22
“Y’all still haven’t rented the other side of this place out? You haven’t had a tenant since Ryan lived there.”
“Girl, we haven’t had time!”
“And I guess you really don’t need the money with the way YouTube is going for y’all, plus all that commercial money.”
“Yeah.” She adjusted herself on the sofa. “Soooo, I heard somebody don’t never be home anymore, and her name is not Nicole Strickland,” Angie said, as we sat in her living room waiting for Nicky to arrive. It’d been a long time since we got together for the sisterly bonding we’d all promised to make time for. Angie and Ryan had been busy traveling the country, attending events, Nicky had been so scarce that none of us, including Mama, really knew what she’d been up to, and I’d been in cohabitational bliss with Zo, spending nearly every second I wasn’t at work up under him, letting his good loving soak in. I’d also gained ten pounds from eating his good cooking.
“Who told you that? Mama?” I asked.
“Yeah, she said she had the place to herself these days. Said you started disappearing on her right after your divorce was finalized, and I told her you’re always too busy when I call and invite you out to lunch.”
“That’s because every time you call, Zo is already waiting outside to take me to lunch or he’s fixed something for me at home.”
“At home, huh? So, this thing with you two is serious, Nay?”
I nodded. “Ang, you think I’m moving too fast? I mean, do you think I’m making a mistake by being with another man so soon after Robert?”
“Nay, I don’t know if I’m the authority on taking things slowly. I mean, I knew I loved Ryan pretty quickly, like three months into our relationship. I’d never felt anything like that before. Absolutely nothing compared to what I felt for my husband. It was undeniable, no matter how little time had passed.”
I nodded.
“Is that how you feel about Lorenzo?”
“It is, but…when I used to hear about people falling in love basically at first sight, I thought there was no way that could really happen. I just thought you had to take time and really get to know a person to love them.”
“Maybe in some cases, but I don’t think there are any hard and fast rules when it comes to love. It’s whatever fits for the people involved. You really love him, don’t you?”
“I do. So much. But he’s got a past, you know? And he’s told me things that should be setting off alarms all over the place, but all I feel when I’m with him is love.”
“Then go with that, big sis. You can’t lose with love. Not when it’s real.”
“It’s definitely real. Like you said, I’ve never felt anything like it before. Not even with Robert.”
“You’re happy?”
“Happier than I’ve ever been in my entire life.”
“Good.”
Ryan peeked his head in the living room and smiled at us. “Y’all need anything?”
“No, baby,” Angie answered.
“Okay, I’m headed to the gym in a second, baby. Want me to bring y’all anything back?”
Angie shook her head. “Nothing I can think of.”
A few minutes later, he stepped into the living room, bent over and kissed Angie, and waved at me as he headed out the door.
“Oh, Ryan!” Angie called after him. “Don’t forget, it’s your night to twist my hair.”
“Okay, I’ma grease your scalp, too. I forgot to do it the other night.”
“Okay, bye. Love you.”
“Love you more.”
After he left, I just sat there and stared at my sister.
“What?” she asked, when she finally felt my eyes on her.
“Girl, you got that man twisting your hair?”
She shrugged. “He offered to do it a few months back, and now we take turns. He loves it.”
“No, he loves you, and you’ve got him sprung! Ooooo, Angie!”
She smiled. “I really do, huh? But you can’t talk. Up in that big old mansion, getting driven to work. You say he cooks for you, and I heard your ass be getting flowers delivered to you like every other day. Expensive ones, too.”
“Janine?”
“Girl, yeah. I ran into her at the Smoothie Hut the other day, and she was just talking all over herself about your mystery man in a suit, and how you were in your office making sex sounds a few months back, and how you keep arriving at work in chauffeur-driven cars, and of course, she mentioned the flowers.”
“She was trying to get some information from you. Did you give her any?”
“No, I didn’t share what little I knew about you and Lorenzo…but I am wondering why you haven’t told her anything? You scared she’ll tell Robert and he’ll start acting up again?”
“No. I think maybe I just enjoy having a little mystery surrounding our relationship, and at first, I really didn’t feel like being judged for moving on so quickly after my divorce was final, but I think I’m gonna go ahead and tell her before she has an aneurysm or something.”
Angie giggled. “Please do.”
“Where’s Nicky? She’s usually late, but not this late,” I said.
Angie frowned. “I know. You think she forgot we were meeting here and went to Mama’s?”
I shrugged. “Let me call her.”
“Hello?” Nicky answered, sounding awkward.
“Nicky? Where are you? We’re waiting on you.”
“Renee? Was that tonight?”
“You know it’s me, and yes, that’s tonight.”
“Oh, wow. I’m so sorry. Give Angela my apologies, too. Travis and I are hosting a dinner party tonight. We’re having some of his colleagues over and—oh, Travvie needs me. Gotta go. Talk later? Bye.”
I held the phone and stared at Angie. “I don’t know what just happened or who the hell that was on the phone, but she did not sound like Nicole Lisette Strickland.”
