by Unknown
Later that evening Satra helped her mom cook dinner. They had a good time as long as they stayed off the subject of Satra’s love life, which they did. Sharon Sinclair decided that she wouldn’t speak on her daughter’s love life again. She didn’t want to put a strain on their relationship, and she wanted to enjoy her time with her daughter. Satra’s sister in-laws and nieces and nephews all came over, and she had a ball playing with them and catching up with her sister in laws.
“I’m telling you girl; you’re a natural with kids,” Sasha’s wife Christine said as Satra rocked her eight-month-old nephew Tristan to sleep. Normally he’d fight his sleep and fight whoever was trying to put him to sleep but he never did when his aunt Satra had him. Satra smiled down at her now sleeping nephew and continued to gently rock him while she held him close to her bosom.
“I really can’t wait to have some of my own,” Satra whispered to her sister in law.
“Some?” Christine smiled.
“Yes, some. I can’t see myself just having one. I want at least three or four.”
“Wow. More power to you girl!” Christine laughed.
“I’ve always wanted a big family. Having three siblings growing up was a lot of fun, and I want my kids to have that fun too,” Satra reflected.
“What about your career?”
“I would put it on the back burner. That’s a no-brainer for me. I’m not one of these career women who have to have it all and burn themselves out trying to juggle it all. Once I find Mr. Right, and we settle down and start having kids, my kids, and my family will be my main focus. I love what I do, but family is much more important. I’d probably find a way to work part time from home as a freelance consultant or something, but my main focus would be on raising my kids,” Satra said matter-of-factly.
She has given a lot of thought to marriage and having kids, and this wasn’t something she’d budge on. She’d be surprised if she met a man who didn’t want his wife to stay home and raise their kids. Satra didn’t like day care centers and couldn’t imagine someone else raising her child. She knew daycares were the only option for a lot of families, and she didn’t look down upon anyone who put their child in daycare, but if she could help it she would like to avoid them.
“I never pictured you to be a stay at home mom Satra. I think that’s awesome.” Christine said smiling at her sister in law.
“I just figure if I gave my all to have this career, spent all those years in college, worked my butt off from being an intern to what I am now, I should be willing to put in the same work when it comes to my family. Maybe later when the kids get older I’ll go back to the office, but we’ll cross that bridge when we get there.”
“Well, any man would be crazy, not to want a wife and mother like you sis,” Christine said as she hugged Satra.
“Speaking of men, don’t you think it’s time for you to get ready?” Sasha said as he sat in a chair across from Satra.
“I didn’t know it had gotten so late. Here’s your adorable baby, Christine,” Satra said as she gently handed Tristan back to his mom, being extra careful not to wake him.
“You guys have fun. I’ll have to catch you on the next go around. Mr. Matchmaker over here just couldn’t resist fixing you guys up,” Christine added as she shook her head at her handsome husband.
“Hey, don’t hate because I have the gift of knowing who would be great together. I got you, didn’t I?” Sasha said winking at his beautiful wife.
“Oh my goodness, here we go.” Christine sighed.
“He got you on that one. You did marry him.” Satra laughed as she stood up and headed towards the stairs.
Satra quickly changed into a pair of jeans and a fitted red Wisconsin Badgers T-Shirt and her favorite pair of white Nike tennis shoes. She wore her hair in loose curls that cascaded around her shoulders and put on a little lip-gloss and mascara. She grabbed her purse and cell phone and came back downstairs. She stopped to check in on her dad, who was resting in the guest room.
“I’m going bowling with Sasha. I’ll be back in a few hours,” she whispered to him.
“Oh, okay. Have fun baby,” her father said sleepily.
Satra kissed him on the forehead and left. She said goodbye to her mom and the rest of her family before meeting Sasha at the front door. Sasha looked her up and down and shook his head. “Forever the tomboy.”
“Hey, this is who I am! What did you think I was going put on? Four inch stilettos and a mini skirt to go bowling in?” Satra asked resentfully.
