Nervous (20 page)

“Oh my,” Daddy said. “My mouth is watering just thinking about digging into that.”

We all sat down and got reacquainted as a family. It was a good and bad experience. It was all good until we got to the part about Jude, which led to the Thanksgiving Day episode, which led to the hooker, which let to bad memories of the divorce and everything that came with it and after it.

The afternoon ended with Momma and Daddy both in tears. For a change, I was the only one who was acting strong. I comforted both of them; one in one arm and one in the other.

There was a shocker, though. Momma asked if she could take Daddy back to his hotel to check in instead of me. He had left his car at my place and she said that she would bring him to get it after he’d gotten his key and was settled in. The next morning, Daddy’s car was still out in front of my apartment building, which made me wonder. When I came back from the eight o’clock church service, it was gone.

jonquinette

“Now make sure you don’t peek,” Mason whispered in my ear as he led me down the landing of our apartment building. “You’ll ruin the surprise.”

“I’m not going to peek.” I was so tempted to mess with the makeshift blindfold that he had made from a necktie, but I just took baby steps so I wouldn’t fall on my behind on the way down.

“Won’t you give me a little hint though?”

“No, no hints. You women are so strange. You get excited about surprises but then always want to know what they are before they are given to you.”

I giggled. “Human nature, and I don’t think that reaction is limited to women.”

“You may have a point.” Mason stopped at the bottom of the steps and I could hear him fumbling around with a set of keys as he unlocked his apartment door. “I guess, in retrospect, I could have just blindfolded you once we got in front of my door since there was no surprise on the steps.”

We both laughed.

“I was thinking that but I wasn’t about to say anything. It’s cool. It just adds to the experience, almost falling down a flight of stairs to my death.”

Mason kissed me on the cheek. “You’re too funny.”

I heard his door creak open and he led me inside his place.

“You realize this is my first time in your place? It’s not like I’m going to recognize if something has changed,” I informed him.

“I know this is your first time here and that’s a shame. But all of that is about to change because I plan to invite you over more often.”

“I might be late from time to time because I often lose my car keys.”

Mason was silent for a minute and then started laughing. “Like I said, you’re too funny.”

He removed the blindfold and it took a moment for my eyes to adjust to the lighting. When they did, I was floored. “Mason, I don’t know what to say.”

“Don’t say anything,” he replied, taking my hand and walking farther into his place.

His apartment was awesome. He had it laid out in all dark leather tones complemented by animal patterns. But that’s not why I was so shocked. Mason had the entire place decorated like it was Valentine’s Day. He had several vases containing red and yellow roses placed around his apartment with a handmade banner hanging over the dining-room entry that said, Happy Valentine’s Day, Jonquinette!

He chuckled and said, “I’m not the best at making banners and my letters are crooked, but it’s the thought that counts.”

“I can’t believe you did all this. It’s nowhere near February.”

He kissed my hand gently. “I wanted you to know that come what may, I plan to spend Valentine’s Day with you next year. I’m committed to making this work and I will stand by you, through thick and thin.”

“That’s so sweet!”

“Ah-ha, speaking of sweet, I have a lot of sweets for you.”

I blushed. “You do?”

“Yes, and I also have dinner prepared for you, but we’re going to do things a little differently.”

“How so?” I asked, overwhelmed by the total experience.

“We’re going to eat backwards.”

“Eat backwards?” I laughed. “Never heard of that. You mean we sit at the table backwards and try to eat? As clumsy and uncoordinated as I am, I’ll make a mess.”

“No, that’s not what I mean.” He chuckled and kissed my hand again. “We’re going to start with dessert and work our way back. First, we will have dessert, then the main course, the salad, and finally the appetizer.”

“Now that sounds very interesting.” I took a good whiff of the air. “Something smells yummy.”

“Hopefully, it will be.”

“Did you cook?”

“Um, no, I cannot tell a lie. I did not cook one single thing.” Mason snapped his fingers and three people came flooding out of the kitchen carrying trays—two men and one woman who were all dressed in black suits with white shirts and black ties.

