Without uttering a word, she leaned her head back and gazed into his eyes, thoughtfully. Then, without warning, she drew close to him, snaked her arms around his broad shoulders and, standing tiptoe, and brought her warm quivering lips to press against his.
Instinctively, he moved his mouth over hers devouring its softness and passion, his thoughts filtering back to the day of their first kiss, right after college. Then, just as instinctively, a more recent memory caused him to pull away.
“Umm, please, Roxanne. How about we just take a deep breath and sit down,” he half pleaded.
She nodded, easing gracefully onto the sofa.
“So, what brings you into town?” he began after recovering, leaning forward, his eyes leveled at hers.
“We’re here because my nephew, who also happens to be my godson, is graduating from college,” she answered.
“Princeton, I imagine?” Kurt asked.
“Yes.”
“That’s great,” Kurt replied, looking into eyes that once sent him into orbit. “So where’s Don boy?”
“My husband has flown down to Florida on a four week work assignment today. He’s an Exxon executive president and he’s down there to inspect some of the offshore oilrigs in the Gulf. I’m flying down Monday to join him. He’s scheduled to leave for the oilrigs on Thursday. As for the boys, they will return to their boarding school in Virginia”
“What school?” he asked.
“The Citadel Military Academy.”
“Great school,” he quipped.
“Don wanted them to have a military career so he encouraged them to apply there.”
“Four weeks, huh,” he said, thoughtfully. “Where will you be staying?”
“In a leased bungalow in Florida.”
“That’s right, you did say Florida,” Kurt nodded. “Where ’bout?”
“Tampa.”
Kurt’s eyes widen. “Tampa Bay, Florida?”
“Yes. Tampa Bay,” she smiled. “Grandma told me earlier that’s where you live now. We definitely have to get together sometime while I’m down there. Perhaps you can show me around the area.”
Kurt was speechless. So much, he could only nod his head.
“I bet you got someone special down there already, don’t yaah?” she probed.
He was about to answer when his grandmother entered the room carrying two round dessert plates with two freshly cut slices of sweet potato pie on both. She told them she had chilled the hot pie in the refrigerator for about two minutes so that it could firm up some.
Though chilled, the pies were still warm to the touch, just as Kurt liked it. Not too hot, not too cold. Excusing himself, he headed towards the bathroom to wash his hands.
A second later, the phone rang. Grandma, now seated on her Lay-Z-Boy recliner, asked Roxanne if she would answer it. Without hesitation Roxanne reached for the phone, which was a little over an arm’s length away on the wooden lamp table.
The call was for Kurt. The caller was Yvette.
Once summoned, Kurt arrived in the room and took the phone but not before Roxanne said softly, “I’ve got a feeling that call was the answer to my last question.”
Chapter 13
Yvette had spent the better part of the afternoon doing laundry and cleaning house. Over time, this became her Saturday routine. Earlier in the day, Juanita dropped by for lunch and girl talk, and then took off for home to prepare for a dinner date. Before departing she playfully chided Yvette for not having introduced her to the new man in her life. With a chuckle, Yvette promised her a personal introduction when he returned from up north. Besides, what kind of friend would she be if she failed to introduce her best friend to her new man interest?
After running out to the local Mart, she picked up a few necessities and returned home to watch a Motown special. Before the special was over, Antwan called to invite her out to dinner the following day. With nothing planned, she accepted. It was then she remembered her promise to phone Kurt to see how things were going with him at his grandmother’s house.
After she restored the mop and mop bucket and washed her hands, she made the call. As the phone rang on the other end, she realized that he had been gone less than a day and she missed him already. She found his voice wonderfully soft and masculine, and reassuring, as they got caught up on the day’s activities. He wrapped up their conversation by telling her he looked forward to seeing her again, and soon. She responded likewise.
Hanging up the phone she rolled over on her side on the wide bed; her doe-like eyes fixed on a nearby wall, and pondered whose sexy voice it was that initially answered the phone. It was definitely not the voice of a seventy-one year old grandmother, she was certain.
Kurt paced nervously in the shadows of his half darkened room, trying to make sense of all that had transpired with Roxanne earlier. She still had a way with him. For certain, he’d have to find a way to avoid her. This was a diva that could make more than a man’s blood pressure rise. But she had insisted that she had turned over a new lease. Or was she just up to her old ways, he pondered. And what was that kiss all about? He should have never allowed her to get that far, he admonished himself.
Sitting down, his thoughts turned to Yvette and what could possibly be going through her mind. Though she never inquired about Roxanne during their conversation on the phone, he felt that the question would be posed to him immediately upon his return to Florida.
Rising up, he wrapped a robe around his muscular frame and walked over to the window and peered out at the moon. What about his own feelings, he thought, and those that Roxanne brought to the surface tonight? Could it be that, in some way, he still harbored deep repressed feelings for her? With much to think about, and not wanting to, he headed downstairs towards the kitchen to get a glass of chilled wine. This just might help put him to sleep, he thought. And it did.
