Free Heaven Right Here by Lutishia Lovely Page B

continued to stand there.
    “Look, Stacy—” Darius began.
    “Do you want—” Stacy said at the same time.
    Inside Darius’s pocket, his BlackBerry vibrated. Bo.
    Darius glanced at his watch. “I have to go,” he said quickly, covering the distance to the front door in three long strides. “I’ll see you Sunday, okay? Take care, Stacy.”
    Stacy watched Darius stroll to his shiny black Navigator and step inside. She saw him punch his Bluetooth device before the car was fully backed down her driveway. Stacy would have bet money on who’d been calling. But it did her no good to think about the constant barrier between her and her man.
    “No,” Stacy said aloud, forcing a change in her thoughts. She said it so loudly Darius Jr. looked up from his toys. “Not you, baby,” she said with a smile. She stood a while longer, watching her son pound his toy piano. He’s so much like his father. But his father is not here, she thought. And I need to stop hoping that one day he’ll come back.

16
    Friends for Now
    Later, after Stacy had fed, bathed, and put Darius to bed, she retrieved the card Tony had given her the previous Sunday. With just slight hesitation, she dialed his number.
    “Hello?”
    “Tony. Stacy.”
    Pause.
    “From Sunday brunch at the Montgomerys’.”
    “Oh, what’s up, Stacy?”
    Stacy noted a lack of warmth in his tone, definitely not the flirty voice he’d used as they’d discreetly teased each other at the dining room table. “Is this a bad time?”
    “No, I’ve got a minute.”
    Tony was not going to make this easy. Stacy understood and decided to cut to the chase. “I’m sorry about my actions on Sunday. My ex gets under my skin sometimes, and I lose my temper.”
    “Why do you think that is?”
    What was this, Get Stacy to Face the Truth day? Was it time to put on Usher and sing “this is my confession”? First Hope, now Tony. Was she so obvious that everyone knew what, until now, she’d refused to admit?
    “It’s because at one time I had deep feelings for him. Had. Past tense.”
    “Past tense, huh.”
    “Yeah.”
    “Are those past feelings why you started flirting so openly all of a sudden after your boy showed up with his dude?”
    “It was childish and stupid, and I shouldn’t have done it. There’s a lot of bad history there. But I’m ready to move on.” Stacy hesitated, waited for Tony to speak. When he didn’t, she continued. “I was hoping that maybe the move-on could be with you.”
    Tony cleared his throat. “Look, Stacy, I think you’re cool and all, and you’ve definitely got it going on in the looks department, but truthfully? I don’t think I’m the one for you right now. I went through a messy divorce a couple years ago, and I just got things on the right track with my first child’s mother. I almost lost my mother last year, and now I’m sidelined with this knee injury. What I’m trying to say is for the first time in a long time, things are relatively calm in my life. I don’t need or want any craziness in my life right now.”
    “I don’t want that either.”
    “I believe you, but sometimes we’re not totally in control of that situation. I think you’ve still got some unresolved feelings for your boy. So it’s just not a good time for you and I right now.”
    What could she say? Tony was right. Stacy knew this, and even though his words weren’t what she wanted to hear, she appreciated his honesty and told him so.
    “One thing the past few years have taught me is that life is short, and, unlike football, it is not a game. You deserve the best, Stacy, and one of these days, when you’re ready, it will come to you.”
    “Listen to you, sounding all intelligent. You know ball players have low IQs.”
    “Aw!” Tony bellowed good-naturedly, liking the change in tone. “You hit below the belt, girl.”
    Stacy laughed. Once they shifted away from the topic of romance, conversation became easy. They talked about church, family,