Page 26 of Plus One

“You’rehere,” Tommie said, taking the phone from Maurice’s hands and putting it face down on the table. “Be here. Your crew knows what to do. Uncle Jim is there. Rachel. Besides, it’s a holiday week. It’s supposed to be light.”

Fun. Light. Got it.

Sunny joined Cassie, Taurion, and Monique, smiling and laughing and posing. Richard appeared, and Sunny peeled away from the photo session to join him, her presence unacknowledged, like something that was always there. Maurice returned his attention to what Tommie had been saying.

So much for light and fun.

Maurice nodded slowly. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

Don, Deb, and Lanie approached. Maurice and Tommie stood to greet them.

“Boys, we’re heading up,” Aunt Deb said, squeezing Maurice’s hand. “Your mother and I aren’t as young as we used to be.” Don slipped her petite arms around Deb’s waist, whose face flashed with surprise before softening.

Tommie kissed his mothers on their cheeks. “Get some rest. We got Monie.”

“Let Monique get Monique,” Lanie said with bite, hooking her arm through Tommie’s. “You promised we’d check out the pool. Let’s go.”

“But baby, you’re not supposed to swim for at least an hour after you eat.”

Lanie rolled her eyes. “See y’all later.” She walked away, towing Tommie behind her.

Alone with Don and Deb, Maurice struggled to focus. Deborah Fairbanks was more than one of Tommie’s parents, she’d been a good friend to Maurice’s mother and an even better friend to him. Through Fairbanks Construction, he found belonging and purpose.

“Enjoy the rest of the afternoon, son,” Deb said. Her laughter was husky as she patted him on the chest. She was statuesque and striking like the women his mother had idolized inEbonymagazine when he was smaller and life was quieter.

To Maurice and so many others, Deb was strength and stability. But she was also the definition of persistence. Here with her arm draped over her love’s shoulder, spine tall, eyes steady, and heart forward, something that felt like envy rattled in his chest.

“Will we see you at dinner?” Don asked.

His eyes found Monique’s glittering against the greenery, and the world quieted around and inside him. She pantomimed a camera and pointed up as she smiled big. Then she gave him a nod and thumbs-up before disappearing into the foliage.

“Look at him.” Don sounded wistful. “Just stunned.”

Deb chuckled. “I didn’t know his face could do that.”

“I know that look.”

Deb’s voice dropped, her tone languid. “Do you now?”

“Yes, you look at me like that.”

“Always, my love.”

Don’s tinkling laughter drew Maurice’s eyes from Monique’s path to the two septuagenarians presently stealing kisses beneath a canopy of palm leaves.

He cleared his throat, but they barely registered his presence. Tired of being the third wheel, Maurice followed the stone path through the gardens and back to the lobby.

The hotel grounds were extensive. The pool and spa, according to the signs, were one way, the lobby and Old San Juan the other. Another sign led to the chapel. Behind him were the gardens. And he had a vague idea where Monique had gone.

One, two… He counted his steps on instinct as he paced between the elevators and the hotel lobby…thirty, thirty-one.Tapping his foot on a stone at the edge of the atrium, he turned around and began counting all over again.One, two, three…

“What am I doing?” He raked a hand through his beard but then stuffed his hands in his pockets as Deb and Don approached.

They pressed the button and the elevator doors opened.

Monique stood there with a bag draped over her right shoulder and had changed into some sneakers. Maurice was thankful she still wore the pretty blue dress that made her dark eyes look violet when the light hit just so…

“Y’all going to your room?” Monique said, stepping out of the elevator.