to this, she thought as he moved effortlessly from one saucepan to another. She closed her eyes and then pinched herself, grasping just a bit of the flesh at her wrist between the thumb and forefinger of her other hand. If this wasn’t real, she needed to wake up before it went any further. When she opened her eyes again, Darwin was still there, still moving as though he’d always belonged right there in her kitchen and her life. As he pulled a tablespoon of simmering sauce to his lips, blowing lightly over the hot substance, Bridget closed her eyes for a second time, imagining what it might be like to have those lips blowing warm breath against her skin.
Darwin’s deep voice suddenly shook her from her reverie as he stepped in behind her, a large hand pressed easily against the center of her back. The tips of his fingers burned hot against the flesh beneath her silk blouse.
“I’m sorry. What did you say?” she asked, nervous energy quivering in her voice.
“No. I apologize,” Darwin responded, smiling down at her. “I didn’t mean to startle you. I just thought you might want to set the table. The food’s almost ready.”
Bridget stood up quickly, shifting away from the rise of heat that was spreading like a raging itch through her body. As if sensing her reaction, Darwin clenched his fingers into a tight fist and crossed both arms behind his back, staring sheepishly in her direction. The earlier awkwardness between them suddenly resurfaced with a vengeance.
Chapter 4
Roshawn and Jeneva were giggling hysterically into their telephone receivers. Bridget didn’t find a thing funny about her situation and she said so.
“You two get right on my nerves. I called for some advice and instead you’re making fun of me. I hate you both.”
“Don’t say hate. That’s not nice,” Jeneva responded.
“And it’s very funny,” Roshawn quipped. “You and Darwin have actually gone from making goo-goo eyes at each other to playing pocket pool. I personally think you’re making great progress. Not!”
Jeneva laughed.
“Pocket pool?” Bridget questioned. “What’s pocket pool?”
“You know how you play pool? That game with the long stick and the balls that you sink into the little holes?”
“Those of us with a little refinement call that billiards.”
“Yeah, well, whatever you want to call the game, you two are playing it with both of your hands in your pockets instead of on each other. Unfortunately, that makes it kind of hard to sink his—”
“Don’t even say it!” Bridget shook her head, fighting to suppress the smile pulling at her lips. “Roshawn, you are too nasty!”
“But she has a point,” Jeneva interjected. “You like him and he likes you and for the life of me I can’t figure out what’s keeping you two from hooking up. It’s been almost six years and the only kiss you’ve gotten has been on your cheek.”
“And it wasn’t the right cheek, either.” Roshawn laughed. “I keep telling you he can’t get there if you keep your clothes on.”
“I’m convinced it’s just not meant to be. He doesn’t see me any differently from how he sees you, Jeneva.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure of that. Darwin is usually a lot smoother around women. Him being so nervous tells me he sees you quite differently.”
“And he cooked for you. That has to count for something,” Roshawn added. “So what else happened? Finish your story.”
Bridget sighed. “Well, you would have thought I’d never set a dinner table before. I couldn’t remember where my good silverware was. I knocked the water glasses over twice, dropped the wine bottle and forgot to light the candles.”
“But was the food any good?” Jeneva asked.
“To die for. That man can cook his behind off. And he made dessert, too! It was the cutest little dish of wafer cookies, ice cream and sautéed peaches. He served it in a champagne glass.”
“That’s all well and good. But I want to know who had to wash all the dishes he dirtied?” Roshawn asked.
“We both did. He washed and I dried. Then he went home so I could finish reviewing his contracts.”
“Did he kiss you good-night at least?” Roshawn inquired.
“No. In fact, he rushed out of here so fast I think I may have scared him.”
The women laughed and Bridget could feel her face warming from embarrassment as she remembered how quickly Darwin had raced out of her home.
“But you get to see him again, right? To give him back his papers?”
Bridget nodded into the receiver. “Tomorrow. I’m taking them over to his studio in the morning.”
“Well, wear something low-cut,” Roshawn chimed. “Sounds like you need to step it up a notch.”
Bridget heaved a deep sigh. Stepping it up a notch didn’t begin to address what she needed to do, she thought. What she had never shared with Jeneva or Roshawn was that she’d resigned herself to never marrying, never having a man to spend the rest of her life with. Sure, she’d held out hope that her few flirtations would have netted her a companion, but Bridget had never been one to let wishful thinking take precedence over her common sense. Bridget was acutely aware of the many statistics that prophesied a black woman’s chances of finding a mate, and they weren’t favorable. The nearness of Darwin Tolliver suddenly had her rethinking her prior convictions and wondering whether or not love was actually a possibility for her. She shook the thought from her mind.
“I’m not wearing anything I wouldn’t wear any other day of the week. If I can accept Darwin not being interested in me, then you two need to, as well.”
Jeneva chuckled. “Who is she trying to convince?” she asked, her voice brimming with amusement. “Us or herself?”
Roshawn laughed with her. “Well, I know I haven’t fallen for it. Sounds just like another excuse to me.”
Bridget sucked in her breath. “I need new friends.”
“New friends, a man and a job. Girlfriend, your need list is growing longer and longer,” Roshawn said. “I need me a few things, too, so when you get yours let me know where you went shopping.”
“Okay, we need to stop, Roshawn. Bridget didn’t call us for a hard time.”
“You got that right,” Bridget said. “So stop being a cow and tell me what to do, heifer!”
“Oh, I got your heifer, heifer!”
Almost an hour later the three women were still talking nonsense over the telephone. And as Roshawn regaled them with a story about her life in Arizona, Bridget couldn’t help but wonder what Darwin might have been doing right then.
A nondescript noise woke him from a sound sleep. For only a quick moment he was dazed and disoriented, his vision
