Man Enough For Me (3 page)

Tanya had moved from Ottawa to Toronto to attend college several years earlier. Jules had met her at a campus fellowship meeting where Tanya had been trying to rent out her five-bedroom house to students. Even though Jules had not needed housing, she and Tanya had become fast friends. By the time Tanya graduated with her honors degree in business, she was so well integrated into Triad and its network of people that she decided not to leave.

“Don’t even talk,” Maxine said with a groan. “I am so bummed I missed it.”

“It’s not your fault. You were on call,” Tanya said.

Maxine was a registered nurse at the same hospital where Jules worked. She had been planning to be at the Sound
Lounge with the rest of them, but just as they were getting ready to leave, she got a page that she had to go in to work.

“I know, but I hate to think of all those heifers all up on Truuth.”

“Girl, please, Truuth is fine, but he ain’t that fine,” Tanya said rolling her eyes. Maxine sometimes forgot that not everyone saw Truuth through the same rose-colored glasses that she did.

“You know you just jealous, girl.”

“Whatever. You should have seen his cousin though. Now he’s something else.”

“Who, Germaine? Yeah, the Sound Lounge is his place. That’s how Truuth got the hook up to perform tonight,” Maxine said. “Did you get to meet him?”

“Just for a minute. Our friend Jules spent all night chatting him up though,” Tanya said teasingly.

“Is that true?” Maxine said, turning to look at Jules in the backseat. “How come you never said anything about that? Come to think of it, you’ve been mighty quiet back there. What’s up with you?”

“Nothing,” Jules said, glaring at Tanya through the rearview mirror.

“So how come you never told me you had a little thing for Truuth’s cousin?”

“Because I don’t have a thing for Truuth’s cousin,” Jules said.

“Oh really,” Tanya said grinning. “Is that why you’re back there all sulky ‘cause he didn’t ask for your number?”

Maxine burst out in laughter. “Oh, so
that’s
why she’s so quiet!”

“Whatever, Tanya,” Jules said. “For your information I am not sulking. Can’t a girl just be quiet sometimes?”

“Come on, Jules. You’re gonna tell me that you’re not even a little cheesed that he didn’t ask for the digits?”

“No, I’m not. All we did was hang out. Can’t a grown man
and a grown woman hang out without people making something out of it?”

“Aww, sweetie, don’t worry. I’ll get Truuth to put in a good word for you,” Maxine said, turning back to the front.

“No, thank you, Maxine. I’m good,” Jules said.

“I can’t believe it,” Tanya said, chuckling. “Jules, who is too cool for every guy she meets, finally met a guy who beat her at her own game.”

“It’s not about being cool; it’s about being cautious,” Jules said dryly. “You’ve seen the crazies that I’ve had to deal with. Cheaters …”

“Baby daddies,” Maxine added.

“Stalkers,” Tanya chimed in.

“Baby daddies who were stalkers …”

“Okay, okay, I think we all get the point,” Jules said, cutting them off before they started bringing up stories like they usually did when they talked about Jules’s sitcom-worthy dating life.

“Well, Germaine’s not like that, I can promise you,” Maxine said. “I met him a couple times. He’s good people.”

“Yeah, Jules, give him a chance,” Tanya said. “You might as well trust Maxine’s guy-radar since yours seems to be on the fritz.”

“You know, Tanya, you got a lot of talk for a girl who can’t even tell her business partner she has a crush on him,” Jules said, leaning toward Tanya in the driver’s seat.

Tanya’s pale skin immediately began to turn a deep shade of pink.

“‘Dre knows that I care about him,” Tanya said quietly.

“I think you do a little more than just
care
about him,” Jules said.

“She does have a point there,” Maxine said.

“Whose side are you on?” Tanya asked, glaring at Maxine.

“Well, it’s true,” Maxine said. “You sing the guy’s praises all day long. You bend over backward to please him. You drive two and a half hours in snow to pick him up from the airport—”

“Okay …”

“Not to mention all those times she came to my apartment depressed because ‘Dre was on a date with some girl,” Jules added.

“Oh, she does that to you, too!”

