Authors: Keith Thomas Walker
“I, uh, you said it was alright if I went out with Roland, right?
The UPS guy from school…” Kyra’s eyes were wide. She stopped washing dishes and stood stiffly with her hands submerged in the water.
“Oh, uh, yeah,” Donovan said.
His tone softened considerably. “Yeah, I did. You, you didn’t have to ask me, though. You can go out with whoever you want.”
Why did
I tell her to go
? Donovan’s face was twisted in despair. He gripped his leashes so hard the pink in his fingernails turned white. He was glad she didn’t deliver this news in person. He wouldn’t have been able to hide his reaction.
“Did, did you have
a good time?” he asked.
“Um, yeah, I did,” Kyra said. She was near panic, too. They never had a conversation this awkward before.
“Where’d you go?”
“Cattleman’s Steakhouse.” Kyra felt another stab of guilt, like she violated a locale that was special to her and Donovan. But how ridiculous was that?
The closest she and Donovan ever came to the restaurant was him saying he wanted to go somewhere fancy.
“I thought you were going to take me there.”
Kyra’s mouth fell open.
Oh my God
!
“I’m just kidding,” Donovan said. “How was Roland? Did he mind his manners?”
This conversation had Kyra’s head spinning. Was Donovan mad or wasn’t he? She wiped her hands on a towel and took a seat at the kitchen table. “He was really nice.” She cleared her throat. “Except for when he dropped me off. He tried to kiss me.”
Donovan had to take the phone away from his face so she wouldn’t hear
him panting and growling. The contents of his stomach flipped. He felt like he might throw up. Of course Roland tried to kiss her! Kyra was beautiful and vivacious. What did he think was going to happen? Again Donovan regretted giving his approval for their date. But who the hell was he to interfere with Kyra’s love life?
“I didn’t let him,” she said.
“Wh, why not?”
“I don’t kiss on the first date.”
“I didn’t know that.”
“You never asked me out on a date,” she hinted.
“True,” Donovan said.
“Are you sure you’re okay talking about this?” Kyra asked.
“Yuh, yeah. Why’d, why do you ask?”
“I know we talk about everything,” she said. “But we never really talked about people we were dating.”
Dating
? Was she
dating
him now? Donovan thought it was
one goddamned date!
“You can talk to me about anything,”
he said. “So how did this almost-kiss go? Did he come at you with his eyes already closed?”
What the hell are you doing? You know you don’t want to know!
But Donovan did want to know. He hated what he was hearing, but he needed to know everything. If she didn’t tell him, he’d go crazy imagining all types of erotic scenarios.
“He leaned in with his eyes closed,” Kyra said with a giggle. Maybe she and Donovan could talk about this kind of stuff
after all. It would close the book on her fairy tale love affair with him, but having Donovan as her best friend was just as special.
“Did you scream?”
“No, I didn’t scream. I told him to back off.”
“That’s cool. You weren’t mad?”
“No. But I got a little upset when we got out of his car, and he tried to grab my ass.”
Donovan saw fire. Red, hot molten lava. “
What, what’d you do?” he managed.
“I pushed him off me. He asked for a hug at first, but his hands started moving. You know how y’all do.”
“Huh huh.” Donovan wasn’t so much chuckling as he was struggling for breath. “So, are you going to see him again?”
“I don’t know. Everything was going good on our date, all the way till the end.
He was moving too fast, and I didn’t like that. But if he would slow it down some, he might be a good dude. What do you think?”
I think I lied about being able to handle this conversation
. “I think if you feel pressured, you need to make sure he knows where you draw the line. If he can’t accept that, then he has to go.”
“T
hat’s great advice,” Kyra said.
Donovan thought so, too. But he wasn’t sure how he came up with
it under the current circumstances. He felt like he was having a stroke. He wanted to destroy something. A UPS truck would be a great start.
“Finish your run,” Kyra said. “I’ll call you later and tell you more about him.”
Oh happy days!
“Alright.”
“Don’t run too hard.”
“I won’t,” Donovan said, but he was so wound up, he felt like he could run all the way to the freaking moon! “Talk to you later.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
THE OCTOPUS
Kyra talked to Roland a few more times throughout the following week. And of course she saw him each day when he delivered parcels to J.T. Elder. Kyra didn’t feel good about that, not at first. She was the new girl in the office, and she was also the youngest. So far everyone liked her. She didn’t want them to know she was already dating the UPS guy after only three weeks on the job.
She told Roland how she felt, and he
promised not to show her any special attention at work. He kept his word. So far none of Kyra’s co-workers had caught on, even though Kyra’s arms broke out in goose bumps at exactly 10:45 every morning, around the time Roland was expected to grace their presence.
Kyra didn’t sign for his packages every time, but whenever she did Roland would smirk at her while she
scribbled on his digital signature pad. Kyra would smirk at him, too, and then she’d return to her desk and carry on as usual.
Roland was a totally different animal when they talked on the phone. He kept Kyra
smiling with his humor and his constant flattery. He kept her astonished with the long hours he put in at UPS, sometimes up to 16 hours in one shift. He kept her heart racing with his smooth talk and eagerness to see her again.
Kyra was nowhere near ready to have sexual relations with him, but
Roland made it clear that he would worship her body and satisfy every single inch of it to the best of his abilities. He didn’t tell her this directly, but there were innuendos aplenty.
