Page 42 of Becoming His Muse
She furrowed her brow. “I would. Where is this going, Xola?”
Her cousin shrugged. “I’ve just been thinking about maybe trying it.”
Olani let her words sink in for a moment. Xola had thought she’d lost her mind momentarily when she told her about the site. However, she figured seeing that she’d taken precautions and nothing insane had taken place with the dates she’d chosen had softened Xola to the idea.
She was a bit surprised she was interested in it. Xola wasn’t an advocate of any dating sites and thought they were a waste of time since, usually, people were only looking for hook-ups, and her husband application site fell under that category.
“Well, I still have archived those few surveys you liked if you want to look at them again.”
“I might do that, but I’m not in a rush or anything. I just had the thought.”
Olani nodded. She understood that curiosity was always the first step in deciding to do something. Xola had been curious enough to ask if she thought the headache of digging through the surveys and the few bad dates she’d been on had been worth finding someone she could connect with, and it had.
Elion was attentive when they were out together, always giving her his full attention. He planned fun, romantic dates for them and was willing to indulge her in the new things she wanted to try. Dating him wasn’t simply going through the motions. She genuinely connected with and enjoyed the timethey spent together. She couldn’t remember being so excited about dates since she’d first started dating in high school. Back when it was new, and she hadn’t known what to expect.
It was that same way with Elion now. Dating had become a dead-end street for her, and it prompted her to create the site and allowed her to find what she was looking for, someone she enjoyed spending time with and talking to. That was always an excellent start to any relationship.
As her cousin moved around the kitchen, Olani thought about her next date with Elion. It was four days away, on Saturday, and it was her turn to choose. She wanted to switch up her choices again and plan something more intimate. Maybe take a page out of Elion’s book, but so far, she hadn’t been able to come up with anything that she liked.
She knew if it came down to the wire, she could tell him the day of because she’d admitted to him on the phone last night that she hadn’t decided yet, and he’d informed her he would keep Saturday open for when she did. It was sweet of him, even if she felt guilty that he was willing to wait for her to choose something for them to do when he could plan something else if he needed to.
No, she wanted to give him at least a day’s notice. So, she planned on looking for other ideas when she made it home that night and tomorrow during her free time at work.
“Oh, I don’t know if Aunt Veida has called you yet, but she and my mom are visiting in a couple of weeks. Uncle James is going out of town for work, and they decided to take a mini-trip.”
“I haven’t talked to her yet, but you know my mom enjoys calling me when she gets in bed since it helps her fall asleep when she can’t,” Olani responded. “Now that I think about it, I’m about to take that personally because I think she’s trying to say I’m boring.”
Xola laughed as she mixed the salad. “Now, you know, anytime she has to talk to someone on the phone, it makes her tired. She’s fallen asleep on the phone with me in the middle of the day.”
“It clearly just drains her,” Olani replied with a smirk.
“I think it’ll do them some good to take a trip, even if it’s just an hour and a half.”
“You’re right. Did Aunt Zinnia say where they’d stay?”
“No, but I’m sure they’ll let us know.”
Whenever their mothers visited them, sometimes they’d separate and stay with their daughter, and sometimes they would either stay at Olani’s house or at Xola’s. They expected their daughter to stay with them when the latter occurred, so the four were always under the same roof for a few days. Olani didn’t mind too much since it wasn’t for extended periods, and it was nostalgic.
Once the food was finished, she stood, going around to help her cousin carry the dishes to the table. They sat and made their plates, blessing their food before she asked if Xola had any engaging new patients. She knew her cousin couldn’t tell her much, but she’d only gotten one, and they were pretty typical.
Xola told her about a podcast she’d been asked to be featured on and give some insight into sexual addiction and some fun things to try in the bedroom. She was sure Xola was excited about it, and she made a mental note to tune in.
When they finished eating, Olani put away the leftovers and cleaned the kitchen while Xola finished some patient notes she hadn’t at the office. It was after nine, and she decided she would call it a night and head home, since she was going into the office early the following morning.
The two said their goodbyes before Olani grabbed her purse and left out of the front door. On her way home, she tried to come up with a date idea for Saturday. When she had no luckbecause she wanted something intimate but not played out, she resigned herself to the fact that she would be doing extensive research.
18
Olani was sweating bullets, and she’d felt queasy since she woke up that morning. She’d brushed it off, thinking it would subside after a little while. That hadn’t been the case, and now she was seated behind her desk at work, feeling like she’d come down with the flu. She felt awful and still had several hours of work left, but she knew she should go home.
She was in the middle of setting her out-of-office message for the rest of the day when there was a knock on her door. Elion stood there with a beautiful bouquet in an emerald-colored crystal vase. They were supposed to go out the following evening, but with how she currently felt, she wasn’t sure they’d be doing so.
“Hey,” she greeted with a small smile. “What are you doing here?”
“I was in town and thought I’d stop by to see you.” He walked over to her desk and placed the bouquet on it.
“Thank you, baby. These are gorgeous.”
