Then he threw back his head and let out a long, loud, joyous howl that brought the others out onto the front porch.
Dewi crossed her arms over her chest. “Well,” she snarked, “since she’s not still here, I’m guessing you didn’t claim her.”
He grinned. “I’m picking her up for dinner tomorrow night at seven.”
“What?” Badger asked. “She not drivin’ her bus tomorrow?”
Beck felt his face redden. “She asked me not to ride her bus anymore. But…” He grinned. “She wants to take things slow, but also said while we’re doing that, she wants to be exclusive.”
“Well,
that’s
the way to speed things up,” Martin drawled.
“Come on,” Beck said. “Hey, it’s progress, okay?”
“True,” Ken said. “It is progress. We’ll give you that. Snail’s pace comes to mind.”
“I was going to say glacial,” Dewi offered.
“Is there anything slower than glacial?” Martin asked.
“Wow, glad you guys are my friends,” Beck said.
Dewi grinned and stepped forward to hug him. “Congratulations,” she said. “You’re going steady. It is progress.” She poked him in the chest. “Now don’t go backward, and don’t screw it up.”
“I won’t, believe me.”
* * * *
Nami drove home in a daze, still unable to process everything that had happened to her that day.
She wanted more from her life. She wanted happiness.
She wanted Beck.
She’d be lying if she denied it.
But what about Da’von?
Then again, her brother was nineteen. Not many more months until he turned twenty. He was getting good grades, studying hard. Maybe having someone stable in his life like Beck would be a good thing. Having an extended family with a positive influence.
How’s he going to react to a man in my life?
To be fair, her divorce wasn’t totally the fault of her ex-husband, Michael. Yes, he’d been ill-prepared to deal to raise three children that weren’t his. And Da’von hadn’t made it easy on Michael. He was old enough to realize the man wasn’t his father, but was going to compete for his affection with Nami.
She hadn’t fought the divorce, either. Especially since Michael had paid for it, and the marriage had only lasted thirteen months.
Why couldn’t I date someone? Dating isn’t a promise of forever. Ease my way into it.
Beck had insisted he was willing to take things slowly. As slowly as she wanted.
It would be nice not to be alone anymore
.
Friends were great, and she had some great friends, no doubt about that.
But friends didn’t hold her at night.
Friends weren’t someone to share her innermost thoughts with.
Friends weren’t people to get freaky with in bed. Well, not
her
friends.
Malyah and Da’von were already home when she pulled into the apartment complex’s parking lot. Malyah’s car was there, and she could see the glow of her sister’s bedroom light through the closed blinds.
Before she got out of her car, Nami texted Beck.
Home safe and sound. Here’s my address.
She added it and sent the message.
Before she could even unbuckle her seat belt, he replied.
Thank you. And thank you for tonight. I’ll see you tomorrow night at 7. Sleep tight.
She smiled as she read it. No annoying text-speak abbreviations. And he’d used punctuation. Yes, she’d sometimes use short-hand with her siblings or close friends in text, but it drove her nuts if someone she didn’t know well wrote their text messages like they were illiterate.
One more point in the man’s favor, and he didn’t even realize it.
Smiling, she got out of her car, locked it, and headed inside.
* * * *
“So why are you glowing today, huh?” Lara asked Nami when she walked into the back room at the dress shop.
Nami didn’t want to deny it. “I might have met me a guy.”
Lara frowned. “Either you did, or you didn’t. Which is it?”
“I met me a guy, who wants to go out with me.”
“Okay.” Lara held up both hands, motioning at her to make with more details.
“I went over to have dinner with him and some of his coworkers last night. Very nice people. He asked if he could pick me up and take me out to dinner tonight, and I said yes.”
“I take it he’s gainfully employed?”
“It would appear so.”
Lara’s lips curved, just a little, the hint of a smile. “And you think maybe there’s something between you two?”
“He’s cute. Even for a white guy,” she jokingly added. “Big guy.” Nami kicked herself that she didn’t take a picture of him last night with her phone. “Nice guy. Intelligent, and gorgeous blue eyes.”
“I’m a sucker for blue eyes, chica. Keep talking.”
“We met on my bus—”
“Wait a minute! This isn’t creepy kiss guy, is it?”
Oops.
Nami forgot she had told Lara about that. “Yes and no.”
“Well, either he is or he isn’t.”
“It is the same guy, but he’s not creepy.” She filled in details. Hell, wasn’t like she could make Beck look worse to Lara.
Fortunately, when Nami finished the story, Lara looked astounded. “Aww! That is the most romantic thing I think I’ve heard in my life! He
looked
for you?”
“Exactly.” She settled in her usual place. “I’m going out to dinner with him again tonight. This time, he’s picking me up.”
“Okay, all joking aside, you give me his information. And after your date, you let me know you’re okay, or I’m calling the cops. Got it?”
“I got it. And thank you, I will.”
“You tell the kids yet?”
That was Lara’s pet phrase for Nami’s siblings.
“No. I didn’t really tell them about last night, either. Just that I was going out to dinner. I’m not sure how Da’von will feel about me dating.”
“So you’re gonna be a chicken and not tell him?”
