Riding the Corporate Ladder (Indigo) (30 page)

“How long you been working on that promotion?” Latasha asked.

“About a month,” Deena admitted.

“Didn’t you go to a picnic?” Natasha asked with a chuckle.

“That’s not ev—”

“He took her to the movies last time,” Latasha said.

“He took me to the movies the second time,” Deena corrected. “Last time we went to that restaurant downtown, the one with the torches outside.” Deena was well aware of how suspect her arguments were.

The twins laughed. “Don’t that sound like a boyfriend to you?” Latasha asked her sister.

“He’ll be done moved in next month,” Natasha agreed. “Deena, you whipped.”

“Y’all full of shit.”

“Well, how long is this supposed to take?” Natasha asked. “If it’s just about the job, how come you ain’t slept with him yet?”

Deena sighed. “It’s not that easy. I still want him to think I’m a good girl. I can’t just throw it at him.”

“What have you tried?” Latasha asked.

“You name it.”

“You told him you wanted to go back to your house for drinks?” Natasha asked.

“He said he doesn’t like to drive after drinking.”

“Do you ever try to go back to his place?” Latasha wanted to know.

“He always picks me up,” Deena explained. “Going back to his place is never really an option—unless I come right out and ask for sex.”

“What about when he drops you off?” Natasha asked. “You don’t try to push up on him then?”

“Trust me, I do,” Deena said. “We kiss…We kiss a lot. He’ll let me touch him. He’s got a strong neck. A big, hard chest. He’s a good kisser, too, and I know he gets hard. But when I reach down to play with him—that’s it. All of a sudden he has to go.”

“He gay,” Latasha said.

“That’s your response to every man problem,” Deena noticed.

“He probably a virgin,” Natasha said.

“He’s got kids,” Deena reminded her.

“Well, what you think it is?” Latasha asked.

“Nothing,” Deena said. “He’s a good man, and he wants, like, a regular boyfriend/girlfriend thing. It’s not in his character to sleep with someone just a few weeks into the relationship.”

“That’s lame,” Latasha decided.

“I told you he was square,” Deena said.

“Then what you need to do is stop going places with his ass,” Natasha offered. “Just tell him to come to your house and you can jump right on him. Forget all that other bullshit.”

“I can’t do that,” Deena said, but she did see an up side to her friend’s suggestion. “You know what I can do, though? Invite him over for dinner. Then he’ll already be in here when we start getting cozy.”

“And you can lock the door on his ass!” Natasha definitely had a dominatrix side.

Deena laughed. “I don’t have to lock him in, girl. If we’re getting hot and heated on my couch, trust me, he ain’t going nowhere. And if he’s still acting shady, I’ll go to the bathroom and come out with just my underwear on.”

“Hell, yeah. That’ll work,” Latasha said. She stood and stretched her back. “But if you don’t get none the next time you see him, you ain’t my hero no more. Come on,” she told her sister. “Let’s bounce.”

Natasha stood and set her empty glass on the coffee table. “You sure you don’t want to come with us?”

“No,” Deena said. “I’m cool.”

She walked the twins to the door and went to the bedroom to find her phone when they were gone. She stretched across the bed and dialed David’s number with a sneaky grin parting her lips. She was pretty sure her plan would work, but she couldn’t be certain until he actually agreed to come over for dinner.

Mr. Markham answered after only two rings. “Hello?”

“Hey, baby.”

“Deena. What’s going on?”

“Nothing. Just thinking about you.”

“Really?”

“I can’t help it.”

“Well, I was thinking about you, too.”

“You’re lying.”

“You can’t prove it.”

“I know when you’re lying.”

He chuckled. “How?”

“Your nose twitches a little.”

That made him laugh. “You can’t even see my nose.”

“I can hear it brushing against the phone,” she teased.

“Well, you heard wrong,” David said. “I’m not lying. I think about you all the time.”

“How come we didn’t do anything last weekend?” Deena asked.

“I told you; I had my daughters over.”

“We still could have done something. I would like to meet them one day. If I had kids, I’d let you meet them.”

“It’s not like that,” David said. “I just, I take things like that very seriously, Deena. That’s a big step for me. They’ve never seen me with another woman, actually. They think I still want to be with their mom.”

“I think that, too, sometimes.”

“Don’t talk like that.”

“So do you have plans for this weekend?” she asked. “Because I do.”

“I’m free,” he said. “What’ve you got in mind?”

“Home cooking,” Deena said. “I want to make dinner for you.”

“You can’t cook.”

“Uh, excuse me?”

“You know you can’t cook.”

“I’ll have you know I am a very good cook,” she said with a little attitude. “Just because you’re the take-out king doesn’t mean I am. I cook for myself every night. What makes you think I can’t cook?”

“You’re a lawyer,” he said with a chuckle. “And you’re educated. I guess I was stereotyping.”

“Well, I want to cook dinner for you tomorrow,” Deena said. “And I guarantee I’ll put my foot in it.”

“What are you making, Frito pie?”

Deena frowned. “I think I can do a little better than that. Where do you get these ideas?”

“You said you’d put your foot in it,” David said with a chuckle. “Get it? Feet…Fritos…Free toes?”

“Oh, my God, you are so corny!” Deena said, but she laughed, too.

“So what time should I come over for dinner?” he asked.

“Is six-thirty okay?”

“It’s fine.”

“Do you have a preference, anything in particular you want to eat?”

“You’re going to make whatever I come up with?”

“If it’s not something weird, like salt and pepper squid or sweet and sour possum.”

He snickered. “Damn. There goes my idea.”

“Quit playing.”

“No, actually you can make whatever you want, whatever you’re good at.”

“All right,” Deena said. “I’m going to blow your mind. Trust me.”

“You already do,” David said.

