Bus Stop

I had to laugh. "I did, barely. Patricia scares me to death, Tianna."

"Noo, she's as gentle as kitten," she said. "Unless you threaten someone she loves." She led me through the house to the bathroom, watching as I washed my hands. "When I was like 10, some older boys were picking on me and she took a fence post after them. They scattered like leaves and never bothered me again.

I laughed as I dried my hands. "I can only imagine." We went back to sit on the porch, and I heard Patricia moving around inside. Tianna poured me a glass of lemonade and Patricia joined us.

We sat on the porch drinking the delicious lemonade, and a little silence fell. It wasn't awkward. "I like just sitting out here and looking at my flowers in the afternoons," Patricia said.

"Gram loves her flowers," Tianna said. "The beds have shrunk in size a little since her gardener moved out."

Patricia chuckled. "Yeah, and I miss her, too. She come back to visit me all the time, though. My Tianna a good girl, Mr. McDonald."

"I believe you," I told her. "Please call me Rob, though. My father is Mr. McDonald."

"Where your parents live?" Patricia asked.

"They have a place in North Beach," I said. "They don't spend a lot of time there, these days. My mother was a university professor and she retired three years ago. Dad has pretty much retired, too. He'll do some consulting for me on big jobs, but they have a motorhome and they travel."

"Are y'all close?" Tianna asked.

"Love them with all my heart," I said. "They were the best parents you could imagine. I have a sister in San Diego, and she has two kids. Mom and Dad worship them and spend a lot of time down there."

I had finished my lemonade and felt like I should go, as much as I wanted to stay for hours. I stood, and they walked me to the gate. "Thanks for the lemonade, Patricia," I said. "Hope to see you around."

She smiled. "Might be," she answered.

Tianna came to the car with me. I opened the door and turned. "Give me your phone," she said.

I did, and unlocked it. She put her number in my contacts. "Call me," she said, moved closer and brushed my cheek with her soft lips. "Thanks for today."

"I'll call, and you're welcome," I said. I drove away and she was watching as I looked in my rearview mirror.

I wanted to stop at the end of the block and call. I laughed at myself. I was like a kid with a junior-high crush. God, that girl, though. She was amazing, spectacular and gorgeous. I couldn't get her out of my head.

*****

Thursday afternoon I was at home, having just dropped off some plans for a new high-rise, and my buzzer sounded. I looked, and saw Tianna standing with the security guy in the lobby. I pressed the intercom. "Hey, come on up." I was just turning away when the intercom buzzed again. It was Tianna, still in the lobby. "Something wrong?" I asked.

She laughed. "Um... Rob, the security guy buzzed for me and he won't give me your apartment number or let me come up without you saying it."

I smacked my forehead. "Sorry, Tianna. I'm an idiot. Fifteenth floor, number three."

I ran my fingers through my hair and opened the door. I heard the elevator ding after a minute, and there she was. She took my breath away. A long cool woman in a black dress came walking down my hallway, looking like a runway model.

"Wow! It's Tianna Edwards!" I said. "Hi, Tianna. God, you look fantastic. Come in." I gave her a kiss on the cheek she tilted up for me.

"Oh, yeah?" she said. "Why you didn't call me, then?"

"I'll explain," I said. "Want a soda?"

"You got Dr. Pepper?" she asked.

"I do. Have a seat and I'll get you one."

I got ice in a glass and popped the top on a bottle of Dr. Pepper made with real sugar for her. I drank it all the time and hoped she'd like it.

She was standing, looking at one of my paintings when I came back from the kitchen. I set her glass and bottle on the coffee table and poured my own. "You like?" I asked.

"I do. It's an original, huh?"

"Yes, a Russian artist I really like. Her name is Anastasiya Rybchenko."

"Sweet," she said, ambling back over to the sofa. She looked at the Dr. Pepper. "Real sugar? Is that good?"

"I think so," I said. "You'll have to see if you like it."

She poured, took a swallow, and I saw that little pointy pink tongue again. "Yum," she said. "I like. Why you didn't call me, Rob?"

"Yeah, about that," I said. "This is kinda embarrassing, but I was being careful, Tianna."

"Explain."

"Well, I think you are amazing, special," I said. "I didn't want to seem creepy, like I was pushing you... I didn't... want to scare you off. I really want to make a good impression."

She laughed. "I see. I hate to tell you, Rob, but you're past the 'good impression' stage. You made a hella nice first impression the day we met."

