A Wife for Stephen (11 page)

Selecting the first door on her left, she reaches her hand
through the door to feel along the wall for a light switch.
Finding it, she turns on the overhead lighting to reveal an
immaculate bathroom.

The Italian tiles that cover the floor are tan in color with
flecks of deep maroon, mustard yellow and emerald green.
The in bath shower is lined with white tiles, which run
along to line the wall above the sink just below the wall
length mirror.

All the fixtures of the bathroom are chrome with gold
tips. The wallpaper which lines the other walls are textured
with swirls in flecks mimicking the flecks of the floor tiles.

Shutting off the light, she decides to try the next door,
which is also on her left. Finding the light switch, she
illuminates the room in a soft glow. Celeste walks to the
bed to deposit her overnight bag and her purse on the
emerald green bedspread that covers the king size bed. The
same carpeting from the living area covers the bedroom
floor as well, solid tan. For a wardrobe, she finds the same
wood that furnishes the living room. The wall unit houses
two wardrobes on either side of the large television set,
although not quite as large a television as the one in the
living room. On either side of the bed are nightstands in the
familiar walnut wood.

Deciding that she will hang up her clothing later, Celeste
leaves the bedroom she has chosen for herself in search of
Jenny. She finds her through the one door she did not
enter. Jenny’s room is almost identical to Celeste’s except
that her bedspread is wine in color.

