A Taste of Spring
Chapter 2

SPRING

The chimes of her ringing cell phone rankled Spring Lafayette's nerves. She turned her attention from the passing scenery of city life and settled back into the backseat of the taxi. Spring glanced at the cell phone in her hand then up at the rearview mirror. Her eyes met the driver's gaze through the reflective image.

The driver, a young woman with purple hair and considerable patience, smiled.

Spring offered a half smile as she worked on calming her pounding heart which overshadowed the continuous ringing of her phone, but not enough for her to ignore it. She groaned as she tapped the answer button.

"Listen Springy, I've thought about it and you don't have to do this."

(Yes, I do.)

"Don't make it out to be a big deal, Summer." Spring tried to sound confident. "We talked about this already." She waited for her sister's response but whatever Summer planned to say was replaced by the sound of muffled coughing. The hacking cough continued for at least thirty seconds before it died away.

(Yeah, I have to do this.)

"I can handle my boss," Summer attempted to say, but it came out as a comment-cough combo.

Spring sighed. "I know you can, and I can handle this. How hard can it be?" Spring's thumb hovered over the disconnect button. "I'll call you if I need to." She pressed the button before her sister could say anything that would freak her out more than she was already.

Spring moved her finger over her email icon. She opened the email her sister forwarded to her and went over the information she needed to pull this "thing" off.

•Favorite color: Green-Her gray short dress fit the bill perfectly and brought the green out in her hazel eyes.

⚫Hair: Off face-Her hair, in long thin box braids, was pulled into a messy, stylish French braid.

⚫Makeup: Minimal-Spring never wore much makeup when she wasn't working-a little mascara, a little liner, and a touch of lip color fit the bill.

Spring closed her eyes and counted to ten as she took in, then let out slow even breaths. She attempted to calm her racing mind and dispel any assumptions about her sister's line of work or the guy she was meeting.

Escorts are not paid pieces of flesh. They are intelligent, respectable people who provide companionship for clients who have no time or desire to search for it. Clients are generally not hard up perverts who just want to get the escort naked. Most of the time they are just regular people with normal lives who for whatever reason decided to bypass the game of dating.

It was not a practice of Spring's to get so involved in her sister's life, but she owed Summer and she meant to pay her back, or start a payment plan of sorts, and taking her place on this date was the beginning. Spring's cell screen flickered with her sister's image as it started to ring again but she ignored it. She looked out of the car window to the bar's entrance and sighed. Meet him, engage him in conversation, and lift his spirits. That was what the paying client wanted for his friend, a man who had no idea that the client was not meeting him here. Instead, the client hired an escort he thought was the seasoned beauty he chose, Brittney Goings, who was her big sister Summer Lafayette.

Spring chuckled nervously as she pushed her taxi door open. As she got out of the car, she pushed her cell into her wristlet clutch, then zippered the small bag.

"Thank you," she said to the driver then shut the door.

"You want me to stick around for a while?"

The woman had gone above and beyond her duty by actually allowing Spring to sit in the back seat for over fifteen minutes, pumping herself up enough to get out of the taxi. "No, I'll be fine. Thanks again," Spring said to the driver then halfheartedly waved.

The woman gave Spring a salute before driving off. The sounds of the vehicle driving away and the uncertainty of downtown after dark gave Spring the push, she needed to walk through the parking lot toward the bar/restaurant named Murie's.0000