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arrived at her
job with a smile on her face, all because she’d spent another satisfying night
with Renaldo—or Renny, as she teasingly called him. She was enjoying this
little affair too much. She should thank her employer for getting on her nerves
or she would never have gone out that Friday night, and then she never would
have met Renaldo.
    When she considered the men she’d
been involved with in the past, no one else compared. She’d dropped her
friend-with-benefits, Samuel. All because Renaldo had become absolutely
addictive.
    They had so much in common. They were
both driven, with a strong work ethic. Because of that, he treated her as an
equal and didn’t try to put her in a box. Several times he’d bounced ideas off
of her and asked her opinion about aspects of the hotel purchase. She’d been
flattered he valued her opinion so much and wished she could garner the same
respect at her place of employment.
    On the weekends, she took him
around the city. At one of her favorite pizza joints, they ate authentic
Chicago-style pizza, a deep-dish pie filled with cheese, chunky tomato sauce,
and meat and vegetable toppings. One weekend she joined him on a bus tour of
the city. She’d learned some things herself as she listened to the guide. They
also set sail on a one-hour architectural cruise and listened as the young
woman explained how the city bounced back from the Great Fire of 1871 to become
a show piece of modern American architecture. 
    One of her favorite things was learning
his language. She knew how to count to twenty in Portuguese now, and he’d
gotten into the habit of teaching her two new expressions every day.
    Bom dia . Good morning.
    Boa tarde . Good afternoon.
    De onde você é?  Where are you from?
    Desculpe . I’m sorry.
    And her favorite words: Até
amanhã . See you tomorrow.
    Sabrina entered the tall,
glass-covered building on Michigan Avenue and rode the elevator up to the floor
where she worked. On the way to her office, Ernestine’s voice stopped her in
her tracks.  
    “Sabrina, you have a visitor.”
    The look in the other woman’s eyes
made her uneasy. Her fingers curled tighter around the covered cup of coffee in
her hand, and she hitched her leather business bag higher on her shoulder. She
started to lose the buzz from her morning high.
    “Who is it?”
    “She didn’t give her name, but she
said she’s your cousin…?” The feeling of dread increased exponentially. Ernestine
lifted one brow higher, her tone and expression suggesting either she doubted
they were family, or she didn’t comprehend how they could be. “She’s in the
restroom right now.”
    Taking a deep breath, Sabrina
forced what she hoped looked like a genuine smile onto her face. “When she
comes out, please send her back to my office.”
    Ernestine nodded and Sabrina
stepped quickly down the hall, not bothering to pause and say “Good morning” to
her officemates like she usually did. She couldn’t, because her mind reeled at
the thought that Jewel was here, at her workplace.
    It had to be Jewel, because she was
the only family Sabrina kept in contact with in Chicago. She’d walked away from
the old neighborhood years ago—the crime, the filth, the drugs, the
dysfunction. She wanted no part of the old life to connect with her career.
    But Jewel was here.

 
    Chapter Eight
     
    Oh my God.
    Sabrina’s mouth fell open as she stared at her cousin’s bedraggled
appearance from behind her desk.
    Her cousin’s eyes filled with embarrassment. “Hi, Brina.”
    Jewel Porter looked like she’d been dragged through a sewer once,
and dragged through it again for good measure. Her skin, the same buttery color
as Sabrina’s, was covered in dirt and had an unhealthy pallor to it. Her long
hair was disheveled and clumped together in several places. And the smell…
    “Jewel,” she whispered, her heart hurting. She raced around the
desk.
    “No.” Jewel stepped back, lowered her eyes and shook her head.