Love in Play

by Zuri Day

  Mike and Johnny watched dispassionately as he left.

  Mike took a long, satisfying swig of beer. The quietest of the brothers, he’d been fine with letting Johnny handle the conversation while it was his comment to Cynthia that had gotten the whole complicated ball rolling all along. “Do you think we pissed him off enough so he’ll call her?”

  “Hard to tell,” Johnny answered, drinking the last of his brew. “Jake can be stubborn when he wants to. But I have a feeling that Dominique is the kind of woman who won’t let go of something she wants without a fight.”

  Later that evening, Jake sent a message to the principal at Middleton Prep, saying that he’d be back the following week. He’d initially said his leave would be indefinite. But Harold’s health was improving and more than that, it had become obvious in the past few hours that his brothers had made it their mission to be a royal pain in his backside. Jake had decided that getting back to work was probably the best thing that he could do. He refused to contact Dominique to help himself, but he could drown himself in the lives of his students. That way, at least, he could help somebody.

  Two days later, Jake touched down at Burbank Airport. He took a deep breath as he exited the terminal, before stepping into the town car that awaited him. He loved spending time with his family and was over the moon that Harold’s health had steadily improved. But the fact of the matter was he’d missed California. Had missed the school and working with the kids. And while he wouldn’t acknowledge it, the truth of the matter was ... he missed Dominique.

  53

  “Coach!” Justin ran up to Jake and threw himself in the older man’s arms. It was the second week after the holidays and just the two of them were in the players’ locker room. Justin had gone there to retrieve the backpack he’d left before the holidays, and Jake had gone there to inventory the various sports equipment.

  “Hey, son.” Jake winced at the noun, even though he often addressed his players in this manner. But given the precarious nature of his relationship with this particular student, Jake wished he could have taken back the word. “How are you doing?”

  “Fine,” Justin said with a shrug of his shoulders, once again in control of his emotions and a bit embarrassed at the excited bear hug that he knew Michael would have labeled as “totally uncool.”

  “Did you have a good Christmas?”

  Justin nodded.

  An uncomfortable silence filled the room. Big, questioning eyes looked into hooded, pained ones.

  “How’s your mother?” Jake asked, clearing his throat of the hoarseness that had accompanied the question.

  “She’s fine.”

  “Good,” Jake said, checking the air pressure of a basketball and trying to ignore the bad feeling gathering at the pit of his stomach. “What about you?”

  “I’m okay,” Justin replied, looking down at the floor.

  “You know we could have really used you on the basketball team. I wish you’d taken my advice and signed up.”

  “I’m too big for that game, Coach.”

  “Man, what are you talking about? You’re quick and you have good hand to eye coordination. You’d make a good center. You should try out next year.”

  Justin shifted his weight from one foot to the other but remained silent.

  Jake could see that the boy had something else on his mind but he was no more ready to have that conversation than the child was. “Think about it,” he said as he placed the ball in the large storage basket and reached for another one.

  “All right, Coach.” Justin had almost reached the door when he stopped and turned around. “You don’t like my mama no more?”

  Jake’s head shot up and silence filled the room as he weighed his answer. “I love your mom,” he honestly replied.

  “Then you should call her.” That said, Justin walked out the door.

  Across town, Dominique was also reconnecting with someone she hadn’t seen in a while. During his rigorous holiday partying, Reggie had gotten the flu. He’d been out for a couple weeks but now, back at his post, he’d just sat two large lattes down on Dominique’s desk and sat opposite her.

  “Girl, I thought that bug was going to kill me!” Reggie said to Dominique in typically dramatic Reggie-like fashion.

  “But you still made your New Year’s Eve party, I see,” Dominique responded sarcastically, though the smile on her face belied the seriousness of her words.

  “Nothing but death could keep me from it!” Reggie responded with a hand to his chest, mimicking Nettie from The Color Purple. “But if I’d known my two men would get to fighting over me, I would have stayed my sick butt at home.”

