by Taylor Love
Jessica and Monique knew her brother and sister from her school days, but Tia hadn’t met either yet. Once those introductions were over, Tamara took the ladies inside until the food was ready, leaving Boa with the guys. It was hot as hell and they could use a reprieve!
“Tanya, what do you think about your sister’s new domestication?” Jessica joked as the five women sat around the living room.
“Stop it.” Tamara shot her a look.
“What? I’m just making conversation?” Jessica smiled ear to ear.
“It’s a valid question Sis. After all you got a man in your backyard flipping burgers, with a dog running around.” Tanya pointed out, sipping on her wine cooler of choice.
“What’s your point?”
“No point...just pointing out facts. Why wouldn’t she say you’re domesticated when the man is living in your house and flipping your meat?”
Monique snorted out a laugh. “I bet that’s not the only thing he’s doing to her meat.” Jessica had driven her and Tia over, so Monica wasn’t pacing her drinks.
“I bet.” Tanya said in a dry tone. “What’s up? When should I expect a wedding invitation?”
“Are you getting married?” Tia fairly screamed. “I can’t believe you didn’t tell us!”
“I didn’t tell you because there’s nothing to tell.” Tamara looked around quickly making sure Ben wasn’t in the house. “We’re not getting married.”
“Do you mean not yet or never?” Tanya asked, concern laced in the question.
“She means not yet. They’re both gaga over each other. Tamara’s got the fine ass man and the cutest damn dog. If she wasn’t one of my best friends, I’d be jealous.” Monique nonchalantly stated.
“I meant exactly what I said. We haven’t even talked about it.”
“Why not? I’ll remind you the man is living with you. Are you just shacking up or what? If he isn’t serious then you need to give him the boot.”
“Whoa, slow your roll. Why are you so quick to imagine him in a bad light? We are going at our own pace and it’s no one’s business anyway.”
Tamara shot a pointed and pissed look at the entire room.
“Hey, I haven’t said a word! Don’t look at me like that.” Tia defended.
“I’m just saying.” Tamara reigned in her temper. “Ben and I like where we're at and what we're doing. I don’t really appreciate you coming in my house and judging him or telling me what our relationship should be, and you just met the man three hours ago!”
“I’m just looking out for you Sis. I mean...don’t you think this is all happening fast?”
“Tanya, I don’t even know why you acting brand new? It’s not like you’re just finding out about any of this. You act like you’ve shown up to find a man in my house that you’ve never heard of, when I’ve been telling you about him for the past eight months.”
“Tamara I-”
“Hey look, I wasn’t trying to start trouble.” Jessica interrupted. She had not seen this argument coming. “I was honestly just kidding. I’m sorry if I hit a nerve.”
“It’s not you. Tanya is always critical of my relationships and jumping the gun. This time I was hoping you’d actually get to know him over the weekend before you did your usual proclamation that he’s somehow inadequate.”
Tamara rolled her eyes in her sister’s direction, taking a huge swallow of liquor, as the room descended into silence.
“Well...I didn’t know you felt that way. I’ll try to keep my concerns and opinions to myself from now on. I apologize. You’re right I don’t know him yet. He seems to be making you happy, and that’s all I want for my little sister. I promise I’ll behave for the rest of the weekend and give Ben a fair shot. Monique is right though, he is fine!”
A tiny smile crept onto Tamara’s face. “He is, isn't he.”
“Crisis averted.” Jessica mumbled, just as Ben made his way from the back door.
“Okay ladies, come and get this grub!”
Chapter Twenty-Two
WHILE THE HOLIDAY HAD gotten off to a shaky start, it ended on a high note. Ben charmed both siblings when it was all said and done. Tanya even gave him a hug goodbye as she left, a far cry from the cool handshake he’d received upon her arrival. Her sister privately said Ben seemed to be a great guy and had given her approval. The crazy woman added if he hurt her, she knew some folks who could make him regret it. Tamara covered her ears at that. As a practitioner of the law, she couldn’t be privy to threats.
She was having a fabulous week coming off the high of the weekend, until Ben called Thursday afternoon. He was letting her know he had to go out of town again. In fact, he was on the way to the airport right then. He’d sounded rushed, a little upset and tired all at the same time. She told him it was okay, to go take care of business and try to rest on the flight before hanging up. Of course, she had been disappointed that she wouldn’t see him for several days, but she understood.
Her understanding came to an abrupt halt when he did the same thing the next week, this time giving her a call on Friday morning out the blue. With another short and vague comment of needing to go out of town suddenly. This excuse wasn’t cutting it this time. Tamara asked what he was working on that required this much travel. He had brushed it off saying it was nothing for her to worry about. That if he had his way this would be the last weekend business would interrupt. That hadn’t satisfied her as he got off the phone.
Her mind kept thinking that maybe she’d scared him off. Buying a man a dog he hadn't asked for and the whole in love thing. Maybe the more he’d thought about it the more it had freaked him out. Ben might have thought she was moving too fast, trying to force him into a long-term commitment. On the other hand, she hadn’t asked him to move in or do anything else for that matter. If he hadn’t wanted the dog or wasn’t in love with her or whatever, he should have said something. Not started keeping secrets.
