Lynnia (17 page)

Dario turned to where Lindsay was looking and saw a waitress not far from them smiling. He recognized Casey. She was the waitress that had been waiting on him. He furled his eyebrows as he turned back to Lindsay.

“You know Casey, Linds?”

“Yes, I do. We share a house and I work with her. She’s covering my shift tonight so I can be here with you. It’s amazing that I’m here when I’m supposed to be the one working. Fortunately for Momma Norton, I don’t mind now that I find out it’s you that I’m meeting. I can relax and enjoy myself. How have you been?”

They both sat down. Casey came over and took their drink and appetizer orders, then gave them a few minutes to look over the menu for their meal. Dario told Lindsay that he was going to trust her to choose what they eat since she worked there and he’d never been there before. It didn’t take her long to choose. When Casey came back to check on them, they put in their order for the rest of their meal.

“You were saying there were things being put in motion that you had no control over because the incomparable Momma Norton was at the helm.”

“Yeah. It’s crazy. I never thought I’d be one to put their life in the hands of someone else, but that’s what’s going on. I said I wasn’t going to question it, but trust that she knows what she’s doing. I was told that I’d been given more than enough of an opportunity to get my act together. I guess I’m in need of help.”

“Enter me and here we go. I still can’t believe it’s you. My mom is going to flip when I tell her.”

“How is she doing? I haven’t seen her in a few years. Work has been keeping me crazy busy.”

“She’s great. Working her ass off at the hospital. She’d love to see you. Darien stops in to see her every time that he’s in town. It’s been what? I think it’s been about eight months now, right?”

“Yeah, he’s in Nicaragua or somewhere in Central America. I suck at keeping up with where he is until I’m on the phone. What’s worse is the fact that I was just on the phone with him and he told me where he was. I was so distracted by my anticipation for this meeting. I think that makes me a sad excuse for a brother.”

“Or human? Meetings are stressful enough. Add to it the fact that it’s supposed to be with someone you trust and they run late, the result can make a person fly off the deep end. I’m surprised there isn’t a you-sized hole in the door.”

They shared a laugh and he realized he hadn’t been this comfortable with a woman outside of Lynnia’s family in a long time. Was this what Momma Norton wanted for him? Is this what she needed for him to understand? Was he supposed to see that there were others out in the world that he could be with instead of Lynnie? If that were the case, she didn’t need to go through the lengths she might have to get Lindsay to meet him here. He knew there were “other fish in the sea,” he just didn’t want them. He’d continue with tonight’s dinner and they’d go their separate ways afterwards.

She began to choke and he grabbed hold to her hand as she grabbed her glass of water to take a drink. After clearing her throat a couple times, Lindsay’s watery, oval, brown eyes looked at him and reassured him that she would be okay. Her hand giving his a reassuring squeeze was the other indicator that she would be fine. Little did he know Nyema and Zoie weren’t far away picking up an order and witness the intimate looking interaction. Dario continued his meal with his friend unbeknownst of the possible conflict that was coming his way.

~~~~~~~

As he walked in the door of his apartment, Dario took off his shirt and placed it in a hamper in the washroom just off the entrance. He went to the fridge and put the leftovers of his meal there then grabbed a beer off the door. Undoing his pants, he walked through the second door and into the living area. He picked up the remote. Before he could turn on the screen to see the scores of the day on ESPN, his phone rang.

“Cuz? What’s good? You’re never going to guess who I just saw.”

“Hey D. Have you talked to Lynnie? You can tell me who you ran into later. I need to make sure you know.”

Victor sounded off. The usual cool façade was shaken and he needed to know what was going in order to assess how to handle the situation.

“What don’t I know, Victor?”

“You said you met with Momma Norton yesterday, right?”

“Yeah, but … what is it?”

“Lynnie is in Cancun. She has been for the past week and will be for the next before she’s heading to California. Thought you should know. I think this is part of the reason why she stopped taking your calls. She supposedly there with another guy.”

Dario dropped into the cushions of his loveseat. What was usually a comfortable place for him felt like he’d fallen on a ton of jagged rocks at news that Lynnia was out of town with another guy.

“Who is the guy? Why don’t I know about him? Why didn’t I know about him n the first place? She tells me everything. Well, she used to.”

“The sisters think it’s because she is feeling something different for this guy than any of the others. She sprung the news of another guy on them the same day that she revealed the news that she was going on vacation for three weeks. Sorry, Cuz.”

It clicked in his head why the date was set up now. He’d been reacquainted with Lindsay was to get him moving in the right direction. Momma Norton knew about this guy and his importance in Lynnia’s world. He was important enough for him to go on a trip. The woman never took vacations. If she took him with her, he was significant in her life. Lindsay was to be a “get over my daughter” message. The response to this news was surprising. He felt the emotional response but needed to keep it in check since he was still on the phone. He took a few minutes before he let his cousin know that he needed to go. Dario feigned having an early day to end the call sooner than his cousin probably expected.

Learning of Lynnia’s travel plans caused him to have a pain, no an ache in his heart.  Actually they weren’t plans any longer. She was on the trip as he thought about her. She’d been gone for a little over a week and he had no prior knowledge of a planned vacation. She was moving on. The back and forth of them was over in her eyes. It was why she’d kicked him of the couch that day and why she refused to take or return any of his calls. There wasn’t a future for Dario and Lynnia. They’d run their course. The sooner he got it, the better off he’d be.

Calling up his contacts, he found the number he wanted and dialed it. She picked up on the second ring.

“Hey. Didn’t think I’d hear from you again. Like ever.”

Dario snorted before responding, “I didn’t think you’d hear from me either, but things changed. I wanted to see if you would be free Friday night.”

Things definitely had changed and not the way he wanted, but in a way that he had better get used to. Goodbye old dreams and hello new hope.

Chapter 9