Trouble with Luv' Page 11

  “I’d like you to come with me to church.”

  He can’t be serious. Church as a second date? Ebony wanted to see him again, but she didn’t want to go to church. They couldn’t talk in church. Or laugh at each other’s jokes. Or kiss. And besides, churches were filled with imperfect, hypocritical people, who wagged their crooked fingers at others. Ebony would rather stay home and watch Bishop T.D. Jakes from the comfort of her sofa than go to a real life church any day. Mock smiles, insincere welcomes and stilted conversation would greet her at the front door and finger pointing and hushed voices would guide her down the aisles.

  “My sister and her husband will be there and I’d love for you to meet them.” Xavier pulled out of the parking space, and followed the trail of cars leaving the park grounds. “Afterward, we can all go for lunch.” He put a hand on her lap. “I promise not to take you to Dakota’s.”

  Ebony laughed. “Why don’t you call me in the morning? I’ll let you know how I’m feeling and we’ll go from there.”

  Xavier nodded. The rest of the twenty-minute drive was a quiet one. The driver wrestled with feelings of guilt over what had happened in the park and the passenger wondered how much longer it would take to get him into bed.

  Chapter 11

  “People of God, get it together!” bellowed Pastor B.J. Henderson, striking his fists vehemently against the pulpit. His voice boomed across the church, amplified by the mini microphone clipped to his suit jacket. “It’s time we stop playing church and start being a church! Is anyone in here listening?”

  A chorus of amens and hallelujahs rang out from the congregation.

  Pastor Henderson peeled off his pea-green suit jacket. The slim-faced deacon standing off to the side took it and draped it behind the reverend’s oversize chair. The shiny pews, glass pulpit and decorated altar complimented the simple elegance of the church.

  “We need to get real with ourselves and get real with our God! Don’t waste your time and—” he pointed to the ceiling with his index finger “—His time playing church. If you’re not going to give the Lord your all, don’t bother.” Pastor Henderson dragged a hand down his face, his large, owl-like eyes penetrating the audience. “God doesn’t want our sloppy seconds, church. He wants your heart, your soul, your mind and your body. He wants everything you have and everything you are. It’s all or nothing, saints. Can I get an amen up in here?”

  “Amen!” Ebony didn’t realize she had shouted until Xavier smiled over at her.

  He whispered, “Looks like somebody is enjoying herself.”

  She cast him a sideways glance, and when he broke out into a cheesy grin, she did, too. Pastor Henderson asked the assembly to open their Bibles to Psalm 51 and Ebony dutifully obeyed.

  “Everything you have and will ever have in this life is a gift from God,” he told them, after reading the scripture. “If you have food on your table and clothes on your back and shoes on your feet, you ought to give the Lord some praise. Stop puffing out your chest and swaggering around the neighborhood like you’re something special. You’re not! Don’t look down at others because you have an Ivy League education, a six-figure salary, an expensive car and a four-bedroom house with a pool. How do you think you got all of those things? You didn’t get them by yourself! God gave them to you! He blessed you with the intelligence to graduate from a college or university. Blessed you with the necessary skills to secure that prestigious job. Helped you to buy that fancy house. Don’t take what God has done in your life for granted, people of God.” Pastor Henderson paused long enough to wipe the sweat trickling down his face. He warned, “Don’t play with God, saints, because as quickly as he blessed you with that job, that car, and that house, it can all be gone!”

  Heads nodded and hands clapped. Pastor Henderson had evidently struck a nerve. “Before I close, I want to have a word with my sisters in Christ.” His mouth was set into a deep scowl. “Stop being so hard on the brothers!”

  The women in the congregation chuckled.

  “Trust me, sisters, they are doing their very best. So what if the brother looks more like Derrick from up the block than Denzel Washington? Give the man a chance!” Worshippers erupted in laughter. Women of all ages shook their heads furiously; men nodded and exchanged high fives. Pastor Henderson guffawed. A full minute passed before the parishioners quieted down. “Now, bow your heads in prayer.”

  Xavier took Ebony’s hand.

