“You mean to tell me your butt had a fine, single, eligible doctor in your house holding you in his arms and you let that nigga get away?”
Lamesha shook her head at her friend, Sharita. Sometimes she had to wonder how they’d remained friends over the last three years. They had used to be each other’s ride or die. But that was before Lamesha had decided to get herself right with God. Sharita was hot and cold where matters of faith was concerned, while Lamesha was on fire for the Lord and up in church every Sunday.
Us working together as legal secretaries here at Blalock International probably has a whole lot to do with us still being friends, Lamesha thought to herself. Our desks are right next to each other’s, so we see each other all day Monday through Friday.
Lamesha didn’t think she was better than Sharita just because she was saved. She understood that walking with God didn’t put her above anybody else. But she was smart enough to realize that where friendships were concerned, like generally attracted like. Her and Sharita were like oil and water in their approaches to life, but they somehow managed to stay friends. They weren’t besties liked they’d used to be, but Lamesha still considered Sharita to be her girl and Sharita considered Lamesha to be the same. Lamesha trusted Sharita almost as much as she trusted Yvette and her mama.
Sitting at her desk typing up a court document, Sharita shook her head. “You didn’t flirt with him or nothing? Not even a little bit? Slap his butt or something? Accidently rub your hand over his tight pecs?”
Lamesha shook her head. “Naw, boo. And you crazy, Sharita.”
“You the one who crazy, Lamesha. That's why you’re alone right now. You’re too cute to be by yourself, boo. You’re running around here not getting any because of that Bible that you’re always reading.” She turned her lips down. “All you doing girl is wasting good cooch."
Lamesha wasn't shocked by what Sharita had just said because she'd said it plenty of times before. Yeah, I have urges. But what my girl don't understand is getting a moment of pleasure ain't worth losing my salvation. I ain't going back to the way I used to be living.
Lamesha didn't even look up. She just kept on typing. "Sharita, you know we done had this conversation a thousand times.”
Sharita looked at Lamesha and frowned again. She liked hanging with Lamesha ‘cause Lamesha was cool most of the time. But her talking about God and Jesus half the day is a drag. Well, she don’t talk about it half the day, but it sure do be feeling like it sometimes. God ain’t did shit for her anyways. She ain’t got no man or no big bank or nothing. All she do is work and go to church. If that’s all God’s got to offer, then I don’t want it. And she keep bringing up that accident that her ass had all she want to. Shit...her making it out of that alive was just good luck. Real good luck.
Then Sharita had another thought. A different type of one. Plus, I ain’t got no time for no God who’s gonna turn his nose up on my undercover bisexual lifestyle. The cooch just as good to me.
Lamesha decided to change the subject. "You coming to the Christian single's convention tomorrow at that church on the other side of town that I was telling you about?"
"Yeah, girl. I'm gonna be there. After all, I ain’t got nothing better to do tomorrow anyways. Brian canceled our date tonight. Since I’m not going out this evening, waking up tomorrow morning shouldn’t be a problem,” Then Sharita laughed. “Who knows. Maybe I’ll even find me a replacement for Brian up in there. I’m getting tired of his butt.” Then she suddenly said, “On second thought, I don’t feel like being up in a church on a Saturday...for any reason. I think I’ll just go shopping instead. Hang out at the mall or something...you know?”
“Okay, Sharita. I guess I’ll be going solo. You’re not interested and Yvette just got herself engaged...so you know darn skippy that she ain’t coming.”
At that Sharita laughed. "You’re not gonna be going solo, Lamesha. You gonna have Jesus with you. Remember?"
Lamesha shook her head. Then she put a little smile on her face. "You need to quit, Sharita. Imma keep you in prayer, boo. I don't want God striking my girl down."
“Yeah, you do that, Mesha. Thanks.”
<<<<<>>>>>
Since she was only working a half day that particular Friday, Lamesha decided to stop by the nail salon and get a quick fill-in. If she did happen to meet someone at the singles’ convention, she didn’t want to scare them away by having jacked up looking nails.
