by Pat Simmons
After trying two chairs, I squeezed into one that I was sure wouldn’t release my behind once I stood. Folding my arms, I stretched out my legs as Mackenzie turned back to the chalkboard.
Every student followed her lead except for a dark-skin boy whose locks were longer than some women’s hair. He threw a miniature eraser at me. Shocked, I frowned at him. Is this what students did inside the classrooms these days? Ignoring him, I focused on Mackenzie, hinting for him to follow.
Not to be deterred, he began a slow scoot back in his desk. The authoritarian look I shot his way didn’t faze him. His desk was on the verge of tilting over when Mackenzie caught him. His neck whipped around.
“Moses, what do you think you’re doing, young man?”
He mumbled a reply. From the look on Mackenzie’s face, his answer was unsatisfactory. She glanced at the wall clock and motioned for Moses to come to the front of class. The boy hesitantly stood and with one final moment of defiance, glared back at me.
“Are you Miss Norton’s boyfriend?”
In one synchronized move, the heads of about twenty students turned to me. They waited, including Mackenzie. Leave it to an eight-year-old to put me on the spot. My eyes bounced off faces as if I was in the Bermuda triangle.
“Yep. You wanna to step outside?”
Where did that taunt come? Evidently, Mackenzie enforced zero tolerance in her classroom. She sent us both to the office.
Once school was dismissed, I escorted a fuming Mackenzie to her car. She had every reason to be upset. My behavior was so out of character. Yet, I couldn’t explain why being around Mackenzie, I dropped defenses as a CEO or a man trying to impress a very desirable woman.
As she walked faster, my long strides matched hers. “Listen, Mackenzie, okay I blew it and I’m sorry I disrupted your class. My sole intention was to share a quick bite with you. I did apologize to a smug Moses Hilton.”
She was almost to her car when she whirled around. Instead of lashing out, she laughed.
I didn’t get the joke. Stepping closer, I was confused. “What? Mackenzie, what’s so funny?” I rested my elbow on the hood of her car and waited. I stifled my own amusement. When she gulped pockets of air, I hoped an explanation was forthcoming.
She stopped abruptly and faced me, lifting her chin. Her eyes still glistened and her smile was mesmerizing.
“I don’t know why or how, but I have a suspicion you set me up, didn’t you?” I snarled.
She shook her head. “Nope, that was all Moses. He’s the troublemaker. Why do you think I have his desk at the back of my class? He’s the one who set you up. Noel, admit it. The CEO isn’t smarter than a fifth grader or a second grader.”
I grabbed her before she could register she was wrapped in a web of my arms. “Grade me on this.” She struggled as I kissed her. I didn’t stop until I needed air.
CHAPTER 7
Mackenzie was hot! Things seemed to happen when I was around Mackenzie. I lost control with Moses, but I was in complete control when we kissed. When I released her, three expressions played on her face: dazed, wonderful, and indignant.
“I can’t believe you did that on my job and at school where children could see me!” She got in her car and drove off. Shrugging, I got behind the wheel of mine and trailed her. She had a point, but I wasn’t thinking, which was becoming the norm.
Mackenzie’s driving hadn’t changed from the first time I followed her. She still endangered my life and made me dizzy. Once we parked, I exhaled. Climbing out my car, Mackenzie didn’t wait for me to open her car door. I was there anyway.
“Still mad at me?”
“Should I be?” With her face upturned, she issued the challenge.
“If I kiss you again, you might.” I didn’t blink.
“Noel, although I enjoyed your kiss, don’t let happen again on school property. I am a teacher and I’m a saint of God, not some hussy. My dad gave me a good name and I plan to keep it. Treat me with respect, Noel. Take note.” She turned and marched into O’Charley’s without giving me a backwards glance. I don’t think she cared if I was behind her or not.
Inside, she allowed me to catch her coat as she took it off. A hostess greeted us and then showed us to a table. After waiting for her to sit, I slid into the booth seat across from her. “Can we start over?”
“Yes.”
