“I won’t deny that I’m very fond of him, Reggie. Jake is definitely someone with whom I could fall in love. But I’m just not willing to take the chance on things not working out and Justin being hurt again. I remember the days and weeks after Kevin left. Justin was so sad. He cried himself to sleep that first night, and then begged me to call Kevin and ask him to come back. I finally decided to tell him the truth, that Kevin had stolen from Mommy. He didn’t want to believe me and when he finally did, I felt bad for telling him. Kevin had betrayed me, but to Justin, it was as if he was the one who’d been wronged. And to a degree, he had. In stealing from me, Kevin betrayed the trust that Justin had placed in him as a father figure. In Justin’s young eyes, no man who cared about him would do that to his mom.” Dominique was silent for a while, remembering that difficult period in her and her son’s life. “It was awful,” she concluded. “It was months before Justin was back to his old self. I swore that I’d never, ever, put him through anything like that again. And I meant it.”

“I can understand you wanting to protect your child,” Reggie said. “But try not to be over-protective. Don’t deny his relationship with Jake based on what might happen. Life’s too short for that, Miss Dom. Besides, there are worse role models for Justin than a strapping football coach who has a thing for his mother and whose mother has a thing right back. Trust me, I know.”

Dominique spent the next hour finding more out about her assistant than she’d ever known: that his grandmother had whipped him for being a “sissy”; that he’d held fashion shows for his aunts and dressed in their clothes; and that a twenty-something neighbor’s son had introduced Reggie to sex when he was just ten years old. Time flew, and before either of them realized, it was time for the weekly editorial and pitch meeting.

For Dominique, a business luncheon followed and an afternoon of editing, reading and researching went by in a blur. But as she left the office and headed for a dinner engagement with a well-known, plus-size model, one thought remained and kept playing itself over and over in her head. It was Reggie’s not-so-innocuous question: How often does Justin get to see his father? And then, his telling comment: There are worse role models for Justin... trust me, I know.

27

27

Jake eyed the caller ID and thought twice about taking the call. He picked up begrudgingly, knowing that he was in for a grilling. “Yo, bro.”

“Hey, Jake,” Harold replied. “What’s going on with you, man?”

“Who says anything is going on?”

“Ha! Do you really want me to answer that question?”