Kyra didn’t tell her best friend
everything
, even though Donovan wanted to know as much about Roland as possible. Kyra didn’t know what to make of it. Donovan even offered to babysit for her when Kyra told him she was seeing Roland again on Saturday night.
“That would be great,” Kyra said. “But why would you want to do that?”
“I’m not doing anything this Saturday,” Donovan told her. “It’ll save you some money on babysitting. How much do you owe your aunt by now? A few hundred?”
“A lot,” Kyra said. “One-fifty a week when I’m at work.”
“See, you don’t need to keep adding to that bill. And I want to see Q anyway. He asked if he could get online on my Xbox.”
“What about Kat,” Kyra said.
“I love Kat!” Donovan replied. “She likes me, too – she just doesn’t know it yet. The best way to make her comfortable around me is to leave her here, and let me take care of her. She’s potty-trained, right?”
“Yes.”
“Then I’m good,” Donovan said. “I’ve never seen her crying.”
“She doesn’t cry much,” Kyra confirmed. “I’m sure she’ll be okay. It’s you I’m worried about. No man has ever volunteered to watch my kids before.
I’m worried you won’t like it.”
“I’m not
just any man,” Donovan said with a chuckle. “Didn’t you say you wanted me to be their godfather?”
“Yes.” Kyra’s heart swelled. She threw that at him during one of their late night phone
calls. She didn’t think he was actually interested.
“Then bring my godchildren over here when you go out on your–”
Donovan had to clear his throat. It was trying to close up on him. “– date. Your date.”
“Alright,” Kyra said. “I’ll call
Roland and tell him I’ll meet him at the restaurant, so I can drop the kids off on my way.”
“Okay,” Donovan said. “I’ll be here.”
“You’re the best,” Kyra said. “Thanks.”
“You’re welcome
.” Donovan disconnected, and then he hung his head in shame. “I’m a fool,” he said with a slump of his massive shoulders. There was no one in the house to argue against that.
≈≈≈≈≈≈≈
Four hours later Donovan’s home was filled with something he’d never heard there before: The pitter patter of children’s feet. Well, one child, to be exact. Kat was a lot less nervous about spending time with Mr. Mitchell than either he or Kyra imagined. For the first five minutes after Kyra dropped off her kids, Kat sat on the couch and watched Donovan who sat on his recliner.
Quinell was already in the den checking out Donovan’s gaming systems.
Donovan feared Kat was going to sit and stare at him the whole evening, but the toddler abruptly climbed off the sofa and walked to Donovan’s recliner. She looked up at him. He smiled and raised an eyebrow, wondering what she would say. Kat looked around, and then she turned towards the coffee table and fingered one of the magazines that was stacked there. She flipped through a few pages and then looked around the room again for something more interesting.
She found it in a collection of whatnots Donovan had on
his entertainment center. Donovan rushed to stop her when Kat wrapped her stubby fingers around a tiny, bronze elephant.
“Whoa, what are you doing
?”
Kat looked up at him indignantly and said, “
Mine
.”
Donovan took the
elephant from her and said, “No, that is not yours. This is mine.”
Kat stuck out her hand, palm up. “Lemme see it.”
Donovan’s smile was big and toothy. Kat never spoke to him at all, but now they were having a legitimate conversation.
“Do you want to
see it
or
have
it?” he asked.
“See it!” Katavia said. She was
irresistible.
“Okay. Here you go.” He placed the elephant in her hand.
Kat’s eyes lit up, and she giggled. “Mine!” she declared and took off running, laughing the whole time. Donovan’s jaw dropped. He couldn’t believe he’d been duped.
“Oh
, no you don’t!” He took off after her, surprised by how nimble she was on those chubby, little legs.
≈≈≈≈≈≈≈
An hour and a half later Donovan’s Saturday night was filled with much of the same. Kat continued to explore and claim the many treasures she found as her very own. Donovan stopped chasing her after the second one. He even told her, “Yes, you can have that,” to a few of the items she wanted. But Kat never played with anything for more than twenty minutes before she lost interest and continued her expedition.
Quinell was fully enthralled in Donovan’s video games. Donovan played with him for nearly an hour, but he had to stop when
a visitor rang his doorbell. Ten minutes later, Donovan had to answer his door for a second visitor. This one was unexpected.
Rodney had been
Donovan’s best
male
friend since high school. Rodney never left Overbrook Meadows, but he graduated from a local university and secured great position at the Channel 9 newsroom in Dallas.
Jonathan was a former student of Donovan’s. He graduated two years ago and was currently a sophomore at Texas Lutheran.
Donovan spent a good deal of time mentoring Jonathan at Western Hills. Because of turbulent conditions at home, Jonathan lived with Donovan for a couple of months after graduation. Donovan loved him like a son.
Rodney was one of few people in Donovan’s life who knew Kyra when they were in
high school. He had never seen Donovan babysit anyone’s kids before, and he thought it was hilarious. When Donovan revealed that he actually had feelings for Kyra, Rodney’s jaw dropped.
“Wha, what
’d you just say?”
“I said I like her, man. I think I might, you know, I probably do…” Donovan shrugged.
He rubbed his large hands together in his lap. He was sure he looked as pitiful as he felt. Donovan didn’t have a problem discussing this with either of his friends, but the look on Rodney’s face let him know he was in for more heckling.
“You like Kyra?”
“Yeah,” Donovan said. He looked around uneasily. “Keep you voice down. I told you her son’s in the den.”
Kat was in the
living room with the men, playing with oversized Legos her mother left with her. She was paying them no mind.