“Hey, Jenny,” Celeste
says.
“Hey, Celeste,” Jenny says while turning to face Celeste.
Holding her
hands
up in
a
mock surrender,
Jenny
continues, “Before you start, I’m sorry if I was a little
presumptuous in assuming that you wanted to come along
for the little get together,” Jenny says as she clasps her
hands together underneath her chin. As Jenny twists her
body to left, her jet ebony hair swings away from her body
through the air.
Jenny is a beautiful girl with the kind of killer looks that
could have certainly made her a model to rifle with the best
of them. She has flawless dark skin, shiny jet black hair,
large brown eyes with long curling eyelashes, and perfectly
arched eyebrow. Jenny stands just a few inches shorter that
Celeste and sports a fabulously curvy figure.
“I just want so badly to be with Mario every moment I
can,” she continues. “You might not be sure what’s going
on with yourself and Stephen, but I have already decided I
want Mario as my man.” Holding up one well-manicured
hand to stifle any criticism Celeste had been about to make,
she continues, “No, I haven’t known him all that long, and
truth be told, I don’t know him all that well. For me, that is
what this weekend is about. Either I will go home more
determined than ever that Mario and I should be together
or else he will have shattered my disillusions, and I will
have decided that he is not worth my time and effort.”
“Well, it sounds to me that at least you are not going
about this weekend blindly.”
“No, I’m not.”
For the first time ever, Celeste catches a glimpse of
something that she has never before seen in Jenny’s eyes. A
need for Celeste’s approval. Not dare wanting to shatter
her friends hopes, Celeste replies, “Then I wish you all the
best on your quest.”
Relief washes over Jenny, and she comes to embrace
Celeste. “I have to check my make-up,” Jenny says before
rushing off to her in suite bathroom.
Not
having been
the
type
to
wear
much
make-up
herself, Celeste doesn’t usually have to check her
appearance. Having nothing better to do at this moment,
she decides to apply a little eyeliner and mascara to bring
out her eyes. Not stopping there, she applies a little lipgloss as well. Checking her reflection in her own en suite,
she gives herself a nod of approval before turning off the
light and exiting to go through to the entertainment area.
Just as Celeste enters the entertaining area, there is a
powerful knock at the door. Looking through the peephole,
she sees handsome Stephen standing on the other side of
the door with Mario. She opens the door and breaths a
breathless, “Hello,” as if she has just run a marathon.
‘Manly,’ no other way to describe the smell of him,
Celeste
thinks
while
inhaling
the
incredible
aroma
of
Stephen’s cologne.
Celeste steps aside to allow them entry.
“Hi,” Stephen says upon walking through the door.
“Where’s my girl?” Mario asks with a smile on his face.
“Here I am,” cries Jenny as she runs through the living
space entrance and catapults herself into Mario’s arms.
Mario entwines his arms around her and swings her around
while kissing her passionately.
Feeling a
tad bit
shocked at
their
open
display of
affection, Celeste lowers her head and heads to her room to
retrieve her purse.
Returning, she asks, “So where are we going?”
“I was thinking we could stroll the strip. It won’t be too
crowded in the daytime. It’ll give us a chance to talk and
get to know each other better. I don’t want to go too far
because I only have a couple of hours before I need to head
on over and get ready for the show tonight,” Stephen
volunteers.
“That sounds good,” says Celeste, more casually than
she feels. Her insides are twisting with nervousness, all the
while wanting to know more about Stephen yet keep him at
a distance. A stroll down the strip sounds like just the
thing, nothing too intimate.
As they head out of the hotel with Stephen’s hand at her
elbow,
they can hear
the sounds of automobile horns
honking and a continuous drone of conversation dispersed
with laughter. The sounds of Vegas.
Upon turning to the left of the hotel, the first thing they
come upon is an ice cream shop. Celeste looks at Stephen
and inquires, “Would you mind if we stopped here? I
would love a root beer float. It’s been ages since I’ve had
one,” she stops, noticing that her nervousness is causing
her to ramble.
“I’ll have one too,” Stephen responds. He wants to
assure Celeste that she need not feel so nervous around
him, but thinking better of pointing out that he has noticed
her nervousness, he decides to give her time to realize that
she is safe with him.
Entering the shop, they come to stand behind a couple
with two children. The children, one boy and a girl, the girl
looking to be about seven and the boy about five, are just
completing their requests when another employee comes
from the back room. “I’ll be right with you,” he says, going
over to the sink and washing his hands before proceeding
to the counter and asking Celeste and Stephen, “How are
you today? What can I get for you?”
Celeste says, “I would like a root beer float, please. A
large.”
“I’ll have the same,” says Stephen, retrieving his wallet
from his back pocket.
They
both
watch
in
companionable
silence
as
the
employee completes their order. Paying the ice cream clerk,
Stephen places his wallet back into its resting-place before
picking up both styrofoam cups. After handing one to
Celeste, he grabs two straws and a few napkins. Seeing that
there are already a spoon in each cup, he bypasses those
and proceeds to follow Celeste through the exit door.
With a couple of root beer floats between the two of
them, the conversation flows freely. Celeste tells Stephen
of her desire for promotion at Vine’s and Robert’s and
Stephen talks of his intention to start his own record label.
Their conversation touches briefly on how they came to
choose their careers and how their parents felt about it,
Stephen is saying, “Needless to say, growing up in a
Christian family, my decision to do secular music was not
well received. But mom having spoken her oppositions, did
not nag me about it. She allowed me to make my own
mistakes and rejoiced with me when I came to my senses.”
“My mom never took much notice of my career choice.
Her only concern was that I could stand on my own two
feet and didn’t have to depend on a man,” offers Celeste.
Curious about this revelation, Stephen asks, “Well, I
know that today’s modern women like their independence,
but I get the feeling from your last statement that it is much
more than that.”
Celeste doesn’t want to talk about what happened to her
family, so she decides to make it short and sweet. “My
parents were divorced when I was young because my father
cheated on my mom. After that, my mom became bitter and
withdrawn. The hugs she use to give so freely weren’t
given
quite
so
freely
any
more.
And as
the
divorce
proceedings
got
under
way,
they
became
even
more
sporadic.
Sometimes,
more
often
than
not,
they
felt
obligatory and forced.”
Stephen doesn’t know what to say, considering the fact
that as of yet, no one in his family had ever gone through a
divorce. Not that he knew of, anyway. Not wanting to rush
Celeste but allow her to open up to him at her own pace,
he decides it best to wait until she continues on her own.
Wanting to turn the conversation from herself, Celeste
asks, “How long have your parents been married?”
“Going on thirty-five years.”
“That’s great,” Celeste mumbles feeling slightly bitter
and then ashamed of that bitterness. Bitterness due to her
own misfortune of having been raised in a broken home.
Throwing their containers and napkins into the garbage,
Celeste asks, “So, how are preparations going for your
record label?”
Stephen is glad that Celeste is interested in his future.
He is especially glad that the sadness behind her eyes that
he had seen when she spoke of her parents’ divorce and the
state it had left her mother in had been wiped away with the
change of subject. Or had she only masked it? Although the
look is no longer there, he feels certain that there are still
some remaining scars. No matter how hard Celeste tries to
hide them, Stephen can sense them.
Stephen fills Celeste in on all his current ideas for the
record label.
And not
surprisingly,
she
offers
some
suggestions that he had yet to think of that would serve the
company quite well.
“Man, those are fantastic ideas. If you keep giving me
such good ideas, I’m going to have to start paying you,” he
says.
Waving him off, she say, “Don’t worry about it. It’s my
pleasure. Should you need any other ideas, just give me a
jingle. I’d be happy to help you in any way I can.
Stopping to turn and face her, Stephen says, “I’ll be sure
to keep that in mind.”
After a long moment of gazing into Celeste’s eyes,
Stephen clears his suddenly parched throat and looks down
at his watch. “I think we better head back. I was enjoying
our talk so much I lost all track of time.”
Stephen takes Celeste’s hand into his own and begins to
lead
her
back to
the
hotel
before
stopping abruptly.
Drawing his brows together he asks Celeste, “Where’s the
rest of our party?”
“Oh,” is all Celeste can say, completely stunned that she
had forgotten all about her friend Jenny. Looking around
her,
she notices them sitting on a small bench in the
direction of the hotel a few shops away. “There they are,”
she says pointing with her right hand since Stephen is still
holding her left.
They begin their stride in the direction of the hotel and
come upon the unsuspecting couple. There, they stand in
silence
waiting to
be
noticed.
After
about
a
minute,
realizing that this tactic might take longer than they have
time for, Celeste clears her throat.
Jenny snaps her head around to look at Celeste. Her
gaze quickly runs the length of Celeste’s left arm to find
that Celeste and Stephen are hand in hand. Mario makes
the same discovery almost simultaneously with Jenny.
Rising from the bench and pulling Jenny to stand Mario
says, “I guess we better be heading back.”
By the time they make it back to the hotel, Celeste is
happy that she took the trip. Truly and utterly happy. She
has also grown accustomed to the feel of Stephen’s warm
hand in
her
own. Yet she doesn’t want to feel this
comfortable. Celeste is at odds with herself. Although she
has just spent a wonderful time with Stephen, she can’t
shake
the feeling that
he has intentions that
go
miles
beyond her own.
They take the lift to their floor where Stephen assists her
in opening her suite door. Stephen searches Celeste’s face
for any hint of the nervousness that he saw earlier. Finding
none he says while placing his hands on her shoulders, “I
had a wonderful time with you this afternoon. I hope you
did as well?”
“I did,” Celeste answers honestly.
“We’ve taken care of all of your arrangements for the
concert. Your ride will arrive at six
PM
to escort you to the
concert. I will see you then?” he questions with the lift of
one brow.
“Yes,” is all she can manage around the rather large
lump suddenly in her throat.
He places a light kiss on her forehead before turning to
depart.

