Secrets On Lake Drive (5 page)

“Hold on, lil’ man. Let her think about it. Listen,
Monica, I don’t want to hold you up, so think about it and give me
a call. You know the number, right?”

I smiled. I don’t know what it was about
cocky men that drew me in, but I liked

the attitude. There’s nothing sexier than a
confident man that knows he got it like that.

“Yes, I know the number.”

“Alright. Hopefully I’ll hear from you a
little later on today.”

“Okay.” I waved to Roman and walked to my
car. As soon as I got in, started it up, and turned the radio down,
I called Keisha.

“Girrrl, you won’t believe what just
happened to me,” I said as soon as she picked up, not giving her
any time to say hello.

“What? What’s going down? Are you okay?” she
asked with concern.

“Nothing bad. Calm down. Are you calm?”

“Yes.”

“Okay…I was just calling to tell you that I
went to Summerfest today and you won’t believe who I ran into.”

“Wait a minute. You went to Summerfest
without me?”

“Keisha, I told you I was going, but you
said you had plans with Daryl already.”

Keisha was too young to be dealing with
memory loss, so I’m guessing she thought I wasn’t going to go to
Summerfest since she wasn’t coming with me. She ought to have known
better than that.

“Anyway, guess who I ran into?”

“Who?”

“Roman Beauvais and his father.”

“Oh. That must have been interesting.”

“Yeah, it was. Sean offered me a job…talking
about babysitting Roman over the summer.”

“Are you serious?”

“Yep.”

“How is he going to take his son out of your
class, then turn around and offer you a job? Girl, that dude got
some issues.”

“He said he would pay me thirty dollars an
hour for ten hours every day of the week, even on weekends.”

“Thirty dollars an hour!”

“Yep.”

“So are you going to do it?”

“I don’t know. I mean thirty dollars an hour
sounds really good for a summer job as easy as babysitting. And
Roman is not the problem. My only reservation is that…”

“Sean is a jerk and you don’t know if it’s
worth the hassle?”

“You took the words right out of my mouth.”
We both laughed.

“So what’cha gonna do, missy?”

“I don’t know yet,” I replied.

“Well, just give him a call…see what’s up at
least.”

“Yeah, I will when I get home.”

“Alright then. Call me later to tell me all
about it.”

“Okay, Keisha. Later.”

Once home, I stripped naked, preparing to
take a shower. The pellets of water felt so good after a long day
in the sun and on my feet. Nothing relaxes me more than a long,
lukewarm shower, and while I was supposed to have been washing all
my cares down the drain, all I could think about was Sean – the
confrontation at school and then at his house, the weird way he
studied me when I dropped the pictures off, and how he wants to
hire me as a babysitter. Maybe Sean was in a bind and needed to be
nice to me so I would accept the position. Or maybe Roman asked if
I could be his babysitter. I don’t know, but I sure was nervous
about calling him.

After my shower, I dried off, threw on some
pajamas, crawled on my queen-sized bed, and laid flat on my stomach
with my feet dangling in the air while I dialed his number. After a
half-ring, he picked up. He must have been anticipating my
call.

“Hello.”

I cleared my voice. “Hi, Mr. Beauvais.”

“Please call me Sean,” he insisted. I never
realized how amazing his voice sounded on the phone before.

“Okay…Sean. If I…”

Before I could finish my sentence, he
interrupted. “Before we go any further, I just want to say that it
seems like we got off on the wrong foot. I said some things I
shouldn’t have and I want to apologize to you for that.”

Well what do you know? Perhaps Sean isn’t so
bad after all.

“I’m sorry, too.”

“Okay. Good. Now that we’ve got that out of
the way, did you think about my proposal?”

Proposal
. For some reason, every time
I hear that word I instantly think about an engagement, a wedding
planner, flower girls, bridesmaids, caterers, and most importantly,
the honeymoon. Then I got to thinking about Sean proposing to me.
My imagination was going wild right there on the phone. All I could
think about was walking down the aisle, with him anxiously awaiting
a hot and heavy wedding night.

“Monica, you there?”

