Diary of A. . . (12 page)

His aloofness now made me feel uncomfortable
and I forced myself not to look down to see if he was still
hardened.

I only nodded and he closed the door to give
me privacy.

Entry Nineteen

Once I left the bathroom refreshed, I went
toward where I thought was the kitchen, but he wasn’t in there. I
heard some movement to the left and there was a doorway. The same
kind of old, but in good shape, furniture was in the dining room
where he had set up to eat. He was just pouring orange juice. He
was still topless.

I forced myself to brace for a changed man.
I know some guys are like that. They don’t like how sex makes them
weak and so they feel like they have to act all tough and shit
because they don’t want the woman to know how much they really
enjoyed themselves.

Some women might want to use that against a
man, but not me. I like it when a man shows me how much he loves
having me, being with me, enjoying my body as much as I enjoyed
his. So I definitely don’t think openness is a sign of a weak
character. In fact, it turns me on.

Since I had just met Theo, I didn’t know how
to play any of the cards that he was dealing. So I had to put on my
own poker face as I sat down next to him. At least he hadn’t put
the plates far away from each other.

Soon as he sat down next to me, he turned to
me and said, “I’m married.”

I kind of wanted to scream and slap him at
the same time. I did neither of these.

“Well, it was a good thing I wasn’t looking
to marry you, huh?” I teased, trying to appear unaffected by what
he confessed.

Theo didn’t smile back. Yeah, he was a man
who found very little funny.

“I’m not married,” I said, replying to his
statement more directly.

His eyes narrowed as if he expected me to
say more.

“What do you want me to say?”

“I want you to be mad,” he stated.

“Why? When I only came over here to get
another kiss. Though I got more than what I expected, I’m madder at
myself for losing control like that.”

“But you aren’t angry at me?”

“Hell yes, because I don’t fuck married
men,” I answered piqued, unleashing some of my anger.

Theo looked down at his plate, obviously at
a loss for words.

“But what’s done is done.” I wasn’t hungry
anymore. “I’ll call a cab.”

“Wait.” He grabbed my arm as I started to
stand up. “She’s not coming here or nothing. She moved out a while
ago.”

“Do you have kids?” I asked, sitting back
down.

“Yes, but not by her. Plus my sons are
grown. I had them at a young age and their mother lives in Chicago.
Do you have any kids?”

I shook my head and tasted the omelet. He
was right – he did make a good one.

“I should also tell you that I had sex with
you to get her out of my system. I haven’t been with a woman –
other than her – in over ten years.”

I really didn’t like his honest nature, but
I knew how to roll with the punches. “Well, I can’t say the same,
but I’m safe if that’s what you want to know.”

He relaxed. It had been on his mind. “So
tell me a little bit about yourself, Sheryl Banks.”

I told him about me, my job and how I’d
moved from Detroit to Florida and then back to Detroit. I really
didn’t go into the specifics about my company and he didn’t ask. I
told him something about my family, but not the recent drama
surrounding my sister.

Theo listened intently and made comments
here and there. I learned he has a brother in Chicago, where he was
born and raised, but moved to Detroit because of some great job
opportunity, but had then been laid off shortly after his wife
moved out. Theo met his wife in college, but found out she couldn’t
have kids from all the abortions she had before meeting him. It had
been no big deal to him because he had sons already, but it had
been a huge deal to his wife.

I didn’t press Theo about her name or any
other details about his married life. The situation was
uncomfortable enough.

“I’m working this security shift until I get
some things together and then I’m set to take over a security
division of a company and call it my own. I’m really excited about
it.” There was an eager gleam in Theo’s eyes as he talked about
this new job opportunity, but he tried his best not to look that
thrilled about it.

I checked my watch to make sure I was okay
with the time. Four hours before my flight. Damn! Time flew when a
person was having fun. And I was starting to have fun again,
despite Theo’s earlier marital confession.

