“Not much difference, in my book,” Beverly said. “She has a bruise on her arm too. Let’s face it. No man is perfect, but you
have to have limits when it comes to what you’ll put up with.”
“Any time a man puts his hands on you, that’s a deal breaker,” Evelyn said. “That’s crossing a line.”
“I would have thought Valerie felt the same way,” Charmaine said. “I’m surprised she’s putting up with it.”
“At one time she wouldn’t have,” Beverly said. “But lately she’s getting desperate because of her age. She really wants to
get married again. And soon.”
“So she moved the line between what’s acceptable and what isn’t,” Evelyn said.
“Or erased it altogether,” Beverly added.
B
everly opened the front door to her town house to see Julian standing on the stoop, looking handsome as ever in black jeans
and a fresh white T-shirt. Dinner with her sisters—and their tales of marital problems—had reminded her how lucky she was
to have him. She had rushed home and quickly changed into her favorite pair of cutoff jeans, a pink tank top, and fluffy Ugg
flip-flops in anticipation of Julian’s visit after he got off work. Now she ran eagerly to him and smothered his face with
wet kisses.
“Whoa!” he said, laughing. He dropped his canvas duffel bag as he balanced the Giant Food bags he carried in his arms. “What
did I do to deserve all this luscious goodness?”
Beverly smiled and stepped back. “Nothing, besides being you and loving me.” She picked up his garment bag. “I’ll go put this
upstairs for you. What ya got in the grocery bags?”
“Stuff for the Spanish omelet and homemade waffles I’m going to fix up for you in the morning. And the margaritas for tonight.”
Beverly smacked her lips. “Yummy, I can’t wait for breakfast. And you ask why you get so much goodness.”
Julian smiled. “I aim to please. I’m going to put the groceries away and mix our drinks while you put that up.” He crossed
the dhurrie rug on the living room floor and headed toward the kitchen as Beverly took the stairs two at a time. Julian’s
coming to her town house and cooking for them was one of her absolute favorite experiences on earth. As exotic as their nights
out on the town were, she liked nothing better than slipping into jeans and simply lounging around with her man.
Listening to her sisters earlier that evening as they complained about the ups and downs of married life had tripled Beverly’s
appreciation of Julian and their special relationship. They had so much in common. They both loved their jobs and worked hard
to get ahead in their careers. They both liked to relax around the house with good food and the occasional mixed drink or
glass of wine as they shared lively conversation about everything from family to work and world issues.
They sometimes argued, but the disagreements never lasted more than a few hours. And even their differences were complementary.
He liked to cook; she could live without it. She found washing and folding the laundry relaxing. He despised those chores.
It was beyond obvious to Beverly that they were soul mates.
She knew that there would be problems ahead and difficult moments. There was no such thing as the perfect marriage. But they
were both mature and open enough to realize that their differences could be opportunities to grow and learn from each other.
Beverly was confident that the special bond she and Julian shared would help them get through anything that might come up
in the months and years ahead.
She placed Julian’s bag across her bed, then walked down the stairs and into the kitchen, where she slid onto a chair and
propped her elbows on the table. She loved watching him at work in the kitchen as much as he loved cooking. And she thought
the way the late evening sun slanted through the sheer white curtains on the bay window at that moment was as romantic as
a candlelit dinner on the banks of the French Riviera.
She smiled as he deftly sliced a lime and dipped the rims of two stem glasses into a dish of kosher salt. Julian always said
that if he hadn’t gotten into computer animation he would have become a chef, and it showed in the time and care he took with
the details whenever he was in the kitchen.
“How many holes did you-all play?” she asked.
“By the time we got to the course, there wasn’t enough time for that. We just went to the driving range and worked on our
swings.” He stepped back from the counter and imitated a golf swing.