  “A fight?” Dominique asked, reaching for her coffee. “You’re kidding, right?”

  “I wish I was lying but it went down! See, the Jockstrap Bar was packed with revelers, but me and Alex got waved past the line because we had a reserved table. I thought I saw Quinn in the line, but as soon as I sat down they started pouring the bubbly and I forgot all about it. That’s until we got ready to count down to the New Year.”

  “Then what happened?”

  “Miss Dom, it was pitiful,” Reggie responded, deadpan. But his eyes were twinkling. “Quinn came up to the table demanding to talk to me. Alex stood up and said, ‘Over my dead body,’ and then Quinn told him that that could be arranged. One thing led to another and the next thing I knew my baby coldcocked Quinn upside the head with a full bottle of Cristal.”

  “No!”

  “Yes, girlfriend. Quinn went down and then it was a countdown all right but we weren’t looking at the clock. We all stood over his passed-out ass hoping he’d wake up. He came to just in time to hear ‘Auld Lang Syne.’”

  “Ha! Reggie, you are a mess.”

  “What about you, Miss Dom,” Reggie continued, his voice turning serious. The last time he was in the office, Dominique had had very little contact with Jake, and his brother was hanging on by a wing and a prayer.

  “I’m doing okay,” Dominique answered, her voice subdued.

  “Have you talked to Jake?”

  Dominique shook her head. “I’ve been in pretty constant contact with his twin brother, though, Johnny, and his wife, Cynthia. They’ve kept me posted on Harold’s progress. Thank God, Jake’s oldest brother is out of the woods and doing better.”

  “Did they say how Jake is doing?”

  Dominique took a few sips of coffee, thinking. “All right I guess, though they said he’d been pretty quiet ... about everything. He took Harold’s heart attack pretty hard; especially when he thought they’d lose him. It brought up a lot of bad memories.”

  “So what are you going to do, Miss Dom? I’ve been your assistant for five years and in all this time have never seen you so happy.”

  “Not much I can do about that now,” Dominique replied. “It takes two people to write a happy ending.”

  “Sometimes we have to fight for what we want, Miss Dom.”

  Dominique arched her brow. “Like Quinn fought over you?”

  Reggie preened like a freshly plucked chicken. “Between you and me, even though hot-blooded Alejandro clearly won the fight, Quinn’s brazen act made an impression on me.” Reggie leaned forward and whispered conspiratorially. “I’ve started seeing him again.”

  “You broke up with Alejandro?”

  “Girl, I could never give up that caramel cutie!”

  “You’re dating both Quinn and Alejandro?”

  “I don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings,” Reggie explained, as if this statement made perfect sense. “I love them both. Does that sound crazy?”

  Dominique looked at Reggie without flinching. “Yes.”

  “Maybe,” Reggie answered, reaching for his drink and standing. “But so does letting the best thing that ever happened to you waltz out of your life. Maybe you need to take a champagne bottle and knock some sense into Jake McDonald’s head.” When he reached the door he paused and added, “I’m just sayin’ ...”

  54
>
  Dominique accepted the plate that Faith had fixed her. Anita was spending the weekend in Vegas with some of her girls, so Dominique had accepted her sister’s invite to share Sunday dinner. “Thanks, sis,” she said, savoring the aromas arising from her plate of lasagna. “This smells delicious.”

  “Thank your brother-in-law,” Faith replied, taking her seat. “This is Aaron’s special recipe.”

  “Aaron cooked?”

  Faith shrugged. “Girl, you don’t even know. He’s trying to go all Bobby Flay on me.”

  Aaron came around the corner. “Bobby has nothing on me, Dominique.”

  “From the smells wafting from the kitchen, I believe it.”

  “Except several restaurants and a few million dollars,” he added.

  Everyone laughed.

  In fifteen minutes the family enjoyed a meal that had taken an hour to prepare. Shortly afterwards, Alexis retreated to her room and the phone, Justin and Michael resumed their Wii game, and Aaron went out to join his frat brothers for male bonding. Dominique and Faith found themselves alone in the kitchen, putting away leftovers and cleaning up the mess.

