Hidden Currents (Lagos Romance Series) (9 page)

“What’s up?” He asked. “How was your day?”

“Fine.” She replied. His voice still gave
her shivers up and down her spine.

“Have you left yet?” He asked.

“I’m just on my way out.” She told him.

“Why don’t you wait for me?” He urged.
“It’s Friday, I could pick you up in less than thirty minutes. We could have a
drink or do anything you want.”

Ada smiled. Ah! It was tempting. “You’ve
already had your one date. Remember?”

“Yes.” He agreed. “And admit it, you like
me a little bit more now.”

Ada sighed inwardly, if only he knew.

“Just a drink,” He cajoled. “I promise I
will get you home before late.”

Ada almost relented. “I can’t.” She said
finally, “I have to get ready for my trip tomorrow.”

“Okay.” He said. “I’ll just drown my
sorrows alone then.” He chuckled. If I didn’t have to go to Abuja this weekend,
I would come with you to Owerri and introduce myself to your granny.

Ada almost choked. “You wouldn’t!” She
exclaimed.

“Try and stop me.” He replied, laughing.

“Introduce yourself to her as what?” She
asked.

She heard him chuckle. “That would be a
surprise.” He said cryptically. He paused. “When will you be back in Lagos?”

“My flight leaves at about 5.30,” She told
him, “on Sunday evening.”

“So you’ll be arriving Lagos the same time
as me.” He stated. “Do not, I repeat, do not leave the airport until you hear from
me.” He instructed.

“Is that an order?” She asked.

“It’s a plea,” He said, “Thinly disguised
as an order.”

She laughed. “Of course I will wait for
you.” She found herself agreeing. It was hard to believe that she was the one
on the receiving end of all this attention from Eddie. It was hard not to be
thoroughly pleased by it, really, hard.

It was still light outside when she got
home. Some of her neighbor’s kids were playing outside. She smiled at them, as
they greeted her, even the very little one who still had a childish lisp in her
voice. As she left them, she wondered what it would be like to have her own
cute darlings. Hmm, such thoughts! It was strange! She had never thought about
things like that until Eddie started his campaign to make her like him. Now she
wanted children, his children, how silly could she get!

She was packing up her small travel bag,
when her phone rang again, at first she thought it was Eddie and she started to
pick it up with a smile. The smile vanished as she saw the number. For a
moment, she considered not taking the call at all but finally, curiosity got
the better of her.

“Hello.” She said, her voice showing all
her displeasure.

“Ada baby!” The masculine voice cooed in
her ear. “Ada baby.”

She sighed. It was Dele Solanke. He owned
one of the more popular publishing houses, one of the few she had approached to
publish her book. After telling her that they didn’t support unknown writers or
in her case photographers, and asking her to put up the money for the
publishing and book launch herself, he had started a very infuriating campaign
to get her into bed. It wasn’t funny at all. No matter how many times she told
him not to call her again, he just didn’t give up.

“Ada, talk to me.” He continued, in a baby
voice that would have been exceedingly annoying in any man, much less a
fully-grown, married one.

“How is your family?” She asked pointedly.
“How are your wife and children?”

“They are where I left them.” He answered
dismissively. “I give them money and they leave me alone. It’s you we want to
talk about.” He continued. “How are you?”

She sighed. “Did you want to talk about
publishing my book?”

“Ah! Ada! You like business too much.” He
laughed. “You know that left to me I would publish and market your book just
like that but I can’t justify such an expense to the shareholders, especially
for a coffee table picture book. If only you were willing to let me personally
give you the money.”

Ada knew where that was leading. She just
wasn’t willing to render the services he required for his generosity.

“No. Thank you.” She said. “I don’t want
your money.”

He sighed. “I am going to Abuja this
weekend, for a wedding. My wife can’t go with me. Won’t you come?”

“You want me to attend a wedding with you
in Abuja?” Ada asked incredulously.

“No, Ada baby, you will stay in the hotel.”
He laughed lecherously. “ But I won’t spend long at the wedding. I will be back
with you before you know it.”

Ada shuddered with revulsion. “I’m not
interested.” She said. “Stop calling me and saying things like this, you are
harassing me.”

“Ada baby…”

She cut the connection and threw the phone
on the bed, feeling sickened. How she pitied his poor wife. What a vile
disgusting man.

At least there were still decent men in the
world, she thought as she continued her packing.

Like Eddie. The thought came out of
nowhere.

She sighed. Whom am I fooling? She thought,
with a sense of both resignation and pleasure. I am falling in love with Eddie
Bakare.

Ada was on the phone with Eddie for most of
the weekend. Granny couldn’t hide her surprise.

“Who is this person my Adanma cannot stop
talking with?” She remarked again and again in-between spoiling Ada silly with
home cooked dishes. She was a slim, small woman, long past middle age, with
numerous grey hairs adding character to the bun that was a permanent fixture on
her head. She had been a schoolteacher, before she retired to run a provisions
store. Like many women of her time, she prided herself on the fact that she had
been educated during colonial times, before the corruption came and ruined the
educational system, and like most of the women of that era, she carried herself
with an inimitable elegance, that was obvious even when she was doing mundane
things, like housework or cooking.

“I hope it is a man,” She teased Ada after
every phone conversation, “and not just any one of those, the best of the best
for my baby.” Her comments always caused Ada to roll her eyes and pretend not
to hear. She didn’t bother to deny anything. There would have been no use anyway.
Granny had always been able to see straight through her.

It was a peaceful weekend. From the moment
she arrived at the little bungalow her father had built for Granny in a quiet
neighborhood in Owerri, Granny had done nothing but urge her to rest, eat and
rest again. “You are too thin.” She scolded. “Are you no longer eating because
I am not in Lagos to cook for you?” At Ada’s lack of response, she had added.
“A woman must cook you know, food is still the best way to a man’s heart.”

