I Like 'Em Pretty (3 page)

“
Oohkay babe, later. Hey,
wanna meet for lunch on Tuesday or are ya workin’?”

“
Nope, I’m off. Perhaps we
can check out that soul food restaurant that’s near the
hospital?”

“
Sounds good. I been
cravin’ some collards and macaroni for a while now. I’ll text
you.”

“
Gotcha. Later,
honey.”

They said their goodbyes
and Rhoda settled in on the couch to watch just one of the many TV
shows she enjoyed. This was what she did when not at work; curled
up in front of the screen with Spearmint on her lap, in her house
robe.

Besides, she didn’t need to
look all that glamorous for anyone since she lived alone. She only
did the mani-pedi because she couldn’t stand the thought of ugly
toes and nails. Her hair stayed up in a ponytail until it was time
to go out with Sharnette to the clubs. Then, dressing to the nines
was absolutely necessary.

Still, her ideal situation
was curling up in comfort, enjoying the little time she had
off.

There had to be a man who
liked to do the same things, at least some of the time.

* * * *

After a long hard day at
work, Nicholas took a cab from the hospital to his condominium.
Once he turned the lock, he sighed deeply and looked about his
beautiful spacious apartment; it needed more these days than when
he bought it. Not any extra furniture—he had that. The bookcases
overflowed with books from every corner of the world. And the view
of the beautiful city of Raleigh was to die for. Still, it was
missing something Nicholas knew he couldn’t purchase with any
amount of money.

A woman.

A companion. Someone who’d
be there to greet him with a kiss, a few touches, and kind words
like, I missed you and, more importantly, I love you.

Random affairs with women
had long outlived their luster. The sex was great, at times, but
there was no real connection, and that left a sense of emptiness,
leaving Dr. Fairlight very unhappy. Unfulfilled.

Time to find
someone.

Perhaps going out with
Alexander and his lady, Sharnette, would do the trick. God, the
woman was sex on a stick. Gorgeous mocha beauty with long black
hair, brown eyes resembling cocoa beans, and a smile that lit up
the room. Not only that, the face attached to that amazing curvy
body left Nicholas speechless. Damn, why didn’t he find the erotica
author before Alexander did?

Oh yeah, I don’t get out
much.

No, he didn’t, but a
swinger’s party wasn’t his cup of tea either. Despite the fact
Doctor Carthington lucked out in love after attending the sex
soiree, his fortune didn’t sway Nicholas to follow suit. He
preferred his intimate encounters to be behind closed doors, and
then he would let his partner know his level of kink.

Dragging his feet, along
with his heavy heart, he plopped on his leather sofa and turned on
the television to find a good movie for early afternoon viewing. At
the moment nothing was playing, and though he desperately needed
sleep, he just couldn’t make himself fall into slumber
quickly.

He tried a few more
channels, bored and disgusted with the lack of quality programming.
His cell phone rang in his pocket.

“
Hello?”

“
Nicholas? How are you my
dear? You sound worn out!”

Hearing the sound of his
mother’s voice, he forced a wry smile and slipped out of his
loafers. “Hi, Mum, how are you?”

“
Good, my love. Your da
and I are taking a trip to the Caribbean soon and we thought we’d
stop off to see you before we returned to Dulwich.”

Nicholas bit his lip and
glanced towards the heavens. “That would be great.”
Not like I have much going on here other than
work anyway.
“I’d love to see the both of
you. Perhaps I can try switching shifts with Alex so we can spend a
little time together.”

“
Fantastic, love. We miss
you terribly. I really wish you’d come back to Britain and
practice. I’m concerned about you every day.”

“
Mum, I’m almost forty. I
can take care of myself.” Nicholas groaned and tossed the remote on
the couch.

“
I know, darling, but
you’re so far away from me and I worry because you still haven’t
found a special lady yet.”

“
Yes, Mum, I thank you for
the reminder. I’m working on it, but pulling thirteen hour shifts
at the hospital doesn’t help matters.”

