She blushed, and the fact that I hadn’t even got the night started, but had already made her blush, was a huge plus. “I’d love that.”
“Great.” I turned the car around and drove the quick ten minutes to our first location and parked the car. “First stop, is my favorite restaurant hands down. We’re gonna grab a bite to eat and then head to the next place.”
“Hmm … first stop. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were trying to impress me, Mr. Michaels.”
I got out of the car and rushed around to open her door. “Then you’d be correct in that assessment.” We walked down the street until we reached Hart and Soul. It was a small restaurant nestled between two large buildings in the heart of downtown Chicago. If you didn’t know it was there, chances are, you’d miss it.
When I opened the door, there was a long hallway that took you to the main dining room. No matter how many times I’d walked these halls, it still felt like home to me. “I’ve been coming here since I was a kid,” I explained as we passed by all of the photos of celebrities who’d stopped by over the years. “John Hart and his wife were friends with my pops before he passed. Verna Hart is still best friends with my mom.”
Her eyes saddened. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know your dad passed away.”
“Thanks. He was a police officer. Got shot off duty when my mom was pregnant with me, so I never met him. But I’m close to the Hart family. They’ve been there for me and my older sis since we were kids, and never had kids of their own. I see them any chance I get, especially since my mom and sis moved down south to be closer to my mom’s side of the family.”
“I never knew this place was here,” she said in awe, glancing around the small but lively space.
I laughed as I dabbed fists with a few of the regulars who were playing chess, the norm for this crowd.
“Most people don’t. It’s been around since the 1950’s though. Back in the day, they used to have a few jazz singers in the corner, and even as a young kid, I never understood where they found the room. Now, they still play jazz music with an occasional live singer. They can’t fit more than ten tables here on live night, but when it’s warmer, there’s an outdoor patio in the back.”
“You can go back there now,” John said, coming from the back kitchen. “I told you we got those heated lamp things.” John pulled me to him for a quick hug.
“Meeka, this is John. John, Meeka.”
“Nice to meet you,” Meeka said, hugging John as well. “This place is amazing.”
“Thank you kindly, Miss Meeka.” John winked at me before yelling, “Verna, get out here. Our boy stopped by to visit us and he brought him a woman.”
“Is it Tone?” Verna asked before bursting through a side door. “Oh my word, Tone, look at you. Even cuter than the last time you stopped by.”
I laughed as I hugged Verna. “You just saw me last month.”
“And who is this pretty young lady?” I introduced Meeka to Verna who pulled her in for a hug, too. “How long have you two been dating?”
“We work together,” Meeka explained. “Tone suggested we have dinner here since we’re doing a project together.”
Verna shook her head. “Uh, uh, sweetie, I don’t buy it. Tone has never brought a woman here before.”
Meeka glanced my way, a surprised expression on her face. “Really? Never?”
I shook my head. “Never wanted to share this place with anyone before.” It was the honest truth, but she was looking at me as if she wasn’t sure she could trust me or not.
“How about I fix you and Miss Meeka today’s special?” Verna suggested.
“That would be great.” I glanced back at one of the open chess tables. “Until then, maybe I’ll teach Meeka how to play chess just like y’all taught me.”
Meeka crossed her arms over her chest. “Okay, Lil’ Tony, what makes you think I don’t know how to play chess?”
“I’m mad you ever heard that nickname.”
“You didn’t answer the question,” she stated. “I’ve been playing chess since middle school, and I’m really good. So, if you’re done assuming that I don’t know how to do certain things, care to join me at the table so I can whoop your butt?”
John’s boastful laugh cut through any smart comment I would have made next, but it was cool. They didn’t call me a state champ for nothing.
MEEKA
“THAT’S NOT FAIR,” I whined. “You never told me you were the state champ back when you were in high school. I didn’t even know they had chess competitions in Illinois.”
Tone laughed. “You didn’t give me a chance to tell you anything before you went into beast mode and called me out.”
We played two games of chess and ate the most delicious soul food I’d ever tasted in Chicago —fried chicken, macaroni and cheese, sweet potatoes, green’s and peach cobbler for dessert.
After washing it down with some ice cold strawberry lemonade, we’d said our good-byes to John and Verna so we could go to the next spot that Tone was still keeping on the hush.
“When will you tell me where we’re going?” I asked as we continued walking down State Street in the Loop area in downtown Chicago. “It’s freezing out here and thanks to John and Verna, I’m so full all I want to do is sleep. I already made a mental note to get in the gym soon to work off that down south goodness.”
“Yeah, I’ll have to hit the gym after that dinner too.” He glanced around. “You’ll find out where we are going soon enough.”
After a couple more blocks, we turned down a dark alley. Since I’d grown up in Chicago, I was used to shady alleys, but it didn’t matter how long I lived in the city, I couldn’t get down with the big ass rats.
“Eeeek,” I squealed when one of those big critters ran right in front of us. I could barely see it since there weren’t street lights in the alley. But it was lit enough for me to recognize what it as. “How much farther? I can’t get down with the vermin.”
“We’re here,” he announced, doing a combo beat-knock on a side door of a building. I didn’t even look up from the ground until the door opened and Tone escorted me in before him.
