healing-hearts (29 page)

~ML~

“Yasmine, you need to put her in her place one good time and you won’t have any other problems from her,” Leigh was saying after Yasmine finished telling her how Raquel acted when she’d stopped by Jason’s job.

“I could if she’d ever come right out and say something. But, she’s too smart for that. She just keeps dropping little innuendoes.” Yasmine leaned against Leigh’s doorjamb.

“That would’ve been good enough for me.”

Yasmine smiled at Leigh as her head and neck worked simultaneously to punctuate her statement.

“I know, Ms. Ghetto Fabulous. I’ve seen you give someone a piece of your mind for less.” Yasmine looked down toward the floor then back up to her friend. “You know if there was actually going to be a future between Jason and myself, then it would be worth the fight, but—”

“But nothing. He’s yours
now
so you can be as territorial about him as you want to be. Besides, it doesn’t have to end.” Leigh acknowledged.

“
Riiiiight
, like Jason is sitting around thinking how much he doesn’t want our pseudo family to end,” Yasmine’s voice was laced with disbelief.

“You never know.”

“
Confie
-
me
, I know. I live with him and I don’t see anything that says, ‘I want to make this permanent.’“

“Maybe you’re not looking.” Leigh arched an eyebrow in her direction.

Yasmine could never hide anything from Leigh, they were too good of friends, “No, I’m not. I don’t want permanence with a man, I just want the kids and my life will be perfect.”

“Once you start to realize your worth so much more than you give yourself credit for, then you’ll allow yourself to be happy. Yasmine, you just have to learn to stand up for yourself and don’t take any mess from anyone.”

“Just keep telling me that and one day I’ll get it in my head.”

Yasmine saw her client walk in. “Well that’s enough about my hang-ups in personality. My client’s here so I’ll talk to you later.”

Yasmine left the doorway and went over to greet her client.

“Mr. Kroll?” Yasmine asked the gray-haired man standing in the lobby.

“Yes. Yasmine, I presume?” he asked formally.

“Correct, it’s so nice to meet you. If you come right this way to my office we can get started.”

Yasmine waited until the older man had taken his seat next to her desk and asked, “Mr. Kroll, were you referred by a doctor or something? I was very unclear as to why you would be needing the services of Healthy Fit.”

The man had called her yesterday and said he would need the services of a dietitian. By the sound of his voice she could tell that he was up in years and figured it was health-related problems. Since they never turned anyone away for care, even if they were voluntary, she gave him an appointment in her available slot.

“No, ma’am. Despite my age I am as healthy as an ox.”

She smiled at his words. “So what can I do for you?”

“I have a grandson, who I’ve wished for years would go to college. Unfortunately, he never did. I honored his wishes and assisted him in opening a gymnasium.”

“That’s great, sir, but I’m still not sure what that has to do with Healthy Fit.”

“The gym has been doing amazingly well, and he wants to branch out by adding some amenities to the place. One of those things is a health bar. You know one of those where they make those smoothies to help you lose or gain weight or add protein and such to your body.”

Understanding dawned on her. “I see now, sir. So, in what capacity would you like us to participate in?”

“Training the staff for one. After we hire them and also giving my grandson and the bar manager tips on what products would be best to buy. There are so many of those pills out there that can hurt people, I wouldn’t want someone to end up in the hospital and the gym to be blamed.”

“That’s a very reasonable request, Mr. Kroll. I see no objections why we can’t accommodate your gymnasium.”

“Very well, Yasmine. If at all possible in a little over two weeks we will be having one of those body building and aerobic competitions and we would love for the bar to be open for the event.”

“One moment and I’ll consult my partner and see if we can accommodate the time frame.” Yasmine picked up the phone and called Leigh asking her to come into her office.

Moments later Leigh was at her door. “What’s up, Yasmine?”

“Leigh, this is Mr. Kroll. He and his grandson own a gymnasium and want to know if we can assist them with starting up a health bar within the next two weeks.”

“I would need to look on my calendar to make sure, what day are we talking about?”

The older man supplied them the date.

“If I may ask, sir, why do you need it so soon?” Leigh questioned.

“Our annual body building competition will be held then.”

Yasmine could see her friend’s interest being piqued.

“A body building competition. Now that I think of it, we should be available for that date. Just give me one moment to check.”

Yasmine had never seen her friend move as fast for a client as she did now, doing a quick step to her office and back in record time. It made Yasmine think that she hadn’t even looked at the calendar and later on she would reschedule anything that may have been on that date originally.

“I’m available.” Leigh voice sounded slightly winded.

Yasmine bit down on her lower lip so as not to laugh at her friend.

Mr. Kroll thanked them and left the office saying he would contact them later with further details.

“Oh, my God, my fantasy has finally come true.” Her friend collapsed into the now vacant chair next to Yasmine’s desk.

“You mean the one about you and the millionaire having hot butt naked sex in all of his money?” Yasmine asked.

“Not that one.” Leigh rolled her eyes.

“Oh, you mean the one where you’re nineteen again and all the boys from B2K fall madly in love with you and cart you off to some exotic island, where they worship your body like you’re their queen?”

Exhaling a quick breath, Leigh gave her an annoyed look. “No, it’s the one where I’m surrounded by buff, tanned, oily, almost naked men and I get my pick of which one I want to take home with me.”

“Oh, that one—how could I forget?” Her sarcastic words weren’t hidden from her friend, neither was the smirk behind her hand.

“I don’t care, Yasmine, nothing could ruin this moment.”

