Who Do I Run To? (6 page)

Chapter Eight

She looked over at him, and she couldn’t resist complimenting him because he really looked good, and he smelled delicious.

“You look so handsome tonight
, Mr. Isaiah.”

“Why
, thank you, Ms. Janiece. You look very beautiful yourself. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw you. I mean, your hair, the makeup, the nice color on your skin—you look absolutely beautiful. I had to do a double take. I mean, you are a beautiful woman, but tonight, you look radiant,” he said. He had been very attracted to her. Now he was even more attracted to her.

Isaiah
thought she was gorgeous, and he liked healthy women. Her size fourteen frame was perfect. She had nice curves, and her thickness was in all the right places. Her high cheekbones and her cocoa-brown skin were the perfect accent to her almond-shaped eyes. Her lips were not full, but not too thin, and her teeth were bright and even, and he was in love with her smile.

She was shorter than women he had dated, but at 5
feet 4, she was perfect. Her hair was thick and shiny, and it looked longer than it had looked to him before. He figured she straightened it a bit more, and that was why it hung a little past her shoulders. He imagined it wasn’t a weave, and he wouldn’t dare go there and ask her that, but he was almost 99 percent sure that it was all hers.

“Thank you,” she said
, that time taking his compliment with confidence. She was pleased that he was happy with her makeover. She knew that she wasn’t going to let him see her looking as bad as he had the night before. If she could help it, he wasn’t going to ever see her look like that again. “So, where are we going?” she asked, curious to know how they were going to spend their night out.

“Well
, I wanted to have dinner first, and then go shoot some pool. After that, we’ll be going to this little spot to hear some jazz. My sister got the tickets for me earlier when I was trying to get some sleep. Do you listen to jazz?”

“Yes
, and no, to be honest, like I don’t have any jazz CDs, but I listen to the jazz station on my music choice, so I don’t love it, but I definitely like it.”

“Well
, it’s better when you hear it live. My parents are jazz fanatics, so we grew up on it,” he said and looked over at her like she was a plate of food. She felt his eyes on her and couldn’t help but smile. She wanted him to feel comfortable, so she returned the look to let him know that she was feeling him too.

“So
, you know a lot about jazz?”

“Man
, yes, maybe more about jazz than hip-hop, but don’t tell anybody,” he said and smiled. His smile was so beautiful to her. She couldn’t help but smile back.

“I won’t tell
. Your secret is safe with me,” Janiece said and winked her eye. She couldn’t stop smiling around him. She hadn’t thought about K.P. at all that entire day, and no way was K.P. anywhere in her thoughts right now.

They rode downtown and ended up at Ruth
’s Chris, one of the best steak houses in the world, Isaiah thought.

Janiece wanted to go so many times, but she never had the pleasure of going, other than the one time her sister and her husband Greg had taken her. And the first time she went, she didn’t have steak
, so it being the best steak house in the world was something she could not confirm. Isaiah told her the steaks melted in your mouth, but she insisted on having chicken.

“So why don’t you eat beef? I can understand pork, but beef too?”

“Well, it’s not like I’ve never eaten it. It’s just a few years ago, I decided to change my diet and eating habits, and beef was one of the things I decided to let go,” she explained and took a sip of her wine. The ambience was so nice, and she was feeling good.

“Apparently you’ve never eaten a steak here
.”

“No, I’m afraid I haven’t.”

“That’s one of the reasons why you still don’t eat beef,” he joked.

“Are the steaks that good?”

“Man, are they! I dreamt about their steaks when I was in Iraq, and you, are the first person that I can enjoy one with. So if you see me dancing while I’m eating it, don’t be embarrassed. I’m just enjoying my steak,” he joked.

“Damn, that good
, huh?”

“Yep, but don’t take my word. You gotta try it for yourself,” he said and that made her want to try one. Her mouth started to water. She wasn’t sure if it was watering from the sound of the steak or because of Isaiah.

“Okay, okay, okay, I wanna try one. I want a steak. For the love of God why did you bring me to this place?” she whined.

“Because it is so worth it,” he said and smiled. He took a sip of his wine and when the waiter came over
, he ordered for both of them.

There were hardly any words spoken while they ate. Janiece really enjoyed her steak; she didn’t leave any on her plate.

After dinner, they left and went to G-CUE, a pool hall, and Janiece felt so relaxed although she had no pool skills. She was just enjoying being with Isaiah.

He was very patient
, and they shared a lot of moments being very close together because he helped her with mostly all of her shots. He smelled so good, and Janiece wanted him to be all up on her, so she took advantage and played the helpless role the entire time. They held hands in the truck, and she couldn’t help but beam at him every time he looked over at her. She knew he was enjoying her as much as she was enjoying him; it was the way he looked at her. Once they got inside the jazz club, they found a table not too close to the stage.

They slid into a cozy
, little, dimly lit booth, and everything was good until Janiece’s cell phone started vibrating in her purse. She thought it was her sister calling back again, being nosy, but when she saw it was K.P. her heart stopped. She ignored the first call and ordered a glass of wine. She talked to Isaiah, trying to forget the call, but her phone vibrated again. She excused herself to the ladies’ room, but by the time she made it inside, she had missed his call. She debated whether she should call him back and decided not to.

Janiece
went over to the mirror and touched up her lipstick, and her phone rang again. She resisted the urge to pick up, and that time, K.P. left her a voice mail. She declined on listening to the message, but her nerves were jumping by then. She felt like she was out cheating and was on the verge of being caught. She tried to get it together before she got back to the table, but K.P. had started something, and she couldn’t fall back into the mood with Isaiah.