Tamara kept her fears to herself. Partly out of some weird sense of shame that her relationship might be falling apart. Plus, she was already thinking the worst. Jessica’s brain especially would have gone directly to all the negative possibilities. She didn’t need someone else’s skewed perspective blinding her any more than she already was. There were two conclusions that Tamara kept coming back to:
A-He was rethinking the whole commitment part of the relationship.
B-He was cheating.
Neither option gave her the warm and fuzzies. What she did know for certain is the next time she spoke to him, she was demanding a full explanation. She’d rather know than sit around imagining everything under the sun. Whatever it was, she would deal with it.
TAMARA GOT HER CHANCE to confront Ben sooner than she thought. She hadn't been able to focus Friday after his call and was behind. Saturday she’d been in to much of a funk to do anything productive, so she was using Sunday as her make up day. Boa had been on good behavior as if she sensed her human was in a mood. Tamara rewarded the dog by giving Boa a soft doll-toy to bite and toss around as she worked. So what if she’d written BEN in permanent marker on it beforehand?
That was the mood she found herself in when at three in the afternoon, she heard someone unlocking her door. She hadn’t locked the screen, knowing the dog had to be taken out a few more times before nightfall. Tamara wasn’t bothered figuring it was Ben. No one else would have the nerve to use their key without contacting her. Her second clue was Boa going crazy, with the same happy dance she did when it was feeding time. Her own excitement was considerably less. She didn’t move a muscle, just waited for him to come in.
“It’s just me.” Ben called out, as he locked the door behind him.
He let his bag fall out his tired hand, figuring he’d take it upstairs later. Good thing he did because Boa rushed him. He bent down to rub the excited puppy trying to save his dress pants from her claws. The dog looked as if it had grown since he’d last seen her, which was ridiculous as it had only been three days. Maybe it was just the long, exhau
sting two weeks, messing with his mind. Ben was unreasonably pleased to see Boa was pleased to see him. The dog was over twenty-five pounds now, too big to be lifted up but he did it anyway. Scooping Boa up and rounding the corner, only to find that Tamara did not share the dog’s enthusiasm.
She was laying on the couch while balancing her computer on her lap, with a notepad in one hand. Looking cute in her tank top and shorts, her hair tied towards the front with a colorful scarf. The whole ensemble shouted “relaxing”. Her face however, was anything but. Ben considered himself an astute man most of the time. Her expression and no greeting were clearly signs that something was wrong. Sitting the dog on the floor next to the couch he remained standing. He didn’t know what was going on, but he wasn’t in the best mood either.
“What’s up? You okay?”
“I’m fine. I just wasn’t expecting you...thought you were traveling.” Tamara said flatly, flopping her pad on the table.
“I wanted to surprise you since I finished up early. I was able to get a flight out this morning. I flew directly into CVG airport. I was glad as I don't think I had it in me to drive far right now. Don’t know why I didn’t check sooner if they had a direct flight back from where I was coming, but they did.”
“And where exactly were you coming from?”
“What?” Ben hadn’t expected that question.
“I asked where exactly were you coming from?” Tamara repeated, enunciating each word slowly, closing the laptop before placing it aside and sitting up.
“My business trip, you know that. What does it matter? I’m back now.”
Tamara popped up from the couch so fast she almost tripped over her own feet. It took all her control to stay where she was and not get in his face.
“It apparently matters because you still haven’t told me where you flew from. It’s a simple question that should have a simple answer. I’m not understanding why you can’t answer it?”
“Whoa, let's back up. What’s going on here? I’m lost. Why am I getting the third degree all of a sudden?”
Ben was confused and starting to get pissed. He hadn’t rushed his business to get back to her for this. He’d been expecting open arms, not an inquisition.
“Asking you one question is now giving you the third degree, huh? Why can’t you just answer the question Ben.”
“Tamara...” He hissed out her name as a warning.
“If you want out of this relationship just say so. You know where the door is...use it.”
Ben’s jaw dropped a bit. “What the hell are you talking about? I don’t want out of this relationship. Why would you even say some shit like that?”
“So you do still know how to answer a question.” Tamara taunted. “Answer this one while you at it. Are you cheating on me?”
“No!” Ben stalked closer. “Where the fuck is this coming from?”
Tamara laughed in disbelief, throwing up her crossed arms.
“It’s coming from the fact that you’ve had to go out of town two weeks in a row! Out the blue! Never telling me where and you won't tell me now. What else do you expect me to think!”
When Tamara finished yelling, they heard Boa whine from her bed. The poor thing had ran there when things got animated.
Ben took a couple of steps back, rubbing his hand down his face. “Shit...you got me all wrong. Can we please sit, so I can explain all this? Please?”
She didn’t say anything, but finally sat in the corner of the couch, drawing her knees up against her chest. Ben sat on the opposite end trying to give her the space she obviously wanted. His anger quickly fading, as he realized he’d created this problem.
