The Look of Love

by Crystal B. Bright

  A stray hair escaped from Gunnar’s messy ponytail. Eboni had to fight the urge to secure it back behind his ear. She shouldn’t care what he looked like or about making him happy. He certainly hadn’t thought about her when he’d left.

  “But I’ll go.” Gunnar turned down the street and headed to the center. “I don’t want you thinking I’m inflexible. A lot can be said for someone who recognizes his mistakes and wants to right the wrongs of the past.”

  Eboni stared at him. She couldn’t get drawn into Gunnar’s web and world again. She had no doubt in her mind that once Elizabeth got better and came home, he would be out of Virginia and back in Vegas fighting again.

  Gunnar pulled into the sparsely filled parking lot of the Oceanfront Community Center. “So far looking exactly like it did when I was here.” He turned off his rental and got out first.

  He crossed the front of the SUV and opened Eboni’s door. He’d been here less than a day and she’d already gotten used to him opening doors for her. That alone should make her feel uncomfortable. Eboni couldn’t get used to him and his ways. Disappointment always followed her complacency.

  As he’d done before, he helped her out and escorted her over the slick terrain to the building. The automatic doors did Gunnar’s job. He allowed her to walk inside first and followed her.

  The sounds of basketballs dribbling off hardwood floors echoed through the open floor plan. A circular ramp ran up the right side of the wall to the upstairs area.

  “That used to be the game room up there.” Gunnar pointed up.

  “There are a couple of game rooms still up there. Mainly there are classrooms. They teach nutrition classes here, sewing, knitting.”

  Gunnar snickered. “That sounds great for a kid.”

  Eboni fought to keep from rolling her eyes. “Children aren’t the only ones who use this center.” After speaking to the man at the front desk, she led Gunnar to the upstairs area.

  She showed him the classrooms first. Paint peeled from the walls in every room.

  “Besides a basic sprucing up of the place, it also needs equipment.” She touched a sewing machine. “I think your mother donated this machine from her boutique.”

  “So my mother has done a lot for the center.”

  Again, Eboni kept herself from commenting and rolling her eyes. “The games in this room may have been here when you and I used to come here as kids.” She pointed out the stacks of game boxes in the next room. “Some pieces are missing.” Eboni walked him over to a platform overlooking the empty swimming pool. “The pool has been broken for over a year. Not enough money in the budget to repair it.”

  Gunnar remained quiet throughout the sad tour until Eboni brought him to the basketball courts. The players’ sneakers squeaked across the glossy hardwood floor as they played.

  “The nets all need to be restrung. And the floor needs--”

  “Okay, I get it. The place needs work.” Gunnar turned around and headed to the front door.

  Eboni had to step up her walk to a trot to keep up with him. “It’s a school day, so you can’t see all the kids that are normally here.”

  Gunnar burst through the door and stomped to his vehicle. He glanced to the side. “What about them?”

  A group of teenage boys hung around the back of the center by the dumpster.

  “Probably skipping school.”

  Gunnar shook his head. “Maybe the place should be leveled and made into a park or a parking lot.” He unlocked and opened Eboni’s door.

  “That’s your answer? Make something that could help people into a parking lot?” Without his assistance, she jumped into the passenger seat. When he got into the driver’s side, she lit into him. “What happened to you? I mean really. You turned your life around when you were here. Then all of the sudden, you had to go. It was like you lost your heart.”

  Gunnar stared at her for a moment before pulling out of the spot and driving back to his mother’s home without saying a word.

  “I knew it.” Eboni settled back into the seat. “You’re a cruel, heartless man who doesn’t give a damn about children or your community or anything else but yourself. I wish you hadn’t come back home.”

  Eboni didn’t care if he stopped in the middle of the road and put her out of his vehicle. She’d tried making the best out of the situation. He made it impossible by offering no explanation or showing any compassion.

