Page 26 of Need Me
Robert finished his wine and sat his glass down. “You have a lot going ontomorrow?”
It was the first time he remembered seeing Brooke act shy. “Not really. Just some things I usually do on Sundaynights.”
“I see,” but he didn’t. Was she blowing himoff?
She sighed and confessed, “It’s wash-and-gonight.”
“Oh! My first girlfriend did her wash-and-go every Thursday night so she was ready for the weekend,” Robertanswered.
He was referring to the hair care regimen used by African American women who wore their hair natural instead of getting relaxers to straightenit.
“Your first girlfriend wasblack?”
Robert’s smile turned wistful. “Yeah. Her name was Alisha and I loved her so much. I was crushed when she moved away our senior year of high school. Her mom was in the Army, so they moved around alot.”
“I didn’t know that you dated black womenbefore.”
“I’ve dated a wide variety of women,” Robert said. “Black, white,Asian.”
She propped her chin on her palm. “They say variety is the spice oflife.”
“I don’t fancy a lot of spice. I’m more of a one woman man. Plus, I care more about a woman’s personality than her looks. I’m not saying that looks don’t matter at all, but they’re not the most important thing to me.” He wrapped up the garlicbread.
“Good to know.” She tilted her head. “Did you ever hear from heragain?”
Robert nodded. “Yeah. We emailed and called all the time for a few months and then she told me that she’d met someone. I was hurt, but I wasn’t mad. How could I be? It wasn’t her fault that they moved and there was no way for me to see her again since they’d moved toGermany.”
“Germany? Talk about a long-distance relationship,” Brookeremarked.
“Right. We lost touch after that, but I looked her up on Facebook a couple of years ago.” He smiled. “She’s married and has three kids now. They’re really cute. I’ve chatted online to them both and her husband seems to be a niceguy.”
“Do you still have feelings forher?”
He gave her a teasing smile. “If I said yes, would you bejealous?”
“Maybe.”
Her slightly haughty expression made him laugh. “Well, I’m honored that you would be jealous overme.”
“Don’t go getting cocky aboutit.”
“Never.” He rose and started gathering up dishes. “How about a walk beforedessert?”
“That soundsgreat.”
He looked at her feet. “I’ll get Kate’s barn boots for you. It’s not a good idea to walk around in a barn barefoot or in open-toed shoes. She leaves a pairhere.”
She helped him carry the dishes inside. Robert rinsed them off and put them in thedishwasher.
“I’ll get thoseboots.”
