Vanessa Miller - Her Good Thing

“I planned out my business life, and if I do say so myself, I have become quite successful.” Danetta put her key in the ignition and started the car the moment Ryla and Surry closed their doors. As she drove out of the parking lot, she said, “What hasn’t been going so well is my love life, and that’s because I’ve been too busy with business and hanging with a bunch of women—”

“Hey,” Ryla protested.

“—to develop a meaningful relationship with a man,” Danetta finished.

“Well, excuse us for inhaling the same air as you,” Surry said from the backseat.

“I know you’re not objecting to my wanting to find a man, Surry. You seem to have a new man every week.”

“That’s because I haven’t met one that I wanted to keep yet.” Surry corrected Danetta, “And it’s not every week...maybe every other week.”

“I’ve met some of the men you’ve dated. They seemed perfectly fine to me,” Danetta challenged.

“That’s until you dig a little deeper,” Surry said. “None of them are serious about righting the wrongs of blacks and most don’t even know who Marcus Garvey was. And what has really ticked me off lately with some of these so-called brothers is that most of them wanted to take me out, but didn’t want to help me canvas the streets for President Obama’s reelection campaign.”

“Don’t expect any tears from me. These men drool all over you, like you’re their Nubian queen and all you do is toss them aside.” And who could blame them, Danetta thought, even with all her eccentric behavior, Surry can’t hide the fact that she looks like the supermodel, Iman.

“Yeah, Surry, don’t expect us to feel sorry for you,” Ryla chimed in. “I can’t date because of all the mess I’m already in with my child who has never seen her father. So, I’m not trying to go down that road again.”

“And whose fault is that? You’re the one who left that man without so much as a word about your pregnancy,” Surry answered back.

“Okay,” Danetta held up a hand. “Let’s not get started on a subject that will take us someplace we don’t want to be.”

The three women agreed and then continued discussing Danetta’s Get Love Now plan. By the time she had dropped her friends off, she had pretty much convinced herself that a change of plans was exactly what she needed.

She stopped off at the bakery around the corner from her house and purchased two brownies. Yeah, yeah, Danetta mused, Marshall starting up with this Veronica chick does bother me, but I’m not going to spend an entire week eating a whole pan of brownies and a tub of ice cream. I’ll drown my sorrows tonight, but tomorrow I’ll learn to swim in a new pond.

Chapter 2

Yawning and stretching, Marshall eased himself into a sitting position. With his back against the headboard of his king-size bed, he rubbed his eyes as he looked at the clock on his nightstand. It was six in the morning and the doorbell was ringing. Reluctantly, he got out of bed and made his way to the front door. He unlocked the door and then opened it. He was surprised to see Veronica standing on his porch holding a small suitcase.

“I’m here,” she said with a bright and cheery smile on her face. “I’m ready to go.”

With her hair pulled back into a ponytail, Veronica looked more like Danetta than he’d noticed when they’d first met. Danetta, however, would never have just shown up on his doorstep after he’d already informed her that she would not be taking this trip with him. At that moment, Marshall felt the need to remind Veronica that they were no longer dating. “You do remember that you broke up with me, right?”

“I was just mad that you tried to cancel our trip, but I’m over all that now.”

She looked so cute with her honey-blond hair pulled back that he wanted to ignore Danetta’s request, get his overnight bag and ride out of town with Veronica. Danetta just didn’t believe in having fun anymore. But whether Danetta knew how to have fun or not wasn’t the issue. Marshall had promised her that he wouldn’t mess things up for their company, and he planned to keep his word. “Sorry, hon, I can’t take you on this trip.”

Veronica’s smile disappeared as she snarled, “You jerk. So, it’s like Diane said, huh? You really are going to take her on this trip instead of me.”

“Diane is just messing with your head. Now I’m sorry, but I’ve got to go, Veronica.” He closed the front door and headed back toward his bedroom. Two weeks after he and Diane had called their relationship quits, Marshall had accepted a dinner invitation from Veronica. Diane had gotten so upset that she’d been lying to her about him ever since. He’d unknowingly dated a pair of friends back when he was in high school, and it had ended badly: with the air being let out of his tires.

He would have taken the time to explain things a little more to Veronica and would have even let her in on the situation with the retreat, but Marshall was offended that Veronica would accuse him of two-timing her with Diane. He might date a lot of women, but Marshall had this rule to only date one woman at a time. And he never went back for seconds. Once he was done with a woman, that was it. As a matter of fact, he didn’t even like the idea of dating friends; that high school incident had taught him well. The only reason he’d even considered dating Veronica was because she looked so much like Danetta, but he probably needed therapy to uncover why that even made a difference to him. He went into the bathroom off his master bedroom, turned on the shower and got in. As the hot water steamed up the room, Marshall’s thoughts drifted to Danetta Harris, the only woman, besides his mama, that he’d managed to have a decent relationship with for over a decade. She was his buddy, his comrade. Their friendship had even survived a seven-year business partnership.

Marshall had been a junior and she had been in the second semester of her freshman year when they’d met. He’d thought she was one of the prettiest girls on campus. Not beautiful, but pretty and wholesome...the kind of girl his mother would have begged him to marry. That was the reason he’d kept Danetta in the friend zone. He had been too young to fall in love, and had no clue how to keep a woman like Danetta happy. So when Danetta had come to him one night after finals and confessed that she wanted to hook up with him, Marshall had told her that he liked her much better as a friend and didn’t want anything to spoil their friendship...like a marriage, three kids and a nasty divorce.

Even after that awkward evening, Danetta had stuck by him. Whatever he needed, she had always been there for him. And in return he’d made her a full partner in the company he founded. When he’d offered her the job, Marshall had told Danetta that he needed her to help him conquer the world. He didn’t know why he felt that way, but it was true. With Danetta as COO of Windham Enterprises, the company had tripled its profits within three years. As far as Marshall was concerned, he’d made a good call when he chose Danetta as a friend.

Slam...bang...boom!

“What the devil?” Marshall heard a loud crashing sound coming from his bedroom. He turned off the shower, put a towel around his waist and then opened his bathroom door. The first thing he noticed as he stepped into his bedroom was that his mirror had been shattered and the ceramic lamp Danetta had bought him for his thirtieth birthday was broken into hundreds of pieces and now lay in the middle of his floor. “Are you crazy?” he asked Veronica. “How did you get into my house?”

“Shouldn’t leave your door unlocked when you’re trying to be a player.” Her eyes darted wildly around the room as she looked for something else to throw.