“Did I say anything was wrong with your clothes? Did I say you should dress up to impress this guy? No, so why don’t you calm down hot head!” Sasha spat back.
Satra stood there with her hands on her hips glaring at her brother. Then she punched him in the arm and ran out the door. Sasha ran after her while she ran down the block screaming and laughing.
“Why don’t you two grow up?” Sam Jr. yelled from the doorway while Sidney laughed and yelled behind him, “Run, Satra. RUN!”
Sasha eventually caught his sister, but he had to work hard to do so. He forgot that his sister was a star track athlete in high school and college. He punched her back lightly back in the arm called it even. They huffed and puffed their way back to their parent’s driveway where his car was parked. They made it to the bowling alley ten minutes later, and it was surprisingly busy inside.
Satra casually looked around the place, trying to see if she could spot a handsome man that fit the description of Cole DaCosta. She was looking to her left when a tall figure suddenly towered over her. When she turned around, she saw one of the most ruggedly handsome chocolate men she’s seen in a long time. He had jet-black curly hair that looked silky it shined so much. He was smiling, and his teeth were so white and so straight he could be in a toothpaste commercial. His smile was beautiful. His eyes were light brown with long dark eyelashes and thick dark eyebrows. He had a five o’clock shadow that gave him a rugged look. He may have been two inches shorter than Shane, but he was still pretty tall, and he was muscular. He had on a black t-shirt that showed very defined and muscular arms and a big strong chest and blue jeans that fit him just right.
“You must be Satra. I’m Cole,” came his baritone voice.
He put his hand out to shake hers and Satra smiled at him and shook it.
“Yes, I’m Satra and it’s very nice to meet you, Cole.”
Sasha soon joined them.
“There you are, man. How you doin’?” Sasha asked smiling as they shook hands.
“What’s up, Sash? I’m good. I’ve already introduced myself to your beautiful sister, and I got us a lane down on the far end. My sister and her husband and my 15-year-old nephew decided they wanted to hang out too. They were over my house for dinner when you called. I hope you don’t mind.”
“No, not at all. The more, the merrier.” Sasha smiled as they began to walk to their lane.
Cole’s sister was beyond beautiful. She looked a model. Her husband wasn’t drop dead gorgeous, but he was good looking. He looked very straight-laced, like he lived and breathed the corporate world. Their son looked a lot like Cole and his mom. He was a handsome young man too.
“Sasha and Satra, this is my sister, Lila, her husband Brock and my cool nephew, Braden. Everyone, this is my good friend Sasha and his sister Satra.”
“Hi, nice to meet you,” Everyone began saying in unison as everyone shook hands and greeted one another.
“I love the name Sasha for a boy, and Satra is such a unique and beautiful name,” Lila said smiling.
“Thank you. Our parents also have ‘S’ names, so they just stuck with that when naming us,” Satra said smiling in return.
“If we would have had more, I would have done the same.” Lila laughed. Her husband playfully rolled his eyes.
“So what are we doing tonight? Do we want to bowl individually or do we want to break off into teams?” Cole asked smiling as he rubbed his hands together.
“If we had another female,
we could have done guys against the girls,” Lila said frowning.
“That would have been a lot of fun!” Satra said excited at the thought.
“Why don’t we do this: Let’s do me, Satra and Cole against Sasha, Brock, and Braden?” Lila suggested.
“Sounds good to me. Either way y’all goin’ DOWN!” Sasha boasted before strutting off to find a bowling ball off the rack.
“Ooooh, let the trash talking begin!” Braden instigated. “I like him already, dad.” Braden smiled.
“Oh, we ain’t havin’ that girl,” Satra told Lila. “It’s ON!” she said as she high-fived Lila and Cole.
Brock went and ordered a pitcher of beer, soda, popcorn and pizza while everyone else got their bowling shoes and went to find bowling balls. Cole was standing next to Satra as they both picked up and examined various bowling balls.
“So are you a good bowler?”
