Night Magic (4 page)

"Uh-huh." Charice stared at her friend for
several moments.

"I mean it. Don't give that look, now."

"Okay, okay. Hey, I've got a great idea.
Remember Sack Daddy's? Honey, they have got a fantastic hump day
party every Wednesday evening starting at six. What say we go?"

"Why? You better not be trying any of your
tricks." Savannah shook her finger at Charice. Since junior high,
Charice had been a relentless match-maker. Savannah could reel off
the disastrous dates she'd had thanks to her.

"What are you talking about, child? I'm just
saying, we could have ourselves a good time is all." Charice
shrugged, her face the picture of innocence. "Oh, lighten up. Every
chance I get, I go on Wednesdays. It's a great way to relax during
the week. Come on."

"All right, but--"

"No buts, just pick me when you finish at the
shop," Charice ordered.

*****

Wednesday came and Savannah was beginning to
regret this idea of going to what sounded like a pick up juke
joint. After a thorough search of her closet, Savannah chose an
outfit she thought was conservative enough to discourage any
unwanted attention at the lounge. The wrap around denim skirt was
mid-calf length, the red knit blouse fitting, but not clingy.
Watching Charice bounce down the front steps of her cottage styled
house, she shook her head.

"Try not to be too shy." Savannah looked up
and down at her friend's outfit.

"I may be a little, let's just say
full-figured, but I'm in shape." Charice turned full circle to
display all profiles. The white knit tank top was revealing with a
deep v-neck. This combined with white shorts to make her look
anything but dumpy.

"You look great." Savannah laughed, putting
the car in gear.

"You look like you're on your way to the
church picnic." Charice plucked at the hem of Savannah's skirt.

"Don't start with me.

"Thus started the familiar sisterly bickering
about how Savannah should loosen up, with Savannah fighting it all
the way. Walking into the lounge, they took a seat at a table far
away from the bar.

"Nobody can see us way over here, girl,"
Charice complained.

"Will you sit down, please? Look at the men
perched on the bar stools. Do I want them within easy reach?"

"Hey, those are some pretty nice guys. All
right, so they are-- okay. All right, all right, they're
so-so?"Charice responded to Savannah's scowling looks of skepticism
with each comment.They both began to laugh. They waitress took
their orders. Soon she returned with their drinks. Setting the
frosted mugs in the table, she poured out a light beer for Charice.
Then she served up a dark brown liquid from an old fashioned soft
drink bottle for Savannah.

"Savannah, root beer?" Charice crowed.

"I'm the designated driver, remember?"

To their delight, a four man Zydeco band had
set up and begun to play the blues sung in Creole French. Savannah
merely tapped her feet to the music while Charice swayed back and
forth snapping her fingers. It wasn't long before Charice was on
the dance floor with a neatly dressed man who had been sitting with
a group of friends at a nearby table. Savannah's attempt to remain
unnoticed failed. She had turned down two requests to dance before
the song ended.

"Whew, he's pretty good. Why you sitting here
like Lady Madonna, your hands in your lap? Get up and move to the
groove, sugar." Charice fanned herself with the cocktail
napkin.

"I'm enjoying myself just fine, thank you. Oh
no," Savannah sneered.As the crowded dance floor cleared, she could
see Paul across the room laughing with group of people. A gorgeous
woman dressed in a revealing sun dress jockeyed to get close to him
whenever possible. It was obvious she wanted his undivided
attention.

"Honey, you can hang it up if Kay gets her
claws in him."

"Who cares? She's welcome to him." Savannah
took a swig of her root beer, sitting the mug down very hard.

"Uh-huh." Charice retorted.

"The way you carried on the other day, you
ought to be upset. Thought you were interested," Savannah
snapped.

"I was admiring him, sure. But the way
electricity was crackling between you two, that's something
different from a little flirting."

"What you saw was him getting on my last
nerve, that's the only crackling noise you heard."

"Uh-huh." Charice signal to the waitress.

"Now why did you wave to that lizard?"
Savannah spoke through clenched teeth. Paul, having spotted them,
responded to the gesture instead of the waitress.

