Before I Let Go (24 page)

Finally, he closed with, “Expect a call from my uncle tomorrow.” I hadn’t heard from his uncle, the founder of Hakito Electronics, since I was hired, and I had to admit I instantly became anxious.

As I finally cleared the accident my phone began to vibrate. It was Nina. I flipped open my cell.

“Hello,” I said calmly.

“Where are you?” Nina shrilled through the line. “I am hungry, and we have reservations for six-thirty. It’s close to six now. There’s no way you’ll make it here in time.”

“Calm down, baby. There’s been an accident on 270. I’m just clearing it now.”

She interjected, “Why did you come that way anyway? Why didn’t you take Old Georgetown Road? I swear, Cory, I’m going to call and cancel the reservations. You don’t listen.”

“Hold on. Who in the hell do you think you’re talking to? You can cancel the reservations if you want to. I’ll turn my car around and go on home.”

Silence.

“Is that what you want?” I asked.

More silence.

“Hurry up,” was her way of apologizing, then she hung up.

I had learned that occasionally I needed to keep Nina in line. Letting her come out of her mouth any kind of way she wanted was out of the question. That was how women operated. It seemed odd that they still had to try to wrestle with a man for control. If they won that control, the man no longer seemed like a man to them. Once a woman loses respect for a man, he can hang it up. Wasn’t happening here.

The restaurant was
located on Columbia Road in northwest D.C. a section of town known as Adams Morgan. We arrived half an hour late for our reservations but were still able to be seated. It was a Brazilian restaurant called The Grill from Ipanema. It was my first time there. Shelly had told me about it many years ago. She had tried to get me to come there with her and her parents the summer before we broke up, but an argument had sent us our separate ways that night. I nearly slipped into a trance thinking about that summer night, probably six or seven years ago. I was trying to remember what we had fussed about.

My thoughts were interrupted when Nina asked, “Cory, what are you thinking about?”

“Nothing,” I said, realizing that I had been staring into space instead of at the menu.

“Yeah, you are.” Nina pinched my arm. “What?”

I knew she wouldn’t be satisfied unless I told her something. So I went into a whole spiel about Jamison telling me that Mr. Hakito would be calling me tomorrow. Then I asked, “So, have you been here before?”

“Yeah, plenty of times. This is my mother’s favorite restaurant. We used to come here a lot back in the day, as a family.” She wiped her silverware. “Why, you don’t like it?”

“No, it’s nice, and the whole color scheme thing…I’m feeling it. It has a real tropical feel to it. It’s a real nice atmosphere, and being here with you makes it even better.” I meant that.

“As opposed to being here with whom?” she said slyly.

“As opposed to being here without you.” I smiled back.

Nina squinted her eyes and then bit her bottom lip slightly before saying, “Good answer. As a matter of fact, that is the only answer, Mister Dandridge.” Then we both laughed.

The waiter came to the table, and Nina greeted him in Spanish. His eyes brightened some, and he asked what were we drinking. I let Nina do all of the ordering while I played the silent, non–Spanish speaking boyfriend. When he left I said to her, “I am going to have to brush up on my Spanish. For all I know you two could have been talking about me.”

“Don’t worry. He just asked me what I was doing with such a stupid-looking American. And then he asked if he could take me out this weekend. I, of course, told him that I would have to ask my stupid-looking boyfriend.”

I didn’t laugh. I just cracked my knuckles as if I was ready to do some damage.

“So, boyfriend, am I free this weekend?”

“No, sweetheart. You won’t be free this weekend or any weekend after,” I said.

“And why is that?”

“Because you belong to me.” And I meant that. It was just a matter of making it official.

The food was
off the hook. I had a spiced shrimp and black bean stew filled with sausages and spooned over rice. I also ate off Nina’s plate until she finally had to smack my hand away from her marinated grilled fish, shredded collards, and something grainy called
farofa
. She really enjoyed her food, and it was fun trying something new with her. I would have never thought to come here for dinner, nor had the creativity to suggest it to a date. Women are different. They know how to come up with ideas to keep a relationship going. I was thankful for Nina’s creativity. I was going to have to come up with something creative real soon, though, because I had something planned for Nina. I was far from a McDonald’s kind of guy, but like most other men I could use a little help in the romance department.

