by Teneka Woods
“I know, I know,” Tora pouted. “I was so disappointed. I thought for sure we would be going on a second date. Was actually looking forward to it.”
“Mmm-hmm,” Candace smirked. “So that just reiterates the old adage: never judge a book by its cover.”
Rolling her eyes, Tora said, “The cover is what attracts a person and makes them want to find out what’s inside.”
“And I’m sure you know sometimes the cover can be bad, or not what you expected, and lo and behold, the interior—the story—turns out to be the best you’ve ever read.”
“But how would I know that if the cover didn’t pique my interest enough for me to even look inside?”
Candace pointed at the laptop screen. “You’ve already said he’s gorgeous. So what if he’s a couple inches shorter than you, Tora? Is it really that big of a deal?”
“Yes!” Tora said with a bit more emotion than she intended to. “I don’t want a man shorter than me. It doesn’t look right. I wouldn’t feel confident walking next to him.”
“Unbelievable,” Candace said, shaking her head. “Ruki could be five inches shorter than me, but you can best believe I wouldn’t’ve turned him down.”
Tora sucked her teeth. “That’s a lie and you know it.”
“I’m serious. Height is not an issue for me. Now, if he had bad teeth or a bad walk I couldn’t do it.”
“A bad walk?” Tora asked, confused.
“Yeah, a bad walk can make or break everything for me. I wouldn’t be able to deal with a knock-kneed man or one that walks pigeon-toed. It ruins the whole aesthetic for me.” Candace shuddered with disgust and Tora burst out laughing.
“Now that’s crazy. I have no problem admitting I can be a little shallow in the looks and height department,” Tora said. “I have my reasons, but I don’t think I’ve ever turned down a man because of his walk.” Then she put a finger to her chin, thinking. “But you know what? I don’t think I’ve ever come across one with a bad walk, so I can’t say whether or not I would’ve turned him down.”
“Exactly,” Candace laughed, “but I have. Poor guy. His pants were always bunched up between his thighs because he was so knock-kneed.”
Tora laughed out loud again. “You really need to stop.” She got up from the table to start on Candace’s hair.
“So, how many other dates do you have lined up this week?”
“None,” Tora answered flatly. “I haven’t even logged onto the site. Between Jason and Dexter I think I’ve had enough bad contenders to last me for the next month.”
“Which is why you need to call Nate and tell him you’re free for lunch,” Candace said with two loud pops of the gum.
“No. But he’s asked me to do the photography for his sister’s wedding.”
“What? Are you serious?”
“Yep. He called me yesterday.”
“Well… maybe there will be some tall and single groomsmen at this wedding,” Candace said.
“You’ve got a point there, girl.”
They laughed.
* * *
Tora heard her mobile phone ringing as soon as she turned off the shower and left the bathroom in a hurry to answer it. It was Nate.
“I was just about to leave you a voicemail,” he said. “I thought maybe it was too late and you were already in bed for the night.”
“I was preoccupied and didn’t hear it ring.” She pressed the button to place the call on speaker before setting the phone on the bed in order to dry off her body. Mink hopped on the bed, poking her nose around the phone when she heard a voice coming from it.
“My sister finally got back with me, so I have the date and time details now. The engagement party is the Saturday after next at The Ballroom downtown.”
“Oh, that’s a beautiful venue. Perfect for a wedding, too.”
“The party starts at seven.”
“Okay, sounds good.” She made a mental note to put in a vacation day request as soon as she made it to work tomorrow morning. “If you don’t mind, please give me your sister’s telephone number. I need to call her to get a bit more detailed information about what she wants and what to expect as far as cost.”
“It doesn’t matter. I’ve already sent her the link to check out your work on your website. She saw my photos, too. She loved them. And she trusts my judgment. I’m her twin brother.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah, we’re really close. She’s pregnant right now and told me she’s too tired to be dealing with trying to find people to work the wedding. So me, my mama, and her best friend are helping out.”
Tora nodded. “Oh okay. So everything I need to know I get the information from you?”
“Yeah, I’m responsible for everything to do with the photography for that night.”
“I will email you a questionnaire. Get it back to me as soon as possible and I will follow with the deposit invoice—”
“Email?” Nate said. “Don’t you think it would be easier if we meet up to discuss the details? I’m still trying to get that lunch date with you.”
“Nice try, Nate. An email will suffice.” She ended the call and, despite what she’d told Candace, she logged onto Soul Meet and set up another meeting with a potential candidate. Aunt Kit’s motto came to mind: Keep trying until you get Mr. Right.
THIRTEEN
“It’s about time you brought your ass out of the house! We haven’t seen you since last year.”
“Yeah, man… where the hell you been?”
Nate laughed and shook hands with two of his closest friends before taking a seat at the table. “Kev, what are you talking about? It wasn’t last year the last time we hung out.”
“That’s what it seems like,” Kevin said. “Every time we try to hook up you got some excuse for why you can’t come.”
“Exactly,” Jamal agreed. “I never thought I’d see the day where you become a hermit. What’s up with you?”
Nate shrugged. “Been busy as usual,” he told them. “Between training and podcasting my weeks are tied up.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” Jamal waved him off.
