Broken: The sequel to THE PREACHER'S SON Page 7

  “Hey, Matt,” his brother said as he got out of the car.

  “I hope you’re hungry because, man, I am!” He put a bag under his arm and closed the trunk.

  “My stomach is talking back,” Matt said with a grin. “I hope that wife of yours and your sister-in-law can cook as well as you said.”

  “Oh, they can cook, all right,” Eric said, grinning back. “I think you will be pleasantly surprised. Look, I’m glad I caught you out here. I hope that you will go easy on Max. I know you two tend to butt heads. I am sure it’s just that she’s a little nervous.”

  Matt looked at him in surprise. “What has she got to be nervous about? I’m not the big bad wolf!”

  “Look, Matt,” Eric said, leaning against the car “I know you look at her and see a grown woman, and she is on the outside, but on the inside she’s still thirteen, if you get my drift. Don’t treat her like those other jump-offs you deal with.”

  “Matt laughed. “She’s hardly thirteen. I don’t think you and your wife give her enough credit. You two are babying her too much.”

  Eric frowned at his brother’s attitude. “Matt, I’m dead serious!”

  Matt paused. “What are you trying to tell me, Eric? I know that Max has been molested. But I’m not the one, and I plan to be as nice as I can. What else is there for me to know?”

  “Look, when it comes to men, she’s still a child. Just don’t treat her like one of your many women is all I’m saying. Don’t flirt with her; don’t stare at her giving her an eye-fucking. That’s all I’m asking.”

  Matthew looked puzzled. “Damn, man, you talk like she’s some sort of nun in a convent or a virgin, and I know she’s neither.”

  Eric brought his dead-serious face close to his brothers’. “You got it! That’s exactly what I’m saying.”

  Matthew stared at him a moment and then chuckled, shaking his head. “All right, man. Whatever! I’ll be a good little boy around Princess Maxine.”

  Eric did not respond but led him into the house.

  Matthew was pleasantly surprised as he walked in. The aroma from the food was making his mouth water. He could smell ham and greens and something else.

  “Hi, Matt!” Nadine said, coming out of the kitchen with Max on her heels. “You’re right on time. Dinner will be ready in a couple of minutes.”

  Matthew noticed that Max had changed into a pair of jeans and a multicolored blouse. She was holding some plates as she returned to the table and began to set it.

  “Hi, Matt,” she said, glancing at him and returning to her task.

  “Hi, Max” he replied, giving her his best smile.

  “Have a seat,” Eric said, motioning toward the table.

  Matthew pulled out a chair and sat down.

  “Something smells wonderful,” he said with a smile at Nadine. “Where are the girls?”

  “I don’t know how long this quiet will last; nap time will be over soon,” Eric said.

  “Well, we will deal with that when the time comes.” Max pulled out her chair and sat down.

  They held hands, and Eric said the blessing. Matthew was surprised. His brother had never been a religious person. It seemed to him that Miss Nadine was domesticating his brother. He smirked to himself.

  “Man, first church and now praying. What’s next, preaching?” he teased, looking at his brother.

  “Well, when you end up with a wife and two babies, you pray a lot.” Eric laughed. “It’s either pray or go crazy.”

  “I beg your pardon?” Nadine said in mock anger.

  Matthew watched the banter between his brother and his wife. The two of them were obviously in love, and he saw how Eric looked at Nadine when he thought no one else was looking. For a moment Matthew was filled with envy.

  He glanced over at Max. She was being mighty quiet. “Did you enjoy the service today, Max?”

  “Yes, it was nice,” Max said. She had a hard time meeting his eyes, and Matthew thought about what Eric had said earlier.

  He reached for the pepper at the same time she did, and their hands touched. He glanced up at her and found her looking at him. “After you,” he said. Damn, he could feel the attraction between the two of them. Even now with flour on her blouse, he found her sexy and attractive.

  She smiled at him with a “Thanks.” She sifted the pepper from the shaker and handed it to him.

