Wives and Champions by Tina Martin

looked at Carly again and asked, “So how
are things going here?”
    “ Pretty good. Sometimes
it’s a little overwhelming with the volume of people inside the
store. The only thing is, you never know when it’s going to happen.
One minute there’s not a soul in here and the next, there’s a flood
of people. But, that’s the nature of retail, I guess.”
    “ Yeah, it is.” Dante turned
to look at the door when he heard the bell chime. A group of women
walked in. “Looks like the busy time has arrived. I’ll see you
later, Carly.”
    Dante left the boutique, walking a few
doors down to The Caribbean Hut, a restaurant in the same building
as Emily’s Boutique. He didn’t frequent the place like Dimitrius
did, but now was a good time to grab a quick lunch while he waited
for Emily to return to the boutique.
    After the waiter took his order, he
sat there at the booth, gazing out of the window, thinking about
her. He fought hard to get Emily, made a fake online profile and
all just to get to know her. And after all that, even when the
relationship didn’t look too promising, he purchased this very
building that housed her boutique when she thought she would lose
it to the greedy landlord who owned it at the time – all to ensure
her happiness. He loved her that much.
    But how much did she love him? She
still hadn’t told him about the baby. Would she get rid of the life
they created from love? A baby? His baby? The thought made him
nauseous.
    Years ago, long before Melanie, his
brother, Dimitrius, was dating a woman whom he thought cared for
him. Loved him. Dante had caught the woman coming out of an
abortion clinic after she’d done the unthinkable behind Dimitrius
back. Dimitrius took it hard. He didn’t show it, rarely ever talked
about it, but it took him a long time to get over that incident.
Eventually, he had learned to love again.
    “ Mr. Champion, how goes
it?”
    Dante looked up at the owner of the
restaurant. Since purchasing the building, Dante personally
renegotiated all the lease contracts for the tenants, lowering
their leases to reasonable rates – more reasonable than the last
owner. The tenants appreciated his generosity and thus, whenever he
visited the shops, they would always offer him something for free –
like his meal.
    “ Hey, Shabari. How are
you?”
    “ Doing well, my brudda,”
Shabari said in his island accent. “You know dis meals is on us. As
always.”
    “ I appreciate it, man, but
that’s really not necessary.”
    “ No, no, no. I insist.” He
placed his hand on his chest then said, “It’s the least I can do
for your generosity. Now, how’s that other brudda of
yours?”
    “ Who?
Dimitrius?”
    “ Yes! Haven’t seen him by
here in a while.”
    “ Oh. He’s good…at the
office right now, actually. I’m sure he’ll be here at some point
this week. He practically lives off of this place.”
    Shabari chuckled.
    The waiter came by with Dante’s food –
curry chicken and white rice with a side of collard
greens.
    “ Well, I’ll let you enjoy
your lunch,” Shabari said. “Good seeing you.”
    “ You as well, Shabari. Have
a good one, man.”
     
     
    Later, when he was nearing the end of
his meal, Dante picked up a glass of water and took a sip while
looking out of the window when his eyes caught sight of Emily
crossing the street, heading to her boutique. He quickly finished
the water, left a twenty-dollar bill on the table then headed
out.
    Walking into the moderately busy
boutique, he continued straight for the back where Emily’s office
was located and stepped inside while her back was turned. He
watched as she placed her purse in a file drawer and adjusted the
blinds.
    “ I stopped by earlier,”
Dante said.
    Emily felt her heart rate quicken at
the sound of his voice. She swung her head around and looked at
him. “Jeez. You scared me, Dante,” she said, placing a hand over
her thumping heart.
    “ Sorry. Didn’t mean to
scare you.”
    Still