Yearning For Her Curves: (A BWWM Interracial Romance) (5 page)

“So, you still ask your parents?”  I asked.

“They’ve been at this happy marriage thing longer than I have, and I know that they are indeed happy.  I’ve always wanted that, so yeah.  I talk to Dad about what he does for Mom, and I talk to Mom about what makes her happy.  Mom and Char are actually a lot alike,” Joey said.  I smiled, thinking about the last time I’d seen Iris.

“Yeah, they are,” I said.

“No relationship is handled by one person, Jacinta,” Joey said.  “It’s a group effort, you and him.  You talking to us about this, listening the way that you are tells us that you really care about Patrick.” 

“Which is good, because he is a great guy.  And, no offense, but I don’t know you as well as the others do, so I was a little worried,” Coach said.  I grinned.

“I’m glad that you care about him enough to be worried,” I said.

“I think that he’s just as committed to this as you are, which to me means that while there may be some ups and downs, you’ll be fine,” Joey said.  “You watched Char and I go through a lot these last few months, so if nothing else, know that you can survive whatever life may throw at you guys, as long as you do it together.”

“Wow, you’re deep when you want to be,” Coach said.  Joey bowed slightly.

“Thank you, thank you.  I’ll be here all week.”  Coach and I both laughed.  Coach looked up over my shoulder.

“Incoming,” he said softly.

“Hey, what’d I miss?” Patrick said, walking up and putting his arm around me.

“You missed us talking fashion.  Who better to talk it with than the woman who dresses ungrateful rich people for a living?” Joey said, not missing a beat.

“I want to send my rich wife out shopping as a surprise, might as well make sure someone who’s going to take care of her gets the money, right?” Coach said, immediately catching on.  He shot me a grin and I mouthed a thank you before politely excusing myself and moving back to Char.

“Well?  Did you get what you needed?” she asked softly.  I glanced back up at the three men, talking animatedly now.

“Yeah, actually I did.  Thanks for that.”

“You can borrow Joey anytime, you know.  I don’t mind,” she said.  I snorted a laugh and picked up a few plates to take to the guys.

~~~

Sunday evening came way before I was ready to.  It was time for me to go home, since I had to go to work tomorrow and Patrick had practice bright and early Monday morning.  Patrick walked me out to the garage and helped me put my bag into the trunk, although it wasn’t a big bag and I could have done it.  He said that he wanted to carry it for me, so I’d let him.

“Oh.  Um, so
Pinks
is having a dinner party next weekend.  They’re doing really well, so they’ve decided to branch out by opening a New York office and they’re throwing the party in celebration.  Char and Izzy got me tickets, so… Would you like to go with me?”  I asked, looking up at him.  He smiled and leaned against the car.

“You realize that if you show up there with me on your arm, everyone is going to think that we are officially a couple.  Even your friends, who you don’t want teasing you about it,” he said with a smirk.  I grinned and nodded.

“I know.  I still want you to come with me.” 

“Then I will be there with big, jangly bells on.  Though, not literally,” he said.  I laughed and wrapped my arms tightly around his neck.

“Good,” I murmured.

“For the bells or me being there?”

“Both.”  I laughed.  Patrick made a face at me, then leaned down and kissed me gently.

Chapter 11

I was well into hour four of my work day.  So far I’d had two older ladies that I absolutely adored, one 14 year old boy that I despised and several phone calls into the store asking about things that the callers should have known already.  It was turning into an annoying day.

“Hey Lady,” Charlotte said as she answered the phone.

“Hey,” I said, a bit more down than I’d meant to.

“What’s wrong?”

“It’s been a long morning.”  I heard Al squeal in the background and smiled despite it all.  That little boy could make everything better with just a giggle.

“Aw, I’m sorry.  The day is only half over, too.  It’ll get better, I hope.” 

“Yeah, here’s hoping.  Any chance you and mister slobbery are in the neighborhood?” 

“We’re out at the training ground, so Al can see his Daddy.  I’m sorry, I could have brought him out here another day if I’d known,” she said.

“It’s okay, it’s not like we had plans.”

“Tomorrow, okay?” she said.  I nodded.

“Alright, tomorrow for lunch.”

“We can try out that new French place!  I’ve heard good things about it,” she said.  I smirked.

“Cool,” I said as the motion activated chime at the entrance went off and I turned to Isobel’s wave and obviously forced smile.

“Let me know what time you’re taking lunch in the morning, okay?” Char said.

“Yup.  As soon as I get in,” I said, waving back to Isobel and starting to walk in her direction.

“Alright, see you then,” Char said before ending the call.  I slipped the phone back into my pocket and hugged Isobel tightly.

“Hey Izzy.”

“Hey, have you taken lunch yet?” she asked.  I shook my head.

“Nope, but I was just about to.”

“Would you mind some company?” she asked.  I reached behind the counter and grabbed my purse, before linking my arm tightly through hers.

“Not at all,” I said as we walked out together.

We settled into our table at the gourmet burger place that we’d agreed on and started looking over the menu.  Once the orders had been taken, I looked up at Isobel and frowned.

“Okay, what’s going on?”

“I’m… just feeling a little down, that’s all.  I figured I’d come see what you were doing for lunch.  I’m kind of shocked that Char isn’t here, I know how much tough days mean you need baby snuggles,” she said with a grin.

“How’d you know today is going rough?”

“It’s all over your face, or it was before we left the store for a bit,” she said.  I sighed and started playing with the salt shaker.

“Char and I didn’t have lunch plans or anything.  She said she took Al out to watch his Daddy practice.”

“Al gets such a kick out of that.  He squeals and claps the entire time.”  

I snickered. “Yeah, that sounds like him.  Have you been out there with them?”

“I went last week, when I needed to get away from the office for a bit.  The fresh air seems to do me good when I’m feeling down,” she said.  I nodded as I took a sip of my soda.

“That makes sense.  Fresh air always helps me when I’m upset about something.  It’s like the clear air helps me clear my head so that I can think.” 

“Right,” Izzy said.  “Alton and I spent the entire time clapping and cheering for the guys while Char just watched and laughed.  She said that it was obviously making me feel better, so she didn’t want to interrupt.” 

“I guess we both needed Al today,” I said.  Isobel and I shared a grin.

“Yeah, but we’ve got each other so we’re okay.  Right?” she said.  I nodded.

“And alcohol.  We should have alcohol too.”  I laughed.

“Excellent idea. Oh cute waiter guy!”  Isobel said, waving to the waiter as I snickered into my hands.

