All this was said in one breath as Mel walked Kalina from the foyer through a furniture- and knickknack-crowded living room and dining room, into a kitchen with counters overflowing with food.
“I’m fine. Thanks,” Kalina said when they finally stopped.
Melanie went to the refrigerator to pull out yet another bowl of something. Just how many people are coming to this little shindig? she wondered.
“Ah, need help with anything?” she offered but honestly didn’t know what she could do in here. Domestication was not one of Kalina’s strong points. Sure, she could cook enough to keep herself from starving, and she cleaned house because living in a pigsty was not something she enjoyed. But that’s where the Susie Homemaker bit ended.
“Sure, grab another twelve-pack out of that box. We can dump those in the cooler out back. I’m sure they’re almost finished with the ones I put out earlier.”
“No problem.” Kalina moved to the corner of the kitchen, which looked like a liquor store with twelve-packs of beer stacked almost as tall as she was. Grabbing two, she turned and said, “Where to?”
“Here.” Mel removed the top from a plastic bowl filled with fruit and stuck a big spoon inside. “Follow me,” she said, carrying the bowl and her cheerful smile out the back door.
Kalina followed, stepping out onto a deck full of more furniture and now people as well.
With a nod of her red curls Mel signaled toward the cooler. Kalina walked to that side of the deck, pulled up the cover, and began unloading the beer bottles. A few seconds later Melanie was pulling on her arm again.
“Here, let me introduce you,” she said. “Kalina Harper, my co-worker, this is Stephen Johnson and Eddie and Jamia Henderson. Stephen, Eddie, Jamia, this is Kalina.”
Kalina smiled, reached out a hand, and shook those of the threesome staring at her with bright smiles. Eddie and Jamia were a couple, that was evident by the way Eddie’s arm extended to shake her hand then hurriedly resumed its post around Jamia’s waist. Stephen was alone, dateless … just like her. It only took about two seconds to see what was going on.
“And this is my hubby, Pete.” Mel kept talking, leaving Kalina to stand alone while she went over to the grill and wrapped her arms around a tall, husky man with dark hair that was more than a touch too long.
“It’s nice to meet you all,” Kalina said, making sure her handshake with Stephen was the shortest of the greetings.
“Mel says you just started working at the firm, in accounting right?” Stephen Johnson with his tall athletic build and crystalline blue eyes asked. He looked like a superhero. Really? His hair was perfect, black and shiny, his eyes so bright they almost looked fake, his face chiseled with iconic perfection. He looked just like Superman, who just so happened to be her favorite superhero of all time.
Unfortunately, that was in the animated dream world of a teenager. Here and now, he was an eerily attractive guy.
“Yes, I did,” she answered belatedly.
“How are you liking it so far?”
“It’s a learning experience.”
Jamia laughed. “That means she doesn’t like it.”
Kalina smiled. “Not really. Let’s just say the jury’s still out.” That was true of a lot of things lately, including the boss she was determined not to like.
“I get it,” Jamia said, then looked up at Eddie with what Kalina actually thought were stars in her eyes.
They were a cute couple. He was thick, not fat, but definitely on the positive side for the possibility. She was shorter, her head full of long bronze-colored braids that reached down her back, a good foot below his. They couldn’t stop touching each other, couldn’t resist the enigmatic pull between them.
Kalina wondered how that felt. How would it feel to be that inextricably attached to someone? And how long did it last?
In the next hour Pete burned two hamburgers before finally giving Kalina one that wasn’t going to leave charred flecks between her teeth. Eddie and Jamia thought it was funny, joking about how Pete was the worst on the grill but how Mel continued to have these get-togethers. Mel’s kids came in and out, the older ones with plans of their own, just grabbing something to eat before they left; the twins had more attractive plans that consisted of sitting in front of the television in the basement watching some sort of cartoon marathon.
After Kalina had finished eating Stephen happily removed her trash and came back to sit beside her.
“Mel must really like you if she invited you to her house. She’s usually a very private person when it comes to mixing business with pleasure,” he said, his fingers wrapping around the neck of a bottle of beer.
“I think she’s really nice,” Kalina responded honestly. “I don’t do a lot of socializing.”
“Is that by choice?”
She nodded and he smiled.
“Maybe I could change that. Have dinner with me?”
He was a nice guy. She should feel something for him, or at least she thought she should. But beyond being cordial, she just didn’t. “We just had dinner,” she said trying to keep the mood light.
“You know what I mean. A date, you and me?”
Him and her. For a few seconds Kalina tried to let that idea take root. But try as she might, she couldn’t see herself with Stephen. Or Reed from the precinct. All she could see was Rome.
“I don’t think that’s such a good idea,” she said even though she wasn’t too pleased about her thoughts returning to the man who seemed determined to ruin every aspect of her life. Because not coming up with any goods on him to make her case just wasn’t enough. No, he’d had to touch her, to kiss her, to make her want, need something she’d never thought to have before.
She did not do relationships—sex maybe, and not even that except solo for a very long time. She’d never imagined being the other half of a couple, wasn’t even sure she’d know how to be with someone on a long-term basis.
And really, what the hell was going on with her? Two men hitting on her in two days was definitely out of the ordinary.
“I get it,” he said with a contemplative look on his face. “You’re already seeing someone.”
“No,” she answered quickly. “I’m not. I mean, I don’t have anyone. I’m just not really into dating right now.”
“You’re not into dating me.”
She sighed. “I’m really not seeing anyone.”
“But you’d like to be. Does he know?” Stephen’s voice was friendly, his eyes just a little pensive.
“Does who know what?”
“That you’re interested in him.”
“I’m not—” she started, then paused. She didn’t know Stephen well. Hell, she didn’t know anybody well thanks to her self-induced solitary status. She could talk to her therapist, but she despised him and would much rather stick toothpicks in her eyes and walk on hot coals then sit on that couch and open up to his sick, leery glare. She was a mess. Beyond a mess really, but Stephen seemed game for listening to her so she figured what the hell.
“I think he knows.”
Still smiling, but not totally happy with her admission, Stephen added, “And? Is he interested?”
“I think, in a way.” Admitting he wanted to sleep with her didn’t really seem like the politically correct thing to say. Besides, how did she explain that she thought that was all Rome wanted to do?
Taking another swallow of his beer, Stephen leaned back in his chair. “He’s an idiot if he isn’t.”
She couldn’t help but smile at the serious way in which he’d said that, as if he really saw something in her he thought another man should appreciate. The thought warmed her, just like watching the other two couples together planted the smallest seed of hope inside her.
Maybe she could be relationship material after all. Drinking her soda she laughed off that idea, because it was ridiculously stupid. Stephen was talking off his fourth beer, he could say anything and not mean a thing. What Kalina knew definitely was that the orphan who was trying to make a difference didn’t need the added stress of falling in love with the wrong man.