As she initiated a stare, I cataloged more of her features. In class, I admired her outfit, a two-piece sweater outfit with a faux-fur collar in the deepest purple I’d ever seen. I reached across the table and caressed her hand before signing. “Why is a beautiful sister who truly loves the Lord unmarried?”
Without contemplating, she shrugged. “The Lord hasn’t sent husband material yet.”
As I mulled over her comment, our waiter appeared. I wondered how much material she had rejected.
“Would you like me to order for you?” Mackenzie signed.
Not again, I didn’t need another woman feeling she had to order for me. I shook my head. If God revealed to me that Mackenzie was my Proverbs 31 Woman—filled with wisdom and charity and strength—then now was the time for me to step up to the plate.
I needed to strive to be a 1 Peter 3 man—who understood his woman, his wife, and accepted that the husband, by God’s standards, is weak. Since his wife was weaker, it would take both their prayers would please God. That’s one sermon I had remembered from a televangelist program.
“Then order,” she stated, instead of signing, ignoring the bewildered expression from our hostess.
The poor girl looked young enough for this to be her first job. I had compassion when I spoke and signed our selections. “The California Chicken salad for the lady and the Chipotle Chicken for me, and a glass of water.”
Pausing, I looked to Mackenzie for her choice of drink. She tapped her three middle fingers on the right side of her mouth a few times. Nodding, I turned back to the hostess. “And water for the lady.”
Mackenzie reached across the table and placed an incredibly soft, moist hand on top of mine. “Noel, did you see that stricken look on that girl’s face? You would’ve thought a monster was about to attack her. I could have ordered for both of us.”
“I asked you out to dinner not to be my personal interpreter, Mackenzie. You’re my interpreter at church only.” Being with Mackenzie was like enjoying cake and ice cream—both tasted better together. “How much time do we have?”
Mackenzie lifted a slender wrist wrapped in a colorful rhinestone bracelet. She toyed with the jewelry until she tapped the face of her watch. “Two hours max. Now do back to that stunt you pulled back at my school?”
“We don’t have time.”
One brow lifted, her lips squeezed in an unflattering pucker, her nostrils flared as she leaned in to me.
“Pucker again, and I’ll kiss you again,” I mouthed, waiting for Mackenzie’s category four storm to be unleashed. She fascinated me with her multi-personalities. Each piece completed the masterpiece who sat before me.
For a moment, Mackenzie debated. She opened her mouth to speak then changed her mind, slumping back in her seat. I didn’t blink as I reigned victorious.
“Listen, Noel,” Mackenzie signed as a waitress appeared, wearing a haggard expression that matched her uniform. She placed tall glasses of ice water on our table without acknowledging Mackenzie’s glistening smile. Once the woman left, Mackenzie’s charming smile evaporated as she focused on me again.
To push her button, I held up my right finger and signed, “Technically, Mackenzie, I can’t hear.”
“You’re nuts.” Reaching for her glass, she gulped a mouthful of water. When Mackenzie removed the glass, her cheeks were expanded. Granted, I didn’t know her well enough to predict her next move. It was a tossup between releasing a floodgate, and swallowing. She must have learned this trick from one of her students.
“Got you wondering, don’t I?”
Nodding, I did wonder if I should duck. Then she swallowed. The woman wa
s a prankster, and she was ready to scold me about the theatrics in her class room?
She leaned forward. “That’s payback for cutting up in my class.”
“Okay, truce.” I extended my hand as our waitress slid our meals in front of us, and then stood at attention. I didn’t break eye contact with Mackenzie until she tapped me on my hand and pointed to the intruder, talking to me.
The waitress frowned in irritation. “Would there be anything else, sir.”
“No, thank you.” I waved her away. “Now, where were we?” I asked, wiggling my mustache.
“You’re about to bless our food.”
Wrapping my hands around hers, we bowed our heads, and prayed. As our hands separated, I checked my watch. Then I forked off a piece of chicken and lifted it to my mouth. I admired that Mackenzie maintained a busy lifestyle with work, school, church, and the theatre, but she had to make an adjustment.
“Can you see yourself spending more time with me?”
“Yes, Noel, I can.”
