Abide with Me (24 page)

“I understand. I’m just doing my job,” Lisa said.

“I know.”

“When are you coming back home?”

“In a couple of weeks.”
If I still have a place I can call home
, Raymond thought bitterly.

“Then let me take you to lunch. And I promise not to talk about the confirmation or Trent,” Lisa said.

“Sounds like a plan,” Raymond responded.

“Take care, and I’ll look forward to that lunch.”

“You do the same,” Raymond said. Just as he was moving the phone from his ear, he heard Lisa call his name once more.

“Raymond, you know I would never ask you to do such a thing, don’t you?”

“I do, Lisa. Like you said, you’re just doing your job. Now, you have a good evening and don’t worry about me,” Raymond assured.

“Thanks a lot. Good night.”

“Good night.”

Raymond was heading toward the small kitchen in his suite for a glass of wine to calm his temper, but before he reached the doorway, the phone rang.

“Hello,” Raymond said.

“Whassup, my boy,” Jared asked.

“Gotta be you. Are you at home?”

“Now, you know I’m still at the office bustin’ my chops. I got to make sure I got everything in order before I go spend a couple of days with my baby,” Jared said.

“I forgot. When are you leaving?”

“Day after tomorrow. Bright and early.”

“I guess you miss Nicole,” Raymond said softly.

“And you know that. I didn’t realize her being on the road was going to be this hard on me. What about Trent? Are you going over to South Africa or is he coming here?”

“We haven’t decided. But something gotta give soon,” Raymond said.

“You sound like me. We men do have our needs,” Jared teased.

Raymond started to tell Jared sex wasn’t the reason he needed to see
Trent, but decided against it. “So how long you gonna be at the office?”

“At least another couple of hours. I’m breaking in my new assistant, Connie.”

“So you went with the sistah?” Raymond quizzed.

“Yeah, but ole Billy Bob made it easy for me,” Jared said. Billy Bob was a term Jared used when referring to white men.

“You talking about the white guy you were considering?”

“That’s the one.”

“What did he do?”

“He took a job with a senior partner. Which means he’ll probably be my boss one day,” Jared laughed.

“That’s life in the big city called corporate America,” Raymond mused.

“And you know that. I was just checking with you since I know it’s going to be late when I get in. I’ve got to see you before I leave.”

“Just tell me when. I’ll make time,” Raymond said.

“Let me see how much I get done tonight and early in the morning. I’ll give you a holler and let you know before noon tomorrow.”

“That’s cool with me. Now, don’t work too hard. Remember you gonna need your energy when you get to Michigan.”

“I always got energy for my baby,” Jared said.

“Later, boy.”

“I’ll holla at ya.”

This time Raymond made his way to the kitchen and was savoring his glass of wine when the phone rang. He expected to hear Peaches’s voice when he picked up the phone, but instead it was Kirby.

“Whassup, playa-playa?” Kirby asked.

“Lil bro. I was going to call you.”

“I had to call you ’cause you know I got this curfew thing and I have to study and get my playa points in. I’m almost as busy as my big bro,” Kirby teased.

Kirby and Raymond talked about football, Kirby’s new love, and their parents. When Kirby said it was time to call it a day, he asked Raymond if he would see him the upcoming weekend. Kirby mentioned he thought he was close to convincing his father that he deserved a Range Rover instead of the used Mustang he got when he graduated from high school.

“Are Mom and Pops coming?” Raymond asked.

“For sure. I think they are going to stay a week. I mean, since they’ve retired, Pops likes to come up and catch as many practices as he can. It’s like I never left home,” Kirby said.

“Then I don’t think I’m going to make it,” Raymond said. He enjoyed watching his little brother play or stand on the sideline, but he was not interested in a face-to-face meeting.

“Why not?”

“Me and Pops need to give each other some space. We had another falling-out,” Raymond said.

“When did that happen? You guys seemed cool when you were up here for the Oklahoma game.”

