The Sun Rose over Cairo

by Dana Littlejohn

  “Why is that so shocking?” Lavita asked.

  “At every dinner, function, party or gathering of all the big law firms in the city Kimberly Davies is there and she’s there on the arm of a with a different man each time. You never see her with the same man twice.” Pumpkin finished her chip and salsa.

  “Yes, I’ve heard that about her. I’m sure I’ll be learning more as time goes by since I’ve decided to represent her in this thing.”

  “Do you know her husband?” Frieda asked.

  “Ex-husband and no, I just saw his name on the documents, but I didn’t recognize it.”

  “Hmm, I wonder what kind of man ends up with Kimberly Davies as a wife,” Frieda said.

  “I don’t know. She’s such a bitch who would even bother,” Pumpkin added.

  “Speaking of husbands, Cairo, I gave your future husband your number.”

  “My future husband? You found me a husband?”

  “Uh-huh, Jose?”

  She almost choked taking a sip of her drink. “What? Jose? Why?”

  “Because he wanted to hang out and I was working a double, so I asked him if it was ok if you took him.”

  Frieda and Pumpkin laughed as Cairo sent them a look. “You volunteered me as a date replacement?”

  She pondered a moment before answering. “Yes, I guess I did.” She watched her friend roll her eyes. “Oh, stop it. You act like I’m sending you to a firing squad for me. I’m sending on a date with a handsome man to have a good time. Where’s the down side to that?”

  Cairo glared at her friends to silence their snickers as they continued eating trying to hold back their laughter and sighed. “I don’t know him like that, Lavita. He’s your friend.”

  “So, make him your friend too. Do I have to do everything? Think of it as standing in for a friend at work. Covering my base, if you will.”

  She sputtered. “I’m already doing that. That’s how I got stuck with K-Hab.”

  Her friends let their laughter out again.

  Lavita laughed, too. “Ok, so you’re already set up for it. This won’t be as bad as dealing with her, though. This will be fun. Take him dancing or something, just as friends.”

  She sighed. “Ok, fine, when am I supposed to meet him?”

  “Tonight, he’s going to call you around seven o’clock.”

  “What? Tonight?” she screamed with alarm.

  Her friends laughed again as she dropped her head o the table with a groan.

  ***

  Kimberly Davies left Cairo’s office and whipped out her cell phone.

  “Rick, its Kim, look I’m on my way to your house.” She listened as she walked to her car. “No, Rick, right now. It’s important and I have other things to do today so I can’t come by later. We need to talk.” She put the phone on her shoulder and pulled into the street listening again. “Did you hear what I said, Rick? This isn’t a debate. You’re just going to have to be late for your little meeting. What I have going on is more important than your meeting.” She turned the corner shaking her head and grabbed the phone. “Look, I don’t have time for this. I’m already down here. I’ll be there in five more minutes and you’d better be there.” She closed the phone and threw it to the passenger seat.

  Moments later she arrived at Rick’s apartment downtown. Without knocking she checked the door and finding it open she walked inside slamming it behind her.

  “Rick! Where are you? You’d better be here.”

  “Yes, Kim, I’m here,” a soft, but deep voice replied from down the hall.

  She dropped her purse on the table and sat down. “Get out here we need to talk.”

  “Yes, Kim what are we discussing today?”

  She turned to see Rick coming into view from the hallway and looked him over. She could tell he was freshly showered by the way his dark hair lay on his head in thick, still wet curls, shining from the moisture left behind. The black pants he wore were heavily creased and his starched white shirt was wide open. She watched as his large, strong hands move down his shirt bringing both sides snugly across his wide muscular chest.

  She smiled smugly, praising herself for telling him he was too skinny and forcing him work out more. The end results were all that mattered. As she scanned him again she noticed something was wrong with him, but couldn’t place it.

  “What’s different about you, Rick?”

  “What do you mean?” he asked as he tied his tie.

  “There’s something different about you. I can’t really-- Wait, you shaved. You took your beard off.”

  He straightened his tie then patted his face smiling. “Oh yeah. You haven’t seen me in a while. I shaved it off a while ago.”

  “I thought I decided you look more like an adult with your beard.”

  “Yes, you did, but too many people joked about me looking like someone in the Taliban. That’s not good thing right about now, so I started the New Year with just a mustache.” He smoothed his mustache and chuckled. “I like it. I was beginning to forget what my real face looked like.”

  “I think it makes you look like a child.”

  He finished tucking his shirt and smoothed his tie down. “Well, everyone is entitled to their opinion.” He walked to her and leaned in for a kiss.

  She held her hand to his face stopping him. “What do you think you’re doing?”

  “I was going to kiss you.”

  “Oh please, you know we’re passed that, Rick. Sit down so we can talk.”

  He sighed and sat across from her. “Ok, what’s going on now, Kim? You just took me through what has to be the worst divorce in history to date. You took me for everything that I had because you knew I wouldn’t fight you. Now you refuse to give me the only thing I asked you for. What do you want from me now? Or have you come to put an end this?”

  She chuckled disbelievingly. “I didn’t think you had the balls to take me to court, Rick.”

  “Well, have you came to return my grandmother‘s rings?”