“I used to be. My parents belonged to a league for many years, so it was a family sport for us. It’s been a couple of years since I’ve bowled so I might be a little rusty in the beginning,” Satra admitted.
“I have a feeling you’ll be just fine,” Cole said smiling down at her. “Once you get the feel for it you’ll be bowling strikes left and right.”
“I hope so. Are you any good?” Satra asked as she tested a ball.
“I won’t brag on myself, but I can hold my own,” Cole said as he rubbed his puffed out chest.
Satra couldn’t help laughing. “I like that in you, Cole. Well, I think I’ve found my ball.”
“Me too,” Cole said as he held a red marbled ball.
“Let’s go kick some butt,” Satra said.
“I’m right behind you.”
And behind her he was, admiring the way her jeans hugged her apple shaped bottom and legs in all the right places.
‘Lord, have mercy,’ he said to himself.
Satra’s first two turns at bowling weren’t that eventful. Cole was her constant cheerleader, giving her encouragement and pointers. He was very good. His form was perfect, and his release was one of the prettiest Satra has seen in a long time, and she told him so. By the time her turn came around again she had begun to get serious about the game and she tuned out everyone around her. It was just she and the long shiny wooden floor and the white pins before her. She took her stance, took three long strides to the line and released a powerful curve ball that resulted in a loud strike that sent pins flying everywhere.
“YEAH! That’s what I’m talkin’ bout!” she shouted as she pumped her fist in the air and ran back to the seats.
Lila and Cole greeted her with hi-fives and cheers.
“That was nice,” Brock admitted, clearly impressed.
“Yeah, the little runt is pretty good. But I’m better,” Sasha said as he stood up to take his turn.
He almost had a strike, but the pin in the middle refused to fall. He was confident in picking up his spare, and he did so easily. Next up was Braden, who was having a decent game himself. Cole and Satra sat at the scoring table while Lila sat on her husband’s lap. Cole called it fraternizing with the enemy, and his sister stuck her tongue out at him.
“So Sasha says you work for Lucas and Daniels advertising? They’re a great company. I used to work at their rival Seagram and Sanders years ago, and a fair share of our employees left Seagram for Lucas and Daniels.”
“Small world. I tried to get a job at Seagram and Sanders when I first moved here after graduating college and they wouldn’t hire me. They said I didn’t have all the qualifications they were looking for. I was mad for a while about it, but when I got with Lucas and Daniels I quickly realized that they did me a huge favor!” Satra laughed. “Sasha tells me you’re about to start your own company. What kind of company will it be?”
“Well, I’m looking to get into business acquisitions. I’ve helped buy a few small failing businesses with my current job and was able to turn them around into really successful businesses. So I thought ‘Why not start up your own company?’ That’s what I’m in the process of doing now,” Cole said proudly.
“That is really awesome, Cole. Starting your own business is a lot of hard work but it’s so worth it in the end. It makes me proud to see new African American businesses. We need more of them,” Satra said in a serious tone.
“I mentor high school kids, boys, in particular, to help show them that it’s possible. Anything is possible if they put their minds to it. I’m just a half black half Cuban kid from the Bronx. My dad was a bus driver, and my mom was a secretary. We didn’t have much but my parents pushed education on Lila and I. Lila is a chef and owns her own catering business. Most of her clients are politicians and movie stars, she’s just that good.”
“Wow, that’s great! She’s so beautiful. I thought she was a model.”
“Yeah, people think that a lot about her. She modeled off and on from middle school through college and decided she didn’t want that life. She never really liked it, she just did it for the money to help pay for college. She wanted to prove that she was more than a pretty face, you know?”
“I don’t blame her. Good for her.”
“So how long will you be in town?” Cole asked, looking Satra into her big beautiful eyes.
“I think I may head back Saturday, but I’ll be back in another week because dad is having a procedure done.”
“Oh okay. How’s your dad doing? Sasha told me he’s home now.”
“He’s doing much better. Thank you. I was in South Carolina working when I got the call. There’s nothing worse than getting a call about your loved one when you’re so far away.”
