She shook her head. “Absolutely not. We hadn’t made a plan to meet up or anything, even though we’d hinted at it. I figured I could go, get a look at him. Satisfy a bit of curiosity.”
I laughed. “Mmmhmmm! You weren’t expecting all that salt and pepper fineness to run up on you like that, were you?!”
Her mouth spread into a wide grin, and she laughed too. “No… no, I certainly wasn’t.”
“This is hilarious,” I giggled. “And friggin’ adorable. I mean, I wondered why my cool, collected mama was all giggly over this man she just met, and now I see! You were already crushing on him!”
My mother shrugged, then bent to rub a shimmering body cream onto her legs. “Maybe a little.”
“Oh please,” I teased. “Does he know who you are?”
“I told him that night when he called. He thought it was sexy.”
“He called it sexy because you’re sexy,” I laughed. “Otherwise he would have called the police. What’s your username?”
Her head popped up, eyes wide. “Oh Reesie. I’ve already said too much. I’m not telling you that.”
- & -
“Who is “boogie_woogie_woman” and what you showing her tonight that she’s not gonna forget? Y’all being nasty ain’t you?”
I hopped out of the way just in time to avoid getting swung on by my dad.
I was already at his house, which he knew, and had come up the stairs looking for him. I found him in his office, with his back to the door, so immersed in whatever was happening on his laptop that he didn’t even hear me come in. Curiosity drew me closer, and I peeked over his shoulder to read what was on the screen.
“I oughta knock your head in,” Pops warned, rising from his seat. He closed the lid of the computer, glaring at me.
I lifted my hands in a soothing gesture. “My bad, Pops,” I chuckled. “I wasn’t trying to be in your business like that, I swear. I thought you were looking at new cars for the lot or something, not… that. Does your lady friend know you’re chatting with “boogie woogie women” online?”
“My lady friend is boogie_woogie_woman, and your ass needs to learn how to knock. What you want, boy?”
“I was just coming to tell you I finished getting up those leaves in the front yard for you.”
His glare softened into a concerned frown, and he propped his hands at his waist. “What are you doing messing around with yard work? I told you I’d hire somebody.”
“For what? You’ve got three grown ass sons who live in the same city.”
“Yeah, but Joseph is always at the hospital, Justin is always on a deadline, and you’re…”
I crossed my arms. “I’m what? Able, available, and willing to rake the yard? That’s what you were going to say, right?”
He let out a heavy sigh. “Point taken. I just… I worry about you, son. I don’t want you out there straining yourself with that.”
I swallowed the redundant argument that I was easily the strongest, most physically fit of my brothers, even with an “impairment” and that I’d done a more thorough, quicker job than anybody he probably would hired. Instead, I forced a smile to my face, hoping it didn’t look like a grimace. “Well, in any case, it’s done.”
Pops drew his head back, looking at me in surprise. “What, no argument there? No insistence that you can handle it, that you’re not a little boy anymore. No rejection of my fatherly concern?”
I shrugged, then dropped into the empty chair behind me. “Nah.”
For several moments, my father studied at me, not saying anything, before a smile spread over his face. “What’s her name?”
I lifted an eyebrow. “Who?”
His smile grew wider, and he shook his head, chuckling. “Your sandpaper.”
At first, I just stared at him, confused, until the memory of my mother’s words made me laugh. “What makes you think I found some?”
“You’ve been mighty laid back these last few weeks. I didn’t have to ask you to change out of the service center uniform before you came out on the floor yesterday. You haven’t been walking around here like you were insulted by folks caring about you.”
“So that means I found a woman?”
He nodded. “And she must be a doozy too, to soften you up. Coarse grit.”
I tried to keep a smile off my face. Reese wasn’t my girl, but she was the only person even close, and “coarse grit” was accurate. She was nobody’s shrinking violet, not afraid to speak her mind, eager to do verbal battle. Hell, maybe physical too. On the other side of that, she was funny as hell to me, compassionate without being patronizing, and passionate about the things she believed in. Not to mention she was smart, and so damned sexy it didn’t make sense. She was very, very Reese. Unapologetically.
And I liked that. A lot.
“You’re grinning pretty hard, son,” Pops said, chuckling as he left the room. “Start deciding how much you want to spend on the ring.”
“Wait, what?” I jumped up, following him into his bedroom as he sat down, slipping a pair of leather brogues on his feet. I noticed then that he was dressed like he was headed out, in slacks and a button up shirt.
He stood up, lifting a tie from his dresser, and looping it around his neck. “I said start deciding how much—”
“Nah, I heard you,” I said, holding up a hand. “I’m just saying… nah, it’s not like that. Nowhere near like that. We aren’t even dating.”
“What’s stopping you?”
“I… don’t really know. She did just break up with somebody like a month ago.”
My father stopped fixing his tie, looking at me with a raised eyebrow. “What the hell that have to do with you?”
I shrugged. “Aren’t you supposed to give somebody time after that?”
He laughed. “Boy, if she’s got you grinning like that, she’s had plenty of time. Trust your old man. I knew my way around women until I met your mother. I forgot all of my “swag” as you young fellas call it,” he said, still chuckling. “That’s probably what’s wrong with you now. Woman got your head messed up.”
