After the storm (34 page)

"You're
one tough lady." She could hear the smile in his voice. "Saturday,
seven in the evening?"

"All
right. I'll see you then."

"I'm
looking forward to it already, Yemi. Take care."

Yemi put
the phone down slowly. He was a nice guy, at least nice enough for
his sister-in-law to be so fond of him. Dotun would not touch Akeem
with a long pole.

She was
still uneasy as she dressed up for her dinner date with Deji the
following Saturday. She had avoided situations like that for a year
and had built a comfortable wall around herself, only allowing a
few trusted people inside it.

However,
despite all of her reservations, she enjoyed her time with Deji. He
was very charming and thoughtful. She knew he was still curious
about her. She caught it in the looks he gave her, but he
thoughtfully steered away from any conversation he noticed she was
uncomfortable with.

"So can
we do this again soon?" he asked as he drove her home later that
evening.

Yemi
sighed. "You're a nice guy, Deji, but I'm not interested in having
an affair with anyone."

He
looked hurt by what she said. "An affair? Yemi, from the first day
I met you, I knew you were not that kind of lady."

"So what
do you want from me?"

"I think
it's the way I started that has scared you. Let us just be friends
for now."

"Deji,
why can't you just go after someone else?"

"Because
I like you, Yemi. Please give me a chance to be your friend. I
promise I'll not put any pressure on you."

Yemi
stared ahead. She was not convinced by what he had said.

"Just
friends, Yemi," Deji repeated, glancing sideways at her.

"Deji,
I'm not ready for a relationship with any man," Yemi warned him.
"And the friendship will be off if I get any pressure from you in
that direction. Agree?"

"Agree,"
Deji replied with a smile.

∞∞∞

Over the
next few months, Yemi saw Deji regularly. He was a nice person, and
the more she got to know him, the more she felt relaxed around him.
She told him bits about her marriage to Akeem, and he was very
understanding and sympathetic. He also told her about his late
wife. They had been very close.

He was
very keen to meet her family and anyone connected to her, but Yemi
politely put him off that idea. She didn't know how to explain him
to others. "Meet Deji, my friend for now, but who would love to be
more than just friends."

No, that
wouldn't do at all. There were times when she felt uncomfortable
and tried to break off their "friendship." She felt Deji was too
sweet to be wasting his time on her, but he seemed to sense when
she was pulling away, and he would back off anything he thought was
pressure from him and withdraw a little but remain very
nice.

He and
Aleena got along well. He planned outings so that Aleena and his
kids could go along with them.

"I like
Tolu and Tope," Aleena said to Yemi after one of such outings.
"Maybe they can be my sister and brother," she added before
frowning slightly. "But they are the same age as me." She turned to
her mother. "It won't be as much fun as having my own little sister
or brother, right, Mummy?"

Yemi had
no answer.

∞∞∞

Dammy
invited Yemi for her dad's sixtieth birthday party a few months
later. Deji picked her up.

The
party had not started properly when they arrived. She could see
Lola, Dammy, and Lara darting around, trying to get things
organized. Dammy looked in their direction, and walked over to
them.

"Hey,"
Deji said, smiling as Dammy got to their table. "I brought your
guest for you."

"Thanks!
Looking great as usual, Yemi," Dammy said, looking at Yemi's
outfit. "And thanks for coming."

"Thanks
for inviting me. I got this for your dad," she said, holding out
the gift to her.

"Thanks
a lot." Dammy waved Lola over.

"Hey,"
Lola said, first hugging Yemi and then Deji. "You look great,
Yemi!"

"I was
just telling her that," Dammy chipped in.

"What
about me?" Deji asked. "Feeling left out here."

"It's
enough that you're accompanying this very pretty lady!" Lola
giggled. "But anyway, yes, you do look good, darling brother of
mine." She turned to Yemi. "My parents are here. They can't wait to
meet you." She winked at Deji. "Your parents are here as well,
Deji," she added. "They are sitting over there." She pointed
towards the general direction of the front of the hall.

"I'll
see them later," Deji said.

"Why
don't you guys come join us at our table?" Dammy asked.

Deji
looked at Yemi's face. "Thanks, but I think we're okay here. We've
got a good view of everything going on from here."

Yemi
brow's furrowed slightly as she wondered what Lola had told her
parents about her. They were Deji's in-laws as well. It was very
likely that she had told them she and Deji were in a relationship.
The thought of that made her very uneasy.

The party swung into full gear about twenty minutes later as
the
compere
took
to the stage. He was a very witty man, and Yemi found herself
laughing at his jokes.

She was
talking to Deji a while later and was a bit startled when she heard
her name.

"Hello,
Yemi. So we finally meet."

Yemi
turned around to see a lady somewhere in her late fifties smiling
sweetly at her. She immediately recognized her as Deji's mother.
She had seen pictures of her at Deji's house.

"Good
afternoon, Ma," Yemi said, curtseying in the Yoruba traditional
way. She felt a little uneasy. Coming to this party had obviously
not been a smart move on her part.

"Good
afternoon, my dear," Deji's mother responded, giving her a hug. She
looked Yemi up and down. "You're even prettier than Deji told us.
His dad and I have been really looking forward to meeting you."
Yemi did not know what to say, but luckily Mrs. Phillips turned
towards Deji. "I hope you've been taking good care of
her?"

Deji
winked at Yemi. "Have I?"

Yemi was
feeling embarrassed and did not know how to respond.

His
mother smiled indulgently at both of them. "You must really come
and see us, Yemi. We would love to have you over for dinner
sometime soon."

"Thank
you, Ma," Yemi replied.

"We
shall look forward to seeing you then," Deji's mother said as she
prepared to move off.