“I can imagine. It’s good that you were able to make it here so fast.”
Yeah, thanks to Shane, Satra thought to herself. As much as she hated thinking about Shane right now it was true. He was the reason why she was able to get home to Milwaukee so quickly, and she will be eternally grateful for him taking charge while she was having an emotional meltdown.
“So what do you like to do when you’re not working?” Satra asked, trying to rid her brain of thoughts of Shane.
“Well, I like to travel and visit different museums. I’m pretty active in sports, basketball and football mostly. I’m also a movie buff, so I love going to the movies. I’d like to think that I’m pretty open when it comes to trying different things. So what about you? What do you like to do?”
“Well, as you can see I’m also a sports nut.” Satra smiled as she pointed to her Wisconsin Badger tee shirt. “I like to read, go to the movies, bake, crochet, and I love to travel, I like photography, that’s a hobby I’ve had since I was in seventh grade, I love music, can’t sing or play a lick but I’ll dance my butt off and I just love listening to it.”
Cole laughed, the sound was rich and deep and oh so sexy to Satra.
“So who is your favorite singer?”
“Al Green hands down,” Satra said quickly.
“Awww shoot, mine too!” Cole said as he raised his hand to high five her.
“Shut up, really?” Satra asked surprised.
“Lila. Who is my all-time favorite singer?” Cole yelled.
“Al Green,” Lila responded rolling her eyes. “He used to drive me NUTS when we were kids playing ‘Love and Happiness’ every Saturday morning.”
“That is awesome!” Satra said totally amazed that she found someone just as crazy about Al Green as she was.
The rest of the night went by quickly, but it was filled with a lot of laughter and fun. Satra found her mojo and was throwing strikes left and right. Cole and Lila were completely amazed at how good she was and Lila liked Satra a lot. Cole tended to Satra’s every need and made sure she had everything she wanted. He was very sweet, almost too sweet. That’s how her ex Matt started out in the beginning of their relationship. Satra tried to push the thought out of her mind, but the creepy feeling continued to haunt her. She knew he was trying hard to impress her, but she felt it was too much, and it was making her feel a little un
comfortable. When they finished bowling and was getting ready to leave, Cole asked if they could exchange phone numbers.
“Right now it’ll be hard to catch me, so why don’t we exchange email addresses instead? I’m always on my cell phone checking my emails so that would probably be the best way to get me.”
For a split second, Satra saw a flash of anger and disbelief in Cole’s eyes. He recovered quickly and smiled in agreement with Satra as she wrote her email address on a piece of paper and handed it to him.
Seeing how they just met, she didn’t feel comfortable giving him her phone number. She imagined him calling her every day two and three times a day, and it made her skin crawl. Her deja vu memories of Matt became stronger and stronger with Cole. She hugged Lila, Brock and Braden goodbye and exchanged email addresses with Lila as well. Satra finally turned to Cole, who was still chit chatting and laughing with Sasha and gave him a friendly hug.
“It was very nice meeting you. I had a good time tonight, Cole.”
“The pleasure was all mine. I go home to New York from time to time. I’ll let you know the next time I’m there, and maybe we can have lunch.”
“Just let me know,” Satra said smiling. She didn’t exactly commit to lunch, but she didn’t flat out say “no” either. Lunch was definitely safer than dinner. Dinner would be pushing things, and she’s not ready for that with Cole. Sasha couldn’t wait to get in the car alone with his sister to pick her brain about Cole.
No sooner than both of their doors closed he turned to her and asked, “So what did you think? He’s a good guy just like I said, right?” Satra smiled at her brother’s excitement.
“Yes, he was very nice and very interesting.”
Sasha sensed a ‘but’ coming. “But…?”
Satra put her head down before she answered.
“But there’s something about him that reminds me of Matt and I can’t shake it. It’s like he tried too hard to be nice tonight and that’s exactly how Matt was in the beginning of our relationship. I tried to shake the feeling, but I couldn’t.”