“I’m watching the clock,” he assured me.
“Business is business and you look like a woman who takes it very
seriously.”

“I am,” I said. “How long have you lived
here?”

“I just moved in. My soon-to-be ex-wife and
I owned a condo, but when she left, I sold it because my mother had
just died, too.”

Lawd, the man had it rough. I’m surprised he
hadn’t gone into some sort of depression. He lost a wife, a job and
his mother in so short of time.

“I didn’t want to sell it,” he said,
referring to the house. “She moved here to get away from my abusive
father. We used to come here a lot and it was like her own little
paradise. I couldn’t sell it. I loved her very much. She kept
things together and made sure I did, too.”

That’s kind of admirable for a man like him
to have so much respect for his mother. I finished my omelet and
wiped my mouth. “You know you could return to Chicago. You have no
ties here.”

“I thought about that. My brother even
suggested it, but I won’t.” He hadn’t finished all his food but
pushed his plate away and looked me over as if he was about to have
dessert.

“What?” I asked.

He shrugged and looked at his watch. It was
about forty-five minutes before we should get on the road and head
over to the airport. “I’m sorry about the panties. I’ll buy you
some more.”

“No bother.”

“I insist.”

“They cost two hundred dollars.”

He choked just like I knew he would. “Well,
can a sistah wait ‘til a brother gets paid?”

I laughed, knowing he’d never have money
like that to waste on underwear. “It’s all right, Theo.”

Theo sighed. “Then I guess I should tell you
one more thing about me before I want to have you again.”

That gleam was back on his face. I didn’t
know if it was a bad or good thing Theo was about to tell me.

Entry Twenty

He told me that his name was Theopolis
Thornton. It was a strange name for a black man, but he said his
mother named him after something French. He wasn’t sure what, but
it stuck on him and he just got used to it.

Afterwards, we adjourned to the couch where
I discovered that Theo really was serious about wanting me again. I
was serious about wanting him, too, especially now that I knew he
was about to be divorced.

This time Theo let me take my clothes off
carefully. Then he pulled me down on the couch under him and kissed
me as if he hadn’t had a meal in weeks and I was food.

I was able to really explore that wonderful
big dark body of his and since we were taking chances, I got to use
my mouth on Theo, too. I nearly had to unlock my jaw, but I knew
with more practice I could get used to his length, then I could
really show him a thing or two about oral pleasure.

My first time on the mike wasn’t long
though. Theo was so excited about me doing that, that he
practically yanked me under him and pushed inside of me. I had to
do some adjusting because even though I had him once, my body was
still tight.

He pulled out instantly and then went down
on me. That was damn, damn erotic because I rarely had a man do
that to me. But Theo wanted to make sure I was nice and wet for him
before he tried again.

It was a dream come true.

Theo ate me out so well I caught a frog in
the back of my thighs. Before it ended, he entered me and pumped
his groin hard against mine all the way to the hilt.

I’m really positive people living five
blocks over heard my shouts of joy because Theo was eliciting every
kind of pleasure out of my body. The man didn’t stop until I had
come ten times over on his shaft, then he finally gave in and
orgasmed with me.

It was too lovely.

As much as we wanted to go to sleep, Theo
insisted I get cleaned up while he finished the kitchen so he could
take me to the airport.

***

Cassandra was on my list to call first. She
updated me on all that was happening and then let me know exactly
what time the videoconference was set up. I would hit all my
meetings and then come back to my hotel room to do that.

“Oh yeah, I found out that E Heasley has a
death record listed in Sunnybrook, Florida,” Cassandra said
suddenly, after we had nothing else of company business to speak
about.

That was a shocking way to dash hope.

“But I found something odd,” she continued,
not giving me a chance to respond. “The morgue person signed the
death certificate before the date of death. Now unless they have
E.S.P., something ain’t right in the Garden of Eden, so I’m going
to call in another favor.”

“Anything else?”