"I was trying to order another beer, honest."
Charice protested even though the look on Savannah's face said she
didn't believe her.

"So, we meet again. How are you ladies this
evening?" Paul sat down.

"Hello." Savannah looked elsewhere, her voice
cool.

"Fancy meeting you here." Charice smiled as
if surprised to see him.

"You see me here most Wednesdays since I came
to town, you know that," Paul blurted out before he noticed her
signal a warning.

"Oh, really." Savannah cut her eyes at
Charice who refused to look at her.

"Can't sit still to this tune, my favorite."
With that, Charice jumped up. Moving to the fast beat, she grabbed
her recent partner's hand pulling him with her on to the dance
floor.

Several moments of strained silence stretched
between them as Savannah feigned interest in the couples stepping
so gracefully to the band's lively tune.

"You wouldn't want to dance." Paul's
statement indicated he already knew the answer.

"No, thanks." Savannah began to feel a bit
guilty at being so cool.

"So, Charice tells me you're a lawyer. What
area?"

"It was corporate law, but nothing right
now."

"The law firm you left is very big. It has
some of the biggest clients in this state. You must have graduated
top of your class."

"I did okay. When did learn all this?"
Savannah looked at him; his full lips glistened from the drink he
had just taken. She forced her attention away from them.

"Charice ran into me at the grocery store the
other day."

"And the conversation turned to me somehow,"
Savannah interrupted.

"Wait a minute; we were just having small
talk. Charice was telling me about how long you two had been
friends; one thing led to another."

"I see."

"How y'all getting along?" Charice surprised
them as she plopped down in a chair.

"Wonderful. Paul was telling me how you
filled him in on my life story." Savannah raised an eyebrow at
her.

"Oh, you mean the other day." Charice took a
drink, oblivious to her friend's disapproving tone, her attention
still on the man she'd been dancing with. "I'm trying to recruit
him to come to my class to talk about being a black engineer. I
told him I was going to ask you about coming, too. Give the girls a
sense that they could be a lawyer like you." Almost before she
finished speaking, she was back on the floor with him.

"Oh." Savannah gave Paul a mildly apologetic
smile.

"I was surprised to find that Charice has
started a mentor program. She's got at least six troubled kids
hooked up with African-American professionals. Too bad, I won't be
here long enough to take part."

"She's always been like that, can't stand to
see others in need without doing something about it. Why don't you
want to at least try it for while?"

"Those kids deserve a commitment. You do more
harm by not being in it for the long haul. They've had enough
experience with broken relationships. No, I may be gone in another
three weeks. Besides, between helping mama with pop since he
suffered a stroke and coaching peewee football back home takes up
so much of my time. I wouldn't even be able to make the one hour
drive over here once a week to visit."

"How awful. I hope he's okay." Savannah
softened even more at the thought of Paul dividing his time between
a business, giving to children who needed him, and his parents.

"Actually he's doing pretty good. Since being
sick keeps him from working so much now, he's been coming out watch
me coach. His doctor says it's good therapy. And those boys need
all the positive attention they can get from men."

As they talked about the needs of
African-American children for role models and hope for the future,
Savannah found herself drawn to this handsome man with a social
conscience. She couldn't help but respect his sincerity. It was no
act that he really cared about children. His eyes lit up as he
described some of the boys he'd come to know as a volunteer coach
for inner city kids in Lafayette. Once again, she noticed the
strong jaw line. His skin, the color of milk chocolate, was smooth.
She wondered if it felt as good as it looked. Watching his mouth as
he talked, her suspicions of him began to melt away.

Paul may have been talking about social
issues, but he did not fail to appreciate the shape of her full
mouth, made even more luscious by the deep red lipstick she wore
that matched her knit blouse. Rewarded with a radiant smile as he
told the first story of his working with the boys in the football
league, he kept them coming. Captivated by her, he listened
intently as she spoke with fervor about saving children from the
dangers of the street. His heart skipped at seeing a stray lock of
her hair fall forward, the way her lovely hands smoothed it back in
place. The split in her wrap around skirt had parted to reveal a
shapely, brown thigh. He was more than slightly disappointed when
she noticed, and pulled it closed again.