I liked her straight-forward answers. “Tell me about your mother.”
“Katherine Norton passed away when I was ten years old. She always said we have to face the good and bad in life. One day, she reminisced how she and my dad fell in love. More than once she talked about the one chance or blessing we get in life.
“When she gave birth to me, my dad named me Mackenzie, which means daughter of wise leader. It has an Irish origin. I hope and pray she imparted some of her wisdom on me. I’ll never forget her words, all things are important in life, but there’s always something most important.”
Picking up her fork, she resumed eating. I slowed my pace to match hers. With Mackenzie, I wanted to eat up her presence and chew on her every word. The only drawback was our time was limited. I dabbed my mouth with a napkin and pushed away my plate.
“Tell me a secret. Tell me something that you hold so dear that you wouldn’t share with your best friend.” I paused and brushed my hand against her fingers.
Her eyes sparkled in merriment. “After a week, what could I possibly want to bare about my soul to you?” Her fingers danced with mine in a teased.
“You could always say I’m like no other man you’ve ever met.”
She tilted her head.
“Whatever you say, don’t say you regret getting to know me, because Mackenzie, I’m not feeling that.”
Just as Mackenzie was about to lean across the table, the waitress returned to remove our plates. She didn’t interrupt as she tore our ticket off her pad and allowed it to drift between us on the table.
“Noel, one thing I would definitely share with you is how crazy I am about your voice. When you whisper to me, the sound is strong, deep, confident, and perfect. That’s the only compliment you’re getting from me today.”
My heart pumped faster with her admission and fell in love. Somehow I predicted a relationship between us wouldn’t be that simple. Maybe that’s why I thought about the word “wife” earlier. I was willing to learn everything about her. It had to be an even exchange. “Are you a lot like your mother?”
Shrugging, she gave me a childish grin. I imagined she used it when she wanted a double scoop of ice cream when she knew she could only have one. “It all depends.”
“On?” She was teasing me.
“Oh, that depends on what day you ask my father. When I’m making him the proud papa, I’m just like him. When I’m stubborn, defiant, and free-spirited, he says I’m my mother reincarnated.”
The laugh rumbled from my stomach and climbed up my throat. By the time it escaped, I couldn’t snap my mouth shut. I didn’t care how it came out, but I delivered it to the stares of some patrons.
Mackenzie’s eyes sparkled as she joined me. She slammed money on the table and yanked me out my seat. With her arm tangled in mine, she dragged me from O‘Charley’s. The little vixen had paid the tab before I realized it, and she didn’t even blink her eye.
Opening the door to her car, I refrained from another kiss, although she was alluring.
“So, Noel is this our first date?
“It’s only a prelude.”
CHAPTER 8
The following night, I acted as Mackenzie’s chauffeur as she reclined in my passenger seat after inspecting the features of a new CTS model. “Is it to your liking?”
“It’s very nice. I thought about getting a new car. I love the smell.”
“Then why don’t you?”
Mackenzie shrugged. “My friend calls me cheap. I consider myself frugal. I don’t want to spend the money.” She paused and connected her seat belt before regaining my attention. “The concert is smooth jazz, and sometimes they play inspirational instrumentals.”
“I know.” That’s because I Googled the artist.” Driving like a drunken man under the influence of Mackenzie’s perfume, I glanced as she fumbled with knobs on my radio panel.
Steering my Cadillac through the winding road on the campus of University of Missouri at St. Louis—dubbed UMSL by Missourians—my strong black man, black deaf man exterior was shaken with nervousness. This was our first official date. I wanted to give Mackenzie memories of a fantastic evening.
From the moment I stood outside her front door, I had to rebuke the devil for taunting me that a disastrous night was forthcoming. I had hoped to formally introduce myself to Mackenzie’s father, but he wasn’t home.
Over dinner, my anxieties ceased as we ate. Several times she leaned closer to me. I assumed she was sharing a secret. It had become an endearing act that I had come to expect throughout the night.
I inched into a parking space and removed my key from the ignition. Glancing at Mackenzie, she rewarded me with a one-dimple smile. Reaching for my hand, she blessed it with a soft squeeze.
