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  “You want some company?”

  Tirrell looked at her. “In the shower? No, I’m good.”

  He gathered his clothes and duffel bag and headed to the familiar surroundings of her bedroom. Tossing his things near the foot of her bed he proceeded into the bathroom and turned on the water. He pulled the bandage off his arm and examined the wound before stepping into the tub. The gush of the pulsating jets washed what was left of his anxiety down the drain.

  After his shower, he toweled off and went to find Tasha in Darnell’s bathroom. He pulled his beer from the duffel bag; it wasn’t as cold anymore but he popped it open and sucked it down. Lighting a cigarette, he sat down on Tasha’s bed with the damp towel wrapped around his waist. He stared at the telephone, contemplating whether to call his grandmother. He opted to wait.

  Tasha walked in as he stretched out across the bed. He looked up at her, smiled, and held his hand out, beckoning her. As she drew closer, he snatched her towel off and opened his to reveal that he was ready for more.

  “All aboard.”

  “Yes, sir.” Tasha saluted and climbed on top of him.

  She rolled her moist clitoris slowly over his penis. They both moaned with anticipation. When she prepared to mount him, he stopped her.

  “Baby, what’s wrong?”

  “No glove, no love, right?”

  She moved. He got up and extracted another condom from his bag, then turned back to the bed.

  “Why you lookin’ at me like that? You wanna play safe, right?”

  “Yes.”

  “A’ight, then.” He opened the package with his teeth, noting her forlorn expression. “What, Tasha?”

  “Nothing.”

  “Girl, I can’t read your mind. You’re gonna have to talk to me. What’s goin’ on?”

  Tasha pulled the sheet up. Tirrell sat down beside her and caressed her cheek. “I know you are not pou-tin’. Do you wanna have sex without protection? If you do, it’s okay by me. I’ll pull out before . . . you know . . . Cross my heart.”

  Tasha kicked at him and he playfully fell on the floor, laughing.

  “I crossed my heart.” He stood up, bringing attention to his deflated member. “Now see what you did? Li’l T is goin’ to sleep.”

  Tasha rested on her knees and took Tirrell’s hand. “I know how to wake Li’l T back up.”

  “Nope, the candy store’s closed.”

  “C’mon, baby. I’m sorry.”

  “I said no.”

  “Please.”

  “No, girl. Stop, now.” He smacked her hand away.

  “Let’s go get somethin’ to eat. I’m starvin’.” Tirrell slipped into a pair of clean boxers and pulled back into his jeans. “C’mon, now. Get a move on.”

  Tasha jumped off the bed and grabbed a pair of shorts and a pink cotton chemise from her bureau drawer.

  “What? No bra. No panties?”

  “Easy access for later.” She laughed.

  “Will a dinner jacket be required or not, madam?”

  “What do you think?”

  The two laughed together as they finished dressing and headed out the door. They found a KFC and ordered food to take back to the apartment. It was late but despite her new body consciousness she ate with him. She would pay for her indulgence at the gym later. For now she was simply going to enjoy the pleasure of her man.

  “Shit, girl. That gym must be doin’ you a world of good. You wore me out.”

  “Is that why you’re breathin’ so hard?”

  “Hell, I’m tired. I’ve been up since five this mornin’, took the Greyhound, and the MARTA to get over here and see you.”

  “I was just tryin’ to show you my appreciation.”

  “Believe me, I appreciate it.” Tirrell reached over to the nightstand and pulled a cigarette from the open pack.

  “That’s why your ass is breathin’ so hard, right there.”

  He lay back and rested on the headboard, taking a drag. “What are you, the surgeon general?”

  “I’ll let that slide because you’re so damn cute.”

  “Cute is for babies and puppies, girl. You heard what Darnell said, my ass is fine.”

  “Since when do you care what Darnell says?”

  “When she’s right, she’s right.”

  Tasha laughed, snuggled up close, and laid her head on his shoulder. “Have you seen Miss Betty yet?”

  “No. I told you I came straight here.”

  “She’s gonna be so happy to see you. She was just talkin’ about you Sunday.”

