Talk a Good Game (34 page)

“
Well believe it,” April replied,
her chocolate eyes were cloudy with tears. “You sit there and enjoy
your moment. I’ve got a restaurant to run.”

I grinned. “
Thanks
April.
”

“
Anytime, girl.” She squeezed my
shoulder and exited my office.

As soon as she left, I reached for my phone and
called Kaleb. He answered on the first ring.

“
Whassup?”

“
Hey baby, guess what?” I said
trying to contain my excitement.

“
What?” he replied and I ignored
how flat his voice sounded.

“
I won! I
won
Restaurant of the
Year
!”

“
Oh really? Congratulations,” he
replied yet his tone said something altogether
different.

“
What
’s
wrong with you?” I was so
disappointed by his response.

“
Nothing, why?”

“
Because I just shared with you
the most exciting news of my life and you act like you don’t
care.”

“
I
said
, congratulations,”
he said and sounded just as flat and unenthusiastic as
before.

“
Yeah, but you don’t sound
excited.”

Kaleb sighed loudly.
“Listen… I’ve
got a lot going on right now with my investors so
I
’
m sorry if I sound distracted,
but it can’t always be about you Janelle,” he hissed.

I closed my eyes, counted to ten
then blew out a long breath. “What
’s
going on at
work?”

“
White folks
ain’t never happy, no matter what I do and how I do it.
I
’
m getting sick of their shit!” He
rattled on and on, and I just pressed a finger to my temple and
prayed for strength. He bitched and complained so much, I was
starting to wonder if this man knew what being happy was. It was
always everyone else
’s
fault. He was always the
victim. Oh my God! Enough is enough.

“
Then quit.
”

“
What?” he sputtered.

“
You heard me.
If you
’
re that miserable, if everyone is
always fucking with you then quit.” I have never known a man who
didn’t know how to be happy. Misery loves company and I wasn’t
jumping onboard.

“
Wow really?” His tone was laced
with sarcasm. “I thought you had my back?”

“
I do, which is
why you need to quit. You
’
re miserable, yet you
have the biggest portfolios and the largest number of clients. So
start your own firm and take them with you. Whatever it takes to
make you happy, then do it.” I was just sick of listening to
it.

The silence after my comment
stretched so long I guess he realized he had struck a nerve because
he said, “Jae, I
’
m sorry for complaining.
You
’
re right. I need to make some
decisions. In the meantime my baby has been awarded
Restaurant of the Year
.
I
’
m so proud of you.” Now
that’s
the tone I wanted
to hear from my man.

“
Thanks, sweetheart. It means so
much coming from you. The mayor will be here on Friday to present
my award.”

“
Then I’ll
be right there
with you. We definitely need to celebrate this weekend. You still
gonna come watch me play this evening?” he asked.

I looked at my calendar. “I have a
meeting with a distributor at five so I’ll try to get there after
he leaves.”

“
That
’s
fair enough. See you later
babe. And hey?”

I released a tiny sigh.
“Yeah?”

“
I love you.”

I grinned and purred, “I love you
too.”

* * *

I didn’t make it home until close
to nine. I was gossiping on the phone with Nyree about her wedding
plans, when I spotted Kaleb. I already knew there was a
problem.

“
Ree, I better let you go. Kaleb
is sitting on the porch staring me down my throat.”

“
Good luck with that
shit.”

“
Right,” I groaned, then quickly
ended the call but not before Kaleb straightened up on the chair,
looking over at me.

I pulled into the garage, climbed
out, then reached for my briefcase from the back seat. I don’t know
what was up, so I was definitely tryna stall for time so I could
prepare myself mentally for what was about to go down. I took so
long, Kaleb came around the house to see what I was
doing.

“
You need some help?” he
asked.

I answered with caution. “No, I
got it.” I walked over, smiling, and kissed him hard on the
lips.

“
You didn’t have to get off the
phone.”

Here we go again. “I was just
talking to Nyree.”

He made some rude noise and I
could tell he didn’t believe me but I was too tired to care what he
thought.

“
Let
’s
sit outside awhile,” he
suggested, and pulled me to him and gave me a big
hug.

“
Okay, let me take my bag inside
and I’ll be right down.” I was trying to simmer whatever was
stirring inside his head.

I went up to the master bedroom
and gasped at what I saw sitting on the nightstand. A beautiful
pink bouquet of roses, a congratulations balloon, and a card. As I
read the loving words, I couldn’t stop smiling. My man was really
something else.

I put my bag away, slipped out of
my heels then hurried back outside to join Kaleb on the porch where
he was sitting and drinking a beer. “Baby, thank you so much!” I
said and wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him deeply.
“That was so thoughtful.”

He grinned. “What are you talking
about?”

I
laughed.
“You know what
I
’
m talking about. Thanks. I love
you.” I kissed him again and moved over to the other rocking
chair.

“
You
’
re welcome babe. I
really
am proud of
you.”

Honey was still sniffing around the yard. I settled
back and enjoyed the peace and quiet. The breeze was perfect for
August. I was grinning when I caught Kaleb out the corner of my
eye. The weird look in his eyes spelled trouble. Mr. Hyde had
returned.