She settled herself into a chair at the high-end salon that her cousin, Shawanda, owned.
Shawanda Coffer smiled at her younger relative. “Hey, Mesha. How things being going in your world, boo?”
At thirty-one, Shawanda was only five years older than Lamesha. But since their mothers — who were sisters — hadn’t been close back in the day, Shawanda and Lamesha hadn’t grown up together. They’d known about each other as kids and teens, but that had been about it. However, all of that had changed a few years ago when they’d run into each other at a church function. In other words, now the cousins were pretty tight.
Lamesha grinned right back at Shawanda and said, “Everything’s going pretty good in my world. I can’t complain. God’s keeping me. How are those two adorable twin boys of yours doing?”
“Girl, don’t even get me started. They just hit six years old, so to them, they’re no longer babies. Jaden had the nerve to tell me I need to buy him a razor like the one his daddy got so he can start shaving.”
Lamesha giggled. “Girl, my two little cousins are a mess. But they cute though.”
"Wait 'til you have a few of your own. You'll see firsthand exactly what I'm talking about."
Lamesha shook her head. "God's gonna have to bless me with a husband first. You know how I roll...no ring equals no kids for me."
Shawanda suddenly got an idea. "Cuz, you should let me hook you up with RayQuan's frat brother. According to that darling, fine husband of mine, he ran into him at the sporting goods store last week. He found out that old boy is saved and available. Now I can't tell you if he’s cute or not cause I ain't never seen him. But according to RayQuan, he's a doctor or something. And he's really nice — that'll make up for whatever he's lacking in the looks department.”
Lamesha thought about what her cousin had just said for a few seconds. It would be nice to meet someone. There's nothing wrong with having friends and family hook me up. Then she shook her head. She was remembering what had happened the last time she’d gotten hooked up like that. It hadn’t turned out too well. She’d had to mace her date ‘cause he wouldn’t stop clawing her in his car.
She gave her cousin a smile. "That's all right, Shawanda. But thanks for the offer. I'm going to that singles convention that’s being held at Greater Jerusalem tomorrow. Maybe the Lord will bless me to meet somebody special there.”
Yeah she was going, but Lamesha didn’t have too much hope in meeting anyone at the convention. She’d been to plenty of them before and they’d never panned out. But there’s nothing wrong with keeping hope alive. Plus I’m feeling good vibes about tomorrow.
<<<<<>>>>>
The Next Day:
Good vibes my foot, Lamesha thought to herself as she walked into the crowded room that the convention was being held in. There were a couple hundred females in attendance but only a handful of men.
“I’m really gonna have to stop coming to these things,” she muttered under her breath. “The likelihood of me actually finding somebody special here is slim to none.”
For once, Lamesha was glad that she’d decided to go to the event alone. She didn’t even go all the way into the room. She turned around and went right back out the entrance doors. Then she made her way to her car.
Five minutes later, she blew out a breath in exasperation. No matter what she tried her car wouldn’t start. “No telling how much this is gonna cost to get this car towed and repaired,” she whispered under her breath. “Lord, I only have a couple grand in my savings account right now and I don’t want to go back into debt with my credit cards. Help me Jesus. Please help a sista out on this.”
Since it was summertime, she had her car windows down. In the blistering heat of the parking lot, she was already starting to sweat and she’d only been out there five minutes.
“Ms. Beeson...it that you?”
Lamesha turned her head as the familiar-sounding voice called her name.
Donovan smiled at the girl who’d been on his mind off and on ever since he’d left her house two days earlier.
“Hey, Dr. Walker,” she said while wearing a worried expression on her face.
He hadn’t heard her trying to turn her engine a few minutes earlier, so he didn’t know that she was having car problems. But he noticed right away — from the look on her pretty face — that something was troubling her.
He frowned. “Are you alright?”
She let out a troubled sigh. “You did a real good job on fixing my tooth day before yesterday. You can’t weave the same magic on cars can you?”
His frown deepened. “It won’t start?”
“Nope.”