“Those claims your mother talked about were
false charges against him at that employer. It was his word against
theirs. About two years later, there was a report on file that the
women that had filed charges against him also filed false charges
on another supervisor.” Cassandra gasped. “Hold on for a
minute.”

I allowed her to place me on hold for a few
minutes. When she returned, she sounded panicky. “What’s wrong?” I
asked concerned.

“Guess who’s coming today?”

“Who?” I was too old for guessing games.

“Earl Howard! Lisa just came to my desk and
told me that his flight would be arriving in Detroit in about an
hour and that he wanted to meet with the entire office. Erin’s
having a bitch attack because no one knew Earl was coming.”

“He’s coming?! I should be there!”

“Obviously he knows you’re out the office
because he instructed Lisa to call everyone in for the meeting,
including anyone out sick for the day or it would be their jobs.
The only one excused is you.”

That was nice of him, but why?

“So he knows I’m in New York.”

“He told Lisa to assure your assistant that
there was no cause for alarm for you to be here.”

I still wanted to be at the meeting. Why did
he have to come when I was all the way in New York?

“I’ll take good notes for you,” Cassandra
promised, but then gasped again.

“What?!” I exclaimed.

Cassandra didn’t answer, but I could hear
that someone was at the desk speaking to her in a very commanding
tone. It was Erin’s voice.

“No she didn’t leave any post-it notes with
me and I don’t know her access password to her computer, Mrs.
Nabors, but-”

Erin cut her off sharply and then a door
slammed.

“What the hell is going on?” I demanded to
know.

“Erin just locked herself in your office and
ordered me to tell her when Earl would be there. She asked me for
the access to your computer.”

Oh lawd, the only thing personal on my
computer was my journal entries from the days before. I knew I
should have put them on my flash drive. Nervously I thought about
anything else that was personal.

“Why is she in my office again?”

“Again?” Cassandra asked. “She has been in
your office before?”

“Yeah.” I related to Cassandra what happened
last night, specifically the part about the post-it notes.

“What was so important about some silly
scribble on post-it notes?”

“I don’t know, but obviously it’s more
important that what we’re taking it for. Do me a fave and contact
the clerk in research that I asked for the information on Sroban.
Let her know to keep it all on the DL ‘til I get back.”

“No problem. Anything else I can do?”
Cassandra asked hopefully. “I do have some friends that could leave
no trace that you were a part of any murders?”

I chuckled. “Shut up, girl,” I ordered
playfully. “Don’t speak like that. The phones could be tapped.”

We laughed together.

“Just take good notes in the meeting,” I
said.

“Will do,” she promised.

After hanging up the phone with Cassandra, I
decided to wait to call my sister back after my first meeting down
in the hotel lobby. I loved that our company usually used the St.
Royal’s Hotel line. They were always so accommodating for traveling
business persons and they had great conference and meeting rooms
that businesses could use.

When I finally called Lauren, she didn’t
even say ‘how are you?’ before she seethed, “How could you tell
Nina what I said? I told you I didn’t want to involve her.”

“I wanted to know the truth.”

“Now she’s upset with me. I told you not to
say anything to her!” Lauren was seriously angry.

“Look, Lauren, you want me to go on a whim
and not ask the only person that could give me some kind of
information about Uncle E? That’s kind of stupid. What kind of
resources do you think I have? And besides, Nina’s always bitching
about you. Why are you suddenly so upset that she’s now mad at you
for something different?”

“Because this was something major, Sheryl!”
Lauren cried hysterically.

“You need to calm down before you end up
dropping a load.”

“But you fail to understand that I didn’t
want Nina involved! Now she really won’t-” She suddenly stopped
talking, as if she had let something out she wasn’t supposed
to.

“Won’t what?”

Lauren huffed angrily in the phone and spoke
through gritted teeth. “She won’t give us the money we want.”

“Money for what?”

“Mitchell is out of work and we need cash.
So we went to Nina again and she said no.”