“My head isn’t messed up though.”
“Mmmhmm. Talk to me about it again in six months.” He sprayed himself with cologne, and then pulled a sweater over his head. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m heading to go pick up my woman, because I know how to ask a pretty girl out.”
- & -
“If he thought your little super sleuthing was sexy, wait until he sees this. Damn, mama!”
“Language, Reesie.”
“Sorry.”
Still. Daaaamn, mama!
She was going to give that man a heart attack in that dress. It was a little black sweater knit number, with an asymmetric hem that rode high on her thighs. Her legs were covered, protected against the cold by opaque black tights, but the lack of skin didn’t diminish the effect. Up top, she was covered all the way to her neck, but the material of the dress hugged and accentuated her fit curves.
She chuckled as she slid her feet into tall boots. “You young girls aren’t the only ones who can keep a man’s attention.”
“Gone with your bad self then,” I laughed. “He’s coming to pick you up?”
Mama nodded. “Yes, which means you need to scoot your little booty right on over to your own house please.”
“I can’t stay to see you off on your date?”
“You mean be nosy?”
“That’s exactly what I mean.”
She shook her head as she checked her appearance in the full-length mirror, adjusting a few hairs, smoothing over her dress. “Then absolutely not. Get yourself some business little girl. Shouldn’t you be… I don’t know, out with Devyn?”
“Devyn is studying, and then she has a certification exam tomorrow.”
“Other friends?”
I frowned. “I’m not feeling super trusting toward anybody except Devyn after that mess with Olivia. I’m still cooling off.”
“Definitely get that.” She turned around,
studying me for a few moments. “What about you and Mr. Wright? What’s going on there? Don’t think I haven’t noticed the googly eyes.”
“Googly eyes?! What googly eyes? There were no googly eyes!”
“Whatever you say, sweetheart.” Her mouth spread into a knowing smile. “But you could do much, much worse than a young man like Jason Wright. He’s intelligent, grounded, he’s seen the world, and he’s not a stuffy, stuck up, intellectual type, like what you usually go for even though they do nothing for you.”
I lifted an eyebrow. “Okay, first… you don’t think it’s weird to push me to date your boyfriend’s son? Second, I have done worse, remember? Third… what do you mean they do nothing for me? I would think you’d want me to go for a suit and tie kind of man.”
“Why? I’m not into those types, why would I want that for you?”
I shrugged. “Culture, stability—”
“Ennui…,” she said, rolling her eyes. “Trust me – you want a man that lights a fire in you. Your father did that for me. Now, our relationship didn’t work because he couldn’t keep his penis just between us, but one thing I can’t say is that I have any regrets about the time he was mine. I know you, my dear. And I’ve not gotten to see it first hand, but based on what I have seen, I know Mr. Wright stokes your little heart flames.”
I didn’t bother denying it. I just looked away.
“To address your other concerns, there’s no blood relation dear, first of all. And,” she said, stepping over to where I was still kneeling on the bed. She raised a hand to my face, lifting my chin to look me in the eyes. “Of course I remember that you haven’t always made the best choices in partners. But I certainly wish you would forget. It was the past, Reesie. You made a mistake, and you did what you were supposed to do when you realized it. Nothing that happened after that is your fault. Do you remember that?”
I pulled my lip between my teeth, and nodded. “Yes, mama.”
“Good.” She smiled. “I know I’ve spent enough time over the last six years trying to get it through your big head.”
“My head isn’t big!”
She twisted her mouth. “I pushed you out, child. My vagina would beg to differ.”
“Mama ewwww!” I squealed, laughing as she pulled me into a hug.
“I love you Reesie.”
“I love you too.”
“Okay,” she said, swatting my butt. “Now get on, get out of here. I was serious about you not being here when Joseph arrives. Who knows if we’ll actually make it out of the house?”
“Mama!”
- & -
This is crazy.
I thought those words at least a billion times between going back to my house, logging on to my BSU dashboard, and hunting down the contact information all of my mother’s students had given her at the beginning of the semester.
Were the ethics a little questionable? Perhaps.
But if we were thinking it through, I’d already slept with one of my mother’s students, and she was dating his father. Me looking up his cell number had to be lower on the list of violations than any of that.
Once I had it in front of me, I punched it into my phone, and then promptly deposited my phone on the coffee table in front of me.
This is crazy.
There was no way I was about to call this man, unannounced, using a phone number he hadn’t given to me. At least that’s what I told myself, all the way up until the point that the phone was against my ear, and I was listening to the tone as it rang.
Once.
Twice.
A third time.
Okay, so he wasn’t answering.
Should I let it go to voicemail?
Should I leave a message?
Should I hang up now?
Yeah, you should hang up now.
Now!
“Hello?”
I dropped the phone to my lap in surprise, and then hurriedly snatched it back up, pressing it to my ear. “Hello?” I asked, hoping he hadn’t hung before I could right my awkwardness.
“Hello…?”
Dear God, what kind of sorcery was it that he could possibly sound better over the phone? Or… shit, what if it wasn’t him?
