“Paris has a big mouth.”
“True, but I still want to hear the story.”
She laughed. “Yes, ma’am.”
The call ended just as she drove into the parking lot of her condo. She glanced around for the town car. Not seeing it, she got out and walked to her place. Upon entering her condo, the saucy aromas of New Orleans cooking instantly hit her.
“Terri Swan!” she called out in a mock-angry voice. “Cooking for me will not make up for sticking me with that Wayman Childs troll!”
And then there she was, her apron-wearing, wooden-spoon-holding, Grammy Award–winning best friend. They greeted each other with a hug that had them both rocking and laughing.
“How long have you been back?” Jas asked once the hug was done.
“Got in last night and went straight to bed. Jet lag. Slept all day and then got here to start cooking around noon.”
Although Terri had been away only ten days, Jasmine had no words for how good it was to see her. Jas loved her biological sisters, they got along really well, but there was something about having a lifelong girlfriend that was special. Terri was a sister of her heart.
“Missed you, girl.”
“Missed you too.”
Jas’s mom swore the two of them were twins separated at birth. They were both fabulously curvy, about the same height, and, although Jas’s skin tone was browner, they resembled each other quite a bit.
In the kitchen, Jasmine parked herself on one of the counter stools while Terri checked her pots. “Made you jambalaya, gumbo, rice. Bread pudding’s in the oven. A baguette’s in the warming tray.”
Terri had always wanted to be a chef. After they graduated from high school, she took off for a New Orleans culinary school while Jas went to Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo. Singing had always been Terri’s side hustle, but after a big-time producer heard her extraordinary voice at a small club in New Orleans, she’d signed a major recording contract and left culinary school behind.
Terri opened the oven door to check on the bread pudding. “Was the date with Wayman really that bad?”
“Does my mama love Marvin Gaye?”
“But he’s so cute.”
“A cute creep. Spent the whole time talking about himself. Why’d you sic him on me?”
“You never date, and I wanted you to have some fun while I was gone. He’d just moved back here. He wanted to go out with me, but I’m sticking to my new rule of no more men in the music business.”
“I’m signing that pledge too. He was awful, then got mad and decided he wasn’t driving me home.”
“What?”
Jasmine told her the story, added the drama around the Bentley being repossessed, and then described meeting Torr. “He was my reward from the universe for putting up with Wayman’s sorry behind. I’m having lunch with him on Saturday.”
“You are not going anywhere with a man you met in a parking lot. Does Mama Ellen know about this?”
“There’s a part two to this saga.”
“Saga. Only a librarian would use the word saga. Go on.”
By the time Jas finished telling her about the meeting she’d had with him earlier that day, his beautiful home, and the fact that he owned a jet plane, Terri was staring, speechless.
“The man owns a jet?”
“He says he does. Grew up wanting to be a werewolf too.”
“You’re going to find out he’s a shifter. Watch.”
“I don’t care.”
“He must be fine.”
“Fine as frog hair, as the old ladies say.”
“I never understood that phrase. Frogs don’t have hair.”
“I know, but we’re just going to go with it. Okay?”
They spent a few more moments discussing Torr’s fineness; then Terri announced it was time to eat.
They shared a laugh-filled, leisurely meal. Once they were done, they cleaned up the kitchen, stashed the leftovers in the fridge, and took their bread pudding and wine into the living room.
“So, when do you go back out on the road?” Jas asked after the first few bites of the spectacular bread pudding. “God, this is so good.”
“I fly out Monday.”
“But you just got home.”
“I know. No rest for the Black Swan. Doing a concert in San Diego, then LA, then Reno, then back to LA to hit the studio. After that, I’ll be taking some time off.”
“Be nice to have you home for a while.”
“Think I may run down to Cabo San Lucas and just relax. Do you want to come?”
“I do. Hopefully by then, this mess with the Vernons will be over.”
“What mess?”
Jasmine brought her up to speed.
“Good grief, I go away for ten days, and you get involved with all kinds of stuff. Fine-as-frog-hair jet pilots. Missing old folks. Town cars. Suspect foreigners. Yeah, you may need Cabo as much as I do. Think Mr. Jet Plane can fly us down?”
Jas raised her wineglass in a toast. “The man could fly me to the moon, but I’m not booking reception halls just yet. Need to make sure he is who he says he is. Can’t be too careful.”
“Ain’t that the truth.” Terri sipped her wine and sighed. “Wish I could find a man I didn’t have to kick to the curb a week after the honeymoon. A girl can only get her heart broken so many times before she gives up. And you know how much I love being in love.”
“I do.” Jas hadn’t been put through the wringer the way Terri had, but she’d made peace with the idea that if she was destined to remain single for the rest of her life, so be it. She loved herself more than enough to go it alone. However, a small part of her continued to hope for a relationship that would be as long-lasting and loving as her parents’. Growing up watching them made settling for less not an option.
“So, in other Terri news, Veronica called while I was touring.”
Jas stilled. Veronica was Terri’s mom. “What did she want?”
“A new car.”
Jas saw the pain and the anger in her friend’s eyes.
“I told her no. I bought her a house, gave her a ton of cash and a new car five years ago. I’m done. She doesn’t deserve anything else.”
Jas agreed. When they were in tenth grade, Terri’s live-in uncle sexually abused her. Terri told her mother, but Veronica refused to believe it and accused her daughter of lying. When Terri finally confided to Jas what was going on, Jas told her mom. After social services and the cops got involved, the uncle was arrested, tried, and convicted. He was given ninety days in the county jail and was to have no further contact with Terri. Ever. Veronica threw a fit over the court proceedings, and on the day he was released, she put Terri out so the uncle could return home. That evening, Terri moved into the Ware home and became well-loved daughter number five.
“Stick to your guns,” Jas said.
“Don’t worry. If I learned nothing else from Mama Ellen, it was that—oh, and how to shoot that gun.”
They shared smiles and toasted each other.
“So, tell me how the tour went.”
Before Terri could respond, the doorbell rang. Jas went to the door. The surveillance camera showed a man holding a large package wrapped in blue paper. She opened the door.