~~~

Isobel and I had a great lunch together.  We talked and laughed, a little bit less than the norm, but neither one of us seemed to be having a stellar day.  Even so, I could see a deep sadness pass over Isobel’s face from time to time, even when she was smiling.  Charlotte and I had intentionally tried to avoid talking about our relationships around Isobel, while still giving her an open invitation to talk about Ryan if she needed to.  But she hadn’t, not really.  Occasionally, she’d say something slight about him and how she felt about everything that had happened, but that was about it.

She left looking just as down as when she’d arrived and that bothered me.  We’d talked about everything that I could think of that would cheer her up, and while it seemed to have done the trick temporarily, it hadn’t been permanent.  Her sadness seemed to return as soon as I looked away for a moment.  That worried me.  Isobel had always been a happy, optimistic person.  Until…

I sighed and leaned against the counter, ignoring the customers coming into the store for a few moments.  I didn’t like this at all.  Either there was something wrong more than simply mourning, or I was being paranoid.  I needed another opinion, just to be sure.  Someone who knew Izzy well enough to know what she was normally like.

“Excuse me miss, do you have this in a nine and a half?”  A nice older woman asked, holding up a pair of stilettos with spiked heels.  I tucked the Isobel thoughts in the back of my mind for a few and smiled, thinking briefly that if this woman could walk in those heels, I’d instantly gain a boatload of respect for her.

“Yes ma’am, we sure do.  Why don’t you take a seat and I’ll go get them for you,” I said, taking the display shoe from her.  She smiled and turned to walk to the nearby arm chair.  I glanced around the counter to see her shoes.  Hot damn, she was wearing stilettos.

“I love your shoes,” I said with a smile.  She turned with a grin.

“Thank you, sweetheart.”  She winked.  Oh yeah, I wanted to be just like her when I hit her age, I thought to myself as I turned and walked into the back.

Chapter 12

The evening of the dinner party snuck up on me before I’d really had a chance to think about it.  That evening, I picked up the dress that I’d been eyeing all week, paid for it on my way out of the store for the night and headed home to get ready.

Patrick texted me just as I walked into my apartment that he was on his way home to get ready as well, and that he’d let me know when he left his house to come pick me up.  So, I turned on something peaceful to listen to and wandered into the master bath, shedding clothes in a path until I reached the shower.

I loved my shower.  It was often my escape, my way to wash off the day if it was a particularly stressful one.  Today hadn’t been, but Isobel had wandered in around lunch, looking a bit down and I hadn’t been able to cheer her up.  She was still upset about Ryan, and I was worried that she was about to cross that line over into unhealthy mourning.  I made a mental note to grab Charlotte tonight and talk to her about it.  I needed to know that this wasn’t me being hyper sensitive over worrying about her.  And if it wasn’t, we needed to do something.

