“I understand. And really, it’s no problem. Just tell me when the new rate goes into effect and I’ll take care of it.”
Aisha was amazed. Elisa Santana hadn’t bothered to even ask her how much of an increase. She didn’t seem the least bit upset or bothered by the notice of an increase.
“Don’t you want to know how much the increase is going to be?” Aisha asked trying not to sound too astonished.
“Why, of course,” Elisa said, while slinging her tresses over her shoulder. “But it really won’t make any difference because Gabby isn’t going anywhere else. She loves you and I love the way you teach and that’s that. The money is no problem.”
“Wow,” Aisha mumbled. Does she have a rich boyfriend somewhere lurking in the background or what? Aisha slightly grinned.
Sure enough, when Aisha told Elisa that the tuition was going up by twenty five percent, Elisa answered with an “okay,” and nothing else was said.
“If only the other parents would be so easy,” Aisha told Tameria after Elisa Santana and Gabby left.
“Girl, what is she doing? She always looks just like she just stepped out of a fashion magazine. She drives a BMW and you said she has a house to die for. Maybe I’m in the wrong field of study,” Tameria laughed.
“I know that’s right,” Aisha responded. When Aisha offered to take Gabby home after practice one day, she was surprised at the multi-level structure and the perfectly landscaped lawn. It wasn’t that she was surprised that some of her students were not from the inner city. However it was somewhat surprising that Elisa lived in an upscale neighborhood as a single parent on a dancer’s income. On the other hand, Aisha remembered somebody telling her that some exotic dancers made a pretty hefty salary. Obviously what she had heard was right, at least in Elisa’s case.
“Come on, I’ve got to get out of here. I have to run some errands before I go to bible study tonight. Since I can’t find my wallet, I guess I’ll have to go ahead and replace my driver’s license and social security card. I’m glad I had my small purse. If I had been carrying my other purse I would have had the wallet with all my credit cards and pictures and other stuff inside. Girl, God is good. He knows he looks out for me.” Aisha let out a long sigh. “Come on, let’s get out of here.”
Aisha told Angie goodnight and she and Tameria left for the afternoon.
“Tameria, I can’t believe I forgot to tell you.” Aisha whirled around as soon as they walked through the glass double doors leading from the building.
“What? What is it?” Tameria asked.
“You remember that guy we saw at the Orpheum a couple of months ago? You know the one that walked up on us while we were talking, and you said he was only trying to throw us a line?”
“Yeah, I remember that fine hunk of flesh, but I said he was trying to throw you a line, not me. Anyway, what about him?” she countered, her curiosity piqued to the fullest.
“I ran into him when I was leaving the bank today. I was at the coffee shop having a cappuccino when I heard this heavy charming voice say hello. And when I looked up, it was none other than Chandler Larson.”
“Chandler Larson? What happened? I want to know everything,” Tameria said while they raced down the busy Memphis expressway.
CHAPTER 7
“We’re going to continue our study on peace. The Hebrew meaning of peace is shalom, which means complete, whole, nothing missing.” Pastor Shipley was an excellent bible scholar. He had a way of making the word of God plain enough for everyone to understand. Since becoming Pastor of (put the name of the church here) eight years ago, the membership had more than tripled in size and was continuing to grow by leaps and bounds. It definitely was getting closer to fitting the description of a mega church. He drew in a great deal of young people as well as older adults. “Now if you want some of this peace, you have to stay focused on God,” he said. “God wants his children whole. How can you be whole if you’re consumed with worry, if you’re troubled by financial woes and sickness and heartache? God doesn’t want that for his children. He stands ready to deliver you and make you complete. But you have to be willing to obey His word. You have to be willing to praise Him even in the midst of troubled times. The word of God says that many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivereth them out of them all! God’s word is true and his promises are real,” Pastor Shipley emphasized to the members.
