“It was that way when I moved in, and I thought it was sort of cool so I decided to keep it.”
“I see.”
“No you don't. Anyway, can you explain to me why that computer has access to your bedroom? I can understand the rest of the house, but don't you think your bedroom should be off limits?”
“Chicks dig all that hi tech bling-bling.”
“You can't be serious.”
“Just playing. But if you must know, Boney has a way of keeping all the little things straight.”
“Even in your bedroom?”
“Yeah.”
“So, do you and HAL always sleep together?”
“Real funny, but if you must know, he keeps a watchful eye over me while I'm sleeping.”
“Isn't that what ADT is for?”
“They're not at that level yet, besides, I don't hafta pay Boney a dime for his services. But seeing how you're redecorating my house...”
“I'm not decorating, I'm blessing."
“That's what I want to talk to you about. I mean; what's up with all this fung way stuff?”
“Feng Shui which is pronounced fung schway, or Feng Shunment shui?”
“That's what I meant to say. So what is it?”
“Good question, Feng Shui is the ancient Chinese art of manipulating and arranging your surroundings to attract positive life energy, or chi, so that it flows smoothly, unblocking any obstructions in your body and environment.”
“Knew you were deep.”
“This isn't deep.”
“Sounds it to me.”
“Feng Shui evolved from the theory that people are affected for better or worse by their surroundings.”
“It’s like having good Karma.” I asked curiously.
“Something likes that. But when you Feng Shui your home or work place, Baby it’s like you’re telling the whole Universe or God, Buddha, Allah or whatever greater power you feel connected to exactly what you want in your life.”
I gave every word that came out of Septembers mouth some thought before I decided to keep the feng shui thing to a minimum as far as my house was concerned. My luck, or my karma as she put it wasn't so bad that I needed her to bless my entire house. Thankfully she didn't get all bent out of shape over my decision; instead she managed to convince me into making a few changes that would bring more love and peace into my life. I guess one can never have enough of that, but when it was all said and done for, I wanted to tell her that I felt love and peacefulness whenever she was around.
Love ain’t got know right
The Middle East may have been a sore spot for most people; however the business opportunities in that historically tumultuous region were too enormous to be ignored. No entrepreneur in his right mind would turn down a chance to grow his or hers business when a wealthy Sheikh came a calling. Evidently, my strong relationship with that oil company in Alaska was starting to pay off in a big way. A year after that engagement, a twenty-five year old billionaire who called Dubai his home, summoned me to cater a high priced ball for all of his western-based associates. The last thing I heard before I jumped on his plane was: “Money is not an object, can you do it?”
Two and half weeks later, I was preparing to return home looking and feeling exhausted after that same Sheikh politely lent me out to a wealthy Arab friend of his who was looking to impress some of his Asian associates. I flirted with the idea of not taking it; however the amount of money that was offered was a little too much for me to turn down. After taking a day off to explore Dubai, I was off to a privately owned island in the Mediterranean Sea whereas I worked my ass off from sun up to sun down. In the end, I would never again watch another episode of Lost. Everybody involved ended up happy, the Sheikh, his friend and my bank account.
I eventually landed back in Atlanta where the summer and everything that came with it had passed me by without notice. Fall and a serious vacation were on the horizon. However my professional life took a hard right, and started to travel at the speed of light. Final destinations: unsure. Not even captain Kirk and his beloved starship Enterprise could keep up with me. It was as if taking that gig in Dubai equaled pushing a fast forward button on a DVD player. My business was in high demand from Asia to the dark continent of Africa. I shouldn’t have been too surprised by these developments seeing how I had planted the seeds. However, the success overwhelmed my people.
As September put it over the phone one night, “Baby, you’re lean, creative, and efficient without any real type of overhead to bog you down.”
I was flattered by that remark, but if work wasn't challenging enough, maintaining a meaningful relationship with her made my life even more complicated. And as always, life with its unpredictable give and take behavior slowed me down just enough to collect. The first to go was my hard earned relationship with my children. The decline started off diminutive and unnoticeable before it suddenly became undone right before my very eyes. Like every good father, I tried calling them a little more, but we ended up playing a bad game of international phone tag. Even emailing and instant messaging, which usually worked in a pinch, came up short. A born project manager, I tried to apply this God given skill to the problem. However the power of guilt quickly dismantled all of my project management fundamentals. In the end, that local bridge become that legendary bridge afar. Faced with failure, I decided to do the unthinkable-I gave up trying to be a part of my children’s lives until I had the proper amount of time and a much better game plan.
