I’d dialed Vince’s number four or five times—all evening he was MIA. My imagination filled in the blanks.
Had to find my own peace of mind.
Allowed myself to gravitate toward where I was wanted.
To where I was safe.
At nine-thirty I had on my favorite wool LBD—Little Black Dress—and beaded jewelry. Classy, sexy, and hipness rolled into one. All that and black strapped heels. The sweetest perfume I owned.
Claudio said, “So, this is restaurant row.”
“Yep.”
From my window at the Warehouse, I took a deep breath as I gazed toward the ocean and saw thousands of stars standing high in the sky. In front of me were just as many yachts. The area reeked of money, old and new.
Claudio said, “This area is nice.”
“A lot of exotic food places are down here.”
“Ain’t a damn thing more exotic than you.”
“Claudio, knock it off.”
Above us, sweet-faced couples were at candlelit tables, chowing down seafood and steaks while a jazz band did their thing. On the other side of my reflection, outside on the wooden deck right below us, were tables of buppies, muppies, and yuppies pigging out underneath the table warmers. Couples were holding hands, eyes glinting with pleasure, laughing, sharing entrées and feeding each other in between smiles.
The salty smell in the air, the echo of the tide breaking on the rocks, even the overweight white lady in the green muumuu singing angelic Billie Holiday tunes made the place pretty extravagant.
This looked like just another first-class restaurant, but I knew better. This was a place of seduction, one big foreplay party for the sophisticated.
Claudio was holding a glass of chablis. “I wanna make a special toast. To seeing you again.”
“Thanks.”
He said, “Was smoked salmon and a salad all you wanted?”
“Yeah. I’m trying not to get fat.”
He laughed. “There you go with that weight thang again.”
He wolfed down the last of his fillet of sole meunière. I sipped my wine, then nodded. “The salmon was fine, Claudio.”
“You can have as much of anything you want. If they don’t have what you want, I’ll tell the driver to ride around until we find it.”
I glanced at my engagement ring. Yep, still had it on. Why, I do not know. I asked Claudio, “Where are you getting all of this money?”
“Comedy is hot. The King of Comedy tour made way into seven figures. If I can do a corner of that, hell, I’ll be set. You know how black people love to laugh.”
“How many more shows do you have out here?”
“One at the Comedy Emporium in Hollywood. Need to meet with Guy Torry, maybe Joe Torry too. I’ll leave you a couple of tickets at the door. Bring your tall friend. One of my homies wanna meet her.”
“I’ll let you know. Then what you doing after L.A?”
“Going to San Francisco and Oakland, doing a show at Geoffrey’s in the Bay, then hitting Seattle and Tacoma. That’ll take about a week.”
“Then what?”
“Back to N.Y. and do the same in the Village.”
“Sounds like you’re coming up.”
“That’s why you need to be with me. We could do this together, you know. Travel. Make some pocket change while we see the country.”
I said, “So, when are you going to pay me what you owe me?”
“You sound like a bill collector.”
“Is that a hard question to answer?”
“Don’t make tonight about that. Let’s roll back to my hotel.”
“And why would we do that?”
He smiled. “Kick it with me.”
“And?”
“I miss you like crazy.” His eyes pointed at my engagement ring. “We both know that should be my diamond on your finger.”
“When we were together and I brought the subject up, all I remember you saying was that marriage was a three-ring circus. Engagement ring, wedding ring, then suffering.”
“I said that?”
“Yes, you did.”
“I was a straight-up fool. Dee Dee, baby, I wish like hell that I could have you forever, keep you at my side as a king—”
“Oh, since you’re coming up, you’re a king nowadays.”
“That’s right. Got tired of being a field hand working for the man. And I’m a king who should have a smooth and elegant queen, like yourself, at my side so I can cherish her beauty and grace forever and a day.”
“Two snaps down. Where did you read that stupid mess?”
“I’m being serious over here.”
“You sound silly.”
“I’m serious. I’d love to get married. Start my own family. Should’ve married you five years ago. We could have two kids by now.”