  “How do you know that?”

  “I went to church with her and she invited me over to your brother’s house for dinner after.”

  Tirrell blew smoke from his nostrils like an enraged bull, pushed her away, and sat up. “You’ve been hangin’ around with my family?”

  “Yeah, so. What’s wrong with that?”

  “Nothin’.” He sighed heavily.

  “Then why you actin’ funky all of a sudden?”

  “Nothin’s wrong, a’ight. I told you, I’m just tired. I haven’t had a lot of sleep the past few days.”

  Tasha took the cigarette from Tirrell’s hand and put it out.

  “What are you doin’?”

  “If you’re tired you need to sleep.” She positioned herself behind him and massaged his shoulders.

  He closed his eyes. “Mmmmm, that feels good.”

  “I thought we worked out all of your tension. I guess you still have a lot more.”

  “You have no idea.”

  After a satisfying rubdown, Tirrell lay back on the bed.

  Tasha noted the far-off look in his eyes. “Are you mad at me?”

  “For what?”

  “I don’t know. Seems like you got pissed when I brought up your grandmother.”

  “No. Don’t worry about it. I just need some sleep, that’s all.”

  Tirrell rested his head on her breasts and wrapped his arms around her waist. She lovingly caressed his head until he drifted off.

  Tasha eased out of bed early the next morning as Tirrell snored. She grabbed her cell phone and slipped into the bathroom.

  “Hey, it’s Tasha,” she said in a hushed, husky whisper. “Listen, I’m not gonna be able to do your hair today. Can I reschedule you for early tomorrow morning? No . . . I’m fine, just crampin’ like crazy. You know how it is, that time of the month. Hey, I’ll even knock twenty dollars off. Great, I’ll see you in the morning. Is seven o’clock all right?”

  Tasha followed that phone call with three others. Turning off the phone, she stepped back into the bedroom to check on Tirrell. Satisfied that he was still asleep, she slipped into her robe, and pulled the bedroom door closed. She could see by his bed that Darnell had not come home. He wouldn’t have been able to get in anyway with the dead bolt on. She proceeded into the kitchen to make breakfast. She retrieved eggs, cheese, milk, and bacon from the refrigerator after starting a pot of coffee. Tirrell emerged from the bedroom just as the toast popped up from the toaster.

  “Wow, look at you, all domestic and shit.”

  “Good morning.”

  “What time is it?”

  “Almost nine.”

  Tirrell rubbed the sleep from his eyes and sat down at the dining room table. “Why you let me sleep so long?”

  “’Cause you looked like you needed it.”

  “Don’t you have to work today or somethin’?”

  “I’m doin’ all my clients tomorrow. Want some coffee?”

  “Yeah. Sure.”

  Tasha poured them both a cup and served him a plate full of bacon, toast, and scrambled eggs with cheese. Tirrell practically inhaled the food right before her eyes.

  “So, why did you really take off today?”

  “I wanted to spend some time with you. Is that all right?”

  “I’m goin’ to see Noonie.”

  “Are you goin’ down to the hotel?”

  Tirrell put his fork down and leaned back. “Oh yeah,
it is Friday, ain’t it?”

  “If you want to wait until she gets off work we could do somethin’ together.”

  “Like what?”

  “I don’t know. We could find somethin’ to get into.” Tirrell took Tasha’s hand and pulled her over to his lap. “You wanna go back to bed?”

  “I was thinkin’ we could do somethin’ that would require puttin’ some clothes on. How about goin’ down to Atlantic Station? Or we could go to a movie.”

  “I don’t feel like sittin’ in a theater for two hours. But we can go down to Atlantic Station if you want. And maybe we could stop by the Marriott on the way? I don’t wanna wait. I wanna surprise Noonie.”

  “Okay. Sure.”

  Tasha finished her coffee and got up to do the dishes. After polishing off a second helping, Tirrell dropped his empty plate into the sink full of suds, wrapped his arms around her from behind, and kissed her neck.

  “That was good, baby.”

  “I’m glad you liked it.”

  “You know what else I like.” He squeezed her butt cheeks and proceeded into the bedroom to get dressed.