  “So, Matt, how did your date go the other night?” Eric asked. Nadine gave him a stern look that he ignored.

  Matt cleared his throat. “Oh, it went all right, I guess.” Why was Eric asking him about his date here? He glanced at his grinning brother and decided that he would deal with him later.

  He returned his attention to Max and asked, “What about you? You have a boyfriend?”

  “I don’t. I haven’t dated,” she responded, looking down at her plate as though embarrassed.

  “Since when?” he asked.

  “Since never.”

  “Never?” he gasped. “You’ve never dated?”

  Max started viciously cutting her ham with the knife, and Matt realized that he had touched a nerve. What was he going to say now? She looked as if she was about to explode. He glanced at Eric and Nadine, who were watching them. He hadn’t meant to upset her. He had no idea that she’d never been on a date! What was she, twenty-five or twenty-six? Was she avoiding men because of what had happened to her? He looked down at his plate, feeling awkward and not knowing what to say.

  “Well, there’s a first time for everything,” Eric said. “So, Matt, why don’t you help Max out and take her out on a date?”

  Max began to cough and quickly picked up her glass of lemonade. She gave Eric an evil look.

  “I don’t think Matthew wants to take me out, Eric. You shouldn’t put him on the spot like that.”

  “Oh, it doesn’t have to be a real date,” Eric said, ignoring her glare. “He could just take you out on a pretend date so that you can practice when you meet someone you really want to spend time with. I mean, you two don’t even like each other, so it should be easy.”

  “I don’t think Max would want to go on a pretend date, Eric, especially with me!” Matthew snapped.

  “What are you two afraid of?” Nadine chimed in. “It’s perfectly logical! After all, Matthew, you’ve made it clear that you don’t like black women, so under normal circumstances, you’d never ask Max out. Now Max doesn’t date, and I doubt if she’d chose someone white if she did, so why not? Max, you could feel comfortable going out with a man that doesn’t expect anything. It would just be a casual, friendly outing.”

  “I am sure we can make that type of decision for ourselves.” Max stood up from the table. “We don’t need you two making plans and dates for us. Is this what this dinner was all about? Getting the two of us together? If I had known that, I would never have agreed to it! You two need to back off!”

  Nadine held up her hand in mock surrender. “Now, hold on! That was not my intention, and I am sure it wasn’t Eric’s. Matt asked the question, after all.”

  “Yeah,” Eric chimed in. “I didn’t plan this. It’s just that after you said that you’d never dated before, I figured, why not let Matt take you out? He owes you for saving his butt. It could be strictly business with no feelings attached, an experiment, even. You could see what a date is like without actually being on a date. I was only trying to help.”

  Max sat back down and looked at Matthew. “What do you think about this? You could settle any feelings of debt toward me if you do it. Since it’s not a real date and you don’t see me like that, and I’m not attracted to you either.”

  “Would you like to go out on a pretend date?” he asked, still bothered by her comment that she wasn’t attracted to him.

  Max looked away. “I guess it would be all right, since it’s not a real one.”

  Matthew looked at his plate. He promised he’d help her out. She had saved his financial butt. This was just payback, nothing more. He wasn’t attracted to her. Then w
hy did her comment bother him so much? He pushed the thought from his head.

  “Sure, let’s go out next Saturday night,” Matthew said. “We’ll have dinner and go to a movie. You pick the movie; I’ll pick the dinner.”

  “Since it’s pretend, I will pay half or no deal,” Max replied.

  “Sure, no problem.” Matthew shrugged.

  He looked quickly down to his plate of food. “These rolls are delicious!”

  “Max made them from scratch,” Eric said, still grinning at his brother as he ate his third roll. He watched as Matthew stopped chewing and looked at Max.

  “They are good.”

  “Thank you” she said, smiling shyly.

  Matthew concentrated on his plate once again. This was just payback for what Max had done for him. This was not under any circumstances a “real” date. He was just helping her out. Damn! Then why was his heart beating so fast thinking about it?

  He glanced at Max, who had also returned to eating. At least she could cook.

