At Last (7 page)

His reply threw me for a loop.  I wasn’t expecting it at all, “What are you saying?”

“You know the Grammys are this Sunday, right?”  Durran asked.

“Yeah…”

“I want you to be my escort. Maybe you’ll give me a little good luck.”

“Durran…”

“Keisha.”  He replied. I could hear him smiling over the phone.

             
“When is it again?”  I asked still putting up the illusion I was half sleep.  By now I was fully up and I knew damn well it was this Sunday in Las Vegas.

“It’s Sunday in Vegas
.
”

“That’s kinda short notice, it’s Tuesday.  I got clients for the rest of the week; I can’t just leave Taylor. And I don’t have anything to wear. I don’t even have any time to look for something to wear.”

“Your moms won’t have a problem keeping Taylor.  Your clients will be straight.  Don’t worry about having
anything to wear.  I got everything covered.  I need you baby.  I want you to be there.”

I didn’t know what to say, “Just give me until tomorrow afternoon and I’ll have an answer for you.”

“That’s fair, but you know I don’t take rejection well. I need to know by tomorrow afternoon though.    I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

“Alright.”
  I said waiting for him to hang up first.

That night I struggled to go to sleep; replaying our conversation over and over again in my mind.

“I knew it.”

“You ain’t
know
nothing.”  I said to Missy as I flat ironed her hair.

We were at the shop.  She was my first customer of the day.

“Yes I did.  He was waiting on something to make his move.  I mean really Keish, you been dealing with this man for what six, seven years now? You should know what’s up by now.” Missy said with a hint of frustration in her voice.

“Ain’t
nothing
up.  He just asked me to be his escort.”

She turned around to face me, “You can’t possibly be that naïve.  He wants you back.  That has been his entire plan from the gate.  Just don’t get sucked back in.”

“So what are you trying to say? That I let him control me?” I asked beginning to take offense.

“The only thing I’m saying is be careful, Keish.  You know you weak for his ass.  And that’s cool, you know? Everybody’s weak for somebody. Just don’t lose yourself.  It’s okay to want to be loved.  Who don’t wanna be loved?  I’m just saying go into this with your eyes open. 
Alright?”

“Yeah.”
I replied dismissively.

As our conversation ended, we noticed a delivery man walking up to the receptionist, Ronnie.  He held the most beautiful bouquet of peach roses I’d ever seen.  There had to be at least four dozen.  They were in a huge Waterford Crystal Vase that was catching every light that it came in contact with. Ronnie pointed to me. The delivery guy was tall and slender wearing a navy blue FedEx suit.  He walked up and handed me a clipboard to sign off for the flowers.

He was kinda cute.  His complexion was the color of weak tea but with a reddish undertone.  His teeth were pearly white and straight and he had nice warm brown eyes. The name on his suit read Terrence.

“Someone must really love you or they’ve been really bad.” He said smiling. I took the clipboard and signed my name, “Probably the latter.”

“.  . Well, this is a good way to say sorry, right?”

“It’s a start.” I said with a smile.

“Where can I put these?” He asked.

“Right here.”
  I said pointing to my workstation counter.

“Damn, is there a funeral I didn’t know about? Or are you guys going to prom again?” Missy said with her words dipped in sarcasm. I just rolled my eyes at her. I noticed Terrence give her a dirty look.

“Wow. I always thought that flowers were a nice touch.”

Missy turned around to face him and cut him with her hazel eyes, but it seemed like the words escaped her mind once she got a clear view of him.  I could tell she was taking a moment to compose herself.

“Well, what’s your name?  Terrence?”

“Yes, it is.”  He responded smiling at her.  I knew her defenses were melting away.   “Well, you thought wrong.”

He grabbed his chest, smiled and looked down at his boots, “I’m sorry Miss.  I didn’t mean to offend you.”

It was rather amusing to watch their banter.  Missy was trying so hard to act like she wasn’t fazed by Terrence, but it was obvious that she was, and I could tell Terr
e
nce had a thing for Missy too. As they continued their conversation, I opened and read the card that was nestled in the bouquet.

The color Peach represents Gratitude, Appreciation, Sincerity, and Modesty.  These words also describe what I feel for you.  I hope that you will do me the honor of being my date this Sunday.  I would love to share this special moment with you.

Love Always, Durran

I could feel my eyes welling up with tears.  From that moment I knew I was Vegas bound.

“So when you leaving?”
  Missy said breaking her conversation with Terrence. I turned around to face her. I was grinning from ear to ear, “How you know I’m going?”

“Whatever.  It’s written all over your face.

“Shut up.”  I turned to grab my phone and call Durran to accept h
is invitation as I watched Terre
nce and Missy continue to talk. I dialed Durran’s number and he answered on the second ring.

“Hey Mama.
  I didn’t expect to hear from you so early.  It’s only noon.”  He said oozing confidence.

“The flowers are beautiful.  Thank you.”

“Not as beautiful as you.”  He replied. There was a brief silence. I didn’t want to come off as too eager or pressed, “You got an answer for me?”

I left him hanging for a minute to build the suspense. It was the least I could do after all the shit Durran had put me through.

“Keisha? Hello?” Durran said.

“I’m still here.” I replied simply.

“So what’s up?”
Durran said cracking his usually calm exterior.

“Yes.”

He was quiet for a moment.  That was a first.  He usually always had something witty or cocky to say.  Soon he began to chuckle, before exhaling deeply.

“You had a nigga trippin’ for a minute, Keish. I’ma
book
your flight right now.  Is it okay if I get you a flight leaving out Friday?”

I still had people coming in on Saturday night.  It wouldn’t be right to just scrap their appointments because something came up on a whim.  Plus I still had to pack and get Taylor squared away. Friday would not work.