Ada sighed. She had heard it all before,
while she knew she was a good cook, she did not intend to travel to anybody’s
heart through his stomach. Well maybe Eddie. She’d cook for Eddie. The thought
embarrassed her, so she pushed it away.

Eddie called so often she wondered if he
was bothering to pay attention at the wedding he was attending in Abuja. He
entertained her with details, like how the ring bearer had refused to give up
the ring when it was time for the pronouncement, and had burst into tears when
it was forcefully taken from him, and how the bride and the groom seemed to be
doing a dance-off at the reception. Many of his friends were also there, his
kind of people, Ada found herself wondering jealously if any of the girls were
pretty, and if anyone would catch his eye.

Throughout the weekend, Granny avoided the
topic of Ada’s Dad. It was not a topic Ada or her brother ever cared to
discuss, and Granny knew that more than anyone did. Ada was aware that now that
Granny was living in Owerri, she saw her son more often than before, but she
didn’t really care. Her father had abandoned them emotionally too long ago for
her to care about him at all.

Too soon, the weekend was over. On Sunday
afternoon Granny hugged her teary eyed as the taxi driver waited to take her to
the airport.

“Try to call often.” She chided. “Your
brother’s wife Ify calls me almost every day,” She added, with a slight note of
accusation. “She has even invited me to Lagos many times to visit, and she
wants to come here this Christmas. Eh! Meanwhile my own baby is too busy to
call me.”

“I call you, Granny.” Ada protested weakly.

“Not enough.” The older woman replied
sternly. Then she added more softly. “Give that young man who keeps calling a
chance,” She said. “I want more great-grandchildren now that I’m still strong
enough to enjoy them.”

Ada couldn’t help laughing at that.
“Granny! He’s just my friend!” She said.

“Ha!” Granny said, unconvinced. “At least
you have accepted that it is a young man.” She smiled. “That’s good enough for
me.”

On the flight back to Lagos, Ada thought
about what her granny had said. It was funny, how not long ago she had been
thinking about children, and now Granny was saying that she wanted
great-grandchildren. Was everything conspiring to push her towards Eddie?

But who knew what his intentions were? He
had said that he liked her, but what did that mean really? That he wanted to
have a relationship? Date casually? Sleep with her? It could be anything. It
could be that he just liked a challenge. Who knew, maybe he had challenged
himself to get her into bed and was willing to do anything to achieve that.
Guys had been known to do things like that before.

She sighed. Those thoughts were unfair to
Eddie. He wasn’t that kind of guy.

What kind of guy was he exactly?

It was all too tiring to think about, she
decided. She shouldn’t allow herself to get distracted just because Eddie was
paying her some attention. That was no excuse to deviate from her short-term
plan for her life, which was simple, save money, publish pictures, take some
more pictures, have an exhibition, have some more exhibitions, and maybe win
some awards.

The more she thought about the plan, the more
she realized that it didn’t seem as exciting as it used to before. Some
rebellious voice in her mind was demanding for other items to be added to the
list. Things like ‘fall in love ’, ‘get married’ and ‘have children’ were
beginning to seem attractive enough to include in the plan. Ah! This was all
Eddie’s fault.

She arrived in Lagos before he did. His
mobile was still switched off when she tried it. She toyed with the idea of
leaving him and just taking a taxi home. She was determined to reduce the amount
of time she gave him anyway. It was time to take her life back. Ada Arinze was
not a silly girl who would lose herself over a man. Maybe what she really
needed was some space to clear her head.

Her phone beeped. It was a text from Eddie.
He must have sent it before he left Abuja.

‘Don’t even think of leaving.’ It said.

He knew her well enough to know she would
think about it. She chuckled to herself and decided to wait. She was reading a
book when his plane arrived, she didn’t even hear them announce the arrival.
But as if she had felt him arrive, she looked up just as he walked into the
arrival lounge.

He was wearing blue jeans, a grey t-shirt
and a black jacket, and as he came towards her, pulling a small box behind him,
she couldn’t help staring. There was none of that rumpled airplane look about
him, he looked good, he looked classy, he looked magnificent.

She wasn’t the only one staring at him. She
noticed that there were many appreciative looks going his way. She did her best
to suppress the stab of jealousy that went through her. Don’t look at him, she
wanted to tell them, he may not be mine, but today he’s here for me.

She smiled and stood up to greet him. She
didn’t expect him to let go of his box and pull her into a hug, but that’s what
he did. She started in surprise as he drew her close and wrapped his arms
around her.

Oh but it felt nice. He smelled so fresh
and clean, cologne, clean clothes and Eddie, it was heady.

Her head only reached up to his chest, in
the few seconds the embrace lasted, it was very tempting, so tempting to just
lest her head rest on the wide expanse for just a second.

She pulled back, and he let her go, his
smile not diminishing. “You look great.” He said, “Owerri agrees with you.”

She smiled back. “It was my granny,” She
told him almost shyly, remembering the long phone conversations they had had in
the last couple of hours. “She always takes good care of me.” She paused. “You
look great too. Did you have a good time?”

“So So.” He said with a shrug. “Did you
wait long?” He asked, his expression full of concern.

Oh! Why did he always have to be so truly
nice? “Not really.” She replied. “About fifteen minutes.”

He smiled. “Good.” He took her travel bag and
slung it over his shoulder, then held out a hand to her. “Shall we?”

She nodded and took his hand.

A car was already waiting outside to pick
them, not the Mercedes Eddie always drove, but a sleek black sedan car. The
driver was a jolly looking older man, a little too formally dressed for a
weekend. He greeted Eddie warmly and said a friendly welcome to Ada. As he took
their bags to put them in the boot, Eddie introduced him.