Grandma sipped at her coffee as she listened to Kurt, who sat across from her at the kitchen table eating a toasted bagel, give her the up and up on the lovely Yvette Roberts. Though he did his best to convince his grandmother that they were just good friends she was not having any of that. She had seen a romance or two in her day and knew a serious relationship in the making when she heard one. Her only concern was his feelings for Roxanne. She did not let on to him that she saw them kissing before she entered the living room the night before. She wanted to hear it from his mouth. After all, she remembered a time when he and Roxanne thought they were the only two people on earth to have discovered the secrets of love.
“I don’t know, Grandma,” he said, seeming uneasy with the subject matter. “Roxanne had her chance with me long ago and blew it. I loved her more than I loved myself. And I would have done anything to please that woman, anything to make her happy. But she used me and that I cannot forget. Besides, she’s married now.”
“I’m glad you remembered that,” Grandma added, looking him benevolently in the eyes.
The two settled in after that conversation as they returned to more familiar topics. He brought the conversation to a close by revealing his plans to open a tutoring and counseling center for disadvantaged youths in the Tampa area. This was his most pressing project to date, he told her.
“God, I’m so proud of you, Kurt. You’re always thinking about others.”
“Well, it’s only because you helped raised me right,” he returned.
There was a pause.
“What’s the matter, grandma?” he asked, with great concern, rising up. She had risen up an inch to leave the table when she collapsed back down into the chair. Without giving it a second thought, he rushed to her side. Quite adamantly, she insisted that she was fine. It was probably just her blood pressure, she said, then explained further, “It’s been a little elevated lately.”
Getting her medicine from the ceramic countertop, he retrieved a glass from the cupboard, grabbed a tall carton of orange juice from the refrigerator, then pour it. Grandma promptly took the heart and blood pressure pills that she should h
ave taken hours earlier. She assured him that she would be fine in a couple of minutes.
Kurt was far from feeling at ease. He felt anxious and justifiably worried. He decided to hang around a while longer and keep an eye on her, just in case. Fortunately, the nearest hospital was only three miles away. It was a hospital known for its top-rated cardio-vascular pulmonary department.
Within minutes his grandmother appeared to return to her old self, just as she had said she would. Sensing his hesitance to leave, she had to practically order Kurt to go on about his business for the rest of the day. To put his mind at ease, she promised to adhere to her doctor’s recommended schedule for taking her medicine. Only then would he consider leaving. He made her promise to call him on his cell phone if she began to feel worse. Reluctantly, he headed out to his sports rental. He would return later in the evening to pack his belongings and check up on her. His flight out was scheduled for the following afternoon.
It had rained the night before. The roads were still wet and slick. It didn’t matter, though. Kurt considered himself an all-weather, all-terrain driver. As he drove along he attempted to call his stepsister Trish on his cell phone before dropping by but twice he got her answering machine. Where could she be, he pondered? For the next hour or two he found his way around familiar streets to visit with familiar faces.
Before returning to his grandma’s place, he drove by Trish's house but was disappointed that she still had not returned home. She was probably out visiting with friends or in Atlantic City gambling, he reasoned. Since he had not told her he was flying up for the weekend he could not be too disappointed. He did make a mental note to call her first thing upon his return to Florida.
Later, he phoned Yvette, but got no answer. It was an hour before he made a second attempt, but still no answer. He decided to call it a day after the third try.
His flight landed on schedule in sunny Florida. After he stepped off the plane he phoned Yvette. Still, no answer. It had been a long day, including the return flight, so he decided to head straight home and relax. He was tired from his trip and contemplated turning in early. If so, he’d call Yvette first thing in the morning. For him, it would have made for better sleeping had his ears been visited by the sweet resonance of Yvette’s caring voice. Where could she be, he pondered? And in whose company, he dared to think?
Antwan hesitated, smiling thoughtfully as he leaned forward in his chair to study Yvette’s face. He wanted her to bubble like champagne tonight. “I’ve always wanted to tell you how beautiful and stunning a woman you are and how much you mean to me, Yvette,” he began.
Hearing this, she blushed slightly, her loosened hair tumbling just above her shoulders, as she thanked him. For once, their dinner outing was more than just wonderful. No, he had not reached the spectacular level yet, but this night out was definitely a notch above wonderful. It was closer to ’superb,’ as she phrased it to Juanita. And it should have been since he had taken her to one of the finest Greek restaurants in town. It was obvious to her that tonight he was going all out to please her. It began the moment he picked her up. It included a dozen roses and a box of candy. It was clear that she was being courted.
Flattered by the attention he lavished upon her, she wasn’t quite sure how to cope with him, knowing how she felt for Kurt. Even at this moment all she could think about was slipping into Kurt’s arms and holding him close. If only he was there she’d caress her lips with his and tell him the secrets of her heart, then make passionate love to him like never before.
She would also have to confront Antwan about her feelings for Kurt and hopefully before he gets the notion to take their relationship to the next phase. She felt relieved when he left that evening. After she waved him off, she headed for her bedroom to go over a newly purchased cookbook and perhaps think about her dilemma. Soon afterwards, she fell asleep.
Hours later, the phone rang, abruptly awakening her as she clamored to retrieve it from the lamp table.