  Tasha followed once she was done cleaning the kitchen.

  While he waited for her, he booted up her computer to check his e-mail. He waded through the obligatory spam messages, and then responded to a few correspondences from a couple of his buddies from Fort Bragg, asking how he was and filling him in on what was happening in the short time since he’d gone, including their impending deployments. He leaned back in the chair and rubbed his hand over his face. “Damn.”

  Once they arrived at the downtown hotel, they pulled into the underground parking garage and walked into the service entrance. The basement bustled with energy. Housekeepers were running around with arms full of linen, and carts of toiletries, or pushing large tubs of dirty laundry toward big industrial washing machines. Tirrell caught the eye of a young girl who nearly tripped over her own feet looking at him.

  “Can you tell me where I can find Betty Ellis?”

  The lusty-eyed female smiled and pointed. “She down the hall. Take a left.”

  Tirrell nodded. “Thanks.”

  “‘She down the hall,’” Tasha mocked.

  “Jealous?” Tirrell teased.

  “Hardly.”

  They continued up the hall and found his grandmother in her small office, seated at her desk, massaging her feet.

  Betty Ellis was a stout, down-to-earth woman with a pleasingly plump brown face and eyes that sparkled when she laughed. She was kind and fiercely loyal, but if crossed, she wasn’t one to hold her tongue. She’d been working as a housekeeper for twenty-nine years, and served as head of housekeeping for the last eight. Everybody respected her, and if they didn’t they kept it to themselves. In her position, she was more like a mother to the thirty-member morning crew, juggling work schedules, refereeing petty disagreements, and keeping a keen eye on inventory.

  When she spotted Tirrell at the door she slipped back into her shoes and stood up to greet him. “Oh, my Lord. Will you look a’here.” She threw her arms open and pulled him into her.

  His eyes misted in the comfort of her embrace.

  “When did you get back?”

  Tirrell checked his emotions. “Last night. I stayed at Tasha’s.”

  Betty squeezed Tasha’s hand. “How’re you doin’, sweetheart?”

  “I’m fine, Miss Betty. How are you?”

  “Hangin’ on by a thread, girl. But God is good.” Betty turned back to Tirrell. “Baby, how long before you have to go back?”

  “I’ll be stickin’ around for a while.”

  “How long is a while?”

  “A couple of months. I got leave. Is it okay if I stay with you?”

  “Is it okay?” Betty pulled him back into her. “Boy, I will beat your narrow behind if you even think about stayin’ anywhere else. It is so good to have you home.”

  “It’s good to be home, Noonie.” Tirrell beamed, examining his grandmother. “You cut your hair. It looks good on you.”

  Betty delicately ran her hand over her tapered silver coif. “Tasha did it. I think it makes me look twenty years younger.”

  “Noonie, you ain’t never gonna get old.”

  Betty smiled. “Tell that to my aching back and feet.”

  Guilt swept over Tirrell when he thought about the money that he would no longer be sending her from his military stipend. “I’m gonna take care of you, Noonie. I promise.”

  She caressed his cheek. “You are doin’ too much already. You need to be savin’ your money and not sendin’ it to me. Besides, I can retire if I wanted. I’m just not ready.”

  The walkie-talkie on the desk buzzed. “Betty Ellis, you’re wanted in the front office.”

  “I gotta get back,” Betty said as she hustled to the desk and picked up the walkie-talkie. “Are you headed over to the house?”

  “Not yet. Me and Tasha are gonna hang out for a while.”

  “Have you talked to your brother?”

  “No. Other than you, Tasha is the only one who knows I’m here.”

  “You should call him.”

  Tirrell balked. “For what?”

  “I’m sure he’d wanna see you.”

  He looked at his grandmother. She knew better.

  “I don’t want him to know I’m back yet. And I don’t want you to tell him either.”

  “Well how about I have the family over for dinner on Sunday? You can surprise him at church.”

  “Church?”

  “Tirrell Ellis, you can at least go to church with your ol’ gran’mama.”

  He nodded. “Yeah, I guess that would be as good a place as any to drop the bomb on Kevin.”