"What
did you tell your mum about me?" Yemi asked Deji after his mother
had left.

He
looked steadily back at her. "That you're my friend?"

Yemi was
not convinced. "Just that?"

He
shrugged. "Honestly, that's all, but my mum says I've changed since
I met you." He looked at her worried face and smiled slightly.
"Hey, why that look? Much as I'd love to tell everyone that we're
more than friends, I haven't done so because we're still just
friends, right?" he asked, looking searchingly into her eyes as if
he wanted her to say otherwise.

"Right,"
Yemi said.

He
looked slightly disappointed but hid it quickly behind a grin. "So
in that case, there's nothing stopping you from having dinner at my
parents' place sometime soon, right?"

"Wrong,"
Yemi replied, and he laughed.

Chapter
19

Akeem
smiled as he watched Lois dance. Her long tresses were tossed
around her pretty face as she moved along to the beat of the music.
She was a good dancer, fluid and graceful in her movements. She
stretched out an arm towards him, inviting him to join her, but he
shook his head. He was having a good time relaxing on the lounger,
and that suited him just fine.

He took
a sip from the drink that was sitting by his side. It was a
Saturday, and they were sitting by the swimming pool at his house.
Aleena was away at Nadia's son's birthday party and would not be
back until much later in the evening.

Lois
pulled a crazy dance move and looked over at him. He laughed and
gave her the thumbs-up. She was fun to be with. There was never
really a dull moment around her.

She had
been staying with him on and off now for a few weeks. She was aware
of his marital status and apart from Sara and Hasan, she was cool
with his other friends. Due to her friendship with Yemi, Sara made
sure she maintained as little contact with Lois as possible. Hasan
was a die-hard Yemi advocate anyday; he and Yemi were still very
much in contact, and he had hopes that Yemi and Akeem would
reconcile someday. But as far as Akeem was concerned,
reconciliation with Yemi was something he was not going to lose any
sleep over.

"Hey,
handsome," Lois said a few minutes later, dropping into the lounger
beside him. She stretched herself luxuriously and turned to him.
"Did you enjoy my dancing?"

Akeem
smiled. "Yeah…you can move." His eyes swept lazily over her body.
That she was a pretty lady was not in doubt. Tall, with a figure
that turned heads wherever they went, she was a girl most guys
would be proud to be seen with. "But you can still brush up your
act by watching the masters." He grinned. "People like
me."

"Yeah,
right." Lois said as she popped her Gucci sunglasses on top of her
head. "By the way, what do you have planned for
tonight?"

"Nothing
much. Do you have anything in mind?"

"I
thought that we could go to Bresca," she said, referring to an
exclusive club in Victoria Island. "I've not been there in a while,
and I feel like having a lot of fun this weekend—at least while I
have your undivided attention."

"You
always have my undivided attention," Akeem teased. He turned on his
side and looked at her. "How can I not be attentive to a lovely
lady like you?"

Lois
smiled back at him, her eyes holding his. "And yet…" She stopped
midsentence.

"And yet
what, my pretty lady?"

"Not to
worry." She looked a little sombre, which was unlike her. Akeem
looked at her quizzically. She shrugged her shoulders. "So we go to
Bresca tonight," she continued, snapping back to her usual self.
"Let me see, do I have anything suitable to wear? Not sure. I may
have to pop home quickly to pick up a couple of things."

"That's
fine." He looked up and saw Bassey coming towards them with a
trolley. Lois saw him too and sat up.

"Good, I
was just getting a teensy bit hungry," she said. "I hope he has
some spare ribs on that trolley. Bassey makes the most amazing
spare ribs ever!"

When
Bassey got to them, he displayed the contents of the trolley. There
was fresh vegetable salad, the spare ribs Lois had been looking
forward to, grilled fish, chicken, and some other finger foods that
looked very inviting.

"Mmmm,
so tasty, and spicy too, just the way I like it," Lois said, taking
a delicate bite out of one of the spare ribs. "Thanks,
Bassey."

"You're
welcome, ma'am."

Akeem
looked at his face. Another Yemi loyalist. He was always very
official around Lois. Polite but distant. Bassey took out the
bottle of wine from the ice bucket and tried to open it.

"Let me
do that," Akeem said, stretching out his hand for the bottle. He
opened it and filled Lois's cup and then his. "That will be all,
Bassey. Thanks for the food."

"I need
to come and take some lessons from you, Bassey." Lois smiled at
him. "These ribs are amazing!"

Bassey
smiled politely.

Cooking
was not one of Lois's strong points, very unlike…Akeem stopped
abruptly and shook his head to clear the thought. He always tried
to prevent himself from comparing her with Yemi. Lois had so many
other good qualities. She didn't need to be a world-class chef, and
anyway he had Bassey if he needed gourmet dishes.

He
picked out some grilled chicken and fish from the platter and added
some salad on the side.

"Aren't
you trying the ribs?" Lois asked him. She held out a piece to him,
and he took a bite from it. She started to add some to his plate,
but he shook his head.

"They
are nice, but I'm not really a spare ribs person. Bassey makes
those because of you. Do you want to try the chicken? It's spicy as
well." He held out a piece to her with his fork. She opened her
mouth, and he fed her. She smiled and chewed it, and he found
himself thinking again how pretty she was. Pretty and
stressless.

"Hmmm,
maybe we should have a little party soon, like a soirée." An
excited look came into her eyes. "We can use the garden, or even
have it here by the poolside. What do you think?"

"I'm
going to be busy for the next couple of weeks, but after that, why
not?"

"Great!
Lily will be back from the States by then," she said, referring to
her younger sister. "It will be a blast to have her
there!"