“You are too much!” I exclaimed.

For the next hour, Mason treated me like royalty. The “staff” as he continuously referred to them, served the food on fine china and crystal. What was missing were utensils. Mason informed me that it was a commonly known fact that food eaten by hand is sexy. I wasn’t going to argue with him and we ended up feeding each other.

We started out with Chocolate Heart Layer Cake with Chocolate-Cinnamon Mousse along with Heart-Shaped Dried Cherry and Chocolate Chip Scones and strawberries sprinkled with sugar and marinated in wine. Then we had Chicken in Red Wine Sauce with Root Vegetables and Wilted Greens followed by Red Leaf Lettuce, Watercress and Cucumber Salad with Buttermilk Dressing. Lastly, we had Skewered Scallops with Orange-Sesame Dipping Sauce as an appetizer.

To say the least, I was stuffed after dinner. The “staff” cleaned up everything and departed. At some point, I must have fallen asleep and I was terrified when I woke up. I hoped that Jude hadn’t taken over for a period of time, said or done something crazy, and ruined my perfect date with Mason.

I was relieved when I saw Mason coming down the hallway grinning at me. “Hey, you! The food did you in, huh?”

I giggled. “That’s an understatement.” I decided to be honest. “I’m glad to see that nothing went wrong.”

“What could possibly go wrong?” he asked, sitting down beside me on the sofa.

“I thought you-know-who might have reared her ugly head.”

Mason ran his fingers through my hair. “No, there’s no one here but you and me.”

“How can you tell?”

“Come again?”

“Realistically, how can you tell that I’m really Jonquinette and not Jude?”

He shrugged. “When I met Jude, and to my knowledge I’ve only come across her once, it was obvious that something was wrong.”

“How so? I mean, besides the obvious with her declaring herself a major whore and all of that.”

“She had a different air about her, a different way of carrying herself.”

“What do you mean?”

“She had this attitude like she ruled the world and you’re more, more…”

I decided to help him out with an appropriate word that wouldn’t sound too demeaning. “I’m shyer.”

“Yes, that’s one way of putting it. I knew the things she was saying and the way she was acting just wasn’t you.”

I changed the topic. “So what’s next or is our date over?”

“No, our date is not over. In fact, we’re headed out.”

“We are? Do I need to go change?” I asked, looking down at the pair of jeans and simple sweater I had on with a pair of penny loafers. “All I need is about fifteen minutes.”

“No, you look great and there’s no need to get dressed.” He stood up and twirled around. “Check me out. It’s not like I have on a tuxedo or anything.”

Mason had on a pair of khakis and a button-down alabaster shirt. He was sexy as hell, too.

As we left our building and walked to his car, I began to wonder if things would lead to something sexual that night and if I were even ready for it. In my mind, I had never experienced sex, even though my body had obviously engaged in it countless times. Would I be able to “hang” as some people called it? Would I even halfway know what I was doing in order to please him? I was scared to death.

We ended up at a large office building downtown and I was wondering what in the world we were doing. “Mason, what is this place?” I asked as we pulled into a spot in the empty parking garage.

“Don’t worry. This is where I work.”

“You’re taking me to your job?” I asked incredulously. “At this time of night?”

“Shh,” he whispered, placing his index finger over my lips. “Just relax and go with the flow.”

We were greeted by the night guard at the desk who gave Mason a high-five and we then took the elevator up to the eleventh floor. Mason directed me into his office and told me to have a seat.

“So, what are we doing here?”

“We’ll only be in my office for a second.” He opened a closet and disappeared inside. I glanced around; his office was impressive, to say the least. He had a magnificent picture window that spanned the entire wall and a mahogany desk with a high-back black leather chair. There were two computers on his credenza and a flat plasma television was hanging on one of the walls.

He came back out holding a duffel bag. “Let’s go.”

We got back on the elevator and headed to the roof. “I don’t know about this,” I said after I saw which button he pushed. “I’m not a big fan of heights.”

He gripped my hand. “It’s all good. Don’t worry.”

