Second Time Around Read online

  Second Time Around

  Darrin Lowery

  www.urbanbooks.net

  All copyrighted material within is Attributor Protected.

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Acknowledgments

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-one

  Chapter Twenty-two

  Chapter Twenty-three

  Chapter Twenty-four

  Chapter Twenty-five

  Chapter Twenty-six

  Chapter Twenty-seven

  Chapter Twenty-eight

  Chapter Twenty-nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-one

  Chapter Thirty-two

  Chapter Thirty-three

  Chapter Thirty-four

  Chapter Thirty-five

  Chapter Thirty-six

  Chapter Thirty-seven

  Chapter Thirty-eight

  Chapter Thirty-nine

  Chapter Forty

  Chapter Forty-one

  Chapter Forty-two

  Chapter Forty-three

  Copyright Page

  Acknowledgments

  I would like to say thank you to Carl and Natalie Weber, Brenda Hampton, my readers, my colleagues at Hull House Association and the JTDC Phoenix Center, my friends from the block and my friends in the writing game, but especially K’wan who has been like a mentor to me, Monica Marie Jones with her Monday Morning Motivation, Michael Baisden, Eric Jerome Dickey, Travis Hunter, E. Lynn Harris (RIP), Lissa Woodson, Victoria Christopher Murray, Nichelle Walker, Ms. Toni, Shannon Holmes, Marc Gerald, Verl and Leesa from Da Book Joint, OOSA Online Book Club, Sugar and Spice Book Club, Readers Paradise Book Club, Reading Rendezvous Book Club, Nikki Woods, Common, Twista, Devonshe Person, Rawsistaz, Deon Cole, Donovan McNabb, Derek Rose, Karrine Steffans, The Ladies of RAGE Book Club, The Ladies of Dolce Vita, Linda Davis, Brandi Higa, Carmen Buick, Jo Oliver, Earl Sewell, Leslie Swanson, The Smith Family, The Gandy Family, Lisa Thomas, my TAGGED Friends, Facebook friends and everyone that has ever supported me in this writing game.

  Chapter One

  She and her closest friends, Eula, Jayna, Elise, and Tatiana were done with the final touches of her makeup. Her full-skirt wedding gown was only missing her veil. She looked at herself in the mirror one last time as her girlfriends helped her put it on. She smiled to herself as she looked at her own reflection. I’m ready. My day is here and I am finally ready, she thought to herself.

  Her bridesmaids moved the long train to the rear so she could walk. Her dress gave balance to her ample rear end and her curves, while still accentuating her bustline.

  Prior to today she practiced how to walk in her shoes, how to smile, how to hold back tears, and how to do every tip she had seen at every bridal expo and read in every bridal magazine. Practice makes perfect, she thought. She needed today to be perfect.

  Her makeup was flawless. The makeup artist did a remarkable job. Her hair was tightly done in an up-do. Her neckline sported classic pearls with matching earrings. She tried her best to maintain her breathing and, at the same time, she resisted the urge to cry. It took forty-five minutes to apply her makeup and she didn’t want to ruin it.

  In a few minutes she would be at the chapel door. In twenty, she would be married to the man of her dreams. Tomorrow would mark the first day of the rest of her life.

  She hugged her girlfriends a final time and they each took photos. They tried to hide their tears as well. Each of them wished they were her. Each one of them quietly wondered to themselves when their day would come. Each of her bridesmaids was beautiful. They were stunning black women. Their dresses complemented hers. Their curves rivaled hers, but there was no doubt about it: Today was her day. Not only that, but she was clearly the most beautiful of brides on her special day.

  Her half of the wedding party smiled as the usher came to get them to tell them it was time. The ladies made the final touches on the bride before escorting her to the grand oak doors of the cathedral. Side by side they walked, like ladies on a mission. As they reached the doors they each took their places ahead of her and prepared to walk in.

  “You ready?” Jayna asked.

  “I am,” she said.

  The usher was told that the bridesmaids were ready to walk in. Slowly but surely each of her friends walked ahead of her toward the altar. She stood off to the side so she wouldn’t be seen. The bridesmaids made their trek down the aisle. Jayna was the last to go. She whispered to the bride before walking down the aisle. Her best friend always had to have the last word.

  “I’m proud of you and so very happy for you. I love you, girl.”

  “Thank you. I love you too. Thanks for having my back.”

  “That’s what best friends are for. Now let’s do this. We need to get you married,” she said with a smile.

  The doors closed a second time and they would only open once more. After that, she would be a married woman. These were her last moments of being single. She couldn’t wait for them to be over. She had grown tired of immature men, men who didn’t work, men who didn’t know their own potential, and she tired of the drama and games. She was ready to be married. She was ready to be happy. She was ready to exhale. She smiled to herself and thanked God that her day had finally arrived.

  She exhaled as the doors opened again and once again she had to fight back tears. “Here and Now” by the late, great Luther Vandross was playing. She made her way to him. Each step was careful. Each step was graceful. Each step took her closer to happily-ever-after.

