Tasha brought the potato chips out of the oven and placed the baking trays on the kitchen counter. It was Grant’s turn to host his friends for the poker night this Saturday evening. And has asked them to come over to Tasha’s so he could introduce her to them.
More so, Grant had been spending most of his time in Tasha’s house since beginning the summer.
“Miss. Tasha,” Maggie, Tyson’s babysitter, called from where she was standing over the kitchen counter, making the dip. She was helping Tasha out this evening, she loved to help Tasha out in the kitchen. “Please come and taste the dip. I think it needs more lime juice.”
“Let me see.” Tasha took a teaspoon and dipped it into the bowl of avocado. She scooped out a little and tasted it. “It’s perfect, honey.” She patted Maggie on the back.
“Okay then,” the younger lady nodded. “I will just stick it in the refrigerator.”
“Yeah, thanks,” Tasha responded and turned away to put toppings on the pizza dough already prepared on two pizza stones.
Tasha had just put both pizzas into the oven when Maggie’s phone rang. She brought it out of her pocket and it was her best friend, Jasmine, calling. She told her that Kylie’s and Dion’s wedding was being televised on TV.
“Miss Tasha,” Maggie took Tasha’s hand. “Jasmine said they are showing Kylie’s wedding on TV. Come, let’s see.”
“Ok-ay,” Tasha smiled at the incurable lover girl. “Let’s go.”
The couple were already cutting their wedding cake when they got to the living room.
“I love their love story.” Maggie said with her eyes fixed on the TV while the latest celebrity footballer, Dion and his new wife, Kylie, a fashion designer, cut their wedding cake.
“Their cake is so beautiful,” Tasha commented.
“Yes, the colors make it so exquisite,” Maggie said, as both of them sat down. “Can you imagine that Dion actually chased Kylie for four years before she agreed to even go out with him?”
“Yes, I read it somewhere too,” Tasha said and relaxed back on the sofa.
Tasha’s eyes darted up to the walk clock over the TV and she realized it was half past four in the afternoon. She planned to call Trevor at four.
“Excuse me,” she told Maggie, and stood up. “I have to make an important call.”
“That’s alright,” Maggie replied, not looking away from the TV screen.
Tasha went to her study and sat behind her desk as she dialed Trevor’s cell phone number.
He picked after the third dial.
“Hey, Doc.” He greeted her from the other end. “How are you doing?”
“I’m great,” she replied. “And how was your aunt’s birthday lunch? And Laura?
“Everything went well,” he chuckled. “In Fact, better than I expected.”
“Wow,” it gladdened Tasha’s heart to hear that. Trevor had been very anxious about the entire issue of taking Laura along. “I need you to help me go through the paper I want to submit for ‘academic finance’ for publication next week.”
“Oh, that’s okay, just send it to my email.”
“Thank you so much,” Tasha said.
“It’s my pleasure,” he said and promised to see her at work on Monday before they ended the call.
“Sorry about that,” he smiled into Laura’s face. “That was Dr. Harrison.”
They were both in his car, they just left his aunt’s house and he had to park on the roadside to take Tasha’s call.
“It’s okay,” she smiled slowly.
“Thanks so much for today,” he said, thanking her again for following him to lunch. She was very understanding when he finally summoned the courage to express his dilemma to her and begged her to follow him.
“You are welcome, it’s nothing,” she looked away from him shyly. “I enjoyed myself. I like your family. I mean the love and the positive dynamics that you all share.”
“I’m glad to hear that.”
Everybody had taken to her immediately. Especially his mom and aunt, who took her aside and wanted to know everything about her. Thank God Trevor had given him some hints about how to answer their questions so that she wouldn’t give him away.
The rest of the ride was quiet, with him keeping his eyes glued on the road and her chatting with her friend on the phone.
He walked her in when they got to her house and left after a few minutes.
Hours after he dropped her off, Trevor stood at the window, a whiskey in hand, staring outside at the New York skyline. Even as the weather gradually turned darker, he found himself unable to stop thinking about her.
He walked back to the sofa and picked his phone off the center table. He dialed her number and waited for her to pick up as it started ringing.
“Hey,” he said when she answered.
“Hey, Prof.,” she returned.
“I hope I didn’t wake you from sleep?” He asked.
“No, no,” she said. “I’m not asleep yet.”
“Listen, Laura,” he started. “I was hoping I could take you out to the movies and dinner afterward tomorrow to say thank you properly for saving me from my family today.”
“You don’t have to do that,” she said from the other end with a hint of a laugh in her voice.
“Why? I think saying thank you is the proper thing to do.”
“And you already said that, Prof.”
“Call me Trevor,” he said. “That’s what my friends call me. I consider us to be friends now.”
“Trevor,” she inhaled deeply. “I guess so… we are friends.”
“So let’s go to the movies and have dinner as friends.”
“You will not take a no for an answer, are you?” She replied with feigned exasperation, which made both of them burst into laughter.
“Well,” he chuckled. “I’m glad you realized that. So what time should I pick you up tomorrow evening?”
“Hmmm,” she chuckled, too. “I don’t think tomorrow can work?”
“Why not?”
“M…my old man is coming over for the evening,” Her voice was small, like she was ashamed to say it. “And my mom had begged me to stay home for dinner.”
“It, okay.” He detested a family problem, but decided not to pry for now. “So, when are you going to be free next week?”
“Is Tuesday night okay for you?” She asked.
“It’s perfect.” He moved back to the window and stared outside. “Thank you. Tuesday night it is.”
“Yeah, Tuesday,” Laura said.
They talked more for a few minutes before they ended the call. Trevor dropped the phone back on the center table with a huge grin on his face.