“But I do. I got this covered.”
Regina hugged her as Nigel put the movie in for Andre. Michelle watched Nigel set the alarm, and then both were gone.
Michelle relaxed a bit for the first time in almost a week. After what had happened earlier in the week, her nerves were frayed, and being away from home in a place that was secure felt like a bath of warm water.
Since the letter from Lucius, there had been a couple of other calls. The last one was a week ago, the night before the Kennedy Center. Lucius had been sober that time, but just as disparaging. He rattled off the same nonsense he had the first time and then hung up on her when she started to tell him to leave her alone. She sent emails to her lawyer after each call, and they were supposed to be checking her phone records to trace them to Lucius. But he was probably too smart to call from his own phone.
She was tired of being rattled by him. Back in the day before they were married, she had been good at letting him know what was what—not only two cents but a whole dollar’s worth. Something had changed that, and she needed to change it back. She would also be getting caller ID after her next payday. She’d simply have to redo her budget and add more to the phone bill. Or she’d get rid of her landline altogether; he’d never called her cell phone.
She could ignore the calls, but she couldn’t ignore what had happened Tuesday morning.
She had gotten up early to get ready for her shift at work and went into the kitchen to put on a pot of coffee and pull out something for Andre’s breakfast. She’d flipped on the dining room light on her way in to shower before waking Andre, and that was when her whole day had changed.
In the middle of her dining table was a dead rat. It was held down by a large steel two-pronged fork, the one from her barbecue set. The fork was narrow and had pierced the body of the rat, and the tines were buried in the wood of her table. She’d taken a step closer, half expecting to see maggots crawling over the dead carcass. But it was a fresh kill; the side of the rat’s head was bashed in.
It could only be Lucius. The black hole had bled into her universe.
She’d glanced toward the front door and saw that it was open. He had been there—he or someone he had gotten to do this. If it was him, he was there in the D.C. area and had been in her apartment.
Michelle had dashed to Andre’s room and pushed open the door.
He was there. Thank God.
She had gone to her room and gotten her cell phone. She had come back to Andre’s room, locked them in and dialed 911 as she shook his shoulders to wake him.
Andre hadn’t gotten a bath that day. She’d called Mrs. Miller to come get him before school and covered the dining table with a blanket while he was on the way out. She had handed him a cold bagel and his lunch sandwich. He was being led down the walk as the police came up it, and she’d been at her door to greet them.
She had showed them the dining table and explained about her ex-husband, Lucius. They’d been consoling but didn’t seem to have enough to go on. One had asked if she had heard anything in the night. No, she hadn’t. The other had asked if she’d seen who did it. Well, no, she hadn’t. But she had already told them the only person it could be.
She had called work and stayed home. A detective had come and dusted for prints. The door had been pried open. No prints there. The handle of the fork. Nothing. They’d taken pictures, and she’d gotten a few on her phone, as well. In the end, a police report had been filed, and they’d said they would increase patrol of the neighborhood. Without more evidence that it was Lucius, there was nothing else they could do. Nothing.
“Could you take it away?” she had asked one of the officers.
“Yeah,” he’d said, clearly thinking that this was never in his job description. “We’ll get rid of it.”
She had called to get the door fixed, called her building manager about the open front door, emailed her lawyer and sent her the photos she’d taken with her phone and searched online for alarm systems. She’d poured bleach over the dining table and scrubbed, but that wouldn’t do. She had gone to Target, checked prices of dining tables and ended up getting a stack of plastic tablecloths. The new table would have to wait a payday or two. It was more important to get the alarm system she had decided on. She had taken their earliest installation appointment.
She’d gone back home and checked every room in case there was anything else. Then she’d showered and tried to pull herself together for when Andre came home. She’d be picking him up herself.
She had almost skipped her Wednesday evening class after that. And she’d almost canceled her date with Rashad for that weekend, as well. But if Lucius was in the D.C. area, he didn’t show himself, so she’d gone on with her life as normal—at least as much as that was possible.
It was still a relief to be away from her apartment for a bit, and she was glad to babysit for her cousin. When Nigel and Regina got home, they chatted, which took her mind away from her problems for a while. She went to her job from their house on Saturday. When she got off, Rashad was supposed to meet her at the coffeehouse.
After her shift, she changed out of her work clothes into jeans. She had brought an orange turtleneck and a rust sweater to go with it, and she put on some makeup. It was nothing fancy, but they didn’t have extravagant plans for the evening. She’d made it clear that she had to get home fairly early—to be ready for work the next day, she said.
Actually, she was a bit surprised that he still wanted to go out. They wouldn’t be able to do anything later on if she had to be home early. He didn’t seem to consider that at all; it was simply enough for him to see her. This man was recharting her world, and he didn’t even seem to know it.
Michelle found Rashad loitering by the display of prepackaged coffees when she came out of the bathroom after changing.