“
Are you getting enough
sleep?”

No.

“
Yes, Mother. As a matter
of fact, I just got in and I’m about to go take a nap once I’ve had
a hot bath.”

“
Splendid, my dear. All
right then, I won’t keep you. I hope you’re coming back in town for
the holidays with Alex. His mum called us screaming with the great
news of Alex’s new lady. A successful romance author from that
area. Perhaps she has a friend to set you up with?”

“
Maybe.” Nicholas hated
going on blind dates but at the moment, given his current
situation, he couldn’t be too picky.

“
I hope so, love. Let me
hang up so you can rest. Please ring me once you’re up so we can
talk more about our visit.”

“
Yes, Mum. I’ll talk with
you soon.”

“
Goodbye, Nicholas. I love
you.”

“
I love you too, Mum.
Goodbye.” Nicholas pressed the button and settled back on the
cushions. He loved his mom, a former model and activist for the
arts. He knew she meant well, but all the things she said made
Nicholas feel even lower. And hearing about Alex taking Sharnette
home for the holidays kicked him down even further.

“
Gah.” Nicholas frowned.
Rising, he walked to his window, knowing the beautiful scene of the
busy city would change his mood.

Cars bustled down the
street, people going to and from the places they needed to be. The
trees swayed in the wind, many reddish brown leaves falling to the
ground. The sun beamed down on Raleigh, as always. For the length
of time Nicholas had been there, he hadn’t witnessed many cloudy
days, and this gave him hope.

Always something beautiful
to look at and photograph in his rare spare time; he wished to have
that in his life as well.

“
Might as well get some
sleep.” He yawned and headed to his bedroom, rubbing his eyes, not
bothering to turn the television off.

Perhaps when he woke again,
there would be something he’d take an interest in.

* * * *

“
Yes, Ma.” Rhoda rolled
her eyes while she finished brushing her hair. She had her mom on
speaker so she could finish getting ready for her lunch date with
Sharnette.

“
I’m glad you understand,
honey. So you’ll try makin’ it to the service this coming
Sunday?”

“
Yes, I will, but I won’t
make any promises.” She grimaced when she found a gray hair
intertwined within her brown curls. “I’m going out with Sharnette
and her man that night.”

“
She has a man?” Lorna
Maire sounded surprised.

“
Yes she does, Ma. A good
one, too. A doctor who works at Methodist.”

“
Methodist? I’m not a big
fan of that hospital but…”

Oh brother.

“
Well, they may not be as
good as Duke, but it’s a fine medical center. Some of the finest
staff in the city work there.”

“
Well, I don’t go to
Raleigh much anyway, I just know what I’ve heard from some of the
sisters and brothers who went there in the past.”

“
That’s the key phrase, in
the past. I’ve heard nothin’ but good since the remodel and the new
chief of staff.” Rhoda loved her place of work; she knew a lot of
people who’d transferred to work at Methodist.

“
Okay. Well, how is it she
has a man and you don’t? What did she do, trap him?”

“
No, Ma, they met one
another at a…uh… party.” Rhoda had to stop herself before she said
swingers’ party.

“
Figures. You can’t find a
real
good
man at
a party. He’s probably married with five babies! The best men you
meet are in church. That’s why you should come on Sunday instead of
goin’ with that woman into Sin City.”

“
Actually the place where
we’re goin’ is called Enigma, and I’ve met Doctor Carthington
several times. He seems very sweet and really cares for her. Uh,
Mom, I gotta go, I’ll call you later.”

“
Where are you headed? You
never did call me back on Sunday like you promised.”

“
I didn’t promise, Ma. Now
look, I’ll try gettin’ back to you by the end of the week, okay?
Sharnette—”

“
Sharnette!” She squealed
through the phone, making Rhoda wince. “Why do you constantly hang
out with that woman?”

“
Ma, I gotta go!
Bye.”

