by Teneka Woods
“Hey,” she said, her voice low.
Nate sensed the sadness and sat up in his chair when he heard her sniffle. “What’s going on? You all right, Sunny?”
“Yeah,” she said, sniffling again. “I’m all right, what’s up?”
“It don’t sound like it. Tell me what’s going on.”
“It’s nothing, Nate.”
“Sunny…”
“Me and Levi just had a fight.”
“A fight?” Nate stood up from his desk and walked to the other room when he realized he caught the attention of a couple of his gym mates. “Did he hit you?”
“No, Nate. He didn’t hit me. We were just arguing that’s all. And I’m emotional. It happens all the time when I’m pregnant.”
He never heard anything from Sunny about Levi being violent, but Nate didn’t put anything past the guy. “You know you can tell me if he ever gets crazy with you, right?”
“Brother, I’m not the little girl anymore that you have to protect from everything and everybody. I’m an adult, remember? The same age as you. I think I can handle myself when it comes to my fiancé. We’re just two people in love having a little spat, okay?”
“Well, you know I don’t like you crying. Especially over that fool.”
“I know, but as always, we will be fine. My hormones are in overdrive and I’m probably not the easiest to be around right now, so I know I’m causing him just as much stress as he’s causing me.”
Nate shook his head. She was always making excuses for Levi’s behavior.
“But anyway… why did you call me?”
Hearing his sister cry made him quickly forget the reason for his call. And now he wasn’t sure he should even ask. “Oh… uhh… I just had a question about the engagement party, but never mind.”
“What about the engagement party? I thought you said you weren’t coming.”
“Well… I just remember you saying you needed a photographer and… I know somebody. I just had her take the pictures for my website. She’s really good and I think you should use her. I can call her for you.”
“I don’t care. I really don’t have the energy for all of this,” Sunny said. “That’s why I’m so grateful for Mama and Kaneesa.”
“Why are you doing it then, Sunny?”
“I mean… I’m excited about getting married, but it’s all the planning I don’t have the energy for.”
“Maybe you should wait until after the baby comes. It’ll give you some more time to think this thing through anyway.”
“Nate,” she sighed, “you need to hurry up and get married so you can have your own wife and business to worry about.”
He chuckled and left the room, returning to his desk. “I just want my sister to be happy.”
“I am happy. I’m getting married to the love of my life, the father of my children.”
“I don’t know, baby sis. He got you over there crying. I still say you need somebody better.”
“Goodbye, Nate,” she said.
Vaughn looked just as annoyed and disinterested as he did the other day, but Nate still smiled brightly at him and offered his hand to the kid. Vaughn took it for a brief, limp shake and shoved his hand back into his hoodie. “You ready to get started, man? We’re gonna have a real workout today. I let you take it easy last time, but we gotta hit it today.”
Vaughn said nothing.
Leticia told Nate, “I’m taking the spin class that’s about to start in a few minutes, but please come in and get me if he’s not cooperating. We had this discussion at home.”
“Don’t worry about it, Ms. Leticia. I’m sure I won’t have to do that. He’ll be fine.” Nate had his doubts, but his plan was to make Vaughn comfortable training with him, so the worst thing he could do was go running to the boy’s mama to snitch on him.
“Okay,” she smiled and touched her son’s arm. “I’ll see you later, baby.” She hurried towards the spin room.
Nate led Vaughn to the cardio section. “We’re gonna start with the treadmill again today, but only for fifteen minutes, alright?”
Vaughn pulled out his ear buds, but Nate quickly told him he couldn’t listen to any music today, either. “You gotta be able to hear me,” he said, then watched as they were shoved back inside the pocket with a frown. “Come on, man… don’t tell me you’re giving me the cold shoulder again today. What’s up?” Nate pressed the button for a pre-made workout setting on Vaughn’s treadmill before hopping on the one next to it. “Don’t do that to me,” he smiled, trying to lighten the atmosphere and lift the kid’s mood.
Vaughn simply stared at the television overhead. A college game was on.
“Depending on how much time we have left, we can go to the court and play a game if you want to. And if your mom is still in her class. You want to?”
Vaughn shook his head and Nate decided not to press him further and to just make it through another silent workout with him. When the time was up Nate introduced him to some basic muscle strengthening exercises using his body weight. Vaughn was sweating profusely by then, but never got rid of the thick jacket, and said he was tired.
“Just one more set, man. Come on. It’s almost over.”
Vaughn stood with his hands at his hips, breathing deeply.
“I’ll do it with you,” Nate said and got into position to start a lunge combo.
Vaughn walked away and took a seat on a weight bench nearby.
Sighing, Nate got up and walked over to him. “You can’t give me just one more set? I know you got it in you, man. Don’t let me down.”
“My legs hurt.”
“Well… you’ll feel better if you walk around a bit instead of sitting down. It’ll cool you down the right way. Let’s go to the basketball court.”
“I don’t wanna go to the court. I said my legs hurt.”
