Sweet Little Lies (15 page)

“Oh my God, it really was. You’re like the vagina whisperer.”

He opened his mouth, shut it, and then burst out laughing. “You just called me…”

“Yeah, I did. It’s your new nickname….VW—oh! V. Dub.”

“You’re a fool.”

“I kinda am. Now I’m hungry and dirty. Food first? Shower first?”

“I need food to replenish myself before the shower. I recall exactly how you like your back scrubbed.”

Just like that a flash of heat ran through my body. I remembered that shower as well.“In that case, let me feed you first.” I sat up and looked around for my robe.“I might have a pair of Collin’s or Clarke’s sweats around here for you.”

“Oh, I have a bag in the living room.”

I paused in the middle of tying my robe around my waist. “You have a bag in the living room?”

“I had a wishful-thinking bag in the car. The driver brought it in for me.”

“Wishful thinking, huh?”

“Boy Scout motto—be prepared.”

“You were a Boy Scout?”

“Okay, no. Hood motto—stay ready.”

“I don’t see a lot of Hood Steven left in you.”

“He’s still there. He lurks under the polished, tuxedo-wearing surface.You feed me properly and I might break him out for that shower.”

“Hood Steven doesn’t make love?”

“Hood Steven smashes. He’s a little rough and raw. Hood Steven doesn’t whisper, he screams.”

“Oh. My.” Whichever Steven showed up in the kitchen was about to get the best middle-of-the-night meal I could put together.

“S
teven, I can’t tell you what a joy it’s been to meet you, spend time with you, get to know you.” Joanna Brinsley hugged me like I was a long lost child, rocking me back and forth in a warm hold. Never mind that her three children were looking on with varied expressions of amusement and resignation.

I hugged her right back.“The joy is mine, Mama Brinsley. All mine.” My grin widened as Christina put a hand on her hip and rolled her eyes.

“Suck-up!” she mouthed behind her mother’s back.

“Hater!” I mouthed back with a wink.

Joanna squeezed once more and stepped back.“You know you remind me so much of my late husband.”

I wasn’t sure I wanted to know, but I took it in the spirit it was given.“I’m sure that’s a compliment of the highest order. A man smart enough to marry you is a man worth emulating for sure.”

Joanna Brinsley had a whole timeless beauty, Lena Horne, upper-crust look about herself. In her late sixties, she had
meticulously flawless skin, thick chestnut hair cut above her ears, and a petite frame. At hearing my words, she blushed like a schoolgirl.“Now isn’t that sweet?!” She turned to Christina. “Isn’t he sweet?”

“The sweetest.” Her tone was dry.

“Oh, Christina. Wry doesn’t suit the Brinsley face. You know your father was from the hood, too.”

I stifled a chuckle, but the word “hood” should never come out of that woman’s mouth.“Was he now?”

“Yes, he was, but just like you he pulled himself up and made something of himself.”

If the size of her Pacific Heights Victorian was any indication, he’d done more than just “something.”

“Well, I won’t keep you young people from the rest of your afternoon. Steven, the next time you come, you bring that twin of yours.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Joanna tilted her head and looked from one couple to the next. “Everybody looking so happy, you’d think one of you could give me some grandbabies.”

Dead silence. I knew I wasn’t touching that one.

“Fine.Act like you don’t hear me. Don’t forget to get your leftovers from Odessa on the way out.”

Odessa was the live-in housekeeper. She was apparently something like a permanent fixture in the Brinsley household. She had been with “Miss Joanna” for close to twenty-five years. When we all filed into the kitchen she was stretched out in the window seat with a glass of wine and the remote control, watching football. Odessa was a stick-thin woman with olive-brown skin and wavy, long gray hair pulled back into a ponytail. She wore a Forty Niners sweatshirt, faded jeans, and sneakers. If I had to guess, I’d put her age somewhere between sixty and seventy-five.

She gestured toward the counter.“I made up one bag per couple. I ain’t getting all up in your business as to who sleeps
where. But, Christina, that’s a good-looking piece o’ man you brought round this time. You sho’nuff betta not let him sleep alone. Fine young thang like that. Carey, you come over here and give Miss Odessa a kiss. Finally get some babies running around this house.” Carey complied. “You know I like to watch my games in peace. ’Bye, children.” Now that’s a rare skill to both welcome and dismiss people in the same breath.

We had grabbed the bags and stepped outside when Collin spoke. “You know, I believe I’ve heard enough about Christina’s sex life to last me a lifetime.”

Celia sighed.“Did you think she was a virgin?”

Carey laughed.“
No
one thought that.”

“Hey! Not my fault,” Christina said, stamping a foot.

“Troublemaker’s anthem,” I reminded her.

