by Katie Dowe
“You would not have found your Barry,” Leonie said with a grin, her mood lightening somewhat. Marcie had always been able to lift her spirits and when she was feeling overwhelmed she always came here to let off steam.
“Exactly sugar and I need you to find what I have found.” She looked at the girl closely, admiring her cool and classical beauty but feeling sorry for the loneliness that settled around her like a cloak. “I never had children with that cheating no good man and I thank the good Lord for that so you are the closest I have ever come to having a daughter and believe me when I tell you that being alone is not something you want to do for long. Get yourself someone and have babies before you find yourself living at home with several cats and a fish for comfort.”
“I am sure that’s not going to happen to me.” Leonie could not help the laughter as she visualized herself living with six cats at least and a gold fish. “I don’t much like cats and I often forget to feed myself much more a gold fish.”
“Well maybe a dog then,” Marcie said with an answering grin. “Someone’s out there who is worthy of you girl, you mark my words.”
*****
Lucas passed her the trowel as he examined the rose petals closely. Asami peered over his shoulder to see if she could pinpoint what he was looking for. “Do you have any idea what you are looking for?” he turned his head and asked her in amusement. They had been going out for the past three weeks now and they had spent quite a few hours in the greenhouse pottering around in the soil and she had learned quite a few things from him.
“Absolutely none,” Asami said with a genial smile, dusting some dirt off her faded denims. She had finally been over to his large charming rambling house and he had cooked her dinner two times in a row. She had felt the urge to start playing housewife the second time she was there. She was starting to feel something more than attraction for him and she found that she could talk to him about anything.
“They are looking wilted.” Asami commented. She had instructed the gardener to concentrate on the rest of the grounds preferring to be alone with Lucas in the greenhouse.
“The summer heat is brutal even though inside is relatively cool.” Lucas commented. They had gone outside for a little bit but had come back inside the shade of the greenhouse to get out of the heat.
“How about some ice cold lemonade?” she asked him reaching for the bell to summon someone from inside the house.
“How about we go get the lemonade ourselves and sit by the pool?” he suggested gently. He had told her several times that he was not used to being waited on hand and foot by another person and he was too old now to start changing.
“Good plan,” Asami said with a smile as he led the way. She must give Leonie another call and tell her thanks. She was having the time of her life.
*****
“Were you able to find a match for Mr. Masaki?” Simoniel asked her one afternoon while they were sorting through some files. It had been a week since he had kissed her in her office and she had not heard from him since. She had told herself that she was glad but she had to keep convincing herself that it was so.
“Why?” she asked looking up at her friend.
“Because his file is still here and I have not seen a corresponding match for him.”
“That’s because there is no one to match him with and I told him that.” Leonie strove to make her voice sound casual.
“And he took no for an answer?” Simoniel looked so skeptical. “He sounded like he was not about to let up until we found someone for him.”
“I convinced him otherwise.” Leonie told her, wishing she would get off the subject.
“His file is very impressive.” She continued looking through the folder. “I know how rich he is and all that but he is actually a genius and very private. There is no mention of him anywhere with a woman and he keeps a very low profile. I read somewhere that he took over from his father and turned the company into the tremendous success it is today. Why is a handsome rich and successful man like that securing our services?” She looked up from the documents she had been perusing to look at her friend as if seeking the answers there.
“Beats me,” Leonie said with a shrug, wondering what she would say if she told her what he had told her and what he had subsequently done to her. “Now can we get back to what we were doing?”
Simoniel put aside the file her expression thoughtful.
*****
“I am not going out with you,” she told him firmly. He had finally called her as she was on her way out.
“I am thinking of dinner in a nice restaurant maybe in the Caribbean,” he said to her.
“Mr. Masaki-“
“John,” he corrected her; he was sitting behind his desk and picturing the frustrated anger on her beautiful face with her hair in that elegant chignon at the nape of her neck. A neck that he wanted to run his tongue over right now. “No sense in us being so formal when I have drank from your mouth.” He teased her.
The image that he had brought up was very disturbing and she felt her body shivering with desire. What on earth was the matter with her?
“I actually have a date right now, that I am running late for.” She was horrified at the lie she had come up with, if he knew she was not telling him the truth then it would prove to him how much she was affected by him.
“Liar,” he growled. “You are just saying that to get rid of me. I don’t go away so easily Leonie.” He warned her.
“I don’t want to get involved with you Mr. Masaki,” she told him firmly. “I am not interested in any relationship and if I am I prefer to do the choosing.” She told him with a bite in her tone.
“We’ll see about that.” His tone was quiet and Leonie had the sinking feeling that it was the same tone that was heard from his competitors before he took over their companies. “You are afraid to open yourself to what might be something significant in your life and I am not going to allow you to close yourself off to something that we can share together.”
