Forty-five minutes later she pulled up in front of a red-brick duplex with black shutters. She parked her car and just sat there. All the way over she’d been motivated and encouraged, listening to her favorite R&B station as she drove. Now that she was actually here, nervousness set in. Or was it anxiousness? Either way, her heart was beating a little faster than it should have been. Stepping out of the car, she inhaled the humid air. She should have started walking toward the house, instead she stopped, stood perfectly still, and waited.
Kalina wasn’t sure what she was waiting for but there was something, somewhere; she could feel it. She just needed to wait for it to …
A car whizzed by and she turned quickly, her hand going to her clutch as if her gun were there. It wasn’t. She’d convinced herself that today was about pleasure and not work. There was one in the glove compartment of her car, but she didn’t have anything on her person.
Her gaze scanned up and down the street, but her body didn’t move. Another car went by, this person obviously taking the thirty-five mph speed limit seriously. It was a regular car, a Toyota she thought as it passed her. She memorized the license plate and noted a driver and a front passenger. Ridiculous information, but it stuck in her mind regardless.
There was a snapping sound from behind and once again she jumped. Somebody stepped on something, and it broke. But when she turned there was no one there.
“Dammit!”
Taking a breath to steady herself, she swore she was losing her mind. Well, that would have to take place tomorrow. The nuthouse, where she was undoubtedly headed, could hold her bed one more day. She’d been invited to a cookout and dammit, she was going!
With sure steps she walked up the short walkway and took the steps one by one, all the while feeling the hairs at the back of her neck prickle. The air was still, yet something brushed along her skin. Lifting her hand to ring the doorbell, she looked back only once, to see nothing but parked cars, the street, normalcy. Shaking her head, Kalina turned just in time to see Mel pull the door open and smile at her.
“You made it! I’m so happy you came.” Melanie was already reaching her long arms out to grasp Kalina in a hug.
They’d just seen each other at work two days ago and they hadn’t even been acquainted that long. This type of reunion should have been reserved for a somewhat closer relationship.
Kalina hugged her back, letting the connection sink in. Then again, it didn’t, not really. They were both women, yet it still felt like they were opposites.
Stepping inside the wood-paneled foyer gave Kalina a chance to shake the feeling of being watched or followed, or whatever had her jumping at shadows.
“I have such a surprise for you. Well, it’s not a surprise for me, I actually think it’s a cool idea. That’s why I thought of it. But Pete’s like, ‘Don’t interfere,’ blah, blah, blah. But I’m like, ‘I know what I’m doing.’ So how are you? You look great. Wish I could look sexy in simply pants and a shirt.”
All this was said in one breath as Mel walked Kalina from the foyer through a furniture- and knickknack- crowded living room and dining room, into a kitchen with counters overflowing with food.
“I’m fine. Thanks,” Kalina said when they finally stopped.
Melanie went to the refrigerator to pull out yet another bowl of something. Just how many people are coming to this little shindig? she wondered.
“Ah, need help with anything?” she offered but honestly didn’t know what she could do in here. Domestication was not one of Kalina’s strong points. Sure, she could cook enough to keep herself from starving, and she cleaned house because living in a pigsty was not something she enjoyed. But that’s where the Susie Homemaker bit ended.
“Sure, grab another twelve-pack out of that box. We can dump those in the cooler out back. I’m sure they’re almost finished with the ones I put out earlier.”
“No problem.” Kalina moved to the corner of the kitchen, which looked like a liquor store with twelve-packs of beer stacked almost as tall as she was. Grabbing two, she turned and said, “Where to?”
“Here.” Mel removed the top from a plastic bowl filled with fruit and stuck a big spoon inside. “Follow me,” she said, carrying the bowl and her cheerful smile out the back door.
Kalina followed, stepping out onto a deck full of more furniture and now people as well.
With a nod of her red curls Mel signaled toward the cooler. Kalina walked to that side of the deck, pulled up the cover, and began unloading the beer bottles. A few seconds later Melanie was pulling on her arm again.
“Here, let me introduce you,” she said. “Kalina Harper, my co-worker, this is Stephen Johnson and Eddie and Jamia Henderson. Stephen, Eddie, Jamia, this is Kalina.”
Kalina smiled, reached out a hand, and shook those of the threesome staring at her with bright smiles. Eddie and Jamia were a couple, that was evident by the way Eddie’s arm extended to shake her hand then hurriedly resumed its post around Jamia’s waist. Stephen was alone, dateless … just like her. It only took about two seconds to see what was going on.
“And this is my hubby, Pete.” Mel kept talking, leaving Kalina to stand alone while she went over to the grill and wrapped her arms around a tall, husky man with dark hair that was more than a touch too long.
“It’s nice to meet you all,” Kalina said, making sure her handshake with Stephen was the shortest of the greetings.
“Mel says you just started working at the firm, in accounting right?” Stephen Johnson with his tall athletic build and crystalline blue eyes asked. He looked like a superhero. Really? His hair was perfect, black and shiny, his eyes so bright they almost looked fake, his face chiseled with iconic perfection. He looked just like Superman, who just so happened to be her favorite superhero of all time.
Unfortunately, that was in the animated dream world of a teenager. Here and now, he was an eerily attractive guy.
“Yes, I did,” she answered belatedly.
“How are you liking it so far?”
“It’s a learning experience.”
Jamia laughed. “That means she doesn’t like it.”
Kalina smiled. “Not really. Let’s just say the jury’s still out.” That was true of a lot of things lately, including the boss she was determined not to like.
“I get it,” Jamia said, then looked up at Eddie with what Kalina actually thought were stars in her eyes.
They were a cute couple. He was thick, not fat, but definitely on the positive side for the possibility. She was shorter, her head full of long bronze-colored braids that reached down her back, a good foot below his. They couldn’t stop touching each other, couldn’t resist the enigmatic pull between them.
Kalina wondered how that felt. How would it feel to be that inextricably attached to someone? And how long did it last?
In the next hour Pete burned two hamburgers before finally giving Kalina one that wasn’t going to leave charred flecks between her teeth. Eddie and Jamia thought it was funny, joking about how Pete was the worst on the grill but how Mel continued to have these get-togethers. Mel’s kids came in and out, the older ones with plans of their own, just grabbing something to eat before they left; the twins had more attractive plans that consisted of sitting in front of the television in the basement watching some sort of cartoon marathon.
After Kalina had finished eating Stephen happily removed her trash and came back to sit beside her.
“Mel must really like you if she invited you to her house. She’s usually a very private person when it comes to mixing business with pleasure,” he said, his fingers wrapping around the neck of a bottle of beer.
“I think she’s really nice,” Kalina responded honestly. “I don’t do a lot of socializing.”
“Is that by choice?”
She nodded and he smiled.
“Maybe I could change that. Have dinner with me?”
He was a nice guy. She should feel something for him, or at least she thought she should. But beyond being cordial, she just didn’t. “We just had dinner,” she said trying to keep the mood light.
“You know what I mean. A date, you and me?”
Him and her. For a few seconds Kalina tried to let that idea take root. But try as she might, she couldn’t see herself with Stephen. Or Reed from the precinct. All she could see was Rome.
“I don’t think that’s such a good idea,” she said even though she wasn’t too pleased about her thoughts
