"Hey, baby girl! Guess what I found?" Lisa opened her eyes to find Dirk standing over her with a cup in tow. She smelled freshly brewed coffee. Her favorite morning aroma.
Dirk was dressed in sweats and a t-shirt and looked as though he had been up for some time. He stood, eagerly awaiting her response.
"Mmm...good morning," she purred, turning onto her back. Staring at the cup in his hand, it almost sounded like a trick question. "I'm gonna go with...coffee?"
"Yeah, silly, but I bet you can't guess in a million years what kind." Lisa turned over on her side and used her elbow to prop herself up.
"Chocolate raspberry?" she replied even though she didn't smell the distinct smell it permeated.
"Nope. Not even close. One more guess."
"Okay, let me think a minute..." Lisa closed her eyes. "Hmm...oh, I know! Is it Sumatra?" She opened her eyes, staring at Dirk with great anticipation. She got excited thinking about the exotic Indonesia roast. It was one of her favorites
"Naw, girl. Here, taste." Dirk offered Lisa the cup and stood there beaming. She slowly brought it to her lips. It took seconds to recognize what she regarded as the best coffee in the entire world.
"Dirk! Are you serious? This is Jamaican Blue Mountain, isn't it? Where in the world did you find it? Who brews this?"
"Slow down, baby. Yes, I am serious, and yes, it is Blue Mountain. I picked up a bag from that fancy little emporium over in the new strip mall. They have a coffee bar, so I asked them to brew you a cup before I left. You like?"
"Do I like? Dirk, I love! Thank you sooo much, baby! Wait, did you say you bought a bag? What did you spend, like fifty bucks?"
"Don't worry about how much I spent. Your excitement makes it well worth it." He leaned over and kissed Lisa on the cheek and then on the lips. Lisa sat her cup down and stretched her arms towards Dirk. He fell into her arms, snuggling into her neck.
"You're the man, baby." Lisa kissed Dirk on the cheek and then their lips met again. She lingered, enjoying the minty taste of his tongue until he disengaged.
"Come on, sleepy head. Let's go grab something to eat." Dirk stood and extended his hand. Lisa was surprised he didn't use the opportunity to call in his sexual favor from the night before. She certainly would have been receptive.
Although it was a true rarity, Lisa ended up spending the entire day with Dirk. They stopped for crepes, swung by the dry cleaners, the mall, and then by the barbershop so he could get his silly little weekly facial trim. Lisa sat in the passenger seat, staring at Dirk as he pulled into the parking spot in front of the shop.
"How long do you think you'll be in there?" she asked, reaching under the seat for her iPad. She had a bunch of emails she needed to trudge through and figured it would be a perfect time.
"Not long. Why don't you come in with me? I wasn't tryin' to leave you in the car. Come on."
"Oh...okay." Lisa did think she'd ever step foot into "his" barbershop.
Dirk held the door for Lisa as she walked inside. Feeling uneasy, she was now having second thoughts. Maybe she should have just stayed in the car. What if they thought she was running up behind him? Like the man couldn't even go to the barbershop without his girl on his heels. But then Dirk promptly introduced Lisa to everyone. And all were friendly, except the one female stylist. The name sign affixed to the mirror at her station read Joy. Lisa couldn't tell from the shade she was throwing.
"Hey, Joy," Dirk said, walking towards her station. "This is my girl, Lisa. Lisa, Joy."
"Hi there." Lisa tried to ignore the snarl on Joy's face and wasn't surprised by her bone-dry response.
"Hello."
Lisa didn't want to make any assumption about what her attitude was about but had to wonder if it may have been related to some exchange Ms. Joy had with Dirk. Before she had a chance to ponder it, Dirk walked up behind her and wrapped his arm around her neck in a playful semi-headlock position and backed her up towards his barber's chair. In a natural response, she grabbed his arms trying not to lose her balance. When Dirk reached the chair, he rotated his head around toward Lisa's face and kissed her on the cheek.
"You can sit right here, babe." Dirk pointing to the empty seat in the station next to his barber. "She good to sit here, right, Jay?"
"Yeah, Mike's gone for the day. So, Dirk who's this pretty young lady? And why is this the first time we're gettin' a chance to meet her?"
"Come on, man. You met Lisa before, haven't you? I woulda swore I introduced you to her."