I read in a magazine,
Essence
, I believe, that women say that a lack of romance is one of the top five complaints they have with their men. I wouldn’t fall victim to that trap. I was reading in my spare time. My mother told me a long time ago that if I wanted to be able to relate to a woman I needed to be able to see things the way she does sometimes, because a woman will
never
see them the way that men do. She said that I should read the same things that women read, which I do—
Essence
,
Honey
, and on occasion I’ll grab
Sister 2 Sister
. Jamie Brown always gets the scoop like she’s the black Barbara Walters. Moms also had told me that I need to watch
Oprah
every chance I get, and of course I do that.

We went back
to her place after dinner. I didn’t have any work clothes at her apartment, so I would have to get up at about seven in order to make it to my crib to get dressed properly. We got back to her place in time to catch
Soul Food
on Showtime. I loved that show.

Nina turned the television set off as soon as the show went off and told me to come to bed. I thanked my lucky stars to have found myself such a hot-blooded woman.

When I told her that I needed a quick shower before getting into bed, she joined me. While we did start making love in the shower, we finished in her bed. Our lovemaking had been just as delicious as the food we had eaten earlier, and even more satisfying. While I lay there next to her in the afterglow I couldn’t get the idea out of my head that I wanted to be tied to this girl forever. If only God could help me find a way to tell her sister.

Nate was neatly
placing his clothes into the garment bag. He checked and then double-checked to make sure he had some fly gear packed. It looked more like he was the one making a video, with all of the outfits that he had packed. He was only staying for three or four days, but he had seven pairs of pants and a couple of sweat suits. Nate had spent the morning shopping in Georgetown and Tyson’s Corner. He’d purchased a couple of linen shirts from Armani Exchange, some Iceberg gear, and two Hobo sweat suits. He was ready for his trip to the city. Someone would have thought it was his first trip to New York, as excited as he was.

It didn’t take an expert to figure out that all of Nate’s excitement was due to his impending contact with the one and only Shawn Simmons. Shawn was only the hottest R&B female singer for nearly four years running. The fact that she was a raving beauty with the body and sex appeal of a goddess was only half of the secret to her success. Her voice was a cross between Anita Baker and Kelly Price, plus she had the hip-hop flavor of Mary J. Blige and the stage presence of Patti La-Belle. When she performed women cried and men breathed heavily. She had seduced a nation in her videos, one of which she had shot entirely nude. Of course the viewers never saw her private parts, but it was just the suggestiveness that had driven people wild. On top of everything else, the girl had class. What seemed risqué for other folks seemed chic when Shawn did it.

Her star had shined just a bit brighter than the rest from day one. She recorded one album as part of a girl group out of Los Angeles called Plain Jane. Plain Jane’s album made it to the top the charts, and the group was poised to do well.

What happened after that was the same thing that had happened to so many other groups. It seemed that all of the Plain Jane videos put Shawn on the map without doing anything for the other members. It wasn’t long before dissension and jealousy set in. Two of the three other members of the group, including her sister Sharon, began plotting against Shawn. Terrible rumors about Shawn’s private life were leaked to the press, sending her into a rage. Needless to say, Shawn left the group, leaving a fierce legal suit in her wake. The rest of the group disbanded to pursue solo careers, none of which succeeded.

Four years and two multiplatinum selling albums later, and Shawn was the hottest R&B voice around. All of the key record executives were saying that Shawn’s next album was a lock to be even bigger than the first two. Accomplishing that goal would be no small feat, though. She’d sold nearly twenty million units worldwide in four years. In order to live up to such high expectations, she was following in the footsteps of icons such as Mariah Carey and Janet Jackson. She went out and got the best producers to work with her in the studio. Everyone from Dr. Dre, Timbaland, and the Neptunes had worked on songs for her CD. Even after his scandal, Shawn voiced her support for R. Kelly and insisted that he do a song with her. “Innocent until proven guilty,” she said, when asked in a
Vibe
interview about her decision to work with him. She had been through scandals, and she felt as though the brother needed somebody to ride out the storm with him. Plus, it had people talking about her CD before it hit the shelves. There were also duets with Maxwell and Lil’Kim. People in her camp were predicting a clean sweep at the Grammy, Soul Train, and MTV awards shows in the coming year.

