Lynnia (8 page)

Lynnia

Lynnia ran from one thing to another. She had a laundry list of things that needed to be handled and not enough time to do any of it in. She’d officially been going since five o’clock that morning. There was something about just keeping busy that kept her moving forward. She’d done everything in her power to make sure she was too busy to dwell on any part of the incident that happened almost a week ago.

The good thing about it all was the two of them didn’t regularly see each other. They’d each made special trips to see one another in the past. This week had been one free of him. it wasn’t for lack of trying on his part. When she’d called Carlita to check in she’d been informed that he’d called her a few times before giving up on calling and just taking to dropping by the restaurant. All she had to do was make it two more days and she would be on a plane out of town. Two weeks in Cancun and another week in California awaited her. Her high school friend, Suzanna Marshall, was going to meet her the last week in Cancun and she couldn’t wait. Carlita had asked her at the beginning of the year if she planned on taking a vacation this year or not. At the time, she didn’t see the point. When she looked at the calendar, she realized she hadn’t taken one the year before.

The family trips to Montana didn’t count. Upon further inspection, she quickly realized that she hadn’t taken a personal vacation in almost five years. She was long overdue. Once she determined that she was taking a trip, she had to figure out where. Enter Suzanna. Her good friend was the one that suggested the Cancun trip. Her phone rang as she thought about seeing her good friend.

Looking at her screen, she groaned and rolled her eyes.

“Get a clue. Take a hint! I don’t want to talk to you!” her voice carried as she pressed the decline button with extra emphasis then threw it in her bag.

A lady walking toward her gave her a wide berth as she walked passed her.

“Sorry, Ma’am.”

Her phone rang and she fished it out of her purse once again. Looking at her screen for the second time in five minutes, she saw that it wasn’t him. The person that was calling would be a welcome reprieve from the constant annoyance.

“Hello girly,” she practically sang into the phone.

“L! I can’t believe we have two days before we are going to be in Cancun.”

Lynnia was getting ready to do a celebratory dance right where she stood on the street, but had to halt her actions.

“What do you mean we’ll be there in two days? Are you going early? Don’t get my hopes up, girly!”

“You heard me right. I’m packed and ready to go. This grown and sexy chick is ready to escape the cool air of the fall months in Connecticut. I worked it out so I can do the three weeks with you.”

Lynnia squealed at the same time her friend did. This was even better. She didn’t have to spend part of her time trying to find things to pass the time. Her previous goal had been to not look like Ms. Lonely Heart when she went out and about while there that first week. Now, she didn’t have to worry about that.

“I hope you don’t mind. I just figured three weeks hanging out with Girly was better than two especially since it’s the only time that we get to hang out as adults. Jim is going to be bald or completely gray by the time I get back since he’s going to be dealing with Jay and the twins all by his lonesome. I can’t bring myself to care right now.”

Lynnia could hear the devilish smile that had to be forming on her friend’s face as she spoke. She didn’t mind the company. There was something to be said about getting to know an area without another’s influence, but she would chalk this up to a moment of “the more the merrier” and leave it at that. Plus, Sue had three kids under the age of six and two very curious girls that tended to run the part-time working mother a little crazy on a good day.

“I really don’t mind. I am absolutely looking forward to having the extra time with my friend. No work …”

“No responsibilities …”

“Just drinks, fine men …”

“For you, if possible and two girlies having the time of their adult lives. Yes! Can you tell I’m just a little bit elated about this?”

Lynnia laughed as she made her way to the door of the consignment shop so that she could mark off another thing that she had on her list of “things to do”.

“Not any more excited than I am. I wish I could fast forward through the rest of my day and get set to get on the road to fly out of Miami tomorrow.”

“Oh yeah. That’s right. Today is your last day in Florida. Do the Norton girls know you’re going out of town yet?”

“Nope. They’ll learn about my plans tonight when we’re all at dinner at Momma’s.”

Sue’s loud laugh came clear through the phone making a nearby baby in a stroller jump. Lynnia smiled at the dirty look she was given by the mother for almost waking a sleeping baby. Yeah, she knew that look well. She’d seen it on a couple of her sister’s faces when she’d dropped in unannounced and made rather loud noises. The resulting loud response came and she was usually ushered out of the room. In a couple situations with Zoie, she’d been shooed out the front door. Laughing to herself, she looked over her list again. Making her way through the store, she found the items she was looking for and went to the counter to pay.