“Sunday morning would be better.” I replied.

“Damn Keish, I’m trying to get you here early so I can get some time with you before the ceremony, but if you can’t do it, you can’t.  I’ll book it for early Sunday morning -- like six or seven.  Vegas
is
three hours behind so it’ll be straight.  You cool with that?”

“Yeah that sounds good.  But I don’t have long to find something to wear.”

“Didn’t I tell you that all that was taken care of?  You don’t need to bring nothing but you. You don’t even have to bring a change of clothes.  I got you baby.  There’s just one thing?”

“What’s that?”  I asked concerned by his tone.

“What are your measurements?”

I laughed. 
“34-27-40.”

Chapter Five

Sitting in first class on an American Airlines non-stop flight to Las Vegas, my mind was in a whirlwind.  I mean, I was flattered that Durran would ask me to be his date, but, I wanted things to be different. I had made up my mind that this time it would be-it was all or nothing.

It was early as hell.  Yvette dropped me off at the airport around 6:30 in the morning right before she had to go to work.  My mother was going to keep Taylor for me just as Durran predicted.  It was hard for me to leave her, but I knew my mother would take good care of her.  She always did.

Missy wasn’t too happy about me going, but as she put it, “I guess this is just something that you gotta do. Just be careful.”

My sister on the other hand was ecstatic. “You gon’ have so much fun, Mama K!”  She kept saying, “Make him show you a good ass time, and bring me something back!”

I just shook my head.  I was nervous as hell.  I had never flown out to visit him before.  After we had broken up, the only time I’d see him was when he came home for a visit or on business.

I relaxed and eased back into my chair.  I was too amped to sleep.  I had so much bottled up energy.  I placed my headphones on my ears and listened to The Isley Brothers’ 
“Here We Go Again”
as I followed destiny to - of all places - Las Vegas.

Once the plane landed I cut my phone back on.  It began to go off alerting me that I had voicemail messages. I called my voicemail and began to listen.

“Hey Keish, just calling to make sure that you made it in alright.
Call me when you get this.  Okay.  Love you. Bye-bye.” Missy said.

I smiled. No matter how Missy felt about this trip, she could still find it in her heart to be concerned about me.  I deleted the message and listened to the next one.

“Hey Keisha, my assistant Kendra’s going to be outside the gate waiting for you.  She’s gonna have a sign with your name on it.  Then the car is gonna take you to your room, so you can get some R&R.  I’ll be over a little later.  I got some things to handle.  Kendra will take care of you.  Alright, love you baby.”

Love you? What? Durran once again had thrown me for a loop.  He sounded serious.

I headed for the luggage claim and just as he had said, there was a petite dark chocolate woman waiting for me.  She was holding a sign that read “Keisha Morgan”.

She looked to be only 19 or 20.  Her hair was cut very close at the sides and the back.  It was kinda spiked in the front. Her eyes were slanted and she had a round chubby face.  She was wearing a fitted blue jean jacket and a pair of matching jeans along with a pair of brown Gucci loafers. I walked up to her, “How you doing?  You must be Kendra.”

“Yup.”
  She said smiling back showing off small baby-like teeth. I couldn’t tell if it was a real smile or a fake one, but when she extended her hand I shook it. “You must be Keisha.  D told me to take very good care of you.  How was your flight?”  She asked while picking up one of my suitcases and walking towards the outside of the airport.

I followed behind her. “Thank you.  It was okay I guess.  I hate flying.  My nerves are so bad.”

“Yeah, flying is a pain but I’m sure this weekend will make up for it.” She said in a roundabout way like she knew something that I wasn’t aware of as she walked to a black Lincoln Town car.

The driver got out and greeted us both. He put my luggage in the trunk and, opened the door for me, and ran to the other side to open the door for Kendra. Once we got in she began playing with her Blackberry, probably to let
“D”
know she had retrieved his package.

“You
ever been
to Vegas before, Keisha?” She asked still texting; never taking her eyes off her damn phone.

“No.  This is my first time,” I said nonchalantly looking out to the window admiring the scenery.

“I’ve been so many times I can’t even remember.  You know, sometimes just partying or with D.”

She was starting to piss me off with all this damn
“D”
talk and shit.  I rolled my eyes and remembered to check myself because he wasn’t my man, though he obviously thought enough of me to send for me.

“Do you call him ‘D’ to his face? You know, like if he asks you to get him coffee or do his dry cleaning?” I asked still looking out the window.

             
I saw her out the
corner of my eye finally look
up from the phone, “He doesn’t mind informal titles, no.”

I disregarded her answer. I just wanted to get under her skin like she’d been getting under mine. The little wench probably had a crush on him and was hot about having to come to pick up his Boo.  She needed to get over it though, because I’m sure I wasn’t the first. I turned to face her, “That’s good to know, Kendra.”

I guess she could pick up on my “Don’t fuck with me” vibe, so she chilled.

“So how long have you and Durran been friends?” She asked as the driver pulled into the Wynn Hotel.  It was gorgeous.

“A while,” I replied looking her dead in the eyes, shutting down any hopes of a conversation about my personal life.

“Oh okay.  Well we’re here.” She announced.

             
The driver got out and collected my bags before the concierge put them on a cart and rolled them to the elevator.

The hotel was beautiful.  I had to check myself and pretend that I was used to this life.  It was like something out of a movie.  The floors were marble and the walls were etched in gold.  The ceiling seemed to never end.  Even the elevators were gorgeous.  They were mirrored and also carved in gold. Riding the elevator up was a tad awkward.  Kenny G played while Kendra still tried to make small talk.  She pressed the number 14.