Jerrold

by Katie Dowe

  She had laughed at that and the sound of her laughter had brought a smile to his lips. “You were hailed a fallen hero,” she had told him.

  “I rather like the sound of that.”

  “So how are you doing?”

  “Very well, thank you. My mother made a huge fuss and insisted on waiting on me hand and foot.”

  “She sounds like a really lovely person.”

  “She is, when she is not trying to get me married and hurrying to give her grandkids.”

  “Sounds like a typical mother.”

  He had waited a beat. “Thanks for calling.”

  “It was no problem at all.”

  “Tell me that you are planning to attend more games even though I won’t be staring on the court,” he had teased her.

  “I have no intention of playing favorites so I will be attending.” She had paused. “Will you be?”

  “I never usually miss a game.”

  She had told him goodbye much to his disappointment and he had sat there reliving the very trivial conversation as if it had been of the utmost importance. He fiddled with the paperweight on his desk for a moment, his expression thoughtful. He wanted to ask her out, but he was afraid of being shot down by her. He had seen her do it with gentle but firm authority to his team members and even though they had taken it in stride he was not sure he could do the same. The winter dance was coming up and he wanted her to save several dances with him. He smiled grimly as he realized that all his life he had been confident. In the past he had never had to be nervous about anything. His parents had raised him to be open minded and confident and his looks and talent as a sports person had done the rest. In high school as well as college he had been popular and never had to endure rejection from girls who caught his interest. He had lost his virginity with Sylvia who had been far more experienced than he was at that time and had taught him a thing or two. He had hated that she appeared to know everything and that the moment had lost its magic. He wanted that magic and he found to his surprise that he wanted it with Noelle! He shook his head at the fanciful thought and tried again to concentrate on the image in front of him. The building was derelict and some parts would have to be gutted, but he had a team who did an excellent job so he was not concerned. He doodled on a notepad absently as he mentally saw the building up and functional. It was in the uptown area which meant that business professionals would be the ones renting the apartments. He wondered idly if he could suggest that she accompany him to take a look at the place and get her input. It was a lame excuse to be with her, but he had to take any help he could get! With the idea taking shape in his head, he decided to go for it. He looked up as Marco came into the office armed with his device and forced himself to get down to business. He wanted to talk to her and was going to find an excuse to do so when he got back to his apartment.

  Chapter 4

  “You are still here. Good because I need a favor.” Noelle looked up as Jerrold strode into the area she and her dad used to see to the team players’ needs. He had been absent for close to a week and Noelle had to admit that she had missed seeing him around. It was Friday and was approaching seven PM, but she had wanted to get some things out of the way before she left for the night. There was no practice going on and her father had urged her not to stay too late.

  “You are back.” Noelle greeted him with a smile. “What’s the favor?”

  “Come with me,” he urged her with a persuasive smile.

  She hesitated a moment and then abandoning the report she had been writing, she left her desk and followed him. He led her to the vast auditorium where the indoor games were held.

  “What are we doing here?”

  Jerrold selected a ball from the ones on the rack and started bouncing it off the shiny floor. “I am asking for help to work out the kinks in my knee.”

  “I don’t understand.” She looked at him puzzled.

  He grinned at her. He had come up with a solution to the problem of asking her to be with him. Get her to help him out and go from there. It was a small thing, but it was a start. He had spent the days away thinking about her and wondering how he was going to get her to see him and not think of him as just another team member or her boss. He wanted more and he was determined to have more. He knew that there were obstacles to cross, but he was not going to let that stand in his way. He dribbled the ball over to her. “I am going to teach you the rudiments of the game and in doing so I get to exercise my knee.”

  Noelle grabbed the ball automatically. “I have never played basketball in my life.”

  “That’s why I am going to teach you,” he told her with a determined look on his ruggedly handsome face.

  “Don’t you have some other team members to help you do this?” Noelle hugged the ball to her chest and stared at him. He looked boyishly handsome in a team shirt and a sweatpants, his coffee brown hair slightly tousled and a rakish smile on his lips.

  “They are all unavailable. Come on, try and dribble the ball across the court and I will do my best to get it away from you.”

  “I am sure you won’t have to put out much effort,” she told him dryly, but to his relief she started to bounce the ball on the court. He waited for a few minutes as she did so before he made his move. She never saw him coming and gasped in surprise as he swiped the ball from her and started off into the opposite direction. She threw her hands up in the air and looked after him in exasperation. “See what I mean?”

  He looked back at her and grinned. “The utmost concentration in the game, that’s the first rule. Come on! Try and get the ball from me and shoot it into that net.”

  She rolled her eyes and ran towards him, but he blocked her every move and with a graceful and effortless move he dunked it into the net. He bounced the ball to her. “Your turn. The trick is to fool your opposition and lull him into thinking that you are giving in and then you make your move. And concentrate.”

