Read Southern Comfort (9781622863747) for Free Online Page A

text instead of calling. Within seconds her phone rang. She pressed the ignore button only to have the phone ring back to back three times. On the final call her voicemail alert chimed. Teri didn’t want to listen to it. Her phone chimed again as a text message came through.

    Seriously, a text message! Well fuck you too then .

    Teri knew she couldn’t be mad. She knew the best thing was to spend a day or two at Devon’s house. The last thing she needed was her white neighbors wondering why the black lesbian was causing a scene in their community.
    As she got in her car she noticed a flyer for the daycare. Porsha popped in her head. She thought about all the amazing nights they shared and the meals she was going to miss. It almost made her want to call. But in the end she knew it was only right. It was always best to rip the Band-Aid instead of pulling it off slowly.
    Teri pulled into her regular parking space at her job. She noticed a new car sitting in the spot reserved for the chief of staff of the hospital. She knew Carl had a love for cars but never expected to see him driving a cherry red sports car.
    Teri greeted the nurses and staff as she headed to the pharmaceuticals department. Teri was the manager of the hospital’s pharmacy and head pharmacist. The small hospital facility was created for terminally ill patients. Teri mostly dealt with high-end pharmaceuticals that were designed to make people’s final days as comfortable as possible.
    â€œHey, Ming,” Teri said as she walked into the main pharmacy area. The short Asian man was separating red pills into sets of four.
    â€œWhat’s up, boss?” Ming and Teri were the two pharmacists for the small hospital.
    Teri was always amused by Ming and his need to try to talk as “urban” as he could. They joked around a lot about how Chinese his parents were and how they were pressuring him to marry someone. They had no idea that he was gay and currently in a long-term relationship with a buff black man who looked more like a football player than a doctor.
    â€œWhat’s the orders looking like?”
    â€œRather slow for right now. Did you see the new acting chief of staff yet?”
    â€œNew chief?” Teri turned around. “Where is Carl?”
    â€œGurl.” Ming sat in his rolling chair and pushed himself across the floor. He crossed his legs and let the professional side completely go. “Do you not read your e-mail? Carl announced his resignation like two weeks ago. Haven’t you noticed he hasn’t been strutting around here?”
    â€œI just figured he was off on one of his big trips.”
    Ming shook his head. “No, honey, he resigned. But you know I have the tea right? Baby told me that he had two sexual harassment claims filed by two of those little skanky nurses on the fourth floor. You know he was fucking them right?”
    Teri curled her lips. It was a known fact that Carl had a thing for young, hot nurses. She had even walked past his office one day to hear moans coming from under the door.
    â€œWell word on the floor is he had a wild night with the new blonde and that girl with the bad red hair color. So he tried to send a picture of his junk to one of their e-mails and made a mistake and included Ms. Harriett on the e-mail.”
    Teri’s hand flew up over her mouth. “Get the fuck out of here!”
    â€œYes, ma’am.” Ming threw his head back. “So you know that old bitty wasn’t having it. So he resigned.”
    Teri laughed as she unlocked her office door.
    â€œSo anyway there’s a new acting chief and the bitch is bad. Walked in here in a pair of red bottoms I would kill for.”
    There was a knock at the pharmacy door. One of the head office admins popped her head in. “Oh, Ms. Howard, you are here. They need you in a meeting in ten minutes in the conference room.” The admin smiled before closing the door.
    Teri and Ming looked at