Just as she sat her purchases down, her phone rang. She didn’t bother to look at the screen. Blinding sliding her finger across the screen, she answered. She wasn’t surprised her sisters were on the phone.

“Z, Lexi, what’s going on?” she smiled at the woman behind the counter and apologized for being on the phone.

“Just calling to make sure you didn’t forget that you were the one bringing something sweet to dinner tonight and not the preggers sister.”

Lynnia could hear the smile in Zoie’s voice as she talked about their younger sister. All of them were ecstatic that Chyra was around for them to watch her pregnant belly grow with their soon-to-arrive niece. She had two more months to go and all of them were counting down with their baby sister. The well-kept secret of her first pregnancy resulted in their full-of-energy, too-intuitive-for-his-own-good, handsome, five-year-old nephew, Zachary. They’d been hurt to learn that he’d lived almost four years without knowing much about the Norton family. All of them had worked hard to make up for that lost time. The sisters and their mother had forgiven Chyra and were on the mend. This sure-to-be beauty would be welcomed as all of the other little ones who had been born to her other two sisters this year.

“I know that Chyra and I are switching jobs for this dinner. I’m out taking care of things right now, but I’m stopping by the restaurant and picking up some things to make my treat.”

The sales associate gasped and began to bounce in place in front of her. It took her a moment to find her words.

“I knew it. I knew it was you. You are the owner of L. Norton’s Cuisine, aren’t you?”

The young woman standing in front of her beamed a smile her way while fluttering her eyelashes at her.
Was that supposed to be cute?
Lynnia fought the urge to let the little twenty-something know about herself. She could hear her sisters’ cackling laughter booming through the phone. They both knew full well that Lynnia hated with a passion running into patrons of her restaurant outside the safety the walls of that building provided. Yes, most of the time she was met with rave reviews about the staff, the ambience, and/or the amazing food. It was the few and far between negative critics that had her tensing and cringing when someone recognized her as the owner. Not always was it just a quick snatch of the band-aid moment. She had one customer drone on for a full eight minutes about her “bad experience.” Lynnia knew because Nyema had timed the woman.

Closing her eyes, she braced herself for impact after her response, “Yes. I’m the owner.”

“Here it comes.”

Wynter called from the receiver just before the squeal happened.

“Oh my gosh! I absolutely adore that restaurant. I’m there just about once a week. I don’t care about the prices. I don’t care if it’s not in my budget most weeks. All I care about is getting my weekly fix. The food that is prepared there is divine. I fall asleep dreaming about some of those dishes. The desserts … oh, the creativity enshrine on a plate of ecstasy those things are. Your sister’s creations have me stopping in to Quinnie’s Bit O’ Sweetness Bakery just about as often as I am in your restaurant. I have all of my friends addicted to both places. The owner of this store treats us once a week with something from either place. This week it’s your sister’s spot,” she suddenly stopped talking a mile-a-minute and disappeared through a door behind her. She returned moments later with a red box with Chyra’s logo on it. “See? Oh my … Daphne is going to shit bricks that you were in here and she missed you. Daphne is the owner. Oh, I’m Katie by the way. Thank you for having such a welcoming place where I feel like I have a little piece of home with my momma.”

The little blonde girl shot around the counter and gave her a hug. As she went back around the counter, she wiped her eyes and sniffed.

“Aww, Evie. Is she crying?”

Zoie’s hearing was unprecedented. She swore the woman was part animal or something. Her hearing was far too acute for someone that was human and thirty-freaking-seven years old.

“I’m going to discount these items,” Katie told in between sniffs. “Sorry for the previous language. My aunt would have my head for speaking like that in front of a customer and someone older than me, even if it was only by a few years.”

“Ha! That girl can’t be any older that eighteen. How old does she think you are?”

“Shut it, Lexi! I don’t think I need to hear from the peanut gallery right now. Why am is still on the phone with the two of you? I’m reminded. Goodbye, sister dears.”