More Than He Can Handle (22 page)

“Lillian, stop.”

“Stop what?” Lillian said. “I'm just trying to look out for you, I mean, you're my best friend and I love you too much to allow . . .”

“All right, Lillian. Stop. Seriously. I love Cleveland and you're about two seconds away from getting cursed out. No one stopped you from being with the man you love and I'll be damned if I allow you to try and do that to me.” Freddie rose to her feet. “You know, you have this nasty habit of trying to make decisions for other people.”

“What?”

“Oh, don't ‘what' me. If people don't do things your way, you don't think they're living their lives right.”

“You think I'm that judgmental?” Lillian asked, her voice filled with shock.

“I love you like a sister, but yes, you are judgmental,” Freddie said in a calmer voice.

“I'm only looking out for you. I know what kind of man Cleveland Alexander is, and he's going to hurt you.”

Freddie closed her eyes and shook her head. “You don't know what kind of man Cleveland is and that's what is so maddening about your irrational dislike of him. But you know, it doesn't matter how you feel about him because I love him.”

“And you loved Marcus, too. How did that work out for you?” Lillian's words stung like a slap to the face.

“Go to hell, Lillian,” Freddie snapped. “Just because you snagged Louis, that doesn't make you some love expert. You know what, I'm going to leave before I say something I'll regret later.”

“Winfred,” Lillian called out as Freddie stormed out the front door. “I'm sorry.”

Freddie didn't look back because she wasn't interested in Lillian's apology. In the back of her mind, she always felt as if Lillian and her mother had a superiority complex when it came to her family. She knew that was why their mothers stopped being so close all of those years ago. Though she didn't want the same thing to happen with Lillian and her, she wasn't going to let her friend tell her who she was supposed to love. When her cell phone rang, Freddie had no doubt who it was.

“What?” she snapped.

“Freddie, I'm sorry,” Lillian said.

“You should be,” she said, not giving her friend a break.

“But you have to understand that I'm just trying to look out for you.”

“It certainly feels like a judgment to me. I don't need that from you. I'm starting my life over from scratch, again. If you're not going to be in my corner, then just leave me alone.”

“Fine, but when he breaks your heart, who are you going to turn to?”

Freddie clicked her phone off and tossed it on the seat beside her. She wished that she knew how to get to the fire station so that Cleveland could wrap his arms around her and tell her that everything would be all right. If he said it, she would believe it.

Cleveland and Louis rolled the fire hoses in after successfully knocking down the apartment fire without any injuries. Their minds were on Roland as they hopped into the truck and headed back to the station. Why hadn't the last fire been so simple? Cleveland stared out of the window and heard his mother's voice telling Darren and him that her life would be a lot easier if she didn't have to worry about them dying in a fire every day.

Still, he couldn't leave the fire department. It was in his blood and if his accident didn't cause him to want to give up his job, why was he questioning it now? Still, knowing that his brother wasn't going to have his back and he was going to be the man that everyone depended on at the fire station gave him a queasy feeling. He couldn't have these kinds of doubts and expect to do his job well.

“You're quiet over there,” Louis said.

“Just thinking about what Darren said earlier and about Roland.”

Louis nodded. “And Freddie?”

Cleveland smiled and looked away from his friend. “I'm always thinking about her lately.”

“That voodoo that she do, done got you,” Louis sang off key. “What are Freddie's plans? Is she moving here or will she be going back to New Orleans?”

“It looks as if she's going to be staying here, but you know how she is, she wants to do everything her way. Doesn't want to be helped or anything.”

“That's the Freddie I know. Maybe Lillian can learn a little bit of her independence. I don't know if I can deal with this happy homemaker routine of hers much longer.”

Cleveland slapped him on the shoulder. “You knew she wasn't going to work when you married Ms. High Maintenance.”

“You don't like my wife, do you?”

“It's the other way around. She doesn't like me. I guess I shouldn't have given her such a hard time when you two were dating. You know women don't forget things like that.”

Louis nodded. “Guess you two are going to have to get along now because you're in love with her best friend.”

“Well, tell her that she needs to let go of the past. We can have a dinner party or something and kiss and make up.”

Louis laughed. “I don't know if I want you kissing my wife.”

“Trust me, Freddie is the only woman I really want to kiss,” he quipped.

When they arrived at the fire station, Cleveland called Freddie at his house to see if she was all right.

“Hello?” she said when she answered the phone.

“How are you, beautiful?”

“Fine,” she said flatly.

“You don't sound fine,” he said. “Did something happen?”

