Risky Business of Love. Yahrah St. John

see from the lack of customers downstairs, and I need a few things. And Vince is being a real tightwad with his cash these days. He says I’m spending too much.”

      “Is that true?” Ciara asked. She was sure it was. Diamond went through cash like water.

      Diamond smiled guiltily. “I suppose I may have overspent a little, but I just had to have a pair of these tall four-inch boots that were on sale at Macy’s. Wait here and I’ll show you.”

      Diamond rushed off toward the bedroom and minutes later returned carrying a pair of tiger-print leather boots with a four-inch heel. “So, what do you think?”

      Ciara shook her head in amazement. Her mother would never change. She had no idea about the value of money because she’d never stayed in one place long enough. She’d always gone from one man to the next; moving her and a young Ciara from place to place after each one of her relationships had successively failed.

      Ciara had hated each and every one of them. Every guy was usually only after one thing and poor Diamond never figured it out until it was too late and he was moving on to the next person. Until Paul Williams had come along. Nearly forty years her senior, he’d married Diamond and had later left her his fortune, which she’d had the bad sense to waste. “Diamond, how much did those boots set you back?” Ciara asked.

      Diamond looked down sheepishly and didn’t answer.

      “Diamond, how much?” Ciara’s voice rose an octave.

      “Oh, two hundred dollars,” Diamond whispered.

      “Two hundred dollars! Are you insane?”

      “I know, but I just had to have them,” Diamond explained. “They fit my new knit jersey dress to perfection.”

      Ciara was so frustrated at her mother’s lack of discipline. Every time she was low on cash, she came knocking on her door.

      “And you want me to bail you out, I presume. Why do you always do this, Diamond? Do I look like your personal ATM?”

      “Of course not,” Diamond replied and on cue tears began to form in her dark brown eyes. “It’s just, you know I haven’t had an easy life. I grew up on the streets and had to raise you all on my own.”

      Ciara sighed. She’d heard this song and dance a million times. Diamond had run away from home at sixteen and had met up with some Las Vegas showgirls who’d taken her under their wing and taught her how to get by. Ciara understood all that because she’d lived through it with her, so she would not be made to feel guilty because Diamond was a spendthrift.

      “It’s not my fault you ran off with another man and didn’t tell Daddy. He would have helped, you know. Taken care of the both of us.” From what she’d heard, her father had adored Diamond and when she’d become pregnant, they’d quickly gotten married. Diamond hadn’t been content as a married housewife and mother, but she’d been young and gullible and had run off with the first smooth talker she’d met, leaving Ciara’s poor accountant father with a broken heart. And when that relationship had failed, Diamond had returned to the only thing she knew how to be: a Las Vegas showgirl.

      “So, you blame me for your horrible life?” Diamond questioned her.

      “Who else should I blame? You are the parent. Aren’t you?” Of course, Ciara wondered about that sometimes. Many a time, she’d had to help a tipsy Diamond up the stairs after one too many or had been forced to listen to her get it on with some stranger.

      Diamond shrugged her shoulders. “What’s done is done, Ciara. I can’t make up for it, baby girl. But you are in a position to help your mama. You’re a big-time reporter now.”

      Little did she know, thought Ciara. Her reporter’s salary barely fed her. Ciara stood up abruptly. “I have to go or I’ll be late.”

      “And the money?” Diamond turned on the puppy-dog eyes. Ciara shook her head. She should let Vince kick Diamond out, maybe then she would learn her lesson. Of course, then she would have no place to go and where would she end up? At Ciara’s doorstep. No, no, it was better she give her the money and hope for the best.

      “I don’t have two hundred.”

      Diamond smiled and lightly touched her cheek. “Whatever you could give me would be great.”

      Ciara leaned over, grabbed her purse and pulled out a hundred-dollar bill from her wallet. “How about one hundred?” Ciara held up the money.

      Diamond quickly snatched it and stuffed it down her bustier.

      “Thanks, kid, you’re a real lifesaver.”

      Ciara glanced down and her watch read a quarter to two. “I’ve got to go, Diamond.”

      “Listen, Ci-Ci, I really appreciate your coming by. You always help your mama out when I need it.” It meant the world to Diamond that even though her daughter had moved up in the world, she hadn’t given up on her.

      “Please don’t get all mushy and sentimental, Diamond. It doesn’t suit you,” Ciara retorted, walking to the door. She may have agreed to help her, but Ciara didn’t get the warm fuzzies from her mother.

      “Okay, okay.” Diamond knew a good thing when she had it and wouldn’t push. “I’ll see you later,” she said, closing the door behind her.

      Ciara breathed a sigh of relief and took the stairs two at a time to get out of the dingy bar. Thank God that was over, she thought rushing back to her car. Now she could look forward to her evening with Jonathan and all that implied.