“Well, you just have fun basking in your little fantasy, but do it in your own office. I may need that chair later.”

Leigh rose with a big smile on her face. “Fine, some friend you are.”

“I know you’d do the same for me.” She jokingly pulled her fist to her chest, as if making a pledge with her friend.

“In a heartbeat.” Leigh avowed with continuous dramatic hip-swinging movements taking her out Yasmine’s door.

“My tummy hurts,” Joshua cried to Yasmine when she walked into his bedroom.

“I know, honey, Charmagne told me.” She kneeled beside the bed and felt the young boy’s forehead.

The part-time nanny had called her shortly after she and Leigh had returned from lunch. She was setting up the family pictures for the weekend. She had wanted to wait until after they met with Julinda tomorrow, but Jason had convinced her to make the appointment on the faith that the report would be favorable.

“I took his temperature right after I called you, and it was a hundred degrees. I rubbed him down with a cool rag.”

“He is very warm, let’s retake his temperature again. I called the pediatrician’s office where I have them enrolled and they can see him today.”

“Is Joshua going to be okay?” Jessica asked, concerned, as she stood beside Yasmine.

“He will be fine, sweetie.” Yasmine hugged her and kissed the side of her brow. Something she wanted Jessica to take as comfort, as she did the motherly thing and used her lips to check her temperature also.

Charmagne re-entered the room with the thermometer and a newly damped washcloth.

Yasmine took Joshua’s oral temperature, which had reached a hundred and two degrees Fahrenheit. Not wanting to show how concerned or worried she was, Yasmine smiled. “Joshua, how about a trip to the doctor so he can make your tummy feel better?”

Joshua just nodded his head.

“Is he going to get a sticker? Timmy Murray said when he went to the doctor’s he got stickers.” Jessica asked, her face scrunched with baby wisdom.

“Well, if they have them there, sweetie, I’ll make sure he gets one and you, too.” Yasmine tweaked Jessica on the nose.

“Yea,” Jessica cheered. “You hear that, Joshua, we’re going to get stickers.”

While Yasmine got him dressed, she asked Charmagne to call the daycare center and ask them if any of the other children had been out sick.

When Yasmine went downstairs carrying Joshua, Charmagne informed her of the illness status at the daycare. “Mrs. Evans at the daycare said that three other children have been sick since yesterday and one child’s older brother originally got the stomach flu from school. She asked for you to call her back if it’s anything different.”

Yasmine thanked her for the assistance as all four of them got into the car and went to the doctor.

Once at the doctor’s office, it was confirmed that Joshua indeed had a bad case of the stomach flu. He was given two different types of medication and requested to stay off sweet or greasy foods, even when he began feeling better. The doctor went ahead and gave both the children their three-year-old check ups for his records; even though Yasmine had told him it was performed at the orphanage.

By the time they got home it was time for Charmagne to go home for the day. She offered to stay and give Yasmine assistance with the kids, but Yasmine assured her she would be fine until Jason came home.

After she got Joshua tucked in the bed, fed them both soup and sandwiches, even though Joshua barely ate half of the broth and only a bit of the sandwich, she gave him his medicine and he went to sleep. Jessica who had enjoyed having a dinner “picnic”, as she had referred to it, in her brother’s room, allowed Yasmine to give her a bath and fix her hair for the next day without complaint.

It was almost seven thirty when the children were finally tucked in and she went down stairs to watch TV. She kept the volume low, so she could hear the children and make two phone calls.

~ML~

“Knock, knock...Jason. Are you and your staff ready for my research information?’ Raquel asked as she stood at the door.

“Perfect timing, we just finished up with some other things we were talking about.”

“Great.” Raquel entered the room with a beaming smile and her walk that always drew all eyes to her hips.

Jason pulled another chair for her to the semi-circle around his desk. As she sat and crossed her legs he watched as the men drooled in awe and Cassandra had a look like respect on her face.

For most women, Raquel’s natural sensuality was a hard pill to swallow, but they could always admire her stamina when it came to work.

“So, Raquel, what do you have for us?” Jason asked, resuming his seat on the edge of his desk.

“A very large bill, first of all.” She gave a coy smile and tilted her head to the side.

“I wouldn’t have expected anything less from you,” Jason commented, then allowed her the opportunity to describe to them her experience.

In great detail, Raquel described to them the entire setup and services of the place. Jason had never told her why they needed the information, but her astuteness allowed her to mentally record every detail, just in case he may have needed it.

While she was talking, the room was quiet, with everyone writing on tablets and pads the various types of information they were gathering from Raquel’s research, just as they had done with the other four women and one man from the company.

When she had finished there was a moment of silence as everyone had completed his or her notes.

When his staff all raised their eyes toward him expectantly, he realized there weren’t going to be any questions, as they had done to some of the others who’d gathered research. “Okay, staff meeting has adjourned.”

As his team stood and headed out of the door Jason followed them out into the hall.

Riiing.

“I’ll get it. You finish.” Raquel got up from the chair, leaned over the top of his desk, and grabbed the phone, in the process one of the boards on his desk fell to the floor.

“Hellooo…” Jason heard her say as he closed the door behind him so he could give his team the last few words of the night.

~ML~

“I’m sorry I must have dialed the wrong number.” Yasmine heard the woman’s breathless voice on the other end and the sound of things rustling and falling in the background. She assumed she had interrupted something
physical,
by the sound of the clues she could hear—it wasn’t business.

“Yasmine...” The slightly winded, sultry voice inquired on the other end of the line.