Page 10 of Phase Two

CHAPTER 4

CARTER

The cooking instructor peered over my shoulder. “Perfect.”

I was on my second date with Alise, and we were making a pasta dish. We actually made the pasta from scratch. It was too much work to do it often, but I could see myself getting into making pasta and bread.

“Let me find out,” Alise glanced over at me.

“Find out what?” I chuckled.

“That you’re nice in the kitchen. I can do the basics. I make some mean spaghetti, great ribs, pretty good baked macaroni and cheese, but I’m not a bake cake from scratch, make gravy from scratch, girly.” Alise held her arms out and shook them. “See no jiggle. These are not Big Mama’s arms.”

“Yo,” I laughed. “That’s okay. You can do a little something. I can do a little something, and we can for damn sure eat out.”

Alise didn’t respond. I doubted it was because she was concentrating on her pasta.

“What’s good?” I asked.

“I don’t know. So, we’re getting to know one another. I’m perfectly fine with that. Going slow, going with the flow, all that. But is there any intention? You say the right things. You do the right things. And every time you make me blush, it’s replaced with a sense of dread because I’m wondering how bad the secret or the lie will eventually be.”

“I’ve been about action my entire life. I’m not the one to do a lot of talking. I’d rather show you than tell you. I’m also not in the habit of constantly paying for what the last man or men did. It takes time to learn a person. To know if they’re genuine. I’ll give you that. I can have all the grace in the world but pretty soon, you gotta stop waiting for me to fuck this up. I lost a marriage due to my bullshit. Ask my ex-wife if I was anywhere near perfect, and she’ll ask you what kind of dope you’re on. I’m not out here on the same type of time. I’m also not opposed to anything serious. It just has to occur naturally.”

“I can live with that answer,” Alise smirked.

“Yo’ old ass has a grandkid on the way, huh? You excited?” I asked as she hit me on the arm.

“I’m younger than you dummy,” she snickered. “But I am. I hate that my daughter lives in Texas, but there’s no rule that says our kids have to remain close by. Thank God I work for myself because I can see myself hopping on a flight at least once a month after she has the baby. I lowkey wouldn’t be mad if she moved back here. But her life is hers to live.”

“I feel you on that. My son was a knucklehead, and my daughter is spoiled rotten. After the divorce, they didn’t live with me full-time anyway. But I was glad when both those niggas got their own places. Men and women are different like that.”

“There are women that are happy when their kids leave home. That just wasn’t me though. It’s hard to even remember life before my daughter. Crazy right?”

“Not really,” I shrugged.

Shorty was a grown ass woman. I loved her sexiness and her feminitiy. She dropped just enough subtle hints to let me know that she didn’t play. However, she kept that side of herself at bay. When we were together, we laughed a lot, and the words flowed easily. There was no baby daddy, ex-nigga trouble. She didn’t have small kids, and she had a lot going for herself. I’d taken it upon myself to watch a few of her videos on YouTube. The latest one had only been up for four days, and she already had over 200,000 views. That was pretty dope.

Finally, we were done with the food, and we sat down to eat. After we said grace, Alise tasted her food first. “Oh my God this is so good,” she moaned with her eyes closed. I was far from a creep, but my dick bricked immediately.

I tasted mine, and I had to agree. “Okay we did a little something.”

“We really did. This was a really cool date idea.”

“You down to plan the next one?”

I could tell the question caught her off guard. I’d keep taking her out and getting to know her until we decided we wanted something different.

“Um, I could. What do you like to do?”

“You’re supposed to surprise me.”

“Surprise you? That’s a lot of pressure.”

“I have faith in you,” I winked.

It was becoming increasingly harder to refrain from having sex. Being around Alise when she was looking and smelling good wasn’t for the weak. I had been doing a lot during my fast. I was working out a little more, eating healthier, giving myself a social media detox, and living in the present moment. It was actually nice getting to know Alise without sex being brought into the equation.

When we were done, Alise and I walked out to the car. She had finally let me know where she lived. After she settled into the car, I rounded it and got in on the passenger side.