Kevin said, “Well, I’m glad you found the time to get out tonight though.”
It was a rare occasion where Nate wanted to go out for a drink on a weeknight, but the Astros were playing the Cubs and he knew the guys would be watching the game at one of their frequented bars. He waved over a waitress to order his drink and the only healthy appetizer listed on the menu. “Where is Chauncey?” he asked the guys when the waitress walked away.
Kevin grunted. “You already know.”
“Where else would he be?” Jamal laughed.
“Don’t tell me he’s still messing around with that married woman,” Nate said, shaking his head.
“Every time her husband leaves town for business he run his ass over there.”
“That fool is going to end up hurt and in the hospital one day,” Nate said.
“Or worse… dead,” Jamal added. “I told him he’s gonna cross the wrong man one day messing around with somebody’s wife.”
Just then the bar exploded with a clatter of shouts and whistles, forcing Nate and Jamal to turn their attention back to the giant TV screens above them. The Cubs struck out and the Astros were up to bat.
Kevin said, “Nate, what’s been going on? How is the family? It’s been too long since you invited me back over for Sunday dinner. I still have dreams about Mrs. Walker’s pot roast.” He rubbed his stomach.
“Everybody’s doing good, man. Sunny’s getting married, so they’re all excited about that.”
“For real?” Jamal said. “That’s cool.”
Kevin pursed his lips and shook his head. “She could’ve been Mrs. Kev had she given me a chance.”
“You’re still harping on that? Man, that was five years ago.”
“Heck yeah! Sunny is bad. Even after the kids,” he laughed. “And you know I’ve always had a weakness for a woman in a business suit.”
“Well,
I don’t wanna think about you and my sister like that,” Nate said, “but, honestly, I’d rather she marry you than this dude she’s marrying.” As she did about most things going on in her life Sunny had told him about the few times Kevin asked her out on a date just months before she met Levi.
Kevin waved a hand. “She said I was a good guy, but she couldn’t go out with me. What kinda sense does that make? I thought all women wanted a good guy. I mean… what is there not to like?” He began to posture: stroking his beard, popping his collar. “I make good money, got a nice condo, nice car. I can be romantic.”
Jamal shrugged. “Could just be their way of saying you’re not their type.”
“That’s the thing. Women say they want one thing, but when it’s presented to them they dismiss it.”
The waitress finally brought over Nate’s food.
“Well, obviously they wouldn’t dismiss you if you were what they wanted,” Jamal said. “I don’t care how much we sit around and gripe sometimes about how we’re the good guys and we’re what women need, there’s a reason why we’re all still single.”
“Meanwhile jokers like Chauncey get all the girls,” Kevin said with a touch of bitterness in his voice.
Nate and Jamal laughed.
“They like the challenge,” Jamal continued. “I believe they really think they can change these men into the type of man they want him to be.”
“Or they could just be into sorry dudes like my sister,” Nate said, chomping on a raw carrot from his appetizer platter.
“And that’s what I don’t unders—” Kevin and the rest of the bar patrons jumped to their feet in applause when the Astros made a home run.
“Did you see that?” Jamal said. “The ball barely missed his face!”
Nate looked to the screen for the replay since he had been focused on his plate and missed it.
Once settled in his seat again, Kevin said, “Sunny is a prime example. Why would a woman of her caliber settle for the man she’s with? How was he even able to get a chance with her? I thought a man is supposed to complement you, have something to offer?”
Jamal said, “Fellas, I’m out of the loop. What’s the deal with Sunny’s boyfriend? What’s so bad about him?” He looked at Nate.
“He’s a user,” Nate shook his head with disgust. “And my sister’s too blinded by her obsession with him to see it.”
“But they’ve been together for some years now though, right?” Jamal said.
“Yeah, and all he’s given her in five years is three babies.”
“Wow.” Kevin shook his head too.
“Well I’m sure Sunny don’t necessarily need him for money, so there’s gotta be something else he’s bringing to the table. Let’s be honest.”
Both Nate and Kevin glared at Jamal, doubt on their faces.
Jamal laughed. “It took a long time for me to understand this but, for a lot of women, they just want somebody there. Maybe he’s good for her in other ways. Good with the kids… I don’t know.”
Nate sucked his teeth. “Y’all don’t know the half of it,” he said. But he wasn’t about to go running his mouth and telling his friends his sister’s business. Moving the topic away from Sunny, he said, “I met this lady—”
“Ohhh,” Kevin nodded, “so that’s where your ass been.”
Chuckling, Nate said, “I just met her a few weeks ago. I’ve been trying to get her to meet me for lunch, but she keeps brushing me off, saying she’s not good for me.” He reached into his pocket for his wallet. Pulling out her business card and handing it to Kevin, he said, “That’s her.”
“Oh shit. She looks fine, but what’s up with that thing in her nose? And what does she mean she’s not good for you?” He gave the card to Jamal to take a look.
“I don’t know. She won’t be straight-up with me when I ask.”
“Where did you meet her?” Jamal slid the card back over to Nate.