I forced a smile. “If you say so.”

He kissed me on the cheek. “I do say so.”

When we got to the roof, it was a gorgeous night and I could immediately see why he took me up there. There was a spectacular view of the city skyline.

“I’ve never seen anything this beautiful,” I told him.

“That makes two of us.” He slipped his tongue into my mouth and I eagerly accepted it. While we had kissed many times before, this time was different. There was something permanent about it. I could have stayed that way, in his embrace, for an eternity, but he broke the kiss. “Let’s dance.”

“Excuse me?”

“We never got to finish dancing at the now infamous wedding so I figured we could finish the dance here.” He paused and studied me. “That was you that I danced with at the wedding, right?”

“Yes, I remember everything until the point when you walked off with Smitty.”

“Cool.” Mason opened his duffel bag and pulled out a battery-operated lantern and boombox combination. He turned on the light, directing it toward where I was standing, and then took a CD out of the bag and put it inside the boombox. “Without You” from Charlie Wilson’s
Bridging the Gap
started playing.

Mason came to me and put his arms around my waist and started singing to me about how the sun doesn’t shine without me. I was weak in the knees. We were lost in each other and the music for the next two hours. I could not have imagined a more perfect evening. There was no way to top it off. At least, that’s what I thought until we went back to Mason’s place.

He asked me, “Is it okay if I run you a bath?”

My nerves were shot. It was time to make a decision and it was an easy one. I just prayed I would measure up.

“Sure,” I responded.

“I don’t have to join you. I’ll leave that up to you. I just want to pamper you and make you feel special.”

“You’ve been doing that all night, Mason.”

He brushed his lips across mine. “That’s because I’m in love with you, Jonquinette.”

I closed my eyes and exhaled. “I never thought I would hear anyone say that to me.”

“Well, now you have.”

“I don’t know how to respond,” I said.

“Then don’t.” Mason disappeared in the back and I heard water running. A few minutes later he came back, took me by the hand, and led me to the bathroom where he had prepared a bath with vanilla-scented oil. There were rose petals scattered across the surface of the water. Candles in champagne-shaped glasses were surrounding the tub wall and there was soft music coming from his bedroom.

“Would you like for me to undress you, Jonquinette?” he asked me seductively.

“I-I-I’d like that,” I finally managed to get out. “But only if I can undress you too.”

I wanted Mason to know that I didn’t want to bathe alone. I needed to be held, caressed. I needed him, and only him, to make love to me. I wanted to know what it felt like, especially since I had no idea how much time I had before Jude decided to rid the world of me forever.

Walter Beasley’s “I Had a Dream” started playing as Mason pulled my sweater over my head. I slipped out of my penny loafers and made eye contact with him as he unfastened and unzipped my jeans. He sat down on the side of the tub so he could maneuver them over my hips and then I stepped out of them.

He grabbed my waist and kissed my nipples through my white cotton bra. They were as hard as black pearls. He lowered my bra straps and reached behind me to unclasp it. I ran my fingers through his dreadlocks and kissed his forehead as he took one of my now bare breasts into his mouth and suckled on it.

I heard myself moaning and thought about all the times I had fantasized about such a moment throughout the years of masturbating in my lonely bed at night.

Mason kept exploring both of my breasts with his tongue while he lowered my panties down around my ankles so I could step out of those as well. So there I was nude, in front of a man, for the very first time by my own choice. Instead of feeling humiliated or uncomfortable, I felt liberated. At that moment, I knew I could go through with it. I wasn’t leaving there until Mason and I had made love.

I pulled on his dreads so that he would look up at me. “I want to make love to you tonight.”

He grinned with that incredible smile of his. “Then you shall. I would like nothing more.”

“Let me undress you now.”

Mason stood up so I could unbutton his shirt and slide it off his shoulders. It fell into the tub but neither one of us made a move to retrieve it. We just continued to stare at one another. I fumbled with Mason’s belt to get it loose and then helped him take off his pants. He had on a black sheer thong and I saw a dick for the very first time.