Killing Me Softly (#Wattys2016)

SIX

SIX

Sondra put on her sunglasses as she glided through the lobby of her apartment building on her way outside. The burly new doorman swung the revolving door for her.

"Good morning, Ms. Ellis. Need a cab?"

Sondra smiled. "Please, call me Sondra and no, it's such a nice day out, I'm going to walk. Besides, I need the fresh air," she said, winking at him as she waved her newly extracted cigarette in his direction.

"Have a good day," he laughed.

After a year and a half of criss-crossing the globe for her latest documentary on women's beauty rituals, Sondra had moved back into her apartment a few weeks earlier and had been working nonstop on post-production ever since. Yesterday had been a seventeen-hour day and today promised to be yet another marathon session. She lit up and had just taken her first inhale when she saw a tall, handsome black guy in an obviously expensive suit walking towards her, talking on his cell phone. She stopped dead in her tracks, not believing it was him. He saw her and did a double-take as well.

"Hey, I gotta go," he said just before he hung up. He smiled and swallowed her into a bear hug.

"What are you doing here?" she gasped and laughed as she returned Jack's fierce embrace.

"I'm in town for a few days on business. How are you?"

"I'm okay, I'm okay." She put her hand on her forehead. "Man, how long's it been?"

"I think the last time I saw you was when we came out for the premiere of The Deepest Cut about four years ago."

"Wow, that's right, that's right." Sondra stepped back to take a good look at her sister's ex-boyfriend.

Tracy had met Jack Turner about a month after she moved to Chicago. He owned two popular restaurant/bars in Chicago called Dive and Flow, respectively. Tracy was having drinks at Dive with one of the producers from her station when Jack spotted her and introduced himself. They became inseparable within a matter of days. Jack was rich, successful, good-looking, and easygoing, possessing the same energy and wit as Tracy. Everyone had loved Jack, and all signs pointed to a walk down the aisle. However, after four years together, they'd suddenly broken up, much to everyone's surprise and, as Sondra joked, devastation.

"You look great," she said in all sincerity. "What are you up to these days?"

"Still in the restaurant business. I'm looking to open up a spot in Harlem."

"Wow. Will this be anything like the other two?"

"Naw, this is going to be more of a fusion thing."

Sondra nodded her head in appreciation. "That's great news. Does that mean you're moving up here?"

"Come on now. You know better than that. I hate New York."

"Watch it," Sondra said with the practiced growl of a New Yorker who despised anyone ragging on her city.

Jack laughed. "I've got a partner I'm going in with. He'll be the man on the street here."

"Ah, okay. Very cool."

"How are you? Really?"

Sondra let out a long, anguished breath. "Do you want the polite answer or the truth?"

Jack stole a quick glance around. "Hey, let's grab a quick cup of coffee. I mean if you have time."

Sondra looked at her watch and nodded. "Yeah, yeah, let me just make a phone call."