  Matthew figured that this “pretend date” couldn’t be any worse than what he had already dealt with this past week. He reached for his fourth roll and decided taking Maxine James on a pretend date would be a breeze.

  “What was that all about?” Matthew asked Eric as he walked him to the car once the dinner was over and he’d said his goodbyes.

  “What do you mean?”

  Matthew looked at him, his eyes shooting daggers. “Don’t play innocent with me. I told you that I didn’t want any matchmaking going on, and you and Nadine have done just that.”

  “I did no such thing. You asked her if she had a boyfriend. It was just a natural progression of the conversation. If you hadn’t brought it up, I would never have made the suggestion. It only came to me after you said what you said. But you know, if you’re that upset about it, I’ll talk to Max and tell her you changed your mind and to just forget it.”

  “I don’t need you to speak for me,” Matt snapped.

  “Fine, then what are you going to do?”

  “I’m a man of my word. I’ll take her on this pretend date next Saturday. I can’t believe that she’s never dated. I know she must have her share of admirers.”

  Eric smiled “Why would you say that? After all, she’s twenty-six and never been on a date. Maybe no one’s asked her out before.”

  “I find that hard to believe. She’s much too pretty to never have been asked out,” Matthew pointed out.

  “So, you think she’s pretty?” Eric asked slyly with a grin.

  Matt scowled at him. “Look, yeah, she’s pretty, but I already told you—”

  “I know, you don’t date black women.”

  “Right!”

  “Then this pretend date shouldn’t be too hard. I just want you to be a perfect gentleman. No funny stuff.”

  Matthew stared into space a moment and exhaled. “I don’t suppose she’s ever been kissed either then.”

  Eric laughed “I doubt it. I told you, she’s stuck at thirteen. From what I understand from Nadine at that age she was so into sports that she really didn’t even like boys and wasn’t going to the eighth-grade dance.” He frowned at his brother. “Just tread carefully. That’s all I ask.”

  “It’ll be fine. I’m not trying to seduce her. She would probably give me a black eye if I did.”

  Eric laughed. “You’re probably right.”

  Max was quiet cleaning up the kitchen, and Nadine was feeding Derika. She wondered if the boys outside were talking about her.

  “What’s wrong?” Nadine asked. “You’re mighty quiet.”

  “I was thinking about this pretend date thing. I don’t know,” she said, putting the dishes in the dishwasher.

  “Look, at least you know Matt. Eric has talked to him. You can relax. Everything’s going to be all right. What are you afraid of?”

  Max looked at her. “I don’t know.”

  “It’s just dinner and a movie,” she said. “Matthew will be on his best behavior. The only thing that could happen is you two getting into another verbal altercation. Just go out and enjoy yourself.”

  Max didn’t respond. She thought about her upcoming visit with Dr. Nelson, wondering what she would say about this turn of events. She had blabbed too much about Matthew in her last session, and now they were going out on a pretend date. What would the doctor think about that?

  She sat down across from Nadine. “You may think it’s just a dinner and a movie, but it’s a big step for me.”

  Nadine put the baby on her shoulder to burp her. “You’ll do just fine. Just relax and have a good time. Whether you want to admit it or not, I can see you’re attracted to Matthew and he’s attracted to you.”

  “I’m not attracted to him. You’re way off base,” Max snapped. “He doesn’t like black girls.”

  “He was staring at you awfully hard in church not to like you.”

  “He’d never seen shimmery lotion before,” Max replied coolly. “He’ll probably go out and buy it for one of the many women he takes out on real dates.”

  Eric came back in the house and sat down beside Max.

  “You all right?” he asked. “I’ll call Matthew and cancel if you feel that you can’t do this. I don’t want you to feel as though we forced you into this.”

  “Sure. I am fine. I think, however, that the two of you are just full of yourselves right now,” Max replied, standing up and stretching. “There’s nothing there between your brother and me. There’s no attraction, no starry eyes and stupid smiles. We tolerate one another, and this date will be no different.”