He began rolling up his sleeves. “Pop the hood. Let me have a look.”
Five minutes later, Donovan turned to Lamesha and shook his head. “It seems like you’re having problems with your alternator. That’s something you’re gonna have to get looked at in a repair shop.”
That’s exactly what Lamesha was afraid of. She sighed. “Dang, that sounds pricey. My mom had to get hers replaced a couple years ago. It was a seven hundred dollar bill when everything was said and done.”
He rubbed his palm over the top of his head. “Yeah. An alternator repair can cost a pretty penny.” He paused for a few seconds. “Tell you what...I have a friend who owns a repair shop not too far from here. I’ll give him a call and have it towed there. Jarrod owes me some favors. I can get this taken care of for you at a real good price. Maybe even free.”
She shook her head. “I can’t let you use your expensive favor from a friend on me.”
He smiled. “Why not?”
“It just wouldn’t be right.”
“From the impression you gave me when you came into my office for your root canal the other day, I kinda figured you were the type of woman who took your faith seriously.” He smiled. “I’m gonna keep it real with you, Ms. Beeson. I’m a man who’s trying to follow Christ. Now God put it on my heart to make you the offer, so the way I see it is that God’s just trying to use me to be a blessing to you.”
He widened his smile. “I bet you were in your car praying that the Lord would solve your problem before I came along.” He paused for the briefest of moments then asked, “Now weren’t you?”
She’d be lying if she said ‘no’, because that’s exactly what she’d been doing.
Reading her mind he chuckled and said, “There you go. You know I’m right. God is awesome like that isn’t it, Ms. Beeson? He always knows how to put the right people in the right place at the right time. You’re not about to turn down your blessing are you?”
The way he brought it to her from a spiritual angle made it so that Lamesha couldn’t turn him down. She finally returned his grin with one of her own. “No, I guess I’m not.”
He pulled out his cellphone. “Good. Let me make the call. Hopefully your car will be fixed up by the end of the day. I can even drop you off at home or wherever else you need me to take you to in the meantime.”
“Oh, you don’t have to taxi me around, Dr. Walker. You’re already doing enough.” Then she pointed to the church where the convention was still going on. “I guess you were on your way inside. Fooling around out here with me might block your from finding your Mrs. Right.” She smiled. “I don’t want to stop you from getting the blessing that might be waiting for you in that sanctuary over there.”
As luscious as Lamesha Beeson looked standing out there in that parking lot, Donovan wouldn’t have been averse to her being his Mrs. Right.
“Truth be told...I just came to this thing because I’d promised my cousin I’d show up. Mya’s worried that I’m gonna grow old and be lonely. She was just trying to help a brotha out.”
“Mya from your office right?” Lamesha smiled. “She told me you were her cousin.” Lamesha wasn’t gonna tell the man that Mya had slipped her his business card and tried to hook her up with him.
He nodded his head. “Yep. That was Cousin Mya. Let me go ahead and place this call and get Jarrod over here with the wrecker. Then I’ll drop you off where you want to go. Alright?”
“Alright. You talked me into it.”
“Good.”
<<<<<>>>>>
An Hour Later:
It had taken Donovan’s friend a little under an hour to get Lamesha’s car towed away. During that time, Donovan and Lamesha had sat in his air-conditioned Benz talking. Lamesha was pleasantly surprised that she’d actually enjoyed her time with Dr. Walker. They’d talked like they were old friends or something.
“Okay. Your car is taken care of.” He looked her in the eye. “Can I convince you to go have lunch with me? My treat? I heard your stomach growling a few minutes ago, so I know you’re hungry.” He was feeling real comfortable with Lamesha. Comfortable enough that he even laughed at his little comment.
Lamesha smiled. “That was not my stomach, Dr. Walker. You must have been hearing things. You might wanna go get your ears checked. But since you’re treating and I have nothing else planned for today, Imma say yes.”
He chuckled again. “Alright. Since you agreed to doing lunch with me, I’ll just leave all that alone. Now whatchu feeling like eating?”