Aisha understood that everything Pastor Shipley said was true. And if she just remained faithful and obedient then things would work out just fine. After leaving church an hour and a half later, she stopped off at the corner store before heading to her two-bedroom townhouse. When she drove her midnight blue Acura into the circular drive, she mouthed a prayer of thanksgiving to God. She pulled out her keys, grabbed the bag of groceries, and raced up the marble walkway leading to her humble abode. She placed the key in the lock and the lights inside the living room automatically came on. She walked into the silence of the apartment, stepping out of each shoe as she walked along the Oriental rug covering her dark stained hardwood floors. She sat the groceries on the kitchen island and began carefully pulling out the head of lettuce, shaved turkey breast and sourdough bread. Standing in front of the fridge, she yanked it open and checked to see if she had mustard and a piece of red onion for the sandwich she planned to make for her dinner. “Oh, yes,” she said breathing a sigh of relief when she found the items. She went into her bedroom, pulled off her capris and blouse. She couldn’t wait to climb into a hot steamy shower, and then prepare her sandwich in time for the new episode of American Idol.
The water pounding against her body felt like tiny electric currents that energized her yet made her feel relaxed at the same time. She held her head back with her eyes closed and allowed the warm water to bathe her ebony skin. She carefully took the bath sponge and moved it up and down the length of her perfectly sculptured body and muscular legs. After twenty minutes, she felt the water cooling down and stepped carefully out of the shower stall on to the soft white bath rug. When the cool air kissed her body a shiver raced up and down her spine. She quickly grabbed her towel and wrapped it around her upper body. After drying off, she took the fuchsia cotton robe off of her bed and placed it over her body in place of the towel, stepped into her cloth slippers and walked into the kitchen to prepare her turkey sandwich.
While preparing her dinner she checked her voice mail messages. You have six new messages. To listen to your messages press one now,” the automated voice said.
“Aisha, it’s your daddy. I’m just checking on you.” Press two to save, press three to erase or press four to go to the next message, the voice instructed. Aisha continued to listen to all six of her messages. Surprisingly there was a message from her sister, Selena and another call was from a church member about the upcoming new members’ banquet. Aisha was part of the New Members’ Committee and had volunteered to help make the arrangements for the quarterly banquet. Her last message was from one of the parents from the studio.
“Hi, Aisha, I’m sorry to bother you, but I’m calling about Cherise. She won’t be at rehearsal tomorrow. She has strep throat. I sure hope none of the other girls come down with it. Call me if you have any questions. We’ll see you next week. Bye.”
Shucks, that’s all I need is for my girls to come down with strep. Oh well, I’m not going to worry about anything tonight. She erased the message and continued to fix her sandwich before settling down in her bed to watch American Idol.
♦
The blare of the alarm clock jarred her from her sleep. Aisha turned over sleepily, rubbing her eyes and glancing over at the clock. She turned the alarm off, eased out of the bed and walked into the bathroom. She washed her face and brushed her teeth and then cleaned up the mess she’d left on her nightstand the night before. She must have really been tired. She couldn’t remember what happened after American Idol went off. She had even fallen asleep without saying her prayers. “Lord, forgive me,” she mouthed out loud. Draggin
g her feet along, she went into the kitchen, poured herself a glass of V8 and released another slow yawn as she retrieved her morning paper from her doorstep. The sound of the phone interrupted her routine.
“Good morning, sweetheart. How are you?” Her daddy asked.
“Hi, Daddy, I’m fine. I’m sorry I didn’t call you back last night. I fell asleep.”
“Oh, that’s okay. I just wanted to check on you and make sure everything was going all right. You doing okay, sweetie?”
“Sure, Dad. I told you. I’m fine. I’ve been working on the recital for the Mayor’s charity ball so I’m pretty wiped out. I want everything to be sensational. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for my dance studio.”
“I know that honey. But you still have to take care of yourself. Okay? Your mom and I are proud of you Aisha, you know that. Let us know if we can help you in any way for the ball. Now, have a good day. Call me later on if you get a chance.”