She nodded. “Any new developments on that racing car game you’re working on?” Beverly loved her job as an editor at the
Baltimore Sun
covering books, film, and television. She had started working at the newspaper two years ago, after being employed for several
years as a reporter at the
Environmental Review
magazine in Washington, D.C. Now, instead of chasing leads for stories out in the field, she worked behind a desk editing
articles written by other reporters. Occasionally she would get out and report on a story herself, the last being a feature
about costume design on the locally filmed hit cable series
The Wire
. But she did that only when something really grabbed her interest.
Still, she thought that Julian’s new job as an animator at Falcon Studios, a small company that made games for video consoles
like the Xbox and the PlayStation and for personal computers, was much more thrilling. Video games were so fresh and all the
rage among kids, teens, and young adults. The competition for positions at the development companies was fierce, and when
Julian landed the job he was ecstatic. He had called her from his cell phone as he walked out of the building to deliver the
good news.
With a major game for the Xbox due out in a few months, the company was in the midst of crunch time, and Julian was working
weekends and late into the evening during the week. He loved the hustle and bustle, though, and his only complaint was that
so few African Americans worked in the field. But that just made him want to work harder to prove himself.
“It’s all good. I finally finished several physical poses for a dragon. That was really challenging, since we can’t use mocap
to record the motions digitally.” Beverly smiled broadly and listened patiently. She never thought she’d find smart men who
wore glasses and got all excited about complex technical stuff sexy. But Julian’s sharp mind was a huge part of his allure,
even if her handsome hunk of a fiancé could sometimes talk weird. Just now—although he was dressed in a short-sleeved T-shirt
that showed off his muscular brown arms—Beverly had visions of him in a white shirt with pens sticking out of a pocket protector.
“Uh-huh,” she said when he paused. “English translation, please?”
“Oh.” Julian chuckled as he poured the drinks he had just mixed into the margarita glasses. “Sometimes I forget to turn the
geekiness volume down when I leave work.”
“Don’t worry. I think your inner geek is sexy.”
He laughed and took his time to explain motion capture to her in language she could understand. Then they clinked their glasses
together. “How was dinner with the girls?” he asked as he took a sip.
“Fun enough.”
He frowned. “That’s it?”
“Well, they’re both having marriage problems. With Charmaine it’s maybe not so surprising, since she’s on her fourth marriage.
But Evelyn and Kevin are going through some stuff. It was a real shock to hear that.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever heard you talk about them having problems. Still, all couples do, now and then. It’s probably not
serious.”
Beverly grimaced, unconvinced. “Things are more iffy than I’ve ever seen with them. Kevin is acting strange. It’s like he’s
going through some kind of dude menopause.”
Julian frowned. “Example?”
“He quit his job.”
“Whoa. For real?”
“Yep. He’s working at Blockbuster.”
Julian whistled sharply. “Sounds like he’s burned out or something if he took a job at Blockbuster.”
Beverly shrugged. “Maybe. Evelyn didn’t go into a lot of detail and I didn’t want to push. But yeah, that’s a pretty drastic
change, whatever the reason.”
Julian nodded thoughtfully. “I can’t imagine doing something like that.”
“And that’s not all. He shaved his head. As in bald. You know, naked up there.” Beverly pointed to her head.
“Okay, so something
is
going on with him. Wonder what it is.”
Beverly shrugged. “I have no idea, but don’t you ever get stupid like that on me.”
Julian blinked. “What does that mean?”
“You heard me. Don’t you ever go getting all weird on me like that. I don’t care how old you get.”
“Where is this coming from? And what makes you think I’d do that?”
“If it can happen to Evelyn and Kevin, it could happen to anyone.”
“It won’t happen to us,” he said firmly.
“I’m not saying it will, but I’m putting you on notice now.” She shook her forefinger at him. “You ain’t allowed to do stuff
like that after we’re married.”
“If Kevin really is going through some kind of midlife crisis, as serious as it sounds, it could be chemical or hormonal,
you know? Not much you can do about that.”
Beverly shook her head in disagreement. “You can do plenty about the way you handle it. You don’t have to be an ass. Women
go through physical and emotional stuff when they get older, but we don’t pull crazy stunts like quitting our jobs and shaving
our heads, do we? I would never do something like that.”