“It’s no big deal. Pops probably needs a couple of games to cool down. Besides, I know he likes spending time with you and your football playa friends,” Raymond said generously. He wanted to keep Kirby out of his disagreement with their father.

“Is it the
gay
thing?” Kirby asked with some caution in his voice. The two of them rarely talked about Raymond’s sexuality. In fact, Raymond had never told his little brother he was gay, but assumed Kirby, being an honor student and all, had figured it out when Raymond stopped talking about women and had that look of love in his eyes whenever he mentioned his fraternity brother Trent.

“What do you mean the
gay
thing?”

“I don’t mean anything about that. I just know Pops can sometimes be close-minded about stuff. He is from the old school of playas,” Kirby explained. Raymond was amused that his little brother was trying
to let him know he was cool with Trent and his living arrangement, but like his father, he wasn’t necessarily interested in the details.

“Naw, it doesn’t have anything to do with that. Tell Mom to give you Pops’s version. Better yet, let’s just leave it alone. I’ll make the next game. And your message said you had something important to talk with me about. It must be important ’cause you didn’t even give me a chance to return the call. What’s that about?”

“It can wait,” Kirby said quickly. “I’m still waiting on some information.”

“What kind of information?” Raymond thought maybe Kirby was going to come to him as backup in his quest for new transportation.

“Like I said, big bro, it can wait. I’ve got curfew. Later, playa,” Kirby said.

“You hang in there, little bro. Give the folks and the lady friend my best.”

“Will do.”

Raymond had another half glass of wine, then removed his pants. He was preparing for a shower when the phone rang again.

“Whassup, playa hater?”

“Basil, whassup with you?”

“Just calling to see if you’re ready.”

“Ready for what?”

“Our midnight workout, of course. Didn’t I tell you I was going to get you back into shape before winter comes?”

“Man, I don’t know. I’m kinda tired and I’ve had a couple of glasses of wine. Maybe we can do this tomorrow.”

“Naw, man, come on. I know you might be a little bit sore, but that’s the best time to work out. Besides, I put off my workout waiting on you. Now, I’m not going to take no for an answer. Do you want me to swing by and pick you up or are you going to walk?”

Raymond thought about Basil’s offer for a few moments and recalled
their first late night workout. It had been an eye-opening evening that turned to morning, lifting weights and talking, while enjoying the view of some of New York’s finest, not to mention Basil. No matter how Raymond felt about Basil there was no denying his handsomeness. Besides, another glass of wine would cause a restless sleep and extra, empty calories.

“I’ll meet you at the gym,” Raymond said.

“Got my jockstrap on tight and on my way out the door,” Basil said.

The thought of Basil and his ass and sex covered only by a jockstrap made Raymond smile to himself as he rushed for his warm-ups and tennis shoes.

When Nicole opened her eyes early Wednesday morning, she had an uneasy feeling. Yancey wasn’t in her bed and it was obvious that she hadn’t slept there the previous night. During her big-sister moments like this, Nicole wished she had a prayer partner to start her day. She had thought of asking one of her female castmates, but thought they might think of it as just something older women did. She brushed off her anxiety about Yancey’s absence. Besides, Nicole didn’t want the cast thinking she was old-fashioned or some kind of religious fanatic. And she considered her faith a personal thing and could hear her late father saying, “Let your life preach more loudly than your lips.”

The two of them had spent the previous evening with several cast members at a local cabaret located close to the theater. It was a small, dark place with a middle-aged black man named Gus playing the piano. After a few drinks, several of them took turns at the microphone belting out tunes, much to the delight of Gus and the local patrons.

It was like the
Star Search
finals. Cedric had started it with a silky version of “I Who Have Nothing.” Nicole followed with a sultry version of “Someone to Watch Over Me.” But it was Yancey who
brought the crowd to its feet with a soulful version of the Carpenters’ hit “Rainy Days and Mondays.”

Just as Nicole was moving from her bed toward the bathroom, she heard the door lock turn. In walked Yancey with a neon-bright smile.

