Love in Play

by Zuri Day

  The day flew by and Dominique was thankful for the busyness. Meetings about sales and editorial content, and phone calls regarding the imminent announcement of a competing magazine, had kept her thoughts off of the absolutely fabulous time she’d had with Jake—two memorable days that could not be repeated. Shortly before he’d left her house, she and Jake had another version of “the talk.” Dominique reemphasized that, while the sex had been amazing, she didn’t think it wise that they hook up again. This time, Jake had agreed with her, explaining that he was feeling her in more than a casual way and since she was adamant about not having a relationship, he’d acquiesce to her wishes. Dominique had told herself that she was relieved. Saddened, however, was a better description.

  Reggie’s voice broke into Dominique’s thoughts. “Tessa is on line one.”

  “Hey, Tessa. What’s going on?”

  “I’m at school to pick up Justin.”

  “Is he all right?”

  “He’s fine. But he’s not ready to leave. Something about his coach tutoring him in math. Do you know about this?”

  At the sound of the word “coach,” a rush of images came to mind. She squashed them. That situation was over. “No, I don’t. Is... the coach there?”

  “They’re just coming up from the practice field. Justin called earlier, but I didn’t check messages until I arrived here at the school and didn’t see him waiting for me.”

  “Okay, have him call me as soon as you see him. Never mind. I’ll call you back.”

  Dominique ended the call and dialed Jake. As always, his voice did strange things to her body.

  “I’m calling about Justin,” Dominique said by way of greeting. “My nanny tells me that he’s staying after school and being tutored by you?”

  “We sent home an announcement that these free sessions would be available. Several parents phoned in, but that wasn’t mandatory. When Justin showed up, I assumed you knew.”

  “Well, I didn’t.”

  A moment of silence and then, “But you’re okay with it, right?”

  Dominique took a breath and released some control. “Of course. If you’ll e-mail me the schedule, I can forward it to my nanny so she’ll know what times Justin needs to be picked up.”

  “Will do. But I can drop him off tonight if you’d like.”

  “I won’t be home, but Tessa will be there.”

  “That’s cool. I need to run an errand in your area anyway.”

  “Okay. Thank you.”

  Five seconds passed. Ten.

  “Is there anything else?” Jake’s tone suggested that there were definitely other things that he wanted to discuss.

  Dominique got the feeling that tables, fractions, and equations were not among them. “No... that’s all.”

  “All right then, Nick. I’ll talk to you later.”

  “Good-bye.”

  After wrapping up the projects on her desk, Dominique headed out to a dinner meeting in Beverly Hills. After two hours of discussing a possible collaboration with an up-and-coming designer, she was more than ready to go home, take a hot shower, and fall into bed. The full day’s schedule, not to mention a weekend with little sleep, had left her exhausted. She pulled into her driveway, noting Tessa’s car, which was parked on the street. She’s such a godsend. I need to put buying a gift on my calendar. Tessa’s birthday was coming up and Dominique wanted to get something really special. When it came to her son, Tessa went above and beyond the call of duty. Her official titles were housekeeper and nanny, but she was more like a personal assistant, handling many responsibilities when Dominique could not. She acted much older than her twenty-four years and treated Justin like her kid brother. She’d been on the job less than two years, and Dominique already didn’t know what she’d do without her.

  “Hello, Tessa.” Dominique entered the house, placing her briefcase, laptop and purse on the foyer table.

  Tessa looked over her shoulder, her thick, black hair hanging down her back. She was a pretty young woman, short with dark olive skin and bright brown eyes. “Hey, Dominique.”

  “Thanks for staying late.”

  “No worries. It gave me a chance to reorganize the kitchen.”

  Dominique looked up from the mail she browsed. “Why would you have to do that?”

  A mischievous smile touched Tessa’s lips. “Go on in there. You’ll see.”