Next to disappear from life were my friendships with Zackary and Michael. It was old news since I hadn’t spoken to Zackary in months; which meant I didn’t have a chance to tell him that my feelings about his relationship with Sarah had changed. I understood the silent treatment and the sour taste on my lips that kept surfacing whenever Michael and I talked about him. This alone was an uncomfortable situation seeing how Zackary and Michael where still congregating without me. It was as if I didn’t exist whenever they got together. I came to this conclusion by the way Michael talked about Zackary whenever the subject came up. Whereas I mentioned his name in the past present tense, Michael would mention his name as if they had talked just the other day. This irked me enough to voice my opinion about the whole thing to Michael, who politely informed me that I was being insanely childish over the matter. Of course I took offense to this and retaliated with a bunch of cutting words that effectively ended our friendship. It took me at least a month to swallow my shame before I could rationalize my adolescent behavior. In the end, I concluded that I had no real ground to stand on when it came to the scrape with Michael. Therefore, Michael and I knowingly went our separate ways without either one of us attempting to resolve the real issue.
I shared my feelings on the lost of my friends with September and she said, “Baby, sometimes friends grow apart so they can grow back together as a tighter unit. It’s called a relationship Omari. Just don’t let something catastrophic be the reason why you guys find each other again.”
At the beginning of the month of September, I finally took time off to smell and taste my recent rash of success. It tasted so good that I decided to reward my staff by sending them all on a two week paid vacation that included a nice a little cash bonus. After they were gone, the real September and I flirted with the idea of traveling to some small out of the way island in the Caribbean so that we could spend some much needed time together. Communicating over the phone or the Internet grew old and rather numbing. Seeing her in person for a few days would be like a fresh breath of air. Nevertheless some of those long distance calls relieved and comforted me when I was down and wanted to come home. It was as if her voice, British accent and all, was like an honest to God lifeline. Her quirky but rather informative emails took the place of my New York Times and my Washington Post during those lonely mornings.
The thing that I enjoyed the most while we were apart were her eloquently handwritten love letters that seemed to magically find me no matter where I was at in the world. Her
profound thoughts that dealt with healing those that needed healing, and her longing for me often carried me through many of rough days. September’s affection had become my Easy Button, because when things got really difficult, or just way too much for me to bear, I often pulled out one of her letters and found my center. The idea of having her in person felt like turning eighteen all over again.
Uncertain about our vacation destination, we where out and about town when we decided that traveling abroad as a new couple would incorporate a few awkward moments that might interfere with our need to bond. Honestly, it didn’t matter to me where we went; I just wanted to be with or around her. If a trip to the moon was our final destination, I was going to leave that arid place with a t-shirt that boosted; I did the moon…what!
In the end, September’s proposal sort of caught me off guard when she suggested that we visit a small, but quiet out of the way place. The fewer the distractions the better she sighed before waiting for my response. That response came slow and deliberate because she accomplished something that no other women had done with me before. Not even Olivia with her always on the go spirit made the time to really learn who and what I really was. While September made it her business to learn me every chance she got. As a result, she figured out that I was and always will be a homebody. I traveled abroad only because I had to, and when the time came when I didn’t have to hop on a plane to make somebody else’s dreams come true was going to be happy day indeed.
I agreed with her suggestion and on the way back to my place, I asked if she had a specific place in mind outside of our individual homes. An innocent blank stare told me that it was going to be up to me to make our first get away a reality. Not wanting to work that hard, I once again offered another expensive trip to some over priced money trap, however impressed, September declined.
“I see,” I said as we entered my garden and found our usual comfort zone. “Okay, I can do this…I mean c’mon…I can handle this. But um, I think I’m going to need a little motivation on your part if you know what I mean.”
September allowed an energetic smile to form before she leaned over and placed a small but gentle kiss on my lips. Feeling needed and desired, I decided that I wanted more, so I scooted over next to her and requested another kiss as if they were worth a million. Blushing from ear to ear, September’s juicy lips found mines and gave me all the motivation I needed.
“Man that’s some good stuff there,” I whispered before an idea suddenly came to mind. “I got it,” I said before I reached for my MDA.
“Where, where,” She giggled before she hoped into my lap.
“About a year ago, my supercilious lawyer…”
“That’s the argy bargy one with the hard looking face right?”
“Argy bargy, heaven help me if she ever hears that from me, anyway, she decided to buy a time share down on the coast.”
“The coast of…”
“Georgia silly; anyway it’s a really small place named St. Simons Island and…”
“I see, so the Mediterranean wasn’t good enough for you.”
“Don’t get me wrong, that was something to see, but nothing can compare to home.”
“I guess.”
“Looking for drama are you? Don’t answer that. The truth of the matter is; I really enjoyed that place the last time I was there.”
“Are we talking Pebble Beach or Gilligan’s Island Omari?”
“A little bit of both, I mean, it’s a charming place, besides, you’re into that natural beauty that encourages quiet reflection right?” I chuckled before I pinched her round bottom.
“I like that,” September giggled before she returned the favor.
“So what’s up, you wanna try it?”
She allowed cautious smile to form, “I hate to go here, but did you take somebody else to this little Gilligan Island retreat of yours?”
“Look, it’s like this, Sharon was trying to get me to invest in this property with her, and so she allowed me to use it for a weekend to see if I would like it.”
“By yourself?”
“No, me and my friends went, but to be honest. While I was there, I secretly wished I could’ve been there with somebody like you.”