“I will. Bye, Daddy,” Aisha said and then blew a kiss into the receiver.
“Bye, baby.”
Aisha began dialing Tameria’s phone number but then stopped abruptly when she realized that Tameria was doing a thirty six hour med rotation at the hospital. She was going to miss talking to her. But she knew she might as well get used to not talking to Tameria all of the time. Becoming a doctor was quite the challenge and revamping her social and personal life would be the sacrifice Tameria would have to make in order to succeed. If anyone understood, it was Aisha. She had to do the same thing to make her dance studio successful too. Now she faced a whole new dilemma, holding on to it. With the morning came the fresh onslaught of her problem. Perhaps today would be the day things would turn around for her. She remembered that she still hadn’t located her wallet. She leafed through her purse and her dance duffel bag but the wallet was nowhere to be found. She ran outside and searched her car and still it wasn’t there.
Oh, well, forget it. If it turns up fine and if it doesn’t then so be it, she said out loud. It certainly won’t be the first time I’ve misplaced my wallet.
She took another quick shower before putting on a thigh length jean skirt over her dance leotards and body suit, then packed her duffel bag with a change of clothes, a couple of energy bars and a can of V8 Splash before heading out the door.
CHAPTER 8
Lead Detective Chandler Larson’s job in the Memphis Police Department’s Undercover Division was one he’d dreamed about all of his life. Ever since he was a little boy he often day dreamed of being a cop and an undercover agent. He lived for the excitement and danger that he encountered on an almost daily basis. Imagine, scrawny Chandler Larson, had grown up to be a big bad police detective, saving the world from the evil guy. Chandler snickered at the thought of how far he’d come from a skinny, pimple faced little country boy in Montgomery.
His thoughts quickly zeroed in on the mysterious Aisha Carlisle. Never in a million years did he think he would ever see her again. For weeks after he first laid eyes on her at the Orpheum, he thought about how it would be to come up with her. He needed a nice sophisticated lady by his side. He was tired of going home to an empty apartment. But unfortunately his job didn’t allow him the time he needed to really find that special someone. The hit and run kind of relationships were beginning to be a bore to him. He realized that at thirty-one years of age the playa in him had played out and he was ready to settle down and get serious with a lady.
He glanced over at one of his partners. “Hey, Jay, did I tell you about this dime piece I ran into earlier today?” Chandler’s face was beet red as he thought about the mysterious bombshell.
“You’re always meeting some so called dime piece,” his co-worker teased. “Tell me just how hot this one is. I’ll believe anything just as long as it gives me a minute to take a break from this computer. Man my eyes are beginning to cross. I’ve been staring at this screen so long. I can’t run a trace on this suspected carjacker yet. I’ve run addresses, aliases and tats and still I’m coming up empty. So tell me. What’s she like?” Jay leaned back in his chair, crossed his legs and put both hands behind his neck. His beer belly peaked through his celery green polo.
“This one might just be it Jay. This isn’t the first time I’ve seen her either. I spotted her at the Orpheum a couple of months ago but she got away from me before I could make my move. I thought I’d never see her again and so I told myself that it just wasn’t meant to be and left it at that. Then today, here I am at the coffee shop, right?”
“Yeah, and.”
“And I look over and see this fine young thing sitting at the table all by her lonesome. Man, this girl has got it going on. Her hair was laid back man, flowing down her back, natural and all. Just the way I like it. I’m talking about silky black thick twists. Oooh, wee. Mercy!” Chandler squealed.
Sounds like she might just be hot if she has you going off like that, man.” Jay laughed. “Come on, tell me more.”
“Well, like I said, her hair was pretty as silk, man. She had on a salmon colored pant set and those high pumps I love to see the ladies wearing. Her fingernails were manicured and I can tell that the lady was all about the business.”
“So what’d you do? Did you say anything to her?”
