Page 15 of Love Me Carefully
Black slacks and a black blazer were both business and casual, Leah thought. A red blouse provided the splash of color she needed to perfectly balance the outfit. Sliding her feet into her black boots, she wondered what type of wedding Ms. Rosie would want.
Her job was to give couples the ultimate fantasy. Whatever they envisioned for that special day, it was her job to create it. Most men didn’t really have any special ideas or requests for the ceremony. But the brides, they always had requests and demands and silly little whims that Leah sometimes found irritating and inconsequential.
Leah figured Ms. Rosie to be old-fashioned and set in her ways. A traditional church ceremony with lots of flowers, she thought. An evening reception with candles and jazz; a small hall, something cozy and intimate; probably one hundred to one hundred and fifty guests; warm colors—maybe ivory or rose, something like that. Her mind was exploding with ideas as she put the finishing touches on her makeup. Ms. Rosie had created a halo of curls around her face, so she didn’t have much preparation in the hair department.
One last side-glance in the mirror showed that she looked satisfactory. The red blouse brightened her face, and the black suit hung on her slim frame perfectly. Her hands smoothed down the lapels of her jacket, and she picked at a piece of lint.
Grimacing, she noticed that her nails needed to be done. She hadn’t had time to get them done yesterday because Melinda had called her with an emergency. Maria Avarez had called in a tizzy; her uncle had rented the hall out to someone else on the same date as her wedding. As Leah had told Melinda just yesterday morning, family were always the ones to start trouble.
Another call from her mother proved that theory as well. Marsha was contemplating another divorce. Every time her husband didn’t do exactly what she wanted she was ready to kick him to the curb. Leah had listened to the recitation with barely contained fury. She hated how her mother jumped from relationship to relationship so easily. She wanted to tell her to just be by herself for a while.
Leah had vowed to always be by herself. She never wanted to commit to a serious relationship. Dates were fine, but anything beyond that was out of the question. On the rare occasions she allowed herself to have sex, she remained detached and distant. It wasn’t because she didn’t like it; she didn’t really know if she liked it or not; she was always so busy making sure that her innermost feelings were well hidden that she never allowed herself to enjoy it.
There were four steps in a relationship for her. The first was dating, which was basically cool, dinner and a movie and then home. The second was the fifth date, which was sort of a milestone because if a woman went out with a guy more than four times then she really liked him. The third was sex. Once a woman allowed herself to sleep with the man it meant that she liked him enough to explore the possibility of commitment. The fourth step, the one she’d vowed never to consider, was marriage.
Two times in her whole thirty years Leah had made it to the third step, after which she had quickly retreated and ended the relationship. The memory caused her to shiver as she slid her arms into her leather coat. “Never again,” she muttered to herself. She scooped up her purse and grabbed her keys from the table near the door.
* * *
“Terrell, have you seen Donald?”
Terrell nodded in the direction of his mother’s fiancé. “He’s over there with the rest of his beauty shop clan.”
“Oh, I see him.” Rosie started to walk away, then changed her mind and turned back. “You could mingle a little, son. Talk to some people. There’s no need for you to stand in this corner sulking all night.”
After their talk earlier, Terrell believed that Donald definitely cared for his mother. But he hadn’t shaken the feeling that he knew Donald, or his name, from somewhere.
“I’m not sulking. I don’t know these people.” Hunching his shoulders, Terrell leaned back against the sturdy cherrywood china cabinet. He really wasn’t in the mood for a party. He’d been thinking a lot about what his mother had said about Tanya, wondering if he’d been wrong in his approach with her. All around the room were beauty shop girls, who reminded him of how pampered and primped Tanya was. In the beginning he’d admired that about her. A woman who took pride in her appearance had always appealed to him. But Tanya had just been taking his money, while screwin’ somebody else. The memory had him clenching his fists.
“If you walked around the room, you’d get to know them. Besides, Aunt Pearl is right over there. Go on and speak to her,” Rose said.
“Mama,” Terrell frowned. “Aunt Pearl is a moocher. The last time I saw her she borrowed a hundred dollars to go to the casino in Delaware. I haven’t seen a penny of that money yet.”
“If you really need it, I can give you the money back. Besides, that was almost a year ago,” Rosie argued.
Terrell finished his drink and sighed. “The money’s not the issue. I just don’t feel like being bothered.” As he said the words, he looked at the disappointment on his mother’s face and felt like a colossal ass. Not to mention an idiot for letting a stupid break-up eat at him like this. With a shake of his head, he touched his mother’s arm. “But it’s not about me tonight. So if it’ll make you happy, I’ll mingle.”
Rosie smiled and smoothed her hand over his cheek. “That would make me very happy, baby.”
Leah had just walked through the door when Nikki spotted her and grabbed hold of her arm. “You look nice.” Looking her up and down, Nikki assessed her friend’s choice of clothes. “You could unbutton that jacket and show some of that cleavage, though,” she commented.
“This is not the club. And besides, I don’t have much cleavage to show.” Self-consciously, Leah looked down at her less-than-adequate breasts and frowned.
“Yeah, you’re right,” Nikki laughed. “At least unbutton that jacket. You look so uptight in all that black.”
Leah noted Nikki’s outfit and sighed with envy. Nikki’s curves were amply displayed in the tight low-ride jeans that buttoned just below her navel and clung to her butt. Her blouse was some filmy white material that hugged her heavy breasts and molded against her torso while the sleeves swirled loosely at her wrists. Large dangly earrings hung from her ears and framed her cherub-like face.
Leah fought the urge to give in to her longtime jealously of her of best friend’s good looks. Instead, she took the defensive route. “You could cover up a little more. It is February, you know,” she told her wryly.
“Girl, please, thisiscovered up. I decided that it would be an older crowd here and the last thing I wanted was to cause some poor old man to have a heart attack.” Twirling a long thick auburn curl between her fingers, Nikki’s eyes roamed across the room.
“So where’s the happy couple?” Leah searched for Rosie. She wanted to make an appearance at the party, to show her support for Ms. Rosie, even though she really wasn’t in the mood. Leon had called her cell while she was in the car, wanting to see her tonight. She was more than glad to have an excuse to avoid him, but he persisted and, finally, she’d promised to at least call him when she was leaving the party to see if hooking up were possible. She really needed to give this relationship with him some serious thought. It just didn’t seem like fun anymore. Lately it seemed more like work.
The small row house was filled with people and food. Women and men sat in every imaginable spot in the house, from the couch to the dining room chairs to the footstool in the hallway and even the steps leading to the upstairs. In their hands they held plastic plates heaped with fried chicken, potato salad, greens and macaroni and cheese. Leah spotted Rosie talking to a tall, sort of attractive gentleman who looked less than pleased to be there. Leah felt for him; she wanted to go home too.
“I’m gonna go over and speak to Ms. Rosie,” she told Nikki.
“Where is she?” Nikki had been watching a young man herself, but not the same young man that Leah had seen with Rosie. No, this guy was tall, dark-skinned and positively scrumptious.