"I did? I mean, that's good, right?" I was acting like an idiot.

"Mm-hmm," she murmured.

"Well, I was actually going to call you today," I explained. "I felt like a decent amount of time had passed so I wouldn't seem like a stalker."

She laughed and took a drink of her Dr. Pepper. "What were you going to say?"

"Well, two things, really," I explained. "One was that I have a gift membership at the gym set up for you, and I was hoping you'd take me up on that workout buddy offer. The second was to see if you'd go out with me tomorrow night."

She raised one eyebrow and looked at me quizzically. "Can't go out tomorrow night," she said. "Dad's birthday and Imma take him roller-skating. Besides, Ion think we ready for that, anyway. Let's think about that getting to know thing, okay?"

"Yes, we can, Tianna. I was afraid it was short notice, anyway," I said. "Still, I was going to ask. What days do you usually work out?"

"I do Monday through Thursday," she said. "You?"

"It's been hit and miss for me lately," I told her. "I try to get in three weekdays and sometimes Saturday morning. Would you like to meet me Monday when you get out of school?"

"That sounds good, but I get out at two," she said. "Won't you be working?"

"I could be, but I'm kinda the boss," I said. "If I don't have a meeting, I work when I want."

She sighed. "Must be nice. If you don't have something, we could meet at like three. Would that be good?"

"Perfect," I said. "What brings Tianna to my door today? Something special, or you just stopped by on the way home from work?"

"You didn't call," she said.

"Tianna like me, she wanna date me," I teased.

She actually blushed. "Maybe," she said. "We'll see."

She finished her Dr. Pepper. "Gotta go, Rob. Bus be here in five."

"Can I give you a ride home?" I asked.

"Thanks, but I'll catch the bus," she said. "I'm used to it."

She gave me a hug, and I watched her to the elevator. She was poetry in motion as she walked, and I think she gave that fantastic ass a little extra bounce. She blew me a kiss and she was gone.

I texted her Friday and Saturday, just little funny things I saw I thought she would like, and she answered. After the Saturday text, she sent me her Snapchat. Apparently, that was the best way to get her attention, so I downloaded the app. I had to laugh. She was my only contact, and I expected that would always be the case.

She was never far from my mind for the entire weekend, and I felt like Monday morning was months long. I had offered to pick her up, but she told me the club was only 15 minutes from her place. I still had no idea where she lived.

I got there about 15 minutes early, and was talking to my trainer when she got there. She had on a cute outfit: black and yellow workout pants and a jacket, with yellow sneakers. I got her to sign the paperwork, we got her a locker and she went off to put her bag in it.

Anthony, the trainer, was telling me what he wanted me to do on a leg machine when she returned. We both looked, and I think our jaws dropped at the same time. What she had on under the outfit also matched. There was a black top, sort of an expanded sports-bra thing with a diagonal yellow lightning bolt across her chest. It ended about an inch under her breasts, and there was smooth brown skin from there to the top of shorts that were a second skin, black, with a yellow stripe on one leg. She wasn't dark, very light for a black girl. I supposed that had to do with her father being white.

She saw us looking at her and sort of hesitated. I stood up and extended my hand. She came forward, took it, and I introduced her to Anthony.

"Welcome to the club," he said. "I'll get you a plan started. Do you know your max for the core lifts?"

She did, and they were impressive. I was very impressed, at least. Anthony isn't very impressed with anything. "Lazy and weak," is how he regarded most people. He got us some resistance bands in the right colors, and we started.

I couldn't help staring when I thought she wasn't looking. God, her ass in those shorts was maddening. She had more muscle definition than I did, her legs weren't at all thin, her thighs were very muscular and her calves were slender, but she had muscles that flexed and became ropes when she stretched the bands, and she had a six-pack for abs. This was one hot, fit lady.

We chatted like old friends, and she told me a joke. I spotted her on the bench, and she spotted me. She helped racking the weights and loading the bars, just like any good gym buddy, except she looked better than any I'd ever had.

She knew what weights she wanted, and it was apparent that she knew her way around. Anthony was going to be very good for her, I thought. He was very supportive, but he pushed his clients. We finished our weights and did cardio, me on an elliptical trainer and she on the treadmill next to me, her air pods in, listening to music. I wondered what she was listening to.

When we were through, I got us bottles of post-workout and water, and we sat at a table in front of the racquetball courts, watching the players.