  After the grocery trip and a very long nap, Eboni decided to take a bath before making herself dinner. Eboni needed and deserved a break. She had hoped that she would be in Queen’s home without intrusion.

  Eboni had had no idea an apartment even existed in Queen’s two-story detached garage. She hoped that Gunnar had his own kitchen within that apartment. He must since he’d taken his food directly to his place when they got back to Queen’s house.

  Before submerging herself into the balmy water, Eboni thought about Gunnar. It hurt her that with one call from his mother, he came back home. He couldn’t make that same sacrifice for her. Why hadn’t she rated as someone just as special to him?

  Eboni stripped and climbed into the pink bathtub. She laughed thinking about Gunnar and his equally hulking brothers bathing in this pink tub and matching pink bathroom. Queen Elizabeth epitomized girlie.

  After her bath, she dried herself and wrapped a robe around her body. She heard a light tapping against the window. She opened the blinds to discover heavy sleeting rain pelting against the glass. Something else caught her attention. Across from her, she saw Gunnar in what must be the bedroom.

  He walked around shirtless. From her vantage point, it looked like he had a towel wrapped around his waist. He must have just gotten out of a bath or shower, too. His blond hair looked almost dark brown as it lay wet against his face. He pushed his hand over his hair to get it out of his eyes.

  Eboni had to lick her lips as stared at his shiny body. His muscles seemed bigger and more defined. In her head, she calculated the number of steps it would take to get to his room.

  In that moment, Gunnar glanced over. He did a double take when he caught Eboni staring at him. Instead of closing his blinds, he returned her stare with an intense one. He braced his hands against the window pane.

  Eboni’s breathing increased. She chewed on her lower lip as her body warred with her to go over to see him. Then she thought about their last conversation before he’d left to start his fighting career. She recalled him walking away from her without a thought in his head about what she had going on in her life at that time. He didn’t care about her.

  Eboni had to love herself more not to get caught in his life again. She reached up and twisted a rod next to the blinds to close them again. She had to stay as far away from that man as possible or she could risk another heartbreak. She couldn’t go through that again.

  * * * *

  Gunnar should be filled with a renewed spirit. After visiting with his mother last night and seeing her full of hope, he should have gone into surgery day feeling positive. Instead, he felt helpless. If he could, he wanted to be in the operating room with the doctor and staff even if wiping sweat off the doctor’s brow had been his only function.

  It didn’t surprise him that Eboni came to the hospital. She did care about Elizabeth, almost as much as Gunnar and his brothers.

  He refused to let Eboni’s harsh words from yesterday cloud his mind. She assessed him based on his actions as a young, dumb eighteen-year-old who had only focused on himself. She wouldn’t even give him a chance to show a different side of himself. Gunnar had to concentrate on his mother right now.

  Gunnar sat in the room where his mother would be returning after her procedure. His phone and hers had not stopped ringing since the surgery had started. He reassured the parties on the other line that Queen Elizabeth would be okay and, no, she hadn’t gotten out of surgery yet, but they had hope she would be fine.

  Gunnar’s knee bounced as he kept his stare to the floor. Tha
t same glazed-over feeling he would get during his fights happened again. He concentrated on a small dark fleck in the pattern on the tile floor. His mind went blank except for that black speck. If he allowed his thoughts to gain freedom, he would only think of his mother, the surgery, and the possible consequences.

  “Gunnar!”

  His name being shouted snapped him out of his concentration. He peered up and stared at Eboni who sat across from him.

  “You want something to eat or drink?” She held up her purse.

  He shook his head, too afraid to speak until he got confirmation of his mother’s condition. Gunnar squeezed his hands into fists, trying to relieve the ache he felt in them. Right now, he would kill to have a heavy bag to work out some of his anxiety.

  “What if she doesn’t…” He let the words trail off.

  “Hey, hey.” Eboni went to him and crouched down to meet him at eye level. “Don’t think that way. They don’t call her Queen Elizabeth because she wears a lot of jewelry.”