“Max, I have a pint of Rocky Road in my freezer just for her—”

“Okay! Okay!” Tanya exclaimed. “So I have a thing for ‘Dre. Is that a crime? He’s a smart, ambitious, good-looking, Christian guy. What girl wouldn’t like him?”

“There’s nothing wrong with having feelings for him, sweetie,” Maxine said. “But those feelings aren’t worth much if he doesn’t know about them. And you know ‘Dre don’t see a blessed thing unless it’s got ‘Triad’ printed on it. You gotta say the words, girl.”

“And I would say them if they would make a difference. But they wouldn’t, ‘cause you both know that ‘Dre doesn’t do white girls.”

She was right. They had all heard him say it on several occasions. And as the single white female in their tight-knit Triad family, that meant that Tanya was automatically out of the race for ‘Dre’s heart. It didn’t matter that they had all been friends for more than five years, or that Tanya had been the one to cofinance Triad with ‘Dre when it was nothing more than a dream. Even though ‘Dre probably loved Tanya just as much as he did Maxine and Jules, there was a part of his love that she didn’t qualify for because she had the wrong pigmentation.

Jules leaned back as the heaviness of that thought cast a gloom on the atmosphere in the car. She couldn’t understand how that type of thinking still managed to pervade even the best of people. It seemed like the more things changed, the more they stayed the same.

“J
ules, the caterers just called—they want to know when we I will be coming in to do the tasting.”

Jules rubbed her temples and looked up at the clock hanging on the wall in front of her desk. It was only 1 p.m., but she felt as if she had already done a whole Monday’s worth of work. Even though the gig at the Sound Lounge was the Thursday before, she had barely been able to recover from it over the weekend. Between the follow-up from the event and the planning for the next few weeks, she had been keeping very busy. It didn’t help either that she kept getting distracted by thoughts of tall, attractive lounge owners.

Despite the tiredness, Jules still loved her day job. The excitement of planning hospital events, working with media, and communicating with staff and community members on behalf of the hospital gave her a thrill. She was sure public relations was what she had been made to do.

As far back as she could remember, she had always been organizing something. Whether it was youth emphasis day at her church, or her high school prom, Jules knew that event coordination was in her blood. In the beginning, her family had been pretty skeptical when she had decided to study public relations
in college. But so far it hadn’t been as bad as they had imagined. And even though it had been almost four years since she started, she still got a rush every time she saw a story she had pitched to the media on the front page of a newspaper, or in the evening newscast.

There were times, however, when being a public relations officer for the hospital seemed to demand more from her than she had to give. Times like this week.

The hospital’s volunteer awards banquet, which was coming up within the next two weeks, had her spinning in circles. There were speakers to be confirmed, gifts to be bought, seating plans to be approved, and not enough time to do it. If Jules had had the help of Penny, the public relations director, then she would have been fine. But Jules’s boss had been in and out of labor relations meetings all week due to the growing unrest between the hospital’s nurses and senior management. No one had said the words “industrial action” yet, but given the unpredictable nature of the nurses’ union, Jules was already a bit worried.

The sound of Michelle’s long, French-manicured nails drumming impatiently against the door frame broke Jules out of her thoughts. Jules looked up at the communications secretary and realized Michelle was under just as much pressure as she was. In fact, there were about four hundred guests who Michelle had to contact to confirm their attendance at the event. Jules knew because she had given the list to her earlier that morning, along with a number of other tasks.

“Tell them we will come by at two o’clock on Thursday,” Jules said, updating her weekly schedule as she spoke. Sliding the tasting in had just turned her nine-hour day into a ten-hour one. But she had no choice. There was no way she would risk a repeat of last year’s long-service awards dinner, where the food was so bad that most of it got left on the buffet table.

No sooner had Michelle disappeared than she heard her phone ring.

“Public Relations, Jules speaking.”

“I was hoping I would get you directly.”

Jules’s heart skipped a beat.

“And who am I speaking with?” she asked cautiously.

“Oh, I think you know.”

“I think I do too,” Jules said smoothly. “But just so I don’t make a fool of myself, I think you better tell me.”

Jules heard Germaine chuckle, and a feeling of warmth spread through her.

“It’s Germaine, Jules.”

