Free Playing for Keeps by Dara Girard Page B

something else when she looked down she saw he'd said
    R U OK?
    "Tell him you're fine," Julia said peering over her shoulder.
    Stacy bit her lip then wrote: RAINCHECK?
    SURE.
    Julia shook her head. "You shouldn't have said that, but it's a start." She beamed at Stacy. "You won't regret this. With the way you look now you'll have no problem meeting plenty of men. You'll forget all about Chance."
    Stacy plastered on a smile, gripping the phone in her hand, forcing herself not to text him back and tell him it was all a mistake. Was Julia right? Were actors really her weakness? Was she repeating a bad pattern?
    At home Stacy sat in her living room and stared at her cell phone. Houdini kept bringing her toys for her to play with him, but she wasn't in the mood so he finally settled at her feet. She absently stroked him. Her life with Marshall had been a rollercoaster and she now wanted some stability. Part of her felt that he was someone she could trust and depend on. Or was that just a fantasy? Julia was right, she wouldn't be able to compete with the glamorous women in his life and she shouldn't fall for the first man she met after getting a divorce.
    She was now part of the Black Stockings Society. She wasn't going to be the woman she'd been in the past. Maybe she'd been too quick to settle for him. She was going to meet someone new. She sent Chance one last text message positive she'd never see him again.
     
    ***
     
    LET'S BE FRIENDS .
    Chance reread the message several times, just to make sure. What did she mean by that? What happened? She'd cancelled their date, but had said yes to a rain check. What was going on? He replied to her text, but received no reply and his phone calls got the same response.
    She was pushing him out of her life. He'd allowed that once, but he wasn't going to let her do it a second time.
     
     
     

Chapter Eleven
     
    This wasn't going to work. Stacy stared at the two-piece outfit she'd selected to go with her new pair of stockings for the next day. Why would they ask her to wear silk hose to her third week of class at the detention center? The women still didn't respect her and she doubted this would help her cause. The only attention she'd get would be from the male guards. Houdini barked and a second later she found out why, when someone knocked on the door.
    Who could be visiting her? Had Chance decided to reply to her text in person? Stacy looked through the peephole, but couldn't see anything. She braced herself then opened the door. An attractive, full figured, impeccably groomed black woman, her thick hair in one long braid wrapped to frame her face, stood there. "I'm sure he'll come next time." The woman entered and walked ahead of Stacy, her collection of gold bracelets tinkling against each other, while her large hooped earrings swung from side to side.
    Stacy stood dumbfounded. "Who will come? And you are...?"
    "I apologize," she said holding out her hand. "I'm Rania with the Black Stockings Society." She slowly looked Stacy up and down. "Is that what you plan to wear tomorrow?"
    "Yes."
    Rania shook her head. "No, that will not do."
    "I’m going to teach my class at the detention center, not attend a fashion show."
    "And, how are the classes going?" Rania asked taking a seat.
    "Well, I was having problems getting several of the women to uhm, listen. Now that I've completed my anger management course I'm sure I can accomplish anything."
    "I don't need you to sound like a presenter at a motivational course," Rania said with a laugh. "You want to command respect from those women and it starts with your closet."
    "My closet?"
    "Yes. It’s all about the way you dress."
    Stacy glanced down at her outfit. "What’s the matter with the way I dress? It's the stockings that are wrong."
    "The stockings are fine. However, what you're wearing says nothing about you. You sound like you still want to start a fight."
    Stacy made a face, insulted. "No, I don't. I've changed."
    "Then stop wearing