“Thanks, man,” Tone said to the person who’d opened the door. Turning to me, he introduced us. “Meeka, this is my guy, Jesse. Jesse, this is my girl, Meeka.”
My girl? Once again, my stupid heart began fluttering extra fast at the endearment. I figured he was probably just calling me that in the way one would introduce a friend, but it didn’t matter. It still made me feel special.
I reached out my hand. “Nice to meet you, Jesse.”
“Nice to meet you, too, Meeka.” Jesse looked behind him and nodded to another man who was dressed in the same uniform. “Okay, y’all follow me. You’re just in time because the show starts soon.” Jesse led us up a set of spiral stairs and through two sets of double-doors where there were two chairs, a bucket of champagne, and two glasses.
“What is all this?” I asked. “Is this for us?”
“I’ll just leave y’all to it,” Jesse said, dabbing fists with Tone. “It was nice to meet you, Meeka.”
“You too.” I walked farther into the space and noticed we were at the very top of a theater. “Seriously, we’re seeing a play?”
Tone led us to the chairs. “We are.”
I removed my coat. “How did you pull this off? Especially since we hadn’t even had a date planned until a few hours ago.”
“I used to work the lights and video for a production company that would hire us for different theaters and venues in Chicago. The film and theater world is kinda small. Yeah, we are a big city, but most of us know each other. I’ve known Jesse and Ray, the other guy you saw, since I first started my career. Jesse is a manager at this theater and Ray does more behind the scenes work.”
“Wow, I’m really impressed.” I glanced down over the balcony at all of the people in the audience. We were the only people in this section. “Are we really seeing a Broadway play? Like for real, for re
al?”
“We are, but it’s more like a musical.” He searched my eyes, uncertainty in his voice when he asked, “Is that okay? I guess I don’t even know if you like musicals.”
“Darling, it’s more than okay,” I said dramatically, imitating my best Eartha Kitt voice from the time she played the role of Lady Eloise from Boomerang. “I live for theater. I was made for the stage life. Alas, I work in reality television where actors’ dreams go to die a slow death.”
Tone laughed. “You a trip, but I’m glad you’re down. I’ve already seen this play four times, but this is my first time seeing it with someone special.”
I looked his way, expecting to see that he was teasing, but his eyes were serious. So, of course, since my nerves were on edge, I tried to ruin the moment by telling him, “I don’t believe you. There’s no way all of a sudden you decided I was special and worth all the trouble you’ve put into tonight.”
“You are special,” he retorted. “I’ve known you were special for a while and I apologize for not asking you out sooner because lord knows I wanted to.”
“Really? Even after that stunt I pulled when we were supposed to go on a blind date?”
He laughed. “Hell, nah. That shit was crazy. Why did you do it anyway?”
I sighed. “Honestly, it was really stupid of me. When Z set up the blind date, he didn’t tell me anything about you. As a matter of fact, I think he just referred to you as T.”
He nodded. “Z is always giving people a nickname within a nickname. He called you MeMe.”
“He still does,” I replied with a laugh. “Hopefully, you don’t think I’m any crazier than you already do, but I had asked Z to at least show me how you looked. So he pulled up your page on social media and I noticed the cover pic on your Facebook page. Observing it more, it looked like you lived on a block I was familiar with. You were posting about taking a run or something and there was a house in the background that caught my attention. I knew I had to go to it in person.”
“So, you decided to break into my house from a Facebook pic?”
“No, not exactly. There was a for sale sign up and I didn’t know you lived there. In the pic, there were several houses behind you. My dad has never been in my life, but I couldn’t believe it when I saw that for sale sign on the lawn of the house he’d lived at for most my life. It broke my heart that he would move without even telling his own daughter.”
“I’m sorry, I didn’t know that when I called the cops.”
I shrugged one shoulder. “It’s okay. I was crazy for doing it and the cops weren’t even listening to me when I tried to explain. I swear I broke in to see if I could find any clues about where he left to. With the exception of the occasional birthday card and the periodic ‘I’m doing good’ text, I never really heard much from him. I was so surprised when everything was furnished. And then, you caught me.”
“I was only living there temporarily,” he told me. “It was owned by an old friend and co-worker who moved to Texas. They needed someone to live there while it was being renovated and being shown to homeowners. I offered to watch over the renovation and handle it for them.”
“I know,” I confessed. “I found out after our incident that my dad hadn’t lived there in five years. Then Z told me the other part. I don’t know what I was thinking going there in the first place.”
He laughed, breaking the tension. “You scared the shit out of me by the way. Not every day I catch someone in a ski mask standing inside my house. I almost punched you, but you squealed and I knew you were a woman, so something stopped me.”
“Well, me and my face appreciate that you didn’t do that.”
The lights flickered, indicating it was almost show time. “Are you close to your mom?” he asked.
“Extremely! She’s with her boyfriend in Australia right now enjoying life. He took her on a two-month vacation since he had to go there for work, so she gets back in a month.”
“Where is your dad now?”
“Hell if I know.” Inwardly, I was smiling a little despite my relationship with my dad because I’d finally told Tone why I’d broke in that day. It felt like a huge weight had been lifted from my shoulders.