Angie frowned. “Huh? Did you dial the wrong number?”
“No.”
“That was Nicky you were talking to?”
“Uh, yeah.”
“Well, what’d she say?”
I rehashed our conversation to Angie, to which she replied, “Maybe she’s just trying to grow up. Maybe that’s what her acting like an adult sounds like.”
I shook my head. “She sounded weird, Ang, like some stilted white girl. It was like she was putting on a show.”
Angie seemed to think on it for a second, and said, “That might be true, too. She’s been in overdrive trying to get a husband since me and Ryan got married. Maybe she’s putting on a show to reel Travis in.”
“Maybe…but how is that gonna work? Pretending to be someone else in order to get married? Won’t she have to keep up the act in order to stay married?”
“Probably. Look, Nay, I’m not gonna sit here and worry about Nicky. If anyone knows how to take care of their self, it’s her.”
“True.”
“All right. I’m gonna go get the wine. You shuffle the cards.”
“Yes, little sister,” I said, as I picked up the red deck of cards and prepared to whoop Angie in a game of spades.
*****
I was sitting at my desk a few days after that, wrapping up some charting when a text came through.
Lorenzo: Your chariot awaits, Doc.
I smiled. This had been our routine since about my third week of living with him. I’d text him some time in the day and let him know when I’d be ready to go, since the nature of my job sometimes caused my working hours to be irregular, and he would send Rell to pick me up. Sometimes he’d be in the car, too, and sometimes he wouldn’t, depending on how deep he was in his writing cave. This started when I had to leave in the middle of the night for a home birth. The thought of me being out that time of night by myself really upset him, and he insisted that Rell drive me. I felt bad for Rell and told him so, but he gave me a smile that assured me he didn’t mind. I was glad, because there was no convincing Lorenzo that I could drive myself, even though I’d been doing it for years. After that, me getting driven to and from work, no matter the time, became a daily thing.
I didn’t bother to text him back, just gathered my purse and cell phone and left my office. This was one of the rare occasions when my departure time from Genesis coincided with its regular closing hour and there were no laboring patients in any of the birthing rooms, so several staff members, including Janine and Cass, were out on the parking lot heading to their cars.
Rell had already opened the door for me and was standing next to the car. I greeted him with a smile, and when I saw that Lorenzo was sitting in the backseat, said, “Hold on,” and called for Janine and Cass. Cass wore a curious look on her face as she crossed the parking lot toward me. Janine, who had been eying Lorenzo’s car while pretending to unlock her own car door, almost fell trying to hurry over to me.
Once the ladies had made it to the car, I leaned in, and said, “Baby, get out. Got some folks I want you to meet.”
Lorenzo gave me this questioning look before climbing out of the car in a suit that made him look positively scrumptious. I grabbed his hand and turned to face my friends-slash-coworkers. “Cass, Janine, this is Lorenzo. Lorenzo, Cass has been my friend since nursing school and is co-owner of Genesis with me, and you’ve met Janine. She’s one of my oldest friends, as well as our receptionist.”
He took and kissed both of their hands, and they gushed all over themselves and him about how nice it was to finally meet my new boyfriend.
“Wait, you are her boyfriend, right?” Janine asked.
He smiled and nodded. “Yeah, when she lets me be.”
I rolled my eyes as he wrapped an arm around my shoulder. “Yes, Lorenzo is my boyfriend, bae, man crush every day, my man. I know y’all have been speculating along with everyone else in the office, so now you know for sure.” Rell was still standing by the car, so I added, “Oh, and this is Rell. I’m sure you’ve seen him before, too.”
Rell smiled and nodded at the two ladies, and then I watched Janine slide her eyes up and down his massive body. Rell was big and solid like Lorenzo, only younger, bigger, and much more muscular, and he must’ve been about six-seven. At first glance, Rell’s sheer size could scare the crap out of you, and it didn’t help that he usually wore this serious expression on his face, but he was actually pretty nice-looking—dark skin, almond eyes, great smile when he wore one, and Janine’s little short butt looked like she was a second away from sopping him up with a biscuit. Rell’s eyes were glued to her, too.
“Well, Lorenzo, I’m glad you’re her new man. Lord knows I was thrilled when she got rid of the old one,” Cass said.
My mouth flew open.
“I’m glad she did, too. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have been able to fall in love with her,” Lorenzo said.
Cass and Janine virtually melted all over the parking lot.
Minutes later, as we sat holding hands in the back of his Escalade, I noticed the tiny smile on Lorenzo’s face as he gazed out the window.
“What are you grinning about?” I asked.
He shifted his eyes from the window to me. “Just glad you finally pulled me out of the closet. I was beginning to think you were ashamed of me.”
I frowned. “Ashamed of you? Are you serious?”
“Yeah.”
“What could I possibly be ashamed of, Zo? The fact that you’re gorgeous, handsome, sexy, rich, kind, generous, treat me like a queen, and sex me properly every single night?”
“Damn, that’s what you think of me?”