  Noelle rose to the challenge and for a full two minutes she enjoyed dribbling the ball along the court and parrying, her movements quick and lithe and drawing an admiring look from him. “You are a natural!” he shouted just before he swiped the ball from her and running swiftly towards the opposite net, he dunked the ball into it. With a determined look on her beautiful face, she grabbed the ball from him and made her way gracefully across the court. He watched her with a smile on his face as she put out every effort and actually stood aside so that she could score one point. He was rewarded by the animated expression and her whoop of victory as she jumped around and did a dance. He would have allowed her to get past him again and again just to see that look on her face, but she caught on to him when she made the third dunk into the net and with her hands on her hips she stared at him sternly. “You are making me win.”

  “Or you are just that good,” he responded unabashedly. “I am going to have to talk to Coach about getting you on the team.”

  “Don’t do me any more favors,” she told him loftily as she tried her best to get the ball from him.

  “Okay, I won’t,” he told her soberly. He kept his word and ended up winning the game by a whopping ten to three in his favor.

  “Enough!” she cried, bending forward to put her hands on her knees, taking deep breaths to recover.

  “I never tagged you for a quitter,” he taunted.

  She raised her head and gave him a dirty look before falling to the floor in exhaustion. “I feel as if every bone in my body has been pulverized.”

  “Want me to get the physio?” he teased as he joined her on the floor.

  “Very funny.” She stretched full length and putting her hands behind her head to cushion it, she stretched her legs out.

  He sat next to her and pulled his knees up, resting his hands on them. “Want a massage?” he asked her casually.

  She turned her head to look up at him. “I will be fine after a while.” Her brows creased a little bit. “You are actually very good.”

  “Why thank you,” he said with a grin. />
  “And I also know that you allowed me to score those three times.”

  “I did no such thing,” he retorted. Her tapered eyebrows lifted and he laughed. “Want to know the history of basketball?”

  She nodded.

  He told her that the game was invented by a physical education teacher by the name of James Naismith, in the year of 1891-92 and explained how it came about that the game was invented. “A group of students with restless energy who were required to participate in indoor games. Football season had ended and they had nothing to do to burn off the energy.” He paused as she turned sideways to look at him, her head propped on one elbow. He continued the story, telling her that the game had originated. Before long, they were both so caught up in the story that two hours had flown by without them realizing it! He glanced at his watch reluctantly and then at her. “I am afraid it is getting late.”

  She looked at her watch and realized that it was after nine. “You tell a very good story.” She rolled over and got to her feet, waiting until he did the same.

  “You are a very good listener,” he murmured as he walked alongside her. “You will be at the ball tomorrow?”

  “You have persuaded me so yes I will be there.” She turned and looked at him as they entered the room where she worked. “So this is a formal thing?”

  “Very,” he said with a smile. “It is the time of year when the people of Lakeside get to dress up and show off their fineries.”

  She wrinkled her nose. “Then I am going to have to go shopping.”

  “I am sure whatever you wear will be perfect.” His voice was sincere and his gaze admiring.

  She stared at him for a moment and then nodded. “Thank you. And your knee is fine by the way.”

  “It feels fine.” He bent the leg to show her. “You did a good job.”

  He waited until she had gathered up her stuff before walking out with her. She waved at him as she drove away and left him standing there, with the cold boring through the t-shirt he was wearing. He finally moved to go back in and get his coat, lingering along the court, bouncing the ball absently as he remembered her being there with him a few minutes ago. He had watched the rapt look on her face as she listened to him and had felt himself wanting to pull her into his arms to kiss her, but they were far from that right now. He knew that he had gotten through to her in a small way, but it was going to take time for him to break down the barriers before he got her to where he wanted her. In his arms and in his bed!

  *****

  Noelle twisted the skirt of the sheer ice blue material of her gown a little self-consciously as she stared around the vast ballroom of the Wiltshire Hotel. She had read up on the place and realized that it was a Littman investment, one of several in Lakeside. Her dad had called her and had told her that he was bringing the woman he had been seeing. She had told him that she was looking forward to meeting her. Her eyes scanned the crowd and realized that Jerrold had been right. The women were all dressed in various degrees ranging from the ridiculously sumptuous to the simply but tastefully elegant. The dress she was wearing was very expensive and she had hesitated before buying it but had finally done so after she tried it on. The top was close fitting and left her arms and shoulders bare and she had decided to leave her hair loose around her face, brushing it until it fell into graceful waves past her shoulders. Her makeup was flawless and her lipstick a bright coral that looked startling against her skin. She clutched the little beaded reticule in her hand as she looked around the room trying to find her dad.

  Jermaine was the first person to see her and he left the women standing around him to come towards her. “Dang, girl! You put every other woman in this room to shame.” His dark brown eyes were frankly admiring and Noelle could not help but smile.

  “You do not look too bad yourself,” she told him, admiring the black custom-made tux he had on.

  “Thank you.” He drew her hand through his arm and walked through the crowd. “Would you believe that I dressed especially for you?”

  “Not in the least, but I am flattered that you said that nonetheless.”

