No Ordinary Love (10 page)

Resigned, David started the car and without a word to her pulled the car away from the curb.

In the silence, Catrina felt terrified. Just thinking about the ‘what ifs’ of this situation was bound to hurt. She trusted him, but yet was scared to entrust her heart to him.

Casey

The food, the mood, and the stage were set to bring Daemon to his knees. Candles burned to give the room a dim but yet an illuminated intimate feel. The voice of Philadelphia’s own Neo-Soul artist Musiq Soulchild drifted from the surround sound system. Dressed casually in a pair of tight light blue designer jeans and an A/X tank top, Casey couldn’t help but feel underdressed compared to the brown-skinned Indian looking female that clung to Daemon. Not that he seemed to notice anyone besides Karen with her short skirt that left nothing to anyone’s imagination.

Deciding that Karen was entirely too comfortable in Daemon’s personal space, Casey moved over to the stereo. She figured that the place could use music that was a little more upbeat. She was about to change it when
Love
began to play.

She stood there with her finger on the skip button as she dreamed of the love that the dreamy vocals spoke of and her eyes drifted to Daemon’s one last time.

“You okay?” Jermaine, one of her many guy friends asked in his southern drawl. When he wrapped his arms around her waist, Casey allowed herself to lean into him. “Yeah, so what are we going to do tonight?” she asked him.

“Go back to my place, snuggle up under the covers, and watch a movie. And then I hold you until the sun comes up,” he whispered.

“Sounds like a plan to me,” she murmured, placing her hands over his.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Why she couldn’t just fall for a guy like him instead of having this heart wrenching feeling for Daemon was beyond her. Jermaine was the type of guy any smart girl would want. He was prime catch— nice, respectful, well educated, an athlete, and handsome— the type that had mamas watching out for gold diggers.

It was too bad she was using him. She felt bad about it. In the end, she’d find him a nice girl, Casey absolved.

Surprised, Jermaine asked, “Really?”

She turned her face up to his. “As long as holding me is all you have in mind,” she answered.

“That’s all I wanna do, cause it’s all you wanna do.” Jermaine turned her around to face him and smiled when her arms went around his neck.
Good answer. He is so damn sweet.

“Don’t y’all think it’s time to eat?” Daemon asked from behind them. Watching Casey kiss the guy was pushing him past his patience level.

Casey looked over at him. “We got three different kinds of wing dings, brought to y’all by Ms. Perfect herself. Hook Trina up with some business,” Casey announced, walking back towards the kitchen.

Both Catrina and Briannah were about to follow when they watched Daemon go in after her. Briannah sighed disappointed that she wouldn’t be able to pick at the food before everyone else. Nosy as she was, that didn’t last long when she thought about what might have been going on in the kitchen.

“And just what was all that about?” Daemon questioned, closing in on her.

“Nigga, cool out. My naïve self could mistake this for jealousy,” she joked, not even turning to face him. Casey felt him behind her, caged in by his arms. “You’re crowding me,” she murmured.
Stay please.

Fitting his hands against her waist, he said, “That’s supposed to make me back away?”

Enjoying the rubbing of her stomach, Casey all but moaned, “No, but the fact that you have a female waiting in the other room for you should.”

“Case, I keep telling you not to push my buttons,” he warned angrily. All he could see in his mind was Casey wrapped around the guy. He didn’t like the boiling feeling in his gut.

Casey stopped what she was doing. “Let me get this straight.” She savored in his fingers massaging her stomach and lower back. “You get to cuddle with what’s her name, but the minute I get comfortable with some guy, I have to put up with your shit?” She heard his sigh. “Why you fighting so hard?” she whispered.

“I’on know?” he admitted softly.

“I’m not gon’ give up. When I want something, I get it.”

Daemon tightened his grip. “I’on know, Casey. You asking for more than I’ve given anybody.” It was true, since Tamika, there hadn’t been one woman he’d dedicated himself to.

Casey turned in his arms and looked up at him. “I’m not asking you for anything that you’re not capable of giving. I love you and I’d be less than a woman if I settled for a man who didn’t love me back.”

Daemon understood the seriousness of her statement. “I’m not gon’ lie, Casey, I wanna be your first, and I want you in my bed but I just don’t know about the rest.”