  “Tasha, I want you to come too. You know it’s about time for you to become a member. You’ve visited enough times.”

  “I wouldn’t miss it.”

  Tirrell shot Tasha a side-glance.

  Betty took Tirrell’s hand. “Lord, it’s so good to have my baby home.”

  Tirrell kissed his grandmother’s cheek and she darted from the office and up the corridor.

  His lie about being on leave wasn’t going to hold up for long. Hopefully, by the time it unraveled, he’d have a job to help soften the blow.

  “Tirrell, are you ready to go?”

  “You know what, can we run by and see Marquis real fast? I need to holler at him for a minute.”

  “Why?”

  “I just need to see him, a’ight?”

  “Tirrell, I didn’t mind bringin’ you here, but I took the day off so we could spend time together, not to run you all over Atlanta.”

  “We are spendin’ time together, ain’t we?”

  Tasha sucked her teeth and folded her arms across her chest. “You know what I’m talkin’ about.”

  “I didn’t ask you to take the day off, Tasha.”

  “You’re right,” Tasha scoffed. “What the hell was I thinkin’?”

  She pushed past him and headed for the door. He grabbed her arm and spun her around and tried to kiss her. She pushed him away.

  “Stop, Tirrell.”

  “Baby, I’m tryin’ to say I’m sorry. Look, I just need to see Marquis for a couple of minutes, and then we can have the rest of the day together. I promise.”

  Tasha hesitated. “All right. Fine. Let’s go.”

  Marquis Crawl practically grew up with Tirrell; his mother, Anne, lived across the street from the Ellises. The two were closer than brothers until Tirrell made the decision to sign up for the Army and Marquis, who had just been promoted to assistant manager of his father’s automotive repair service, decided to stay behind.

  The pudgy young man immediately recognized Tasha’s Toyota as it pulled onto the lot of the service center where he worked. He was elated when he saw Tirrell step out of the passenger side.

  “Yo, T!”

  “Marquis, whudup, baby!”

  The two embraced and bumped fists. Tasha half-heartedly waved and waited in the car.<
br />
  “When did you get back, dude?”

  “Yesterday. Marquis, look at you, boy. You ain’t missed a meal, have you?”

  The man smiled sheepishly. “Well, you know how it is. I ain’t missed no tail either.”

  They laughed.

  “I see you still kickin’ it with Tasha.”

  Tirrell glanced over his shoulder and titled his head in recognition of her. He then turned back to his friend.

  “What’s goin’ on, man?”

  “Marquis, can we talk?”

  “You know we can.”

  Tirrell pulled a cigarette from the pocket of his short-sleeved rayon-cotton shirt and took a few steps away from the car. Marquis followed.

  “T, what’s up with ya?”

  “I’m out.”

  “Out of what?”

  Tirrell leaned in and whispered, “The Army.”

  “What?”

  “Yeah, some shit went down and I . . . I had to make a move.”

  Marquis scratched an itch in his cornrowed hair. “Serious?”

  “Man, you can’t tell nobody.”

  “You can count on me, T. What do you need? Money?”

  “Naw, man. I got a few hundred dollars to hold me over.”

  “You need a place to crash? I’m stayin’ with my pops right now, but he’s got more than enough room if you wanna come there.”

  “Naw, I’m gonna hang out at Noonie’s for a while until I figure some things out. I could use a job though. Is your pops hiring?”

  Marquis wiped the sleeve of his uniform across his brow to sop up perspiration. “You wanna work here?”

  “It can’t be that bad. You work here, and your pops owns the place. Can you talk to him for me?”

  “It would be cool for us to work together, but he ain’t here today.”

  “When will he be in?”

  “Not until Monday.”

  Tirrell took a last drag from his cigarette, thumped it to the ground, and squashed it. “Yeah, I guess it can wait ’til then.”

  “T, what happened . . . you know . . . with the Army thing?”

  Tirrell peeped around the corner to see that Tasha was still waiting. Her eyes were covered by a pair of sunglasses, but even from a distance he surmised that she was irritated by being put on hold.