Julian was silent for a moment. Then he walked up to her slowly, took her drink out of her hand, and placed both drinks on
the kitchen table. He took Beverly by the hands and pulled her up out of her seat and into his arms.
“What do you say we take our drinks upstairs and jump in the shower together. Let me take your mind off all this.”
The last thing Beverly was thinking about at that very second was anything having to do with sex. She pushed his arms away.
“Stop treating me like a child. You’re not even paying attention to what I’m saying.”
“No, I’m not.”
“So you admit you’re ignoring me.”
“Yeah, I do. Because this isn’t about us. That’s Evelyn and Kevin and their stuff. And I’m sorry about it and I hope they
work things out and all, but it’s not going to happen to us. So there’s no point in obsessing about it.”
“I’m not obsessing. I’m just talking. There are some valuable lessons for us to learn in this.”
“Okay, fine. So we learned something, and you made your point. Can we please move past it?” He put his arms back around her.
“Those cutoff jeans you’re wearing always turn me on.”
Beverly felt her muscles relax as she stood in Julian’s arms. He had a point. She was all worked up about something that hadn’t
even happened to them, and maybe it never would. For all she knew, Evelyn and Kevin could have made up by now.
She allowed herself a small sly smile as she reached up and removed Julian’s eyeglasses. “That’s why I wore them,” she said
as she placed the glasses on the table beside her. “That’s exactly what I wanted to do.”
“Now that’s how I like to hear my woman talk.” He kissed her on the side of the neck and tickled her behind the ear with the
tip of his tongue. She moaned softly.
“What you got on under them shorts?” he whispered. “One of my little thong numbers?”
She reached around, guided his hand down toward her waistline, and whispered back. “Why don’t you make it your business to
find out?”
“I don’t think I’m going to make it upstairs at this point,” he said as he undid the button and zipper to her jeans. He eased
her toward the countertop. “You good right here?”
“I’m good anywhere,” she whispered hoarsely.
He deftly slid her shorts and underwear off and hoisted her up. Before Beverly knew what was happening, he was sliding in.
She couldn’t even remember when he had shed his jeans. All she could think about was how good it felt and how all her worries
had quickly vanished. She wrapped her legs around him and moaned loudly.
They dropped to the floor with him on top of her. Whether it was the drinks, her frustration with the news coming from her
sisters, his long day at work, or other things entirely, they both came fast and hard. Beverly trembled and gasped for air,
the release as welcome as a cold splash of water on a blistering summer day.
He rolled off her and they lay side by side. He reached out, pulled her toward him, and wrapped his arm around her. She snuggled
against his chest. She loved the natural musky scent of his body.
Moments like these made Beverly feel that all was right with their little corner of the world. Julian was so special that
together the two of them could conquer anything that might come their way. She knew that the feelings they shared for each
other would change over time, but she could look forward to the future with a good man like Julian at her side.
Bring it on, she thought with a smile. Together we can handle it.
S
unday was church day for Charmaine and her family, and following the service, she decided to have a leisurely soak in the
tub. That was something she rarely did, preferring instead to hop in and out quickly. But the previous week had been a rarity
in itself, and she needed a moment to relax and reflect quietly. The bathroom was the only room in the house where she could
be sure she wouldn’t be interrupted.
She leaned back in the tub and thought about Tyrone’s behavior on Friday. It had really thrown Charmaine off guard. And when
he took off with Tiffany yesterday afternoon with a simple “See you later,” this had knocked her silly. They hadn’t said much
more to each other when he and Tiffany returned home from their shopping spree well after dark. Ditto all through church that
morning.
Still, she had arrived home from dinner with Beverly and Evelyn in fairly good spirits and was feeling much more introspective.
Even though she didn’t like some of the things Evelyn had said about seeing Tyrone’s side in all of this, she found herself
questioning some of her actions. Had she been understanding, patient, and forgiving enough? Maybe not. And if she wanted her
marriage to have a chance, she needed to do and be all of those things.