“What? Are you crazy? You know I wasn’t about to let her walk out of my life a second time. So, tell you what I did.”
“What?” A look of utter enjoyment was plastered across Jay’s round plump face.
I took my smooth, charming self over to her table man.” Chandler made an umph sound, and continued with his story.
Jay stopped fumbling with the pile of papers on his desk, looked up and gave Chandler his full attention.
“Man, I was determined to use my best line on this one. You know, the one I reserve for the special little honeys,” Chandler spoke with total confidence as he flashed a wide toothy grin at Jay.
“Let’s here what you said, man.”
“First, I walked up to her and introduced myself. I reminded her that I’d seen her at the Orpheum.”
“And what’d she say?”
“What do you mean what’d she say. She let me sit down beside her. I said to myself, yea, yea, yea.”
“She let you sit down? Man, how do you do it?”
“Man, I just do it because I got it like that.” Chandler spoke with a bit of cockiness. “Anyway, we talked a few minutes. I could tell she liked me even though she was playing hard to get. Girl got it all going on. She has great conversation and a mean streak to boot. Yea, I’d like to really get to know her.”
”The thing is does she want to get to know you?” Jay laughed hard almost causing the chair to tilt over from the weight of his chunky body
“Not to worry about that. I know how to handle that situation. Anyway, when she left, I spotted a wallet lying on the floor beside where she was sitting. I opened it up and it was hers. I ran outside and tried to catch her but I couldn’t. Lucky me.”
“Lucky you? You said she got away didn’t you?”
“Yeah, but now I know where she lives.”
”Are you going over to her house?”
“Naw, I’m not going to be that bold. I’m going to run a check on her and see if I can find a phone number. Once I do that, I’ll give her a ring, let her know I found her wallet and offer to bring it over. Boing…then I make my move.”
“Your move? What kind of move, man?”
“Nope, can’t tell. I can’t let you in on all my playa secrets, not just yet, Jay.” Chandler let out a laugh. “Now, let me run this check and get some work done around here for a minute.” Chandler said.
“Yeah, me too. I’ve got to get some leads on this fool before I leave here today. I’m sick of this punk going around carjacking innocent folks like he’s somebody or something.” Jay’s face showed the obvious anger he had over the suspected carjacker that had continued to elude capture.
♦
Chandler listened as the phone rang once, twice, three, four tim
es. “Does she have an answering machine,” he thought to himself.
“Hi, you’ve reached 555.8976. I can’t take your call at the moment, but please leave a message or stay on the line and your call will be forwarded to me.” Chandler decided to hang on and see if the call would reach her. Within a few seconds he heard the soft, sexy voice on the other end.
“Hello.”
“Uh, hello, he stammered. “May I speak to Aisha Carlisle please?” Chandler didn’t know why he was nervous. He just knew that he was.
“This is Aisha, who’s calling please?” Aisha didn’t recognize the voice on the other end. But whoever it was sure did sound good. The voice resonated sexiness and confidence. His deep baritone voice sent a tiny shiver up and down her spine.
“Hi, Aisha, this is Chandler. Chandler Larson, you know from the coffee shop.”
Aisha couldn’t believe this guy. How did he get her number? Was he some kind of fatal attraction or what? She was disturbed by this invasion of privacy. “Look Chandler, I don’t appreciate you stalking me. I told you at the coffee shop that I had no reason to call you. What’s up with you?” she asked angrily.
“Look, Miss Carlisle, it’s not at all like you think. I’m not a stalker so don’t worry about anything like that. He wasn’t about to tell her that he had run an NCI on her at the station by using her driver’s license.
“Well, how can I help you, Mr. Larson?”
“I think it’s how I can help you. You see after you ran away from me at the coffee shop you happened to drop your wallet. I saw it and picked it up. I tried to catch up to you but you disappeared without a trace. I was calling now to see how we might arrange for you to get it. I didn’t want to just show up on your doorstep unexpectedly, you see.”
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