Clarke broke out laughing.“Yes! That’s it exactly.”

Christina sent him a side-eye. “Where are your cuff links resting these days?”

“Direct hit,” Collin said.

“So with all the baby talk—who’s trying to get pregnant?” I asked out of curiosity.

“A sister needs a ring first,” Carey said.

“It better not be you!” Clarke dodged Carey’s statement and hooked an arm around Christina’s neck.

“Get off me!” she squealed, and ran over to Collin.

“Seriously?” Celia said, tapping her foot. “Sometimes you three act like you’re back in kindergarten.”

“And on that note…” Carey looked at Clarke and then at the car.

A round of hugs and good-byes rolled before Christina and I were finally settled in the car. Waving to the others, I pulled out into the street and pointed the car south toward my place in the SoMa district.“Sounds like you sho’nuff betta not let me sleep alone!”

“Apparently not, fine young thang that you are.”

“By the way, you need to put your girl Lynne in check.”

“What? What did she do?”

“I told you about her hitting on me at the party, right?”

“Yeah, but she was drunk and acting out. Her marriage is on the rocks and she’s sex-deprived.”

“No doubt. She’s taken to texting me on the regular.To be precise, it’s more like sexting.”

“The
hell?
When?”

“It started a week ago. I asked her to stop. She hasn’t. I’m about to block her.”

“You’re just now telling me? All casual-like, with a ‘by the way’?”

“Like I said, it started a week ago.We’ve both been crazy busy. I’m telling you now.” Really, when is the best time to tell your girl her friend is trifling?

“How did she get your number?”

“It was on my card from the foundation.”

“I
cannot
believe this…I know you kept those messages to show me.”

“You know I did.” I handed her my phone.

She started scrolling and reading. “Oh, that’s not too bad. That’s an unfortunate turn of phrase. That’s downright inappropriate. Is this fourth one even legal?”

“In the City and County of San Francisco it is.” I was so glad she saw the humorous side of the situation.

“I’m embarrassed for her. And for me. And for you.”

I braked to a stop at the light and looked over at her. “Thank you.”

She kept reading and, by her body language, I could tell she had gotten to the more troubling messages.“I am so gonna
Kick. Her.Ass
.”

“Hold up, Ti-Ti. How about you start with a conversation?”

“Eff a conversation! This is wild! Did she have an attachment on this last one?”

“I deleted it.”

“Was it a picture?”

“A short video.”The light turned green and I made the left turn toward my condo.

“Ain’t this a bitch! I’m calling her ass right now!”

“Christina!” I wondered if this whole thing could turn ugly.

She put up her hand. “Dialing!” She switched to speaker-phone.

Lynne picked up. “Hey, sexy, I was hoping that video would get you to call. When can we hook up?”

Christina pursed her lips.“Hey, Lynne, what’s going on?”

As Christina would say, you could hear crickets chirping in the background. I pulled into my parking structure and headed up the ramp.

“Lynne? I take it you expected someone else.”

“Girl, I thought you were this young man I’ve been flirting with.” Lynne giggled nervously.

“Young man as in my Steven?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Don’t play dumb, Lynne. You’re one of the smartest women I know. As you have no doubt deduced, I’m sitting here with Steven’s phone in my hand, having just read the messages you sent him. Now what is going on?”

“I’m sorry to tell you this, but your boy hit on me at that party. I assumed that meant he was available.”

I backed into my space and watched Christina’s eyes narrow into slits. Uh-oh.

“He absolutely did not, and you assumed no such damn thing, Lynne.”

“Oh, you just gonna take his word over mine? Is he putting it down like that?”

“Lynne, what the hell are you thinking? I know you are going through some things but don’t bring it here. Whatever mess you were trying to start…stop it now.”

“You know your track record with men is not that great. How can you be one hundred percent sure that he didn’t roll up?”

“Wow, friend, is it like that? I’m one hundred percent sure that you are lying. Grown Man Steven doesn’t roll up. I don’t fight over men, especially when it wouldn’t be a fair fight. So what say we chalk this up to a lapse in judgment and forget it ever happened?”

“I still can’t believe that you—”

“Lynne, I’m giving you an out. Please take it.We’ve been friends for too long to let your hormones and momentary crazy get in the way.”

“Momentary crazy?!”

“Or we can swing by and the four of us—you, me, Steven, and Eric—can talk it over. Why don’t you take the out and we’ll leave it here?”

“Fine.Whatever.”

“Okay, then. Talk to you later.” She tossed me the phone and climbed down from the car.

Walking to the elevator, I took her hand. “You handled that nicely, I thought.”

She shook her head.“Trying to do the mature thing all the time wears me out.”

“That’s your family, though.”

