CHAPTER 13
KEISHA
“I can’t believe after everything I’ve been through that I have this problem.” Keisha sighed into the phone as she paced back and forth in her kitchen.
“Keish, maybe it wasn’t him,” Bell said unconvincingly. Keisha could hear in her sister’s voice that she didn’t believe her own words.
Keisha bit her lip and shook her head even though her sister couldn’t see her. “I’m positive it was him,” she replied anxiously.
“Are you sure? I mean…” Bell trailed off, and Keisha knew she was at a loss for words.
“I thought I saw Dylan, so I ducked into a restaurant, and there he was… holding hands with some blonde bimbo.”
Bell sighed. “Maybe… You know what? I don’t even know what to say, sis.”
“I felt a connection with him. I thought we both did… but maybe he didn’t feel the same,” Keisha replied sadly.
Keisha hadn’t told anyone that she and Conner had slept together. It wasn’t like she was keeping it a secret; she just wanted a piece of him to herself. The connection they had when they made love was very real. At least it was real to me.
“Oh, honey. It will be okay. I’m sure if you felt something, he felt it too. I mean, hell, I felt the heat coming from you two in the gym that day. If you feel that strongly about him, maybe you should just call him and ask. At this point, both of ya’ll are too old for the guessing games.”
Keisha thought about her sister’s words, and Bell was absolutely right. Keisha was too old for games, and calling him would be the adult thing to do, but she was having a case of the nerves. Conner didn’t seem like the type of man that got the cookie and moved on, but Keisha was not a delusional woman. It had definitely been Conner in that restaurant.
“I think I will meet him. If I call, I won’t be able to see his face when I ask him what’s going on.”
“That’s a good idea, and if he lies, we are all going to ride on his big ass,” Bell replied, and Keisha knew she was serious.
“There’s no need for violence, dear sister.” Keisha chuckled. Ever since they were little, her sister was always quick to act first and ask questions later.
“You know I can’t let anyone hurt my baby sister. Ask Dylan,” Bell stated nonchalantly, and Keisha was reminded of how overprotective her sister really was.
When Keisha had cried to Bell about Dylan’s infidelity, Bell was not happy. And when she ran into him at a club, she showed him just how unhappy she was with his behavior. Although she didn’t lay a hand on Dylan, Bell’s words had cut him deep.
“I appreciate you looking out for me. But Conner is no Dylan,” Keisha said with a confidence she didn’t feel.
I sure hope he isn’t like my cheating scum of an ex.
****
Keisha didn’t get a chance to talk to Conner because as soon as she got off the phone with her sister, the alarm company for the bakery called. When she got there, April, Bell, Tracy, and Sabrina were waiting for her.
The front part of the bakery was in shambles. Two of the front windows were smashed in, and there was glass everywhere. When the police finally let her into the shop, Keisha could only burst into tears.
“Oh, sweetie. It will be okay.” Tracy rubbed her back consolingly.
“We’ll have this place cleaned up in no time.” Sabrina smiled compassionately.
Her friends gathered around Keisha, lending her their strength, and she would be forever grateful for that. She took a deep breath, wiped her tears, and mustered up her composure. Keisha still had to speak to the officers about the details of the break-in.
Once she introduced herself to the officer in charge, he asked her if she had a camera in the store. Keisha headed to her office to log into her computer to pull up the camera feed, and she noticed that the damage had been contained to the front of the bakery. The vandals didn’t have enough time to trash the entire space because of the bakery’s prominent location, which was a couple of blocks over from the police station, and because of the silent alarm system.
The officer followed her into the office and waited while she logged in. Once she got the video feed queued up, both she and the officer watched with bated breath.
What she watched was unbelievable. A man wearing a hoodie and a scarf wrapped around his face started beating on the front door. It seemed to agitate the man that the door was locked. He pulled and tugged on it violently as if that would make it magically unlock. Then he pulled a hammer out of his coat pocket, and smashed in the glass of the front door.
“Oh my God! Why does he have a hammer?” Keisha gasped as she leaned closer to the screen of her computer.
The officer shook his head, then jotted something down on his notepad. They continued to watch as the man destroyed any and everything he could get his hands and hammer on. He turned over tables and chairs, and smashed in the display case. He must’ve heard the sirens because he threw the hammer through the large glass window, picked it up off the ground, and ran away.
The man’s hood fell down a couple of times, but he quickly replaced it. Keisha couldn’t tell who it was, and of course with the cold weather, he was wearing gloves.
“Do you recognize the man?” the officer questioned, still taking notes.
“No, I don’t.” Keisha was perplexed by the idea that anyone would want to do anything like that to her.
“Is there anyone that you’ve been having trouble with lately? A disgruntled ex-employee or customer? Maybe an ex-boyfriend?”
Then it clicked in Keisha’s head. Did Dylan do this? Why in the world would he trash her bakery? He was an investment banker. Surely, he didn’t have time to go around throwing hammers through windows.
“I just petitioned the court for a restraining order against my ex-husband,” Keisha solemnly replied.
The officer nodded. “We’ll look into it and get back to you.”
“Thank you, officer.” Keisha shook hands with the officer, and he left the office. Keisha sighed as tears again started to roll down her flushed cheeks. She really hoped it had been a stranger that destroyed her bakery, but she could feel in the pit of her stomach that it wasn’t.
If it was Dylan, and he came with a hammer, he was there to purposely cause damage. And if it had been any other night, she would’ve been at the bakery, but because of inclement weather, the delivery truck was delayed a day, so she closed the bakery early and headed home.
“Who in the hell did this?” Keisha whispered to herself.
At the moment, all she wanted to do was cry and throw herself a pity party, but she couldn’t do that. She had to get the windows at the front of the shop boarded up, and a lock for the kitchen door. There were thousands of dollars’ worth of equipment and supplies that she had to make sure stayed secure.
Just when she had resolved herself to cleaning, her phone rang. It was Conner, and as much as she wanted to hit the red phone icon, she didn’t.
“Hello.” Keisha didn’t even try to infuse her voice with cheer. She needed to talk to Conner about seeing him in the restaurant, but now was definitely not the time.
“Hey gorgeous, is everything alright? You sound… I don’t know, strange.” Keisha could hear the curiosity in Conner’s voice.
“Yeah. Uh, can we talk later? I have some things going on, but I didn’t want to send you to voicemail.”
“Is there anything I can do to help?” Conner questioned, and she could tell that he was sincere, which made her all the more confused about what she saw.
“No, not really. Hot Stuff was broken into tonight. I have to clean up the mess, and…”
“What do you mean?” Conner interrupted her. “Are you okay? Were you there when it happened? Are you there now?” Conner fired question after question at Keisha so fast that her head spun.
“No, I wasn’t here. I was at home, and I’ll be fine once I get everything settled. Which is why I need to go. It’ll probably be late when I finish, so I’ll call you tomorrow.” Keisha heard Conner grunt, but disconnected the call before he could reply.
Keisha wasn’t giving him the cold shoulder. She just had enough on her plate. She would deal with her confusion with the Conner situation later. Right now, she needed to call her lawyer and alert her to what was going on.
I swear if it’s not one thing, it’s two.