  Dominique walked into the kitchen. Everything seemed to be in order, just the way she’d left it this morning. She walked over to the refrigerator, opened it, and stood stunned. It was fully stocked, but instead of the processed and prepackaged meals that would have resulted from her grocery shopping, the vegetable bins were filled with fresh fruit and green stuff, and the shelves held such foreign objects as yogurt, organic eggs, and almond milk. Next to her supply of diet sodas was an array of sparkling juices and what looked like processed lunch meat was actually tofu. WTH?

  Still too shocked to examine her feelings, Dominique moved to the pantry. Inside the health fair continued: oatmeal, nuts, cans of organic beans and soups, wheat pastas and Italian sauces. She picked up a cereal box and noted that the “all natural” contents included flaxseed, and had been sweetened with honey instead of sugar. A scowl formed as reality began to dawn. No. He wouldn’t dare.

  “As you can see,” Tessa said as she entered the kitchen, “Coach Mac went on a shopping spree before dropping off Justin.”

  He would dare.

  “I’ve never seen a kid so excited about food in my life. Coach Mac—”

  Dominique put up her hand, effectively cutting off Tessa’s statement. She didn’t want to hear about Coach Mac, she wanted to talk to his overpresump-tive ass. Surprise, anger, guilt, and confusion roiled around in Dominique’s head, making the formulation of sentences challenging in the present moment. She appreciated that Jake was helping her son and other students embrace math. Teaching decimals, fractions, and formulas was one thing—trying to come in and run her household was quite another. Surprise and confusion faded, while guilt took a backseat to the anger that propelled Dominique out of the kitchen and towards the purse that held her phone. She grabbed up the items she’d placed on the foyer table and with a quick good-bye to Tessa, headed up the stairs. She emptied her arms, reached for her cell phone, and sat down on her bed in a huff. As soon as her butt hit the plush, silk comforter, memories flooded in—memories that lessened her ire just a little, but did not deter her from the plan to speak her mind.

  Flipping through her address book, she quickly found and tapped the desired number. Her chest heaved with indignation as she waited for an answer on the other end and as soon as it happened, she jumped right in. “Jake, this is Dominique. You’ve got a lot of nerve.”

  16

  Jake had been expecting this call all evening. “Hello, Dominique.”

  “Who do you think you are buying groceries for my house?”

  “A thoughtful man helping a friend who I know is busy but who just might grow attached to the idea of having real food in her fridge.” Putting it that way, he hoped, might take some of the wind out of Dominique’s angry sails. “From your greeting, I take it that you think differently?”

  Though less angry, Dominique sounded firm. “I’m not used to things happening in my home without my knowledge. It would have been nice to get a call asking if this was okay.”

  “I’m not used to getting people’s permission to do them a favor.” Dominique remained silent. She’s really mad at me for stocking her fridge with food? Jake took a breath and tried to see the situation from her point of view. “If what I did offended you, Dominique, I apologize. What started out as a casual conversation with your son, followed by a call from your assistant, led to what you now have in your kitchen.”

  “How so?”

  “Justin asked what I was having for dinner and when I told him, he asked if he could come over to eat because he didn’t have anything like what I was preparing at home. In the middle of this conversation, Tessa cal
led to ask Justin what he wanted for dinner. When I asked if she could cook and Justin said yes, I offered to bring them some groceries over since I was stopping by the store anyway. If your son had had his way you would have twice as much stuff as you found. There’s a reason parents don’t like to take their kids to the grocery store.”

  “That’s for sure.”

  “So... how was your day?”

  And with that question, they found themselves on the phone for over an hour. They’d agreed that their interaction would be limited to the very occasional phone call and seeing each other at Justin’s games. Yet now, roughly twenty-four hours since they’d said this, here they were on the phone catching up on each other’s day. There was something about this exchange that felt comfortable and intimate and, as if Dominique had just realized this, she said she had to get off the phone.

  “It’s been a long day, Jake, and I should be going. Thanks for the groceries. I know you meant well.”

  “You’re welcome, baby. And I know we’ve agreed not to but... I’d sure like a Nick fix right about now.”