“First, I’m not cheating on you and would never do that. Two, I don’t want out of this relationship. Why in the world would you think that? We just said we love each other a couple months ago?”
“Exactly. We say we love each other, shack up and do damn family holidays together. Then you disappear the next two weekends. Are you really saying that wasn’t suspicious at all? That it’s nothing I should be concerned with?”
“Looking at it that way I can understand why you might think something was up.”
It had never crossed his mind how it would look, and now he realized it should have. In his defense, it was clear the male and female brains worked differently. He’d told Tamara he loved her and shown her. In his mind that was an absolute not to be questioned, because of two missed weekends due to work.
“Look, I’m sorry the timing of these trips made everything seem shady. The three trips I’ve taken over the last couple of months have been to Jamaica.”
“I should have known. Do you have a girlfriend down there?”
“No, I don’t. Calm down and just listen.” When she snapped her mouth shut, he explained. “Remember when we met, and I told you I was there on business. Well I was. I’m building and opening my own small, exclusive resort. We met on the weekend I was breaking ground on the property.”
“Wait, what? You’re building an entire resort?”
“Yes. It’s been a dream of mine for a few years. I did a lot of research, saved for the property, had plans drawn up by experts in the business and finally got around to making it a reality last November. My goal is to have it open for business this December or early spring at the latest.
Ben gave her a hesitant smile.
“I can handle most things with the twice a week video calls we do. But in the last couple of months we’ve hit a few construction snags that I needed to be on site for. I didn’t have time to explain and didn’t think it mattered. Figured you understood emergency business needs.”
“I do. I knew you had dealings in other states, but I had no clue you were flying out of the country on a regular.” She retorted tightly.
“I can see now, how two back to back trips that came right after everything.” He pointed between them and the dog. “Would make you wonder if I’d meant every word I said. But I do. I was just taking care of some important business. This is one of my life's dreams. Sometimes I’ll have to jump when something involves the resort. Things are getting hectic with everything else that needs to be squared away before I open. I’m sorry for the confusion. I never meant to make you doubt me.”
Tamara unfurled her legs, though her arms stayed crossed.
“Let me get this straight. You’ve been building a brand-new resort in Jamaica, from the day I met you?”
“Yes...” Ben answered slowly. Sensing that this was a trap, but he couldn’t see exactly how.
“One of your life’s dreams, that’s extremely important to you. Something that at this stage may require a lot of your attention. As it should since owning a resort in another country is a big deal.”
”Yeah, it is.” Sheepishly Ben smiled proudly, happy to finally share this with her. “This business means a lot to me. It’s my legacy I’m building here.”
Tamara nodded, her brow drawn tight with thought.
Ben touched her knee. “Are we good now?”
Tamara let out a deep breath, slowly standing up. She was still mad, but her emotions were moving into confused and hurt.
“No, Ben I don’t think we are.”
“Why not? Please don’t tell me you don’t believe me. Let’s not turn this into something bigger than it is.”
“No, I believe that it was business. I know how seriously you take your work and let’s be clear I admire that. What I can’t wrap my mind around is why it’s taken you eight damn months to tell me about it.”
Ben stood up to pace. “It was just an oversight. I tell you enough about my other work. It just never really came up.”
“Bullshit Ben and you know it. This isn’t just some “regular” work. You said it yourself. You’ve spent years working towards this. Yet, you chose not to share it with me! The person that you claim to love.”
“I don’t claim to love you, I do. Though, I’m finding it hard right now. I don’t have to tell you every detail of my personal business.”
/> “There it is! You think building a resort is your personal business. That it’s not worth sharing with your significant other.”
“Didn’t feel I needed to tell you yet! It’s not finished and despite my best efforts it still might not get off the ground on time. I just didn’t want to bother you with the details.”
“So much for that crap about us “being in this together”. It’s just like when you were mad at me, thinking I didn’t want you to meet my friends. You accused me of only wanting you in one part of my life. Isn’t this exactly what you’ve just done?”
Tamara let out a rueful laugh.
“You can share a house with me, responsibility of a dog, but can’t share your life’s dream. That doesn’t sound like you trust me, now does it?”
“I think you’re being unreasonable. The fact that I do share all those other things with you is proof that I trust you. I really didn’t expect all this drama from you over this! I’m a man trying to build something. Not running the streets with other women. Give me a damn break!”
“Do you even hear yourself right now, and you’re calling me the unreasonable one? You had to work hard to keep this from me for almost a damn year. You admitted this is a large and complex project. And that you’ve had your hands in it weekly. Yet it ‘never came up’. Don’t fucking insult me by thinking I’m that stupid. What was the real reason you kept it from me? You didn’t want me to see dollar signs, or was it that you didn’t believe I’d support you? I don’t appreciate being lumped in with your non-appreciative, gold-digging mama!”
Ben moved forward. “God damnit, Tamara watch your mouth!”
Boa was suddenly by Tamara’s side, issuing a low growl in Ben’s direction. That seemed to snap them both back. Tamara leaned down to comfort the dog, while Ben turned his back, trying to calm down.
“Do you really believe I think of you that way? Come on!” Ben shook his head at the very thought.”