Читать книгу Love, Honor or Stray: - E.N. Joy - Страница 10

“I still can’t get over what a beautiful wedding you and Blake had,” Mrs. Robinson said to her daughter through the phone receiver. “And I couldn’t believe how beautiful your dark chocolate skin looked in that snow white gown.”

“What I can’t believe is that I got this size sixteen body in that size fourteen dress.” Paige laughed, revealing her deep dimples even more, dimples that were apparent whether she was smiling or not. “I’d planned on losing weight by next April, which was our original wedding date, of course, but when Blake and I decided we couldn’t wait that long to become husband and wife, well…” She batted her thick, long eyelashes.

“Girl, you know you just big boned like your mama and all your aunties,” Mrs. Robinson reasoned, although she herself wasn’t very big at all. “But you’re still beautiful, and for once I got to see your hair in something besides that slicked-back ponytail you always wear.”

“That style makes my face look thinner,” Paige said as she rubbed her cheek. “Not that I’m trying to look like something I ain’t, because thin I’m not. But that’s all right, because I found me a man who likes all two-hundred-plus pounds of this big-boned woman.” No longer able to contain her excitement of being a bride all of a week, she shouted, “Ma, I’s married now!”

The mother and daughter both chuckled at the line from the Oscar-slighted movie, The Color Purple.

Mrs. Robinson got her laughter under control then sighed. “But it’s a shame you two had to postpone your honeymoon.”

“Yeah, I know, but this was Blake’s golden opportunity on his job to prove himself. So, when his boss told him how important it was that he be at the closing, Blake knew it was now or never. It was really never up for debate between the two of us.”

“Let me tell you, that man is just lucky he married such an understanding wife. Some women might have seen it as the man putting his career before his family. After all, you two did have to cancel a honeymoon in Jamaica.”

“Actually, we didn’t cancel it; we just postponed it. Had we gone, Blake’s mind would have been back here in Ohio in his company’s boardroom anyway. Blake had been trying to get a meeting with some big shot for months. It just so happened that the day he gets it would have been the third day of our honeymoon.”

“And you’re not the least bit upset?” Mrs. Robinson sounded slightly doubtful.

“Disappointed maybe, but not upset. Disappointed that I couldn’t be like Angela Bassett in How Stella Got Her Groove Back, running on the beach, minus the tight bod,” She chuckled. “But elated that his company is going to reimburse us for any loss we had to take, plus pay for the honeymoon once we do take it.”

“Well, you sound convincing.”

“Ma, I’m not trying to be convincing. Blake proving himself to his company means a higher position, which ultimately means more money, which means I’ll be able to get that dream house I want built from the ground up. I’ve been visualizing it so that it will manifest just like it says to do in that book The Secret.”

“Girl, what secret? It ain’t no secret. It’s God! The Bible been done let that cat out the bag. You being a Christian should know that. What they teaching y’all up there in New Day Temple of Faith anyway?” Mrs. Robinson was using playful sarcasm with her only daughter.

“You know what I mean, Ma. Stop playing. But anyway, when it comes to Blake and his job, I’m straight.”

“Child, you are going on thirty years old and are somebody’s wife; talking about you straight. You better leave that talk for the hip hoppers and talk like you have the education you do. Is that how you’re going to be talking at the dinner parties Blake takes you to and introduces you as his wife?”

“No, Mother dear.” Paige rolled her eyes up in her head. “There is a time and a place for that kind of talk. You raised me well, and considering you raised me, you should know that I’m only twenty-eight, thank you very much.”

“Twenty-eight, thirty…same difference.”

“Anyway, to kinda sorta make things up to me, Blake is going to take me out to dinner tonight. We’re going to that fondue place where you have to have reservations in advance. His assistant’s husband made reservations for them a while ago, but with their child being sick with that swine flu he caught on their trip to Mexico, they can’t make it. So, she gave her reservation to Blake.”

“That sounds nice. It’s no Jamaica, but nice nonetheless.”

“I’ve never been, so I think—” Just then Paige’s other line clicked. She looked down at the face of the phone. Blake’s office number appeared on the screen. “Ma, that’s my husband. I’ll call you later.” She blushed. “Husband. That’s my husband.”

Now it was Mrs. Robinson who rolled her eyes. “Go on and talk to your husband. And tell that son-in-law of mine that his father-in-law is still waiting to show him around the construction business, for real this time.”