“Yes! Now what in the world do you think I’d be ashamed of?”
He shrugged. “My past? The fact that I used to be a drug dealer who now writes books with a lot of cursing, killing, and screwing in them. The fact that you’re a nurse and a reputable business owner, and I’m just…me.”
I stared him in the eye. “No, Zo. I’m not ashamed of any of that.”
“Doc, we haven’t been on a single date since before your divorce. We do everything at my house.”
“Zo, you haven’t asked me out since I got divorced! I think maybe we just got caught up in being together.”
“And having sex?”
I smiled. “Yeah, and having sex. And plus, you’re a hermit and you know it.”
He chuckled. “Yeah, I am. But besides that, you weren’t telling folks about us, were you?”
“My sisters have always known, and my mom. I just didn’t figure it was anybody else’s business.”
“What changed today?”
I leaned in and brushed his lips with mine. “Today, I decided I wanted to share just how lucky and blessed I am.”
“Then let’s get dressed up and go out tonight to celebrate.”
“Okay.”
*****
After I convinced Zo that one, I had plenty of dressy clothes at my mother’s house and there was no need for him to buy me anything, and two, that I was more than capable of driving myself to my mother’s house, I went and retrieved some more of my clothes. I was in my room gathering everything I thought I’d need for the date, three outfits to choose from, including shoes and accessories to match, when a voice nearly made me jump out of my skin.
“Whose is that in the driveway?!” Nicky shouted.
I replied with, “Where the hell did you come from?! You scared me half to death!”
“I just got home, and I saw that car in the driveway. Whose is it?”
“You still call this home?” I asked.
“Yes.” She rolled her eyes. “Travis is out of town on business for a few days, so I decided to come home and see what y’all were up to. The car, Nay?”
“It’s Lorenzo’s.”
“Lorenzo?” She actually sounded like she was searching her brain, trying to figure out who he was.
“The man I’ve been seeing for months now?”
Her eyes widened. “Cunnilingus?”
“Nicky, really?”
“Seriously, I’m trying to place him. He’s the fine one who ate your—”
“Yes, that’s him. What other man have I mentioned since Robert?”
As I zipped up the garment bag, she plopped down on the side of the bed, and said, “Ugh, don’t bring that troll up, and it’s been a while since we talked. I haven’t talked to Angie, either.”
“And whose fault is that?”
She sighed. “Anyway, you two are together now? I mean, when I talked to Mama for a second the other week or month or whatever, she said your divorce had gone through, but she didn’t mention him.”
I shrugged. “She knows about him, just hasn’t met him. Maybe she’s preoccupied with her own love life.”
She frowned. “You’re packing a bag, driving his car…and you’ve got this aura about you like you’re getting good dick on the regular. Wait, are you living with him?”
“Good dick aura? I’ve heard it all. You are really crazy, Nicky.”
“You are! You’re shacking up with a man! I can’t believe it, Nay! I’m soooo proud of you! And you must be putting it on him right for him to let you drive his damn Maybach. I know niggas that wouldn’t let me drive their damn Ford Focus. Broke asses.”
I grinned. “I guess. Wait, you’re not going to talk mess about me being in another relationship so soon after my divorce?”
“Hell, no! From what you said before, that man is rich. Girrrl, you don’t bullshit around with rich niggas! You snatch them up ASAP!”
“Um, okay…but I really don’t care about his money. He’s so good to me, and—”
“Renee! OMG! So you’re living in the mansion with him? I thought I was doing something with Travis. He’s got a great condo, but shit! You got it going on for real, big sis! Oh! You should host our girls’ night at his place this month!”
“It’s your turn to host. I was hoping me and Angie would get to check out Travis’ place and maybe actually get a real introduction since you barely told us his name at the benefit and then ignored us the entire night.”
“Look, let me reel him in good before I unleash y’all on him.”
“What do you mean unleash us? What you think we’re gonna do? Tell him you’re a ho’?”
“Yes.”
“You know we wouldn’t do that. He’ll find out eventually anyway, though.”
“No he won’t, because I’m barely even hoeing anymore. I’ve only slept with one other guy, Maurice, since I’ve been staying with Travis and we’ve only done it like six times and that’s only because Travis can’t really screw well, but I’m working with him, you know?”
I just stared at her.
“But for real, you should host our girls’ night! Pleeeeease! I’ve never been in a real mansion before!”
“Okay, okay! I’ll talk to Zo about it. If it’s okay with him, I’ll do it.”
“Girl, be sure you put some of your magical, Maybach-driving coochie on him before you ask. I bet his ass will not only say yes, he’ll be up in there serving us hors d’oeuvres and shit.”
I shook my head. “Nicky, if I plan this, your disappearing ass better show up this time. No me having to call and find out where you are and you sounding like some lost white girl over the phone.”
“Oh, I’ll be there.”
“And you better not refer to him as ‘Cunnilingus’ in his presence.”
“How about just Cunni?”
“Nicky, if your ass doesn’t behave…”
“Okay, okay!!”