“Excuse me? Allow me?” her voice had gone dangerously soft and he knew he had gotten deep under her skin. Good! He had to make her start feeling again. He had done some investigating on her and realized that she had not been the same since her father had left.
“I will let you think about what I have said Leonie,” he told her softly, a smile playing around his lips. “If you change your mind about dinner please give me a call.”
He hung up before she could blast him with some very choice words. He could wait until he turned blue. She thought furiously. Who did he think he was?
She had met him barely three weeks ago now and he had managed to evoke anger, frustration and sexual desire inside her in that short space of time. She was not used to being so on edge all the time and she was finding it very exhausting.
*****
She did something she would not have normally done had she been thinking straight. She called up a friend and invited him out to dinner.
His name was Robert Barnes and she had met him when she signed up his older sister for a matchmaking service. They had kept in touch casually over the years and he had asked her once or twice to go out with him but she had refused.
He was a nice enough guy who was into real estate and was in his early thirties. He was an attractive chocolate colored guy with and an intelligent looking face.
“I am going out with Robert,” she had told Simoniel when they were at the office. It was a Friday afternoon and they were putting together a profile for a client.
“You mean that totally nerdy dude you said did nothing for you?” Simoniel asked with a raised brow.
“I just figured I should start dating,” she avoided her friend’s eyes and continued making some adjustments to the profile she was doing.
“What brought this on?” Simoniel was not about to let it go.
“What do you mean?” she asked her friend casually.
“You have been behaving strangely for the past couple of weeks Lee and I am won
dering why,” Simoniel had stopped what she was doing and was giving her friend her full attention.
“You were the one who said I should find myself a man and now that I am trying to do so, you are complaining.” Leonie said in exasperation.
“Robert is not your type Lee,” her friend was looking at her closely.
“He is a brother isn’t he?” she said defensively, finally meeting the girl’s eyes.
“He is still not your type. I don’t care how dark the color of his skin is.” Simoniel told her firmly. “Does this have anything to do with a certain John Masaki?”
“What?” Leonie stared at her dumbfounded, her guard down for a moment.
“Ever since that man walked inside this place you have been behaving differently. And then he called asking us to find someone for him to start dating I had my suspicions and I was further convinced by your adamant refusal.”
“You are reading too much into it.” Leonie felt her heartbeat quicken. She wished she could confide in her friend but all this was too raw and too confusing to share with anyone, even her.
“Am I?” Simoniel asked her. “I am your best friend girl and I know when you are bull shitting me and you are doing so right now.”
“I have no clue what you are talking about. I am going out with Robert because I am exploring my options so just leave it at that!” she said firmly and went back to work.
Chapter 5
It was a disaster! She had left work early and gone home to get dressed and told him that she would meet him at the restaurant. She had dressed carefully, in a slim fitting black and white pants suit and a white silk inside blouse. The weather was sultry and humid so she had chosen to wear her hair up in a classical French roll.
“You look lovely,” Robert told her warmly giving her a peck on the cheek. The restaurant was fairly new and was a thriving business in the heart of the town. It served mainly Italian and Chinese cuisine and had gotten good reviews in the restaurant section of the papers.
“Thank you,” she told him politely, determined not to think of John Masaki the entire evening.
“What would you like to eat?” he handed her a menu while he perused the other one that had been placed on their table. He had chosen a table at the far end of the restaurant that gave them some amount of privacy.
She glanced at the list of items available quickly and her eyes caught the Chinese beef and broccoli. “I will have this one please,” she told the young waiter hovering around the table.
“I will have the same,” Robert told the young man with a beaming smile. He ordered a bottle of Cabernet without consulting her and Leonie let it slide, not bothering to tell him that she was not especially fond of red wines.
“I was so surprised when I got your call girl,” he slurped his wine instead of sipping it and Leonie was dying to tell him that was not the way to drink wine but she resisted the urge. She was not planning on marrying the guy; she just wanted to ease the pressure inside her head.
“There I was having this open house and the couple had just left when I got your call inviting me out to dinner.” He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and Leonie cringed as he wiped his hand on the leg of his trousers. He was not bad and maybe she was comparing him with someone else and that was totally unfair. He did not allow her to carry on the conversation but continued by telling her about the house he had been showing and how he had been awarded salesperson of the quarter.
“There is a certain magic to all this,” he told her with a grin. “You have to know the people you are trying to sell the houses to, kind of like what you do at that place. You match a man with a woman and make sure they have things in common.”
He paused as soon as their food came over and took the time to sniff the meal set before him. “Smells kind of garlicky,” he made the observation to the young man still standing there.
Leonie smiled and indicated her satisfaction so the man could leave. She was trying not to yawn and appear interested but it was a tiresome effort.
“Look at me going on and on about my business,” he said halfway through the meal as if suddenly remembering that it was not all about him. “Now my dear, tell me what has been happening to you since we last saw each other.”