Once I felt reasonably sure that I had scrubbed off the day without scrubbing off too much of my skin, I hopped out of the shower, dried off, and started plugging up my curlers.  Tonight’s hair was going to require bouncy curls of various sizes, so the heat turned on and they were placed on my still damp towel on the counter.  Can’t burn up the counter tops, that’s just rude.

While those warmed, I walked into the bedroom and pulled out the dress again.  It was knee length, with a pencil skirt bottom and a halter top.  Dresses never fit me straight off the rack when they were form fitting.  They never had and never would.  I was a figure that was hard to shop for: Wide, round hips, waist at least two sizes smaller than hips and about a handful and a half of boobs.  This dress, however, the owner of the boutique saw me eyeing it and took it to be tailored for me, surprising me with it that day.  She said that she’d heard about the dinner party, and figured that was why I’d been staring at it all week.  Oddly enough, I hadn’t noticed that one was gone, even though I knew that no one had purchased one.  I wasn’t really sure how she’d managed that; I was usually pretty vigilant.

I smiled, thinking to myself that I had to get her something nice as a thank you, and pulled out my thigh high stockings and a pair of shoes that matched almost perfectly.  The curlers were ready to go around the time I got on all of the under garments, and I slid on my slippers and walked back into the bathroom, swept my hair up into the planned ponytail and curled faster than I’d ever curled before.

Next came the makeup.  I never wear anything heavy, like foundation.  My skin was lucky, it had always been pretty even and smooth, and I didn’t suffer through massive acne or issues like that, even in high school.  Foundation just made me break out a few days later.  Instead, I did my eyes, a little blush for contouring and lipstick.  That was all I ever wore.

Last but not least, I slipped the dress on carefully, then contorted myself in inhuman ways to zip up the back of it.  The sling backs were being clasped as the doorbell rang.

“Damn it.  Come in!”  I yelled and prayed that he’d hear me.  The welcome click of the door made me sigh in relief.

“Are you alright, Jacinta?”

“I’m fine, just not fully finished yet.  I’m back in the bedroom,” I said, standing and walking to the full length mirror before turning this way and that, looking myself over.

“What in the world could be left, you look amazing,” he said, coming up behind me in the mirror.  I turned and smiled.

“That suit looks fantastic on you.”  Every accessory he had brought out that icy blue of his eyes, and the suit was a deep sapphire that just made them pop even more.

“I had a little help.  Joey and I were looking at suits together, and Char stopped through and told me what colors might look good,” he said with a bit of a face flush.  I grinned.

“Char is almost as good with fashion as I am.  She made good choices,” I said, leaning up and kissing him gently.

“Hey now, we’re going to be late if you go starting things in here,” he said.  I giggled and turned, grabbing the small clutch I’d set out for the evening and my earrings.

“Okay, fine.  I can put on my jewelry in the car. I’m ready,” I said.  Patrick smiled and motioned to the door with a very wild and dramatic flourish.

