Secrets On Lake Drive (9 page)

“Yep, that’s all.”

He should’ve just come out and said that the
first time. We could have avoided all of this.

“Okay. So are we good?” Sean asked me.

“Yeah, we straight.”

He opened his arms, inviting me for a hug.
How could I resist? I walked up to him and wrapped my arms around
his lengthy body. I intentionally squeezed him hard and tight,
closed my eyes, and took in deep breaths of his compelling cologne
or soap or body wash or shampoo, whatever it was. It smelled like a
mixture of cocoa butter, aloe, aftershave, and Lever 2000. When I
released him, I had a huge smile on my face.

“So you didn’t think I was going to kidnap
Roman?” I laughed, and so did Sean.

“Nah, I trust you.”

“I’m joking, Sean.”

“Oh.”

Sean took his keys out of the ignition, then
walked back to the house with me. We sat on the couch in the family
room and talked…really talked…and I enjoyed the cool, laid-back
Sean Beauvais. The more he disclosed about himself, the more I
wanted to know. There was something mysterious about him and I
wanted to know what it was.

Chapter 11 -
The Dream

“AHHHHH!” I screamed to the top of my lungs
at 1:49 a.m. to be exact. It happened again. That dream. That
stupid dream. Keisha was the only person that knew about the
strange dreams I’d been having, and when I told her, she said I
needed to seek some professional help. I’d been having this same
dream on and off for the past five years about my ex, Cornelius
Hill.

We broke up after we were together a little
over a year. Well, actually, he left me. I thought I would
eventually get over him, and I was doing a good job of it until
this dream. And each dream was always the same. I’m dating a man,
someone new, and we’re walking hand-in-hand by the lake under a
perfect sky. Then, all of a sudden, the sky turns pitch black. My
date turns and faces me and peels his face off like a mask. Blood
is flying everywhere, as he screams in anguish. Then it pours down
rain for ten seconds. When the rain stops, all the blood is
completely washed away. I look at my date again and it’s Cornelius.
He doesn’t say a word. Just stands there with those light brown
eyes staring at me. He drops to his knees and kisses my stomach.
Then he starts crying, louder and louder. He screams in agony,
“Why, Monica? Why?” while still on his knees. He then takes out a
pocketknife, flicks the blade open, and points it towards my
stomach like he’s going to cut me. That’s usually when I wake
up.

Some people say dreams mean something. I
used to believe that, too, but rational thinking forced me to see
dreams as just something our minds do to pass time while we’re
sleeping. But if dreams didn’t mean anything, why is it that I kept
having the same one over and over again? So, I tried to make some
sense of it for my own sanity. I took part of it to mean that no
matter what man I was with, I would never forget Cornelius. It was
the part about the knife that I don’t understand.

I took a deep breath as I sat straight up in
the bed, tears in my eyes, hair flying everywhere, and my nightgown
drenched with my own sweat.
I sure hope Sean didn’t hear me
scream.
The last thing I needed is for him to see me like this
– a hot mess. My heart was pounding, racing, beating abnormally as
it usually did after this dream. I was almost breathless and needed
some water…and fast.

I tiptoed down the hallway to the stairs and
quietly made my way to the kitchen for a bottle of Fiji, drinking
it as if I’d just spent the night in the desert. It must’ve taken
me only a few seconds to drink the first bottle and then I opened
another one, turning it up to my mouth quickly.

“I thought I heard you come down here.”

Startled, I spit the water out of my mouth.
And
here I am thinking no one heard me come down.
I was as quiet as
a mouse, or so I thought. I didn’t want to turn around and face him
– didn’t want him to see me like this, but he walked closer to
me.

“Monica.” When I turned around, he frowned,
looking concerned. “What’s wrong with you?”

Women. I don’t know why we’re so emotional,
but I cried like a baby when he asked me that.

“C’mon. Let’s go sit down,” he said, putting
his arm around me. He walked with me into the family room and sat
with me on the couch. He removed his black, cotton robe and spread
it over me like a blanket. “What’s going on?”

I sniffled a couple of times. “I just had a
bad dream. I’m fine. I’m fine,” I replied, not wanting to go into
detail about the dream. “I just want to go back to bed.” I wiped my
eyes and tried my hardest to stop crying. “I’m so sorry, Sean. I
didn’t mean to wake you,” I apologized and went to stand up, but
Sean pulled me back down.

