I said, “Well, it depends.”
“Depends on what?” Yardley asked.
I looked up and then back down at him, deciding to give him an out instead of being totally embarrassed about losing to a female. I answered by saying, “Depends on whether or not I get to the top of this wall first.”
Yardley quickly jumped on the opportunity to give up, let go of the mounts, and slid down the rope to the cushioned mat. “Oops, I must’ve slipped.”
We stayed at the place for another hour or so, opting to get something to drink instead of continuing our male-female competition. Yardley was much fun to be around—playful and lighthearted. We discussed our childhoods—briefly. I wasn’t trying to scare him away by revealing TMI—too much information—about my mother. Yardley had grown up locally in Silver Spring, Maryland, and his parents still resided there.
I was hoping that I’d get to meet them one day, but only time would determine that. He did tell me that he rarely took women over to his parents’ house because they’d always expect him to marry and settle down. He said that he hadn’t found the one yet. Then, he backtracked and started reminiscing about some chick named Roxie. I didn’t like him talking about her because she had a name. It was cool for men to discuss their past but when they started talking about particular women and addressing them by name, it usually meant that there was still some baggage loaded on their hearts. This Roxie chick sounded like she had major issues. He’d caught her screwing one of his best friends on his balcony during the recent Super Bowl. That meant that he was merely days out of a relationship, which worried me even more. Men on the rebound can be high-risk and I wasn’t trying to have my heart broken again anytime soon.
I asked him, “Are you sure that you’re over this Roxie lady?”
Yardley nodded. “Oh, I’m positive about that. I’ll admit that Roxie and I go way back, to high school. I wanted to date her then but I did something to mess things up before they even got off the ground. Now, years later, I guess it all came back to me. Karma is something else.”
I laughed uneasily. “Yes, it is.”
Yardley asked about my past relationships and I didn’t elaborate. I told him that there are no accidents, I had no regrets, and everything happens in its own time. True love would find me when it was supposed to, and not a second before.
He wanted to know who I’d been recently dating. I told him that I wouldn’t classify any of them as real dates. I described the entire Conquesto fiasco—without mentioning his name—and briefly went into the Basil the Virgin story; also without mentioning his name. I left out the part about my date tonguing down another date at his parents’ party, though. Yardley didn’t need to be privy to all that and I didn’t want him to think that I could turn straight men gay. I knew a sister like that once. My mother’s best friend, Phyllis, would turn men off so much with her shenanigans that I could name at least five men that went from pussy lovers to booty bandits. I had no intention of remotely making that my claim to fame.
Since we’d driven separately, we decided to call it a night. Yardley walked me to my car and the nervousness hung in the air. He wanted to kiss me; that much I was sure of. However, I debated about whether he’d find me easy if I allowed it to happen or, worse yet, made the first move.
“Well, Rayne,” Yardley said, gazing deeply in my eyes after I had my door unlocked and was standing in the doorway of the driver’s side.
“Well, Yardley,” I said back to him after he hesitated.
We smiled at each other.
He took my hand and kissed my palm. “I had a ball this evening. I’m so glad that we finally met—officially.”
“Me, too, Yardley.”
“You have no idea how long I’ve wanted to say something to you. Every single time I came into the bank, I wanted to approach you but never had the nerve. I bet that sounds ridiculous, doesn’t it?”
&nbs
p; I shook my head. “Not at all. Ironically, I’ve always wanted to say something to you also. I had no nerve at all and I’m glad you finally made the effort. Otherwise, I’d still be wondering about your situation and what could’ve been.”
“Like you said earlier, everything happens when it is supposed to.”
I giggled. “Exactly. Besides, you weren’t technically available a few days ago, so that wouldn’t have been cool.”
“Want to hear something funny?” he asked.
“What?”
“The day that Roxie came back into my life, I was planning on coming into the bank to ask you out. Then she showed up out of the blue and basically sidetracked me for a while. I’m not the type of man to divide my time between women. Never have been and never will be. I only need one woman and I need that one woman to only need me.”
I couldn’t help but blush. “Wow, that was deep!”
Yardley laughed. “Yeah, I can be pretty profound late at night.”
I glanced at my watch. “It’s not that late.”
“Is that a hint?”
“No, it’s not,” I replied. “I don’t want you to think that I’m sweating you by trying to monopolize your time.”