Good Woman Blues (23 page)

Erikka pushed it to the side. “No more for
you. You’re driving.”

“Save me from myself, girl.” Monique moved
the dish to the empty table behind her and out of sight. “So you
and Gabriel Cormier are rockin’ steady, huh? Cool.”

Erikka shrugged. “So far so good. We’re
moving slow because of the baggage on both sides.”

“Mama heard about y’all. You should be
careful with him. A lot of people think he should be in prison for
murder. And then they say—”

“I’ve heard it. What do ‘they’ say about me?”
Erikka crossed her legs.

Monique laughed. “I stick up for you. I tell
’em it’s not true, you don’t talk to yourself or spit peanuts at
passing cars.”

“I appreciate it,” Erikka said, with a grin.
Then she thought of Gabriel’s family hearing such stories. Not that
it mattered, not much. Not for now. Maybe they’d put off family
intros for a while, a long while. Especially considering all the
stuff hitting the fan with her relatives.

Monique checked her cell phone for text
messages. She dropped it back into her purse. “Guess I’ll get back
to work. Money aside, it’s a pain.”

“Hmm. I could use a little of that kinda
pain. See you later.” Erikka was in no rush to leave. She’d just as
soon enjoy the day.

“When you talk to Aunt Roz remember to leave
my name out of it,” Monique reminded her.

“No problem. We never talked, you weren’t
even here.” Erikka raised her palm as though taking an oath.

“Excellent. Bye.” Monique went to the cash
register and paid for their lunch on her way out.

Erikka watched her leave. Having no reason to
rush after eating lunch was nice. She sat debating whether to put
in extra time at the Senior Center or wrap up work at the
television station. When Erikka called the station and learned Ryan
was gone for the day, she decided. Just as she got up, Kelvin
walked in with a leggy woman the color of nutmeg. She wore a clingy
royal blue dress and strappy three-inch black heels. Erikka sat
back down abruptly and shrank against the wall. Kelvin walked close
to her, but they did not touch. Still, he seemed to be a happy
brother. A waiter took them to a booth across from where Erikka
sat. Moving quickly, she went around a pillar and shot through the
door.

Wait a minute. She shouldn’t jump to
conclusions. After all, the woman could be Kelvin’s sister. Erikka
chided herself for starting to think like those small-town minds.
Okay, so he hadn’t called Darlene in a while. No reason to assume,
she reasoned. She should go in and say hello to them both.

Erikka went back inside the restaurant.
Kelvin sat with his back to the door. Only the top of his head was
visible behind the wood panel that divided the booth from the one
next to it. As she walked toward them Erikka got a good look at the
woman. Her hair was dyed a dark blond that complemented her golden
brown skin. No family resemblance so far. When Goldilocks giggled
and called him “Sugar,” Erikka veered left sharply. Outside again
five minutes later, Erikka got in her car and headed home.

“If it ain’t one thing, it’s three,” she
muttered.

***

The next night Erikka reached overhead into a
cabinet filled with spices. Gabriel’s kitchen had a neat, almost
sterile quality. She had guessed correctly. He confirmed her
suspicion by their fourth date that he cooked just three special
dishes. When he grew tired of those he ate out. Still, she had to
admit he’d been surprisingly adventurous when it came to spices.
She selected from a row of small glass jars.

“Oregano, a bit of pepper,” Erikka said to
herself. “Good.”

“Glad you approve,” Gabriel said as he
strolled in through the back door.

“You should move them from over the stove.
The heat and humidity makes them lose their flavor.” Erikka stirred
cayenne pepper into the rice dish.

“Don’t most driven career women hate
cooking?” Gabriel sat down on a barstool at the kitchen counter. He
fiddled with the knobs until hip-hop Zydeco thumped from the
speaker.

“Stereotype. Cooking relaxes me. I can focus
on what I’m doing and enjoy the end result. My grandmother taught
me everything she knew. Including old recipes from an ancestor. She
was a voodoo priestess, at least that’s the family legend.” Erikka
moved to the beat. She glanced at Gabriel over her shoulder and
smiled.

“Should I be worried?” Gabriel plucked an
olive from the large salad bowl nearby and ate it.

“Of course not. Don’t tell me you believe in
that stuff.” Erikka checked on the fish grilling on the stove.

