Tears on a Sunday Afternoon - Michael Presley [67]
I looked over at Donna, a woman who could have been my wife if it weren’t for life’s circumstances. “You’re a beautiful woman.”
“But that’s not good enough for you, huh, Donald,” she whispered with a twinge of anger in her tone. “You added more bricks to the wall once I arrived.”
She was right. A beautiful woman could hold the key to many souls and, if kept too long in her grasp, those souls became wandering hollow shells. “Donna, I’ve been down your road too many times to get trapped in your web. Isn’t it enough that our bodies twist and turn in different directions as we give in to the pleasures of the flesh? We can’t dance into eternity together because we’ll both get engulfed.”
“And there, Donald, lies the essence of life. I don’t know if your thoughts of me were blinded by our passion. I have no problem with you wanting to be with someone else, but don’t act like I’m garbage.” Donna reached over the table and as our faces stood inches apart, she added, “The one you turn your back on may be the only one who can save you.”
“Donna, let’s not get all excited over nothing. You want me to fuck you, that can be arranged, but not until after we do the job. This is new to me and I don’t need pussy clouding my mind.”
She slid a white card with a magnetic strip toward me. “Here, Room 515 at the Marriott.”
“What’s that for?”
“We both need to work our stress out.”
Donna was good, but I was no amateur. She wanted to control me the way she had controlled all the men and women in her life. I took the card and twirled it around in my right hand. The waitress came over for the second time and we placed our orders.
After she left, I took the card and gave it back to Donna. “Not today.”
“Is she a blonde, brunette or down-home chocolate-looking sister?”
Donna was on a fishing expedition in the deep blue sea and right now nothing was biting.
“How is the family?” I asked.
Donna continued the piercing of my soul with her eyes. “They’re good. The bills are paid. We make love regularly and we hope to be together for the next twenty years.”
“Twenty years is a long time.”
“Yeah, well, you know, when the beauty fades, the companionship is what we take with us. Is that what you’re looking for Donald; companionship?”
Like every woman who had come before her, Donna wanted to make me a conquest. They wanted to look at me and say out loud or in hushed tones, “This brother is mine.” The same thing she had said about her husband and her boss. Come, puppy, here is your feeding for the day. “Give it up, Donna; not all mountains are meant to be climbed. And if you try, the consequences can be deadly.”
“Here we go, guys. Enjoy.” The waitress placed our food before us. I immediately started to eat. Donna bowed her head in a silent prayer before taking up her fork. Needless to say there was no more talk about the direction I had chosen to take with my life.
“Hi.” Her voice was soft and sensuous. It was like a voice I had never heard before.
My right hand held the phone tightly to my ear. “What’s up?”
“I miss you.” She paused before continuing. “What have you been up to?”
I didn’t know the right answers to give. “Been trying to tie up some loose ends. The nights are long and there’s a craving in my heart, but soon it’ll all be over.”
“Donald, I know you said that you wanted us to wait until all this is over before a decision is made, but I can’t.” I could hear the trembling in her voice. “What I feel for you is a once-in-a-lifetime thing and I want you to know that.”
I switched the phone from my right ear to my left. I wanted to be with her right then but I resisted the temptation. “There are no guarantees.”
There was a hesitation before she said, “I realize that there will never be any guarantees. Life is about uncertainty and change. What looks good today could make you walk on the other side of the street and see tomorrow in disgust. Donald, I want the moment; fuck the season.”
“You cursed,” I said.
“Yeah,