“I’m not being a chicken.” Lara arched an eyebrow at her. “Okay, yes, I’m being a chicken, but it’s not like it’s a big deal, okay?”
“If it’s not a big deal, why not tell them?”
“Because I’d like to go out with him a couple of times to make sure how I feel about him before bringing him in and disrupting their lives.”
“Doll, listen. Lu’ana is an adult with a family. Malyah is an adult with a life. She lives at home still because it makes her life and yours easier, but she has a life. Da’von is a man. He needs to learn you are an adult with a life. I get it, I know you had a rough patch with him a while ago, but didn’t you say he’s pulled it together again?”
“Yeah.” She threw her head back. “I’m scared.”
“Of creepy bus guy?”
When Nami looked, she spotted the playful grin on her friend’s face. “He’s
not
creepy.”
“Determined, then.” Lara laughed. “For the record, I do think it’s sweet. I’ll reserve final judgment until I meet him, though.” She wagged a finger at Nami. “Remember, I get veto power as your friend.”
Another old joke between them. “Sure you do, honey. Sure you do.”
* * * *
Nami thought she’d never sleep the night before, but it had shocked her when her alarm woke her at her usual time and she realized not only had she enjoyed a full night’s sleep, but it had been the best night’s sleep she’d had in a while.
And during the busy day, as she, Lara, and two other employees worked their way through an extremely hectic Saturday schedule, Nami realized she wasn’t obsessing over Beck the way she had been before last night.
Maybe having a few questions answered helped.
She didn’t know.
But by the time they’d finished with the last appointment of the day at five, Nami felt exhausted in the good way. Saturdays were always their busiest day because many times that was the only free time people had to get to the shop for fittings or shopping.
As Nami sat in her car behind the dress shop and waited for the AC to cool it down, she texted Beck.
Heading home from the shop to get ready. We still on?
He replied a moment later.
I will be there at 7. Have been looking forward to it all day. :)
Nami smiled as she read his message over and over again. Finally, she replied.
I’ve been looking forward to it, too.
See you then. Have a safe drive home.
She wanted to sit there and stare at her phone but realized that wasn’t going to get her home and get her ready. So she shoved the phone into her purse and backed out of the parking lot.
Chapter Sixteen
Much to Nami’s relief, neither Da’von nor Malyah were home when she got home. Introducing them to Beck wasn’t something she wanted to do yet. Not until she felt a little more certain about where things were going.
Explaining the circumstances of their initial meeting might also be a little uncomfortable. Waiting to do all that would be better.
Cowardly, but better.
She had just enough time to grab her shower and stand in front of her closet and nervously debate what she wanted to wear.
Wasn’t like she had some svelte, gorgeous figure like that Dewi did, but she knew how to rock the body she’d been given. Finally, after agonizing over it, she chose a pretty, royal blue dress that she hadn’t had a reason to wear in too damn long.
Luckily, it still fit.
She went and used the other bathroom to put her makeup on since the mirror in hers was steamed over. As she tried to decide what eyeshadow to use, she stared at her reflection.
She kept her hair cropped short, and there were little strands of grey popping up here and there. She’d never had time to mess around with letting it grow out and then trying to straighten it. She also didn’t want to spend the money on it, and hadn’t had the patience to deal with it. She wasn’t blessed with hair like Malyah and Lu’ana, who both had locks that looked gorgeous longer, straightened, and styled.
And now that the women were adults with jobs, they were free to do whatever they dang well liked to their hair, and pay the money out of their own pockets to have it done.
Hers, however, ended up looking like an episode of
When Good Hair Goes Bad
when she grew it longer. She’d tried it once when her sisters were in their teens, letting her hair grow out and getting it straightened and styled, at their insistence.
Once.
They’d sworn they could help her fix her hair and keep it looking gorgeous, in a style that would be easy to care for.
Nope. She’d made it three months before going to the hairdresser and begging her to cut it close again. It made her life easier. Especially her mornings. And she dang sure had enough problems in her life, her hair didn’t need to be one of them.
It was faster first thing at the ass-crack of morning to have short, natural hair. All she had to do was dry it off with a towel. If her sisters wanted to spend all that time and money on their hair, they were welcomed to it.
I do have a couple of wigs I could use.
That was another thing about natural hair. She could go swimming and not worry about her hair. She could shower and not worry about her hair.
And she could change hairstyles just by putting on a wig.
The more she thought about it, however, the more she realized something. Beck had fallen for her for who she was now. If her natural hair was a problem, he’d have to deal with it.
It was part of her, of who she was.
She remembered Sunday mornings when she was little, her momma spending time braiding her hair out, a weekly ritual they’d had. As she’d outgrown that, she’d opted for short and natural, not having the money for anything else.
And then they’d lost their momma, and she damn sure didn’t have money or the time for wasting on her hair. Not when keeping a roof over their heads and the lights on and food in the fridge was more important.
After finally deciding on eyeshadow, she finished and took one last look in the mirror.
I’m not a bad-looking woman for my age, I suppose.
She turned sideways and tried sucking in her gut, smoothing down the front of the dress with her hands. She knew she could get a pair of those uncomfortable undergarments that sucked everything in.
Again, it wasn’t who she was.