Before Celeste can retreat to her quarters, Jenny says,
“It would seem that you and Stephen are getting along
quite well.”

“Yeah. We are.”
“Didn’t I tell you that you might find him to be a nice
guy if you would just give yourself a chance to get to know
him?”
“Yeah, you did.” Before Jenny could continue, Celeste
questions, “What happened to you and Mario?”
“Since it seemed that you and Stephen didn’t need us
around as a buffer any longer, we decided to give you guys
some space. And you did quite well all on your own, the
two of you.”
Celeste feels color creeping from the base of her throat
to the roots of her hair. Not wanting to delve too deeply
into the comfort she began taking from being in Stephen’s
presence, nor let Jenny notice her blushing, Celeste turns to
head to her room.
Oh, what a difference a day make
s, Celeste thinks to
herself. Just a couple of days ago she thought Stephen was
nothing but a womanizer looking for his next victim. Today
she had come to see him as a man with hopes and dreams
of touching people’s lives and influencing them for the
better. Her new glimpse of him is detrimental to all she
knew, or all she assumed she knew.
Standing on the threshold of her suite she looks at her
watch. Celeste mentally comes to a stop sign as she realizes
she
has
completely
forgotten
that
she
needs
to
buy
something to wear for the concert tonight. She rounds to
face Jenny. “I didn’t bring anything to wear tonight. I had
anticipated time to hit the mall and buy something new.
What am I going to do? It’s after three.”
“Well then I guess we better hit the mall. I’ll have the
front desk call a taxi,” Jenny supplies, heading in the
direction of the phone sitting on the desk. “The mall isn’t
far at all. Besides, I could do with new swag myself.”
Celeste grabs her purse from her bed and meets Jenny to
exit the hotel suite.