“Odell, did something funny happen while I was gone?” she asked, plopping back down in her seat.
“No. Why?”
“You looked like you was about to laugh.”
“Oh, I just thought of something funny Buddy told me yesterday.”
Joyce rolled her eyes and shook her head. “That Buddy. He ain’t got a lick of class. I wish he would spend more time being serious about his job than cracking jokes.” She picked up her napkin and started fanning her face. “I know they’ve already added up our check, but if you don’t mind, can I have some dessert? Mosella makes a mean blackberry pie. I forgot it was on the menu for today.”
“No, I don’t mind at all. That sounds real good to me, and I wouldn’t mind having some myself.” I beckoned for our waitress.
After we ate our pie and scarfed down a few scoops of Mosella’s homemade peach ice cream, Joyce wanted to hear some music, so she trotted over to the Mason jar and dropped in a nickel. She took her good old time choosing the five records she wanted to hear. After that, she left the table to go use the bathroom again. She was gone so long I thought maybe she had got nervous about going to my place and had chickened out and snuck out the back door. Or maybe she was just stalling because she wasn’t sure if she really wanted to be alone with me.
“Joyce, it’s getting late. If I don’t get back to the boardinghouse before nine o’clock, they lock the front door and I won’t be able to get in,” I told her when she returned.
“You forgot to bring your key?”
“I ain’t got one. The landlady only give keys to tenants after they been boarding three months.”
“Oh! Then we’d better get going,” she said, looking frazzled. “You should have told me sooner.”
“I didn’t want to rush you.” I paused so I could regroup my thoughts. “Um . . . I just need to make sure you really want to go home with me tonight. This is our first date and all.”
“Odell, I really do want to go to your room with you tonight.” Every time Joyce smiled, she looked even better to me.
I paid for our dessert, gave our waitress a generous dime tip, and we left. When I turned onto the street where the run-down boardinghouse I lived in was located and parked in front of it, she touched my arm. “Is this where you live?” she asked with a mild frown on her face. “I thought the city had condemned this place.”
“Uh-huh. It ain’t much, but it’s all I can afford right now. You told me it was okay to come here. You changed your mind?”
“It’s all right. I can’t think of no other place I’d rather be.” She leaned over and gave me a quick kiss on the lips. After a little pause, she kissed me again. This time she wrapped her arms around my neck. I pulled her into my arms and held on to her like she was some kind of life jacket. In a way, she was. I was convinced that I was headed in the right direction. If I stayed on course, my troubles would soon be over. “I just hope I don’t disappoint you,” she whispered in my ear.
“I feel the same way,” I whispered back.
For Joyce to be such a meek and prim and proper woman, she was a ball of fire in bed. I wouldn’t have cared if she’d been as passionate as a dead fish because after I’d made her squeal like a pig, I knew then that I had the key to her heart. And I was going to hold on to it with both hands.
Chapter 9
Joyce
I HAD HAD SEX A LOT OF TIMES SINCE I WAS FOURTEEN. BUT NONE OF my exes had ever made love to me properly, so I’d never enjoyed it that much. I had no idea what a climax felt like because I’d never had one. From what a couple of my female associates had told me, it was the most wonderful experience in the world. What I had enjoyed was being so close to a man’s body. The physical connection and seeing the way their eyes rolled back in their heads when they climaxed had been enough for me. I had accepted the fact that that was the only ecstasy I’d ever get out of sex.
Tonight, Odell showed me what all the fuss was about. When he made me have my very first climax, I almost humped him off that rollaway bed in his closet-size room. I thought I’d died and gone to heaven. Every inch of my body was tingling.
“Baby, take it easy,” he laughed after I had calmed down. He rolled off me and sat up on the side of the bed with his back to me. I couldn’t believe the damage I had done to his back. I had clawed and scratched him so much, I’d broken off three of my fingernails. I was happy to see that my wild-woman behavior didn’t seem to bother him. He got back in the bed and started stroking the side of my face and nibbling on my ear. “Ain’t you never had no good loving before?”
I was almost out of breath, so it took a few seconds for me to answer. “No. I . . . I didn’t know what good loving was really like.” My mouth was dry and my voice hoarse from all the hollering I’d done.
“Now you do,” he chuckled. “And once we get used each other’s bodies, it’ll be even better.”
And it did get even better. By our fifth date in less than a week, which was a record for me, I didn’t think I could live without Odell. I enjoyed everything we did together. He took me fishing, blackberry picking, picnics, and on
