Donna Hill - If I Were Your Woman

He laughed. “Ali Aziz. Nice to meet you.”

“Do you work with Ron?” Dawne asked.

“Yes, started about a month ago.”

“Don’t let him work you to death,” Desiree said.

He jerked his head in Ron’s direction and smiled. “Tell him that.”

“You’re gonna give me a bad name, man. Let’s get settled before you have them thinking all kinds of awful things about me.”

“Sit anywhere. You guys are our last customers for the day. We were getting the menu prepared for tomorrow for the spa,” Dawne said.

Desiree went to lock the front door.

“Let me know when you’re ready to order,” Dawne said, then headed back to the kitchen.

They took a booth and sat down.

“How long have you two known each other?” Elizabeth asked.

Ron and Ali looked at each other as they mentally calculated the years.

“A long time,” they said in unison, then laughed.

“I met this guy when he was young,” Ron said, hooking his thumb toward Ali.

“We both were. You were no more than a kid at the time.”

“How did you meet?”

“At a Black Panther meeting,” Ron said.

Elizabeth’s eyes widened with interest. “Really? Ron told us all about his ‘revolution days.’” She leaned forward, not wanting to miss a word.

“I was heading up a local chapter, and this scrawny kid comes in—”

“See, this is how stories get distorted. I was nevah scrawny!”

They alternated in their storytelling, making light of some intense situations with the marches, the raids by police, and the tension of those days. It was all so fascinating that the meal and two hours had flown by.

“You have to come back again, Mr. Aziz,” Desiree was saying as she collected the plates. “It’s so rare that this generation actually gets to talk to people who were in the midst of the struggle and what it was really all about.”

“Thanks for the invitation. I definitely will. Your place is lovely and the food was really great. Although I’m a steak and potatoes man, I gotta give it to you ladies.”

“This is our pride and joy,” Dawne said, looking lovingly at her sister. “It was a struggle at first, especially opening up right across the street from a rib joint.” The sisters laughed. “But we hung in there and now we have a steady flow of regulars, not to mention the work that we get by providing the food for the spa. We’ve finally been able to hire some help.”

“Nothing like having a dream and finally seeing it come true,” Ali said, his voice suddenly melancholy. He shook his head as if to dispel something only he could see and forced a smile.

Ron looked at him for a moment, then stood and helped Elizabeth with her coat.

“I’ll drop you off, Ali, after the girls lock up, since I convinced you to leave your car.”

“Naw, I’m good. I can make it from here. Why don’t you two go on with your evening? I can stay.” He turned to the twins. “If you need any last-minute help, I can pitch in.”

“Sure. We could always use some help,” Dawne said.

“Thanks, Ali. I never feel comfortable with them locking up at night by themselves,” Elizabeth said.

“Not a problem. I’m happy to do it.”

Ron clapped him on the back. “Okay, take care of our girls and I’ll see you in the morning.”

“Sure thing. And really nice meeting you, Elizabeth.”

“You too.”

Elizabeth kissed and hugged her daughters goodbye, then went out to meet the biting wind with Ron’s arm wrapped securely around her.

“I can’t wait to get you home,” Ron murmured. “It took all I had to concentrate on my food and conversation with you sitting right across from me looking like dessert. And, woman, every time you ran your tongue across your lips…” He tossed his head back and groaned deep in his throat.

“Ron, you’re crazy!”

“Crazy about you.” He pulled up in front of the building and turned to her. “You know that, don’t you?”

She swallowed and nodded her head, unsure of her voice.

“Good. Now come on so I can show you just how crazy I am.”

“Your friend is really nice,” she said as they went inside.

“Yeah, he’s a good guy. Got some bad breaks, but he kept it together.”

“Bad breaks? What do you mean?” She hung up her coat and took Ron’s from him.

“Got locked up on a bad break, spent years in jail, and lost his family as a result.”

“Jail? For what?”

“Murder.”

Stephanie was up with the sun, and her first thought was of Tony. It was the first time in weeks that they hadn’t spent the night together, and she realized how much she missed waking up next to him in the morning.

She pulled herself out of bed, not sure if this new realization was a good thing or not. A part of her knew that getting that close to someone was not a good thing; you began to rely on them for your happiness, become emotionally attached. And she knew from experience that the only one you could truly rely on was yourself.

Besides, there wasn’t enough of her to go around. She had to be there for her sister, Samantha, and that took all the love and commitment she had.

She meandered into the kitchen and put on a pot of coffee, then turned on the radio. Moments into one of her favorite songs by Kem, the DJ cut away to announce a severe snowstorm warning for the entire metropolitan area.

“Damn,” she muttered and went to the windows that faced the front. She opened the blinds onto a sea of white. Streets and cars were covered in at least two inches of snow and it was still coming down. She needed to get dressed and make a grocery store run in case she really did get snowed in.

She quickly got dressed, pulling out her heavy cream-colored pullover sweater and a pair of dark brown corduroy pants. It took her a few minutes of hunting around in the bottom of the coat closet to locate her boots. She grabbed a ski cap from the top shelf of the closet and put on her coat.

“Jeez, all this just to go to the store.” She got her purse and was checking for her wallet and her cell phone when she remembered that she hadn’t put her phone back on the hook from the night before. She made a quick dash back into her bedroom and hung up the phone. No sooner had she set it down than it rang in her hand. She let it ring. Just the thought that it might be Marilyn was something she wasn’t in the frame of mind to deal with. Since when did you become such a coward? She reached for the phone and snatched it up.

“Hello?”

“Steph, it’s me, Tony.”

She released a breath of relief. “Hey. Feeling better?”

“Uh, yeah. Listen, I feel really crappy about not getting over there last night. Have you looked outside?”

“I was on my way out the door to run to the store when the phone rang.” He didn’t need to know that she’d left it off the hook all night.

“Look, I’m going to get dressed and come over. I’ll bring some stuff with me. Great day to snuggle.”

She smiled. “I like the sound of that.”

“I’ll be there as soon as I can. Okay?”

“I’ll be waiting.”

The one great thing about living in New York was that there was a store on practically every corner. A rather well-stocked supermarket was little more than a block away. However, it was slip and go the entire trek. Once she arrived it was clear that her neighbors had the same idea she did. The lines were long and shopping carts were piled high. She got what she needed, but the usual fifteen-minute jaunt took more than an hour.

By the time she inched her way back to her apartment building, the wind had kicked up and the snow swirled in great gusts. She lowered her head against the onslaught and hoped she didn’t fall flat on her big behind before she got in her door. She turned toward her building ready to conquer the slippery steps when she felt her feet slide from beneath her. Her brain shot into self-preservation mode. The hell with the bag: Save butt from hitting the ground. The bag flew out of her hands as she reached for the railing to the steps. She wasn’t going to make it. The bag plopped to the ground just as a strong pair of hands grabbed her beneath her arms.