  He sighed long and loud. “I can see that I am going to have to work very hard to get you to realize that I am serious.”

  “Why don’t you do that?” she suggested, her eyes caught by Jerrold who was making his way over to them. She felt an unfamiliar tug on her heart as she stared at him. He was not as tall as Jermaine was, but he exuded a certain power and authority that was unmistakable! He had on black tux as well and the material stretched tautly over his broad shoulders, the snowy white shirt inside shirt a distinct contrast to the dark material and his tanned skin.

  “I see you made it,” he said with a smile before swinging his gaze to Jermaine. “I think your groupies are getting restless, man. They need you.”

  Jermaine lifted her hand to his lips and kissed it before letting go. “I will be back.”

  “How about a drink?” Jerrold asked her, taking her hand in his.

  “I would love that.” She looked up at him. “What about your groupies?”

  “I never quite like the idea,” he told her with a grin. He stopped a passing waiter and letting go of her hand he grabbed two champagne flutes, handing her one.

  “Why not? I think being a famous basketball player means that you get to do basically anything you want to do.”

  “I am not like that.” His cobalt blue eyes held hers and his expression was sober as if he wanted her to believe him above anything else. “I want you to believe that.”

  “I do,” she responded seriously, her eyes holding his as she sipped the champagne. “What is the winter ball in aid of?” For some reason, she wanted to change the subject.

  “The two children’s homes in the downtown area. The members of the Baptist church several blocks away are putting on a drive to try and get the children there adopted and they are going out of their way to do so. The team decided to come on board by donating the proceeds from the ball to equip the homes with better rooms and sufficient food as well as purchase the latest technology for the children to have at their fingertips. For the older ones who find it hard for people to accept them into their homes, we want to make it a home for them and to make them feel comfortable.”

  She stared at him thoughtfully. “For a jock, you are not so bad.”

  “That word again,” he said with a twinkle in his eyes.

  “Okay, how about I call you an athlete?” she teased him.

  “Much better,” he agreed. He tried to stop his eyes from wandering over her exquisite face and wondered how she would react if he told her that she was the most beautiful woman in the room. Instead, he did the next best thing – he asked her to dance.

  “I am not a very good dancer,” she protested as he took her glass from her and placed it along with his on an empty tray.

  “I don’t believe you.” He drew her onto the floor where several dancers were already waltzing to the slow music.

  “You are the one who is going to be feeling the effects of my shoes all over your feet,” she warned him as she put her hands on his shoulders and moved with him.

  He quirked a brow at her as she fell into step with him easily.

  “You are a very good teacher,” she told him airily.

  His hand held her waist slightly, wanting to pull her even closer to him but resisting the urge to do so. “Of course I am. With a few steps, I have managed to turn you into a professional dancer.”

  “I am impressed,” she told him cheekily.

  He chuckled at her attempt at humor. He finally did what he was longing to do. He pulled her closer into his arms and closed his eyes as she closed her fingers over his and slid her arm around his shoulder, her head resting on his chest. He had to fight the desire raging inside his body so that she could not find out how he felt. He wished he could continue dancing with her for the entire night after which he would take her back to his place and make love to her for the entire night. Taking a deep breath, he eased back j
ust as the song ended. “I see your dad just arrived,” he said casually as he stepped back.

  “I was looking for him.” She hesitated as she looked up at him. “I guess I will see you later.”

  “I insist on it.” He took her hand and squeezed it before letting go and walking away from her. Noelle watched him for a little bit before making her way over to where her dad and his date were standing.

  *****

  “Darling, you look absolutely lovely!” Robert Buckner greeted his daughter with a hug and planted a kiss on her cheek.

  “Thank you, Dad.” Her eyes went to the woman standing next to him nervously. She was a middle-aged, attractive African American woman with thick dark hair with liberal amounts of grey and was wearing stunning slate grey dress with a high collar.

  “Noelle, this is Marjorie Hamilton, a very dear friend of mine. Marj, this is my beautiful daughter Noelle.”

  “Very nice to meet you, my dear. Robert has told me so much about you,” the woman said in her soft cultured voice.

  “Very nice to meet you too, Marjorie,” she said, shaking the woman’s hand. “Dad tells me that you manage the library?”

  “Yes, I do.” she looked up at Robert, pleased that he had spoken about her to his daughter.

  “She is the one who has encouraged me to take up reading again,” her father said with a fond smile.

  Noelle looked at them both and realized that even though her father would never get over her mother, he was very fond of Marjorie and she was obviously in love with him!

  “How about going to the buffet table and getting something to eat?” he suggested as he extended an arm each for the ladies to take.

  “I am starving!” Noelle admitted as took his arm.

  *****

  Jerrold watched her broodingly as she stood at the table and ate while she chatted with her dad and the woman he had brought with him. He also saw when Jermaine asked her to dance as well as several other team members. He had danced with several of the women who had come up to him but had done so out of a sense of duty. He found himself watching her having fun and just wanted to be with her.