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Blurb
A single parent, Black, marriage romance novel.
Being a working single parent, Sadie’s life is always busy.
And while she enjoys working at the school her son currently attends, sometimes the job can be more stress than it’s worth.
Enter Mike Sanderson, a former gangster turned born again Christian who’s built a billionaire dollar empire during his transformation.
When Mike uses his weight to get his daughter into the school despite there not being places, Sadie is rightly rubbed up the wrong way.
However, when their kids become friends, the two end up spending a lot of time together.
And the more they get to know each other, the more their attraction starts to build.
But with them coming from such different background, and both of them having challenging single parent lifestyles, with they be able to make things work?
Find out in this passionate romance by respected author Shamika Louis.
Chapter 1
It was the last full moon of the summer break and Sadie was taking full advantage of it; the power was out for some reason; probably because of the slight earthquake they’d experienced earlier, who knew. Or maybe it was just living in the valley. Anyway, her windows were wide open, a fresh breeze from the sea wafting across her face as she watched the city from her balcony.
Jaden was already asleep; which was a blessing. That kid seemed to take the full moon really seriously and tended to become a full on lunatic. Or maybe he was just a lunatic all the time and it was just more noticeable during the full moon. Either way, Sadie was exhausted. She stretched her naked legs out on the lounge bed, hands stretched above her head and savored the breeze. It had been hot as hell on these last days of summer and Sadie was honestly looking forward to cooler temperatures.
The school term was set to begin in a week’s time and she had to be in school the next day to start setting up timetables for the term, drawing up schedules and setting up the new program they’d been working on all summer. She also had a meeting with the school board to set the tone for the new school year. She was immensely proud of how far Rutledge Preparatory School had come under her leadership.
When she’d joined the staff three years ago, they’d catered solely to the rich and famous and their spoiled offspring. Now every class had at least five scholarship students from disadvantaged areas and their student population was more diversified. Sure, the core group still remained the children of Black Hollywood; upper echelons. But it didn’t make sense to concentrate on such a small core group and Sadie had since expanded their reach beyond Hollywood and into other areas; plus mixed it up a little so the school wasn’t exclusively catering to black students. She made it an attractive proposition because not only was the school in the highest one percentile of the district but the range of their extracurricular program was the stuff of staff room jealousy across the state. Also their very successful alumni was an added spur to spike interest.
Sadie took her work very seriously; it was her life aside from her little boy. Ever since her husband Maury had died in Afghanistan diffusing an IED, Jaden had made up the length and breadth of her life. Everything she did up to and including creating the perfect school, was for him.
Sadie sighed, sitting up and straightening her bikini top. She pulled off the headscarf holding her braids in place; Next week she’d have to get those undone and get her perm retouched. She could feel her scalp getting itchy in the heat and sweat and stood up to go get some aloe vera hair food to apply on her scalp. Her breasts jiggled as she stood; the bikini might seem to have become a size smaller since she bought it and it didn’t quite hold her 40Bs as securely as she might have liked. Sadie was pretty sure that at 33 years of age her boobs must have stopped growing but still, it was a challenge finding a bikini that held her securely or a sports bra for that matter. It was why she absolutely did not get why anyone in their right mind would want to get their nice small perky breasts enhanced. What she would give for small perky breasts…
She ran her hands down her flat stomach, running her hand along her c-section scar as she did out of habit. It was just below the bikini line and barely visible. But she could feel it with her hands and every time she touched it she thought of her departed husband and the fact that he would never see his little baby boy; never see him grow; never smile at how alike they were; how much Jaden was as active as Maury had been…It was painful to think about but the pain was like the most bittersweet pleasure to her now. Because it was all that was left of her husband.
Her phone rang much to her surprise; it was almost midnight, who could be calling her? She walked slowly toward the phone and picked it up, staring at the name flashing on the screen. She swiped right and put the phone to her ear.
“Ben. What’s wrong?”
“Hey sis in law. How you doing?” Ben’s voice slurred just enough for her to note that he was drunk…again. Behind the slurring was an edge of misery that told her why he was high.
“Ben, you need to drink some water and go to bed. Call me in the morning. Whatever it is can probably wait until then.”
“How do you do it?” he asked completely ignoring her words.
“Do what?” she asked eyes closed, though she had an idea.
“I miss him so much!” Ben said and he was straight up crying in her ear. Sadie swallowed the lump in her throat, eyes still closed.
“I miss him too,” she said.
“How do you do it?” he asked again. “How do you get through the day?”
There was a small silence between them. Then.
“Jaden. Jaden is how I get through the day.”
“Well…bully for you,” Ben said and hung up abruptly. Sadie stared at the phone, contemplated calling him back but she was tired and heart sick and all of a sudden all she wanted to do was sleep.
*****
Ben Alexander stood on the bridge staring down at the water as he ended the phone call. He felt like he was at the end of his rope, there was nowhere left to go but down.
“Goodbye Jaden; I’ll see you on the other side,” he murmured into the air before climbing on the guard rail and leaping off into the blue.
It was three days before he was found downstream, body badly mangled by the rocks and the fall. His identity had to be confirmed via dental records. Sadie and his family were informed later the same day. She didn’t know how to tell her son that his uncle Ben was dead.
*****
The morning was calm and peaceful. A slight overhang, but no rain yet. The thunder was threatening, but no one could care. Their black suits and dresses weren’t important to them. The occasion however, was far more somber.