“Well, isn’t that something,” she said, leaning back in her chair, unable to stop the smile that curled her lips. “Never thought I’d hear from you again.”

“Yeah, Truuth mentioned that you might be a bit salty.”

Jules rolled her eyes, annoyed that all her friends thought they knew her so well.

“I’m just surprised to hear from you, that’s all.”

“Does that mean you’re glad I called?”

“Now that’s an entirely different question, Mr. Williams.”

He laughed again, and Jules admitted to herself that she was more than a little glad that he had looked her up.

“Okay, so here’s another question for you. Do you think you could stand having another meal with me?”

“I think I could survive it.”

“So how about lunch?”

“When? Today?” she asked. She looked down at her gray slacks and royal blue, empire waist, button-down blouse. She knew she looked okay, but she wished she had known she might be seeing Germaine when she had gotten dressed that morning.

“Sure. I’m in your area, and I could pick you up in half an hour.”

“I don’t know,” Jules said with mock caution. “I only met you once, and you want me to get in a car with you? Who knows where you might take me?”

“Hmm, Truuth was right,” Germaine murmured to himself. “Okay, how about I bring you lunch, and we can have it there? That way it will be a little harder for me to kidnap you.”

“That sounds fine,” Jules said, rolling her eyes even though he couldn’t see her.

“Good. Is Chinese okay with you?”

“That would be great actually.”

“Okay, I’ll see you at one thirty.”

Half an hour later Jules spotted Germaine at a window table near the back of the hospital’s first floor café area. When he finally saw her as she neared the table, he stood and pulled out a chair for her.

“You look nice,” he said, as she sat down across from him.

“Thank you,” Jules replied, not missing the way his eyes sparkled as he looked at her.

“So before you ask, Truuth gave me your number. He said Maxine said it was okay.”

“I wasn’t going to ask.”

“But you were wondering.”

“I was actually wondering why you didn’t ask me for it yourself,” Jules said pointedly. She knew she was being a bit forward, but she was too old for games.

“I wanted to be sure that I would still be interested after a day or two,” he said. He was smiling, but his eyes told her that he was serious.

“So, what’s the verdict?” she asked.

“Well, I’m sitting here with you four days later, so I think you can guess.”

Jules smiled and took a sip of the cranberry juice he placed in front of her.

“You have a good memory,” Jules said.

“Well, with you, I figure I need to be on my toes,” he said, handing her napkins and a fork.

“Geez, you make me sound like an army commander,” Jules said.

Germaine chuckled. “You know that’s not what I meant.”

“Well?”

“Come on, Jules, you know you love playing hardball,” he said, looking at her knowingly. “Nothing gets past you.”

“Sure,” Jules said, as she speared a piece of kung pao chicken with her fork. “This from the guy who gets me food and my favorite drink before I ask for them.”

Germaine grinned but said nothing.

“It’s like you’re always two steps ahead of me. I just met you; you’re not supposed to be this good,” she teased.

“Well, you can learn a lot if you just keep your eyes open,” he said, watching her carefully. She let herself stare at him for a moment, loving the way she got lost in his warm hazel eyes.

There was something about him that intrigued her. She couldn’t quite put her finger on it, but she knew there was more to him than he was letting on, more than the easy smile and casualness. And she wanted to know all of it.

Jules took a long sip from her drink.

“Truuth’s been doing really well,” she said. “It’s hard being a Christian in the music business, especially here. But he’s really held on to his beliefs. You must be proud of him.”

“I am,” Germaine said. “I understand what he’s going through. I know for me it can get tricky running the Sound Lounge, and making sure it’s something I can feel right doing. But I feel like it’s something God’s called me to, you know?”

Jules raised her eyebrow in surprise. She did not know what kind of answer she had been expecting from him, but that certainly wasn’t it. He had just doubled his points in her book.

“People always ask, how I can serve God on one hand and run a nightclub on the other,” Germaine continued. “But I don’t really think the two are separate. Coming up, there weren’t many after-hours spots where grown folk could just go and chill, hear some good music, and not worry about being shot at,” he explained. “So I figured, why not make it happen?”

Jules nodded and smiled. “You love it, don’t you,” she said.