“Anyway, Cee Cee, Gran and I figured we’d take a little shopping trip to New York City. We haven’t been to the penthouse there in forever, and the kids might even get to see some snow. You have the week off from work. It would be great. “
“Huh?”
“Thanksgiving in New York City. Macy’s Parade. Kids happy. Your mind off of the stress in your life, shopping the Friday after Thanksgiving…in New York City…” Latonya let her words trail in an enticing manner.
Cicely thought about it. She truly loved her niece and nephews. Carlton IV was eleven and Terrence was eight. They looked like their father but had their mother’s calm and loving personality. Her little niece, Evelyn “Evie” Harrington, was the spitting image of Latonya, but she had Carlton’s over-the-top, sometimes overbearing personality. Cicely sometimes called her little niece the five-year-old terror. But she loved those kids. She loved the family her sister had been able to create. She just wondered when she was going to be able to start a family of her own.
She really wasn’t in the holiday spirit. She would have been a killjoy for everyone. It was best if she stayed behind.
“Nah. You all can go without me. I’m not going.” Cicely sat up.
She had pretty much decided that she was going to spend the week away from people she knew. She’d do some self-reflection. Maybe a little wallowing in self-pity—just a little…. Then she would pick herself up and put the pieces back together again.
She had already started to psychoanalyze herself, and she had pretty much decided that even though her daddy issues hadn’t surfaced in the same ways as her older sister’s had, and she’d always thought she didn’t have any daddy issues at all, she clearly had them and then some to spare.
Gran, their father’s mother, raised Cicely and Latonya after their own mother died. Their father had left the family years before that and never looked back. They didn’t know if he was dead or alive now. Even with all the love their grandmother poured into them as she raised them on her limited resources, the telltale signs of little girls neglected by their father followed both women into adulthood.
Latonya’s daddy issues had made her believe that love wasn’t a possibility in her life. Even though she had married one of the richest men in the country, she spent the first part of their marriage waiting for the proverbial other shoe to drop, waiting for Carlton to get tired of her and leave. That’s why when their marriage was tested by interference from Carlton’s meddling grandfather, Latonya gave up without a fight. It took years for them to rebuild their marriage and learn to trust in their love.
Cicely didn’t know if she trusted love or not. But she liked to think that she was wiser because she never chose men that could possibly break her heart the way her father did. Even though she was very young when her father turned his back on their family, she had vivid memories of his larger than life, ladies’ man persona. What he lacked in money, he made up for in charisma. And whenever he was around, it hardly mattered what their mother wanted. He was the man. He ruled. Cicely made it her business to stay away from those kinds of men. She picked nice quiet guys because she couldn’t trust men like her father to love her.
Daddy issues? Yes, she had them, too.
However, all she needed to do was spend the week digging into her psyche and hit the church after she’d done the heavy lifting in order to top off the self-therapy with some Jesus and she’d be fine. She was her grandmother’s child, after all, and that side of the family didn’t believe in paying for therapy when a little tough love and taking it to the Lord would do just fine. Isaac’s betrayal had thrown her off track, but she could fix this and then she’d be good as new. That’s why she really needed this time away.
“I’m sorry, Peanut, but I’m not going to spend Thanksgiving with the family this year. I’m not going to New York with you all.”
“Now, Cee Cee, you know we have to celebrate Thanksgiving as a family. Gran is getting up in years, and who knows how much longer we’ll have her around to celebrate the holidays with? We should be there for Gran if nothing else.”
“Sorry, I have to pass this time, Peanut. With everything that happened since yesterday, I really can’t be around people right now. I love you and Gran, but I need you guys to respect my wishes on this one….”
“Aww, come on, Cee Cee…. Please consider it….” Latonya’s pleading voice was almost enough to make Cicely reconsider.
Latonya had spent three years away from the family when a misunderstanding caused Carlton to make her leave their home and their child. Latonya had been pregnant with their second child at the time and no one knew it. Those three years had made Latonya want to hold her family even closer once she came back. Usually, Cicely was willing to indulge her older sister because she owed her so much. But she just couldn’t work up the energy it would take to not be a drain on the family’s holiday celebration.
“I’d be a drag and I’d ruin the fun and celebration for everyone. Plus, I’m boycotting Thanksgiving this year. I mean, seriously, what would I be most thankful for, my cheating man or the fact that my jerk of a boss fixed it so that I wouldn’t be promoted out of his division? Finding Isaac banging another woman in my bed because he thought I was out celebrating…” Cicely let out a slow hiss of disgust.
“Oh, Cee Cee, I’m so sorry that happened to you, sweetie. You don’t deserve that. If he is the kind of man who can do something like that then he doesn’t deserve you, Cee Cee. I really hate to channel Gran right now, but you could be thankful that you’re alive, in good health, have a family that loves you and that God saw fit to get that lying, cheating sack of trash out of your way so that you can find a good man.”
Cicely sighed.
I am thankful for that. I just want a minute to myself to be in a funk. Is that too much to ask?
“I’m going to be out of the country anyway, so I can’t go.”
“Stop lying. Where are you going the week of Thanksgiving?”
“I’m taking an island vacation for a week to have some me-time and to get my groove back. Sorry, I can’t do the family thing this year.”
“Well, think about it before you just write it off. We’ll be flying out on the jet Monday morning…” Latonya’s voice trailed off. “Why would you want to be on some island by yourself when you could be with your family? Are you sure traveling by yourself in your state of mind is a good idea?”
“Yep, the best idea I’ve had in a long time. Tell Gran I love her and I wish I could be there with you all, but I just can’t.”
“Okay…” Latonya seemed to be searching for another argument that would compel Cicely to say yes.
“Anyway, Peanut, now that I’m up I have sooo many things to take care of before my trip. So many details…” Like actually planning a trip and booking one…. I’m going straight to hell for being a big ole liar. “I think an island getaway is just what I need right now.” Maybe an island fling really will help me get my groove back. “So, I’ll call you when I get back. I’ll have you all in my thoughts this week. You guys have a great Thanksgiving. Give my niece and nephews a big ole hug from Aunt Cee Cee and tell them I’ll see them when I get back.”
“But—”
“Thanks, Peanut! Love you. Bye.” Cicely hung up the phone and turned it off.
She could have just stayed in the hotel and licked her wounds for the week. But the more she thought about a trip, the better it sounded. All she had to do now was make her fictional island getaway a reality.
Chapter 2
“This must be my lucky day.