Come Share My Love - By Carrie Macon Page 0,19
on hold. What will she do now? Zackary had left and there wasn’t any way to reach him. She had gambled and lost. Not a very good feeling. Shyla waited a few minutes to compose herself she had to have another number for Zackary. He had hers, not sure how he got it though. She looked through her cell and there it was his cell number. She really did have it. But how did she get it? Had she saved it one of the times he had called? At this point she didn’t care it was there and she was going to use it. She dialed and waited for the phone to ring. Please answer, please answer. It was the third ring when it was answered, but Zackary wasn’t on the other end. Her hopes plunged even more.
“Hello,” the silky sultry voice said. Shyla was hoping for a wrong number. “Hello,” came again through the phone line.
“I’m sorry. I must have the wrong number.”
“This is Venice. Who are you trying to reach?”
“I am trying to reach Zackary. Zackary Trellis.” Please, please, please be the wrong number, she thought.
“Oh, I’m sorry.” Shyla was relieved, but it was short lived. “I must have picked up his phone by mistake this morning. This is his number. He must have mine. He’s not available at the moment would you like to leave a message? I’ll make sure that he gets it.”
“No. Thank you just the same. I’m sorry to have disturbed you.”
The woman thought she heard a whimper. “Are you alright, Miss?”
“Yes, I’m fine. I better let you go. Again, I’m sorry to have disturbed you.” She hung up. “Well it sure didn’t take him long to find someone else. That definitely wasn’t a white woman’s voice.”
“It’s not a…hello…hell…o!” Venice shrugged her shoulders and closed the phone. “That was strange.”
“What was strange?” Zackary had just walked into his parent’s family room.
“First I have to apologize. I took your phone by mistake this morning. It looks so much like mine.”
“Yeah, I figured that out. Braxton called. When I answered he said ‘hey baby, what are you wearing?”
Venice laughed. “And what was your answer?”
“I told him he didn’t want to know.” They both laughed.
“Anyway, I answered your phone and I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. Who was it?”
“That’s what was so strange. It was a woman but she wasn’t sure it was your phone. When she found out it was she apologized for disturbing me and hung up. I could have sworn that she was holding back crying. She didn’t leave a name or number just hung up.”
“Huh. That is strange. What about the caller I.D?”
“Private.” She glared at him. “Is there something going on that you don’t want anyone to know about?”
“No!”
“Come on now. Are you sure? A woman calls your phone and crying because she can’t reach you. Or maybe she thought I was your woman. Now that would be a disaster. Did something happen in Jamaica that changed your mood when you got back? Brax said you called one night and you were so happy, even he was happy. But you’ve been down since you’ve been back. What’s happened since then? Is it a woman?” She winked. Venice was a character and she didn’t let up until she got answers. She grew up with the Trellis children. They were not the best of friends in the beginning but as they got older they couldn’t let one another go. It was taking Zackary too long to answer. “Well?”
“Yes. It’s a woman.” He fell into his father’s easy chair.
“You don’t sound all that happy about it.”
“Nothing happened the way I wanted it.” He was quiet for a minute.
“You know, Zack, I’m a very good listener if you want to talk. Ask your brother, he can vouch for me.”
He smiled. “I know you are, sis. I guess I shouldn’t have expected this woman to be any different than Gloria. She’s not committed.” Zackary scratched his head. “Who am I kidding? Shyla is nothing like Gloria. Besides I’ve already fell for her. She seems to have a problem with me. Sis, am I boring or something, a square. I was a little nerd back in junior high and high school.”
“Stop it.” Venice tried to control the laughter that was bubbling up inside her. “What kind of problem? What could she possibly have against you? And no there is nothing wrong with you. And I definitely can’t picture you ever being a nerd.”
“Well I was. Ask the fellas. They’ll tell you.