“Thank you, Noel. You’re really going to enjoy this.”
Somewhere deep inside me I found a grin to give her. If I ever needed a Tums for an upset stomach, tonight was it. I should’ve driven downtown to the Tums’ headquarters and asked for samples.
A bad feeling settled in my stomach. Was this a test to see if I would pass? Our dating experience was already starting out lopsided. A few former hearing girlfriends had used this technique as a measuring stick.
In my mind, I was already devising a payback. Mackenzie had a test she would have to pass for me. My scheme was deflated with one peek at Mackenzie. She had her head bowed. I hope she was praying for me.
Gripping my steering wheel, I closed my eyes and said my own silent prayer. When my lids fluttered, hazel eyes met brown ones. I couldn’t back out of this date if I wanted to.
“Ready?”
She nodded.
Forcing myself to break Mackenzie’s trance, I turned and slipped out my car, then opened the back door. Reaching for my hat, I placed it on my head and positioned it to my liking before I retrieved my coat.
My mother often teased me that my Fedora and wool trench coat painted me as a mysterious man. What do mothers know? Walking around the car, I helped Mackenzie get out.
With her hand—ungloved tonight—in mine, we synchronized our steps. Seconds later, we harmonized our breathing as we inhaled and exhaled the crisp, December air. Once inside the Touchily Performing Arts Center, we maneuvered through the crowd, which was a mixture of well-dressed couples, seniors, and jean-wearing college students of every ethnicity, to the coat room. I stopped counting the number of times I stared at her hair. I had to ask, “Do you sleep in curlers?”
She gave me the oddest expression before shaking her head, which further added to her carefree persona. “Why?”
With a slight tug, I twisted my finger around one spiral curl like a rope. As she waited for an answer, I stood in the middle of the lobby, messing up her hair. Playfully, she slapped my hand away. Amused, I reached for another lock.
She leaned into me so that I had a clear view of her mouth. “What are you doing, Noel? You think I wake up looking like this? It takes me almost an hour every morning to do my hair.”
>
I didn’t care about her explanation as I scanned her face, I didn’t want to overlook any spot. If she wore makeup, it was entrenched in her skin because there wasn’t a hint of it. My eyes locked in on her untouchable glossy lips. “What does it look like I’m doing, Mackenzie? I’m playing in your hair, and of course, I think you wake up looking beautiful.”
Under the guise of looking down, I appraised Mackenzie’s attire. Through hooded lashes, I got an eyeful. Mackenzie’s simmering silver two-piece suit was a mixture of satin ruffles and dazzling beadwork. I was forced to do a double take at her feet. The see-through material gave the illusion that she was shoeless. The tell-tale sign was the glistening rhinestones. Like a Rolodex, I recalled every scripture about temptation. When my eyes ascended, Mackenzie’s lips were curled in amusement.
“Enjoy the view?”
“Yeah, I did and still do.” I flirted.
“I was checking you out, too. You look very nice in your peanut-color suit and chocolate tie. It matches your hazelnut eyes. I wouldn’t be surprised if your socks were coffee-colored to go with your hot cocoa-shaded shoes,” she teased, wrinkling her nose.
“Woman, how could you lump me on a menu in sixty seconds? If you were hungry, I would’ve fed you before the concert.”
We linked hands as her face lit up with laughter. She didn’t answer, pulling me toward a theater usher. Without any resistance, I let her. A plump elderly woman, wearing an over-sized blazer, read our tickets and mumbled. She flagged another usher at the auditorium’s entrance. Mackenzie nodded and tugged me along.
A gentleman greeted us, and then guided us to the designated row. He pointed out our seats. I offered Mackenzie entrance first. After we settled into thick, dark velvet-covered seats, we accepted programs.
The words blurred as I thought about the long concert ahead. It would make Mackenzie happy and me miserable. Just like church, I would have to depend on the vibrations in my chest and under my feet to stay in sync. We were too far away to read lips since I was lucky to get any tickets on short notice and I didn’t have an interpreter.
