William provided. Enter Leland, Justin’s father. Where William’s personality was quiet and laid back, Leland brought a bit of swagger to the mix. She was a senior in college when they met. He was an engineer, with a car, a condo, and a wicked smile. Dominique had been immediately impressed and after experiencing a type of attraction that she’d never felt with William, she and Leland hooked up. Justin came six years later, almost a year to the day after they married. By that time, Dominique had all but forgotten the taunts that used to follow the chubby brown girl with the strange accent who had moved to a new neighborhood on the West Coast. She knew she had an eye for fashion and a gift of language. She’d hung her confidence on those pegs and kept it moving.

Dominique and Anita’s conversation drifted from reminiscing about old times to the goings-on in her mother’s neighborhood and at the church that Anita attended. After dodging her mother’s offer to “set her up with a nice deacon,” Dominique looked at her watch, realized it was time to get to the office, and ended the call.