“My lady, your chariot awaits.”

~~~

The venue for the dinner party was a small, independent art gallery that Charlotte had written a story about and given a huge boost in exposure.  The curator displayed pieces from non-traditional artists, such as graffiti artists and those whose materials for their art might not be widely used.  The ones that most larger places wouldn’t give the time of day.  He‘d had to expand his space into the building next door, and according to Char, had exhibits booked solid for the next year and a half.  He was also the one who’d opened his doors to them last minute for Char’s baby shower, gifting her and Joey with a beautiful piece of graffiti art for the baby’s room. He was an all-around awesome guy named Keith.

The entire place had been decorated with hanging strands of lights that were white, so that you could see the exhibits, but the place was still dim and rather classy.  Signs at the front stated that the actual dinner would take place at the back of the space, which I remembered was pretty open and normally contained sculptures.  In the mean time, we were welcome to stroll about the exhibits.

“I love this place.  Joey said that Charlotte comes up here almost once a month to see the new pieces,” Patrick said as we started walking, slowly taking our time.

“She does.  She brought Al up here too, since Keith wanted to meet him.  He’s so busy that he couldn’t make it out to the house though,” I said.  Patrick nodded.

“I can’t imagine that running this place is a part time job.”

“He hired an assistant, and ended up having to hire a second one because there just wasn’t enough time in the day for the two of them to get everything done,” I said.  “Thankfully, he has gotten some contracts around the city that make getting routine tasks done with simply an email, so that helps.”

“I’ve always loved how Izzy and Char keep up with the people that they write about.  The good ones, that make good on their promises and really seem to be doing something with the exposure they’ve been given,” Patrick said.  I smiled.

“They know what it’s like to struggle,” I said.  “They make friends with people and they stick around.  I don’t think that will ever change for either of them, even if they go international.”

“Good.  People who stay grounded are the ones who make it.”

We walked through the exhibits, stopping to look at a few and find out who the artists were and peek at a few of the prices for the ones that we really liked.  Finally we made it to the back, where the sculptures had been moved to the sides, and tables now occupied the majority of the space.  A good sized crowd of people that I knew and people that I didn’t milled about, mingling and talking quietly.

“There you are!”  Charlotte came up beside me before I’d found her and Joey.  She grinned, then leaned forward and waved.

“Hi Patrick,” she said in that sing-songy voice that you use when you’re 14 and you catch your friend with her crush that she hasn’t had the nerve to confess to yet.

“Hey Charlotte,” he said with a grin and a slight reddening of his cheeks.

“You two look wonderful,” she said.  The teasing was over, thankfully.  I’d probably hear about it later, but that was all for tonight.

“Are they flying you and Izzy out to New York for the office opening?” Patrick asked, obviously trying to take her focus off of the fact that we were there together before she started teasing him again.

“Nah, Jade wouldn’t do that with Al being so little and Joey’s schedule being so hectic right now.  Isobel said she didn’t want to go,” she said with a shrug.

“That reminds me…” I said, taking her shoulder gently and moving her away from the crowd a bit.  Patrick took the hint and wandered off, presumably to find Joey.

“What’s up?”  Char said, lowering her voice and changing her stance so that we looked like we were simply talking instead of gossiping in the corner.

“Isobel came to see me at work last week, and she looked really down,” I said.  “I tried everything that I could think of, all of the things that normally would make her smile again and nothing worked.  I’m really starting to worry about her.  I’m starting to worry that she’s crossing over from mourning into unhealthy.”  

Charlotte frowned and nodded slightly. “Yeah, I noticed that she doesn’t really seem to be coming out of this funk either.”

“Good, then it’s not just me being a paranoid, over-protective friend,” I said.  Char shook her head.

“We need to spend more time with her.  Maybe doing things a bit less… crowded,” she said, glancing around.

“Right, she doesn’t really seem to want to be around people right now.”

“We could maybe do a spa day next week?  That new one down by my old place that I go to put in childcare.”

“Right, I’m off on Wednesday and Friday,” I said.

“Wednesday.  Friday, Joey will be home and has already called dibs on Al, so we can go out and do something that night.  A movie or a book signing, or wine tasting… something.” 

“That sounds like a great plan,” I whispered.  Char and I shared a look and a smile.

“I’ll be at home most of the week, I’ll find out what’s going on Friday and let you know,” she said, just as Isobel walked up.

“What’s up?” she said. Charlotte was instantly smiling as she tossed her arm around Isobel and grinned.

“We were thinking, we should go to the spa,” she said.  “We haven’t done that in forever, and all three of us deserve some pampering.”   I’d give it to her, she made it totally sound like just a day out together.  Not at all like an intervention over Izzy’s mental health.  Then again, she’d always been better at sugar coating than I was.

“Oh?  You’re right we haven’t,” she said with a grin.

“Awesome, keep Wednesday afternoon open.  Jacinta’s off that day and I know you have that interview in the morning,” she said.  Izzy nodded.

“Jade doesn’t have anything else for me that day.”

“Good!  I’m excited,” she said, doing that girly squeal thing that she and Isobel did way more than I did, though I had my moments.

“Hang on, what’s up with you showing up with tall, blond and hunky over there?”  Isobel asked with a smirk and a wink.  That was closer to the Izzy I knew, and I couldn’t help but grin.

“What?  What’s wrong with my bringing Patrick with me tonight?”  I asked.  Izzy shrugged.

“Nothing at all.  I just thought you guys were working so hard not to be ‘a thing’ that you’d never come out in public like this.  Some place where you will no doubt be photographed together,” she said.  Charlotte stifled a giggle and I rolled my eyes.

“I just wanted him to come with me, okay?”  I said.

“Calm down, sheesh.  It’s not like we’re worried or anything.  Patrick is a great guy,” Char said, that teasing look back on her face.

“Speaking of which…”  I said, using that to extract myself from the conversation and go find him before the two of them teased me to death.

The dinner party was a huge success and everyone there completely enjoyed themselves, myself and Patrick included.  Afterwards, we walked through the outside exhibits, wanting to see the others before we left together for the night.  The area was dimly lit with Chinese lanterns here and there, giving just enough light to see the stunning sculptures and those quietly walking amongst them.

“I’ve been thinking,” Patrick said all of a sudden.  I smirked.

“Don’t hurt yourself,” I said.  He laughed.

“Hush.  I was thinking about us more.”