Tate drove his car and parked it into his client’s driveway, both men exited the car and walked up to Tate’s clients house and knocked at the door. The waiting outside the door killed Richard, as he could not wait any longer.

Tate knocked on the door repeatedly and it seemed as though no one was ever going to unlock the door. Just when the pair was about to turn on their heel and walk away, the door unlocked, revealing a middle age white woman. She smiled at both Richard and Tate and they too returned the smile.

This must be Tate's client then. Richard thought to himself as he observed the older woman staring right back at them. The older woman had wrinkles on her face, from years of experience. The one thing that Richard had to admit was that the older woman had pretty blue eyes and pink chubby cheeks. One would go as far as to say that the older woman was kind but

"Oh Tate you are here, and who is this young man next to you?” The woman older asked with excitement in her voice and even her smile made her look suspicious. Even though her smile seemed all for show, Richard could not help but to admire her pearly white teeth.

The older woman reached out to hug Tate and as soon as she had her fill, she let go of him.

“Good morning Mrs. Elizabeth” Tate greeted the older woman.

“Good morning Tate and who is this young man next to you?” Elizabeth questioned Tate. Without waiting for any introduction, Richard reached out his hand to shake Elizabeth’s hand and she took it.

“Good morning, my name is Richard O’Brien and I am a friend to Tate,” Richard informed Elizabeth who smiled politely.

"Oh I see, pleased to meet you Richard. Oops I'm so sorry; I honestly do not know where my manners have gone, come on in” Elizabeth welcomed them into her house.

She kindly let them into her house and told them just how happy she was to have them there. As soon as they sat down onto the couch, Elizabeth’s sister, Maria showed up. Unlike Elizabeth, Maria did not look kind at all. Turns out that Maria was the one who needed her room redecorated and Tate was the one who was assigned to design it.

I know rich; I was born in a family with more money than we could count and from what I could gather this woman was filthy rich. Richard thought to himself, he knew wealth and these people reeked of riches.

The house was two- storied house and even though it was much smaller than his mansion in New York, he had to admit that Tate had done a great job decorating the interior of the house.

Maria her sister greeted both Richard and Tate, she then sat herself on the sofa opposite the men. Before long, Elizabeth walks in with a try that contained cups of coffees and placed it on the table for them to drink.

"Well thank you Elizabeth, but why do all this work when you have a maid at home to do this for you?" Tate asked Elizabeth, before Elizabeth could answer the question Maria barged in.

"Her maid is taking a day off. You know what I tell my sister Elizabeth, that she should install much more discipline into that maid of hers. Coming here to this house and giving excuses that her son is sick and she has to take him to the hospital. I bet she is probably out their selling her body to one of those township men. That is all these black women know how to do. They take advantage of us. We help them with employment and they demand pay increase” Richard did not have to look deeper into Maria’s words, from her word’s he could tell that Maria was racist and entitled.

Richard’s blood boiled in his veins, he could never understand why it was that people hated one another based on the color of their skin or background. Growing up, Richard’s mother had raised them to love everyone because everyone was equal.

"Maria stop!" Elizabeth scolded her sister, it seemed as though Elizabeth was the sensible one. Richard for what he would have said if Elizabeth had not intervened.

"But Elizabeth—" Maria tried to complain but was cut off by her sister.

"Maria stop! I am so sorry for my sister’s behavior. I do apologize. My housekeeper could not make it, because her son is sick therefore, I decided to give her a day off from work" Elizabeth informed both Richard and Tate.

Richard was thankful that there seemed to be a sane person in the family and that person was Elizabeth. Richard listened in as Tate, Maria and Elizabeth spoke of the interior designs to Maria’s room.

Even as Richard listened, he could not believe how unlucky he was, of all the days that Shelly could have been absent, she chose today and that made Richard lose interest in the entire conversation.

Although Richard was lost in his own thought, he could not help but notice that Maria looked at him as though she was studying him or better she looked like she was a predator and Richard like a piece of meat.

"Excuse me but do I know you from somewhere?” Maria asked Richard. Maria changed the tone of her voice to make it appear sexier.

"I do not think we have met before, otherwise I would have remembered,” Richard replied, almost mocking Maria.

"Ok. So what is your name then?” She asked Richard.