  The pastor instructed the congregation, “Pray for someone who you know could use a touch from the Lord.”

  Ebony couldn’t remember the last time she’d prayed and didn’t know who to pray for. But when she closed her eyes, she saw Lydia Miller’s angry face. She prayed for the young girl and soon she was crying.

  Pastor Henderson’s soul-stirring message had her name written all over it. Ebony had replaced God with work and in the process had lost her way. She had given up on faith and stopped believing in miracles. But her past didn’t have to be her future. Right where Ebony sat, she made a promise to God. She would attend church on a regular basis and try to pray every day. The church choir was phenomenal and she responded to Pastor Henderson’s tell-it-like-it-is approach, but Ebony didn’t know if she was going to make Jubilee Christian Center her home church. This was Xavier’s church. And she didn’t want him to think she was attending church to win him over. Ebony was doing this for herself and not because she wanted him to like her.

  When the service came to a close, Ebony carried herself confidently through the church doors and stopped only when Xavier introduced her to the pastor and his wife. Parishioners waited in line to have a word with their pastor, but Pastor Henderson took the time to greet his “son’s” pretty friend. He thanked Ebony for all her help in the Changing Lives Through Meals program and his wife, Necee, promised to have them over for dinner one day soon. By the time Ebony left the church foyer and followed Xavier outside, her heart was full. She felt different, renewed, changed.

  “What did you think?” Xavier asked, weaving his car around a shiny SUV and merging into midday traffic. “I heard you hooting and hollering, but what do you really think of what you heard this morning?”

  “The choir was amazing and the African woman who stood up and testified about being healed from throat cancer is incredibly brave. I don’t know what I’d do if I was in her shoes.”

  Xavier agreed. “Me, neither, but thank God her cancer is in remission. If anyone can survive throat cancer, it’s Sister Mobuto. The woman is a fighter.”

  Ebony was happy to hear that. “It’s too bad your sister couldn’t come to church this morning. I was really looking forward to meeting her.”

  “I know, but morning sickness is kicking her butt.” Xavier made a point of adding, “But don’t worry, there’ll be lots of other opportunities for you to meet her.”

  Ebony didn’t ask him to elaborate. They were still testing the waters, as she liked to call it, and she didn’t want to read too much into what he said. When the time was right, they would discuss where things were going. Until then, she would keep things as simple as possible. “Her husband seems nice.”

  “Yeah, Andrew’s a cool guy. Not like that jerk she married the first time around.” Ebony picked up on the resentment in his voice, but when she opened her mouth to ask what happened, he changed the subject.

  “I’m glad you came with me to church, Ebony. It means a lot to me.”

  Ebony smiled softly. The more time she spent with Xavier, the more she liked him. Beneath his serious nature was a supersensitive romantic who was witty and sincere. He was warm and sweet and kind and although they would probably never be anything more than lovers, Ebony was thankful that they had met. Knowing a man of Xavier’s caliber and character would undoubtedly change her forever. From now on, she refused to settle. No more self-centered, scheming, two-faced, no-good brothers. If she couldn’t have the best, then she didn’t want anyone at all. Ebony stared outside the window. It’s like the song says, she thought with a chuc
kle, I can do bad all by myself.

  Ebony leaped to her feet. She hoped it was Xavier on the phone. That night at dinner, they had discussed their favorite vacation spots, argued about the best players in the major leagues and flirted shamelessly. Things had been going great until the waiter brought the bill.

  Ebony had expected Xavier to be relived when she pulled out her credit card and handed it to the pale-skinned waiter. A teacher’s salary was barely enough to keep body and soul together, let alone pay for expensive meals. Ebony didn’t mind paying; she could afford it. Most men would be over the moon if their date offered to pay for dinner. Not Xavier. He had argued with her for ten minutes. In the end, she had reluctantly agreed to let him pay, but had insisted on leaving the tip. The drive back to her place was a quiet one, and when Xavier pulled up in front of her house, he was still sulking. Ebony invited him inside, but he politely declined. “Call me later, okay?” Xavier had promised to call her in a couple of hours, but it was going on ten o’clock, and she still hadn’t heard from him.