“Monica, I don’t want you going back upstairs like
this. I’ll sit with you in here, ah’ight?”

After I sat back down and he covered me with
his robe again, I rested my head up against his chest. He had both
arms completely around me, hugging me, comforting me, making me
feel like he was there for me. I appreciated the fact that he
cared, and I felt so comfortable in his arms that I fell
asleep.

I woke up around six the next morning still
on the couch with Sean. I got up, showered, and walked along the
Milwaukee lakefront to inhale the fresh morning air. After the
night I had, I needed it. When I returned, Sean, Warren, and Roman
were sitting at the kitchen table like every other morning. Roman
was eating Honey Nut Cheerios.

“Hey, Mommy.”

“Good morning, sweetie. Good morning,
everyone.”

“Hey, Monica. How are you doing this
morning?” Warren asked.

“I’m doing good,” I replied, while reaching
in the fridge for a bottle of water and wondering if Sean had told
him about what happened last night.

“I guess you didn’t see me sitting here,
huh?” Sean asked.

“Yeah, just like you didn’t see me walk in
the room, right?” Sean smiled and I smiled back at him. Warren
peeped the way we went back and forth with each other, then he
smiled.

“So what are your plans for today?” Sean
probed.

“I’m going shopping with Keisha. I don’t
know when I’m going to be back.”

“Ah’ight.”

“Why? Do you need something?”

“Nah, I’m straight.”

He must have wanted something. Why else
would he want to know what my plans were?

I went upstairs, changed into a cute,
flimsy, spaghetti strap, pink dress and some white flip-flops with
a white tote bag. When I came downstairs, Sean looked at me, giving
me the same double-take women would usually give him. He’d never
really seen me with my hair down, but if wearing my hair down made
me look this cute, then maybe I should wear it this way all of the
time. Dude couldn’t take his eyes off of me.

I waved bye to everyone, kissed Roman on the
cheek, and was out the door.

I met Keisha at The Cheesecake Factory near
Mayfair Mall. When I walked in, she was sitting at a booth, peering
at the lunch specials section of the menu, while going to town on a
slice of white chocolate, peanut butter truffle cheesecake.

“Girl, how you gonna eat dessert before
eating your lunch?”

“You know I had to do it. I’ve been waiting
all week for this,” she said in between desperate chews and heavy
breathing. “Mmm…this cheesecake is da bomb.” Keisha shoved another
fork full into her mouth. “So how’s life in the Beauvais castle?”
she mumbled, while catching eye shots of the menu.

“It’s okay.” I tried to conceal my smile,
but it peered through like the sun behind a thick cloud.

“Just okay?” She peeped around the menu. “By
that smile on your face, I would think that things were going
great.”

“Well, it has its ups and downs, but I’m
starting to like it.”

“And by
it
, you mean him. And by
him
, I mean Sean.”

I giggled and motioned for the waitress.
“Girl, I’m not going to lie. The man is fine. He’s always walking
around the house with his shirt off. I’m telling you, it ought to
be a crime to be that fine.” We both laughed.

After the waitress walked away to enter our
orders, Keisha picked up where she left off.

“So you like him, huh? Look at you.” She
grinned at me. “This is not the Monica I know. The Monica I know
used to hate Sean Beauvais.”

“Well, I guess once you really get to know
people, you stop judging them and accept them for who they
are.”

“And who is he?”

“He’s a man that is trying to raise his son
by himself.” I took a sip of water. “And did I mention that he was
fine?” We laughed together again.

“Yeah, several times. How old is he
anyway?”

“I think he’s like thirty-two or somewhere
around there. He’s about the same age as Daryl’s older brother,
right?”

“Oh yeah, that’s right. But Sean looks
younger than thirty-two.”

“Yeah, I was surprised when I found out. And
guess what else?”

“What?”

“You know he has two brothers, right?”

“Yep.”

“But did you know they were triplets?” I bit
a piece of the complimentary bread the waitress brought over while
I watched Keisha’s bottom lip drop.

“Get out.”

“Nah, I’m serious. He’s a triplet. Not
identical, though, but they really look alike. They all look good,
girl.”

“I’m sure they do.” Keisha took another
taste of her half-eaten cheesecake. “So would you date Sean?”