  “Faith,” Dominique began as she placed leftover lasagna into the refrigerator, “I bet you would have never guessed in a million years that Aaron would have turned into the man that he is.”

  Faith smiled. “I saw snatches of brilliance. Like when he rescued Nell from my window ledge.”

  “That cat was always psycho.”

  “And he always remembered my birthday, and the anniversary of our first date.”

  “That’s pretty special, I must admit.” Dominique watched Faith place the last of the dishes into the dishwasher, add detergent, and turn it on. “Never take it for granted, Faith,” she said as she folded a dish towel and placed it on its holder. “The husband, home, dog, and picket fence ...”

  “Sometimes it’s not a fairy tale,” Faith insisted.

  “But it’s there, in your life and your heart. I’m not making light of the work it takes to have a successful family, Faith. I’m just saying to never lose sight of what a blessing it is.”

  Faith nodded, and took the whistling teakettle off the fire. After fixing mugs for both of them, they settled into the living room. Faith lazily stirred honey into her mug, looked at Dominique, and laughed. “Remember your first boyfriend?”

  “William? How can I forget?”

  “No, the one before him, the dude in junior high with the long, greasy Jheri curl.”

  “Ha! That was Greg Sutton. Girl, I haven’t thought of him in years.” Dominique smiled at the memory. “Couldn’t nobody tell that fool that he didn’t look like El DeBarge?”

  “Couldn’t nobody tell him to stop flinging that hair around either, doing the running man, and spraying everybody with activator?”

  “Girl, please. We all had that mess dripping down our necks and ruining clothes.” Dominique laughed at the memories. “But Greg was my first crush; William was my first boyfriend.”

  “If you say so. But I remember Greg because he was the first secret you kept from me.”

  “I told you eventually.”

  “Ha! Only after I found y’all’s love letters hidden under your mattress.”

  “I thought I was so in love,” Dominique said with a smile, recalling this memorable eighth-grade moment that lasted all of two months. “And then Mama found out that I’d gone with him to the skating rink instead of to the Pizza Hut with my girlfriends.” Her smile turned bittersweet. The thought of skating reminded her of Jake.

  “And it was over!” Faith said, laughing.

  “And if Anita’s punishment wasn’t enough to slow my role, then Miss Tiffany certainly was.” Both women shook their heads as they thought about the most popular girl in Dominique’s eighth-grade class, the one who stole Greg’s affections while Dominique was on punishment.

  “Did I tell you that I ran into her the other day?”

  “Tiffany?” Dominique asked in surprise.

  “The one and only,” Faith responded. “She and Greg have four children and eight grandchildren.”

  “Stop it,” Dominique exclaimed. “Did she speak to you?” She couldn’t help but remember that Tiffany treated those around her merely as pawns on her chessboard of life.

  “More than that,” Faith replied. “She actually hugged me and showed me pictures. Amazing what twenty-five years and about fifty extra pounds can do.”

  “No ...” Dominique whispered.

  “Girl, she’s not the petite princess she used to be, but she looks good. And she’s one of your most ardent subscribers. She says she’s been a Capricious woman since the first issue came out.”

  Dominique shook her head in wonder.

  “A lot of people look up to you, Dominique,” Faith continued. “More people than you even realize are watching you, and cheering you on. You have a great career ...”

  Dominique snorted.

  “And a wonderful son. You’ll get through this,” Faith finally added, addressing the elephant in the room that they’d been tiptoeing around all day. “You’re strong and—”

  “You know what, Faith?” Dominique interrupted. “I’m tired of being the strong one, able to pick up the pieces of my broken heart every time it’s shattered! I’m tired of being the one who has to make all of the decisions and put on the brave face. I’m tired of being by myself. I’m just tired!” The tears came, and Dominique didn’t try to hide them.

  “Call him,” Faith said, rushing to Dominique’s side and hugging her firmly. “He’s probably hurting just as much as you.”

