Riding the Corporate Ladder (Indigo) (32 page)

She liked how he kissed her afterwards. She liked how she continued to have small orgasms the whole time he was inside her, even as she succumbed to sleep.

And when she reminisced later, Deena had to take back all of the bad things she said about basic missionary. She didn’t remember the loser who gave it such a bad rap, but she would never forget the gentleman who set things right for her.

She woke up at 3 a.m. still weak from the energy exerted. It warmed her heart to see David lying next to her. She ran her fingers through his hair and fell asleep again, feeling like everything was right in her world. She wouldn’t say she was falling in love—she was dead set against it, in fact—but whatever she was feeling was a really good feeling. And it was overdue.

Long overdue.

In late June, a fickle hurricane named Julie bore down hard on the Gulf of Mexico. Meteorologists predicted she would hit New Orleans as a category five storm, and a mandatory evacuation was ordered. The wounds of Hurricane Katrina were still open and pus-filled, and no one wanted a repeat of that particular incident.

But Julie lost the majority of her strength before she made landfall. She was downgraded to a mere category two storm, and no one fretted when she veered off course towards Galveston. The storm hit the Texas coast early on a Monday morning and sent six inches of rain to the fair city of Overbrook Meadows. It knocked their expected high temperature of 97 degrees down to just 82, and Deena was happy to don her galoshes that day.

She wished they’d get a few hurricanes every year around that time, but no such luck. By July the skies were clear again, and windless, and so sweltering butterflies would sizzle and disintegrate like vampires if they got caught in direct sunlight—well, Deena was pretty sure that’s what would happen.

By August they were on the downward slope towards winter, and everyone was counting the days. Deena lounged on her back porch one evening sucking on a rapidly-deteriorating cherry Popsicle. She leaned over the side of her lawn chair so she wouldn’t drip any on her blouse. Twenty yards ahead of her, Boogie chased a wily squirrel he was never going to get a hold of.

Yesenia sat next to her friend with her bare feet propped up on an ottoman Deena had back there. Both women wore shorts with t-shirts. Deena thought Yesenia looked beautifully bronze in the dappled sunlight.

“Have you been tanning?” she asked her.

“Not on purpose,” Yesenia said. “Darren took me to Hurricane Harbor last weekend.”

Deena knitted her eyebrows. She knew her friend’s self confidence had skyrocketed in the last few months, but she didn’t think Yesenia was comfortable enough to spend a whole date in swimwear. “What’d you wear?”

“We went and got bathing suits the day before,” Yesenia said. She had let her hair grow out during the summer, and it was a couple of inches longer now. It was still curly, but not as dark as before. Actually, Yesenia had an overall brightness about her.

“Y’all went and got swimsuits together?”

Yesenia nodded. “Mmm, hmm. The one I bought was his favorite. It’s blue—no black with blue designs.”

“A one-piece?”

Yesenia smacked her lips. “Come on, Deena. You know I’m not squeezing my fat ass into a bikini. We got it out of the plus-sized area. It has a little skirt attached, you know, to cover up my rolls.”

Deena shook her head in amazement. “You let Darren help you find a suit that would cover up your rolls?”

“Yeah, but not for him,” Yesenia said. “He likes me just the way I am. I’m the one who wanted to cover them up.”

Deena still frowned. “I’m tripping on the fact that he knows you cover up your rolls. Some things are supposed to be just for us girls, you know?”

Yesenia shook her head. “Darren’s not like those other assholes. He loves me. He knows everything about me; we don’t keep secrets.”

“You’ve got to have some secrets,” Deena countered. “You don’t go to the bathroom with the door open, do you?”

“Sometimes.”

“What?”

“We’re getting a place together in January,” Yesenia said.

Deena sat up, more confused than ever. “What?”

“You heard me.” Yesenia’s smile was adorable.

“But you just met him.”

“It’s already been four months,” Yesenia said. “By January it’ll be seven. That’s plenty of time.”

“But what about your house? What about your dogs?”

“It’ll work out,” Yesenia assured her. “Actually, I’ll come out ahead if I sell my house right now. And Darren loves Bobby and Whitney. It’ll be okay. You’ll see.”

“But…but what about me?” Deena whined.

Yesenia laughed at her. “What about you, Deena? Aren’t you about to shack up, too? You and David have been going pretty strong…”

David’s name put a quick smile on Deena’s face, but…“We’re not moving in together.”

“Yeah, but y’all have been getting really close,” Yesenia said. “Aren’t you about ready to make room for him in your closet?”

Deena laughed. “He’s cool, but I’m not sharing my closet with anyone.”

“No?” Yesenia lay back and closed her eyes. “I thought you were making great strides.”

She was referring to the fact that Deena and David had been in a monogamous relationship for a record amount of time. Deena’s wild partying with the twins was at an all-time low as well, but that didn’t mean any fundamental changes had occurred.

“I’m still the same bitch,” Deena assured her. “I don’t want a man living with me—no matter how I feel about him.”

“How do you feel about him?” Yesenia asked. She’d been trying for over a month to get Deena to say the “L” word, but love wasn’t in her friend’s vocabulary.

“I like him,” Deena said.

“That’s it?”

“He’s special,” Deena said. “He’s definitely the most intelligent man I’ve ever known.”

“Ever?”

“Ever. He’s sweet, and he’s cultured…”

“But you only like him?”

“I care about him a lot,” Deena offered. “But it’s not what you want it to be.”

“You wouldn’t know true love if it walked up and slapped you in the face,” Yesenia predicted.

“I do know what true love is,” Deena said. “I’m not a robot; I have feelings.”

