Sugarbabies

Chapter 1

Sugarbabies

a novel by d. r. dale

The phone two cubicles down rang, momentarily distracting me. I frowned at the interruption and focused on finishing up my last report. Before I could leave, I needed only to print the document and status my manager. I was about to leave the message when the phone rang on my desk. Lifting the receiver, I wondered who in their right mind would call so late on a Friday.

    The voice belonging to my fourteen-year-old niece, Jessi, surprised me from the other end of the line.

     "Aunt Tina, um...could you come over and bring us something to eat?"

     I shook my head sadly because it was generally Jessi who made the distress calls, even though it embarrassed her just as much as her older brother except that he managed to mostly put the task of calling me off on her. At sixteen, he was much too proud to ask me for food, whereas ironically his pride remained perfectly intact when asking for a pair of one hundred dollar sneakers.

    "Where's Lindy?"

   "I'ont know," she answered trying not to cry.

    I debated briefly whether or not to ask how long Lindy had been gone, but decided against it. It didn't matter. I held the phone fuming.

    "Nan?"

     Jesse's voice brought me back from a rapid playback of all the other times etched in my memory.

    "Could you bring Lil Man some pampers too? He's on his last one and he stinks."

     "Okay. I'll be there after work."

    I slammed the phone down and jumped when I noticed Jacob standing just inside my cubie. I tried to shake off the conversation with a smile. I watched his eyebrows rise suspiciously and hoped he wouldn't drill me with questions. We had argued the past week about my sister, Lindy and her children. I knew when his smile faded that he'd heard too much of my conversation with Jessi.

   "Hi, baby. I didn't notice you standing there. How's your day going?" I asked Jacob.

   I saw his lips turn up into a sexy smile and breathed a sigh of relief. I didn't feel like an argument. It was getting far too complicated working with the person I slept with almost every night.

   "My day is going fine, but it'll be even better if you would agree to have dinner at my place with me tonight."

     "What time?"

     "Is seven too late?"

    "Seven is fine."

    "See you then."

     Damn! Why did I agree to tonight? Now I'm going to have to rush all evening. I thought as I shut my computer down and grabbed my purse from under my desk.

     At the grocery store I grabbed whatever I thought a sixteen, fourteen, and one year old would eat and wrote a check for close to two-hundred dollars. At the checkout counter, I forgot all about Lindy's stupid dog, and had to go back for his food. I couldn't help wondering what possessed Lindy to get a dog when she could barely feed her children.

    Dashing out of line, I got a few angry glimpses from people standing behind me. I met their eyes with the same contempt they showed me until they turned away.

     Screw them! Let them wait! I don't want to be in no damn store anyway! I thought then immediately felt foolish.

     It wasn't their fault I had to shop for my sister's children, a dog I hated, then rush to get ready for a dinner date.