Nate didn’t know how much more of this he would be able to take. Leticia had paid him in advance, but if the past two sessions with Vaughn were an indication of how the remaining meetings would be he wasn’t sure he could maintain his patience. “Can you make it to my desk? Let’s have a chat.”
“I’m staying right here until my mama gets done.” He pulled the hood over his head and plugged his ears.
Nate left him sitting on the bench and headed back to his desk.
TEN
“The cat room again? Or would you prefer to work another area today?”
“The cat room,” Tora said.
“Okay, go right ahead. There are only two others in there at the moment.”
Tora signed her name on the volunteer check-in sheet and received a badge from the girl standing behind the front desk. The pungent scent of playful animals was in the air and she could hear the puppies and dogs yelping down the hall as she made her way to the cat quarters. It was during one of many weekends she sat in the apartment lacking the mood for her current hobbies and saddened as she thought about how she hadn’t been on a date or had sex in two years, and with no place interesting in mind she could think of to go to, she decided to research new ways to spend her free time. She saw a posting online from the local animal shelter about volunteer opportunities, looked up the address, and drove here the same day to sign up for orientation and training. Three times a month for four hours a day she offered love and comfort to all the fur babies waiting to be adopted into a permanent home.
As she helped the other cat room assistants clean the cages and replenish food and water bowls she thought about what she was going to wear to the meetup with Dexter that evening. She was already in good spirits about seeing him because he’d updated his profile photo, which let her know she wasn’t meeting someone with decade-old photos of themselves.
“Will you be coming back tomorrow for the mobile adoption?” the girl behind the counter asked when Tora returned her badge.
“No, unfortunately. I work tomorrow during that time, so… I won’t be able to make it.”
“Ah well, hopefully you can join us at the next one.”
“I hope so, too. I heard it’s a lot of fun.”
* * *
He wanted to meet at a sports bar in The Heights. Tora walked in and sat at the bar since most of the tables were reserved seating or occupied. She was early.
“What can I get for you, gorgeous?” the bar tender asked.
“Just water for now. With lemon. Thank you.”
“Water?” he shook his head. “I’m afraid you’ll have to go out to the patio with that type of order. These here are money-making seats.”
Tora raised a brow. “Are you serious?” He grinned and she relaxed. He filled a glass with water from the tap and slapped a lime on the rim. She grabbed a straw from the caddy and turned on the stool.
Damn!
He walked in looking like a real-life version of the man of her dreams: tall, fine, handsome. In that order. Someone called his name and he walked over to hug the guy and shake his hand. They were wearing the same biker vest. Dexter shook his head no, looked around the bar when the guy motioned to where he had been sitting. Tora knew Dexter must’ve been telling the gentleman he was there to meet someone.
She set her glass on the bar and stood up.
He saw her, smiled and walked over and she hoped by the end of the night she could cancel her membership with Soul Meet because he was the one.
Tora returned the smile. “Dexter, right?”
“Dex,” he said, and instead of taking her proffered hand he pulled her in for a hug. A tight hug, a lingering hug.
Umm… okay. Wasn’t expecting this, she thought.
“How you doing?” he asked as his hand traveled down her back, guiding her back onto the stool. “What you drinking?” He called out for the bar tender. “Carter!”
Whatever cologne he wore was doing a number on her senses already. “You know him?”
“Oh, this is my spot. Me and the bike club come here all the time.”
He fist-bumped Carter before telling him, “Give her whatever she want. Heineken for me.”
Tora ordered the same.
“I thought I was going to beat you here,” he said.
“Why? So you could watch me walk in and determine whether or not you wanted to stay or leave unnoticed?”
He laughed, looked at her, and then laughed again.
“So you’ve done that before?”
“Only once. She wasn’t my type.” Carter gave them their beers. “Let’s go outside. It’s too noisy in here.”
He brushed the seat of the patio chair with his hand before she sat down. “What’s your type?” she asked him.
“You,” he said. “I love a woman that takes care of herself, takes pride in her appearance. I even like that lipstick.”
Tora’s mobile phone rang and she reached in her purse to silence it. A quick look at the screen showed it was Nate calling.
“Is that your homegirl calling to check on you?”
“No. It’s not. Just a client I did some work for.”
“Oh, I thought maybe you had it set up so she call you if you didn’t like what you see.”
Tora smiled and took a sip of beer. “Nope. But I like what I see.”
“Then that makes two of us,” he said.
A waitress came over and he ordered a bucket of more Heineken and a platter for two of hot wings and fries.
Tora didn’t expect to enjoy his company so much, but two hours later she was still listening intently, laughing at the crazy things he said. The conversation was easy and laid-back, as if she was having dinner with someone she’d known for a long time.
He walked her to her car. “What’re you about to do now? You wanna come back to my place? We can hang out some more.”
“Absolutely not,” she said.
He laughed. “I was just testing you.”
“Uhn-huh. Sure. What would you have done had I said yes?”
Grinning, he said, “Take my number. We definitely have to get together again, but I want you to call me when you get home, let me know you made it.”
Tora waited until after she’d taken a shower and got in bed to call him. He didn’t answer, so she sent a text message thanking him for the good time. Then she called her mother.
