by Teneka Woods
“What?” she giggled.
“I gotta know.”
“No. No, I did not.”
“Good,” he said, and lowered his head again.
When his lips touched hers, her body’s response was immediate. With her arms still clasped above her head, she arched into him as he kissed with a plaintive tenderness. Not once, but three times.
With each kiss Tora wondered how she ended up here. Lying on her back across this man’s lap while he kissed her as if she belonged to him.
But she enjoyed it. At the same time, she regretted how much she enjoyed the feel of his mouth on hers.
He released her hands and she sat up. “What was that?” she asked.
“I don’t know. I mean… I couldn’t resist. I hope you’re not—”
“We’re supposed to be watching the game. That’s why I came over here.” She said it as though she was trying to convince herself more than she was trying to convince him. The truth was, she was attracted to him, but she’d made a vow to herself two years ago that the next time she slept with a guy would be in a committed relationship. There were many casual, friends-with-benefits types of hookups in her past, and the Tora of two years ago wouldn’t have had a problem going all the way with Nate, but she wanted more than just romps between the sheets whenever she needed a release.
Her cell phone rang in her purse and she got up to answer it. A smile crossed her face when she checked the caller ID. “I’m gonna take this,” she said to Nate and walked down the short hallway towards his bathroom. Pressing the button to answer the call, she said, “Well, well, well… hello, stranger. You’ve finally come down off Cloud Nine long enough to give your best friend a call?”
Cynthia laughed. “It has not been that long since the last time we talked. Don’t even try it.”
“Ever since you got yourself a new man I don’t see or talk to you as much anymore.”
“That’s not true. You’re exaggerating.”
“Well, that’s what it seems like,” Tora said. She entered Nate’s bedroom and took a seat on the floor at the foot of his bed.
Candace was her work associate, but Cynthia Williams was her best friend. They met shortly after Tora moved to Houston, when she was looking to connect and make friends in her new city. Last summer, following a breakup with her boyfriend, Cynthia went back to her hometown to recover and spend some time visiting with her grandmother, but ended up meeting a dream man. Since then, their girlfriend get-togethers were few and far between according to Tora because Cynthia’s weekends were tied-up with her significant other.
“What’s up with you?” How are you doing?” Cynthia asked her.
“That’s what I should be asking you. I’m surprised you’re still awake and not knocked out after a hot sex session with your beau.”
“Oh lord, Tora. Holiday doesn’t drive down until tomorrow afternoon.”
“Mmm-hmm… I can’t believe you still call him Holiday.”
“I know, but it’s what I’m used to. Besides… it suits him. Each time I’m with him it feels like a holiday, so…”
“Quick… somebody pass me a bucket! I’m gonna be sick!”
“Whatever,” Cynthia said, laughing.
“I’m here at Nate’s apartment. We’re watching the game.”
“Nate? Is that the guy you told me about that was—”
“Fine as hell, but short,” Tora finished for her.
“Girl, if you don’t stop being so picky you’ll never meet your soul mate.”
“And I’m so tired of hearing that!” Tora rolled her eyes. “I know what I want, okay? Don’t fault me for it.” Then she smiled. In a low voice she said, “But he kissed me…”
“Wait… what? How did that happen? I thought you weren’t interested in him like that?”
“That’s the problem. I like him, but I don’t want to.”
“What kind of sense does that make, Tora?”
“This whole abstinence lifestyle sucks. I’m horny and he’s available, but I don’t want to do it because I’m not looking for a fuck buddy.”
“Did he tell you that’s what he wanted?”
“No. He’s a real gentleman.”
“And just because he doesn’t meet one of your requirements you—”
“Can’t do it,” Tora said, and sighed in frustration.
“I can’t believe you’re the same woman who told me I was out of my mind when I was questioning whether or not I wanted to give Holiday a chance.”
“Your situation was different. And you see he’s turned out to be the best thing that’s ever happened to you.”
“You should take your own advice and quit being so shallow.”
“It’s deeper than being shallow. You know that.”
“Okay, so, the little man you were madly in love with broke your heart and you swore you would never go there again? But are you telling me that if a handsome man broke your heart just the same, you would start dating ugly men exclusively?”
Tora laughed out loud.
“See… you laugh because you realize how silly all of this is.”
“That’s not true! Between you, my mom, and Candace, y’all just don’t understand because you’ve never been the tallest woman in the room. You’ve never had to deal with the stares, being asked constantly, ‘How tall are you?’, hearing snide remarks from men, like, ‘That’s one tall tree I would like to climb.’ Or being single for most of your life because there just aren’t enough tall men to go around. Dating a man shorter than me is just a constant reminder of all that.”
“T, you’re missing it!” Nate yelled from the living room. “Where you at?”
“Girl, you got me missing the game,” Tora said to Cynthia. “I’ll have to call you back later.”
“Don’t bother. I’ll be asleep by then. But you better open your eyes and see what’s right there in front of you.”
“Bye, girl,” Tora said, ending the call.
“I told you to never underestimate those Cowboys,” Nate said. “You were talking all that noise earlier, but look what happened?”
