Soulful Strut Read Online Free PDF Page B

smiled his brown eyes lit up. He
had a rough kind of grace. Monette forced her gaze away when he
glanced at her again.
    “I’ll take this in for Trudy’s signature and
get your check,” Sherrial said and left them alone in the
hallway.
    Jayson cleared his throat. He shoved his
hands in both pockets of his work pants. “So, you live here.”
    “Yeah. Live here, not work here.”
    Monette felt an urge to tell him her whole
story; that she had been sent to prison by a vindictive jilted
lover who happened to have been the district attorney in Pointe
Coupee Parish. She hadn’t exactly been an angel either. She’d
partied with the wrong people and made a lot of mistakes. Those
mistakes had left her vulnerable. A jury had had no trouble
believing that Monette had had a part in selling drugs.
    “Well, good luck on making a new start,”
Jayson said in a polite tone.
    “Thanks,” Monette replied, matching his
reserved attitude.
    He had the Sunday-school manners of a typical
“nice guy” from a proper, middle-class black family. Still, the
handsome face and strapping body made for a nice package. Not
usually her type though. Too tame. Not only that, he’d probably
already judged her. Monette wiped away fantasies involving cautious
flirting that might lead to more.
    “Nice meeting you.” Monette nodded and turned
to leave.
    “Same here,” he called after her.
    Yarva strolled out of the living room. She
grinned at Jayson. “Hey, good-looking. Hope you delivered my BMW in
good shape.”
    “Hi, Yarva. She’s parked out front. Ready for
a ride,” Jayson answered, falling right in on the joke. “How have
you been?”
    “Good, good. See you’ve met our local
celebrity.” Yarva blocked Monette’s path. “Not the typical halfway
house hag. Right, famous lady?”
    Monette shook off the desire to tell Yarva
where she could go. She was aware of Jayson’s curious gaze. Instead
she forced a smile and shrugged as she tried to go around Yarva.
“More like flavor of the month. Excuse me.”
    “Don’t be modest. Jayson, you must have heard
about Monette here. She’s the one who got set up for prison by Winn
Barron. You remember that whole case.” Yarva did not move. “Wrote a
book about it, went on TV and everything.”
    “Wait a minute, I did read about you in a
newspaper article,” Jayson said and snapped his fingers. “Winn
Barron was the DA back then and he set you up because ...” His
voice trailed off.
    Monette sighed and faced him again. She would
definitely see that look of judgment in his dark brown eyes now.
“Yes, I’m that Monette Victor.”
    “I’m glad you finally got justice. Well, sort
of.” Jayson walked toward her. “You should have been pardoned, not
paroled. Anybody looking at the facts could see you were
framed.”
    Yarva scowled. Her plan to humiliate Monette
seemed to have backfired. “Yeah, she’s a real Joan of Arc
alright”“I’m no saint for sure,” Monette said. She felt uneasy at
the way Jayson stared at her. “My lifestyle made it easy for Barron
to set me up.”
    “That still doesn’t make what happened to you
right I’m all for being tough on crime, but locking up innocent
people is even more criminal in my book,” Jayson said with
force.
    “Well, uh, thanks. Again.” Monette blushed at
the passion in his voice. She gave him a tentative smile.
    “Aren’t you writing a book about your
experiences?” Jayson seemed genuinely interested, not just being
polite.
    “Actually I already wrote it. On sale at
bookstores everywhere.” Monette laughed. “My publisher makes me say
that. I think they even wrote it into my contract.”
    “Excellent. Like Dr. Martin Luther King said
once, the truth pressed to earth shall rise again. I’m going to
pick up a copy. Hope you’ll sign it for me,” Jayson said. He wore a
serious expression for a moment then his smile broke through like
sunshine from behind a cloud.
    “Sure will.” Monette enjoyed the warmth and
light coming