“About what we were discussing before,” he mentioned. “If I’m being honest, I was over the fact that you’d broken into my home a couple months after it had happened. I’d wanted to ask you out, but by then, we both had decided to go the avoid-each-other-when-possible route, but yeah, you’ve been on my mind for a minute.”
I scooted my chair closer to his and leaned my head on his shoulder. Usually, I was bold as hell, but there was something about Tone that made me nervous at times. “I’ve been hoping you asked me out for a while, too,” I admitted. “Glad you finally did.”
It wasn’t until the lights dimmed and the first scene started that I realized I’d forgotten to ask what we were watching. The moment I heard the first words of the first song, I knew it was Hamilton.
“I’ve wanted to see this forever,” I whispered. “Thanks so much for doing this.”
“You’re welcome,” he murmured back as he placed a kiss on my forehead.
I wanted to give the amazing play all of my attention, and while the musical had been fantastic, it only came as second best to my impromptu date with Tone.
CHAPTER 9
She may be crazy, but the good ones
are worth the insanity.
~ Madame Social ~
M EEKA
“I HAD A GREAT TIME TONIGHT,” I told Tone as we arrived at my condo complex.
“Me too. Thanks for agreeing to go out with me.”
Me agree to go out with you? Um, did he forget who he was talking to? He’s lucky my ass didn’t hop out the car and do a happy dance the minute he’d asked me. Instead of sounding like I’d never been asked on a date before, in my most nonchalant tone, I uttered, “No problem.”
He rubbed the palm of his hands against his jeans, like he wanted to ask me something else, but was choosing his words. I was too ready to hear what he had to say, but, “I guess I will see you at work tomorrow,” was not it.
Tomorrow? Um, nope, doesn’t work for me. “Would you like to come up to my place for a nightcap?” I tried my best to sound chill, but wasn’t sure I’d pulled it off. There was no way anything physical besides a kiss or two was gonna happen tonight because I wouldn’t let it. After all, it was only our first date. Still, I felt a need to add, “Maybe for a glass of wine so we can discuss the meeting with Tabitha tomorrow?”
He smiled. “I’d like that. Let me just find a spot to park.”
“No need. I have a tandem spot if you want to park in my garage.”
“That’s cool.” We parked and took the elevator to my floor, making small talk when so much more lingered in the air around us.
When we got to my place, I took our coats and poured our wine before showing him around. “Your place is really nice. Just like you with the bright, bold colors and different patterns.”
“Thanks.” I walked over to my deep blue loveseat, leaving enough space for Tone to sit next to me. “I lived in Brooklyn, New York for a year in the Bushwick area, and the art galleries and unique use of color splattered on the sides of buildings and in the restaurants really inspired me. When I moved back to Chicago, I knew I had to bring a little piece of it with me.”
“I felt the same way when I moved back to Chicago after traveling throughout Europe for work for three years.”
I took a sip of my wine. “I’ve always wanted to work in Europe. London in particular, but really, anywhere would be cool.”
“I enjoyed it, but I was glad to be back in my city. Especially since I’d left on a whim when my three-year-long relationship ended.”
“Wow, that’s a long time. If you don’t mind me asking, why did it end?”
He grinned. “Meeka, I’ve met three of your exes already, and assignment or not, because of that fact alone you have every right to ask me.”
I shrug
ged. “You never know what people don’t want to talk about.”
“I get it,” he said. “I don’t mind talking about it because, looking back, I realize it should have been over two years before it ended. I’d met her right out of college and I fell for her pretty hard. Back then, we were both trying to establish our careers, taking any job we could in our field to try and build our resumes. We actually met in Paris through the same program and took a lot of the same jobs so we could be together.”
I did quick math. “You mentioned being in Europe for three years, too.”
“Yeah, she was American, but we never dated in the States. We only dated overseas. I guess that’s why I know it should have ended way before it did.”
“Why did it end?” I asked.
He sighed. “Remember when I said I’d been cheated on?” I nodded. “I came home from work one day and caught her in bed with another man. After I punched his ass and kicked him out of the apartment we shared, her and I had a bad blow up and she admitted to having cheated on me with five other men.”
“Damn. I didn’t see that coming.”
“I hadn’t either. Especially since I’d been faithful to her and had never cheated on any woman I’d dated before. Even more frustrating was that I still loved her even after she’d ’fessed up to everything she’d done.”
I took another sip of my wine. “I hate it when that happens. Here you are, crushed that the person you put your faith into stepped out on you, yet, you can’t cut off that love switch … therefore, further connecting you to a cheating, no-good, hope-your-dick-falls-off-the-next-time-you-sleep-with-a-bitch bastard.”
Tone blinked. “Ah, something like that.”
“Which is why I appreciate the relationships like Luke that ended because we realized we weren’t right for each other and not because of disloyalty.”
“Right. Luke. Good ole’ Lucas.”
“Tell me how you really feel,” I teased. “It’s cool though. I saw you fidgeting during the meeting with Luke. Figured you were probably surprised he wasn’t trying to make a fool of me like my last two.”
Single AF (Social Experiment Book 1) Page 7