“This little deli over in River Oaks. I was there to meet Sunny and my mama for lunch. She walked in and I swear my heart was about to jump out of my chest.”
Kevin burst out in laughter. “What?”
“Seriously. She walked in looking like a top model. All tall and brown and super sexy. Everybody in that place stopped what they were doing and stared.” Tora was walking through the door in Nate’s mind all over again. “It was like a scene in a movie.”
“Damn,” Jamal said.
“I went over to talk to her, ask her for her number, but she said she didn’t wanna waste my time. So when I saw the cashier throw her business card in the garbage I asked her if I could have it, get it out of the trash can. I couldn’t let her get away.”
“Wait, what?” Kevin said. “You got what out of the trash can?”
Nate told them the story of how he watched Tora in conversation with a young girl behind the counter and that she’d handed over her business card. When she left the deli, the girl promptly threw the card in the trash and Nate went up to ask about Tora, telling the cashier Tora looked like someone he knew. The girl explained that Tora heard her chatting with her coworker about needing a photographer for some graduation photos and was just promoting her services.
“I convinced her to let me have the card and contacted Tora to do the new photos for my website,” Nate said. “We met at the park for the photo shoot.”
“So she wouldn’t give you her phone number, but she came to meet you at the park?” Jamal asked.
“Of course she did,” Kevin said to Jamal. “She wasn’t gonna pass up that business opportunity.”
Nate said, “Well, she didn’t know who I was until she arrived at the park. I didn’t tell her I was the man she turned down at the deli.”
Jamal shook his head. “Dude, that sounds kinda stalker-ish, don’t you think?”
“I’m telling you that’s how beautiful she was. I couldn’t give up just like that. She had me hooked at first sight.”
“But she told you she wasn’t right for you. That should be a red flag right there.”
Nate chuckled. “Naw, there’s something else… but she just won’t tell me.”
“And you wanna waste your time trying to find out?” Jamal gave him a sideways look.
“She was reacting to me at the park that day. I saw the way she was looking at me. At one point she was fumbling with the camera.”
“Maybe she’s married,” Kevin said.
“She said she’s single. I think she said no that day in the deli just to say no, but she didn’t expect me to come looking for her.”
Jamal grunted. “Believe me, if she was interested she would’ve had no problem giving you her phone number. Women know what they want.”
“Well, I’ll see about that Saturday night,” Nate said. “She’ll be at Sunny’s engagement party.”
“What? So she knows Sunny?” Kevin asked.
“No. I convinced my sister to hire her to do the photography for the party.”
“Man, you are crazy,” Kevin shook his head. “A woman only has to tell me one time she’s not interested. I’m not jumping through hoops just to get somebody.”
Jamal agreed with a nod.
“For me, she’s worth the effort,” Nate told them.
FOURTEEN
Tora pulled out her compact mirror to check her face and hair as she waited. Her makeup was still in tact; she smoothed down a few wayward strands of hair near the part on the side of her head. She was waiting for Eric. He was ten minutes late for their meeting and she decided if he did not show up in another three she was grabbing her purse and leaving. She took out her phone and logged onto Soul Meet to see if he’d left a message notifying her of an emergency or something else delaying his arrival.
“Tora? I’m so sorry we’re late.”
She looked up to see Eric standing next to the table, but she didn’t get the chance to fully take in his face because her eyes immediately went to the young lady standing beside him.
“I wanted to call you, but… I do
n’t have your number of course,” he said. He pulled a chair out from the table and the girl sat down.
Okay… what is going on here? she thought.
“I told Whitney she was taking too long getting ready and that you might be gone by the time we get here, so… I’m glad you didn’t leave.” Then he bent down to kiss Tora’s cheek, leaving her at a loss for words. He took a seat across from her at the table.
Tora could only smile at the girl as she waited for Eric to explain.
“Remember what I told you on the way over here, Whitney? We’re on a tight budget this month until your credit card bill is paid down, so remember your limit.”
Tora cleared her throat. “Eric, are you going to introduce me to your…?” She didn’t want to assume anything, but the young woman could be a sister, niece, daughter, or cousin. Regardless, she hadn’t expected this would be a three-party meeting.
“Oh! This is my daughter, Whitney. I’ve told her so much about you, but I forgot you two don’t know each other.”
How can you tell her about me when you and I don’t even know each other? Tora shook the girl’s hand. “Nice to meet you, Whitney,” she smiled.
“You as well,” the girl said.
“Eric, you could’ve told me you were hanging out with your daughter today. We can re-schedule for another time. I don’t want to impose on your time together.”
“No, no. It’s fine. Whitney always comes with me on my first dates. To get to me you have to go through her.”
Tora looked at the two of them as they grinned back at her. “Ohh… kay,” she said finally, and picked up the menu.
“It’s just that I’m a package deal, and I figure if we are going to be together it’s best you get to know my daughter as well, that way we have the opportunity to see if we’ll make a good team.”
Tora couldn’t argue that point, but she wished she was given a choice on whether or not she was ready to meet a man’s family before she got to know him herself.
They ordered when the waiter came over.
“Now’s the time for the fun part,” Whitney said, smiling at her dad.