Casey shrugged. “One doesn’t come without the other.”

He already knew that. “Yeah, I know.”

This was more than he’d ever admitted to before, so she took it as progress for now. Relishing in joy, she pressed a light kiss to his lips.

“No wonder I can’t get nothing to eat,” Briannah said finally, after having spied for a while. “I knew I’d find the two of you in here actin’ up.”

Daemon turned. “You were just hungry.” He sent her an easy smile. “I guess I’ll go,” he said when Briannah started to laugh at the color that rose in his cheeks.

Casey joined in. “Think about what I said,” she told him.

Daemon nodded and left them alone.

Chapter Six

Making Moves

Catrina

It was a beautiful day. The local forecast predicted eighty degree weather with no chance of rain. The sun was already shining, the birds were chirping, and all Catrina wanted to do was pull the covers over her head.

“Aunt Trinnnna?” Cinyah, her cousin Chantel and Chris’ daughter’s soft voice called from the other side of her bedroom door. The knock was very small and light.

“Come in,” Catrina told her.

“Aunt Trina,” she said, opening the door. “My mommy said to wake you up.”

Disoriented, Catrina glanced at her alarm clock. It was quarter past eleven and had already gone off at seven to wake David up for work. “Aren’t you supposed to be at school?” she asked the six-year-old.

Cinyah nodded. “I’m ‘possed to be gettin’ glasses today,” she pouted, reluctant about the thought of having to wear them.

“Aww, baby, Mommy’ll make sure that they’re cute glasses,” Catrina assured the child.

Poor baby,
Catrina thought.

Cinyah had every Johnson family trait Catrina could think of: the light skin, their height, the mild hazel eyes, and the poor eyesight.

“Tell her I’ll be down in a minute. And don’t run.”

Of course, she did anyway.

Sleepily, Catrina dragged her hand over her face. The morning was half gone already, she sighed and stretched. At least she had a couple hours before she had to be to work. Due to the mini vacation of the bride of the wedding she’d been planning for the last year, Catrina figured she’d earned the days of freedom granted by the bride and groom to be. She also planned on enjoying it.

“Catrina! What the hell are you doing up there?” Her mother’s voice shouted.

Catima Price was climbing the stairs by the time Catrina made it to her door.

“Ma, what are you doing here?”

Her mother never made unannounced visits. It was one of the reasons she didn’t mind renting from her parents.

“We’re supposed to be going to lunch today,” Catima reminded her daughter.

Damn, that’s right.
“I’m so sorry, Ma. I forgot. I was up really late last night. The anniversary party from last night was a mess.”

Catima narrowed her eyes. “That’s fine, we can always go tomorrow, or whenever you can fit me into your busy schedule.”

Catrina chuckled. “God, Ma, you know that I’d love to go to lunch with you. Could you try to make me feel anymore guilty?”

Catima smiled, and she withdrew a cigarette from her purse and was about to light it when she saw Catrina shaking her head.

“Not in here. I thought that you were trying to quit,” Catrina said taking the cigarette from between her mother’s fingers and disposing of it in her waste basket.

“I was, but your damn brother is working my nerves. All these girls he got calling the house and then he acting like he wants to start messing up in school.”

Catrina frowned. Her sixteen-year-old brother, Terrance, was beginning to be lured away from the detailed path of her parents by the flash and excitement of the street life.

“What’d Daddy say?” Catrina asked.

Catima huffed in response. “You know your daddy. Got the boy in all these programs trying keep him focused, but Terry not trying hear that.” Catima flagged it off. She knew how to deal with him.

“Ma, y’all spoil him so much. Stop giving him when he ain’t acting right. Daddy shouldn’t let him drive his car. You want me to talk to him?” Catrina was sure that she’d be able to straighten him out. She had in the past, she would be able to again.

Catrina moved around the room gathering her clothes as her mother continued to fill her in on her brother, thirteen-year-old sister, and the other current events in her family. Catrina shared her excitement and apprehensions regarding the wedding she’d all but planned down to the last detail. She dreamily shared her plans, and goals for Perfect Perceptions; the event management company she’d started during college.

