Seasoned with Grace Read Online Free PDF Page B

this situation?”
    â€œLet’s not talk about Ethan right now, please.”
    Junell took a forkful of her salad, then dabbed the corners of her mouth with her napkin. “Did Ethan drop you as a client? I know a great lawyer. He’s not going to manage you or act as your agent. He will only represent your interests in legal matters, but he’s good. Do you want his card?” She fished for his card in her boxy, magenta calfskin Céline bag. “How could he do this to you now, in the midst of all this?”
    Grace stretched her hand across the table and grabbed Junell’s arm before she could extract the card. “It’s fine. Ethan did not drop me, but he’s been acting funny toward me lately.”
    â€œFunny? How?” Junell threw back the last bit of alcohol left in her glass and signaled for the waiter.
    â€œHe’s been kind of distant.” Grace shook her hand from side to side. “I think it’s because of this girl he’s dating,” she said, curling her lips in disgust at the thought of Candace and her cardigans.
    â€œDating?” Junell gasped, choking on the word. “Ethan’s dating? It’s not you, and it’s a female?”
    â€œYes.”
    â€œI had him pegged for either a closeted homosexual or madly in love with you.”
    â€œWe were both wrong,” Grace said as flatly as possible, trying not to reveal her bruised ego and crushed heart.
    A waiter interrupted their chitchat to bring them full glasses of mimosa. “Ladies,” he said, bowing before them after placing the long-stem glasses on the table. He locked eyes with Grace and smiled at her, licking his lips. She reciprocated with a flirtatious smile of her own. His blue-eyed gaze seemed impenetrable, making it hard for her to determine the extent to which she could use him or the extent to which he planned on using her.
    â€œYou are absolutely divine,” the waiter whispered to Grace.
    Junell responded to his compliment, preventing Grace from spouting one of her famous seductress phrases. “While the compliment is appreciated, she’s saving herself for marriage, young man. Thank you.” Junell waved her hand at the waiter like she was swatting at a mosquito.
    â€œJunie!”
    â€œDon’t ‘Junie’ me. You cannot sit up here and expect Ethan to save himself for you, and you’re over here, giving away free samples of the merchandise. I’m praying for you, child.”
    Sucking her teeth, Grace replied, “Not you too. You know, Ethan started praying during the meeting when were supposed to be reviewing the terms of my probation. That’s how he met ole girl.”
    â€œOle girl?” Junell raised one eyebrow. “You don’t have to say it like that.”
    â€œI’m sorry, but I didn’t grow up in the Hamptons, speaking proper English.” Grace twisted her lips and leaned back in her chair. Junell’s middle-class upbringing often served as a source of contention between the two women, and now was as good a time as any for Grace to deflect the conversation away from the idea of her conversion and the frightening idea of Ethan dating..
    â€œYou’re overreacting. They haven’t even been dating that long.” Junell laughed and flipped her hair again. “You just got sentenced on Monday. Today is only Friday. And please send the papers to my lawyer so you can sue me for growing up in a house with two parents so that I can testify to how ghetto Wydanche really is. All that glitters ain’t gold. I’m sorry you had to learn that on the streets, but we all learn it somehow. Now what you need to do is get yourself together before Ethan gets serious with ‘ole girl,’” she said, using air quotations.
    â€œI don’t care what he does.”
    â€œLiar. If you didn’t care, we wouldn’t be discussing this.” Junell folded her arms and leaned back in her