Inner Circle (34 page)

30

“I
was so glad to hear that everything worked out for Callie, although I have to admit that the way that Carmen chick said it all went down was pretty bizarre.” Amber held the steaming pot over the colander as she strained water from a freshly made pot of pasta.

“I’m glad too,” Eve said finishing the last bite of her salad. “That’s one more victory for The Wives Association.”

“That’s right, and by my calculation, the score is Wives’ Association two, scandalous bitches zilch,” Amber said raising her glass.

Eve glanced around Amber’s kitchen taking note of the black custom cabinets with opaque glass, cream and onyx marble countertops, and oversized stainless steel appliances. She admired the long marble rectangular working space in the center of the kitchen and the adjacent breakfast island. It was truly an interesting design, but what was more interesting was the way her friend was moving comfortably around the room.

Eve sat at the island and slowly sipped her wine as she watched Amber scoop a tomato-based sauce of sausage and ground turkey onto two plates of pasta. She wondered what Amber was thinking but fought the urge to pry.

“Not too much for me,” Eve warned. “I think I ate too much
salad.” She leaned back, rubbed her stomach, and smiled contentedly as she slid her salad plate to the side.

“Sorry,” Amber replied. “I forgot I wasn’t fixing this for Sean. Should I take some off?”

“No, that’s fine. You know I always did love your spaghetti, girl. You can’t cook shit else, but your ass could always make some bomb spaghetti,” Eve laughed.

“Well, I can proudly say that that is no longer true,” Amber replied confidently, swinging her hips and almost singing the words as she carried the two plates to the table and set them down ceremonially.

“What’s no longer true?” Eve asked as she shook parmesan cheese onto the pasta.

“That I can’t cook worth shit,” Amber replied defiantly as she made her way across the kitchen. She slid on an oven mitt and recoiled at the sudden blast of heat as she opened the upper door of her double oven.

Before she could even see it, Eve smelled the aroma of fresh garlic bread wafting toward her. “Damn, girl, you cooked garlic bread too?” she exclaimed as she twirled a huge helping of pasta onto her fork.

“Yes, and it’s not store bought either. I made it from scratch,” Amber said proudly as she eased the hot tray from the oven.

“Scratch?” Eve stopped with her fork of pasta in midair and squinted at Amber. “Whatchu talkin’ bout, Willis?” she laughed.

“Scratch. You know, like make the dough, crush the garlic, grind the basil, and melt the butter . . . scratch!” Amber smiled triumphantly as she grabbed a small wooden carving board from the kitchen counter and placed it on the island in front of Eve. She stood with one hand on her hip still balancing the tray of piping hot bread in the other. “What? You don’t want any?” she teased, waving the bread in front of Eve.

Eve surveyed the two loaves of bread on the tray. It certainly
looked homemade, she thought. She wasn’t sure if Amber was telling the truth or not, but the shit looked good and smelled even better!

“Bitch, don’t play with me. You better give me some of that bread,” Eve said threateningly. She watched as Amber transferred one of the loaves to the carving board and skillfully sliced it into serving sizes.

“Smells good!” Eve said taking a slice and biting into it immediately. She closed her eyes. “Mmm,” she moaned as she slowly opened one eye and looked at Amber suspiciously. “You
really
made this?”

“Yes,” Amber beamed proudly as she took her seat.

“Well, I’ll be a white man’s grandbaby!” Eve exclaimed taking another bite. “This shit is really good, Ams! You been watching the cooking channels or something?” she joked.

“Actually, I have. They’re pretty good too. Who knew?”

“Well, if they can get your ass to make homemade garlic bread that tastes like this, they get my vote.” Eve finished her slice of bread and grabbed another.

“No, trust me, they are really helpful. I have been making, I mean, cooking, dinner for the past two weeks, and Olivia and Sean have been raving about how good it’s been. I discovered that I actually enjoy cooking. I think I have some kind of natural talent or something because once my ass discovered that it wasn’t that hard, I started experimenting with different spices and stuff. Don’t be surprised if you turn on the TV and find me on my own cooking show whipping up some Amber Ambrosia or some Jackson Jambalaya!” Amber laughed as she grabbed a slice of the bread and bit into it.

“What brought this on?” Eve asked laughing at Amber’s TV fantasy.

“Well,” Amber said suddenly serious, “I thought about what you said when the whole Sa’Myra thing went down and decided that maybe I should learn to cook.” She shrugged her shoulders.

“Girl, I was just kidding. If Sean was going to cheat, it could have been with anybody—the maid, your hairstylist, even Olivia’s teacher.”

“Damn,” Amber said somberly staring at her plate. “That means now I’m going to have to take a domestic class, a cosmetology class, and get my teaching credentials so I can homeschool Livie.” She looked up at Eve sadly for a few seconds, and then burst into laughter. “Gotcha!”

Eve grabbed her napkin and tossed it playfully at Amber. “You had me going for a moment,” she laughed. Then she twirled her fork into the pasta and contemplated asking Amber how things were really going with her and Sean but decided not to put a damper on the mood.

“Hey, you,” Amber said. “I can almost read your mind, and the answer is fine.”

“What?” Eve asked innocently.

“Me and Sean. We’re fine. In fact, it’s better than before. You know the old saying, ‘You won’t know how strong your relationship is until you have problems.’” Amber scrunched her face and smiled. “Well, that’s not exactly how it goes, but hell, you know what I mean,” she said waving a forkful of pasta at Eve before shoving it into her mouth. “We’re in a good place right now. We . . .” Amber hesitated and glanced at Eve.