  The cathedral was crowded and everyone stood in her honor. People gasped and whispered as she walked by. Many of her guests commented as to how stunning she looked. Other women held back tears of joy.

  With each step she took she felt liberated, happy. She walked slowly and gracefully down the aisle and smiled at the man waiting for her at the other end. He was handsome and regal. Any nervousness she had was quelled at the very sight of him. His smile put her at peace. She was a vision of loveliness. She walked to him and took his outstretched hand.

  He smiled at her as she made it to his side. He was the luckiest man in the world and he knew it.

  “Are you ready to do this?” he asked quietly with a smile.

  “I am ready. I’m ready to marry you.”

  She smiled so hard that her high cheekbones were flush red. Happiness was written all over her face. The doors to the cathedral closed behind them and everyone sat down as the ceremony began.

  “Dearly beloved, we are gathered here this day to join this man and this woman in holy matrimony. They say that he who finds a wife finds a good thing and—”

  His speech was interrupted by heavy footfalls on the tiled floors of the foyer. The sounds were so loud that everyone in the church heard them. The footfalls were as loud as the trot of a horse, but were clearly the footfalls of a man.

  There was a sound of chaos on the opposite side of the closed doors. There was noise, as if someone was arguing with the usher. Soon after, the sound of a body falling against the cathedral doors was made. It was a sound that suggested the usher had been pushed against the door and out of the person’s way.

  Eve
ryone in the cathedral had a shocked look on their faces. Everyone wondered what the source of the chaos was. Just as suddenly as the noise started, it stopped. The footfalls ceased.

  The church was overrun with whispers and everyone looked from the doors back to the altar where she stood alongside her soon-to-be husband. There was confusion as to what would happen next, but her fiancé urged the clergyman to continue the ceremony.

  She kept looking back at the doors. She didn’t know what or who was on the other side. Whatever or whoever it was had her heart racing with fear. Something wasn’t right. She could feel it in her heart. Still, today was her day. She turned to face the priest again. She turned and faced him so that she could be married.

  Fearfully and with concern, the priest started again.

  “He who finds a wife finds a good thing. We are here this day in front of friends, family and the almighty, to join this man and this woman in holy matrimony. It is said that—”

  Again, heavy footfalls were heard. Again, the priest gave a moment of pause. The light beneath the door revealed the shadow of a man’s feet on the opposite side. Someone was standing there. Someone who had no intention of leaving.

  There was a knock on the church doors. It was a resounding knock that sounded as if God himself was on the other side. No one moved and the entire cathedral looked in the direction of the closed doors. Everyone looked back at her. She felt frozen in time. She felt frozen with fear.

  The knocking stopped and then started again. It was three hard and loud knocks. They weren’t knocks requesting permission to enter so much as they were knocks announcing one’s presence.

  When no one made an attempt to answer, the screeching sound of the doors opening again announced his presence. The doors were forced open and on the other side was a man with a look of defiance on his face. His looks reeked of defiance as well as anger.

  Her ex-boyfriend was on the other side. He headed down the aisle toward her. His every stride was deliberate. His footfalls were heavy. The look on his face said that he was ending this madness . . . now.

  Her heart skipped a beat. This couldn’t be happening. His being here took her breath away. Her face was riddled with confusion and anger. The problem was, part of her was happy to see him. Part of her was relieved to see him. But he was too late; this was her wedding day. He had no right to be here. He had no right to interfere with her happiness. She turned to face her fiancé and the priest. His footsteps became louder as he approached them. She kept her back to him and said a brief prayer asking God to forgive this madness.

  She turned to face her fiancé. She gave him a look that said he should do something. She wanted him to confront her ex. She wanted him to tell her ex to leave. She turned to speak to him; to direct him to stop him before her perfect day would be ruined.

  Her fiancé was gone.

  She turned back around and her ex was gone.

  The church was empty.

  The doors were again closed.

  Her dress was all that she had left and it was old and in shreds. It had a yellowish tinge to it, as if to imply that it was ages old. She was alone. The man of her future was gone along with her ex, the man from her past.

  She was alone. Alone in the world and, it seemed, trapped in the church. She sat at the altar alone and slowly began to cry. She no longer wanted to be alone. She wanted to be married. She wanted to be loved.

  There was a second knock at the closed doors. She stopped crying and looked in the direction of the doors. The knocking was insistent. Someone was on the other side, trying to get in. Perhaps it was her fiancé, perhaps it was her ex. In either case, once she opened the doors she would no longer be alone. She ran to the doors as the knocking continued. She was just about to open them when a blinding light made its way into the church through the stained-glass windows.

  Chapter Two

  Korie Ann Dillon woke up at six in the morning to a thunderous knocking at her door. That was the knocking that she heard in her dream. She was happy to be awakened from her nightmare, but the dream was so vivid and so intense she didn’t feel well-rested at all. Initially, she buried her head deeper into the pillows. When the knocking began again, she knew someone was at her front door and, whoever it was, wasn’t leaving. She let out a few grunts and moans to express her displeasure.