"Whatever, man, you probably thought we would be gawking over her. How you doin' today, sweetheart? Lisa, right?"
"Hi, Jay. Yep, I'm Lisa, and I'm almost sure we haven't met. This is my first time in here,"
Shaking his head, Jay used his foot to elevate Dirk's stool to the height he desired.
"This guy. I don't know how you put up with him."
"She loves me, Big Jay. How else?" Dirk glanced over in Lisa's direction and caught her gazing at him.
"Ain't that right, Lisa?"' he asked, eyes still connected.
"Yes, baby."
"And I love her too. So, yeah...I don't need a bunch of hard legs up in here rubbernecking my girl."
Lisa's laughter probably seemed giddy, but she was tickled how he managed to work in that he loved her in front of Jay. For the first time in a really long time, Lisa was smitten with him and surprised by his outward affection, even if it was subtle. It was overwhelming but in a good way.
Jay was done in ten minutes' flat. Dirk stood and dusted the residual hair off his clothes. He looked over and saw Lisa still seated, face buried in her phone.
"Come on baby." He grabbed Lisa's hands and pulled her towards him. She instinctively wrapped her arms around his waist and pulled him close.
"Alright, I'll see y'all next week." Dirk gave Jay a quick nod and turned around, still holding on to Lisa's arms and headed towards the door.
"Alright, Lisa, don't be a stranger."
"Okay. Nice meeting you, Jay," she said, trying to focus on walking behind Dirk without stepping on his heels.
Lisa was preoccupied with her own thoughts when Dirk reached over to her in the passenger seat and placed his hand on her leg.
"You okay, babe? Did I embarrass you?"
"No...it's not that. I'm fine. I'm not really used to...well, it's just kind of overwhelming, I guess."
"Really? How so?"
Before Lisa had a chance to respond, her cell phone rang. It was only when she saw her nail tech's number did she realize she was fifteen minutes late for her appointment.
"Damn. I totally forgot about this appointment. Hey, Kim..." Lisa answered, visibly wincing. "Of course, I forgot, girl. No, just out running errands with Dirk...probably like an hour. I still need to get back home to get my car..."
"I can take you," Dirk offered, speaking just above a whisper.
"Huh? Oh, hold on a second, Kim," Lisa cupped the phone with her hand. "You can take me right now?"
"Yeah. Just tell me where I'm going." Starting his car, Dirk turned to Lisa and smiled.
"Okay. You know what, Kim, scratch that. I can be there in fifteen minutes. Is that okay? Cool, I'll see you in a few."
"You sure you don't mind, Dirk?" Lisa asked, touched by his offer.
"Naw, it's cool." Dirk put the car in reverse and backed out without another word.
*****
When they reached the salon, Dirk pulled the key from the ignition and unbuckled his seatbelt.
"You want me to come in?" he asked, taking a quick glance over at her.
"Oh...um...sure, baby. It shouldn't take too long."
Dirk grabbed a magazine from the bamboo coffee table and took a seat in the waiting area, amongst several busy little kids moving about. He sat patiently flipping through a magazine during her manicure. Lisa watched him closely, trying to minimize their chit-chatting, so not to drag the process out. They had a tendency to get caught up.
"Girl, that picture you showed me on your phone does not do him justice," Kim whispered, cutting her eyes in Dirk's direction. "He is hot."
"Thanks, Kim." Lisa looked over her shoulder at Dirk and met his eyes. He smiled at her, shooting her a quick wink. Smiling back, Lisa blew him a discreet air kiss.
"And sexy as hell. Y'all need to go ahead and tie that knot."
"From your mouth to God's ears," Lisa whispered, staring down at her hand as Kim worked.
That night they sat in front of the television, Lisa's head lying in his lap. They were half watching back to back episodes of Law and Order, discussing holiday plans.
"You know what I was thinking, babe...we should host a little set over here for Thanksgiving."
"Really? Like, what, a brunch?" Lisa turned around to face Dirk.
"Exactly. We can do something small. Just our main crew. You know what I'm sayin?"
"That sounds like a fabulous idea, Dirk! We never host anything. Our friends are gonna be shocked."
"Right. So, it's settled then. I'll call Court, and you can touch base with the ladies. Cool?"
"Yes, baby. Very cool," Lisa said, pulling Dirk's lips to hers.