  The next morning, Dominique didn’t need the alarm clock to awaken her. She’d tossed and turned for most of the night. Was it really only three days since her world had gotten turned upside down? She showered and dressed and when she went downstairs, Tessa was already in the kitchen, preparing breakfast.

  Dominique joined her. “You’re here early.”

  “Morning, Dominique. Yes, I promised Justin I’d arrive in time to make him breakfast.”

  “Since when did my son become the boss?” In spite of herself, Dominique reached for a strip of the crispy turkey bacon beckoning her from the oil-absorbing paper towel.

  Tessa shrugged. “When Jake brought in the groceries, he was telling Justin about the importance of breakfast, and I overheard their conversation. He says that people who don’t get the proper morning nutrition are those most likely to gain weight.” She shrugged again. “So I decided to make his breakfast and help myself in the process. No worries, Dominique. I’m not looking for extra pay or anything.” She stopped and looked at Dominique. “Should I fix another plate?”

  Dominique looked at her watch. Since she’d gotten up early, it was another thirty minutes before she usually left for work, another hour before her first appointment. “Sure,” she said, walking over to the island and pouring herself a glass of orange juice. “Why not?”

  Justin came downstairs a few minutes later. “Hey, Mom. Coach Mac says breakfast is the most important meal of the day. He brought us all of this food, the good stuff he calls it, and told me that I could only eat the yucky stuff one day a week.” This revelation was emphasized by Justin sticking a forefinger up in the air. “Coach Mac is great, Mommy,” he continued without missing a beat or taking a breath. “He taught me this trick to help me remember fractions and wouldn’t let me use the calculator but it was okay because I got the answers right anyway but then he showed me how to get the answers with the calculator, too. Coach says I’m really good at math. Do you like math, Mom?”

  “That was never my strong suit, honey. English and social studies were more my thing.” Dominique paused, surprised at how much she was enjoying the tasty, honey-sweetened oatmeal and the pre-school conversation. She’d never given much consideration to what had become the morning routine. She usually kissed the top of Justin’s head, which was buried in a bowl of sugary cereal, before rushing out the door. That’s if she got up in time. Fourteen-hour days and late-night social obligations often left her not seeing her son until after school. Still, she tried to make sure they spent at least an hour or two of quality time together every day and after picking him up at Anita’s on Sundays, they always spent the rest of the day together. The shared activity was usually Justin’s choice. Yesterday, they’d gone to a dinosaur exhibit before eating way too much ice cream at their favorite shop—his number one choice for yucky foods. They’d ended the day at the movies and then Dominique had stayed up half the night for the work the romp with Jake had interrupted. She’d always considered her and her son’s relationship a good one. They were close, and had always been the center of each other’s universe. Dominique wasn’t sure how she felt about the invasion of a planet named Coach Mac.

  17

  Jake looked up as a knock sounded on his office door. “Come in.”

  “Hey, Coach.”

  “Shawn. What’s up, man?”

  “What’s with the closed door?” Shawn asked, walking into the room and moving a pile of papers before taking a seat.

  “Phone call,” Jake said, offering no further explanation. Truthfully, he welcomed Shawn’s interruption. The conversation with his older brother, Harold, had given him some things to think about.

  “I’ve been watching the Spartans tape,” Shawn continued, referencing this week’s opponents. “They’ve got some heavy-hitting linebackers and the quarterback has real talent.”

  “Tony Pinelli?”

  Shawn nodded. “Yeah, but he has a tendency to drop his arm right before releasing the ball. The observant tackle will know exactly when he’s ready to throw.”

  “I noticed that, which is why I want to work with the defense on a particular maneuver and maybe force a few turnovers.”

  “Good idea.”

  “Are we still going with the same offense as last week?”

  Shawn nodded. “Pretty much. “I think we should focus on the passing game, move Schumacher to the tight-end position. I’m going to run Justin through the receiver drills as well.”

  Jake nodded. “Good move. He’s a big boy but he’s agile as all get out, can catch a ball and move down the field in a hurry. Opponents will never see these trick plays coming.”

