Miss Opportunity - Ch. 37.1

November

Cami and Bonnie’s shopping spree was very interesting to say the least. Bonnie kept using various tactics in order to gain Cami’s alliance against Millsap. Not against him personally, but against his wallet.

Fed up with all the creative innuendoes, Cami finally decided to address the situation head-on over lunch. They were in the same French restaurant where she encountered Delia and Aisha back in June. Now Cami was seated at one of the best tables, had waiters clamoring to serve her, and had more than enough funds at her disposal to pay for her own meal. It was amazing how much her life had changed in just five months.

“Look, Bonnie, if we’re going to hang out together from this point on, I need you to stop trying to use me to get money from your son,” Cami said during dessert. “Money I don’t even think he has,” she added, recalling some of the outlandish figures Bonnie had quoted for things that she wanted during their shopping spree.

Bonnie scoffed. “Don’t tell me you’re blind as well as dumb.”

“I’m neither,” Cami countered, struggling to stay calm at that direct insult.

“You’re both in my opinion,” Bonnie insisted. “You’re dumb for letting my son keep you on such a short leash. I mean, the man won’t even put cash in your hands. Millsap got you shopping with gift certificates and credit cards with no cash advance features while he’s carrying around fifty grand at any given time in his wallet.”

Cami’s eyes bucked at that number. She did feel a little dumb now for overlooking what Millsap had in his wallet. She was so in love with him, so trusting of him when it came to money that she’d forgotten one of the principal rules her own mother had taught her. In fact, that particular gold-digging rule was right after the rule of: Find a wealthy man.

Gold-digger rule number two: At the first opportunity, go through that man’s wallet to see what he’s working with. But don’t steal anything from that wallet, lest you want to suffer a beat down and/or cancel your whole meal ticket for being a thief.

“You’re blind, because just the fact that my son can carry around fifty grand at any time means that he’s making obscene amounts of money,” Bonnie continued, too smart to indicate where that level of money would derive. She wasn’t about to blow her own meal ticket by exposing her son’s illegal activities just in case Cami didn’t know about them already.

“It also means that if Millsap got that much money to throw away on petty stuff, he got that much to let you throw away, too,” Bonnie continued.

Incidentally, Bonnie never had this type of conversation with any of Millsap’s other women for two reasons. First and foremost, her son hadn’t loved or even liked any of those women enough to bring them to meet her. Not even Daysha, whom Bonnie met at the hospital after her stroke. Only Cami had been brought to her home.

Secondly, Bonnie hadn’t picked up a kinship of spirits with those other women. None of them had that gold-digger vibe like Cami had. Now Bonnie wondered if she’d pegged Cami wrong. If maybe she should nickname Cami Sapp Jr. because she was acting so much like her weak-willed ex-husband.

“Bonnie, I appreciate you telling me all this. And yes, I can see how I have been blind and dumb in this situation,” Cami acknowledged, briefly taking the humble road. “However, I’m still not going to help you extort money from your son. It’s wrong to do that to somebody you love. As Millsap’s mother, you're the main one that shouldn’t be doing that to him.”

Bonnie looked taken aback. “Oh, so now you’re an expert on mothering? Last I heard, you lost your son. That you now need my son’s help to get him back,” she retorted, spitting out things they discussed earlier when things were more civil between them.

“At least I’m trying to be a better mother. Unlike you, I don’t want to be a leech on my child’s life,” Cami replied.

“No, you’d rather be known as the neighborhood whore,” Bonnie retorted, using even more of Cami’s personal information against her now.

Cami stood to her feet. It was time to go, lest things turn physical between them. “I hope you got cash for a cab, Bonnie, or else got enough strength left in those legs of yours to Ike and Mike it back home. Because you definitely ain’t getting your trifling behind back into my car.” As she spoke, she snatched her jacket and purse from the back of the chair she’d sat in.

“Whose paying for this meal?” Bonnie asked, seeming more concerned about that than about having to catch another ride home.

“I used one of your son’s credit cards to take care of that and the tip while you fake hobbled your way to the bathroom earlier.” Cami smirked, letting her know that she wasn’t as dumb as she thought.

Bonnie scowled. “And what about all my shopping bags in your trunk?”

“I’ll have your son drop them off at your house later. Peace,” Cami concluded, sassily throwing up the two-finger peace sign before leaving Millsap’s mother to her own devices.

© 2008 by Suprina Frazier