“The business has picked up somewhat,” she ventured with a smile, relieved that he had gotten back on track. “We have gotten quite a few-“
“Excuse me there young man!” he called out interrupting her in mid sentence. Leonie looked at him in consternation as he beckoned furiously to the waiter who had served their food.
“What’s wrong Robert?” Leonie asked him, trying not to die of embarrassment at the attention they were receiving.
He waited until the waiter reached their table. “This beef is a little dry and the broccoli is soggy. What kind of establishment are you people running here?” he asked bristling.
“Mine tastes fine,” Leonie said trying to diffuse the situation and get out of a very embarrassing situation.
“Let me deal with this please Leonie. I work too hard to pay good money for this kind of swill. I insist on speaking with the manager.” He had stood up and by now the entire restaurant had turned to look in their direction. Leonie wanted to die and she felt the anger rising inside her. It was her fault. She had asked him out to dinner to try and get John Masaki out of her head and look what happened!
“I am sorry sir but the manager is not here just now,” the poor waiter said trying to calm him down. “If you like, I can return the food and bring back something else for you.”
“You are darn right you are going to bring back something else. You think because I am black you can treat me this way?”
That was the last straw as far as Leonie was concerned. He had played the race card and that had never been acceptable to her. She had never believed in people using the color of their skin to prove a point or to receive a favor and she certainly did not associate with anyone who thought they needed to do that.
“I am sorry about this,” she told the harried young man and reaching inside her pocket book and took out some cash and handed it to the surprised waiter. “Could you give me mine to go and have the valet bring around my car please? Thank you.”
“You are leaving?” Robert looked at her as if he was seeing her for the first time. “You are ending the date that you called me up in the first place to come to? Who the hell do you think you are?”
“Someone who realizes that she is better than to be out with a brother like you.” She told him frostily. “Goodbye Robert.”
“Screw you!” he shouted at her retreating back.
She did not realized that she had left the food she had asked to be packaged until the waiter ran out and handed her the white restaurant bag. “Here you go miss and thank you very much.”
“You are welcome and you should tell the chef to add a few drops of hot sauce in the meal you are taking back for him,” she told him with a straight face.
“I will do so.” The young man grinned saluting her as she drove off.
*****
“You left in the middle of having dinner?” Simoniel stared at her friend in amazement.
She had not gone home but had driven to her friend’s house and now they were sharing the meal she had brought over. Leonie realized that the chef had added more to the meal. Her husband and son had retired to the basement to watch television as soon as they had greeted her, leaving the two friends to talk.
“I had to leave before I died of embarrassment,” Leonie admitted as she chewed on the delicious beef. “I had planned on staying in spite of everything but when he played the race card that did it for me.”
“What a complete moron.” Simoniel said shaking her head.
She got up and went to get them some fruit juice from the fridge. Her house was a nice and cozy three bedrooms two bathrooms place in a large enough yard where her husband did his farming as well. The basement had been transformed into a living area for when guests came over.
“So did you get to prove your point?” she asked the minute she came back inside the room.
“What point?” Leonie asked her.
“The one you were so eager to prove by going out with a brother who was clearly not your type.” Simoniel looked straight into her eyes. She was frustrated at how her friend was letting the past color her views on having a relationship and wondered why such a beautiful woman as Leonie was determined to run as far away from love as possible.
“I just wanted to go out and have a good time,” Leonie lied, avoiding her friend’s stare.
“Now you are lying to your best friend,” Simoniel sighed, pouring some of the juice into her own glass after passing some to her. “John Masaki called me when he could not reach you. I told him you were out on a date and he went very quiet and then told me goodbye. What’s going on Lee?”
“Nothing is going on,” Leonie felt her heart jumping inside her breast. He had called her best friend? What the hell was he doing? “He wants to have sex with me or something. I don’t know.” She said in frustration.
“That gorgeous rich totally delicious man wants to take you to bed and you are wasting your time going out with poor dull boring and full of his own sense of tiny importance instead. What’s wrong with you?” Simoniel asked her in frustration.
“I am not ready for that kind of a relationship.” Leonie said defensively, not looking at the other girl.
“What relationship is that?” her friend asked mildly.
“Can we drop it?” She deliberately turned the television on and turned it up.
“I get the picture,” Simoniel said above the noise. “But you are going to have to face it sometime.”
*****
John sat there beside the pool, trailing a hand inside the surprisingly cool water. Daylight had just disappeared although it was close to nine o’clock but that was the way it always was in the summer. The day had been especially hot today and he had left work at seven mostly because he had some things to tie up and he was thinking about her. He had tried calling her but her phone was off and he had to end up calling her friend only to be told that she was out on a date. He had wanted to ask who the creep was but he had avoided saying it – just barely.