Octavia wasn’t the third wheel at dinner after all. When she walked into Joe Buck’s restaurant with Terri and Andre, a tall gentleman stood and waved them over to the table.
“That’s James. Isn’t he cute?” Terri whispered into Octavia ear.
“Yes, very,” she mumbled. As a matter of fact, he became better looking with every step she took.
He shook hands with Andre and kissed Terri on the cheek while never taking his eyes off her. “I’m James.” He had a nice smile. “Terri, you told me your friend was pretty, but that was an understatement.” He took a deep breath and exhaled, then patted his heart. “She’s breathtaking.”
Octavia thanked him as he pulled out her chair.
Moments later, the hostess appeared and asked for drink selections. “Sprite for me,” Octavia said as the others requested something stronger.
As she hid behind the menu, she could feel James’s eyes on her. She was at somewhat of a disadvantage. He knew more about her than she did about him and he definitely had expectations.
When their hostess returned, Octavia ordered a baked chicken pasta dish and a side salad. Handing over the menu, she had no choice but to meet James’s waiting gaze.
As long as he didn’t peruse her body parts, she would hear him out. However, Terri didn’t give him space to say much as she sang James’s praises as if the man wasn’t sitting there and couldn’t speak for himself. He had an impressive résumé.
“Corporate law,” Octavia said to be polite when Terri ran out of steam. “That must keep you busy.”
“Not too busy for a social life.” James’s hints weren’t subtle. “Terri tells me you stay busy with church.” She nodded. “I wouldn’t turn down an invitation, if you asked me.” His eyes danced with merriment.
Octavia blushed. “Then I guess I’d better ask. The biggest decision is once you’re there, will you accept God’s invitation to salvation?”
Terri frowned and gave her the evil eye.
“What?” Octavia jutted her chin at her friend. The few men she did give a chance to had come to church only to impress her as their agenda. With no intention of anything more, they lost interest in her and church.
“Maybe.” James didn’t commit, but he didn’t back down either. She liked when a man had confidence…like Landon. Landon hadn’t lost his dignity in his cast-down situation.
Terri quickly changed the subject and kept changing it until their food arrived. James seemed content watching Octavia’s every move.
After eating half of her cheesecake, Octavia dabbed the corners of her mouth. “Well, I guess I’d better head home. It’s been a long day. James, it was nice meeting you. Terri, thanks for dinner.”
“James picked up the tab,” her friend corrected.
Tilting her head, Octavia thanked him. When she got to her feet, so did he.
“Let me walk you to your car.”
Octavia shrugged. “Oh, I’m in the parking lot and it’s still light outside. I’ll be fine.”
“I insist.” He waited as she hugged Terri and Andre, then he fell in step with her. “We’re downtown and you never know what homeless guy may be hanging around.”
Octavia stopped in her tracks. Homeless? Landon was homeless and she enjoyed his company. She held her tongue as she continued walking, then allowed him to continue to put his foot in his mouth. “Maybe you’ll consider volunteering at a soup kitchen with me and see that homelessness could be a temporary fate if we all help.”
“I’d rather donate,” he said, then in the same breath asked for her number as she deactivated her car alarm.
He opened her door, and she faced him. “I’m out of business cards, but I’ll take one of yours.”
Twisting his lips, James smirked. “I have a better idea. Why don’t I program my number in your phone?”
Okay, it was time to stop this surprise speed-dating dinner from going any faster. “James, I feel ambushed here. Give me your card and I’ll call you.”
He squinted. “I get the feeling you might not ever call.”
“Of course I will. I’m inviting you to church, remember? This Sunday…”
James shook his head. “I already have a commitment,” he said, then countered with a movie on Saturday.
“I have a street tent meeting.” Once she explained what type of church ministry it was, he declined.
“Thursday.”
Since when did dating become a negotiation? “I’m conducting a first-time home buyer’s seminar. Do you want to tag along?”
“Can’t.” This time James didn’t offer any reasons why, so Octavia accepted his card, got into her car and drove off. “Lord, I’m not saying he’s not the one but I’m not impressed.” She was looking beyond his good suit. What was in his heart? Many are called, but few are chosen. God whispered Matthew 22:14.
