“I know that’s right, ’cause that’s exactly what I would do.” I sat down and opened the card.
Dear Jasmine,
Sorry about our little misunderstanding last night. I meant no disrespect, and I hope you
’
ll accept these flowers as an apology.
Your friend,
Dylan
555-9988 (call me)
I took another look at the beautiful roses, then read the card again, with Sabrina begging for details over my shoulder. Dylan must have been truly sorry for what happened to spend this kind of money at the florist. It made me smile to know my original opinion of him was right. He really was a nice guy. Maybe a little too nice to be safe for a woman whose man is locked up. This kind of treatment could tempt a girl to do things she’d promised she wouldn’t.
“So?” Sabrina was staring at me impatiently.
“What do you mean, ‘So’?”
“So who the flowers from?” She rolled her eyes at my obvious question.
“Just a friend.” I smiled unconvincingly.
“Ohhh, hell, no! Don’t you dare hold out on me, Jasmine. As much shit as I told you the last couple o’ years?” She was right. She had shared enough dirt about herself for me to blackmail her ass for the next twenty years. Guess the least I could do is throw the girl a bone. It wasn’t like he was my new man or anything.
“Oh, all right. His name is Dylan Taylor.” I tried not to sound too excited as I said his name. “Becky and I hung out with him and his friend Joe last night. We had a really nice time.”
“And?” she stared at me.
“And what? He’s a nice guy, but he’s just a friend.” I gave her an innocent look.
“Just a friend, huh? I ain’t never heard of a man laying out the money for long-stem roses unless he wanted to be more than just friends. You musta given him some reason to buy these flowers.” Sabrina gave me a skeptical smirk. “Is he fine?”
“He’s cute,” I smiled as I thought of him on the dance floor. “And girrrrrrll, he had this pretty dark-chocolate skin.” Sabrina loved her some dark-skinned men. The darker the better.
“He got a job?” She got to the heart of the matter.
“Yeah, he owns his own business.”
“What? Oh, shit! Girrrrlll, you done hit the jackpot!” Sabrina’s eyes got wide. Lately, her first criterion was that the brother had to have a job. Probably because her husband, Richie, could never keep one. Richie’s philosophy was, if you want it, I’ll steal it. That’s why he’s doing a five-to-ten-year bid for armed robbery.
“He got a brother?” Sabrina asked.
“Don’t know. We never talked about his family. Just mine.”
“What about a friend? He’s gotta have a friend,” she pleaded.
“Sorry, Becky’s already got him.” I felt sorry for her. She actually looked like she’d just missed the lottery by one number.
“Damn, story of my life. Every decent man in Richmond belongs to somebody else.” Sabrina shook her head and inspected her fingernails as she got back to her game of twenty million questions. “So this Dylan, is he nice?”
I smiled because the answer made me feel so good. “Yeah, he really is. He’s probably the nicest guy I’ve met since Derrick’s been locked up.”
Sabrina raised her eyebrows. She knew me well enough to know what that meant. In all the time Derrick had been away, I’d never had anything good to say about another man. But there was something about this one, and she knew it as well as I did.
“Well, he sure has good taste.” Sabrina reached down and took a white rose out of the vase. She smiled as she inhaled.
“He sure does.” I leaned over the flowers to enjoy the sweet fragrance. “I hate to admit it, but I could really get used to this.”
“Tell me about it. Wish it was me.” She frowned jealously. “So what you gonna do about Derrick?”
“What do you mean, ‘do about Derrick’?”
“You know. You gonna tell him about this dude or you just gonna have you a little fun on the side? It ain’t like you and Derrick is married or nothin’.”
I shook my head. “Sabrina, you’re trippin’. All I said is that he’s nice. That don’t mean I’m givin’ up on Derrick.”
“No, actually, you said he was the nicest guy you’d met since your man went away. Now if that don’t mean you’re interested, I don’t know what does.”
I sucked my teeth. She was pissing me off, mostly because she was speaking the truth I wasn’t even trying to admit to myself.
“Look, what the fuck you interrogating me for? I told you he’s just a friend. Damn, give me a break. I got a man, remember?”
“From the look on your face every time you say this guy’s name, maybe I should be asking you to remember you got a man. So you gonna tell Derrick, or what?” she repeated the question. I rolled my eyes at her. To be my so-called friend, she could really get on my nerves.
“Hell, no, I’m not gonna tell him. What should I tell him for? So he can blow things out of proportion like you do? Dylan is just a friend.”
She looked me straight in the eye, and then she got this gleam, like a lightbulb just went off in her mind. “Ooooooh, girl. You got laid, didn’t you?”
“No, I didn’t,” I answered in a hurry as I remembered just how close that was to the truth.
“Yes, you did! You fucked him. That’s why you didn’t come home last night.” There was a momentary silence before either of us spoke. Then I got indignant.
“Hold up. How you know I didn’t come home last night?” This girl was starting to sound like the damn CIA or something. “Stay out my business, Sabrina. I’m a grown woman. My momma don’t keep tabs on me—”
She lifted her hand to stop me. “Well, your grandmother sure does. I know she keep tabs on you, ‘cause she the one who called my house askin’ me to knock on your door at three o’clock in the morning.”
“Big Momma called you?” I felt like screaming. Big Momma was always blowing somebody up.
“Yeah, she called. Now, stop trying to change the subject.” All of a sudden her tone softened “Don’t get me wrong, Jazz. I ain’t mad at ya if you did get you some. Three years with your man upstate is a long time. I don’t know how you did it. Hell, I didn’t last three months.” She hit a nerve with this little speech. As much as I had been playing it cool for three years, I had to admit it had been hard. There were plenty of nights I cried myself to sleep. Now I was beating myself up over one moment of weakness.