“Hey, darling. You weren’t worried about me, were you? Wasn’t last night wonderful?” Yancey sat down on the bed and pulled off one of her black pumps.

“Yeah, it was a lot of fun. But from that look on your face, your fun must have started when you left the club,” Nicole teased.

“You got that right. I destroyed another myth last night,” Yancey said proudly.

“What myth was that?” Nicole asked as she reached for the plastic pouch where she kept her toothbrush and paste.

“That all dancers and chorus boys are gay.”

“Oh, honey, I knew that,” Nicole said. Yancey walked to her side of the room and removed her ivory silk blouse, her two perky breasts plopping out. Nicole was shocked for a minute. She could have sworn she saw Yancey put on one of her fancy silk bras after the show the previous night.

“So are you going to tell me what happened?” Nicole asked.

“I will when I come back, but first I’m going to pull myself together and run downstairs and get us girls a couple of steaming cups of coffee. How does that sound?”

“Sounds great to me. I’ll take my shower, but it seems like you’re the one who needs cooling off,” Nicole teased.

Yancey grabbed a
Dreamgirls
sweatshirt and pulled it over her head, still minus a bra. “We’ll see who needs cooling off next week when that fine husband of yours shows up,” Yancey said.

“Point well taken, Miss Yancey. One point for you,” Nicole said as she headed for the shower.

About fifteen minutes later Yancey returned with two tall cups of black coffee and almond croissants. Nicole walked out of the bathroom
in a hotel bathrobe with a towel wrapped around her head. “That was quick,” she said to Yancey.

Yancey placed the bag of croissants on the dresser and paused before she passed Nicole a cup of coffee. “You don’t like sugar in your coffee, do you?”

“Naw, if I’m going to drink it, I take it black.”

“Then this is yours. I put about five packets of sugar in mine,” Yancey said.

Nicole removed the lid from the coffee and inhaled the strong aroma of Colombian caffeine. She sat at the standard hotel desk and took a sip of coffee before saying, “Now, tell me what happened last night. I looked around after your fan club thinned out and you were gone.”

Yancey sat on the edge of Nicole’s bed and took a long sip of her sugar-filled coffee, then said, “You know Devin Richardson, right?”

“He’s a dancer. And isn’t he understudying one of the male roles?”

“I don’t think so, but I know you’ve seen that body of his. Well, anyhow, after I finished talking to some of the patrons at the club, he was standing against the back wall in tight jeans, looking good enough to eat. You know, I had never really paid that much attention to him. He really has a handsome face,” Yancey said.

“I agree. He’s a nice-looking man,” Nicole said.

“So we talked a few minutes at the club and then he suggested we go to the local IHOP for some breakfast food. He had rented a car and said he’d give me a ride after we finished. We left the club, but we couldn’t find the IHOP,” Yancey said. She paused and had a deep gulp of coffee. Nicole followed her lead and took two long gulps.

“Did ya’ll call information?”

“I don’t think he really
wanted
to find the restaurant, because Devin suggested we go to his place. He was staying in one of those residence hotels with the kitchens and said he had some breakfast food and he would cook. I looked at him and took one whiff of this sexy
cologne when I felt my bra strap loosening and my panties getting moist,” Yancey said as she stood up and waved her hand in the air, the other hand on her hip.

“Yancey, you didn’t?” Nicole quizzed.

“I didn’t what?”

“You didn’t sleep with him, did you?” Nicole wasn’t passing judgment, but she wanted to warn Yancey about tour relationships.

“Oh no, we didn’t do no sleeping.” Yancey paused and gave Nicole a comical look. “But, honey, Mr. Devin fucked your lil sister down. I ain’t had service like that in a long, long time,” Yancey said like it was a musical cue.

“Are you going to see him again?” Nicole felt that most of the heterosexual male cast members could spell trouble, simply because of the attention they got when most of the men were gay, and didn’t want Yancey to get hurt.