“Um, I was calling to speak to Jason.”
Silence, and then a quiet chuckle. “Reese, it’s me. This is Jay.”
“Oh! Okay. How did you know it was me?”
“Well,” he said, taking a deep breath. “Nobody’s voice has quite the same mean-sexy-bougie blend as yours. It’s distinctive.”
I bit the inside of my cheek, trying not to smile even though I was alone. “Ha ha. Funny.”
“Wasn’t trying to be funny, I was being honest. How’d you get this number?” – Oh, shit! I didn’t even think about how I was going to explain that – “I’m going to assume an abuse of power, but I’ll let it slide this time if you answer a question for me,” he said. His voice was suddenly muffled, like he was moving around, and balancing the phone against his ear. “Settle a debate between me and this girl – you’re cooking spaghetti, right? Break the noodles or leave them whole?”
Girl?
What girl?
Who the fuck was he cooking with at nine o’clock on a Friday night?
I mumbled something about how “everybody knows you’re supposed to break them in half, stupid,” and then something unintelligible about having to go. I ended the call, and sat there wondering what kind of non-cooking ass girl he had at his place that didn’t know you were supposed to snap the goddamn noodles before you put them in the damn pot, even if the box didn’t say that.
Ugh!
I completely understood how irrational it was to be fuming about this, for several reasons: I didn’t know who he had over. It wasn’t my business anyway. I didn’t know why she was over there. It wasn’t my business anyway. It had been a month since we slept together. It wasn’t my business anyway. Even if it had been a day since we slept together, we didn’t have any type of commitment. He didn’t owe me anything. And it wasn’t my business anyway.
But I wanted it to be my business.
I fell over onto my side, burying my face in the soft pillows that decorated the couch. My problem of wanting to talk to, wanting to see Jason wouldn’t actually be a problem if I’d worked up the courage to just do it before now. I’d started to, the day we were together in the office, ask him if he wanted to grab a late lunch after. It was bold for me, and I surprised my damned self when I opened my mouth to actually say the words.
It had the power of spontaneity behind it. I wasn’t thinking about anything except how much, in that moment, I was enjoying talking with him. At this point, Jason knew things about me that Gray didn’t even know, had never cared to ask, and it felt good to be in the moment like that with somebody other than Devyn or my mother. Having shallow fun and good sex was one thing – a real connection was something totally different.
And then it was interrupted.
Maybe it had been a one time thing… right? It was crazy to think that we could replicate what I felt in that moment when he said my dream was valuable. Or when he referenced a romance novel to me, or teased me about the sounds I made during sex, or—
Shit.
My phone started ringing, and it was him.
I slid it away from me.
Instead of sitting there and staring at it, I got up and did something – anything – else. I took a shower, played in my braids, painted my toenails, rearranged my Tupperware and cleaned out my refrigerator. By the time I stopped forcing myself to not look at my phone, almost two hours had passed.
The little blue LED on top was blinking, taunting me, reminding me that there was a missed call, and I was going to have to address it, at some point.
I picked up the phone like it was hot, and slid my fingers across the screen to unlock it. Turns out there was not only a missed call, but a text message too.
“Hey, I think we got disconnected. You were saying something, but it was muffled, and then the ca
ll dropped. Hit me back. – Jason.”
Yes, I’d already saved the number in my phone.
For a few minutes, I sat there, biding my time, not wanting to seem too eager with a quick text back. But then I realized he’d sent it almost two hours ago.
Shit.
I had to respond now.
“Yeah, bad signal or something. I didn’t want anything though. Didn’t mean to interrupt anything with your girl.”
So that was slightly petty, and I knew that when I hit send. What was more petty, and unintentionally so, was sending that kind of message at this time of night, when they were probably still together. I wasn’t that kind of girl.
“My girl? Are you talking about Brielle? – Jason.”
I frowned.
“Uhh, I guess so? The one who didn’t know how to cook spaghetti?”
“Ha! Well, she’s only six years old, and the box doesn’t say to break the noodles. Don’t judge her too hard. ;) – Jason.”
Oh.
So…
“And she’s my niece. – Jason.”
Whew.
“Yeah, I thought it was probably a little kid.”
“You realize that contradicts your statement just a couple of texts ago? You ain’t gotta lie, princess. – Jason.”
“And you had to want something, or you wouldn’t have called. So, what’s up? – Jason.”
“Nothing really. You still babysitting?”
I flinched when my phone went off, notifying me that instead of just texting back, Jason had decided to call. I took a deep breath, then slid my thumb across the screen, allowing the call to connect.
“You know this is a pet peeve for some people, right? Responding to a text with a phone call? You don’t have any kind of manners.”
Jason chuckled, and I had to clench my thighs in response to the warmth of that sound. “I don’t give a damn about that. I don’t feel like typing.”
“Well, I don’t feel talking.”
“But you sound so damned good, with your little late night sexy phone voice.”
“What?” I laughed. “I don’t have a ‘late night sexy phone voice’, fool.”
“The hell you don’t. Over there sounding like Girl Six.”
Getting Schooled (The Wright Brothers Book 1) Page 11