  Gunnar peered up and stared into Eboni’s soulful eyes.

  “She’s a strong woman. You have to think positive.” She kept her stare on him as though trying to make sure he understood every word she’d said.

  Gunnar took notice of her slender neck, her full lips, her smooth skin, all things that he shouldn’t have become aware of in that moment, but he couldn’t help himself. The longer she kept him hypnotized in her stare, the more he thought about their past, the kissing, the deep emotions, the intense connection.

  Then he remembered last night. She’d been staring at him after he’d taken a much-needed cold shower. Gunnar couldn’t get Eboni out of his thoughts. She consumed his every waking moment, exactly like when they had first dated.

  Seeing her in a robe with her hair pulled up into a messy bun, he wanted to run over to the house and pull her hair down from the bun and make love to her.

  He swallowed hard. His hands itched to touch her.

  As he started to open his mouth to say something, anything, orderlies wheeled in the bed that carried his mother. Gunnar stood along with Eboni, who moved back from him so that they could slide her bed between the two of them.

  Elizabeth remained conscious but looked tired, evident from the bags under her eyes and her pale skin tone.

  “I made it.” Elizabeth smiled. “That room was so cold. They were trying to freeze me.”

  The same doctor who had spoken to them yesterday returned.

  “Looks like the surgery went okay.” Gunnar smiled.

  The petite woman’s expression remained serious and somber. “We didn’t install a stent.”

  The smile melted from Gunnar’s face. “You were gone a while. Why didn’t you do the procedure?”

  “We found another artery behind her heart that is also completely blocked. Installing stents will not help. At this point, we need to talk about doing bypass surgery. At least double, but it could be triple.”

  Clutching his mother’s hand gave Gunnar the strength to remain standing. His world spun out of control. He gazed down at her. “Ma?”

  Gunnar needed to hear her to know that she would be okay.

  His mother frowned. “I’m going to have a scar. I won’t be able to wear my dress with the plunging neckline.”

  Gunnar laughed through his impending tears. He kissed her forehead. “I think that might be the least of your worries.”

  “I know.” She became solemn as she spoke to him.

  “We’ll hold her for a couple of days to watch her. She’ll go through a healthy heart care class.”

  “What?” Elizabeth’s bottom jaw unhinged.

  “Mom, you wouldn’t go to a class like that voluntarily. Catching you while you’re in bed would be the only way.” Gunnar squeezed his mother’s hand.

  Elizabeth sucked her teeth and turned away from her oldest son.

  “If all goes well, she should be home by the weekend.” Dr. Patel typed something in the wall-mounted computer in the room.

  “When is her surgery scheduled?” Eboni patted Elizabeth on her shoulder as she talked to the doctor.

  “I’d like to do it in the next couple of weeks. I don’t want to wait too long with the amount of blockage that she has.” She patted Elizabeth’s legs and said her good-byes before walking out.

  The room fell into a deathly silence. Elizabeth put her hand to her chest.

  Gunnar knew his mother and knew her statement about her scar being visible hid her fear. He patted her hand. When she looked at him, he smiled.

  “Did you two work out your problems?” Elizabeth looked at both of them.

  “We’re taking it step by step.” Eboni rubbed her fingers over Elizabeth’s arm.

  “That’s the only way to do it. Rome wasn’t built in a--” She fell asleep before finishing her statement.

  Gunnar peered up. “Now I’m starving,” he said in a whisper. He nodded toward the doorway.

  Eboni followed him and they both went to the hospital cafeteria for lunch. When they got to a table, he wasted no time in asking Eboni questions about the salon. He didn’t want to bring up his mother and have the thought of her surgery plaguing his mind.

  “What are the other stylists like?” Gunnar opened one of his four bottles of water and chugged the entire bottle down within seconds.