  “Hello?”

  “Hey, girl. Long time no talk.”

  Ebony pushed aside her disappointment and greeted Opal warmly. She went to the fridge, poured herself a glass of chocolate milk and grabbed a handful of cookies.

  “Where have you been? Have you forgotten about your family?”

  “Don’t be like that,” Ebony said sternly. “Kendall and I have been working crazy hours trying to get the business proposal finished before our next meeting with the bank.” She dunked a cookie in the glass of milk and popped it into her mouth. “You of all people should know what it’s like trying to meet a deadline.”

  “I hear you. Things are just as busy on my end, but that doesn’t mean I can’t find the time to check on my friends. Unlike you, my job isn’t my life. There are more important things, like—”

  “Okay, okay, save the rest of your speech for someone who cares,” Ebony said with a laugh. “You made your point, Opal. I’m a horrible friend.”

  “Admitting it is the first step.”

  More laughter passed between the two friends.

  “How are my goddaughters doing?” Milk spewed out of Ebony’s mouth when Opal said she was thinking about checking herself into a psychiatric ward. “That bad, huh?”

  “Worse! I can’t handle Iyesha anymore. She’s only thirteen, but her scrawny little butt is wearing me out! Whenever I tell her she can’t do something, she hems and haws and then spends the rest of the evening pouting. I feel like pulling my hair out from the roots every time she whines about wanting this or that. And this morning when I told her she needed to put a T-shirt over her tank top, she had the nerve to roll her eyes. You know what that fresh-mouthed girl said when I told her she was one eye-roll away from being grounded? She said, ‘Mom, you’re such a drainer!’” Opal imitated her daughter’s voice, which elicited chuckles from her best friend. “What does that mean?”

  Ebony dabbed the tears at the corner of her eyes. Every woman needed a friend as funny as Opal. She always had a story to tell. Between the characters she counseled at the group home she worked at, her crafty ex-husband and her two spunky daughters, there was always something exciting happening in her life.

  “We should get together one day this week,” Opal said.

  “Just pick the time and place and I’m there.”

  “Good, ’cause if I don’t get away from Iyesha and Tessa for a few hours, I’m going to lose it!”

  Ebony did a mental check of her week. She was booked solid until next Friday. “Q’s Joint is celebrating their three-year anniversary next weekend. Interested?”

  “Sure, count me in.”

  “Do you mind if I bring Xavier? When I mentioned it to him this afternoon he said he wanted to go.”

  “You two kids have been spending an awful lot of time together,” Opal noted. “When you aren’t burning up the phone lines, you’re off having dinner and who knows what else. Is there something you want to tell me?”

  “Nope. Nothing at all.”

  There was a ruffling sound on the phone and then Opal said, “I seriously doubt I’ll be able to keep it together until Friday.”

  “Then come over tomorrow night and we’ll order in some Chinese food.”

  “Deal, but no Chinese. I started Atkins today.”

  Ebony frowned into the phone. “Again?”

  “Yup. The first time around was just a trial run.”

  “And this time is…” She left Opal to finish the rest of the sentence.

  “The real thing.”

  “All right, I got it. No Chinese food. We’ll have salad and tofu and watch my girl Fantasia tear it up on American Idol.”

  “Deal.”

  “Okay. See you then.”

  After Ebony replaced the receiver, she washed the dishes, dried them and then stacked them in the cupboard. Outside the kitchen window, an angry wind scattered leaves back and forth and murky clouds sailed across the dark gray sky. Though the sun had set, the neighborhood was still very much awake. The Addisons, the Trinidadian family to her left, had their sprinklers going; a lawn mower roared in the distance; children laughed merrily and dogs barked.

  Why hasn’t he called? Ebony stared at the receiver for a moment, then picked it up and punched in Xavier’s number. But she hung up before the call could connect. No, she wasn’t going to call. Xavier was being petty and if he couldn’t handle being with a woman who made more money than him she was better off without him.