"My name is Richard O'Brian ma'am" Richard answered, deep down hoping that she would shut up and join Tate and Elizabeth’s conversation.

"Oh my goodness you are Richard O'Brian from O'Brian industries" Maria said excitedly.

"Yes I am indeed” Richard put on a fake smile.

"Did you know that my house in London was built by your company? And on top of that I'm a really good friend of your mother” Maria informed Richard. He could not help but mentally roll his eyes, he knew women like Maria, the rich socialites that loved younger men.

After going through hell and back with Maria, trying her best to seduce Richard by touching his leg and trying to massage his arm, it was finally time for Tate and Richard to leave. Both men thanked Maria and Elizabeth for their hospitality. Tate and Richard both stepped into Tate’s car, he started the engine and it roared with life. They drove out of Elizabeth's drive way and drove into the main road.

"So how was it?" Tate asked Richard.

"Oh my goodness I don't think I ever want to go through that again and the woman was just plain out disgusting—" Richard complained to his best friend.

"Wow hold up my friend, what are you talking about?” Tate asked his best friend as he tried to make out what Richard was trying to say.

"Maria of course!" Richard yelled out

"Wait I was talking about Shelley but anyways continue”

"She was disgusting, talking about how my family’s company had built her house, and that she knows my mother, we should make a day that me and her should meet and get to know each other and on top of that she was touching me!" Richard told Tate while letting the anger drain itself out of him.

"Wow Richard, I didn't know that you like them old and saggy” Tate laughed at Richard but Richard however did not find it funny.

After a long drive and Tate listening to Richard complain about Maria, both men stopped at a nearby coffee shop as they had a lot to talk about. The Gravel Coffee shop was just what both men needed after hours of Maria changing her mind on the kind of design that she wanted in her room.

I am surprised that this place is still standing after many businesses in this particular area closed its doors. Richard thought to himself as both men sat down for coffee.

"Richard, can you please just relax. You know I begin to worry about you as the days go by and I guess you are not really over Shelley” Tate told Richard could not eve deny what his friend was saying. He knew that he was not over Shelly and there was no use denying it.

"How can I be happy with myself especially when we left off on the wrong foot?” Richard asked his best friend, hoping that Tate would have an answer for him.

"Oh come on Richard, you did the right thing"

"Seriously Tate? I broke up with her on her eighteenth birthday, instead of telling her that I was moving back to New York City. I told her some lie about her being black and me being white and that I did not want to taint my blood by having colored children. To make matters worse by dehumanizing her and talking about her background” Richard knew that he should not be taking his anger out on Tate but he could not help but vent.

"Ok I'll leave you here to cry over Shelley. I on the other hand have a wife to get to ok, so see you” Tate said. Richard watched as his friend walked away from their table and he took his coffee along with him. Richard knew that he could not blame his friend for leaving, for the past few days he had been obsessing over Shelly. He got up from his table and walked towards the rest room to relieve

As much as Shelly loved her son, she hated going to the hospital. She hated when RJ got sick, because that meant that she had to spend more money on medication, money that she did not have. She had left RJ at the hospital and walked to the Gravel Coffee shop, she missed this place.

She smiled as she walked into the store as she remembered a time when both she and Richard had come into the same exact coffee shop for coffee. The way he would look at her in the eyes as he sipped his coffee or when he would whip out a pen and write on a piece of napkin ‘ones true love’.

Shelly walked over to the corner of the coffee shop and took her seat and before she knew it, her coffee was ready and shelly walked up to the counter to collect her coffee, not before she wrote on a piece of napkin ‘ones true love’.

Whether she was trying to make peace with the fact that Richard was gone and never to return, Shelly had no idea but she felt that she had to do it.

“Thank you” Shelly thanked the young woman at the counter and she walked away, only to stop at a nearby table as her eyes caught the attention of a napkin on another table with the words ‘ones true love.

A million thoughts ran through Shelly’s head, she shook her head as she tried to make sense of all that was happening around her. In the end, Shelly smiled as she realized that it might have just been a coincident and she left the coffee shop.

**

Shelly walked back from the men's room and walked back to his table, after sitting there alone he decided to leave and with that, he took his cup of coffee and stared at it. He saw the lovely words on it:' one's true love’, Richard smiled as he realized that there was time when Shelly smiled every time he wrote that.