He smiled at her and kissed her lightly on the lips.
One of her staff members was behind the counter and mouthed “hottie” at her behind Rashad’s back. Michelle mouthed “back to work” at her, pointed to a customer at the counter and gave her a “you better” look.
The employee shuffled toward the customer with a smirk on her face.
“One of your subordinates?”
“I prefer coworkers, and yes. She thinks you’re a hottie.”
“I hope her boss thinks so, too.”
Rashad put his arm around her, and they started out. Michelle had picked a place close by for them to have dinner.
“Have you to been to Kramerbooks & Afterwords before?”
“Only to the bookstore. My brother Marcus, the gay one, used to come here all the time when Lambda Rising was open. It was a gay and lesbian bookstore and a landmark. I can’t believe they closed down.”
“Oh, I hadn’t heard of it.”
“Before your time.”
“I do know that there used to be a sex store called the Pleasure Chest up Connecticut Avenue across the street.”
“Hmm. And how did you happen upon this information?”
“What are you insinuating?”
“Just wondering.”
“Well, a coworker told me.”
“That’s innocent enough. I just wanted to be sure no one else took you there. You have...gadgets, don’t you?”
Michelle poked her finger into Rashad’s chest. “Don’t snoop around my nightstand. My private stuff is...private.”
“Ha! Now I know where to look. Note to self. Check inside Michelle’s nightstand to gauge the competition.”
“It’s not competition.”
“I know,” he said, looking into her eyes. “God, you’re beautiful.”
“And you don’t have any competition.”
In response, Rashad pulled her toward him and kissed her.
They browsed in Kramerbooks while they waited to be seated. Mic
helle looked around them and peered out the front window of the bookstore. Rashad drew her attention back to him by cupping her chin and bringing her lips to his.
“You know, they have another one of those stores in Georgetown. I can take you one day, and we can get something to play with.”
The thought of being in a sex store with Rashad made Michelle blush. “Maybe.”
“Okay.”
“And how do you know about these places?” Michelle asked. “Have you ever taken anybody to one?”
“Never. And everybody knows about them. I learned about them from my roommate in college. Actually, I’ve never used a plaything with anyone before. But I’d like to try with you.”
All this talk about sex toys, along with Rashad’s kisses and the way he was staring into her eyes, was making Michelle a little randy. As they were seated, she decided to turn the conversation to other topics.
It was a mild early November evening but still too cold to sit outside, and they got seats next to the window in the restaurant. Instead of changing the conversation, though, Michelle found herself staring out the window, looking for any shifty figures that might be hanging about. When she realized this, she let out a breath and shook her head. She needed to be in the moment.
Rashad had simply been looking at her.
“What’s on your mind?”
“Nothing. Everything.” She shrugged, not knowing what to say. She wanted to tell him about the calls, the rat, the black hole that seemed to be opening into her life, but she just couldn’t. She hadn’t even told Nigel and Regina. She hadn’t told her mother. She hadn’t told anyone. And Rashad was the last person who needed to know. Being harassed by an ex-husband didn’t make her particularly appealing as a girlfriend. She not only had an ex; she had problems with him. If that didn’t send Rashad flying, it would still just draw him into her problems, drag him down.
“Tell me.”
There was part of her that wanted to, but reason got the better of her. She could handle it better without people knowing.
Michelle shook her head. “Nothing I want to talk about. Just a lot on my plate.”
Rashad looked at her carefully. “I can imagine.” He had covered her hand with his on top of the small café table, and now he was rubbing her fingers. “Maybe I can help. I can at least listen.”
“It’s nothing. I’m just distracted. I should call and check on Andre.” She started to get up from the table but stopped. “He’s with my cousin Nigel and his wife. I’m sure he’s fine.” She settled back down in her seat.
Rashad was still looking at her closely. She had been anxious since the rat thing on Tuesday. She hoped it didn’t show, but from the way Rashad was looking at her, it probably did. If she kept this up, she could mess things up between them. Damn her ex-husband.
“What are you thinking?” Michelle asked. “I can’t tell.”
“I was thinking that I want you to be able to tell me everything. I want to be part of your life. And I was thinking that you’re so incredibly beautiful that I want to take you home and make love to you.”
Michelle felt her face get hot. She felt herself smile.
“I know you have to get home early,” Rashad added. “I’m just telling you what I was thinking.”
“Okay.”
For the rest of dinner, they talked about general topics—their art class getting ready to end, comments they got on their second portfolio submissions, how Andre was doing in school, what website Rashad was working on for his job.
It was basic stuff, but it drew them together, let them know something about each other’s lives.
They parted at her car because she was heading to Nigel’s to get Andre. She realized that she had felt safer being with Rashad than she’d felt in a while. For that reason and others, she didn’t want the night to end.