  She laughed, but there was no joy in her laughter. “Of course not, surely you know better than that. I came to tell you to drop this law suit. I won’t give the rings back and I will fight you for them.”

  “But they’re not yours.”

  “It doesn’t matter. They’re mine now and I fight for what’s mine.”

  “Then I have no choice but to follow through.” He shook his head and looked at her incredulously. “Who are you? Sometimes I can’t even believe you’re the girl same I married. You just threw away all the years we’ve been together, just like that, without a second thought and now you‘re going to fight me, tooth and nail, for something that doesn‘t even belong to you, after you’ve already taken everything else you could from me.”

  “Rick, the girl is long gone.”

  “Why? What happened to you?”

  “Look, I don’t have time for twenty questions. I’ve just returned from seeing my lawyer and someone will be in touch with you by the weeks end.” She stood.

  “So we’re done, just like that? After all the years we spend together we can‘t even be friends or be civilized to one another?”

  She sighed. “Rick, what marriage were you in? It was over for years before it was officially over. Surely you saw that.”

  He stared at the table, talking to it more than her. “I guess I just kept thinking it would get better. It couldn’t be bad all the time. We were just in a bad patch or something.’

  “A bad patch? Rick, bad patches don’t last always. I hadn’t even seen you since for almost a year before I filed and we haven’t had sex since before all that time. Huh, technically we weren’t even married.”

  He looked up at her, confusion settling on his handsome features. “What? I, I don‘t--”

  She let out an exasperated sigh. “Rick, we didn’t live together, we didn’t have sex for almost two years before we even divorced, we had separate bank accounts and I didn’t even carry your last name,” she explained counting on her fingers. “What
are you trying to hold onto? Our marriage was a mere technicality, a legal obligation that I didn’t want anymore. We don’t even have a friendship. We were married, but we were never friends. It’s over! Been over! As far as the rings go,” she added leaning across the table at him. “What judge in the world wouldn’t grant them to me? You never made an official legal claim for them.”

  He chuckled in disbelief. “Yes, I can see you’ve thought it all out. I guess I thought that just asking you for the rings back would be enough. Thank you for making my mistake so clear,” he said blankly.

  “Don’t take it so personally, Rick. You were always such a drama king, I swear. You knew our marriage was one of convenience from the beginning.” She grabbed her purse.

  New shock squeezed his heart. “What? Our marriage was one of convenience for you?”

  “Rick--”

  He shook his head and leaned on the table. “No! Are you telling me you never felt anything for me? You, you just used me?”

  “Rick, we were young, your parents were going to pay for you to go to school and me too if we were married, so…”

  He felt dizzy and held his head.

  “Look, you got what you wanted from our marriage and so did I, let’s just leave it at that.”

  He was barely able to push words through his haze. “The whole fourteen years have been a lie. During fourteen years of marriage you didn’t feel anything for me? You’re just done and that’s that?”

  She looked at her watch. “Look, Rick, I have to go. I’ve got another meeting.” She grabbed her coat and walked to the door. “Oh, and Rick, don’t fight me on this. Just give me what I want like a good boy so we can end this quickly.” She slammed the door behind her not waiting for an answer, leaving Rick at the table in stunned silence.

  ***

  Cairo hurried home from work, showered, changed and waited for Jose to call. She had just finished eating when the phone rang.

  “Yes, hello.”

  “Cairo?”

  “Yes, Jose?”

  “Yes. Hi, Lavita gave me your number. I hope you don’t mind.”

  “No, its ok, she told me. What’s up?”

  “Well, I’ve been having a bad few days between work and some other things. I was telling Lavita about it and she suggested maybe I just needed to get out the house. It’s been a long time since I’ve gone out,” he added with a chuckle. “She said she was doing a double and couldn’t go, but she thought you might have some time and gave me your number. I’d understand if you didn’t want to go.”

  “No, no, it’s cool. Where do you want to go?”

  “Actually I’d like to go dancing. Have you ever gone Salsa dancing before?”

  She laughed. “No, I’m afraid not.”

  “I know where they do some Salsa dancing on the weekdays if you want to try it out. It’s really fun.”

  “Ok, what the hell. I can broaden my horizons, right? What do I wear?”

  “Most of the women where a swingy kind of dress or skirt for the flair when they are being spun about, but I’m sure you can wear whatever you want.”

  “I think I have something like that. What time?”

  “Just tell me what time to be there and I’m there.”

  “Hmm, give me an hour to find something.”

  He chuckled. “Let me jot down your address and I’ll be there.”

  One hour later he was at her door and they took separate cars to Club Caliente` on the Canal. When they arrived the music was loud and boisterous and the people were happy, laughing and having a great time. Smiling, Jose took her by the hand and led her inside. They sat a table near the dance floor and order their drinks. Cairo drank her drink and watched the people dancing for the first few songs and shook her head.

  “I don’t know, Jose. That looks pretty complicated. I don’t think I can do that.”

  He laughed as he danced in his chair. “Sure you can. You just move to the music.”

  She chuckled. “Yeah, well, that’s easier said than done.”

  He stood. “Come, we came to dance, let’s dance. I will show you. This song is about to end.”

