Sherri spotted him in the receiving line.
There he was standing out like an African Adonis. He was moving slowly towards her. Sherri held her breath. She had to meet him!
"Sherri! Sherri! I'm talking to you." Sherri's attention snapped out of her dreamy fog. It was her sister, Veronica. It was her wedding. In fact, it was Veronica's third wedding.
"I need you to find papa. I can't find him," Veronica said.
"I'll check on him!" Sherri said. She knew where he would be. She found him in his study with three men. They didn't look like wedding guests. With papa, it was always business first, she thought.
"Excuse me, Papa. Veronica needs you," Sherri said as respectfully as she could. He nodded. Sherri hurried back to Veronica's wedding reception.
A matronly woman stopped Sherri in the hallway.
"Pardon me, is this not Veronica's fourth wedding?" She asked.
"Actually, her first was annulled. It doesn't count," Sherri said smiling.
"Oh, that's right!" the woman said.
Sherri hurried back to the reception. She was right! The talk seems to be, "Why was Veronica wearing white on her third or fourth wedding? The simple answer was that Veronica has no shame!" Sherri thought.
Sherri found Veronica eating a slice of wedding cake. "Oh no, Veronica is going to put back on all of those 30 pounds she lost before she found Aldo," Sherri thought to herself.
"Papa is in the office talking. He's coming," Sherri said and added in a sing-song voice, "You have cake on your chin."
Veronica frowned and wiped it away.
Sherri looked around. She spotted him on the other side of the pool. He looked in his early thirties. He was taller than anyone her Italian family. Sherri guessed he was six-foot-four. He was trim and fit. He was wearing a neatly tailored black brocade African style robe that flowed down to his black patent-leather shoes. He was clean shaven and had a sexy Obama-style haircut.
"Are you with the groom?" Sherri asked.
"No, actually, the groom is with the bride. I'm just here as a friend," he said smiling. "Pardon me. I'm joking of course. I am an old college chum of his. My name is James," he said.
"I'm the bride's sister. I'm Sherri."
"Yes, I spotted you in the reception line. Then you were gone."
Sherri laughed.
"It's a long story," Sherri said. She opened her purse and pulled out a blunt and placed it in her lips. He offered her a light. She lightly touched his hand and looked into his eyes as she set her blunt to flame. She took a deep toke and exhaled slowly.
"Do you think this will work out? Oh, I shouldn't ask that question." He looked embarrassed.
"Don't be embarrassed! The simple answer is: Does he have money?" Sherri laughed. She took another toke and slowly exhaled.
James laughed.
"A woman cannot be too rich or too thin. Isn't that what they say?" James said.
"There are other factors."
"I can only imagine."
Sherri made a side step to put her body between the guests and James. She reached down and felt his manhood through his robe. It started growing.
"Some things shouldn't be left to the imagination," Sherri said looking into his eyes.
"I would love to discuss reality with you sometime," James said smiling.
Sherri released his now fully erect member. She offered him the blunt. He took it and pulled in a deep toke. She reached into her purse and pulled out a business card and handed it to James.
He looked at it. It read simply, "Sherri A." Her cell number was below."
"I'll call you," he whispered.
***
Sherri got into the car with her husband, Stewart, 55. He was thick in the middle and balding on the top. He pulled out into the street and settled down to driving home.
"Why are you so sullen?" Sherri asked. It was an accusation. She knew that her accusations always made him angry.
"I SAW YOU TALKING TO THAT ... THAT MAN BY THE POOL! You were throwing yourself at him!" Stew said.
"Settle down! You are always so jealous. He's an old business associate of papa's. Do you want me to tell papa you disapprove of his business associates?" Sherri knew how to get to Stew. He had no money. Papa set him up in business. Papa had to rein him in once before. Sherri knew it.
"There is no need to bring papa into this," Stew said suddenly his voice was different.
Sherri had all the money. If she threw him out, he would be practically penniless.
"Let's talk about something different. Don't you think Veronica looked ravishing in white?" Sherri said. She was teasing him.
***
Sherri walked out on the patio and adjusted a chaise lounge into the sunlight. She was going to get some morning rays. She sat down and spread her long, shapely legs on the lounge. She was 39 and a mother of two grown children. Her body was fit. Her hair was dark brown. Her hazel eyes were wide set on her narrow face. Sherri placed a blunt to her full red lips and lit it. She took a deep toke and held it a while before releasing it through her nose.
She checked her cell phone.
"Why hasn't he called," she thought and added, "Maybe I came on too strong." She dismissed the notion and put her cell phone down.
The phone rang. It was Veronica.
"Hi!" Sherri said.
"Hi I'm on the way to Jamaica!" Veronica said excitedly.
"Great! Are you having fun?"
"Yes! Listen. I met this gorgeous hunk in the ship's lounge."
"Already playing the field? Veronica!"
"I keep my options open. We went back to his cabin and had some fun if you know what I mean."
"What about Aldo? How did you get rid of him?" Veronica had a sudden vision of Aldo being pushed overboard. Her mind watched Aldo splashing around as he was receding in the distance.
"He got seasick. He hasn't been out bed." She laughed.
Sherri laughed.
"Just to make sure he doesn't suddenly get over it, I slipped him a sedative." Veronica laughed again. "I got to go. Call you later!"
Sherri put the phone down and picked up the latest issue of
Vogue