“Oh…yeah, I’m here.” I blinked back in to
reality. “I haven’t quite made up my mind yet, but if I decide to
take you up on your offer...”

He interrupted a second time. “You will move
into my home and live with me for three months until school starts
back.”

“What?” That caught me way off guard. He
didn’t mention anything before about me physically moving into his
crib. “You’re serious?”

“Yeah, I’m serious.”

“I thought I would be watching Roman at my
place.”

“No. I have three extra bedrooms and one of
them has your name on it.”

Can you believe this?
He is
serious. He actually wants me to move into his house.

“So…what is it going to be, Monica?” he
asked after a minute of idle silence.

“I’m not sure about this. I had no idea this
is what you had in mind.”

“So you don’t want to do it?”

“I do, but…well….ah…why do you want me to do
this for you anyway?”

“Roman wants you. I guess he knows you
better than I do, right?”

“I guess so. Who usually watches him during
the summer months?”

“I usually put him in a summer program, but
he doesn’t want that this year.”

“Oh, I see.”

“So do you want to do it?”

I really wanted to babysit for Roman. I
didn’t mind that part at all. However, it would be awkward living
with a man that I didn’t know.

“Ah…uh…I don’t know about this, Sean. I’m
sorry. I just don’t know.”

“So what can I do to make you say yes?”

There’s a lot you can do to make me say
yes,
I thought. Then I got my mind out of the gutter and back
to the conversation.

“Okay, I’ll do it.”

“You sure?”

“Yep.”

“Positive?”

“Yes. Now stop asking before I change my
mind.”

“Ah’ight. Good. Can you come by my house
tomorrow? You remember how to get here, right?”

“Yeah, I know how to get there. What time
should I drop by?”

“Stop by anytime. I’ll be home all day.
While you’re here, you can sign the contract and I’ll show you
around. Sounds good?”

“Yeah.”

“Ah’ight, cool. So I’ll see you tomorrow
then?”

“Yeah, I’ll be there.”

“Ah’ight, Monica. Enjoy the rest of your
night.”

“Okay. You, too. Bye.”

I hung up the phone not knowing what I had
just done. I agreed to move in with a man that I hardly knew in
order to baby sit Roman over the summer. But my strategy was
simple. I would live with him for those few months and save all the
money I could so that I can focus my attention on my career in
photography.

I moved in his house two days later.

Chapter 7
–
Drama

Sean’s house was immaculate, decked out like
the houses celebrities flaunt on
MTV Cribs
. Walking through
the front door, I noticed the glossed wooden floors right away.
They were so clean, you could eat off of them. I also noticed the
exquisite crystal chandelier hanging from a high ceiling over a
black, twelve-chair dinette that sat on an all white rug off to the
right. In the middle of the room sat a white couch and a white,
leather recliner, along with a glass coffee table on an abstract
beige, burgundy, and black rug. The furniture looked very
sophisticated and top-of-the-line, like he’d purchased the items
from Thomasville or Ashley Furniture stores. The living room and
dining room were in the same huge living area, but although they
were not separated by walls, I could distinctively see the
differences in the two.

Exotic plants and brilliant paintings were
plenty, giving the house a Caribbean feel. There was a fireplace
off to the left and the mantle was filled with family photos. The
family room was near the kitchen, towards the back of the living
area.

The door that was visible straight through
the living room led to the kitchen. I’d never seen a kitchen with
so many cabinets. The cabinets were a honey oak color with black
trim. The granite-top island housed a built in stove and the
kitchen was big enough to fit a table for six. The kitchen was also
full of high-end, stainless steel appliances. Near the back door
was a staircase that led to the basement where the washer and dryer
were kept. Another set of stairs led upstairs to the bedrooms.

All the walls I had seen thus far were
white, but upstairs, the hallway was a roasted chestnut color and
the floor was carpeted in the same color. Wrought-iron wall lamps
were evenly spaced on the walls, four of them on each side. Roman’s
room was at the top of the stairs and to the right. Sean’s room was
off to the left, a little further down the hallway.