Catima listened to her daughter because her own dreams for Catrina were great. She had watched Catrina immerse herself in school, work, internships, certification programs, and all the additional planning jobs to build her resume to make the framed business license hanging next to her college degree credible.

Twenty minutes after going into the bathroom, Catrina emerged wearing a trim beige business suit with matching Nine West sling back shoes.

Catima smiled. “Damn, I did teach you how to dress, didn’t I?” she commented proudly. Catrina laughed and made her way to the telephone as it rang.

“Hello?” she answered.

“Bey? Are my glasses there?” David asked. He was having trouble going through his finance report without them.

She smiled, looked over at her dresser and said, “Yeah, they here.”

“I’ma see if I can swing by and pick them up.”

“No, you don’t have come get them, me and my mom are coming down there to have lunch at McCormicks, so I can drop them off for you.” Catrina smiled at the thought of all the numbers on his computer screen blurring together. David’s current position at a downtown money management firm allowed him to follow through with his life’s quest to produce and save as much money as he could. “How ‘bout you meet us there and have lunch,” she suggested on impulse.

“I’m on deadline to complete the expense reports from last month. But we can get together for a late dinner at my place.” The intimacy of his tone suggested more.

Disappointed, she said, “I’m closing all week, so I guess whenever.”

“Naw, I’ma see you tonight. I’ll pick you up from work,” he offered.

Catrina looked over at her mother. Catima’s face remained expressionless.

“Ma, you mind driving us?”

Catima arched her brow. “No,” she answered.

“A’ight, don’t be late, ‘cause I’ll leave with somebody else,” she played.

“If you know what I’m trying get into tonight you not gon’ leave ‘til I get there.”

Catrina laughed at that. “Is that a promise?”

Enjoying their afternoon play, David leaned back and twirled the telephone cord around his finger. It wasn’t often that he could get her in this agreeable mood. After the other day, they needed this. “How’s this for a promise. I’ma make you lose it.”

She had no doubt that he would and turned away from her mother. “You know I’m with that.”

“You gon’ cook for me?” he inquired.

Catrina frowned at that idea, cooking after a long day of work would be the last time on her mind. “In your dreams,” she told him.

“Yeah, and you naked. I want you to do that thing-”

As flush crept up her cheeks, she said, “My mom here and you are really going at it. All I’m gonna to say is, back it up.”

“Oh, I’ma let you do that too, bey.”

Chuckling, she said, “Bye, Dave” and clicked him off the phone.

When she turned around her mother was all in her face. “Really?”

Rolling her eyes, Catrina said, “Please don’t start, Ma.”

She would do the exact opposite, Catima thought. “Y’all are still with this back and forth shit. I don’t see why you digging this hole for yourself.”

Catrina felt her head. “Oh my God, I’m getting a headache. My personal business is my own. When and if I need your advice, I’ll ask for it, Ma.”

Catima narrowed her eyes. “No you didn’t just say that. Not when you come crying to me about what that man doing and what he not doing with you, girl. Six years, and y’all still don’t have claim on one another. What is wrong with you? You giving him every damn thing for free and not asking for nothing in return. You know what happen when you don’t ask for nothing, right?” She didn’t wait for an answer. “You don’t get shit.”

This could go on for hours,
Catrina thought. David had always been a big issue between them. Her mother had been against them reestablishing their “relationship.” At least she had been up until recently. Now her tune was changing to; ‘when y’all gon’ get together, or she’d want to know why they were sleeping together instead of dating. These were issues Catrina refused to acknowledge needed answers.

To ease her mind and heart at the thought of her mother thinking she was a complete whore, Catrina attempted to justify that they spent a multitude of time with one another, doing a variety of different things. Catrina, just didn’t consider it dating. She had realized that David was her best friend. “Ma, I don’t want to discuss it. I know what I’m doing,” she told her mother which is the absolute opposite of how she felt.

“You know I love you, and I only want see you happy. So if being with him, however you’re with him, makes you happy, then I’ll deal with it.”

“Thanks.”

Catima sighed. “I know you love the damn boy anyway so y’all—”

“Ma, drop it. Dag.” Catrina frowned. “I don’t know who said I love him,” she muttered.