“
Baby, look at
me. What
’s
wrong?” I took his hand in
mine.

Something strange passed across
his face, for a brief moment and then he shrugged.
“Nothing
’s
wrong.”

I tried to sound casual although
my frustrations were brimming at the surface. “Then why have you
been so quiet and distant? You’ve been like that ever since you got
up this morning.”

I could tell he was struggling to
keep his temper in check. Good because he wasn’t the only
one.

He drained the last of his beer
and then his face grew serious again. “I
’
m not
distant. It
’s
just been a long
week.”

“
What
’s
going on at work?” I
asked.

“
Nothing,” he retorted in a tone
that said he didn’t want to discuss it.

“
Whatever.” I
wasn’t going to let him spoil my mood. I watched Honey play in the
yard and decided to change the subject. “What did
y
’
all
have for dinner?
”

“
We just made some
sandwiches.”

If he wanted me to feel sorry for
them, that wasn’t
happening.

“
What did
you
eat?”

My eyes shifted away from his. I
didn’t dare tell Kaleb me and Nyree went and had Thai food and
celebrated. I would never have heard the end of it. “I had a salad
at the restaurant. Sorry I couldn’t make your game. How’d you
do?”

“
We lost.” Kaleb sounded sad, then
started staring off in space again, so I just heaved a huge sigh.
He never was very talkative, but this was ridiculous. When Honey
decided to run after a stray cat, I used it as an excuse to get
away from his sour attitude.

“
I better go get
him.” As soon as I was around the corner I rolled my eyes. I don’t
know why I had bothered rushing home tonight. Knowing him he was
either mad because I didn’t come to his game or that he came home
and dinner wasn’t ready. The dude was just too damn immature. The
problem was he’s rich and I loved him, and
for selfish
reasons I was willing to deal with just about anything. But
even then, I had my limits. And Kaleb was taking me there quick,
fast and in a hurry.

By the time I found Honey and brought him back to
the house, Kaleb had already gone in the house. I just heaved
another long sigh and went inside. CJ was sitting in the living
room on my new white couch, watching television.

“
Hey Ms. Jae,” he said without
looking away from the television.

“
Hey CJ,” I said. “How was summer
camp?”

“
Good.” There was that annoying
voice again.

As I started up the stairs, I spotted the bag of
potato chips he was trying to hide.

“
CJ, I thought I
told you no greasy potato chips on my sofa.”
That kid doesn’t listen to shit.
The
last time I caught him he had left crumbs and grease
stains.

“
Sorry,” he said with a hint of
sadness then he rose and carried the bag into the
kitchen.

I was sick of telling Kaleb his son needed
consistent reinforcement so I just shook my head and went on
upstairs.

When I moved into the room Kaleb
was lying across the bed, texting on his phone. I was so tempted to
ask him who the fuck he was texting since he was always asking me,
but instead I didn’t say anything and took a seat beside him.
“What’s the score?” I asked trying to make small talk and take my
mind off of our problems.

“
Three to five Cubs.” He didn’t
even bother to look up from the phone.

I went and changed into a pair of knit shorts and a
t-shirt. He finally put his phone away and leaned back against the
pillow.

I enjoyed baseball and was yelling at the screen
every time the batter missed a pitch while Kaleb was back to not
having shit to say. I slid over and rested my head on his chest
then tilted my chin for a kiss. He smiled and kissed me then his
phone started beeping indicating he had a text message.

I lifted my head. “You need to get
that?”

He rolled over and reached down for his phone, then
started texting again. Okay, this was getting ridiculous.

“
What
’s
up with all the texting?” I
said trying to keep a smile on my face.

“
You gotta lot of nerve. It’s one
of my clients,” he hissed. His attention was focused on the
cellphone screen.

Two can play that game.

I rolled over to my side of the
bed and reached across the bed for my phone in the side pocket of
my purse and noticed I had a text from my brother. I gladly sat
there, smiled and texted him back. The whole time Kaleb glared at
me. I had to resist the urge to laugh. “My texts are to my family.
You can’t say the same.”

His phone beeped again. As he
reached for it, I guess he noticed me roll my eyes because he had
the nerve to laugh and say, “I know you
’
re not
tripping the way you stay on your phone.”

I cussed his ass under my breath and decided to surf
the net for a few moments and noticed an email from Frankie.

Hey Jae, here’s the directions to
that Old School spot I was talking about. If you’re man ain’t
acting right let me know and I’ll take you. LOL.

Last week Frankie and I met for
breakfast and he had mentioned a new lounge that had opened in
Jefferson City. Since there weren’t too many places for black folks
to go and have a good time, this was big news.

Something in my face must have
caught Kaleb’s attention because he was practically leaning across
the bed all in my face.

“
What? Your man sent you a
message?”

I sighed, growing tired of this
whole thing and put my phone back on the nightstand then started
enjoying the second half of the game. After a while I noticed that
he was getting into the game as well. We
’
re both
Cubs fans. But then his phone started beeping and again he was
reading more of his so-called work related text messages. By then I
was too through with his attitude. When the game ended, I climbed
under the covers.