“Just asking,” he said, with a laugh. “If I
suffer any memory lapses, you better have a good explanation.”

Erikka turned and faced him, still swaying to
the music. “I wouldn’t dare put a spell on you.”

“Maybe you already have.” Gabriel came around
the counter and danced with her.

“Or maybe it’s the other way around. Men used
conjuring as often as women back in the day around here.” Erikka
turned her back to him. She enjoyed the sensation of having his
body almost touch hers. Their hips swayed back in forth in
tandem.

Gabriel rested his hands on her waist and
spoke close to her ear. “I’d never tell if I did,” he
whispered.

Erikka brushed against his pelvis. Gabriel
pulled her close for a second, then let go. He had a soft way of
seduction that fed her hunger for him night and day.

“You’re supposed to be cooking our dinner.
You could put our food in the oven to keep warm.” Gabriel backed
away from her when she turned around again.

“You’re a tease, Gabriel. You seemed so
reserved when we first met.” Erikka raised an eyebrow at him. Once
he’d let her in, Gabriel was warm and sensuous.

Gabriel’s eyes softened. “You understood. I
don’t know how, but you did.”

Erikka didn’t know what to say. She was not
sure that he was right. The thought of disappointing him frightened
her. So many times lovers had a superficial connection that
crumbled after a while. Having the dream shatter would be much
worse this time around. She was sure of it.

“Don’t set the bar so high for me. I’ve got
all I can handle trying to understand myself,” Erikka said, trying
for a light tone.

“I didn’t mean to scare you, babe.” Gabriel
walked over and kissed her forehead. “Okay, let’s lighten the mood.
Undercover Brother or Barbershop III”

The spell broken, Erikka laughed. “Dinner and
a movie, the perfect date. Hmm, let’s watch both.”

“Okay.”

They made it through dinner and only the
first half of one movie. One kiss led to another until they ended
up stretched out on the sofa. In minutes Gabriel hit the remote,
turned off the movie, and turned on all her pleasure centers. He
dimmed the lights, and they made love. He wrapped himself around
and through her until she felt total love. There was no way Erikka
could hold back or question. Gabriel seemed determined to convince
her on every level. When they finally lay still in a tangle of arms
and legs, Erikka closed her eyes to hold back tears. Gabriel seemed
to sense the emotion. He kissed her eyelids as though urging
release. A tear slid down one cheek, and he pressed his face
against it.

“There isn’t anything in you that scares me,”
he whispered.

This man expected more than sex from her. She
realized that for all her complaints about finding true love, her
previous love affairs had been far safer. Erikka owed him the
truth.

“You don’t know. I—”

“Yes I do.” He rubbed his cheek against her
breasts.

Erikka buried her fingers in his dark hair.
She breathed in the scent of spice he gave off. His skin smelled of
sweat mixed with almond like aftershave.

“The real reason I totaled my car wasn’t
because I got drunk. I’d had a lot of wine, but I really wanted to
make it all go away. I got tired of seeing someone I didn’t like in
the mirror. Every morning, every night. It only got worse, never
better,” Erikka confessed. Her throat felt raw as she talked in a
hoarse whisper. The words seemed to scrape her throat. Gabriel held
her tighter as she spoke.

“I knew what I was doing. I couldn’t think of
a good reason not to crash my car. That was the awful part, that
certainty that nothing would be good in my life.”

Erikka had not admitted this to the
therapist. She’d come close, though, a few times, but couldn’t
bring herself to face it. Now she knew those self-help books she
read voraciously for years were wrong. She didn’t feel an immediate
sense of relief or release.

“And now?” Gabriel said against her skin.

“I’m not sure. That’s the best I can do.”
Erikka tensed when he grew still and didn’t say anything. She could
feel him considering her words.

“That’s an improvement. You’re beginning to
concede the possibility of happiness,” he said finally. He looked
up at her with a subtle smile tugging his mouth up.

“Damn, you had a good therapist,” Erikka
quipped, and ruffled his tight curls.

“Yep, my ninety-year-old great-uncle. He’d
say ‘Boy, you haven’t done anything worse than most folks. Get your
thumb outta your ass and stop walking around here looking pitiful.’
”

Erikka laughed so hard her chest hurt. “All
that money I spent on therapy. Where was he when I needed
him?”Gabriel sat up and pulled Erikka with him. He covered them
both with a cotton throw with the Saints logo on it. “What’s the
worst you’ve ever done? We might as well put it out on the
table.”