Shameesha shrugged her shoulders. “I’m not really sure. What were you thinking?”
“There’s this nice little joint on the outskirts of town that I like hitting up when I have extra time. It’s about twenty minutes from here. But I think you’d enjoy it. One of my friends from Jamaica turned me on to it.”
She glanced over at him as they hit the interstate. She had a look of skepticism in her eyes. “Jamaica? It’s Jamaican food?”
He nodded his head again. “Yeah. But don’t worry. I think you’ll like it. And if you don’t, I’ll owe you another lunch out on the town. Deal?”
“Uh...okay. Deal.”
<<<<<>>>>>
An Hour Later:
Lamesha pointed at her plate using her fork. “This is the bomb...okay? You hear me?”
Donovan smiled. “See. I told you you’d like it.”
She shook her head. “Where have I been living at all my life? Under a rock? How did I miss out on jerk chicken and everything else that goes with it?” She speared one of the banana-like plantains on her fork and took a tiny bite.
He broke a little piece of his bread off and held it to her lips. “Here, you didn’t try the coco bread. I wanna know what you think.”
It was something about just watching Lamesha Beeson get pleasure out of eating her food that made Donovan feel good. Made him see the positive part of life just a little bit clearer.
Lamesha’s eyes met Donovan’s as he slowly placed the piece of bread to her lips. Their eyes met and they held gazes for several seconds. She opened her mouth the tiniest bit, just enough to accept his offering.
With his eyes still locked with hers he asked, “Do you like it?”
She didn’t answer his question. Instead, she asked one of her own. “What’s happening here between us Dr. Walker?”
He wasn’t the type of person who fronted so he said, “I’m having lunch with a very beautiful woman...the ebony queen that I haven’t been able to get off my mind for two days. And she’s making me happy just by allowing me to be in her presence.”
If anybody else had told her that, Lamesha would’ve just thought that they were trying to run game on her. But she didn’t get that vibe from Dr. Walker. She could tell the man meant every word he’d said. “Wow...now I wasn’t expecting you to say all that.”
“It was the truth. You asked me a question and I answered it honestly and truthfully. I don’t like telling lies and i don’t like beating around the bush. Like I told you earlier today, I’m a saved man. Saved by grace.” He smiled. “I’m attracted to you and I wanted you to know how I’m feeling. I’m even hoping you’ll agree to a second date.”
Lamesha didn’t quite know what to say, but she sure did appreciate his sincerity. She finally said, “So this is our first date I take it?”
“Yeah. That’s kinda how I’m seeing it and I hope you’re seeing it like that, too.”
Lord have mercy, she thought to herself. Maybe I was wrong when I said a few hours ago that I didn’t have a good vibe about today. Today is turning out to be freaking awesome. Maybe that single’s conventions worked out for a sista after all.
She smiled. “Yeah, that’s how I’m seeing it. I’m free any day this week since I like you and you’re interested in a date number two.”
<<<<<>>>>>
Later on that Evening:
As he backed out of Lamesha’s driveway, Donovan smiled to himself. They’d made plans for their second date and he was happy about it. When his cellphone buzzed, he answered it on the first ring. It was his friend, Jarrod.
“Hey, bruh. You done with my friend’s car yet?”
“Yeah. I just finished. I was calling to tell you that I’d have it delivered to your lady friend’s house in the morning. The bill is gonna run her $587.00. I gave her a twenty percent discount ‘cause she a friend of yours.” Jarrod grinned into his phone. “She cute too, bruh. Are you tapping that or is she available?”
Donovan laid claim to Lamesha with a quickness. “She’s off the market, J. And by the way, I’m sure you still have my American Express Card on file from when I brought my SUV in to get an oil change last week. Put all of Lamesha’s charges on my card. Okay?”
“Alright, man. She must be special. Don’t no man be dropping five hundred bones on a girl that’s not. Even a brotha like yourself who’s making paper.”
Donovan smiled to himself. Yeah she’s special. Something in my spirit is telling me that Lamesha Beeson just might be my Mrs. Right.