Nate had just
dropped three goldfish into the tank with his piranha when the phone rang. He looked at the caller ID. It was Sahleen.

“What’s up, baby?” Nate asked.

“Are you on the way?” Sahleen asked. “’Cause I want you to pick up some Chinese food for me.”

“Why don’t you just have them deliver it?” Nate didn’t feel like stopping, but he would do it for her.

“I don’t have any cash in the house at all. If you’re going to be here within the hour or so, I can just order it when you get here.” She paused, then said, “But I am famished.”

“Okay. I’ll tell you what,” Nate spoke, while carrying his bags to the door. “I’ll call you when I get on 395. Then you can call in your order; that way it won’t get cold before I pick it up.”

“Sounds good, baby, thanks.” Sahleen sounded as though she was in a really good mood. Nate figured that maybe she was looking forward to their getaway as well. They hung up, and Nate turned on the clock radio in his bedroom. He turned on the timer on the TV so that it would be on each day from nine at night until six in the morning. He put his bags on his shoulders and headed out the door. He was sleeping at Sahleen’s apartment so they could get an early start in the morning, and he wanted to make sure that his place would not welcome any break-ins during the subsequent four nights.

When he got into his car he called India’s house, but there was no answer. He needed her to be there. He had come up with a nice alibi for the long weekend. He was going to tell her that he was taking his grandmother to her sister’s house in Newport News. His grandmother actually had gone down to her sister’s home, but she had taken the train. He could have left a message, but Nate preferred to lie to a woman directly. A lying message was so tacky and impersonal. Plus, a message gave no way of judging one’s delivery and the reception of the message. Then he would have to spend energy over the weekend wondering if she had bought his story or not. No, he wanted her home. He called her cell.

When India’s cell rang she caught her hand midair. She had been just about to honk at Nate, who was driving in the next lane, but he hadn’t yet noticed her. She decided to have some fun and humor him. She sucked on her chocolate shake and placed it back into the cup holder.

“Hey, silly,” India said when she answered.

Nate had no idea why she was calling him silly, but it didn’t matter. She was in a good mood, and he hoped that she would stay that way after he told her that he was going out of town. He had known for two weeks that he would be leaving this weekend, but it would have been foolish to announce it to India any time before tonight. It would only have given her ideas about wanting to go with him, or time to come to the realization that she should be offended about not being invited. Nate knew that women always wanted to come along, or at least to be asked. He could have been going to an all-nude mud-wrestling tournament and she still would have wanted to come. Some women would want to come just because they weren’t invited. Just like the Million Man March, when Minister Farrakhan had told women for nearly two months to stay their butts at home, lo and behold if there weren’t at least twenty thousand sisters down there with their club gear on. I guess sistahs just liked those odds.

“Hey, baby,” Nate said, trying to sound loving. “You on the road?”

“Yeah, as a matter of fact I am,” she said. Nate could tell that India had a grin on her face while she was talking.

“You sure sound like you’re in a good mood, girl,” Nate said, turning down the radio. He was missing the Rane and Flex countdown on WPGC.

“I am in a good mood. I just left Victoria’s Secret at Union Station, and I have a surprise for you,” India said seductively. “You’ll be in a good mood too, when you see it.”

Nate cleared his throat and prepared himself for his delivery. “I can’t wait, believe me, baby, but unfortunately it’s going to have wait a few days. My great aunt is sick, and I have to take my nana down to see her.”

“Oh really, are you leaving tonight? I could see you for just a little while.” India was concerned, but she still wanted a little piece of Nate tonight. Even if it was only a quick piece. He had spent the entire week wining and dining her, and she was feeling very much in love. She had just finished telling her girlfriend that she felt as though Nate was ready to define the future of their relationship. That was what she thought up until Nate answered her with a serious tone…too serious to be delivering what had to be a joke. She had called him silly because she had thought that he was playing along with her from the start. But he wasn’t playing.