Nana Prah - A Perfect Caress

Getting them back on course, Lanelle said, “I’m pretty sure the hospital won’t infuse more money into the project, not when they’ve capped out what they’d anticipated giving. I haven’t run it past the board yet, but I’m thinking of having one last fund-raiser. If we don’t make enough, then I’ll offset the costs.” She upped the speed of the treadmill to help tame the distress storming through her. Over the past few years, it seemed like the universe had decided that, by any means necessary, she had to learn people couldn’t be trusted. Letting her compassionate heart rule her life had led to some major disappointments. Without fail, she’d always decided to help rather than hide. If she could only maintain a more cynical frame of mind in which, like Toshia, she anticipated that people would screw her over.

The NICU had to get built, and she’d do anything to make it happen, even stomp down the people trying to get in the way.

“If you want, I’ll donate my time to organize it.”

Lanelle stopped short of jumping off the treadmill to hug her friend. “I couldn’t thank you enough.” Toshia was one of the most renowned party planners in the business. She’d organized all of the other successful fund-raisers they’d had for the hospital. For Toshia to offer her services for free went beyond the call of friendship.

“I can’t let you be the only one doing your part to make the world a better place. When are you thinking of holding it?”

“In a month.”

Toshia sucked air in through her teeth. “You’re cutting it close.”

“Yes, but I have the best event planner on board. Even if I gave you two days, you’d turn out a fabulous party.”

“True.” Toshia blew on her nails and rubbed them on her sopping-wet tank top with a smirk. “I am that good. When are you meeting with the board?”

“We’re having an emergency meeting on Monday.”

Toshia increased the pace on the StairMaster. “Be honest—what do you think is going on with the money?”

“I don’t know. All of the paperwork looks good. And you know me.”

“You can’t think the worst about anybody until they show their true face.” Toshia shook her head. “Not one of the traits I admire, by the way.”

Lanelle grunted hard through her panting. She wouldn’t get into it again about their personality differences, but if she were more untrusting she could circumvent some of the problems she’d had in her life before they even happened. But then she’d miss some of the good in people. “Maybe we just did some bad financial calculations.”

“With you, Miss Graduated-with-Her-MBA-at-the-Top-of-Her-Class, as the head of the project, I doubt it. You’re a natural-born philanthropist. When you aren’t helping someone in need, you’re computing to make sure your projects get the most out of what you have to offer.”

“Other than setting the budget, the board doesn’t deal with the money aspect. We only oversee that the decisions we’ve made are going in the right direction. If I’d been around, I would’ve kept a closer eye on things.”

“Then you need to vet the hospital’s accounting department. Brad’s told me horror stories about what accountants have tried to do with his money.” Toshia loved to talk about her husband even more than parties or clothes. “But because my baby is too smart to get taken, he circumvented their efforts. I’m sure the money is disappearing somewhere it’s not supposed to.”

The same suspicions had plagued Lanelle. “I’ve been there and found nothing. Wherever the funds went, they made a clean getaway.” For now. No longer wanting to discuss her failure in keeping her project on course without a major glitch, Lanelle got lost in the music coming through her headphones.

Toshia knocked on the treadmill to capture Lanelle’s attention. “You’ve gone to the previous fund-raisers alone. I refuse to let you do it again. Who are you taking as a date?” Toshia answered her own question. “How about Mr. Tall, Dark and Afro? I can’t believe you fobbed him off.”

The exact same thoughts had kept her tossing and turning the night away. Images of Dante had refused to leave as they morphed into fantasies about more than just their hands touching.

Lord knew she was long overdue for a good time.

“Why didn’t you say yes to a date? The way you described him, he seems like a nice guy. You’re the most instinctive person I know. Something told you to say yes, and yet you did the opposite. Inquiring Toshia wants to know why.”

“You already do.”

“Girl, you need to get over it. Your ex-husband was all kinds of a jerk for leaving you.” She paused to catch her breath. “Not all men are the same. Conrad was a punk of distended proportions.”

The loss of Lanelle’s five-month-old baby as a stillbirth had devastated her. She’d survived the heartbreak and had gotten pregnant a year later, only to deliver premature twins and watch them die. She’d been distraught and beyond comfort. When she’d held their lifeless forms in her arms, she’d been told they’d suffered a severe case of anemia from her body attacking the babies’ red blood cells.

Her B-negative blood lacked the rhesus, or Rh, factor; her first baby had inherited it from her ex-husband and tested positive for it after she’d miscarried. She’d been injected with the RhoGAM vaccine; if she didn’t take the medication, her body would see the blood of the next Rh-positive child as a foreign body that had to be destroyed.

But the RhoGAM had failed, a rare occurrence that had stumped her obstetrician. The antibodies the vaccine was supposed to prevent her from developing had killed her twins.

Her ex-husband hadn’t been able to handle the news that they’d most likely never have a child together, so he’d divorced her.

In less than two years, she’d had to suffer the tragic loss of her three children and had been left by a man who’d promised to stay with her through sickness and health. A childless marriage hadn’t been part of the vows, so he’d taken off.

Lanelle would never be able to endure the agony of losing another child. Compounded with the fact that no matter how much a man claimed to love a woman, he couldn’t be trusted to stay when he was needed. What was the point in having a relationship if he’d end up leaving?

Other than the occasional date forced on to her by her parents, her younger brother, Miguel, and Toshia, Lanelle hadn’t had a long-term relationship since her ex-husband, Conrad, left her.

When she’d found out he and his new wife had delivered a healthy, full-term baby boy six months after they’d married, her heart had broken all over again. And her resolve to stay away from men had strengthened.

Lanelle had been pleased with her life choice to live like a nun. Until yesterday. Dante’s knee-buckling smile started shattering walls she’d never intended to let crack.

“What’s his name again?”

An image of his rich, dark skin came to mind. “Dante Sanderson.”

Toshia pushed a button on the machine and stopped pumping her legs as it came to a stop. “Oh, my goodness, you like him.”

“No, I don’t.”

“Alleluia, praise the Lord.” Her friend raised both hands. “After all these years, she likes someone. Glory be. I know you like him,” Toshia said. “It’s the sappy smile that crept onto your face when you mentioned his name. And you said it all breathy.”

“Couldn’t be because I’m running on a treadmill at eight miles an hour.”

“Go out with him.”

Lanelle pressed the button to add an incline to her jog. “Even if I wanted to, which I don’t, I couldn’t.”

Toshia crossed her arms over her full bosom. “Why the hell not?”