“
Bye, Rhoda.” Upset from
her mom’s call, she hung up and dashed to her closet to grab her
coat. Sharnette would be there any minute now and she knew they’d
only have a short while. Alexander would be off work in three hours
from the time of her lunch date and she didn’t want to miss hanging
out with her girl on her day off.

With her keys in her hand,
she heard the buzzer bell, telling her that someone was downstairs.
She rushed across the room to press the door button and wait for
Sharnette to come up. She opened the door and heard two sets of
laughter, instead of just Sharnette’s.

“
Oh Lord.” She rolled her
eyes, knowing that the other shrill voice she heard was her sister
Moira. They hadn’t talked since she left for Paris two weeks ago on
a modeling job. She must’ve met Sharnette downstairs in the
lobby.

“
Hey Sis!” Moira beamed
her pearly white smile, Sharnette in tow.

“
Look what I found on the
way in, babe.” Sharnette gave Rhoda a big hug and light kiss on the
cheek.

“
Yeah, great. Hey Moira.
When did you get back in town?”

“
Oh, just this mornin’,
honey. I wanted to come have lunch with you before I went to
Momma’s. Sharnette said I could tag along and participate in some
good girl talk.” Moira pressed her body into Rhoda’s and patted her
back.

“
Goody.” Rhoda half sighed
and drew up her lips. Despite the fact she and her sister got along
for the most part, Rhoda was looking forward to having lunch with
her girl alone.

“
Let’s go, babe, I’m
starved. Oh, and we got a little more time too. Alexander won’t be
off for another couple of hours, unfortunately. He got called into
emergency surgery.”

“
Aw, that’s too bad, babe.
How is that hunk doctor of yours doin’ anyway? He sure is fine. You
sure he ain’t got a couple of brothers for me and Rhoda here?
Preferably employed, hung like a horse, and mature,” Moira
added.

Sharnette laughed, along
with Moira.

Rhoda shook her head.
“C’mon, you two!” She shuffled them out of her doorway and down the
hall back to the elevator. Like old friends, the two of them
cackled together, sharing naughty jokes, while Rhoda pushed the
buttons and secretly cursed her mother for pushing out her
fraternal twin sister.

If only I could’ve been an
only child.

Moira blew raspberries and
tapped her feet as the lift descended to the first floor. When the
door opened, they filed out and headed to the lot so all of them
could get into Sharnette’s car.

“
Okay, who’s ridin’
shotgun?” Sharnette opened her Accord.

“
Me!” Moira squealed at
the top of her lungs and pushed the front seat up to the dash.
“Don’t just stand there like a bump on a log, get in.”

Rhoda did just that,
glaring at her sister the whole time.

Why did Sharnette have to
ask her sister to join them? Rhoda wanted to talk more about
Nicholas and the idiotic things her mom spewed.

She couldn’t do that with
Moira around. She had a tendency to have a very big
mouth.

Chapter Three

Nicholas rolled over at the
sound of his phone ringing on the side of his bed. “Oh God, not the
hospital.” He groaned and reached for it, knocking over an empty
glass next to his bed. “Shit!”

Good thing the sun was
setting because he’d neglected to draw the curtains before he dozed
off. He wasn’t sure how long he’d been sleeping but he guessed
about three to four hours.

“
Hello?”

“
Nicky, it’s
Alex.”

Thank God.

“
Hi chum, what’s up?” He
sat up straight in the bed and fingered his locks.

“
I wanted to chat with you
about Saturday night. Do you mind if Sharnette brings her friend
Rhoda along? Perhaps the two of you will hit it off.”

“
No, no, not at all. It’s
not like I’ve got much going on in the date department at the
moment. Perhaps a fixed connection is exactly what I
need.”

“
Oh, good. I wasn’t sure
how to ask you. Sharnette called me about it when I was taking a
break and we went back and forth until I finally gave in. That
woman really knows how to manipulate my mind.” He
sighed.