  “If you say so,” Eric replied, grinning at Nadine.

  “All we want to do is help you. You know that.” Nadine walked over to her and laid her head on her sister’s shoulder as she held Derika on her hip. “This is only therapy, remember?”

  Just then Derika looked at Max and blew a juicy raspberry at her.

  “Agggh!” Nadine said, holding the baby from her as Eric began wiping at the saliva with a cloth.

  “That’s exactly how I feel, Derika.” Max laughed and kissed her niece on the cheek.

  CHAPTER 6

  Let me be weighed on honest scales, that God may know my integrity. Job 31:6

  Max changed clothes several times. It was only a pretend date, but she was nervous. What should she wear to dinner and the movies? What did Matthew like? Why did she care what he liked since it was only pretend anyway? She tried not to stress out. He was choosing dinner, and she was to pick the movie. She’d chosen a comedy with Vince Vaughan. He was funny, and she had asked Eric if his brother liked comedies, and he had said that he did.

  So, her contribution was done. Now the hard part was making it through the date. She still had a good amount of time before Matthew would pick her up. She sat on the bed and stared at her reflection and thought about the upcoming meeting with Dr. Nelson. Her earlier appointment for that day had been rescheduled to Monday. She knew that they most likely would discuss this date, so she wanted to get it right.

  Max stood and changed her clothes once again. She had finally decided on a skirt since she didn’t know what type of restaurant he was taking her to. The skirt had been a birthday gift from Nadine. It was short, but not too short, with a black-and-white print and a flare. She wore a white sleeveless sweater with black piping around the edges with a matching cardigan. She had black-and-white jewelry to match and white sandals. She thought that she looked very presentable for a first date.

  She came out of her bedroom, and Eric was in the kitchen. He whistled.

  “Wow! You look great Max,” he said, grinning.

  “Thanks, Eric!” she said with a smile.

  Nadine came out of their bedroom and gave Max an appreciative hand clap. “You go, girl.”

  “I think Matthew will be proud to take you on your pretend date,” Eric said. “Hell, if he’s not, then I’ll take you myself!”

  “Hey, watch it there, buster!” Nadine said, giving her husband a playful
shove.

  Eric laughed. “You’ll be by my side, of course.”

  “Of course,” Nadine said, rolling her eyes at him.

  “You two are crazy,” Max said, smoothing down her skirt. “Now, I’m going to tell you before I go on this date that I don’t want to be bombarded as soon as I come back in the door with a bunch of questions.”

  “Max, I’m not going to do that, and neither is Eric,” Nadine replied looking at her husband. “I know that this must be a bit stressful to you, and I don’t want to add to your stress.”

  “Me neither,” Eric agreed.

  “You can talk about it when you’re ready to talk. All I may ask you is if you had a good time and if you’re all right.”

  Max stared at Nadine in disbelief. “You promise? No inquisitions?”

  “Nope,” Nadine said, grinning.

  Max gave her a quick hug. “Thanks.”

  Nadine looked at her watch. “You still have about forty-five minutes.”

  Just then the doorbell rang. Eric went to the door and was surprised to see his brother.

  “A little anxious are we?” he asked, smiling once he opened the door.

  Max hurried back into her bedroom before Matthew could see her. She didn’t want to appear overanxious. She stood by her bedroom door and listened.

  “I know I’m early,” Matt said. “However, since I was ready I came on over just in case Max was ready a little early. That would give us more time at dinner.”

  “Oh, she’s ready all right,” Nadine said, snickering and turning toward Max’s room. “Max, your date’s here!”

  Max came opened the door wide and rolled her eyes at a grinning Nadine standing in the hallway. Sometimes her sister acted like her mother, and sometimes she acted like the nineteen-year-old she was.

  “Matthew is here,” Nadine said as she approached Max standing in her bedroom doorway.

  “I heard you the first time,” Max responded.

  She walked into the living room and caught her breath. Matthew was standing there with a dozen yellow roses. He wore navy blue slacks and a white polo shirt.