Paige recalled the visit she and Blake had made to her parents’ house. The visit was when Blake was supposed to spend the afternoon with her father, checking out the family construction business. Instead, Blake had just used that as an excuse to get her father alone so that he could ask him for his daughter’s hand in marriage. “Okay, Ma. I’ll be sure to tell him. I love you. Kiss Daddy for me. Bye.”

Paige ended the call with her mother and clicked over to the other line. “Hello, my handsome, butter-complexion, six-feet-tall hunk of a husband, who I can’t wait to run my fingers through your soft, wavy hair and then kiss you in places that—”

“Whoa, hold up. I think I better stop you there before my wife gets jealous,” was the reply that made Paige blush.

“Oh, I’m sure she won’t mind me borrowing you for an hour or two. As a matter of fact, I’m pretty cool with your wife,” Paige played along, “so if you really want to get down and dirty, I’m sure the three of us—”

“Please, Mrs. Dickenson, my wife really would get jealous.”

That’s when Paige realized that the voice on the other end of the phone was just an octave lower than Blake’s. “Blake?” Paige held her breath.

“Uh, sorry, Mrs. Dickenson, it’s Klyde.” He was Blake’s best friend and partner in crime at the commercial real estate agency they worked at. “Blake is in a meeting that is running way over, so he sent me a text and asked me to call you.”

Paige smiled. Her husband knew her well—well enough to know that she did not do the texting thing on her cell phone. She felt that phones were meant to talk on and computers were meant to type on. Besides that, she could never figure out how to use it anyway, which is why texting wasn’t part of her cell phone plan.

“Apparently the meeting is going to run into the dinner hour and he’s not going to be able to go to dinner with you tonight,” Klyde explained on his friend’s behalf.

Paige’s smile quickly faded.

“He says to tell you that he’s very—” Klyde paused before saying, “Oh, here he is now. He can tell you himself.”

Just then Paige heard her husband’s voice, for real this time, come through the phone.

“Hi, honey. I only have a second. We broke from the meeting for just a minute. I’m so sorry about tonight.” Blake’s voice was rushed. “I know taking you to dinner was supposed to be my gratitude for you being so understanding about having to delay the honeymoon and everything, but I am so close to closing this deal that I just know a Bang Bang shrimp appetizer from Bone Fish will do the trick.” Bone Fish was the restaurant Blake’s company always took their clients to. It had an elegant five star atmosphere and menu choices. The amazing thing about it, though, was that it had next-to-fast-food-restaurant prices.

“But, babe, I didn’t eat a single thing all day. I’ve been saving my appetite and calories for tonight,” Paige whined. “I guess we can just cancel and go some other time…like with our honeymoon.” She let out a deep, pitiful, exaggerated sigh.

“I’d hate for those reservations to go to waste after my assistant was so kind as to pass them on to us. On top of that, I’d hate for you to starve. Maybe you can get Tamarra or someone else to go with you.”

“It won’t be the same,” Paige pouted. “Plus, I remember Tamarra saying that she and Maeyl are taking his daughter to see Sesame Street on Ice, so she’s not available. I can always call Sister Deborah up, but she’s not too long from being back from her sabbatical. She’s been saying how she’s been working into the wee hours of the night trying to catch up. I don’t know anyone—”

“I’ve got an idea.” He cut off his wife. “See if Norman would like to go with you,” Blake suggested.

Paige thought for a moment. “Hmm, I guess I would have never thought of that. Well, okay. He’s off work at eight o’clock and the dinner reservation is for nine. I’m sure he’d loved to if he doesn’t already have a hot date. But then again, Norman has toned it down quite a bit since he started visiting New Day.”

“Great, honey, but look, I gotta go. The meeting is rejoining. Give Norman a call, and tell him to take good care of my wife for me. Okay? And I promise I’ll make it up to you. Saturday I’ll take you to lunch or something while we get your check engine light on your car looked at, okay?”

“All right, honey, I love—” The click in Paige’s ear halted her words. She looked down at the phone. “You.” She finished her sentence then hung up the phone.

Although he was the last person she would have imagined having dinner with tonight, Paige picked up the phone again and called Norman. While she invited him out to dinner and he gladly accepted, never once did Paige think about what it might look like to an outsider, the two of them sharing an evening dinner. As she hung up the phone to a growling belly, she didn’t care.