Page 1 of Her Noble Protector
“Y’all must be puttingy’all whole coochie in these grits. My goodness! I ain’t ever had shrimp and grits taste this damn good that didn’t come from a hole-in-the-wall spot in New Orleans.”
I looked over at my best friend, Venus, as she spoke to the server who came over to our lively table to check on us.
Venus was a free spirit, like me, who didn’t have a filter at all. She was dark skinned with kinky black coils. She loved to rock the Bantu knot style or her natural, moisturized afro—when her hair cooperated. There were many times when she’d call me crying over the fact her twist out or braid out frizzed up and didn’t come out properly. I commended her. I preferred to keep my hair braided down with a different wig every day toreflect the type of time I was on. Every color unlocked a different persona, which I had fun playing with.
“Girl, I can’t take you anywhere.” I shook my head as I filled my glass up with the strawberry mimosa from our bottomless carafe. I’d had three glasses of the strong brunch beverage. Venus was on her fifth or sixth and was feeling every drop.
The server giggled. “I don’t mind. The chef isn’t back there putting body parts in the food, but she is throwing down. I love ordering a wing combo on my break. The hot honey combo with the seasoned fries gets me right every afternoon.”
“Yeah, I’m going to need to speak to the chef personally after this,” Venus replied. She shook her head as she took another happy bite of her meal.
The server chuckled. “I will let the kitchen know you enjoyed your meal. Let me know if you ladies need anything else.” She gave us a gentle smile before moving on to the next table to check in.
“Vee, you’re a mess, girl.” Georgia laughed.
Georgia was the pothead of the group. She had long sister locs with hair jewelry. Her skin was blemish free with thick eyebrows and a nose piercing. She gave Denise Huxtable vibes in both style and appearance. She was more mellow than the rest of us but definitely knew how to have a great time.
“You know, out of all of us, Vee is the most unhinged one of the crew. She has no damn filter.” I shook my head.
“I love it, though. She keeps us on our toes,” Xandria added.
Xandria was a peanut butter toned woman with her hair dyed ginger with thick curls. Xandria was the youngest of our quad group. She was also the most successful of the group as she was still in college, getting her degree in law and a minor in politics.
Around the table were my besties: Venus, Georgia, and Xandria. We had all gone to the same private school. Most private schools got bad reps for only having “token” Blacks intheir numbers, but Cade Academy prided themselves on being over 80 percent Black.
All of us came from affluent families in politics. Venus’s dad was a judge, Georgia’s mom was a senator, and Xandria’s mom was the current governor. Sonny Stone, my father, was the district attorney for Cade’s Cove County. He handled a lot of criminal cases. Because of the mafia presence in the area, he’d had to put some notorious men in prison. I typically minded my business with cases he took to court. It was beyond my wheelhouse.
As if on cue, my phone buzzed in the designer purse I had in the chair beside me. I grabbed a napkin to wipe my hands before I retrieved the device. Speak of the devil and he shall appear. A picture of my father and me displayed across my screen. I tapped the green check mark and put the phone up to my ear.
“Hey, Dad. What’s up?” I asked.
I continued to eat my catfish and grits. The savory seafood sauce was the perfect connection to the smooth texture of the grits and the crispy skin of the catfish. I was a huge foodie and had started a page dedicated to places in Cade’s Cove worth a visit. I wasn’t Keith Lee with my influence, but the places I reviewed always had an influx of visitors after my reviews posted online.
“I need you to come home immediately.” The tone in his voice made me pause.
“What’s going on?” I put my spoon down and swallowed the current bite in my mouth. I leaned over to the straw in my mimosa to wash it all down.
“I’ll explain when you get home.”
“Which home?” I questioned.
“Stone Manor.”
“Okay. Let me close out my tab, and I’ll be on the way. I’m about forty-five minutes from the manor. I’ll send my ETA when I get in the car.”
“Come straight here. Please do not make any stops. This is a matter of life and death.”
The last time my father said those words, I’d come home to find out my mother and younger brother were both killed in a car accident. He’d lost half of his family that day. I was his only living child, and he’d kept a tight eye on me since then.
“You’re scaring me, Dad.”
“I’m not trying to, princess, but it is very serious.”
“Okay. Okay. I’m heading out now.”
“I love you.”
“I love you too.”
