Page 29 of Night and Day
“Hi, Tamika. This is Anton.”
Hearing his velvety voice after so long was breath-stealing. The insides of her thighs throbbed. Tightening her fingers on the cell phone, Tamika said, “I know who this is.”
Ignoring her friends’ curious gazes, she kept her eyes on the plate of food, concentrating on the conversation and the emotions swirling behind her ribs.
“I was thinking about you and wondered how you were doing. How have you been?”
“Good.”Better now, she thought. “I’m settled into Layla’s place.”
“You have your own room?”
“No, it’s a one-bedroom.”
“Sounds tight.”
“It’s okay,” she said with a careless shrug. Since her options had been going back home or living on the street, she considered Layla’s loft to be a palace.
“Calvin making those weekly payments like he’s supposed to?”
Tamika stood and sauntered away from her friends and the weight of their stares. Keeping her back to them, she lowered her voice and replied, “So far so good.”
“So you’re flush with cash now.”
“Hardly,” she said with a little laugh, heart aching at his teasing. How could she miss him so much when they barely knew each other? “Thanks again for keeping your word and taking care of that for me.”
“Not a problem. Maybe you should take me out as a thank you.”
She rested a hand on the back of one of the dining chairs. “I assumed your work was pro bono.”
“It was, but…” His voice trailed off, and if she heard him correctly, he muttered something that sounded likeWhat the hell am I doing?He breathed deeply and let the air out of his lungs. “Listen, I was wondering if… if you were free. I’d like to take you to dinner—a nice one, with a white tablecloth and good food, and wine.”
“Why would you do that?” Tamika asked.
He didn’t respond at first, and her stomach tightened with stress as she waited for his answer.
“Because I miss you,” he replied. “I can’t get you out of my mind. I want to see you. Ineedto see you.”
Her heart fluttered crazily in her chest. “I miss you, too. I want to see you, too. When do you want to go to dinner?” She wasn’t going to say a word about the half-eaten plate of Thai food on Layla’s table.
“Around eight o’clock is good, but I’d like to see you before then. I’d like to see you right now. I’m downstairs.”
“What?”
“Come downstairs. Let me see you.”
Despite her shock, excitement sizzled in her veins. “I’ll be right there.” She hung up and swung to face her friends.
“What’s going on?” Layla asked.
“He said he misses me, and he’s downstairs. He wants me to come down there right now.”
Dana’s face broke into a wide smile. “Go!”
Tamika took off running and raced down the stairs instead of taking the elevator. When she pushed through the glass doors, Anton was standing on the sidewalk, hands stuffed into a pair of chinos. He wore a faded blue T-shirt with the Superman logo on the front. Like the caped crusader, he was tall, his muscled chest pressing against the soft cotton, the sleeves capped tight around his biceps.
She wanted to rush into his arms, but instead moved slowly in the waning evening light, taking her time so he wouldn’t see how excited she was by his presence.
“Hi.” She couldn’t keep the smile off her face, though.