  The two men were joined by more coaching staff and the strategizing session continued. Practice went great and while the boys were boasting their undefeated season, Jake warned them not to get cocky. For them, he explained, the hard work was just beginning.

  Once he left work, the real challenge began for him as well. He fired up his SUV and navigated the city streets by rote, his mind back in the office and on the conversation he’d had with his brother.

  “It was just a date, man.” Jake laughed to further convey to his older brother how unimportant his night with Dominique had been, even as he silently kicked himself for even bringing her up. All of his other brothers were married, happily, and had kids. They’d not been as scarred by their father’s death as Jake had been. And there was little if anything about one brother’s life that the other brothers didn’t eventually know about.

  “Keep telling yourself that,” Harold replied, not buying Jake’s casual act for a second. “But it sounds like much more than that. What’s her name again?”

  “Dominique.” As Jake said it, a warm, fuzzy feeling rose up inside him.

  “Tell me about her.”

  “She’s the editor of a magazine for full-figured women, some bougie executive gig in which she’s obviously in control.”

  “It wouldn’t happen to be Capricious, would it?”

  “As a matter of fact, that’s it. How do you know about it?”

  “Man, Mary grabs each issue out of the mail and reads it like the Bible.” Mary, Harold’s wife, could cook southern cuisine like nobody’s business. Which was part of the reason this couple and their children were all overweight. “I must admit that while in the bathroom I’ve even picked it up a time or two. Come to think of it, one of my favorite articles was about big and tall NFL dudes.”

  Jake’s interest was immediately piqued. “Who was in it?”

  “Michael Oher, Brian Waters, Will Shields, Mario Williams, Nick Fairley, cats like that. Large, in charge, and playing the field.” Harold laughed, remembering the catchy phrase that had pulled him into reading not only that article but most of the magazine. “Good stuff.”

  He could understand Michael Oher of Blind Side fame, but Jake squelched the urge to ponder the obvious: Why not me? Instead, he used this oversight as fur
ther fuel to distance himself from the woman who’d haunted his dreams since the day he’d laid eyes on her.

  “What does she look like?” Harold asked.

  “Not my type at all,” Jake quickly replied. “Don’t get me wrong, she’s fine, but she’s a big girl, wears her hair natural...”

  “Oh, so she’s not the silicone-injected, weave-wearing babe with whom you mostly keep company?”

  “That’s a low blow, bro.”

  Harold chuckled. “Maybe, but remember I’ve met more than one of your bimbo attractions. Need I remind you about the chick you brought to Mama’s seventieth birthday party who came to the pool—”

  “In a thong,” Jake sighed. “No, you didn’t have to remind me about something that I’d thankfully almost forgotten. Those women all knew the score, that it was just a casual dalliance, nothing more.”

  “But Dominique isn’t casual, is she?” When Jake didn’t answer, Harold continued. “Look, man, Robin was a wonderful woman, but it’s been almost five years. If you’re trying to find someone like her...”

  “I’m not.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Positive. What Robin and I had was special and will always be very dear to my heart. But the last thing she’d want is for me to go through the rest of my life alone and unhappy. I loved her, and I’ve grieved her, but it’s time to move on.”

  “Well, that said,” Harold continued, “maybe you’ve finally met the woman with whom you can move on.”

  18

  “Ooh, girl, I don’t know about this sports stuff.” Reggie adjusted the shoestring tie that he’d apparently decided to bring back into fashion all by his lonesome and swiped nonexistent dirt off of his duly purchased cowboy boots before exiting Dominique’s car. “I might get so excited that I break a nail.”

  Dominique laughed. “You’re too much drama, Reggie. Remember, this is the grade-school league, not the NFL. I think your nails will be just fine.”

  Reggie commented on everybody and everything as the two navigated the steady stream of parents, students, and neighborhood Hurricanes supporters filing into the stadium for the third game of the season. Dominique was appreciative of Reggie’s constant chatter. It kept her mind from being continually focused on seeing Jake for the first time since the previous weekend’s lovefest.