"You play, Rob?" she asked.

"I do," I told her. "I'm not great, but I love it. You?"

"Yeah, me too," she said. "Maybe we play next time instead of the cardio machines?"

"I'd love that," I said. "I make myself do the cardio, but it bores me. Playing is much better, or running outside."

"Same," she said. "What you do in your spare time, Rob?"

"Well, I love to read, and spend a lot of time doing that. I fish, and I kayak. You ever kayak, Tianna?"

"No, where you go?"

"Well, you can paddle along the coast, but I mostly like rivers," I told her. "My favorite in California is the North Fork of the Yuba River."

"Where is that?" she asked.

"Out through Sacramento," I told her. "Once we get to know each other, maybe we could go."

"Hmm, I dunno," she said. "I don't have a kayak."

"I have three," I told her. "One for me, you and Patricia."

She laughed. "Somehow, I can't picture Gram being into it. She's scared to death of water."

"How about you?" I asked.

"Oh, I love it. I go to the beach a lot, Mom has a pool, and I swim there."

"Well, let's see how it goes." I sensed the pace with Tianna was going to be glacial. She was cautious, and I didn't mind. I knew she would be worth however long it took.

The pace was slow, indeed. We worked out together, I Snapped her constantly, and she was just as frequently turning up on my phone. She came and hung out with me at my place some on her way home from work, and I found out she was a gamer. We played games together at my place, and online when she was at her place.

She was a captivating little gypsy, and I knew I wanted her in my life, at whatever level she would let me be. She kept me firmly friend zoned for two months before she let me ask her out on a date. She shut me down every time I started, and I just bit my tongue.

We were working out together on a Wednesday afternoon. We had been playing racquetball, and she was better than I was. I was stronger than she was, and if I hit a good serve she had trouble with it, but she was lightning quick. She could change directions faster than anyone I had ever played with, and she ran down every ball. She usually won.

We always did a rock-paper-scissors to see who would serve first. She was mystified at how I could always beat her, but she was totally predictable. She would always start with what I had beaten her with the last time. All I had to do was remember.

"Damn, how you do that, Rob?" she complained. "You got some Jedi shit going on there."

"I know your deepest thoughts, Tianna," I told her.

"Yeah? What I'm thinking now?" she asked as we walked out the door of the gym.

"Let me think," I said. "You're trying to hide it from me." She was walking in front of me, and stopped suddenly. She turned to face me, took a step, closing the gap between us.

She looked up into my eyes, the sunshine turning her huge brown eyes to gold. She moved forward just a bit, pressing her body against mine.

"I'm not hiding it now," she said.

She turned her face up, but her eyes were down, her incredibly long lashes hiding the golden glow. I tilted her chin up with one finger and she looked up. "Tianna, will you go out with me Friday night?" I asked.

"Yes, Rob. See, you can read me."

I laughed. "You sort of gave me a signal, there." She looked like she wanted to be kissed. God knows I wanted to kiss her, so I did. I had never in my life felt anything like I felt at that moment. It was spectacular, dynamic, even though it didn't last long. I was possessed with the feeling that Tianna Edwards was something, someone, for me to protect, cherish, hold, as long as she would let me.

I realized that her arms were around me and the butt of her racket was pressing painfully against my spine. "Umm, well, I hate to break the magic, here, Tianna," I said, "but were you planning to sever my spine with that racket?"

She buried her face in my shoulder and I could feel her shaking with laughter. She did ease off on my thoracic vertebrae. She looked up at me and snorted with laughter. "God, Rob, you a clown, dude. I love it."

I kissed her again. We couldn't stop laughing, and she put her arm around my waist, draped mine over her shoulders and bumped me with her hip as we walked. She tried to pull away to head toward the Posey Tube, but I held onto her.

"I'm taking you home."

"Noo, Rob, you don't needa do that," she protested.

"Yes, I do," I told her. "You never answered my question."

"What question?"

"I'll tell you in the car," I said. We kept the same position until I had to let go of her to open her door.

I got in, and she was buckling up. As soon as she did, her hand came over and rested on my leg, the feeling of that little hand on the bare flesh of my thigh sending a euphoric feeling washing over me. It was like her touch had drugged me and I couldn't move.

"Rob..." those big brown eyes looked a question at me.

"Umm..." I was becoming an idiot. "Sorry. Yeah, you need to tell me where you live, Tianna."

