Relapse: A Novel by Nikki Turner

didn’t know what else to say; she hadn’t really given him much thought besides when she ran into his mother every now and again.
    “As a matter of fact, I’m going to be in Charlotte this weekend, are you there?”
    “I am, and that actually works out for me, because I would like to enlist your services for a friend of mine. He has a contract that I would love to have you look at for me.”
    “Of course, anything for you. Shall we chat more over dinner this Saturday then?”
    “Only if you let me pay,” she suggested.
    “Well, we’ll flip over who will cover the tab afterward.”
    Beijing had still had the taste of the Vines restaurant cuisine in her mouth since earlier in the week when she and Don had planned to have dinner there, but because of their detour, they’d never made it. She made up her mind that she was going to enjoy tonight to the fullest. When she brought the brand spanking new Lexus to a halt in front of the Vines, the valet sprang up from under the huge black awning toward the driver’s side of the car.
    “Good afternoon, ma’am,” he politely greeted. “Would you be using valet parking today?”
    He was a young kid who barely looked old enough to drive.
    Beijing gave the young attendant a once-over. “You do have a permit, don’t you?” she playfully queried, still holding tight to the keys.
    The boy shot her a youthful smile. “I sure do, ma’am, I get that a lot.”
    “Just be careful,” she said before reluctantly relinquishing the keys to the luxury sedan. Shouldering her bag, Beijing stepped toward the entrance of the restaurant.
    “Welcome to the Vines,” the hostess sang from behind the podium. “Do you have a reservation?”
    “Yes.” Beijing returned the girl’s smile. “It’s under Lee.”
    She checked the list and then led Beijing to a secluded table where her dinner companion was waiting.
    Dennard got up from the table and gave her a big hug. He still looked the same: a hair over six feet tall, Mr. Goodbar–colored skin, and perfect white teeth, although he was dressed a little better than back in the day. By the way his tailor-made suit clung to his body, Beijing surmised that he couldn’t have put on an ounce of weight since school.
    “Good to see you, B,” he said, after releasing his embrace. “You look even more gorgeous than I remember. Why,” he asked with a crooked grin, “did we break up anyway?”
    “It probably had something to do with all those other girls that were running behind you that you had such a problem saying no to,” Beijing teased, still blushing from his compliment.
    A few deep lines materialized across his forehead as if he was thinking, then he smiled again. “Oh yeah. I somehow forgot about that.”
    They both laughed as they sat down, shared a few stories, then ordered from the silk-clothed menus. He had the surf and turf and she had the crab salad while they shared a bottle of Merlot.
    After dinner, Beijing got down to business. She opened the compact briefcase that was on the floor by her feet and removed a small stack of papers, paper-clipped together in a pink folder. “This is the contract from Johnny Wiz that I want you to check out.
    “The contract is for a friend of mine,” Beijing continued as he browsed through the paperwork. “As you can see, it’s from the Wizard Entertainment Group. I just want to be sure everything is what it should be.” She watched his brow furrow as Dennard concentrated on one of the pages.
    “That Johnny Wiz can be a sneaky bastard when he chooses to be,” Dennard replied after closing the folder and taking a sip of wine, “and from my personal experiences, that’s more times than not. He’s like the Don King of the music biz.”
    She laughed at his joke and said, “That’s why I wanted you to check it out.” She leaned a little closer and lowered her voice. “My friend has so many people trying to get in his pocket, I wanted to bring this to someone I know I can