by Laura Domino
From his pocket, Curtis’s ringtone, a trumpet fanfare signaling the beginning of a horse race, sounded. “Hello? Curtis… uh. Courteous Catering. Curtis here.”
“See?” Jerrod left the room.
The call was brief, but positive. Curtis wanted to share it with his business partner, but Jerrod was off nursing his hurt feelings. It would take more than a location change to create success for their business.
“Curtis!” Jerrod’s voice came from the front door.
Putting his phone back in his pocket, he turned the corner and looked through the window beside the door to see what Jerrod was looking at. “What’s out there?”
Jerrod turned to face him with a grin. “Opportunity.”
“Clearly, you know something. Want to let me in on it?”
“I want to know what the phone call was about first.”
“Okay. Lisa Moore just called to get the address for the tasting.”
“Oh? Lisa of the Perez/Moore wedding? I hope Hector knows what he’s getting himself into.”
“He does. And it’s the Moore/Perez wedding.”
Jerrod rolled his eyes. “When is the tasting?”
“I scheduled it for Tuesday. It’s here at one o’clock.”
“The usual? Or has she requested special foods?”
“The usual. I might have our roasted tomatoes ready to go just in case she’s hard to please.”
“That’ll work.”
“What’s the opportunity?”
Jerrod’s smile brightened. “We need to have a quick chat with the neighbor lady.”
“The neighbor lady? She’s outside?” Curtis opened the door.
Jerrod followed him out. “I don’t know how old she is. If she can’t hear us, she might need to go find her hearing aid.”
“Does she have hearing aids?” Curtis slowed to let Jerrod go first since he obviously knew more than he did.
“How am I supposed to know? I’ve never met her.” Jerrod loved to lead Curtis down the wrong path, letting him assume the wrong information. It was among his favorite things to do. Curtis was okay with it as long as it was corrected in time to not be hurtful. And it usually was. Jerrod never intended to be rude.
Curtis followed him around the corner of his dark-red brick house, which was closer to the street than the neighbor’s white-brick bungalow. After crossing both driveways, he saw the lady in a broad-brimmed hat leaning over a thorny rose bush by her front door.
“Excuse me, ma’am, but I just moved in and wanted to introduce myself.” Jerrod waited for her to turn around.
She adjusted her posture quickly. Her head, concealed by the brim of her straw hat, slowly turned.
“Forgive us. We didn’t mean to surprise you.” Jerrod pulled out his best smile. No female could resist. Except for that last girlfriend.
A light blue work shirt hung loosely from her shoulders, hiding her figure. “My goodness. I wasn’t expecting company today.” She took off a glove. Although she was taller and thinner than Curtis had expected, she was still shorter than he was. Her height made her lift her chin to see them from under the brim of her hat.
Jerrod shook her extended hand. “I’m Jerrod Hooper. If you need anything, feel free to come knock on the door.”
She fanned her sweaty face and then wiped her cheek, smearing a speck of mud under her fingertips into a line across her face. “Gentlemen, I would love to offer you a drink or something, but we’ll have to do a rain check.” She looked at her dirty gardening shoes. “I’m not really prepared to invite you in at the moment.”
Curtis shook her hand. “And I’m Curtis Baker. You’ll probably see a lot of me too. We’re in a catering business together, so I’ll be here a lot.”
“Oh. Using his kitchen, I suppose. Wow. Caterers. That sounds marvelous.”
“We just wanted to meet our new neighbor. Didn’t want to keep you from your beautiful rose bush.” Curtis wanted to leave a business card with her, but he forgot to grab one before walking next door.
“Oh, thanks.” She started putting on her glove again.
Jerrod tilted his head and gave a smooth grin. “By the way, we go to First Church. If you’d like to go and ever need a ride to church, just knock on my door at 9:30 Sunday morning. That’s when I usually head to the car.”
“Okay. Thanks for dropping by. See you around.” She smiled for a couple of seconds before turning back to her rose bush.
“Okay. Bye.” Jerrod led the way back into his house.
Curtis closed the door after they were both inside. “You invited her to church?”
“She was fine with it.” Jerrod took the corner of the couch and sat.
“Yeah. Sure, she was fine with it. She gave you the brush-off.”
“Oh.” Jerrod snapped his fingers. “I should’ve asked her name.”
“Jerrod, she didn’t seem to be interested in talking. Can you blame her? Two strange men walked up and surprised her. We could be criminals for all she knows.”
“I can’t believe I didn’t ask her name.”
Curtis laughed. “You thought she was ninety years old when we went over there. Wondered if she needed hearing aids.”
