I let that little fantasy remain in my head during intercourse with Kirk or masturbation. I thought there was no harm to it.Things changed about a mon...h into my tenure. I was assigned to a specific magazine to sell ad space for. It was called Elite Magazine and was marketed toward black males age 18-35.I almost broke out in a cold sweat. I hoped and feared I’d only be talking with clients on the phone. I didn’t want to risk being around anyone, potentially flirtatious black men, and cross. He loved his children and Jeanette couldn't bring herself to believe he would just walk away and leave them. She had reasoned that he had left to try and understand what he had seen, and decide what to do. That was just like him. Don't do anything without thinking about it first. But the ring? The ring terrified her. She tried to imagine his pain, his thoughts, and his anger. She had wounded him deeply, and she didn't know if she could make it better.She had tried to keep things normal that. Standing in my heels, I did a spin, holding my hands out tofeel my skirt rise to meet my fingertips. I then twirled and twirleduntil I made myself dizzy.A bit woozy, I headed to mom's room where she had finished changing intoa dark blue business skirt suit, complete with a silk blouse just likemine. She wore four-inch navy pumps, with the slightest U-shaped openingthat allowed her red polished toes to peek through.Her face lit up as she saw me enter as her daughter for the first time.She. So yeah, just stuck.”Something he said clicked. “What do you mean ‘was?’” she asked.Cameron’s face fell. “The store burned, the whole building. And Ben...” he stopped, and there was no need for him to finish.Raven felt shitty at her failure to keep the conversation out the recent past.Cameron seemed to remember something. “I do have something he gave me though, a little book. He said something like how we could keep progressing.”“What’s in it?”“I dunno, I didn’t even look at it yet.”Cameron.