Episode 7: Hot Take
“You really need a man, Shug,” Odette said, lounging in the pedicure chair and scrolling through Instagram. Rochelle rested in a pedicure spa chair to her left, and Sugar lounged on the one to the right.
They visited their regular nail shop, Nailed It, which was a convenient location for the sisters to leave their jobs for a bi-weekly medi-pedi treatment. Sugar felt half-tempted to walk back to the restaurant with dripping wet feet to avoid this conversation.
Rochelle nodded in agreement. “I second that notion.”
Sugar’s eyelids slid shut, sighing, “We’ve already gone over this. I’m—”
“Celibate,” they interrupted in eerie unison.
Her younger sisters exchanged glances with a sharp roll of their eyes.
She had exercised this life choice for nearly five years.
At first, she didn’t choose it. After she gave birth to a stillborn son, Lance lost all interest in being with her and sought to invest his interest elsewhere. Then, one night, Lance finally admitted to stepping out of their marriage and demanded a divorce in the same breath.
Sugar struggled through a brutal year of divorce court battles.
During that time, everyone encouraged her to go out and date, but she didn’t have the heart. Not out of loyalty for Lance, but because she couldn’t bring herself to give her heart to another and hoped they’d do right by her.
After finalizing the divorce, she spent the last eleven months consuming herself with the construction, opening, and managing of Sugar Mama. She didn’t have time in her schedule to even glance at someone of the opposite sex in a way other than familial love or professionalism.
Well, not exactly...
Her mind often wandered back to that night six days ago revolving around a battered, heavily tattooed man with gray eyes, but she always reeled herself back to reality by presenting herself with cold, hard facts.
How she found him and met him promised trouble.
He looked like trouble in the flesh.
She didn’t need anyone like that in her life.
“I think this whole celibacy thing is a little too much,” Odette admitted.
“It’s actually rather easy,” Sugar assured. “Now, could we just relax and enj—”
Rochelle interjected, “When’s the last time you had a man?”
“What kind of question is that, Roc? I had a man for eighteen years,” Sugar replied with a frown. “You know that.”
Rochelle shook her head.
“Uh-uh, sweetheart. I mean, ‘had a man had a man,’” she clarified, her hips thrust upward, and she whipped the air dirtily.
Sugar’s eyes bulged at the vulgar display, and Odette giggled.
Odette leaned over to her, explaining further, “She means when was the last time someone knocked the cobwebs out of your pu—”
Sugar interrupted harshly, “I know what she meant, Odette.”
Embarrassment smothered her from all sides at her younger sisters’ off-color behavior in a public place, earning looks from workers and patrons alike.
“Stop acting so uptight, Sugar,” Odette commanded, swatting her oldest sister’s shoulder. “You always act like a nun.”
“I’m not acting uptight. All I’m trying to do is figure out why you two are so interested in my romantic life,” Sugar asked, arching an eyebrow.
“Because you don’t have one,” Odette answered.
“I don’t want one,” she countered.
Rochelle let out a lengthy, frustrated groan that left Sugar very confused.
“What?” she asked, frowning.
“Ettie, please help me out because she’s just not understanding,” Rochelle pleaded.
“My pleasure,” Odette accepted with a nod before turning her attention to Sugar. “Look, Shug. Nobody is talking about you dating someone. We’re talking about you getting some, girl. We’re talking about no-strings-attached meaningless hot fun.”
Meaningless sex?
Sugar wrinkled her nose at the thought. “Thanks, but no thanks.”
Odette sighed heavily in defeat, shaking her head before changing the subject. “So, what do you want to do for your thirty-eighth birthday?”
Sugar blinked at the question, completely caught off-guard. She had completely forgotten that her birthday was a little over a month away. She had been so consumed with running her business that chaotic days blended together so seamlessly that she often forgot what day it was in the week and occasionally forgot the month.
The past few years seemed so long and never-ending, yet it just felt like she had been thirty-three years old yesterday, and now she was a few weeks away from turning thirty-eight.
Where had all that time gone?
“I guess a family dinner like we always do,” Sugar said, shrugging.
Rochelle sucked her teeth. “Shug, Mama and Daddy are going on that two-week cruise to the Bahamas around then. The guys is taking Sullivan out for a boys’ night, and we girls will take you out for a girls’ night.”
Sugar wagged her index finger in disapproval. “Uh-uh. Oh, no, no, no. The last time we had a girls’ night, we got kicked out of two clubs, nearly caused a massive car pileup, and almost got arrested for public indecency.”
“That’s my kind of girls’ night,” Odette approved with a laugh, high-fiving Rochelle.
“We’re having a girls’ night, and that’s final, Shug,” Rochelle said firmly, a dare flashing in her eyes to challenge her decree.
Sugar exhaled through her nostrils.
“Fine,” she agreed. “Is it just going to be us three?”
“No,” Odette shook her head, resuming her social media scrolling. “Katrina, Reid, and Helena are coming too.”
Sugar groaned loud enough to garner looks from other patrons around the nail shop.
Katrina was a no-nonsense woman, but when there was alcohol involved, she acted just as much a wild child as Rochelle and Odette. Rochelle’s sister-in-law and law firm partner Reid didn’t drink much, but she loved chasing good-looking men at clubs.
Helena, Odette’s sister-in-law, was the absolute worst of them all. She drank heavily, partied hard, and had no self-control around men. Helena was at the ripe age of twenty-five, where consequences meant very little. She had a good heart when she was sober, but she partied like a wild animal that acted a bit too dangerous for Sugar.
The five often spent a girls’ night chasing Helena down halfway across town because she had a habit of riding off with a random stranger.
There was nothing wrong with having a girls’ night with women she loved and adored, but over the years, she felt like she couldn’t keep up with the increasingly rowdy meet-ups. The clubs and parties were always ‘lit as fuck’—as Helena called it—but Sugar couldn’t get into it like she should’ve.
Like they wanted her to.
They danced, and she sat on the sidelines. They guzzled drinks. She sipped on Sherry Temples and waited. She always played the designated driver, the responsible one.
She always felt out of place—like she didn’t belong.
It was a feeling that she had become accustomed to since childhood.
Growing up, she buried herself in studies and piano. Of course, she played and hung out with her younger siblings as the years went on, but there was always a subtle disconnect when they were together.
Something that everyone knew, but no one had the guts to acknowledge it.
And in moments like this, going against her better judgment felt like setting herself up to drown, just to make everyone else happy.