When she got back to the table she was glad that the show had already started
. That way, she didn’t have to talk. She slid in the booth and got close to Isaiah. Her purse was on the seat next to her, and every ten minutes it was vibrating. That made her so uncomfortable and she was nervous.

When the show was over, she looked at her phone
. It had nine missed calls, all from K.P., and ten text messages. What scared her was a call came from her condo, and she didn’t know if K.P. would be there or not when she got home. She was so uneasy, and Isaiah picked up on it. When they got into the truck, he looked at her and could see the tenseness all over her face.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

“Nothing, I’m fine,” she said lying through her teeth, and he knew it.

“Are you sure? Did that phone call upset you?”

“No, why would you say that?”

“Because everything was going good
’til you got the phone call. You came back from the restroom, and it’s like you can’t even look at me.”

“Well
, the call just surprised me a little, but I’m fine,” she said giving him a weak smile. She was worried as hell, and he knew that something wasn’t right, but he didn’t push.

He started the truck and headed back to Janiece’s place. They didn’t talk much, and all the smiles and eye contact
were gone. He was wondering what was wrong, and she was wondering if she was going to go home to hell. She wanted to tell Isaiah what was really going on, but she felt it was too soon to give him any details on her personal situation.

Janiece
felt bad that K.P. had that type of power. She knew she had to make some decisions and make them quickly. She knew for sure that she would have to get her key back, especially if she planned on getting to know Isaiah.

When they got on her street she was relieved to not see the Escalade, but she still couldn’t let Isaiah come up, because it wasn’t a guarantee that
K.P. wouldn’t be back. He has been known to creep up in her bed some nights as late as midnight, and she didn’t want that to happen, so she struck up a conversation in the truck to avoid him going up.

“I really had a good time
, and the concert was awesome,” she said as soon as he turned off the ignition.

“I’m glad you had a good time,” he said
, not giving her any eye contact, and she didn’t like that. She knew she deserved it, but she still didn’t like it. She felt more relaxed to see K.P. wasn’t at her place, so her mood shifted a little, but she still knew Isaiah going into her place would not be good until she spoke to Kerry.

“Isaiah
, I’m sorry if you feel like my mood shifted or changed after the call, and it may have, and I apologize, but trust me, it’s not you. I had a good time with you. It’s just ... there are some things—” she tried to explain, but couldn’t put into words the way she wanted to say them.

“Things like what
, Janiece? You have to be honest with me. Whatever it is, just tell me. I don’t want to start out on the wrong foot.”

“I
’m telling you the truth. It’s just so complicated—and I ...” she said pausing again. “It’s just not that simple, and I have some unfinished business that I have to handle, but trust me, Isaiah, it is not you.”

“Okay, I see
,” he said and nodded his head. He was not for any games, and he was sincerely interested in her, but his time was short, and if he didn’t have a chance with her, he didn’t want to waste any of it.

“Look, I knew last night when you were upset that maybe you had something going on. But I
’m interested in you, and if there is no chance for us to get to know each other, I’d like to know now, because I don’t have long before I have to leave,” he said, and that confused her.

“Go where?”

“Back to Texas, Fort Hood,” he said like she knew what he was talking about.

“When, when are you going back to Texas?”

“In about four weeks. I’m on leave, and I told you I had a year left. Well, not even a year. It’s like about ten months. I’ll be out next July, but I should be back here next June.”

“Yea
, you told me that you had a year left, but I thought you would be staying here in Chicago.”

“No
, I have to finish in Texas, but it’s not that long. It’ll fly by,” he said, like a year was a week or two. That changed everything, Janiece thought to herself. She wasn’t interested in a long-distance thing; she was lonely enough with the married man that only lived in Lansing.

“Well
, I didn’t know that,” she said disappointed.

“So
… is my going back to Texas a problem for you?”

“I’m afraid it is,” she said in a low
voice holding her head down. He opened his door, got out, then came around and opened her door and helped her out.

“Thanks for the date
. I had a good time,” she said and walked away. They both knew that was the first and last date, and they both were discontented about that. He waited for her to get upstairs and inside before he drove away. She wondered where he was going and why he didn’t go up to his sister’s place, but she couldn’t dwell on that.

When she sat to take off her boots, she noticed
a huge bouquet of roses sitting on her coffee table. She counted them twice, because she couldn’t believe there were three dozen of them. She snatched the card from the clip and sat on the couch to read it after taking a deep breath.

I’m sorry
, baby; you know sometimes I can be a jerk. Please forgive me. I love you.

K.P.

She was so confused and didn’t know what she was going to do. She loved K.P., but she now liked Isaiah. She couldn’t get what she needed from K.P., but Isaiah would be leaving. She was ready to move on, but she was scared. She wanted Isaiah not to be leaving, but that was impossible. She wanted K.P. to not be married, but that wasn’t the case, so she was in a state of confusion on what her next move would be.

She got up and went into the bathroom to wash her face and tie up her hair. She thought about
K.P., but not as much as she thought about Isaiah. After putting on a nightgown, Janiece crawled into bed. She thought about the evening she had with Isaiah and a smile lit up her face because she enjoyed him so much.

She wanted to call him and tell him to come back
, and for a split second, she didn’t care if K.P. came back; she would just have to put the chain on the door. She told herself it was no big deal that Isaiah was going back to Texas, but truthfully, it was a big deal because she liked him. She closed her eyes and prayed for guidance and asked God what she should do. She knew the obvious answer about K.P., but Isaiah was a tough one. She reminisced about their date and fell asleep before she could stop smiling.