Darryl glanced at Topaz. This had happened more than once—people were always surprised to discover the garage was owned by a woman. When Stacy looked over as well, Topaz smiled and turned away—a signal to the guys that they should continue the charade.
“Business is good. Business is real good,” Darryl announced, hooking his thumbs around his overall suspenders.
“I been lookin’ to start a business on this end, but the street seems filled up.”
“Yeah, this is a real popular area,” Stacy informed him.
“Y’all know anybody around who might be interested in selling?”
“There were two cats you might’ve tried, but they already sold,” Darryl shared, propping his huge frame on the edge of Topaz’s Corvette.
The slender, dark-complexioned man scratched his neck while eyeing the garage. “You two ever think about selling?”
“Uh-uh!”
“No way!” Stacy agreed with Darryl’s boisterous response. “This place is a gold mine, too lucrative to sell out.”
“Hell yeah, we got a great location, great customers, best mechanics in town,” Darryl boasted. “No way we’d consider lettin’ go of our place.”
Topaz smiled and lowered her gaze to the oil-stained concrete. She never tired of listening to Darryl and Stacy play the roles of the proud proprietors. She focused in on the aspiring entrepreneur. Something about him heightened her suspicions and she knew he wasn’t what he appeared to be.
“Think of the money y’all could get for this place. The fact that business is good now would only play in your favor.”
“We know what you sayin’, man, but sellin’ is somethin’ we ain’t interested in,” Stacy decided.
“At all,” Darryl confirmed.
The slim man raised his hands while shrugging. “I understand. Hell, I wouldn’t wanna let go of a place like this either.”
“Good luck to you,” Darryl called, easing off the car to follow behind Stacy.
“You brothas have a good one,” the man called as he strolled out as leisurely as he’d arrived.
“Whatcha thinkin’, Paz?” Darryl asked, as he continued to observe the man’s departing figure.
Topaz shook her head. “I’m not sure yet.”
“Think it could be Alfred Majors usin’ a different approach?” Stacy asked.
Topaz folded her arms across her chest and grimaced. “Alfred only wants to go into business with me, he doesn’t want me to sell.”
“What you want us to do next time he shows up?” Stacy asked as he and Darryl turned away from the garage door opening.
“The next time he comes here, send him into my office.”
“Earth to Alex ... come in please ...” Darby Cooper called out to her boss. She’d been standing in his office for almost three minutes.
Alex finally looked up to find his assistant towering over his desk. “What?” he whispered, the distant look in his light eyes a perfect match to his voice.
Darby’s smirk was more of a full-blown grin. “What’s her name?” she pried.
Alex’s double-dimpled smile was like a ray of sun when he saw fit to use it. The dimples creased his cheeks and his incredible eyes crinkled at the corners in the most adoring fashion.
“Stop watchin’ all them soaps, girl. Ain’t nothin’ goin’ on here,” he informed her.
“Whateva,” Darby drawled, intentionally stressing her rich northern accent while she waved her hand around her head. “I always know when there’s a new lady on the scene. What I don’t know is if she’s the one who’ll help you shed that brooding serious image of yours.”
“Darby—”
“One woman to make you more mellow,” she continued, “to make you want to enjoy life.”
“Mmm ... and one to make me forget about work and all the other mess I have to do,” Alex grumbled, the looming workload slowly souring his mind.
Sadly, his obligations to the Queen City Happening wasn’t the only reason to dissuade him from becoming too attached. The soft mutter of familiar warnings began to surface, and he shook his head to ward off the memories they evoked.
“Anyway,” Darby sighed, waving her hand as she scanned the clipboard she carried, “the budget meeting’s in fifteen minutes and that new reporter will be joining us this morning.”
“New reporter,” Alex stated in a blank tone. His attention was already focused on the agenda Darby handed him.
“Casey Williams.”
Alex was at ease again. Not from the mention of Casey Williams’s name, but from the memories of Goldie Sims’s birthday and Topaz Emerson. Again, Alex smiled as her image filled his head. She was so lovely and it was definitely more than skin deep. Clearly, her horde of admirers thought so too, Alex decided, recalling how many of his friends were acquainted with her. Their upcoming date leaped to the forefront of his mind then. He could only hope the time spent together wouldn’t cause him to become even more attached to the chocolate-dipped beauty.
One by one, the reporters of the Queen City Happening began to trickle into the publisher’s office. Under the instruction of Clifton Knowles, the daily budget meeting usually commenced at 10:00 A.M. With Alex in charge, the meetings had been pushed all the way to eleven thirty.