“She’s not family. We just left my family.”

“Point taken.” I stepped into the elevator and pushed the button for floor 16.

“All right then.”

“Speaking of fam …” I decided to go ahead and broach the subject.

“What now?”

“Calm down. I’m going to Chicago for Christmas.”

“Okay.”

“Want to come?”

“Really, with you?”

I rolled my eyes.“As opposed to?”

“No one. It just surprised me, that’s all.”

“Why?”

“Meeting your family at Christmas. That’s a step.” She looked nervous.

“I’ve met all your family and your close friends, Christina.”

“Yes, I know. It just seems soon for meeting the parents.”

“I’m confused. Didn’t we just eat with your entire fam?”

“Well, yeah.”

“So what’s the difference?”

“These are your people.”

“And?”

“What if they don’t like me?”

“What’s not to like?”

“Hmph.Ask Stefani. She’s still iffy about me.”

“She’s overprotective.”

“And your mother isn’t?”

“She doesn’t know about New York.”

She sent me a side-eye.“I see.”

“You pick the strangest things to get insecure about. Next topic, then? I was thinking we’d go meet some people at Candlestick for the game tonight.”

She looked at me in horror.“Are you a Forty Niners fan?”

The way she said it made it seem a completely implausible thing.“I take it you are not.”

“No way.”

“Is that a deal breaker?”This chick had more rules.

“It’s pause worthy, I’ll tell you that.”

“I’m a Bears fan. They play the Niners tonight. What are you—a Raiders fan?”

“Repping for the East Bay, yo!”

“Um—don’t do that tonight. Promise me.”

“I’ll try not to embarrass you. So tonight, I finally get to meet some of the boys?”

We stepped out of the elevator on my floor. “It’s Jimmy and Rob. You met both of them back in the day. They were two of my roommates in New York.”

“Oh, Jimmy was the funny guy from St. Louis?”

She really did remember everything.“That’s the one.”

“Rob was in software or something—what’s he doing?”

“He owns a software company. They make gaming software.”

“Anything I might have heard of?”

“Mix-a-lot Dance Jams is one of his company’s games.”

“Oh, that game that lets people DJ?”

“That’s the one.”

“What is Jimmy doing now? Stand-up comedy?”

I laughed because that was what he was truly suited for. “No, believe it or not, he’s a motivational speaker.”

She nodded.“I could see that.”

“So, you down?”

“Let’s do it. But I cannot stay up too late tonight. We start filming the special series on the high-speed rail in the morning.”

“When’s it going to air?”

“The end of January.We’re doing a five-night special. Are you still good to do the interview next week?”

“Sure.” I unlocked the door and ushered her in. I set the leftovers in the refrigerator and joined her on the couch. She turned on the NFL Network. I loved how much she was into football.

“Is it going to be weird, me interviewing you on camera?”

“Are you going to be naked?”

“Of course not.”

“Then it’s not going to be weird.”

“Okay then.”

Sometimes I really wondered what was going on in that head of hers. Then I remembered something she had said earlier. “But since you brought up weird…who is Grown Man Steven?”

“Oh… ah.” Ms. Brinsley actually blushed.

“I’m waiting.” I sat back and folded my arms.

“That’s what I call you in my head.”

Huh, that was an interesting admission.“Because?”

“I do it to remind myself that Grown Man Steven is not to be played with or taken lightly.”

“Or is it to remind yourself to keep your guard up?”

Her eyes widened slightly, letting me know I’d touched on some of the truth.“Maybe a little of both.”

“Hmm. By the way, thank you for never even considering that Lynne might be telling the truth.”

“Never crossed my mind.”

“Why do you think that is?”

“I trust you, Steven.”

I reached over, grabbed her, and swung her onto my lap. “I’m sorry, could you repeat that?”

“I said I trust you, Steven.” She buried her face in the side of my neck. And just like that it was over for me. I accepted the reality. I was in love with this beautiful, talented, complicated woman. I closed my eyes and said a quick prayer:
God give me strength for whatever may lie ahead.

“Enough to let that guard all the way down?”

“You’ve already got me pretty open.”

I glanced at the clock. “Grown Man Steven has just enough time to see how open he can get you.” I stood up, flung her over my shoulder and headed toward the bed.

She shrieked and slid her hand down to my ass. She smacked once.“You’ve got to quit flinging me around.”

“You love it, lightweight.” I swung her around and set her on her feet. She pushed me backwards and I fell onto the bed. In no time she had my pants and underwear pulled down. She held me in both hands and guided me to her mouth. “You know, on the other hand, there’s no need to rush. We can be a little late… a lot late, in fact. These games never get good until after half-time.” She could call me whatever she wanted as long as she kept doing that right there, just like that.