“It was just a very mellow date,” she explained to Sharon. “He said we have to go out again.”
“So my guess is he meets all your standards?”
Tora laughed. “Yes! He does! Tall and fine. Nice personality. Good job.”
“Well, I’m glad you had a good time. Hopefully it works out.”
“I hope so, too, because it’s been way too long, Mom… if you know what I mean.”
“Oh dear. Good night, sweetheart.”
Tora laughed again and ended the call. Turning off the bedside lamp, she turned over on her side and pulled Silk closer to her. She wondered how soon it would be before Dexter asked her out again. She looked forward to telling Candace how great the date was and how, in her eyes, this one has potential. But when she woke up the next morning there were three messages from Dexter. The first two were pictures of his swollen penis, one showing the complete ejaculation running down the length of it.
The final message read: If you had said yes…
ELEVEN
“He wasn’t this stubborn until after his brother left. That was three years ago, but he still blames me.” Leticia walked beside Nate. It was the walk to cool down after their Saturday morning training session. She’d asked him to meet her at the track field at her neighborhood’s high school.
“May I ask what happened with his brother?”
She sighed. “He wouldn’t go to school, so I told him if he was living in my house he would have to go to work. But he couldn’t keep a job more than a month or two. Then I found out he was selling pills for one of his friends. Vaughn really looked up to Deon. He was his only friend pretty much, but I couldn’t have that going on in my house. He calls and talks to Vaughn, but not me. I made a lot of mistakes with Deon. I was young, didn’t know any better, but I didn’t have much help either. And I just want things to be better for Vaughn.”
Nate nodded as he listened.
“He’s always been quiet,” Leticia continued, “and socially awkward. There was some teasing at school because of his size. So being with Deon was his escape from all of that. But I need him to be stronger and to stop worrying about what his peers say. He’ll be a freshman in high school this year and I don’t want him to have such a hard time there, too.”
Nate looked at her when he heard the crack in her voice.
“And this is cheaper than therapy,” she said. “I think he just needs someone to talk to.” She threw her arms in the air and laughed weakly. “But I don’t know why I’m even telling you all of this, Nate.”
“No, it’s fine. At least I know now why he’s the way he is—doesn’t like to talk much.”
“I really want to put him in some sort of extracurricular activity just so he can socialize and make friends. Something not affiliated with his school because, otherwise, he won’t participate.”
“Hmm… I wish I could help you out with that, but all I know is sports and martial arts, and it seems he’s not interested in that.”
Leticia shook her head. “I believe once he loses some weight he’ll feel better about himself and, hopefully, open up and try new things.”
“I believe he will,” Nate agreed.
Nate called Jordyn after he left the track with Leticia. She didn’t answer, so he left her a voicemail message: “Hey Jordyn, just calling to check on you as promised. I know you’re probably having a good time with your family. Are you making smart food choices today? Get some exercise? Call me and let me—”
There was an incoming call from Tora. He quickly pressed the button to switch from the voicemail to answer.
“I’m sorry I’m just now getting back to you, Mr. Walker,” Tora said. “Yesterday was a busy one for me.”
“It’s no problem but, please, just call me Nate.”
“You said you needed me for
a wedding, Nate?”
“Yeah, my sister is getting married and I told her how good of a job you did for me and that she should hire you for her engagement party and wedding pictures.”
“Wow. I’m glad you love my work. Thank you.”
“I really hope you’re available.”
“I have nothing else lined up right now. When is the engagement party?”
Nate was stumped. He didn’t even know because he hadn’t planned on attending. “I’m sorry. I’ll have to get back to you on that. It’s sometime within the next few weeks, that’s for sure, but I will call her to find out and call you right back in about two minutes.”
He felt like a fool after dialing Sunny because she didn’t answer, and he’d tried twice. What is it with people not answering the phone today? Any other day she answered his call right away. He was the same way about her.
Now he had to wait for the opportunity to talk to Tora again. One step forward, two steps back.
TWELVE
“So… tell me again why you declined his lunch offer?” Candace browsed the photos of Nate at the park on Tora’s laptop as she sat at the dining table. She came over to get her hair braided—a simple cornrow updo. It was another of Tora’s hobbies, which doubled as a way to earn extra income. “Because you weren’t lying,” Candace went on. “He is definitely fine as hell.” She popped her gum.
Tora guessed Candace had to have the strongest jaw in the world because she was always chewing gum. Ever since she’d known her Tora couldn’t remember a time not seeing her chomping on a piece. “Right? I mean… just beautiful.” Tora sighed. “But, as always… too short.”
“How short, Tora?”
Tora raised her hand to her earlobe. “Maybe about here.”
Candace twisted her lips. “That’s not that short.”
“I was wearing sneakers,” Tora said.
“So what? Stop wearing heels,” Candace laughed.
“I’m not gonna be able to do it,” Tora shook her head and took a seat at the table.
“That’s sad. And yet the fool you said was perfect and you had a good time with was sending you pictures of his private by the end of the night.”