“Then you just don’t want to admit that you’re in love,” Yesenia guessed.

“Yeah, that must be it.” Deena’s response was laced with sarcasm.

“What about his daughters?” Yesenia asked. “You love them, don’t you?”

Deena’s smile became warm and maternal. “They’re my sweet little angels,” she said. “I can’t get enough of them.”

David had two girls; Kenedie was twelve, and Danielle was fourteen. They were both fair-skinned like their father and as sassy as they wanted to be. They also had big hearts and eager minds. Deena met them the first time at the Six Flags amusement park in Arlington. For their second outing, she took them to the mall for a little girl time.

While at the salon, David’s oldest child drilled Deena thoroughly as they got their toes and nails done.

“What’s up with all the questions?” Deena finally asked her.

“Daddy never let us go anywhere with another girl,” Danielle had said. “I didn’t think he even liked girls.”

“Oh, well, you don’t have to worry about me,” Deena told her. “I like your dad a whole bunch, and I would never do anything to hurt him.”

“I know,” Danielle had said. “I just, you know, if I’m going to hang around you, I figured I should know more about you.”

“That’s fine,” Deena said with a grin. “My life is an open book. Ask me anything else you want.”

“I’m cool, for now,” the cutie pie replied.

“So do I pass your inspection?” Deena wondered.

“Can you buy us some ice cream?” Danielle asked.

“Sure,” Deena said with a chuckle.

“Okay, then you pass,” Danielle had said, and then she leaned back in the salon chair and enjoyed her makeover like a proper princess.

Initially, Deena was surprised that David let her spend time with his daughters without him being there, but their trust level reached new heights in the past few months. David was openly in love with Deena, and he wasn’t afraid to tell her so, even though she hadn’t reciprocated yet.

“Y’all should get married,” Yesenia said. She watched Boogie get really close to catching a squirrel, but the bushy-tailed rodent scurried up a tree at the last moment. “You’d be a good stepmother.”

“The thought of being any kind of mother makes me nauseated,” Deena said. “But I wouldn’t mind having the girls over on the weekends. I could teach them how to do manicures and flirt with boys. We could—”

Her cell phone rang, and Deena beamed when she saw the number on the caller ID. She got up and headed for the back door. “I’ll be right back.”

“You can’t take your call out here?” Yesenia teased.

Deena rolled her eyes and slipped through the patio doors.

“I know sprung when I see it,” Yesenia called after her, but Deena pretended not to hear. She went to the living room and curled up in her loveseat.

“Hello?”

“Hey, baby. What’s going on?” David sounded out of breath.

“Nothing,” Deena said. “Just sitting out on the patio with my friend.”

“Do you want me to call you later?”

“No. She’ll be all right. What are you doing? Why are you breathing like that?”

“Just finished a workout,” he said. “I was wondering if you wanted to catch a movie tonight.”

“What’d you work out?” Deena asked.

“My upper body.”

“Do you have your shirt off?” she asked. “Are you all sweaty and glistening?”

He laughed. “You don’t want to hear about my sweaty body, do you?”

Deena sighed wistfully. “Sure…”

“This is just a hunch,” David said, “but have you ever participated in any kind of phone sex?”

“Of course not,” she said without a pause. “I’m a good girl.”

* * *

The next morning Deena woke up a few minutes before her alarm went off. It was Wednesday, but she didn’t have any of the stress and grumbling that usually accompanied hump day. She wasn’t tired at all, in fact. And it wasn’t surprising that David was the first thing on her mind…again.

She couldn’t remember the plot of the movie they saw last night, but she remembered her man. She remembered what he wore and what he felt like and what he smelled like. She remembered how he spurned all of her freaky advances in the theatre, and she remembered the long kiss he gave her before he left for the evening. She remembered how the moon glowed so bright and how the stars shined down—just for them.

But she wasn’t in love.

What she was experiencing was a very strong case of like, even a bit of adoration and longing, but it definitely wasn’t love. She reminded herself of this as she took her shower, and by the time she got out, she actually believed it.

She went to her closet and selected an outfit that was sexy, chic, and appropriate for the courtroom. The dress was silk and twill, white with black leopard prints. She finished the outfit off with dark stockings and patent leather high heels.

She didn’t even have to stop by the mirror to know she looked good today, but she felt even better, and that was the best part of it.

* * *

She got to the firm fifteen minutes early, and her secretary already had a surprise waiting for her. Karen brought a large bouquet of roses into her office at 7:49 a.m. The flowers were a very light-colored pink—sun-blushed, to be exact—and the crystal vase was no less than exquisite. Deena squealed like a child at Christmas. There was a small card attached to one of the rose stems. Deena checked it out when Karen set the vase on her desk.

The message was short, and it wasn’t in any handwriting she recognized, but Deena knew who the flowers were from right away.

Just thinking of you

Had fun at the movies last night

Wish I could have stayed later

Love you

“Well, you’ve certainly been popular lately,” Karen said. Today the secretary’s dress was a one-piece with a bold sash around the waist. Popular was referring to Deena’s recent influx of gifts and confections. David had something delivered to her office almost every week. He rarely needed an occasion for such generosity.

“You must have a new boyfriend,” Karen guessed. She had her hair pulled back in a ponytail, and she looked a little sleep-deprived. She was set to conclude her sophomore year in December, and Deena knew how bad the stress could be with finals at school and a full-time job.

“Sit down,” she said.

Karen took the chair across from her desk.

“Are you okay?” Deena asked. “You look tired.”

“I’m fine,” Karen said.

“How’s school going?”

“It’s okay.” The secretary was confused and guarded.