Miss Opportunity - Ch. 11.4

Sent to check on Delia by a concerned Royal, Aisha was surprised to find her with Cami of all people. Hugging of all things.

When Aisha and Cami’s eyes met, the atmosphere in the room immediately changed. Instead of peace, it was now charged with animosity, mostly on Cami’s part since she was the one still holding a grudge. Aisha set her heart to forgive Cami a long time ago, although she admittedly still didn’t like her and would fight her again at the drop of a hat.

Withdrawing from Delia at the sight of her former rival, Cami’s rose to her feet. She stood wide-legged, as if gearing up for a fight.

“Royal sent me in here to check on you,” Aisha said, speaking to Delia, but keeping her eyes on Cami. “Shall I tell him you’re all right? Or something else altogether?”

“You can tell him I’m all right,” Delia replied, before quickly steering the conversation upon safer ground, lest another fistfight start between the ex-rivals. “But first I need to tell you that Cami is going to be taking that room after all.”

Aisha briefly looked at Delia. “Okay.” She nodded. Then Aisha turned narrowed eyes towards Cami again. “I have peace about you staying at the boarding house, Cami. But I’m telling you right now, that if you cause Mama Ingram an ounce of trouble or make one pass at my husband on his visits there, I will personally come over and kick you out myself.”

Cami opened her mouth to retort, but Delia jumped up and placed her hand over her mouth before anything came out.

“She’ll be good,” Delia advocated, wisely speaking on her cousin’s behalf.

“She better be,” Aisha replied, sending Cami a warning look before turning to leave the room.

Delia didn’t remove her hand from her cousin’s mouth until the door closed securely behind Aisha.

“I don’t think I will ever like her,” Cami said now that her mouth was free again.

“You don’t have to, even though she is family now by marriage. Just take the mercy Aisha is extending your way and make the most of it.” Delia walked over to the bench and retrieved her purse from where she’d left it.

“I will. It ain’t like I have much choice anyway,” Cami humbly admitted, moving towards the vanity mirror to fix her makeup.

“Here, take this, too,” Delia said, putting a wad of cash in her cousin’s left hand a few seconds later. “That should pay for today’s meal and put some gas in that fancy car of yours. Speaking of that BMW, you might want to trade it in for a car you can afford to keep up if something goes wrong with it.”

“I was just thinking the same thing yesterday.” Cami smiled, giving Delia another warm hug. “Thanks again, Dee. And for the record, I’m really sorry about that E-Blade situation and also about flirting with Royal. I should have respected our kinship boundaries more. It won’t happen again,” she promised sincerely.

Delia’s eyes misted over. “Thanks, Cami. That means a lot to me,” she replied, accepting that apology for what it was worth. Though she would have liked an apology about the Little Man situation, too, she wasn’t going to hold her breath for it. Nor would she bring the subject up since she definitely didn’t want another fake apology like the one she got in Florida.

* * *

While the two cousins continued to resolve most of their differences in the bathroom, Aisha returned to the table where Bonz and Royal were waiting. “Your wife is fine. She got distracted by Cami in the ladies room. They were hugging when I came in, so I guess they finally made up for real this time,” she told her cousin Royal.

Relieved that all was well, Royal issued a dimpled smile. “That’s good to know.”

“As for your wife,” Aisha continued, turning her attention to Bonz now. “Your wife needs prayer, because it looks like Cami is moving into the boarding house after all. Which means I may be tempted to wring her neck one day very soon,” she added, dramatically acting out the wringing motions with her hands.

Bonz and Royal laughed.

“Y’all laughing, but I am so serious,” Aisha replied, chuckling despite herself.

“In that case, I’ll start my prayer vigil tonight,” Bonz assured her as he leaned over to give her a warm kiss.

© 2008 by Suprina Frazier