“I step away for ten minutes and the Cowboys were able to score a touchdown?”
“Yep, yep,” Nate smiled and winked at her.
“But they missed the field goal?”
“That doesn’t matter. They scored. They won. End of story.”
She re-joined him on the sofa. “It’s just a preseason game, so it’s no big deal.”
“Oh now it’s not a big deal?” Nate chuckled.
Neither one of them mentioned the kiss again that night. They sat, talking and watching more television as they had done in Tora’s apartment. Just two friends laughing and enjoying each other’s company until several hours ticked by and, by then, Tora was too tired to drive home, so Nate suggested she stay the night. On the couch they both remained until their eyelids closed. They slept upright underneath his University of Texas blanket, their feet resting on the coffee table amid the boxes of half-eaten pizzas, discarded chicken bones, and grease-stained paper napkins.
THIRTY-ONE
Nate stood when Sunny entered the restaurant so she would see where the waiter had seated him. She was a lot fuller with this pregnancy than she was when she carried Anaya and Baby Levi. Her face and neck were plumper, and her ankles reminded him of the elderly ladies he’d seen over the years suffering with edema in their lower limbs. Sunny lacked the same energy, too, but Nate figured maybe this baby just required more of her.
“What’s up, baby sis?” He held the chair out for her to sit.
“I can’t believe you are actually waiting for me this time.”
“You need to stop with all that for real,” Nate chuckled.
“Did Mama call you? She’s not coming. She couldn’t leave the office.”
“She didn’t, but okay.”
“So we can go ahead and order now.”
Nate flipped through his menu again and the waiter came over and placed a basket of bread on the
table before taking their beverage order.
“So this means you got the tab this time, right?” Nate said when the waiter left.
“Nope. I’m gonna need to see you show up on time for something more than once before I buy your lunch.”
“You’re wrong for that, man,” he shook his head, smiling.
Sunny asked, “So, what have you been up to?”
“Nothing really. Just trying to figure out how I can bring in some extra income. Did Mama tell you what she’s doing to me?”
“No. What?” Sunny dunked some bread in olive oil and took a bite.
“I have to pay her back for college.”
“Are you serious?”
Nate nodded his head. “Three hundred dollars a month.”
“Oh my god. I know she had been saying that for a couple years now, but I didn’t think she would actually do it. Wow. So what are you going to do?”
“I’m not sure right now. It’s not like I can work extra hours at the gym. I just… I don’t know.”
“You know she won’t be happy until you’re practicing law again.”
“That’s not gonna happen that’s for sure. I wasn’t in love with the profession like you, Dad, and Bryan are.”
“The first few years are always tough as you’re trying to establish yourself and build a clientele,” Sunny said, “but I can’t imagine doing anything else.”
“I know, partner. You were taking me to court every other weekend, remember?” Nate smiled, recalling the many times his sister begged him to play Courthouse with her during their adolescent years. Of course Nate always had to play the criminal, and she the prosecutor. She was the judge too, and he could never seem to escape the maximum sentence for his crimes. It was during their final year in junior high school that Sunny decided she wanted to study family law after her best friend’s mom lost the custody battle to her estranged husband simply because he made more money. Nate witnessed his sister fall into a deep depression that lasted three months when her best friend had to leave Texas for Oregon to live with her father.
“Don’t try to pretend you didn’t like playing along. We were just practicing for what we were meant to do.”
“What you were meant to do,” Nate corrected her.
“How long do you have to pay Mom the three hundred dollars?”
“Until the debt is paid off. She told me I’m responsible for half of what she and Dad paid in tuition.”
“Wow,” Sunny said. “So you’re basically paying back a student loan.”
Nate shrugged. “Basically.”
“It’s funny, and it’s not funny at the same time.”
“She gave me the list she had typed up. It shows everything—right down to the pack of gel pens I loved to use.”
“Oh my god,” Sunny said again, laughing. “Are you really surprised though? Remember that time I accidentally broke her antique music box? She didn’t give me an allowance for four whole months. I had to pay the cost of the repair.”
“Well, you kinda brought that on yourself to be honest, baby sis, because you know she always told us to stay away from it.”
“I know, but still… sometimes I felt like she went a little overboard when trying to teach us a lesson.”
The waiter finally returned to take their order and Sunny requested more bread with her entrée. She’d eaten the entire basket by herself since Nate didn’t touch any of it.
Her phone rang. “That better not be the office. I told them I was taking an extended lunch today.” She retrieved the phone from her purse and looked at the screen. “It’s Kaneesa,” she said, and set the phone down on the table. “I’ll have to call her back. I’m sure she just wants to tell me about another cool idea she came up with for my wedding. Or maybe to talk about you.”
“Talk about me?” Nate said.
“She’s still upset about the whole photographer thing. She didn’t appreciate how I chose your friend over the guy she hired. She said I was showing favoritism because you’re my brother. But you know she’s still in love with you, right?”
“Sunny—”
She laughed because she knew he didn’t want to talk about Kaneesa.
“We really haven’t had the chance to talk about your new friend. What’s her name again? Tory?”
