Big Daddy Sinatra: There Was a Ruthless Man(26)
Charles smiled as she walked around the front of the car and got onto the passenger seat. She was out of uniform now, and had on a nice pair of jeans and a cotton sweat shirt. Although her hair was loose down her back, she still looked very young. And very fit.
She sat her huge shoulder bag on the floor between her legs.
“That a big purse,” Charles said.
“When you rely on the kindness of friends and public transportation, you have to be prepared for any clothing changes, any weather changes, anything. I come prepared.”
Charles smiled. He’d never met a woman quite like her. “Had dinner yet?”
“No. But you have.”
“I have not. I had a beer, nothing more. I preferred to break bread with you tonight, not two crusty old white guys.”
Jenay laughed.
“What’s your favorite restaurant? We’ll go there.”
“When? Now?”
“Why not?”
Jenay smiled. “Yeah. Why not.”
“So where do you, Jenay Franklin, like to go? And I know it’s not this place. I know it’s not Capani’s.”
“Most definitely not! But as for my favorite? Nothing fancy. I like Red Lobster. What about you?”
Charles cranked up. “Are you kidding? I’m from Maine, sweetheart. The lobster capital of the world! Red Lobster it is!”
Jenay felt elated, as he backed up, and sped off.
But Red Lobster on a Friday night was so crowded that they would have to wait another hour before they could be seated. Jenay and Charles both were already dead on their feet.
“Let’s go to the house,” she whispered in his ear as they huddled in the overcrowded vestibule inside the restaurant. “I’ll throw us something together. At least we can kick off our shoes and relax.”
Charles loved the idea. He placed her arm in his and headed back outside. “You and those shoes,” he said with a laugh.
They sat at her small, kitchen table and ate the last of her spinach omelet. Charles thought she was kidding when she suggested it. He was a big man with a big appetite. But it was loaded with turkey bacon, with cheese, with roasted red peppers and other veggies. It was delicious.
“And you graduate when again?”
“June 5th. In a little over a week. But who’s counting?”
He smiled. “You’re excited?”
“Very.”
“What about your parents? You heard from them?”
“No. I haven’t called them.”
“I’m sure they would like to hear from you. They’re your blood. You need somebody to look out for you in this world, Jenay. I don’t know what I would do if my sons didn’t stay in touch with me.”
Jenay didn’t respond to that. It was her parents who decided she wasn’t good enough, not the other way around.
“So,” he said, as he cleaned his plate and pushed it away, “what do you normally do on a big Friday night?”
“A number of things,” Jenay responded. She was still eating.
“Such as?”
“Well, I might study if I needed to. Or I’ll catch a movie or go out with some friends. Or I’ll just read and enjoy a good book.”
“I don’t get it. A girl as gorgeous as you. Where are all the handsome young men?”
“Being handsome and young, I suppose.” She didn’t finish eating, but she pushed her plate aside. “They don’t interest me.”
Charles considered her. “Why are you bothering with me then?” he asked.
She smiled. “I’ve only seen you twice in seven weeks, Charles. You’re hardly a bother.”
But he continued to stare at her. She hadn’t answered his question.
She felt as if she was putting it on the line. “You’re different,” she said.
“How so?” he asked.
“Just different.”
“You mean because I’m white?”
“Because you’re not like any other guy I’ve known before. You tell it like it is, for one thing. You don’t beat around the bush. You don’t flatter me to get into my panties, you just get in.”
Charles laughed.
“And when I needed you, after that accident, you were there. You’ll never know how good it felt when I stepped out of that car and saw you coming. It was a very special feeling.”
“Yeah,” Charles admitted, “it was for me too.”
Jenay looked at him. “It was?”
“Hell yeah. When I realized you were involved in that accident, my goodness. I couldn’t get there fast enough. I thought my heart was going to pound out of my chest. I was mortified.”
Jenay wanted to ask him why would he be so mortified, since he really didn’t know her like that, but she already knew why. It was the same reason she was so glad to see him. But she had to ask him anyway. “Why were you so mortified?” she asked him.