Jerrod shook his head. “She’s not ninety. A little plain, but not old.”
“You probably ought to give her time to get used to having you for a neighbor. Don’t go borrow a cup of sugar any time soon. She wouldn’t give it to you anyway.” He laughed again.
“You’re wrong. I bet you I can get a cup of sugar from her today.”
“No. No, Jerrod. The poor woman is probably already inside barricading the doors. Leave her alone. I think you scared her. She didn’t even offer her name.”
“Okay. Let’s make a bet. If I come back with a cup of sugar, you have to do whatever I say.”
Curtis shook his head. “No.”
“You’re scared that I’ll win.”
“Okay. You want to bet? We can do that. But if we’re really going to bet, let’s agree on the consequences, whether a reward or a penalty.”
Jerrod smirked. “If I come back with a cup of sugar, I get to have my name first on the door of your Suburban.”
“The design is already set. It’s getting painted on Tuesday.”
“You can change the design.”
“No, Jerrod. I’m not changing the door. It’s going to match the business card design. It’s as good as done.”
“Just change the business cards and print new ones. So easy to do.”
Curtis groaned. “Not doing it.”
“Fine. Then you have to ask the neighbor lady on a date.”
Curtis’s chin dropped. “Really?” He took a breath. “The poor woman. First, she gets surprised by her new neighbors who catch her unprepared in her gardening clothes, embarrassing her. Then she has to see if she has any extra sugar to give you. Then she has to put up with me asking her out because I lost a bet.”
“Don’t tell her you’re asking her out because you lost a bet. That would be so rude.” His voice became serious. “It’s either my name first on your Suburban or you ask her out.”
“I’m not doing this. We’re leaving her alone.”
“That’s actually good news. For me.” Jerrod held an imaginary microphone to his face, acting like he was a TV announcer. “You heard it here first, ladies and gentlemen. Curtis is leaving her alone.” With a chuckle, Jerrod spun toward the white walls of the brightly lit kitchen and started noisily opening boxes. “Where did I put it?”
Curtis dreaded asking what he was doing. “Hungry? Fixing something to eat? Looking for the peanut butter?”
“Ah! Here it is.” After moving a couple of plastic mixing bowls out of the way, Jerrod pulled out a one-cup measuring cup. “I’ll return shortly.”
“Leave the poor woman alone.” The words were pointless. He couldn’t stop Jerrod when his mind was made up. All he could do was wait and hope she was experiencing a sugar shortage.
After he heard the front door close
, he opened a box and started unpacking. The two boxes and three small tubs on the kitchen island were easily emptied and tossed into the living room. Curtis filled a couple of cabinets with tools and equipment they used regularly in their catering business. The kitchen in Jerrod’s new house was about four times bigger than the kitchen in Curtis’s apartment. Well worth the money and hassle of moving.
After several minutes of putting away pans and oven mitts, Curtis heard the front door open. He leaned to see if Jerrod was successful.
Jerrod entered the house in a quick, careful step, carrying the cup of sugar, filled to the brim.
Curtis put an oven mitt on the island. “Did she ask why you, a caterer, didn’t have any sugar? Seems an odd thing for a caterer to borrow. Doesn’t it?”
“It seemed reasonable to her.”
“We have plenty of sugar.”
“I told her I couldn’t find our sugar in all the tubs stacked in the house.”
“Did you lie to her?” Curtis’s voice rose an octave. “You lied?”
“I didn’t lie. I don’t know where it is. Do you? Can you walk over to a tub and get it out right now? I can’t.”
Curtis scratched the top of his head. “I can’t believe you went over to borrow sugar so you could win a bet.”
“She’s in her garage. Go now.” He set the cup of sugar on a nearby counter. “Or paint the Suburban my way.” His eyes showed no humor. “Your choice.” He tilted his head in confidence as he looked at Curtis, waiting for a response.
“You didn’t say she had to go out with me. I just have to ask her. Right?”
“Curtis, I’m listening. Let me hear it. Say it. ‘I give up. You win, Jerrod.’”
Curtis bounded toward the door. After opening it, he looked back.
Jerrod’s face no longer triumphant, he watched as Curtis left.
About Laura Domino
Laura Domino writes Christian Romance and Nonfiction about showing love for your community and building kindness. Having volunteered locally and internationally, she's experienced the thrill of helping people wherever she goes. Now she shares the joy of serving in a community through her novels.
If you would like to share her novel-writing journey with her, you can contact her by subscribing to her emails at LauraDomino.com/subscribe.html