How many times had she heard that scripture? “God, please chose for me a prayer partner for a mate—someone who knows about Your goodness and mercy…Jesus, please open my eyes to see the candidates You’ve set before me. Amen.”
***
“So what you think?” Terri asked when Octavia arrived at the office for the weekly meeting.
“I think I should be mad at you for setting me up without giving me a heads up,” Octavia feigned an attitude before she laughed.
“But you’re not because James is handsome, charming, he has a steady income…”
“I need more than that,” Octavia said softly. “You know that. I don’t want my feelings to be so jumbled up in a relationship that I compromise. Regret is a hard thing to live with.”
Their chat was nipped when other agents filed into the conference room for their Monday briefing.
As the broker, Terri kicked off the meeting with praises before she tackled problems. Since her company was the listing agent on the property Landon had gotten into, Terri accepted the blame for not double checking after a contractor said he had secured it. “Okay, here are our current listings. I want to hear why we’re not selling them.”
Octavia chimed in, “I am going to re-evaluate how I have those two houses in Olivette staged. They’re both listed online. I have that seminar on Thursday, so I plan to showcase them.”
Terri nodded and faced another agent whose buyer’s offer fell through. She brainstormed strategies how to regroup, and before long, the meeting was over and everyone was out the door. Octavia made sure she was the first in order to escape any further discussions about James without knowing where he stood with the Lord.
The next couple of days whizzed by, but when there was a pocket of free time, her mind detoured to Landon. She bit her lip from smiling.
On Thursday afternoon, Terri was just finishing up a call when Octavia stopped by the office to grab brochures and supplies for the seminar.
“One of my hardest working Realtors. Tsk, tsk. Tavie, you could be a broker by now if you’d focus on different clientele.”
“I gave up that notion after working here the first year. Besides, the extra fees and license and the liability to be responsible for other agents’ mistakes is scary.”
“I know your heart is in the right place with these community workshops, but you need to focus on those contacts you made over the weekend and make some real money,” Terri said.
Octavia knew Terri was looking out for her well-being and wanted to groom her to be a broker and to open her other agency office one day, but Octavia wasn’t driven by money alone. She wanted to show Christ in her life, and helping others was part of it. “I will…I will, but we know first-time home buyers move within five to seven years to bigger homes. The initial step is to be informed.”
Having a place to call home was personal for Octavia. She was a product of a loving Christian home in a distressed area in East St. Louis. The home values were low and businesses scarce, but the minute she and Olivia walked through the door from school, she felt loved, protected and happy. Why couldn’t everyone experience the same thing whether it was a two bedroom house or a six?
Call her an old soul or a practicing Christian, but it was her responsibility to serve the under-served communities and to help them go from renters to buyers, which was the main reason she joined the National Association of Real Estate Brokers. As long as racism denied a group of people equal opportunities, whether it was in housing, employment or legal representation, there would always be a minority organization that would fight for access. NAREB groomed the underserved on how to qualify for home ownership and stay in possession of their houses.
When she graduated with a BA in business management, she knew she had to encourage and help people climb out of poverty. If that meant a series of seminars on money management in order to qualify for a first home, then she would do it, so Terri’s arguments against that fell on deaf ears.
“Well, please be careful going by yourself into the city,” Terri warned.
“Always, I’m thinking about asking Landon. Maybe he won’t mind tagging along. Who knows? This info may help him get back on his feet.”
“You and your charity cases. I don’t care if the man is good-looking. Be careful with him, too. He could have been on drugs, dealt drugs, served prison time, run a prostitution ring. He did something wrong for him to fall out of God’s graces,” she mocked. “The bottom line is he had to make some bad choices along the way.”
Octavia waved. “See you later.”
“Have you called James yet?” Terri said in a sing-song voice.
“Not yet…” She grinned and hurried to her car. As far as she was concerned, James was an open book; Landon wasn’t and that curiosity made Octavia want to get to know him better.