  Dominique shook her head. “I’ve left several messages. I’m not calling him again.”

  Faith rubbed her sister’s back. Words of comfort failed her. She’d been there when Leland had left Dominique, and when Kevin had stolen her money. Both of those times, Dominique had been strong. “For my son’s sake,” Dominique had told her. She understood why her older, always-together sister was tired of keeping it together.

  Faith took Dominique’s face in her hands, forced her sister to look her in the eye. “It’s going to be all right, Nikki, do you hear me? No matter what happens, you have people around you who love you: Mama, me, Aaron, our kids. I know you’re hurting and you have a right. But together, we’ll get through this.”

  On the way home, Dominique noticed that her normally chatty son was quiet. “Did you kids have fun?” she asked.

  “Yeah,” Justin replied.

  “What?”

  “Yes,” he corrected himself.

  “What did you do?”

  “Just movies and stuff.” Justin paused a moment. “Did Jake call you?”

  Where did that come from? “Why do you ask, baby?”

  “I told you I saw him back at school.”

  “Yes ... and?”

  “Nothing.”

  Dominique glanced over at her son. “Justin, is there something that you want to talk to me about?” When he didn’t respond, she continued. “Baby, I don’t want you to worry about me and Jake. He’s been really concerned about his brother, and work is keeping me busy.”

  “But y’all still like each other, right?”

  This is the very reason why I didn’t want Justin to know about this relationship ... to have him know that another one has bitten the proverbial dust.

  “Huh, Mom? You still like him, right?”

  “Don’t concern yourself with grown folks’ business, Justin,” Dominique replied brusquely, even though she understood why Justin thought it was his business as well. “No matter what happens between Jake and me ... Mommy will be fine.”

  The look on Justin’s face suggested that he wasn’t buying Dominique’s story. She couldn’t blame him. She didn’t buy it either.

  55

  The next morning, Dominique entered the Capricious offices with a determined stride. She’d barely slept the night before and the simple question that had robbed her of sleep, the one her son had asked, still plagued her. Did Jake call
you? Asked, Justin had said, because he’d seen Jake at school. What did they talk about? Was it about me? And if so, did Jake tell Justin something that made him think I’d get a phone call? At one point, Dominique had almost gone to Justin’s room to find out exactly what Jake had said. But as she’d told him in the car—this was grown folks’ business. Any conversation about their relationship needed to be between her and Jake, not between her and Justin and most definitely not between Justin and Jake.

  Dominique had told Faith that she wasn’t going to call Jake again. And she’d meant it. That’s why as soon as she left the office today she was going to his house. She’d wait at his door, camp out all night if she had to. But before her head hit the pillow, Dominique determined, she and Jake were going to have a conversation ... and she was not taking no for an answer!

  Across town, Jake sat in his office thinking about Dominique—but he didn’t have talking in mind. It had been a month since he’d squeezed her lusciousness, too long since he’d glided his fingers along her smooth, soft skin and tasted those sweet lips. Face it, brothah, you miss her. And you’ve probably lost her because you’re scared. A bittersweet smile crossed Jake’s face at the irony: in the beginning it was Dominique who’d shied away from their having a relationship. Now he was running for the border.

  Jake shuffled a few papers and tried to take his mind off of his misery. But the effort was futile at best. Since returning from Alabama, he’d tried not to think about Dominique. He’d convinced himself that their breaking things off was probably for the best, that she was angry and probably wouldn’t want him back. But the harder he tried to forget her, the more intense were his thoughts about her. And the guilt. Jake remembered the words he’d uttered when trying to convince Dominique that all men weren’t the same, and to give their love a chance. You were with senseless jerks! Now he was the one being insensitive and uncommunicative. Lately, his twin had talked to Dominique more than he had, and Jake knew that wasn’t right. His mother had raised him better than to ignore a woman who clearly deserved to hear from him. Jake threw down the report that he wasn’t reading and reached for the phone.