  Ebony returned to the master bedroom. A long, luxurious soak in the tub quieted her thoughts and soothed her mind. Clad in a red lace teddy, she shut off her bedside lamp and slipped underneath the silk sheets. She spent the next twenty minutes rehashing what happened at dinner and when Ebony finally dozed off, it was with a heavy heart.

  Chapter 12

  Summer was in full bloom by the first week in June. Rain showers had come and gone, the scent of fragrant flowers overshadowed the city and birds twittered the melody of the season.

  Ebony had started the week off with bright, enthusiastic energy, but by midweek, she was an exhausted executive running on empty. Ebony hated Wednesdays with a passion and it was the one day she struggled to wake up. By midweek, customers and employees were irritable and more times than not Ebony staggered through the day.

  On this particular afternoon, her sinuses were acting up and the humidity only added to her foul mood. Ebony was angry, and not even the soft soothing voice of Roberta Flack could bring her out of her funk. She had butted heads with Kendall during the morning meeting and she was still smarting over the groundless accusations her partner had made. It had all started when Ebony suggested they work overtime to fine-tune the Women of Sensuality promotion. Kendall had quickly rejected the idea. She had plans with Turner and she wasn’t staying a minute past four o’clock, she’d said.

  Ebony had lost it. After labeling Kendall lazy and unmotivated, she accused her of neglecting the business.

  Kendall had fired back, “You’re a control freak who has no life. You can work all day and night if you want to, but I’m not going to. I have a life. I have a husband waiting for me at home.”

  Three hours later, the insults were still playing in Ebony’s mind. Am I really that bad? Do I push my co-workers and employees too hard? From time to time she struggled to control her temper, but everyone had flaws in their personality. Ebony had made her fair share of mistakes but she hadn’t built a lucrative business by being a quitter. Or shunning her responsibilities. Her greatest characteristic was her tenacity and she wouldn’t let anyone knock her down because she aspired to be at the top of her game. It didn’t matter if Ebony was dealing with an insubordinate employee, or a disgruntled customer, she handled every challenge head-on.

  Ebony wondered what Xavier was doing. It was six o’clock so he was probably at church getting things ready for tonight. Thoughts of Xavier had been sneaking up on her all week. He invaded her thoughts while she was driving to work, when she
was soaking in the tub, and even in the privacy of her dreams.

  Her eyes strayed to the window. Ebony wished she could look inside that handsome head of his. Maybe that would give her some insight. A week had passed since their argument at Oysters, but Xavier was still holding a grudge. He was carrying on as if she had hopped up on their table, hiked up her skirt, and given the patrons an impromptu strip show. She hadn’t willfully embarrassed him, so why was he still upset? Was offering to pay for dinner a sin? Xavier was acting like a two-year-old on a self-inflicted time-out and Ebony was tired of feeling guilty. She hadn’t done anything wrong! Part of her wanted to forget him but she couldn’t stand the thought of him being mad at her. So when Ebony arrived at church that evening, she pulled Xavier aside.

  “Can we go somewhere to talk?”

  He led her into a dingy storage room with weak lights.

  “Why are you avoiding me? If you’re still angry about what happened last Saturday at dinner, then just say so.” When he didn’t respond right away, she prompted, “Well, are you?”

  Xavier hesitated. She was putting him on the spot and he didn’t have an answer. Dinner at Oysters had left a bad taste in his mouth for more than one reason. Ebony had made a big production out of paying for the meal. She had acted like he lived on the streets and therefore couldn’t possibly afford to take her to a nice restaurant. Xavier didn’t know what type of men Ebony was used to dating, but based on the way she acted, he concurred they were parsimonious in nature. Men who would rather keep their money in their wallets than spend it on a woman. Xavier grew up seeing his father spoil his mom. His pops opened doors, pulled out chairs, paid for meals and bought flowers for no reason. In his father’s eyes, his mother was the most beautiful woman to walk the face of the earth and that’s how Xavier treated the women in his life. He loved to spoil. Loved seeing a woman’s face light up when she opened an unexpected gift. He put time and effort into planning elaborate dates. Went the extra mile to let his girl know she was special.