“Sabrina, I swear I didn’t fuck him. But I wanted to.” I finally admitted it to her and myself. “I couldn’t help it We were just talking and the next thing I know he’s giving me these soft, toe-curling kisses. Girl, he was touching me in all the right places. Have you ever ...” I hesitated, almost afraid to admit out loud how good Dylan had made me feel. “Have you ever been with a man who could make love with his tongue better than any other man could do with his whole body?”
Sabrina’s eyes widened, and so did her smile. I could tell she was reminiscing about some past love. “Yeah, once. And I wish I could find him now. Right now.”
“Well, girl, that’s what happened last night.”
“Damn, he was all that?” There was envy in her eyes.
“Was he?” I exhaled. “Girrrrrrll, I thought I was gonna pass out.”
“Damn!” Sabrina sat up and leaned toward me. “You sure he ain’t got no brothers?”
I laughed. “Not that I know of.”
“So what about Derrick? You gonna kick him to the curb for the man with the golden tongue, or what?”
I looked at Derrick’s picture on the mantel.
“Nah, I can’t. I love my boo. He’s the only reason I
didn
’
t
sleep with Dylan. Sex is important, but it’s not the most important thing. Love means more. And I’m not about to risk five years of my life for a one-night stand or some meaningless affair. Not when I’ve already found love with Derrick.”
“Hmmph, you better than me, girl. ’Cause if I were you, I’d be picking up the phone right now to invite Mr. Wonderful over for dinner. And the main course would be me.”
“Please, girl, I ain’t no better,” I admitted. “I picked up the phone five times to do the same thing when I was at work, but I kept thinking about Derrick and hanging up. I never been so damn confused in my entire life. Do you know that last night, after he did his magic on me, I actually cursed his ass out?”
“You what? Why?”
“’Cause I couldn’t curse myself out for being so damn weak. And because he made me feel so damn good. Too good.”
Sabrina laughed at me. “You cussed him out because he made you feel good? I know he musta went off on you.”
“Yeah, we had some words,” I explained. “But he sent the roses to apologize.” Sabrina’s expression made it clear she didn’t think I was for real, so I handed her the card from the flowers delivery. “Here. Read the card.”
“Shit,” Sabrina was shaking her head. “A black man who’s cute, romantic, owns his own business, and admits he’s wrong even when he’s not? Where do I sign up? If you don’t want him, I’ll take him.” The thing about Sabrina was, I know she was more than half serious. She’d do anything to find a replacement for Richie. I rolled my eyes at her.
The phone rang, and I realized just how long I had been sitting there with Sabrina. I was supposed to be at Big Momma’s already.
“Shit” I stood up. “Can you get that? If it’s Big Momma, tell her I’m in the shower.”
“Hello?” Sabrina waited as the caller spoke. “No, this isn’t her. Can I ask who’s calling?” A smile came across her face. “Okay, hold on a second.”
Her grin remained as she placed her hand over the receiver.
“Do you wanna speak to a Dylan Taylor?”
My heart was in my mouth, but that didn’t stop me from snatching the phone from her with a mile-wide grin on my face. I took a deep breath and tried to compose myself. I didn’t want him or Sabrina to know just how excited I was.
“Hello?”
“”What’s up, Jazz?” His voice sent a shiver through me.
“Hey, Dylan.” I tried to stay cool. “Thanks for the roses. You didn’t have to do that.”
“I know. But I wanted to.”
“How’d you get my number? Becky give it to you?”
“Nah. Actually, in the world of unlisted numbers, yours is listed.”
“You know, you’re right I completely forgot that,” I laughed, feeling like a schoolgirl with a crush. It had been a long time since anyone had made me feel that way.
“Hey, what’re you doing tonight?” he asked.
“I gotta take my grandmother to see my sister’s new baby.” That was already something I didn’t want to do, even more now since it sounded like Dylan had other plans in mind. Then I realized I better check myself. I was letting my little romantic fantasy get out of hand.
“Too bad you’ve got plans,” Dylan sighed. “I was hoping you’d come to Captain George’s with me for dinner.”
“Dinner at Captain George’s, huh?” I repeated for the benefit of Sabrina, who was hanging on my every word, jealousy written all over her face.
“Yeah, and then maybe a movie. But if you’re busy ...”
“Well, I do like seafood.” Immediately, I was plotting the quickest way to get out of the maternity ward with Big Momma so I could go out with Dylan later. Of course, I knew this was just what I had promised myself last night I wouldn’t do. I was supposed to be staying away from this man and his temptation. While I was busy wrestling with my conscience, the call waiting beeped on my phone, buying me a little time.
“Hold on a second, Dylan. I got another call.”
I clicked over.
“Hello?”
“This is an AT&T operator with a collect call from Derrich Will you accept?”
“Oh, shit.” I threw my hand over the receiver and gave Sabrina a look of terror.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” she asked.
“It’s Derrick. He’s on the other line,” I whispered.
“You better get yourself together and talk to him,” she told me without a hint of sympathy. Guess her jealousy had gotten the best of her, ’cause she sure wasn’t handing out any supportive advice right now. She folded her arms and waited to witness how I got out of this one.
“Yes, operator. I’ll accept.” I tried not to sound too disappointed.
“Jazz?”
“Hey, baby,” I replied nervously.
“What’s the matter?” Guess I didn’t disguise my mood so well. All I could do was try harder.
“Nothin’. Why would you think something was the matter?”
“Don’t play dumb, Jasmine. I heard you say ‘Oh, shit’ and it took you long enough to accept the call.”
“Oh ... I dropped my cigarette on the sofa. That’s all.”
“Where were you last night? I called like five times.”
“I was at the hospital. Stephanie had her baby.” At least that lie came quickly. But I wasn’t prepared for the next question.