around.
The waitress blushed. “Oops. It’s not that you look old, she just looks so young. I thought you were a teenager at first.”
Claudio let out a half-baked chuckle. He took it pretty well, even sounded happy when he said, “Get me a cheeseburger and fries. Well done.”
I told her, “I’ll have the same.”
Claudio added, “But make hers super well done.”
“Right,” I said. “Make sure I don’t get salmonella poisoning.”
The girl smiled. “You guys are from New York, right?”
Claudio nodded. “Yep.”
That was when I heard it myself. My New York accent had thickened just that quick, in the few minutes since I’d been around Claudio.
“I’m an actress. I study dialects, so I notice that kind of thing. Might learn a thing or two listening to you guys talk.” She laughed like she was the genius of the year. “Would you care for anything to drink?”
“No,” I said. “Water is fine for now. For both of us.”
I was surprised that I’d said that, For both of us.
Five years of familiarity with an older man. My father figure, that’s what I used to call him. I guess a father figure is what a woman gravitates toward when her daddy ain’t been nowhere around.
The waitress took her sweet voice and smile to another table.
Claudio cracked up. “That sister sounded whiter than Wonder Bread. If my back was turned, I never would’ve known she was black.”
“I know that’s right.”
“So damn polite. Did you check that out?”
We fell into a very old groove. Talked about everybody in the place. Until I saw Claudio was staring at me.
I said, “What’re you looking at like that?”
Claudio forced a grin, leaned forward, and lowered his voice. “Damn, you always smell so damn good.”
“I still bathe regularly.”
“That’s a new perfume you got on.”
“Yeah, it’s Terri El—yeah, it’s a new flavor.”
He hummed. “Can I kiss you?”
“For what?”
“I want to find out what heaven tastes like.”
I didn’t move. My eyes stayed firm. Claudio reached to hold my hand, to touch my flesh with his flesh. I moved away, put my right hand in my lap, away from his reach. Wiped the anxiety and sweat and desire from my hands onto my thighs.
“What’s on your mind, Dee Dee?”
“Just thinking about Momma. When you said you went to talk to her, now you got me thinking about my favorite Harlem girl.”
“Ain’t nothing wrong with that. I think about her a lot.”
The waitress came back and left our steaming burgers on the table.
Claudio said, “Let’s get our grub on and enjoy each other’s company.”
“What about my money? You said you had some of it, right?”
“I’m gonna hook you up.”
“Hook me up? All you have to do is hand it to me.”
“You haven’t changed a bit when it comes to money.”
“A hungry woman always thinks about food.”
“Good. Let’s eat. Bless the food.”
I told him, “The man should always bless the food.”
He reached his hands out to me. I hesitated, then gave him mine. Let him touch me again. A touch that was so familiar. That had so much history. Years had gone by, but when we pressed flesh, seemed like only seconds had passed since we were together.
Claudio did his usual childish blessing. The one I’d listened to him do for five years. “God is grace. God is good. And we thank . . .”
In the middle of his prayer, I opened my eyes and looked around. Condom shops on the street next to drug shops next to teenagers who were trying to sell their bodies to get their next meal. Wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to temptation.
Claudio said, “The food doesn’t taste as good out here.”
“It’s the water. They need to import New York water to add some flavor. And bagels. Somebody out here needs to learn how to make bagels. Or pizza. Out here they actually think Domino’s is good pizza.”
“Tell me about it.”
“Claudio, the water out here is so bad I wouldn’t even wash my car with it if I could help it. That’s probably why they don’t have mosquitoes.”
“Or rats the size of dogs.”
“God, that is so true.”
We ate some more. I enjoyed kicking back and talking about nothing.
He asked, “So what’s the problem between you and your man?”
“What makes you think that there’s a problem?”
“You’re with me.”
I blinked twice. A good old tear came from nowhere, was rolling before I could find the strength to wipe it away.
“Shit, Dee Dee.” Claudio sat up straight. “What’s wrong?”
I told him. Told him about Vince, how he didn’t