Walking towards Sean’s bedroom, I passed a
bathroom on the right, then his room followed. His room was so big,
he could’ve split it to make another room if he so choose. Over his
king-sized bed were three skylights, which brought in plenty of
natural light with the help of the three-section, sliding French
doors that lead to a private balcony. A fifty-inch flat screen TV
was mounted on the wall opposite of the bed. The master bathroom
had a chandelier hanging directly in the center of the room, his
and her sinks, a Jacuzzi that was against the back of the room, a
standup shower, and a vanity. The black and white tiled floor gave
the room a glamorous feel. Just by looking around the house, I
could tell Sean loved the black, white, and beige colors.

My bedroom just so happened to be upstairs
across the hall from Sean’s bedroom.
Coincidence? Yeah,
right.
My bedroom was a mini version of the master bedroom. I
didn’t have a walk-in closet, but the closet I had was sufficient.
My bathroom didn’t have a Jacuzzi, but the bathtub was big enough
to hold at least three average size people. My room was inspired by
cucumber green colors, from the carpets to the curtains and the
pillows. Whoever decorated Sean’s house knew what they were
doing.

Walking down the front spiral staircase that
led back to the living room, there were two guest bedrooms that,
from what I could see, were hardly ever used. I was hoping one of
those would be my room, but Sean insisted I take the bedroom
upstairs so I could be close to Roman. So he said.

I’VE ALREADY BEEN living here for two nights, but
still wasn’t quite as comfortable as I had hoped to be. I’m used to
going home and crashing out in my apartment, with my shoes left in
the floor, my bed unmade, and a pile of dirty clothes beside a full
hamper. I wasn’t junky, but being a full-time teacher and all, I
didn’t have time to clean up every day. I cleaned when I could.

Sean’s house, however, was spic-and-span. He
told me that I didn’t have to worry about sprucing up the place
since he had a cleaning service come by every other Sunday to clean
his house from top to bottom. And get this – he had a personal
chef, if you can believe that, and he often had his food
catered.

SEAN LEFT FOR work as he normally did every
day around eight or so. He would get up every morning at
five-thirty to work out for a half hour, then he spent the
remaining two hours getting ready to face the world.

At times, when he left his bedroom door
cracked, I could see directly into his walk-in closet that was
about the same size as Roman’s bedroom. He would stand there with a
towel wrapped around his bottom half with beads of water glistening
on his back, while trying to decide what to wear in his collection
of expensive suits and countless name-brand shoes. Once he figured
out what he was going to wear for the day, he would go downstairs
and have a full glass of grapefruit juice and a Nutri-Grain bar,
which was his breakfast. Then he was out the door. After only being
here a few days, I already had the man’s routine down pat.

I crawled out of bed around nine-thirty and
peeped in Roman’s room, where he was still sleeping. So, I went to
the kitchen to make us some breakfast. A little while later, Roman
came down the stairs. Shortly after, the phone rang.

“Hello.”

“Hey, Monica. It’s Sean,” he said, as if I
didn’t know it was him. “How’s everything going?”

“It’s going good. I just made Roman some
pancakes. He’s eating now.”

“You don’t have to cook. I have people for
that.”

There he goes again with the “
I have
people for that”
lingo. I wasn’t going to let the boy starve
while his “people” took their sweet time showing up to cook.

“It’s no big deal. It didn’t take me long to
cook ‘em and Roman likes it, so…”

He cut me off as he normally did. “Yeah, but
next time, call me and I’ll get someone to come over and cook,
ah’ight?”

I don’t think Sean was trying to be a
show-off when he said things like that. It was just something he
was accustomed to since he had money. Having people wait on him
hand and foot was his way of life, but I wasn’t used to such a
lavish lifestyle. I cooked my own food and cleaned my own house
like normal people.

“Yeah, sure,” I replied, trying not to get
irritated.

“Ah’ight. I’ll check on him again later,” he
said, hanging up without so much as a bye and leaving me baffled by
his casual attitude of just having other people take care of his
kid.

It was about two in the afternoon when the
phone rang again. It was Sean.

“What does he want now?” I asked myself,
while rolling my eyes. “Helloo.”