“Lillian and I had a disagreement today,” she said. “But it's nothing. How's your day been?”

“Just one fire, so far. Louis and I are going to see Roland later, but I was wondering if you wanted to meet for a latte.”

“Um, huh,” she said, her voice sounded distracted.

“Are you sure that you're all right?” Cleveland asked.

“I guess. Cleveland, I'm sorry, you asked me if I wanted to go to get something to eat, right.”

“Yeah, but if you need to talk, then I'll listen. What happened with Lillian?”

She sighed into the phone and told him about the argument that she and her friend had.

“She'll get over it,” Cleveland said.

“I hope so,” Freddie said. “I don't understand why she thinks that she can live my life better than I can.”

“Babe, I don't know,” he said. “But you can't worry about what Lillian thinks. She's going to have her opinions and you don't have to deal with that.”

“She should be happy for me, you know. I'm starting my life over and she's been trying to get me here since Hurricane Katrina happened. Now that I'm here, all she can do is complain about me and you.”

“That's funny, because Louis and I were just talking about going out to dinner.”

“It doesn't seem like that's going to happen any time soon,” Freddie said. “I have to find a job.”

“Why don't I call Jill and see if she can . . .”

“No,” she said. “I don't want you calling in favors for me, I need to make my own way.”

“I'm going to start calling you Miss Difficult.”

“Cleveland, let's not have the same argument. I've never depended on anyone before and I'm not going to start now. Are we eating or what?”

“Sure. Do you want me to pick you up?”

“How long will it take you to get home? I'll cook something special for you.”

“If you keep spoiling me like this, then we're going to have to make this arrangement last a little longer.”

“Don't say that. You make me think you want to get married or something,” she joked.

“Would that be such a bad thing?” Cleveland asked.

“Don't talk like that unless you mean it.”

“Who said I didn't?”

“Bye, Cleveland,” she said then hung up the phone.

Once he closed his cell phone and grabbed his radio, he turned to Louis and told him that he was going to dine with Freddie. “I'll be back in a few hours,” he said with a wide grin on his face.

“That voodoo that she do,” Louis sang at Cleveland's retreating figure.

 

 

Freddie was putting the finishing touches on blackened chicken breasts, brown rice and cabbage when Cleveland walked through the door.

“Smells really good in here,” he called out.

“I'm in the kitchen,” she said. “The food is almost ready.”

He walked into the kitchen and encircled Freddie's waist then kissed her on the neck. She wanted to melt against him and forget about the reason why he'd come home in the first place. He kissed her again and pulled her closer to him.

“I've been thinking about this all day,” he said, then flicked his tongue across her neck. “Will the food be as tasty?”

Freddie pushed away from him. “Not if you distract me and I burn my rice.”

Cleveland took a seat on one of the bar stools and watched her cook. “I guess I can taste the cook later, huh?”

“That's mighty presumptuous of you,” she said then winked at him. “Have you gone to see your friend again?”

“Nope. There have been a lot of changes going on at the station. Darren's going to take a job in the fire marshal's office and I'm going to become the new battalion chief.”

“Really?” Freddie said. “That's a good thing, isn't it?”

Cleveland shrugged as Freddie began to spoon rice and cabbage on a plate for him. “When I think about why Darren's leaving, it makes me wonder if he has a point.”

“Why is he leaving?” she asked as she placed a chicken breast on his plate.

“He doesn't want to end up like our father. He has a family to think about and every call we go out on, we're putting our lives on the line,” Cleveland said.

“What about you?”

“What do you mean?”

“Do you want to give it up too?” She turned her back to him and tried not to think about what losing him would do to her. Though she was trying to remain independent, it was too late. She was getting used to the security Cleveland provided. Used to his touch, his kiss and the beat of his heart when she lay against him at night.

“In the past I've wavered on staying or going into the fire marshal's office, but with this promotion coming up, how can I leave?”

She fixed her plate and joined him at the bar. “I guess you can't,” she said.

Cleveland eyed her as she cut into her chicken. “Do you think you're going to be able to deal?”

“Deal?”

“With me being in the fire service. Never knowing what each day is going to bring.”

Freddie shrugged her shoulders. “That's true with anything. It's not like I grew up in a crystal tower. But I can't say that I'm not going to be worried every time you walk out the door.”

Cleveland stroked her cheek. “You're going to make a brother think you got love for him.”

She smiled but couldn't quite bring herself to say the words. “Well, it's true,” she said.

“What's true? That you love me or you're going to be worried?”