“Oh, wait a minute. One declaration of guilt
per date, please,” she replied.

Erikka snuggled against him. Gabriel put an
arm around her and rested his chin on the top of her head. They
listened to smooth jazz for a long time. He wasn’t going to push.
She liked that in him. They drifted along on the music for a time.
Erikka wallowed in the sheer pleasure of him, the way his chest
felt as it rose and fell. She placed a hand on his flat stomach and
drew strength from the warmth pulsating in his body.

“You know the worst about me.” Gabriel spoke
without inflection in his voice. Not blas6, but matter-of-fact, as
though he had no intention of dancing around an awful reality.

“It was an accident,” she offered in solace,
and put her arms around him.

“I hit him hard and kept hitting him; I
killed him.” Gabriel sat stiffly. “Ricky Landry. He was at St.
Benedict’s on a scholarship. He wanted to fit in with us spoiled,
privileged kids. We used that.”

Erikka swallowed hard. Darlene’s warning
about him flashed in her head. She pushed it away. The way he felt
made her certain. “But you didn’t mean to.”

“I was sick of him following me around. That
kind of hero worship is a burden after a while. I didn’t deserve it
anyway. Ricky had a love jones for this girl Nachelle. We were out
drinking, and one of my buddies spilled that I’d slept with her. We
cracked some nasty jokes. Ricky jumped me, a brawl broke out, and
you’ve heard the rest.” Gabriel looked at Erikka. His eyes seemed
glazed over with misery. “There is nothing redeeming in my story.”
“You’re a different man now, Gabriel.” Erikka held on to him.

“I am, but it doesn’t change what
happened.”

A bluesy ballad came from the speakers of his
sound system. D’Angelo sang of love, desire, and forgiveness.
Erikka stood and tugged at his muscular biceps.

‘Time to dance,” she said.

Gabriel blinked rapidly, like a man coming
from a daze. “What?”

“Just follow me.”

He towered above her like a bronzed Greek
statue come to life. Erikka lightly brushed the sides of his body
with the tips of her fingers. Gabriel gazed down at her for a few
moments, waiting for her next move. She closed her eyes and put her
arms around his neck. He rested his forehead against hers with a
sigh. They danced, slowly, feet barely moving, but their bodies
swayed in time with the soulful melody. They danced until Erikka
stopped thinking about her own past, or her mother’s marriage, or
Aunt Darlene’s impending heartbreak. They danced until Gabriel
relaxed into her again. They danced until both believed that life
could be lovely.

Chapter 14

On Wednesday Erikka walked into the Senior
Center and waved at a group of elderly men playing chess. They
always stayed until the last moment. The center would close in
another thirty minutes. “How y’all doing today?” she called.

“Good and you?” one man said, with a nod.

“Can’t complain.” Erikka had fallen into the
country social rituals after so many weeks.

“I’m still doing well enough to appreciate a
fine young woman,” his companion replied with a wink. “You lookin’
sweet as usual.”

“Thanks, Mr. Theo.” Erikka grinned at his
flirting.

“Man, you can’t do nothin’ but look.” His
friend joked.

“That ain’t what your woman said last night,”
Mr. Theo tossed back, igniting a round of raucous hoots. Insults
flew fast and furious as the men played the dozens, old- school
style.

Erikka shook her head as she continued on to
the conference room. The board meeting would begin in ten minutes.
She expected it to be routine. Seeing Kelvin and Darlene in the
room together wouldn’t be routine at all. Erikka had spent Monday
turning over options. She couldn’t keep her mouth shut forever.
Darlene had to know that Kelvin was seeing someone else, and it
would be kinder if she heard it from Erikka. As she set up the
notebook computer, Erikka silently tested opening lines to broach
the subject. She didn’t notice Darlene come in.

“Hi, Erikka.” Darlene wore a distracted
frown. “You got the budget figures updated?”

“Sure. I’m going to print it right now for
Miss Jenkins.” She’d helped the office manager compile the figures
for the past four days.

Erikka tapped out a command. She connected
the small printer to the notebook. In seconds the financial re-port
appeared. Seven copies were for the board members, and she made
extras just in case. The meeting was open to the public. Sometimes
interested people from the community attended.