An immediate smile came to his face. “Tora.” It was nearly a week ago the last time he saw her—the night he kissed her precious lips. They hadn’t seen each other since then, but he still performed his nightly and morning phone calls to ensure she was safe in her apartment. Their conversations were usually brief, and a few times not, but she didn’t say anything about the kiss—and he was afraid to—which made him wonder if he’d overstepped his boundaries that night. At the time, she seemed to enjoy it, in his mind she welcomed it even, based on the way she kissed him back, but perhaps she’s had time to reconsider her feelings about it.
“Are y’all dating?” Sunny asked him.
“Just friends,” he said. “I’ve been spending some time with her. She came over to watch the game with me Thursday night. We chilled, relaxed. It was cool. I like her.”
“Oh yeah? What’s so special about her?”
“Other than her being the sexiest woman I’ve ever seen?”
Sunny rolled her eyes. “I swear that’s all you men care about. What does she do for a living?”
“She works in retail. A department store in the mall.”
“Impressive,” Sunny said. It sounded like something their mother would say when she was being sarcastic.
“She loves it,” Nate said. “And she does photography on the side.”
“I’ll admit… I absolutely love how our photos came out. She did an excellent job.”
“See? Now aren’t you glad you didn’t listen to Kaneesa?”
“You did her so wrong,” Sunny shook her head. “I thought I’d never hear the end of it after you left the engagement party. Why don’t you like her, Nate?”
“Sunny, we’ve discussed this before, and don’t act like she hasn’t told you what I told her. I’m just not attracted to her in that way. We’re better off as friends. Besides… I love you sis, you know that, but you and Kaneesa are too close. I don’t need my sister knowing the specifics of what I do in the bedroom.”
Sunny almost spit Dr. Pepper all over the table as she laughed out loud. She had told him Kaneesa told her about their night of sex upstairs in his bedroom while everyone else was on the first floor drinking and being merry at their parents’ Christmas party.
“I still can’t believe she did that,” Sunny said. “Mama probably would’ve torn through the house like a tornado clearing everybody out if she knew what was going on.”
“I’m trying to forget,” Nate shook his head at the thought.
“You owe her. You were wrong for treating her the way you did.”
“I was drunk. She was the one who initiated it. I wish I were strong enough that night to say no, but I wasn’t. I’ve apologized and told her where we stand. She’ll be okay.”
“Heartless.” Sunny pursed her lips.
“I was honest.”
They were in the middle of their meals when Sunny’s phone rang again. Nate knew it was Levi when she answered, “Yeah, babe?”
He pulled out his own phone to see if he had any calls or text messages, to see if there was a word from Tora. In the guys’ text message group Jamal had sent a link to some video about women and the top qualities they sought in a partner. He was always sending links to videos and articles. If they weren’t about the plight of society—black society in particular—they were about relationships between men and women.
Kevin was the only one to respond. Fool, didn’t i tell yo ass before ain’t nobody got time to watch a video? we at work fool!
Nate put his phone away when Sunny’s voice raised a notch.
“I have no idea what you’re gonna do, okay? You created this mess. I can’t believe you would do something like this, Le, considering all of what we h
ave going on right now… the wedding, the baby.” Her fork hovered above her plate as she listened, her eyebrows knitted in frustration. “No. No. No, I’m not. You call around and ask. This is your problem!” She threw the phone down on the table.
It was the first time Nate had ever heard her talk like this to Levi. “What’s going on, sis?” he asked.
She put a palm to her forehead and closed her eyes. He watched as she shook her head, her chest expanding and contracting as she took slow, deep breaths. Her eyes finally opened. “Nothing,” she said, and reached for the salt shaker. “It’s nothing.”
He knew it made no sense to try and probe further because the stubborn set of her mouth let him know she didn’t intend to say anything about whatever was going on in her household.
He returned to his salad and for the remainder of their lunch date all she would discuss was her newfound position as third partner of Thomas, Baker & Walker—a women-only practice specializing in family law—and the baby girl she couldn’t wait to meet.
* * *
“Look.” Vaughn grinned proudly as he stood on the scale.
“Another three pounds already? Look at you, man!” Nate gave him a high-five. “So this just proves you’re making good choices all around. This makes my day.”
“My shorts are baggy on me now, too.” He lifted his hoodie to show Nate the extra room in the waistband of his gym shorts.
“It feels good, don’t it?” Nate said, matching his smile.
“Yeah. I feel like I got more energy, too. I started riding my bike again.”
“See? I told you that was gonna happen. Now you just have to keep it up. That’s what counts. The point is to get your body moving as much as you can every day.” Nate led Vaughn back over to his desk to sit since Leticia was still in the sauna. “Now that you’re down fifteen pounds, it’s a good time to think about the overall goal. We have to figure out the healthy weight range for you so you know what you’re striving for.” Nate was glad to see a genuine smile on the kid’s face, and it seemed with each session Vaughn was getting more comfortable talking to him.
While they sat waiting for his mother, Nate discussed with Vaughn his plans for their remaining training sessions. “School starts for you in the next couple weeks, right?” Nate asked once they were done.