“No, not yet. But I will,” Deena promised. “You’ll see tomorrow.”

“Okay. I’m looking forward to it.”

* * *

On Saturday afternoon, Deena met Yesenia at Hulen Mall for what was supposed to be a shoe extravaganza at KC Penney’s. Unfortunately, the only thing extravagant about the sale was the blown up prices and shoddy merchandise.

They did a little window shopping at Dillard’s instead, and Deena found the perfect sandals for her night at home with Mr. Markham. They were open-toed Guccis with thick leather straps and five-inch heels. She had a black evening gown that would match the shoes perfectly; it was tight-fitting with a lot of skin exposed around the chest and back.

The girls went to the food court afterwards and had authentic gyros prepared by a crew of Mexican women. That made Deena doubt the true authenticity of her wrap, but Yesenia assured her a gyro was nothing more than a fancied-up burrito. Deena laughed and had to agree with that.

“Where are you going to wear those shoes?” Yesenia asked her.

They sat together at a small table built for two. The mall was unusually crowded, mainly with middle and high school kids looking for trouble and booty and everything in between. Deena remembered those good old days of no worries other than her homework assignments. If someone would have told her how it was going to be later, she wouldn’t have been in such a rush to graduate.

“I have a date tonight,” she mumbled around her food, but Yesenia heard her just fine.

“With who?”

“It’s a new guy,” Deena said vaguely. She already knew how Yesenia felt about her seductions, and Deena didn’t feel like arguing.

“A new, new guy?”

Deena nodded. “I went out with him a couple of times last month. I’m making dinner for him tonight.”

“I didn’t know you were seeing someone new.”

“I thought I told you.”

“No, but you can now. What does he do? What’s he like?”

“He’s a good dude,” Deena said. “He’s a lawyer. He’s really sweet.”

“Sweet? I thought you didn’t like sweet.”

“I usually don’t, but—damn, girl; these are good.”

“Anything Mexicans cook is good,” Yesenia assured her.

“Anyway, I usually don’t like those types, but this guy is fine. He’s handsome and smart and sincere. We went to Boccaccini’s last Friday. He took me to a picnic on our first date.”

Yesenia nearly choked on a tomato slice. “Ugk…he, ahem. He what?”

“Calm down, shorty. Did you think Darren was the only romantic man out there?”

“No, but…Why didn’t you tell me?”

Deena shrugged. “I don’t know. It’s not a big deal.”

Yesenia was incredulous. “What are you talking about, Deena? Compared to your last boyfriend—and yes, I’m talking about Keshaun—this new guy sounds like a dream. You’re not gonna mess it up, are you?”

“Why do you think I’m going to mess it up?”

“Because you sound like you don’t care about him.”

“I never said that.”

“Well, you need to do right this time, Deena. I don’t know how you keep ending up with these great guys, but they’re going to dry up sooner or later. You’re going to be stuck with nothing but assholes, and then you’ll wish you had a guy like Ron.”

“Don’t wish that on me.”

“I’m not, Deena. I’m just…I’m just saying. It’s serious.”

“I hear you,” Deena said. “Don’t worry. I hear you.”

“All right.” Yesenia sat back in her seat and picked up her fork again. “So how’d you meet this new one? Tell me his name at least.”

“It’s David.”

“David?” Her friend leaned forward again. “You can’t tell me David’s not a better person than some Keshaun.”

Deena laughed. “Now you’re judging people by their names?”

“I’m not judging,” Yesenia said. “I’m just saying that if I had a choice between a David and a Keshaun, I’d pick David. It’s even in the Bible.”

Deena frowned and called her on that one. “There may be a King David in the Bible, but the Bible doesn’t say Davids are better than Keshauns.”

Yesenia nodded quickly. “Mmm-hmm, yet is does. It’s on the very first page.”

“You blasphemer!”

* * *

On the way home, Deena stopped at her neighborhood grocer to get fresh meat for her elegant dinner. All of their ribeyes looked scrumptious, but she only wanted boneless ones, the redder the better. She then pushed her buggy for another ten minutes in search of olive oil, garlic cloves, minced rosemary, Bella mushrooms, chicken broth, Dijon mustard, cornstarch, asparagus, and russet potatoes.

When she had everything she needed, Deena headed for the check-out with an odd awareness of how she never went through so much trouble to feed a man. The meal she planned on serving would take at least two hours to prepare, but she was actually anxious to get started.

She hoped David would love her cooking and appreciate all the hard work involved. She hoped he’d fall in love with her. She hoped he’d put Ron’s pygmy penis to shame, and their lovemaking would be exquisite.

And when it was all said and done, he would mention her for the junior partner position, and his suggestion would not be taken lightly. Deena would get the job and live happily ever after, but she was also starting to hope she could keep David as part of the deal, too.

* * *

She got home at four, a little irritated she dallied at the mall for so long. She had exactly two and a half hours to prepare a full course meal and make herself more beautiful than Cinderella at the ball, but Deena loved this kind of pressure; she never failed to shine when under duress.

She tossed the groceries on the kitchen counter and darted to the bedroom to change into more comfortable cooking attire. Boogie followed her anxiously, hoping he might somehow be involved in this excitement.

“I’m sorry, baby,” Deena told him as she slipped into a pair of denim shorts. “I got another man tonight.”

He barked, and she knew exactly what he was thinking. Ain’t that a bitch.

“Hey. Watch your mouth, buster.”

Back in the kitchen, Deena washed her hands and heated the oven to 250 degrees. She got her meat ready and warmed a large skillet on the stovetop. She rubbed the steak down with oil, salt, and pepper and then browned it on each side. She left it on the cutting board for a few minutes while she chopped lettuce and tomatoes for their salad. She went back to the meat when it was cool enough to touch and gave it a garlic and rosemary glaze.