“What’s the matter?”

“Nothing. I was just going to say we’ve even talked about adopting a baby.”

“Adopting?” Eve asked surprised. “Why adopt?”

“You remember how horrible my pregnancy was. I was sick almost the entire nine months, and I don’t care what anybody says, I had the worst labor ever! It was eighteen hours of kicking and screaming and damn near passing out, and that was just Sean! We agreed that neither of us wants to go through that again. I know I don’t!”

Eve shrugged. “I’ve never been in labor, so I can’t speak on that. But Sean’s really okay with adopting, huh?” She took a sip of wine as she considered her next statement. “You know how they say men always want a son of their own.”

“I truly don’t believe Sean cares. We haven’t made any final decision, but we both agree that adoption is an option.”

“Well, whatever you decide, as long as you’re both happy, that’s all that matters to me.”

“Thanks, Eve.” Amber extended her glass of wine to Eve, and they touched glasses.

As she took a sip, Eve looked over the rim of her glass and smiled. Amber certainly looked happy, she thought; besides, who was she to question it? She turned her attention to her plate unsuccessfully chasing the last of her fleeting spaghetti around in circles. Frustrated, she grabbed another piece of garlic bread and used it to shovel the last bit of noodles and sauce onto her fork and triumphantly shoved it into her mouth.

She heard Amber laughing and looked up inquisitively. “What?”

“If you wanted another piece of bread, all you had to do was ask!”

“I ain’t gone lie,” Eve said licking her fingers and laughing. “The shit is good!”

“Want anything else?” Amber asked as she got up from her seat and began clearing the dishes.

“No, I’m good. Need any help with those?”

“No, I’ll take care of it. Unfortunately, cleaning up behind yourself is one of the two downsides I’ve found to cooking.”

“What’s the other?” Eve asked.

“Tasting everything!” Amber laughed as she patted her ass. “I’ve put on two pounds in the last week!”

Eve laughed as she stood and stretched. “Well, if you don’t need my help, I’d better go because I’m about to catch a serious case of Itis. Besides, it looks like my work here is done. I can cross you off my to-do list because it sounds like you and Sean are doing just fine.”

Eve reached out her arms soliciting a hug, and Amber complied. As they rocked back and forth cocooned tightly in each other’s grasp, Eve closed her eyes and squeezed her friend even tighter. Finally releasing her hold, Eve held Amber at arm’s length
and without speaking, they locked eyes, sharing a private moment of kindred spirit and a sense of accomplishment.

“Come on,” Amber said swiping at her moist eyes with the back of her hand, “I’ll walk you out.”

Eve put her arm around Amber’s shoulders, and with Amber’s arm around her waist, they slowly walked from the kitchen, down the hallway past the now infamous sight of the dreadful birthday party, and to the front door.

Eve gave Amber another squeeze and waited as Amber opened the door for her to leave. “You take it easy,” she said.

“I will. I promise,” Amber returned smiling.

For a split second Eve thought she detected bit of sadness in Amber’s smile, yet it was gone just as quickly as it appeared. She waved good-bye and headed for her car as the tune to “Sweet Home Alabama” popped into her head. She heard the front door close soundly behind her and smiled as she recalled a proverb.
When one door closes another opens.

Eve slid into her car and started the engine. As she pulled away, she looked back at Amber’s front door. She’d thought about the events of the past few months in amazement. With the help of The Wives Association, all five of the ladies had actually managed to come through whatever personal issues that existed in their lives. And although some issues and problems for the ladies were worse than others, she knew as long they stuck together, there was nothing they couldn’t overcome.

31

“I
still can’t believe the Leopards are going to the Champion Bowl,” Eve excitedly exclaimed. “See, baby, I knew this was going to be your year. You’ve worked so hard, and now look at you; you’ve made it to the championship.”

Eve placed a stack of T-shirts in Chase’s suitcase, then placed a small pile of socks and underwear in the suitcase as well. He was leaving for New England, host of the Champion Bowl, with the Leopards in the morning, and Eve was doing her wifely duties of making sure he was packed and ready to go for the two-week trip.

“When are you coming up again?” Chase asked as he appeared from the closet carrying several pairs of jeans, a few sweaters, and a pair of sweats.

“I’ll be there next Thursday prior to the game,” she replied, taking the stack of clothes from his grasp and sorting them neatly into the suitcase. “Also, I’ve made the flight and hotel reservations for your mom and sisters. Everyone’s coming in on Thursday around the same time as me. However, your sister Sylvia called me last night to say she had to work on Friday and needed to come in on Saturday instead.”

“Cool. Looks like you’ve taken care of everything,” Chase said, kissing Eve on the forehead. “I love you,” he praised.

“I love you too, Chase. And I’m so proud of you, babe,” Eve gushed. “It’s like all your dreams are finally coming true, and I’m just so excited to be able to witness it.”

“You were my biggest dream, Eve,” Chase said wrapping his arms around her. “And the moment you agreed to be my wife, all of my dreams had already come true.”

Tears formed in Eve’s eyes as she leaned her head against Chase’s chest. This was too perfect, and for once in her life, she was completely and utterly happy. She wiped away the tears that had managed to escape her eyes, then looked at her man. All those years of negative conversations regarding athletes had proven to be untrue where Chase was concerned, and she was pleasantly surprised. Even though she missed her mother terribly, in her heart she was grateful to know that after all those years of bashing, her mother had been wrong.