September studied me closely before she decided that I was telling the truth. Afterward, she stood up and kissed me on the forehead and said, “Look, I’m no virgin, and nor am I some perfect person that you can hang your hat on, however, nobody wants to be made to feel typical.”
“I would never do that, besides, you feel perfect for me. So, can we do this or what?”
“These two feet of mines are in.”
“Cool, lemme give Sharon a call.”
When I offered to send Sharon and Cece on vacation, Cece and her husband decided on a reasonably priced cruise to the Bahamas, whereas Sharon went for broke and requested a trip to South Africa of all places. She said something about going on a once in lifetime safari. My initial response to that request was, “Hell No! How about Hawaii?”
Of course Sharon didn’t betray her true feelings. She never did. But to keep the peace between us she agreed on the trip to Hawaii only if she could include her mother and father. I knew that I was being hustled from the start, that’s what every good lawyer does, however Sharon was a rising star that I wanted to keep on the payroll. Therefore, I had agreed with her terms with a few conditions. One of those conditions stated that she had to keep her cell phone with her at all times in case I needed to get in touch with her. Sharon had a bad habit of making her phone disappear whenever she was out of town. With that condition in mind, I called her up and asked if I could utilize her seaside bungalow for a few days. Even on a vacation that she didn’t pay for, Sharon came across as business as usual. Which meant it took me every bit of two hours to negotiate my way into using that bungalow of hers.
Feeling good about our destination, and the fact that I didn’t have to give Sharon anything of real value, I went to tell September the good news, but discovered her asleep in my bed. Before I left for the Middle East a couple of months back, I noticed this sleeping on a dime behavior. One moment she would be wide awake and full of fire, and in a blink of an eye she’d be knocked the hell out. Initially, I didn’t pay this strange behavioral any mind until she fell asleep on me while we were at an amusement park. That happened during the middle of the day, on one of those super scary roller coasters. At first I thought she might have been pregnant, but I gave up on that assumption after I discovered one of her sanitary napkins that suggested likewise. She wasn’t moonlighting or hanging out late because she was either with me, at the recreational center, or at work. That made it easy for me to disregard this little quirk of hers. And because it afforded me the opportunity to examine all that she was without me feeling like some obsessed ogre.
An hour or two passed before I finally decided to wake her out of her coma-like sleep. As usual September returned to the real world appearing shocked and dismayed as if she had been trapped in a perpetual nightmare. I hated this part of her quirk because it made me feel like there might have been something seriously wrong with her. Just the idea of that being remotely true scared me senseless, so I embraced her clammy body long enough to assure her that everything was okay. Generally, that’s all it took, and that day was no different because a few minutes later September was bright eyed and bushy tailed as always.
“Everything is all setup, all we need to do is hit the road,” I said as I watched her bounced around my place as if nothing had happened. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine, can we stop by my house so I can get a few girlie items.”
“No sir, this is a spur of the moment trip, which means we’re taking nothing but the clothes on our backs.”
“Nothing?”
“Nothing but my bike, and a credit card, are you down or what?”
“You don’t have to ask me twice,” she chuckled before she pulled me close and said those words that I had been dying to hear from her. “Do you have any ide
a what’s happening to me Omari Willingham?”
“You’re nervous about riding on the back of my motorcycle aren’t you?”
“Not at all,” she replied confidently.
“Look, its okay if you are, but keep this in mind, I did the entire Autobahn without having a single mishap, so you’re going to be pretty safe with me as long as don’t fall asleep while we’re on the…”
“I’m falling seriously in love you.”
“Maybe we shouldn’t take the bike.”
“Did you hear me?”
“I mean, yeah, you said…”
“I said I’m falling in love with you.”
With a lowered head, I tried my best to keep my emotions in check because I had been waiting to hear those words. The idea that somebody actually loved me or was falling in love with me made me feels proud, and wanted.
“Can I tell you something funny, without you laughing at me September.”
“Why would I laugh Omari?”
“Maybe because I think I’ve always loved you.”
“I wish you wouldn’t lower your head like that Baby.” September whispered before she reached out and raised my head. “I’m the lucky one, you understand me?”
I understood all that she said; however love with all of its meticulous profound ways had already conquered me. And I don’t think it had to work that hard to achieve this, because I have always felt crazy special whenever I was around her. Was this love that I was feeling, or was this infatuation disguised as love? Even if what I felt was that time-honored ruse that had fooled so many others, I really didn’t mind. I decided not to challenge or investigate; instead I was going to ride it out to the best of my abilities. I grabbed her soft hands and kissed them gently enough to express my complete devotion.
“Its crazy right, I mean, you are all I ever think about. I mean, we haven’t even made love yet, and it feels like you’re a part of me.”
September’s entire body seemed to rock back on its foundation. A kiss to remember her by followed while previously kept words of desire and affection where silently whispered into my ear. Finally, my love for her had been acknowledged and accepted, so I was safe from that asshole properly named Rejection. The only thing left for us to do was to complete a six-hour ride to Gilligan’s Island.
The Other Side of My Kitchen Page 25