"Say, y'all been sitting here all this time
without dancing once. Come on." Charice took each by the hand,
dragging them on the dance floor. Savannah tried to resist, but
Charice made such a scene the crowd began to egg her on."I think it
would be better to give in." Paul had not been unwilling. In fact,
Charice had let go of his arm when she realized he got up
eagerly.

Savannah, realizing there was no way out,
tried to convince herself that some part of her did not feel
anticipation at the chance to be close to him. As if to further
test her ability to withstand his magnetism, the band launched into
a slow, sentimental ballad about the sweet agony of forbidden love.
Savannah fought to steady her breathing as she felt the muscular
arms enfold her. Turning her head in effort to resist burying her
face in triangle of flesh revealed by the open collar of his shirt,
instead she was further tempted by the smell of his cologne. She
surrendered, closing her eyes, allowing him to tighten his hold.
His warm embrace caused a wonderful mix of excitement and
contentment to flow through her body. They seemed to hover on a
beautiful cloud all alone where all her dreams of a strong, tender
lover would come true. Being so near to him conjured up visions of
his lips on hers, powerful yet tender hands caressing her body.
Savannah felt a tiny shudder. At the closing strains of the
baritone lead singer, she longed for an encore. While those around
them applauded, they remained as if frozen in time, arms around
each other. With a start, Savannah stepped back. Looking around in
embarrassment, she was relieved the other couples seemed not to
have noticed them lingering in each others' embrace. But naturally,
nothing escaped Charice.

"Nothing like the old songs to put you in the
right mood," she whispered in Savannah's ear, a naughty smile on
her face.

"Oh shut up!" Savannah hissed as she passed
her on the way back to their seats.

Unable to shake the feeling that indeed she
had made a spectacle of herself, she refused to dance again. Paul,
sensing the return of her reserve toward him, made an effort to
recapture the mood that had held them only moments before.

"Ooh-wee, it's almost eleven. I told Mama I'd
pick the kids up at ten o'clock." Charice threw enough change down
to pay for the last beer that had sat growing warm while she
enjoyed dancing with the good-looking man at the next table.

"Yes, we'd better get going. You have class
tomorrow." Savannah was relieved.

"Listen, Rodney can take me home. You stay,
have a good time. We'll talk." Charice started to leave, but she
gasped sharply as Savannah jerked her back.

"Charice, you only just met the man. You
shouldn't ride with strangers; didn't your mother teach you that?"
Savannah spoke through clenched teeth. Now that the music was over,
her defenses came back up. She had no intention of being left alone
with Paul.

"I've known Rodney for a while, he manages
that new big hardware store on-- right, we'd better get going."
Charice, reading the expression on Savannah's face, knew what she
was supposed to do.

"See you soon, for sure next Wednesday at
least?" Paul spoke directly to Savannah, watching her expression
closely.

"Sure, I mean maybe so. Bye." Savannah read
the invitation in his eyes, a now well-known cool tingle spreading
over her.

"Wow, he left old Kay flat for you. She might
as well have been the invisible woman. Go, girl."

"Charice, you'll pay for this."

Thus they ended the evening much as it began.
Though their voices were loud, there was never any real anger.
Charice insisted that Savannah admit she had succumbed to Paul's
allure. Savannah insisted no such thing had happened. They only
stopped when they were at Charice's mother's house to pick up the
girls. Savannah helped her carry the two sleeping children inside.
Already in their pajamas, they were taken straight to bed.

"Well, goodnight." Savannah yawned.

"See you later. Savannah, don't fight so hard
to be alone." Charice dropped the teasing tone to be serious. "Take
it from me, it's no fun."

Savannah responded with a quick hug before
leaving. That night as she dressed for bed, the ballad she had
danced to with Paul still played inside her head. She cursed
softly, chiding herself for being so easily caught up in what was
sure to be a heartbreak. Yet, the music played on lulling her to
sleep after a time.