  Damn, it feels like I just went to sleep. And what was up with that dream?

  Damn, that was weird. It can’t be morning already, she thought.

  She halfway opened her eyes and reached out for her cell phone, which was now buzzing. Now Korie was frowning. It was obvious that she wasn’t going to get back to sleep, not that she even wanted to after the dream she just had. She did want to rest, however. She needed to rest.

  She picked up her phone with one hand and moved the hair out of her face with the other. She looked at the small screen on her phone.

  She struggled to focus on the picture and text on the phone, which said Jayna. She let out a groan and stretched a bit before picking the phone up just before it went to voice mail.

  “Heifer, that better not be you at my door,” she said in a groggy voice while stretching across her bed like a newly awakened cat.

  Jayna laughed. “Yeah, it’s me. Korie, get up, it’s time for our run.”

  “We don’t run for another hour or so. Why are you here so early?”

  “Daylight savings time, princess; you must have forgotten.”

  Korie looked at her clock and then at the Post-it she wrote to herself that was sticking to the front of her TV screen in her bedroom. The note said daylight savings time, change the time. Korie shook her head as she realized her mistake.

  “Aw shoot, I did forget. Come back in an hour,” she said jokingly.

  “Girl, get up,” Jayna said playfully.

  Korie got up out of bed like a restless child. She put on her robe and partially closed it. She walked as if she was slightly intoxicated. She reached again for her robe, and retied it as she headed to the door.

  Her heavy footfalls sounded off the hardwood floor of her apartment. They were footfalls that reminded her of the dream that she had. She wiped the sleep from her eyes and closed the phone before opening the door. On the other side was her best friend, Jayna, but today she looked at her as if she was her worst enemy. Bad dream or not, Korie would have preferred to remain in bed a while longer to try and make sense of the dream.

  Korie worked mornings, but she hated waking up early, especially on Saturday. Her first client wasn’t until four o’ clock in the afternoon. She would have rather slept in most of the day. She wasn’t up for a run.

  “Damn you look a hot mess! Did you get some last night or did you have a bad dream?”

  Korie frowned at her best friend and scratched her head as she ushered her in. She wished she had some last night and started to lie, but Jayna would know better.

  “I had a bad dream.” In the back of her mind, Korie was trying to make sense of it all.

  “Well, it’s over now. Time to get up, sleepyhead,” Jayna said, while running in place. “You wanna talk about it?”

  “Nah, that’s okay. You ready to run this morning?”

  “Sure, can’t you tell?”

  Jayna did her playful mock-professional-runner’s jog into Korie’s apartment. She jogged around the living room a little bit like she was really ready to do something. Korie let out a half smile at her friend’s playfulness. Jayna was running in place like she was about to audition for a Nike commercial.

  Jayna wore jogging shorts that were a size extra-large. Although she was only a size eight, she needed the extra material to cover her perfectly round bottom. She tried her best to cover up her best asset, but there was nothing that could hide the fact that she had great hips and a butt that most women would die for.

  She wore a headband and a sports bra that showed off her just-developing abs. Her long brown hair was up in a ponytail and she had a small backpack, which housed all of her personal belongings. Her le
gs were strong and powerful, and her arms were just beginning to tone up. In a few months time, Jayna might actually just be in good enough shape to do a commercial for Nike.

  Korie hated getting up, but she was glad that her best friend was here. She was also glad that they vowed to push each other to get into shape. For four months now, they’d been watching what they ate. For four months they’d been going to the gym every other day and running on alternate days. Today was one of the days that they were scheduled to go running.

  They were now up to two miles a day. This was a huge accomplishment because when they first started running, they could barely make it around the block. Now, they were considered “real runners” with the outfits, running shoes, and other such accessories.

  They worked out in some way every day except Sunday. On Sunday they rested. Their excuse was it was the lord’s day. The truth was by the time Sunday rolled around both women were often exhausted.

  Korie looked at her girlfriend’s progress and quickly became motivated. Before they started working out, Jayna and Korie were considered, by black standards, to be thick. The truth was they were both a few choice meals away from being fat.

  Before they started working out, cellulite had begun to flex its muscle or lack thereof on their legs and perfectly round bottoms. They were both short of breath all the time, and they knew they needed to get in some type of shape. They were only in their late twenties, but they knew professional women in their forties who were in much better shape than they were.

  Every white woman that they knew was in phenomenal shape, whereas both Korie and Jayna would sometimes be winded by a simple flight of stairs. They knew if they didn’t get into shape soon, a heart attack, obesity or diabetes would claim them before there were in their mid-thirties. That’s how out of shape they were.

  A long, healthy life was the goal. The tight bodies they were getting were a bonus. Rather than continue to bitch and moan, Korie complimented her girl as she made her way to the coffee machine. She pointed her finger at her girlfriend with one hand and put her hand on her hip with the other as she jokingly took verbal shots at Jayna.