  She put her glass down and let him pull her to the dance floor, just as the song ended and another slower song began.

  “Ahh, yes, this is the perfect song to learn from. All you have to do is move back and forth. Follow my feet.”

  “Ok,” she said unsure.

  She followed his feet, stepping on them as she did, but getting the hang of it as the song went on.

  “Good, good, now, don’t be so stiff. Move your hips like this.” He grabbed her hips and turned them to and fro. “Yes, yes, but more fluid. Think of love making. The music is your lover and you move in sync with it. You’re moving fluidly with your lover together as one.”

  She swallowed her laughter. “No wonder I can’t get this dance. If he knew how long it been since I had a lover he’d understand too,” she said to herself.

  “Yes,” he hissed softly. “You’re getting it.” He moved her closer him. “Now, relax, keep the pace, but relax. Let the movements come, move with the music and follow my lead.”

  She stared at her feet nodding.

  “No, Cairo, look at me, not your feet.”

  She looked up at him. The look in his eyes locked her in place. She couldn’t turn away and her feet moved on their own, so did her body as it moved closer to him closing the small gap that was left between them. She felt his hands move down the small of her back and her breast now pressed against his firm body. He backed her up and pulled her close again.

  “On the next movement I’m going to spin you, be ready.”

  His voice brought her from her trancelike state and she smiled. “Ok, I’m ready.”

  He spun her around and she returned to him on beat.

  “Great, I think you have it. All the dance moves are basically the same, just faster or slower and remember, always lots of hips. Don’t forget the hip movements.” The song ended and he pulled her close again. “This is a slower dance. Let’s see if you can do this one, too.”

  She swallowed to wet her throat that just went desert dry. “Ok.”

  Jose lifted her arms resting them on top of her head as he slid his hands over them going down her body and rested on her hips helping her move them to the beat. As she moved to the beat he’d set for her he continued to slid his hands over the sides of her body, up and down, moving slowly to the music. The bass line beat hard along the back drop of the sultry bongos of the Latin music and his body found that beat making his movements sexy and alluring as he touched her and glided his hands over places his hands had no business being in a public place. He moved around her, his body pulsating, undulating, popping and snapping against her. She was frozen not wanting to throw him off his erotic beat.

  She watched, captivated by the way his body moved. The thought never occurred to her that dancing could be so erotic. She watched him circle her, moving like that and wondered if he really was making love in his mind...who was he moving on like that?…and could she be next? He was behind her now, still moving, snaking up her body. That was a position she hadn’t thought to try, but the thought was there now as he moved up and down so close to her, but barely touching her. Her body was confused. It was screaming out to her, but she couldn’t tell if her warning bells going off saying, ‘hey, back up, you’re too close!’ or had someone finally come along who could penetrate the sexual wall that had been up for so long and her body was now saying, ‘touch me already, damn it!’ He lowered her arms and hugged her from behind. This time she could feel his whole body against hers.

  “Mmm,” she said out loud before she could stop herself.

  His arms felt good around her, so strong, protective and comforting all at the same time. Suddenly he released her and spun her around to face his smiling face.

  “Now we get right back on beat.”

  “Oh, yes,” she blurted out shaking herself out of another daze.

  When the dance was
over they went back to the table.

  “So, be truthful. Do you like to Salsa? I think you’re a natural.”

  She chuckled. “Well, I don’t know about all that, but I can honestly say I think Salsa is going to be my new favorite dance.”

  Jose laughed and clicked her glass and finished his drink. They stayed just a little while longer dancing before they went home to ready themselves for another work day.

  Chapter 4

  “Cairo, Mr. Mills, you’re 10:00 appointment, is here,” came Keisha’s voice on the speaker the next morning.

  “Thank you, Keisha. Send him in.”

  Mr. Mills walked in smiling. “Good morning, Cairo. How are you?”

  She stood to greet him and her mouth dropped open as she watched him come across the room to her. The last time she’d seen him he was showing signs of aging that were normal for a man in his sixties; balding grey hair, wrinkles, crow’s feet… Now his hair was darker, his eyes more slanted than she remembered and his smile seemed a little crooked. When he extended his hand for her to shake she noticed the dark spots she remembered were still there, but they very much lighter than before. She shook off her shock as he got closer and put her best smile in place.

  “Mr. Mills, I’m fine. I haven’t seen you in a while. I thought maybe you and your wife had reconciled.”

  He shook his head and sat down. “Oh no, Cairo, that will never happen. I want this divorce.”

  She sat down nodding. “Yes, I remember.”

  “So, have noticed anything different about me?” A small smile seemed to be locked in place even when it seemed he wasn‘t trying to smile.

  “Umm, well…”

  He leaned closer to her desk and patted under his chin with the top of his hand. “I’m all tight again!” he said excitedly. “I look as good as I did thirty years ago! No more hanging jaws, no crows feet, a few bleaching treatments to get rid of those old man spots and I even let them throw in a little liposuction to suck away those old love handles. Want to see?” He went to lift his shirt, but she reached across the desk waving her hands to stop him.

  “No, Mr. Mills, that won’t be necessary. I’ll take your word for it.”