Destination Wedding
Excerpt
“See, you need to get out of your own way!” Whitney said. “Lesson #1: If you meet a man who is rich and is hot, what else do you need? Why wouldn’t you date the men that you work with? I mean, how are you going to meet men outside of the music business if you are always working anyway?”
“I tried dating a man in the business ten years ago, and as they say, you don’t need to defecate where you eat,” Jarena said.
“Really? I think the phrase is ‘Don’t shit where you eat,’” Senalda chimed in. “Damn, you were already a know-it-all. Don’t tell me you’re a no-drink- ing and no-cursing know-it-all now? If that’s the case, you’re in the wrong business.”
“One man! Honey chile, please! You may think you want a man, but you’re not acting like it. Senalda, what’s going on with you, honey bun? Tell me more about this Destination Wedding project.”
Before Senalda was able to respond, they spotted Mimi. Tall and slender with ebony locs nearly to her waist, Mimi was always noticed in any room. And today, she was wearing a black scarf that covered the roots of her locs, black leather pants, and a cutoff black turtleneck sweater that exposed the sliver of her white-chocolate skin between the top of her abdominal muscles and the start of her breasts.
“Have you committed a black-on-black crime?” Whitney quipped with a laugh. “Who are you hiding from?”
“Hey bitches to y’all too,” Mimi said. She moved her locs to one shoulder and sat down.
They all cackled with the resplendent joy of being in the company of all of your best friends at once: a precious rarity as an adult. Mimi and Jarena were friends since their Banneker High School days, Senalda and Whitney since Spelman College, and the four since their early twenties. They’d clicked on their first meeting and hung together as a foursome ever since.
“Well, this is our second Destination Wedding meeting but the first with the old married lady here,” Senalda said to Jarena and Mimi. “I’m just kid- ding. You know you can crash our meetings whenever you want to, Whitney.”
“Old married lady?” Whitney repeated. “I’m a certified MILF. Y’all want to get where I am. Married with twins and sneaking out to drink with my girls! Seriously though, what’s going on with you, Senalda?”
“Well, I did run into Dexter Bailey a couple of weeks ago,” Senalda revealed.
“Dexter Bailey from Morehouse, the Alpha?” Whitney said. “What’s going on with him? I haven’t seen him since we graduated with his cute self.”
“He was living in Miami, but his company transferred him to Atlanta last month. He’s a VP with UPS.”
“All of those initials I like! So is he married? Divorced? Does he have any kids?” Whitney said, in a flurry as she picked up a menu. “And let’s order too.”
About the Author
About the Author
Jacqueline J. Holness is a seasoned journalist with 15 years writing and working for an assortment of newspapers, magazines and websites including Upscale, Christianity Today, The Atlanta Journal Constitution, UrbanFaith.com and her own blog After the Altar Call. In 2012 Written Magazine recognized her as an Emerging Writer for her debut novel Destination Wedding. In 2012 and 2013, she won an Atlanta Association of Black Journalists award for her business reporting with Atlanta Tribune: The Magazine.
Jacqueline has a bachelor’s degree in magazine journalism from the University of Georgia and is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Incorporated. She resides in the Atlanta, GA area with her husband and currently serves as a correspondent for Courthouse News Service, an online, national news service for attorneys.
All for the Books 