“Why don't you eat before your food gets cold?” she said, desperately wanting to change the subject.

Cleveland smiled as he spooned some rice into his mouth.

Just tell him,
she thought as she watched his lips close around the fork.
Tell that man how you feel.

“How's the food?” she asked.

“Good,” he said. “But I believe that the cook tastes a lot better.”

Freddie tossed a balled up napkin at him. “You're so wicked,” she said, then dropped her fork against her plate. “Want to find out?”

He dropped his fork, turned to Freddie and scooped her up off the stool. Hungrily, he captured her lips, kissing her until she was breathless. Freddie wrapped her arms around his neck and plunged her tongue into his mouth. A soft moan escaped her throat and heat spread throughout her body as Cleveland's hands stroked her back.

He pulled back and smiled at her. “Delicious. But we'd better stop.”

“Why?”

“I'm on call and the last thing I want to do is start something that we can't stop,” he said then quickly pecked her on the lips.

Freddie groaned. “That's messed up.”

“Want to come back to the station with me? There is this room where we can have all the privacy in the world, no matter who's in the station,” Cleveland said.

“You talk as if you've used this place before,” she teased.

“I plead the fifth,” he replied with a wide smile. “Come on, let me show you my world and more.”

She smiled at him and kissed him on the cheek.

“Let's do it,” she said as she hopped out of his arms.

Freddie followed Cleveland in the truck to the fire station and she didn't know what she was more excited about, seeing where Cleveland worked or being naughty with him in the fire station.

They dashed down I-285 at a breakneck speed. As they got closer to downtown Atlanta, traffic was pretty much at a stand still. Freddie had almost forgotten that every hour in Atlanta was some sort of rush hour.

The moment they arrived at the station, Cleveland hopped out of his car, with his cell phone in his hand. He rushed inside, not saying anything to Freddie, who stood near his truck with a puzzled look on her face. What had the phone call been about, she wondered. Seconds later he was back outside. “That was about Roland,” he told her as he ushered her inside. “He's taken a turn for the worse. We're going to the hospital.”

“Do you want me to drive you?”

Cleveland nodded. Freddie noticed that he was trembling and his eyes were wet with unshed tears. She stroked his cheek gently, unsure as to what she should say to him. Somehow it didn't seem proper to say, “everything will be all right,” when it looked otherwise.

Darren and Louis bolted out of the station house and hopped into the battalion chief car then sped out of the lot. Freddie struggled to keep up with Darren as he weaved in and out of traffic. Cleveland gripped his seat belt as Freddie drove, but he didn't comment on her driving. She glanced at him and saw that he was whispering a prayer.

Once they arrived at the hospital, there were about twelve other firefighters in the lobby with tear-stained cheeks.

“No,” Cleveland whispered.

A man with a white shirt walked over to him and Darren. “I'm sorry,” he said.

“Chief,” Darren said, his voice choked up with emotion.

“He passed away about fifteen minutes ago,” the fire chief said.

Tears flowed freely from Darren, Louis, and Cleveland. Freddie reached up and caressed Cleveland's arm, but he didn't seem to feel her touch.

Louis shook his head. “This is unbelievable. He's gone, but Roland . . .”

The three men fell silent as the other firefighters offered their condolences. Freddie backed away from the group and watched the moments between the men. Closing her eyes, she thought about being on the other side of those handshakes. She didn't know how she would be able to handle this. But on the other hand, she never knew how connected the firefighters were. It really was a brotherhood and a family. Something that she'd never had.

“Louis!” Lillian cried out as she burst into the waiting room. She flung herself into her husband's arms. “Baby, are you all right? I couldn't believe it when you called from the car.”

“No, I can't believe Roland's gone,” he said in a hoarse voice.

She held his face in her hands. “I know.” Lillian turned to Cleveland and Darren. “Are you guys all right?”

They stared at her with blank expressions. Freddie walked over to Cleveland and tapped him on the shoulder. “I'm going to get you a cup of coffee.”

Lillian nodded. “That's a good idea. I'll come with you.”

“That's all right,” Freddie snapped.

Lillian grabbed Freddie's arm and whispered in her ear, “Even if you're pissed with me, this isn't the time for us to fight.”

“I'm not fighting with you,” Freddie said. “But I'm not going to pretend that we're best friends either.”

“This right here isn't about us.”

“So, why are you trying to make it that way?” Freddie asked. “I'm here for my man because he just lost a friend.”

“Not just a friend, but a brother and my husband is hurting too,” Lillian said.