“Noooo. He’s way too old and experienced for
me, if you know what I mean.”

“Ay girl, ain’t nothing wrong with a little
bit of experience, you know.” We laughed again. “By the way, do you
know who Sean reminds me of?”

“Who?”

“Your old boyfriend from high school. What
was his name?” Keisha started snapping her fingers like the
movement was going to help her remember.

“Cornelius?”

“Yeaaah, corny Cornelius.”

“Really?” It was ironic that I just had a
dream about Cornelius and Keisha turns around and brings him up in
a general conversation. Cornelius was about the same height as
Sean, but that’s about it. “Why did you always call him corny,
anyway?”

“Because he always dressed like Carlton
Banks from the
Fresh Prince of Bel Air
.” We both laughed
again.

“I really loved him, ya know?”

“Who? Carlton Banks?”

“No, silly…Cornelius. I loved him. I still
do.”

“So that explains why you haven’t had a man
since…how long has it been?”

“Whatever.”

“Nah, for real, though. There hasn’t been a
man in your life after Mr. Cornelius, has there?”

“Well, I kinda thought Cornelius and I would
be together forever. Maybe we would have been if I didn’t get
pregnant.”

“Who knows? Maybe you would have, but
people’s lives take so many turns these days that you never
know.”

“Yeah, I know. It’s just that I have never
been able to get completely over him. Sometimes when I’m alone in
bed, I just lie there and cry, wishing Cornelius and I were
together again. I don’t know if I can ever get over him. I’m
completely in love with a man who left
me
.” I took the cloth
napkin from my lap and dabbed my eyes.

“It wasn’t that cut and dry, Monica.”

“I know it wasn’t. I need to move on, but
how can I when I’m stuck on Cornelius?”

“Well, you won’t go see a therapist…”

“Nah. Never that.”

“And talking to your mom is out of the
question, right?”

“Definitely!”

“Then why don’t you keep a journal or
something? What you do is write something down in it whenever you
think about Cornelius, then when it gets full, we’ll bury it.”

“Are you kidding me?”

“Nah, I’m for real, girl. People say that
mess works.”

“Okay. I’ll take your word for it. I’ll try
anything right about now.”

“Give it a try. It can’t hurt anything.”

AROUND FIVE O’CLOCK, I arrived back home to
an empty house. No boys, no noise, just peace and quiet. Man, it
felt good to have the whole house to myself. I thought about
getting in Sean’s Jacuzzi, but he would probably flip out if he
caught me in there. So, I went into my bathroom to soak in the
bathtub.

“Ahh, this is the life,” I said quietly to
myself.

I lit lavender aromatherapy candles and
placed them around the tub, about six of them. Then I added some
Amber Romance bubble bath and shuffled the water until it had
enough bubbles for me. I adjusted my iPod to my favorite song as I
slid the headphones on. Though it was summer, I still preferred my
water extra hot. It relaxed me.

I was lost in my huge bathtub singing
Say
Yes
by Floetry. Not only was the water comfortable, but the
sound of Floetry had me in another world. As far as I was
concerned, I was drifting off the coast of a Brazilian tropical
beach waiting for someone to bring me a margarita that was so big,
I could sip off of it for days.

A tap on my shoulder sent a shock through my
body. No one was supposed to be in my bathroom but me. When I
opened my eyes, there stood Sean looking at me.
Un-freakin-believable.

“Sean, what are you doing in here?” I
yelled. Who knew how long he had been standing there. Right away, I
made sure a thick blanket of bubbles covered my body.

“I just wanted to let you know I was
home.”

I sat there trying to regain my composure in
the uncomfortable situation – me naked in the bath, while Sean
hovered over me like he wanted to dive in with me. He wasn’t in a
hurry to leave either. He just stood there in his jeans, no shirt
or shoes.

“I didn’t mean to scare you. I’ll get out of
your hair now.” He turned around and walked off.

I stepped out of the bathtub with an
elevated heart rate. I was so frazzled, I felt dizzy. I grabbed a
towel quickly and made sure that my goods were covered up. Then I
dried off and put on a satin burgundy pajama set with my hair
balled up in a ponytail before going to Sean’s room. When I walked
in, he was lying on his king-sized bed with the lights off,
watching TV. The little bit of moonlight that beamed down on him
from the skylights in the ceiling gave the room a romantic
feel.