She drew his head down for a final kiss, sucking in his full, moist lips. The look in his eyes when she released him made her juices flow.
“I wish I could go home with you,” Michelle said. She had half a mind to call Regina and see if Andre could stay another night.
“So do I,” Rashad said, “but we will. Soon.”
Michelle got into her car and started toward Regina’s, already missing Rashad.
Chapter 10
Rashad rotated in his chair, turning from one computer to another, backing up his work and shutting them down. He had the phone to his ear as he worked.
“Hey, beautiful.”
“Hey,” Michelle answered.
“I’m just finishing up some work at the office.”
It was Saturday, and he had special plans with Michelle. But the web design firm also had a big client coming in on Monday, so he had come in early to take care of some details before their presentation pitch.
The agency about to hire them had sent sample photographs for use on their site. These all had to be cropped and resized. He also needed to finalize graphics for the prototype of the site that they would be showing to the clients, and this meant building drop-down menus that would be added to the last set of diagrams for several of the pages. When his changes were done, he also had to print the new web design mock-ups and leave them so they could be mounted on boards Monday morning with the rest.
He had finished all of this, and as much as he loved his work, he was ready to start the rest of his day.
“I’ll be on my way in a few minutes. Are we still on?”
There was a pause, which worried him.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” Michelle asked.
“Are you kidding? I already got our tickets. We have an entry time for the aquarium and everything. What’s up?”
“Nothing. I just don’t want you to do this if you don’t want to.”
“And I wouldn’t want to because...?”
“I don’t know.”
Rashad thought he knew the real reason Michelle was concerned.
“Look, if you’re worried about your son getting attached to someone—”
“It’s not that. He knows you’re Mommy’s friend.”
“And you should know that I won’t make any promises that I don’t plan to keep.”
“It’s not that. I just want to make sure that you really want to give up your day to...do this.”
“I don’t want anything more.”
“Okay,” Michelle said. She didn’t really sound convinced, but she was at least willing to suspend her disbelief. “Then we’re on. But if you get there and want to end early or call it day, you say. No judgments.”
“That won’t happen, but, yes, I’ll say.”
“Deal,” Michelle said.
“See you in a few.”
Rashad placed the phone back in its cradle, stood, stretched and strode into the hall. The offices of the design firm were empty except for him and one other person. He was on his way to tell his coworker that he was leaving. As he padded silently on the plush carpet and rounded the mahogany reception counter, he took in the posh landscape of the lucrative little firm and reminded himself that one day he would have his own graphic and web design company. In fact, he was already well on his way.
He rapped on a door down the hall before announcing that he was on his way out. Then he deposited the printouts for mounting at the front desk and took the elevator down to the parking garage.
When he got to Michelle’s, she was looking out the window of her apartment. He waved at her, and after she spotted him, she signaled for him to stay where he was. They were coming down—they being Michelle and Andre.
Rashad got out of his car to greet them as they came down the walkway from the apartment building. Michelle had a tentative look on her face and was holding the hand of a little boy dressed in blue corduroys, a polo shirt, a heavy pullover sweater and a sca
rf. She released his hand as they approached the car.
Rashad tried to imagine what he looked like to a four-year-old boy. He wore khaki pants, a white shirt and a navy windbreaker—nothing formal or stuffy. He had done that deliberately so he wouldn’t seem off-putting to a child. Now he realized how much he wanted to make a good impression.
Rashad smiled, not knowing whether a hello kiss would be appropriate in front of Andre. Michelle solved his dilemma by hugging him hello and exchanging a brief, chaste kiss with him.
“Rashad, this is my son, Andre.”
“Hello, Andre.”
Andre hung back behind his mother, close to her leg, almost peeking out at him from behind her.
“Andre, this is my friend Rashad. Can you say hello to Rashad?”
Andre nodded without saying anything. Rashad laughed.
“Rashad is the one who brought you those toys, including the computer tablet you don’t let out of your sight. Say thank you to Rashad.”
“Thank you.”
“You’re very welcome. I brought something else to break the ice.” Rashad reached into his car and drew out two books. “These are for you.”
Andre came forward to take the books, and Rashad squatted and scooped Andre onto his knee. “This is one about the kinds of things we’re going to see today. It’s a talking book, so you can press the box on each page, and it tells you what the picture is.” He let Andre press a box. He flipped some of the pages. Then he let Andre flip the pages himself and press more boxes. “You can look at this one on the way so that you’re ready when we get there. You like it?”
Andre nodded.
Rashad switched the books. “This one is for you to read. It’s a book made to help people learn how to read, but it has multicultural images in it so you can learn about different cultures, as well. Each frame is a letter, and when you put the letters together, you get a word, and it shows you how different cultures see that word. Do you know letters?”
Andre nodded again.
“What’s this one?”
“It’s a B.”
In His Arms Page 9