"Right, but I remember the question you asked now."

I waited.

She leaned over and kissed my cheek. "I would love to go out with you Friday, Rob. How should I dress?"

"Tianna, you're going to be the most beautiful woman in the room if you wear burlap," I told her.

She giggled. "Yeah, but my burlap is at the cleaners."

That cracked me up. "Remember that black dress you wore when you came to my place the first time? Will you wear that? Low heels, because I want to dance with you."

"Perfect," she said. She gave me her address and I drove her home. I opened her door and she kissed me again as she slipped away. "Next time I show you my apartment," she said. "It's 34. Pick me up at... six?"

"Count on it," I told her. "And Tianna, thanks for letting me out of the friend zone. I promise to try not to make you regret it."

As it turned out, I didn't get that date. She called me Thursday afternoon. That was unusual, because we always texted or Snapped each other. "Hello, beautiful girl," I answered.

"Rob," she sounded like she was crying. "I'm sorry, but Gram fell going to the mailbox and broke her arm. She broke it pretty bad, and they gonna keep her in the hospital, at least tonight. I'm sorry, Rob, but I can't go out tomorrow with you."

"Oh, my God, Tianna. I'm so sorry. Don't worry about me. I saw how her sidewalk was all uneven and broken. Is there anything I can do for you?"

"No, Imma be okay, but I'm staying with her tonight," she said. "I'll let you know what happens, okay?"

I felt horrible. That sweet little lady. I had a thought. "Tianna, how upset do you think Patricia would be if I fixed her sidewalk and driveway?"

There was silence for a minute, then I heard heavy sobs over the phone. "Tianna? You okay baby girl? I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to upset you."

"No... No, Rob, it isn't that. I'm just... She can't afford to get it fixed... It's so nice of you... I should have known... You are such a great..."

"Tianna, we're doing a big pour tomorrow," I told her. "This will be no cost. If it's okay, I'll have it framed up and poured in the morning. Is it okay?"

There were sniffles and sobs. "Thank you, Rob. Yes. She's needed it fixed for a long time. The city... they won't... Thank you, Rob."

"Go be with her, Tianna," I told her. "Don't worry about anything. What hospital is she in?"

She was at the Alta Bates Summit Medical Center, and Tianna gave me the room number. I told her I'd be in touch, and I got moving.

The first thing I did was get my office manager on the job sending five big flower arrangements to Patricia's room.

I called a crew, pulled them off a job and sent them to frame the sidewalk and driveway, then I called the pour crew and made sure their first stop would be at Patricia's.

Now that I had that taken care of, I called Outback and ordered carryout. I had no idea what Patricia liked, or Tianna, for that matter, so I sort of got one of everything.

When I got my work wrapped up, I stopped by a card store, got two stuffed animals and a balloon arrangement, and it was time to pick up the food. Three people had to help me carry it to the car. I tipped them and drove to the hospital. I went and asked for a cart, and they let me have one. I disguised the food with the bags the animals were in and made my way up the elevator, down the hall past the nurse's station and found the room.

There were several people in the room. There was a tall slender black woman who I instantly identified as Tianna's mother, a white guy with a shaved head and a tough look to him. Nobody to mess with, from what I could see. I guessed it was Tianna's father. Then there was Tianna.

She gave a little cry when she saw me, jumped up off Patricia's bed and threw herself on me, sobbing into my shoulder. I just held her, petted that mop of curls and whispered. I saw Patricia, awake and alert, her eyes shining with mischievousness. She didn't miss a trick.

I led Tianna back to the bed, sat her back down and went back for the cart. I pushed it in and Tianna jumped up again. She tucked herself under my arm and turning to the others, she said, "Mom, Dad, this is Rob. He's my boyfriend."

I was shocked! I was? This was news to me. I wanted to be, very badly. I just stood there like a big dummy. "Rob, my mom is Dianna, and this is my dad, Sam."

I managed to unfreeze my brain. I almost shook their hands before I stopped myself, but I just said hi and told them I was happy to meet them. Dianna was a very graceful woman, and if she was any indication of what Tianna was going to look like, she was going to be smoking hot!

Sam was sizing me up, and I wanted to make a good impression. I went over and kissed Patricia on the cheek and told her how sorry I was. "Patricia, are you hungry?" I asked.

"Starving," she said. "These people brought me something they called 'chicken.' Let me tell you, it was a tough old bird if it was a chicken."