LITMIR.BIZ

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      Chapter 1

      “We women are born nurturers,” said the speaker. “We tend to let the men in our lives take center stage while we stand behind them, doing all the work.”

      Danetta Harris rolled her eyes as she received yet another urgent message from Marshall Windham, her business partner, and the poster boy for the message the speaker was delivering to the Women’s Empowerment group at that very moment. Marshall invaded Danetta’s dreams and he consumed her thoughts when she should have been concentrating on far more important matters. Because Marshall Windham was all wrong for her. The man had a brilliant mind for business and was Idris Elba fine. Not the Idris Elba who worked in a mechanic shop in Daddy’s Little Girls but the Idris Elba who was so fine in those gray pants with the black button-down shirt who strutted away from an exploding airplane in Takers. And that was the problem. Marshall was a taker and an unreformed ladies’ man.

      The speaker said, “It’s time to enact your Get Success Now plan and get on with creating the life you were born to live.”

      Another text from Marshall came in. Why haven’t you called me? I need you.

      Danetta stood up and walked out from the back of the conference room. She sat down at a table near the bookstore and called Marshall. He thinks he can bug me at any hour of the day or night, she huffed. She understood that they ran a business together and therefore needed to make themselves available, but it was eight o’clock on a Friday night. What could be so urgent?

      “Hey, where are you?” Marshall asked the moment he answered his phone.

      “I’m at the symposium I told you about,” Danetta said, trying to keep the irritation out of her voice. “Why? What’s up?”

      Marshall’s hearty laugh crossed the phone line and pierced Danetta’s heart. “That’s why you’re still single. I mean, really, Danetta, you take that I-am-woman-hear-me-roar stuff a bit too far and it is a major turn-off to most of the men I know.”

      Most of the men he knew were Snoop Doggie-dogs. “Your text said urgent. So, what do you want?”

      “Hey, no need to get your back up. I’m just looking out for your best interests. You’re not getting any younger.”

      That stung. “Look, Marshall, I know you haven’t been blowing up my phone all evening just so we could talk about my love life. Now tell me what you want or I’m hanging up.”

      “I’m packing for the retreat and I was hoping that you had changed your mind about attending it with me.”

      The man was impossible. She had signed Marshall up for a business retreat that was notorious for being a “boy’s club” event. A few women attended, but unless they were multimillionaire businesswomen like the current CEO of Hewlett-Packard, Meg Whitman, or the former CEO Carly Fiorina, they were pretty much ignored. Danetta wasn’t worried; women had business retreats all the time. All Danetta wanted was the business that these companies could bring to their firm...and all Marshall wanted was someone else to do the networking for him. “I can’t help you mingle and network this time, Marshall. This is a men’s thing, remember?”

      Born with clout and money, Marshall was in his element around presidents and CEOs. He simply hated networking. He said it just seemed too much like begging to him and Marshall didn’t beg anyone for anything. “We both know why you’re not going, Danetta, and it has nothing to do with how many men attend the retreat.”

      He was right. There had been countless times when they’d received invitations that were clearly meant for the head man in charge. Danetta would go anyway; she loved showing those self-important men that her pants fit just as well as theirs. But she also preferred to drive to the events.

      “Why don’t you just get over your fear of flying and join me at this event?”

      “I don’t have a fear of flying.”

      “Then what is it, D, because I’d really like to have you with me this weekend.” The conference Marshall was attending was in New York and the flight from Houston, Texas, where they lived was just too long for her to stomach.

      “I am not about to trust some pilot with my life just so you don’t have to mix and mingle.”

      “The mix and mingle I have no problem with. I’m just not as good at asking for business as you are. And since when do you trust anybody with your life, let alone a pilot?”

      Danetta gave a heavy sigh. “Drop it, Marshall.”

      “All right D, if you’re dead set against going, then maybe I should take a date with me.” It was a tease. They had already discussed why he shouldn’t take a date.

      “I explained to you why that was a bad idea,” she reminded him through gritted teeth

      “Yeah, but when I told Veronica she couldn’t go, she broke up with me.”

      “Why would she do that?”

      “Because she thinks I’m taking another woman.”

      Marshall was talking, but all Danetta heard was ruff-ruff-ruff. He was a dog and she was a fool. She couldn’t believe that she had wasted years of her life waiting for this man to change his ways so that they could finally be together. But she was done hoping and wishing for this man who treated women like accessories...picking whichever one matched his mood for the day. She didn’t even know who Veronica was. The last she knew, Marshall was dating a woman named Diane. “In case you forgot, the last woman you took on a business outing got drunk and threw up on our client.”

      He chuckled. “Yeah, but she apologized.”

      She threw up her hands. “Do what you want, Marshall, but if you make a fool of yourself this weekend, you’ll be looking for another business partner next week.”

      “Calm down, Danetta. I’ll go alone.”

      “Thank you,” Danetta said, and then hung up. She was about ready to go tickety-boom. And if the truth was told, she didn’t want to go back into that conference room to hear the speaker pronounce her a fool for desiring a man who wanted nothing to do with her. Yet, she had put her career in his hands. She would have left the meeting and gone home much sooner because her conversation with Marshall had drained all of her energy, but she had given her two best friends, Surry McDaniel and Ryla Evans, a ride. She couldn’t just abandon them, no matter that she was to the point of foaming at the mouth.

      Why had she gone into business with Marshall Windham in the first place? Because he’s gorgeous and brilliant and you fell in love with him from the moment he walked into your art class at Howard University, Danetta reminded herself.

      Okay, Danetta confessed, I might have been a real good Boo-Boo-the-Fool for Marshall, but even fools stop falling and bumping their heads at some point. Danetta had finally come to terms with the fact that Marshall would never stop chasing after women long enough to notice her.

      “Girl, what has gotten into you?” Surry asked, as she and Ryla came out of the conference room and sat down next to Danetta.

      “You missed the best part of her speech,” Ryla said, sitting down on the opposite side of Danetta.

      Danetta smiled as her girls sat down with her. On the surface it appeared that Surry, Ryla and Danetta didn’t have enough in common to be as tight as they were. Surry thought that straightening combs were evil and that the relaxer was a diabolical invention by Satan, designed to damage the hair of every black woman in America. Surry wore her hair in an afro or braids, and her wardrobe was strictly Afrocentric. Ryla on the other hand wouldn’t walk to her mailbox without a fresh relaxer and a cute hair cut. Ryla was a stylish former beauty queen, prom queen and cheerleader, while Danetta was all business with eyeglasses, knee- or calf-length skirts and turtleneck sweaters.

      “And why did you keep checking your cell phone? You normally turn that thing off. What if you were giving the presentation? You wouldn’t want people in the audience sending text messages and ignoring you altogether,”

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