“Un-hunh. Just like I figured.”
Though Kimani knew Keisha was just trying to bait her, she took it. “Figured what?”
“That you ain’t over him.”
“Just because I don’t want to talk about him doesn’t mean anything.”
“And I thought you were smart, being a Stanford grad and all. It’s obvious that because you don’t want to talk about this guy, means your feelings for him are still raw—that and the fact that you aren’t even considering doing it with Marcus, because any woman in her right mind would do it with Marcus.”
“Just do my hair. Please.”
Keisha had let it go after that, but Kimani had to acknowledge that, once again, Keisha’s insight was right. Maybe the woman was able to read minds somehow through her contact with a person’s hair.
Talking about Ben only reminded her of her pain, and the emptiness she felt that he was no longer in her life. She had thought herself too smart for that old adage about not knowing a good thing till it’s gone. She liked and understood Passenger’s “Let Her Go,” but she never thought to experience it firsthand. Yet, she hadn’t realized the full extent of her feelings for Ben until everything was over between them. And now she missed him.
She even missed the way he made her drink green tea. She had never been much of a tea drinker, and green was probably her least favorite flavor. But just yesterday she had found herself ordering a green tea at the local coffee shop.
She had rationalized to herself that she couldn’t fall for a guy like Ben. A guy willing to buy a woman for sex. Men like that had issues. She still believed that to be the case, but somehow, she had been lucky enough to find the one in a hundred who wasn’t so bad. And who happened to be amazing in bed. It was like something out of a fantasy, or one of those erotic romance novels that Claire liked to read.
In real life, fairy tales don’t always come true. In real life, rakes don’t suddenly become relationship material because they found the “right” woman. In real life, a desperate journalist still trying to pay off her student loans wouldn’t be dating a billionaire. And if she was dating a ridiculously wealthy man, he was unlikely to be the man of her dreams.
So now that Ben was out of the picture, her life was back to normal.
After taking out the braids, Keisha had taken a flat iron to Kimani. The resulting style would require more maintenance, but Kimani welcomed the extra labor. She didn’t want too much time alone with her thoughts.
“Look, we owe it to the guy,” Kimani said to Sam.
Sam narrowed his eyes. “What do you mean?”
“That piece you ran about Oakland Forward.”
“I reported only the facts.”
“And because the FPPC is investigating, Gordon Lee is taking a hit in the polls, even if he’s innocent. In the court of public opinion, you’re not innocent until proven guilty. Just the possibility of wrongdoing has an effect.”
“It’ll sort itself out. If Lee is innocent, the FPPC investigation will prove that.”
“But will the investigation reach that conclusion before the election?”
“I know this is going to sound callous, but it’s not our problem.”
“You could have waited to publish that article. Until we had more to go on.”
She held her breath during his silence. She had never before challenged her mentor, the man she owed her job to.
“Okay,” he acknowledged. “Maybe I jumped the gun a little because I knew ownership was talking soon. They’ve been pretty tight-lipped about the future of the Tribune recently, but one of the owners did let slip to me that there’s a chance the paper won’t shut down. They’re waiting for the ink to dry on a deal before releasing any details.”
Kimani perked up. “That’s great! So, can we do a profile of Gordon Lee or not?”
Sam thought some more before answering, “Do it. But I’m trusting your professionalism and the fact that you’re not going to let personal biases influence your work.”
“You don’t have to give me the byline.”
“Work with Alvarez on the profiles. You’ll have to do all the candidates, even the ones who have zero chance of winning.”
Kimani was so happy she would have hugged Sam if the table wasn’t between them. It was better she didn’t, because she didn’t want to appear too emotional in front of him.
Now that she had gotten Sam’s go-ahead, the harder part remained: convincing Gordon Lee to grant her an interview. She didn’t know what Ben had told him about her part in the Oakland Forward article, but she bet none of it was in her favor.