  “The stylists have changed since you were there. They aren’t like me or your mother.” Eboni flicked the lettuce and cucumbers around in her salad. “Other salons rent their spaces out so that stylists can be their own bosses. Not your mother. She employs these people. She feels like she can give them better benefits than if they went out on their own.”

  “Any problems I need to know about?” He picked up one of his sandwiches and finished it in three large bites. Good thing he’d grabbed two more sandwiches to fill him.

  “Same ol’ beauty-shop drama. One person accuses another of stealing their client. You know. Stuff like that. But nothing major.” She watched him work on his second sandwich. “Do you have a tapeworm or something? I’ve never seen anyone eat like you do.”

  Gunnar opened his second bottle of water. “I work out a lot. I need the food for fuel.” He took a couple of gulps and then wiped his mouth. “So my plan for tomorrow will be to see my mom in the morning and be at the shop an hour before it opens.”

  Eboni blinked. “Really?”

  Gunnar shrugged. “I want to be a good boss.”

  Eboni shook her head.

  “Supervisor.”

  She cleared her throat.

  “Owner.”

  “Oh, hell, no.”

  “Fine. I want my presence there to be seamless. I don’t want the staff or the clients to even notice that my mother is not there.”

  “That’ll be a neat trick. But tell me, Gunnar, when you didn’t talk to you mother for a long while, did you miss her?”

  He laughed. “Of course.”

  “That’s how other people are going to feel. Don’t go in thinking you’re her replacement. You can’t do what she does.”

  Gunnar knew no one could replace his mother. He just wanted an opportunity. “I think I’ll surprise a lot of people. You just wait and see.”

  Chapter 5

  Eboni arrived at Press ’N Curl thirty minutes before the shop opened, her usual time to get there. She couldn’t help but notice Gunnar’s vehicle in the parking lot. It took up two spaces.

  At least he stuck to his word. He did get there before she did. Since she’d gone back to her place after spending one night in Elizabeth’s house, she couldn’t watch him…not that she watched him before. Not entirely.

  After a deep breath, Eboni walked through the back door of the salon. She noticed right away that certain items had been moved around. The bin for the wet towel had been moved to a space in between the washer and dryer. Of course, that meant that the washer and dryer had been moved as well, pushed over about a foot from their original spot.

&nb
sp; The linen closet that held the brooms and dustpans now had shelves that held clean towels. Out in the main salon area, she found another set of empty shelves. She heard a rustling sound from the office. Eboni stepped inside and found Gunnar straightening that area as well.

  “What are you doing?” Eboni put her fist to her hip.

  “Cleaning up.” Gunnar must have caught her shocked expression. He quickly amended his statement. “I mean straightening up. Putting items in logical order.”

  “Like the washer and dryer?”

  “They’re in the right spot. But the towel bin should have been put next to it. I moved some things around to make that happen.” He continued reorganizing his mother’s office.

  In his white T-shirt and jeans, Eboni couldn’t help but notice his form. When he bent over, she admired the wide planes of his back. His firm ass begged to be grabbed. She managed to bring her gaze up to his when he stood up straight. She hoped he hadn’t noticed her staring at his body.

  “Did you put the coffee on?” She took a couple of steps out of the office.

  “Not yet.” He started to head toward her.

  “I got it. If I were you, I would put your mother’s office back to the way it was.” Eboni went to the reception desk to stow her purse and coat. Then she went to the small counter area with the coffeemaker to start pots of regular and decaffeinated coffee.

  “I’m not removing anything. Just organizing.”

  Eboni heard him clanging items in her boss’s office. “So the message you want to relay to her is that you think her organizing skills are crap and you know better than her, right?”

  The movement stopped.

  “Maybe I should rethink this,” he called from the office.

  She shook her head. As she put the filter full of ground coffee into the canister, she noticed the empty shelves. “You know we could use these shelves for something.”

  Gunnar walked out of the office and stood between the shelves and the coffee area. “Like what?”

  Eboni cocked her head. “Remember you used to make a bunch of hair stuff back in the day?”