“Hello Yvette,” the velvety smooth masculine voice spoke. A voice rich and deep, one she had so desperately longed to hear. It was Kurt.
“Why hell-looo,” she cooed, smiling into the phone while rising up from the bed. A good thing, too. Had he not called she would have overslept. “How was the return trip?”
“Uneventful,” he answered.
“And how’s your grandmother doing?”
“Grandma isn’t doing so well, though she wants me to believe that she is. I’m probably going to see if I can talk her into coming down for a month or two so that I can keep an eye on her. You know, make sure she’s taking her medication like she should. Besides, I’d love for you to meet her.”
“Kurt, I’d love to meet your grandmother.”
“She'd love meeting you, too," he replied. "Now, how about having a drink with me after work tomorrow?”
“Sure, I’d love to. Where?”
“You can meet me at my restaurant,” she said. “We can have a drink then head over to your place.”
“You know, I have some Chinese food I bought tonight but never ate. We can heat that up and eat tomorrow.”
“Sounds like a great idea,” she purred.
“Good! I’ll chat with you then,” he ended, the phone going dead.
In her excitement she forgot to inquire about that other woman who answered the phone. She would get another opportunity later, perhaps at lunch.
Kurt arrived at the Café just after dusk the following day. After sprucing up in her office, Yvette joined him. Both sat across from the other, eyes gleaming, smiles radiating. One would have thought they were teenagers experiencing love for the first time.
“I meant to tell you that I called you when I got back in town but you weren’t home,” he said soberly.
“Oh, I had gone out for dinner,” she returned, stirring uneasily in the chair. She wanted to avoid telling him that she had been invited out by Antwan. But she had rehearsed what to say, in the event he did ask.
“I figured you and Juanita had gone out or something” he came back.
No, she had not said she had gone out with her best friend, but she wasn’t about to turn the tables on herself. She would let him believe what he wanted to believe. But the longer this conversation went on, along these lines, the more uncomfortable she felt. She decided to change the subject, and in a hurry. It was time she turned the tables on him.
As inevitable as it was, and though Kurt thought he had prepared himself for this, when the moment finally arrived, he still felt tongue-tied. “By the way, who was the lady friend that answered the phone the other night at grandma’s?” she finally sprung on him in a tone that was more curiosity than jealousy. “Wouldn’t have been your ex-wife Leslie, by any chance?”
“No, it wasn’t,” he half-smiled, his voice tinged in a sea of growing anxiety. Then more seriously, “It was an old family friend.”
“An old family friend,” Yvette echoed softly, as her gaze turned cooler and more exact.
“Yes, an-old-family-friend,” he repeated slowly, spacing each word evenly.
“Okay, if you say so.” Her tone had become chilly, too chilly for him and to the point it made him rethink his strategy.
“Look, Yvette. I want to always be honest and upfront with you, as I want you to be with me. I have nothing to hide. If you really want to know, it was my ex-fiancée. Roxanne is her name. Look, I had no idea she was going to be there.”
“This Roxanne….is she still carrying a torch for you by any chance?” she asked with more of a pensive gaze this time around.
“Believe me, she’s very married, Yvette,” he emphasized as he paused to sip some water. Not that being married would change the way Roxanne might think or feel about him. Still, this was not something he would ever share with Yvette. No way!
A sprawly waitress dropped by with a notepad in hand. After taking their drink order, she whirled off. Kurt continued. “Anyway, it’s not what she thinks about me. It’s what I think about her. That’s w
hat’s important.”
“And just what do you think about her?”
“She’s past tense, Yvette,” he assured her. If only he could be so reassuring to himself, he thought. The truth of the matter would remain suppressed. He felt something the other night when he was with Roxanne and it scared him.
Just then the waitress returned with their drinks. She asked if they were ready to order their meal. Yvette said that they were only indulging in quiet conversation and cocktails tonight. But added, she’d be tipped as though they had ordered a full course meal. Apparently pleased by what she was told, the waitress took off. The two then picked up where they had left off.
“So, you say this Roxanne is your ex-fiancée. What ever happened between you two, if I may inquire?”
This wasn’t a part of his past he wanted to share or dwell into, not at this moment, or any other moment, but Yvette had a right to know, he felt. Just thinking of his experience with Roxanne caused his heart to weigh heavy again and his stomach knot in anxiety. But he decided it was best to get this over with.
“It’s like this, Yvette,” he began firmly. “I met Roxanne when I was in the eighth grade. I fell for her right away but so did every other boy in the school who appreciated beauty such as hers. So I did not pursue her. In time we grew close. Very close. It didn’t help that she lived right around the corner from me. We’d often walked to school together and visit with one another.”
Yvette sipped at her drink and listened intently. So much that it did not seem as though she was breathing at times.
“Anyway, it wasn’t until I had gotten out of college that we ran into one another again. Matter-of-fact, she chased me down once because I did not see her inside the doorway of a store I happened to walked by that she was in. For the next four months she pursued me as if I was the only living soul that mattered in the universe. But I knew she had a reputation as being quite an item with men. Again, believe me when I say I was reluctant to get involved with her.”
Cafe Romance Page 17
