“What if I pick you up Saturday at eight?”
She nodded. “I’ll be ready.” If Gage was to ask her outright if she liked him, then she would give him a resounding yes. He was the first man with whom she could speak without censoring herself. Being with Gage allowed her to feel completely liberated, and that was something she hadn’t been able to be with any other man.
Gage pulled her closer. “I’m waiting.”
She met his eyes. “For what?”
“Did I pass or fail?”
Realization dawned for Tonya. He was asking her to grade his cooking. “I give you a B for dinner and a C for the cocktails.”
Gage stared at her as if she had taken leave of her senses. “You’re kidding!”
“No, I’m not. If I gave you an A, then there’s no room for improvement. And the C is for trying to get me tanked. I took a sip of yours when you weren’t looking, and it wasn’t as strong as the one you made for me.”
“That’s because I put less rum in mine. After all, I was the designated driver.”
Her mouth formed a perfect O. “If that’s the case, then I’ll give you an A for the Mai Tai.”
He smiled, revealing straight white teeth. “That’s better. What are we making next?”
Tonya thought of the dishes Nydia taught her to prepare. “Caribbean.”
“You know the Caribbean covers a lot of territory.”
“We’ll concentrate on Puerto Rico and Cuba.”
“Nice.” Lowering his head, Gage kissed her forehead. “Talk to you soon.”
Turning on his heel, he retraced his steps to his vehicle, Tonya watching his retreating back until he disappeared from view. She closed and locked the door, then slipped out of her wet pumps. Under another set of circumstances, if she had known him longer and if Gage had invited her to spend the night at his house, she would’ve readily agreed. His mention of her sleeping in one of the other bedrooms was a blatant indication that he either did not want or did not need to sleep with her, and for that Tonya was grateful. Although she found herself physically attracted to him, she wasn’t ready to engage in a sexual relationship. She enjoyed making love with a man, yet as she matured, it was no longer what she considered the bedrock in any relationship.
Tonya walked into her bedroom and undressed, thinking about how far she had come from the nineteen-year-old girl who panicked once she discovered, despite using protection, that she was pregnant. It was as if her entire world had been turned upside down. The notion of terminating her pregnancy had not been an option, because she loved Samuel too much to destroy something they had created through the most intimate act that made them one with each other.
It was only after she miscarried that her grandmother urged her not to stay with Samuel. At the time she did not understand why the older woman had taken an instant dislike to the man she had married, but years later it was obvious her grandmamma saw something in Samuel she couldn’t or refused to see. Even when she had decided to leave her husband, Tonya never regretted staying with him, because the best thing to have come from their marriage was her daughter. Samara was Samuel’s “baby girl,” until he remarried.
Tonya changed out of the dress and into a pair of gray sweats with a matching tee and thick white socks. It was too early to retire for bed, so she decided to put up several loads of wash. She had just finished sorting the whites from the colored when the doorbell rang. The gates had been closed when Gage drove her back, so she figured it had to be Hannah.
Peering through the security eye, she was mildly surprised to see the faces of LeAnn and Paige grinning at her. Tonya opened the door, smiling. Both were huddled under an oversize golf umbrella. They were dressed in cropped slacks and long-sleeved tees.
LeAnn handed her a bottle of champagne. “We missed your arrival, so when we saw Gage Toussaint drop you off, we decided this is as good a time as any to show you that we haven’t forgotten our home training. The champagne is a welcoming gift.”
Tonya took the bottle, and then opened the door wider. “Please come in.”
Paige slipped out of her tennis shoes, her sister following suit. “We don’t want to track water over your floor.”
When first introduced to Hannah’s cousins, Tonya never would’ve thought them related, even though their fathers were brothers. LeAnn and Paige were physically the opposite of tall, blond, green-eyed Hannah, while the sisters were petite, dark-haired, and dark-eyed. They were also much less reserved than their younger cousin. However, on occasion Hannah did drop the F-bomb, if only to prove a point.
“It’s only water,” Tonya countered. “Can I get you anything to eat or drink?”
The retired schoolteachers shook their heads. “Gracious, no,” LeAnn said as she folded her body down to a chair with a matching footstool. “We just had dinner with one of our friends, and I’m full as a tick on a dog’s back.”
Tonya set the bottle on a side table, noting the label. They had given her a bottle of premium wine usually offered at upscale restaurants. “Thank you for the wine. I’ll uncork it after the ribbon cutting for the supper club.”
Paige sat on the loveseat and fluffed up her short salt-and-pepper hair with her fingertips. “It looks as if Hannah turning this property into a business is about to become a reality. She called to say the workmen are coming Tuesday to begin stripping wallpaper in the second-story bedrooms.”
“That means we’re going to have to pack up what we need by tomorrow night and move everything to St. John’s house,” LeAnn added.
Sitting on the sofa, Tonya crossed her feet at the ankles. “Why don’t you move into the other guesthouse?” The sisters looked at each other. “Am I missing something?” she asked.
