A Curve Ball Called Love

“You know this is a little stalker-ish of you, right?” she asked when she opened her door.

He smiled.

“Well, it’s probably stalker adjacent,” he said as he looked at her.

“That doesn’t make me feel any better, you know.”

He looked at her and nodded.

“So, this is your stay at home look, huh?” he asked and she smiled.

“You drop in without giving me a heads up and this is what you get,” she said as she fumbled with the braid that fell over her left shoulder.

Her loose curls looked even better in their natural state, he thought. Without her manipulating them by holding her hair back or in a bun. But even then, he didn’t think he’d ever seen a more beautiful woman.

“I don’t care, I like it.”

She smiled

“Yeah?”

He nodded.

“Yeah, really I do.”

He took a step closer and swept a few stray strands from her face,

“Are you going to invite me in or should I just stand here until my hair turns gray?” he asked.

Tiffany bit her lower lip and he took another step forward, getting even closer to her than ever.

“You said you were here to talk,” she whispered when he pulled away.

“I am.”

He kissed her again before he walked into the apartment.

“I was just having some tea,” she said closing the door before she followed him into the living room. “Chai tea with some donuts I made earlier. Would you like some?”

He raised an eyebrow.

“You made donuts?” he asked and she shook her head.

“What? I spent a lot of time with my grandmother as a kid. I get nostalgic sometimes.” She walked to the kitchen. “So, is that a go or no go on the tea?”

He nodded.

“Yeah I would love to have some tea and your donuts.”

She poured him a cup of tea and carried it to the living room. She took a seat next to him and wrapped her hands around her cup before she took a long sip.

“This is delicious,” he said when he took a sip of his own tea.

“Yeah, I made it a little differently from how Americans make it.”

He raised an eyebrow over the other.

“Really?” He shook his head. “How so?”

“We had a family in my neighborhood from East Africa and they used to have this tea… it was milk and tea leaves and spices that had been boiling for ages… usually fifteen minutes so all the flavors came together beautifully.” She was smiling. “I’ve loved it since then.”

Douglas took a sip and nodded.

“It is great… delicious actually.”

He reached for a donut and took a bite. He took his time chewing it, savoring every flavor.

“If I wasn’t already in love with you, I would have confessed it right now,” he said before he took another bite. “This is really good. It could be the next Cinnabon.”

“Why, Mr. Ingram, my family thanks you,” Tiffany said, smiling.

They took their time sharing the tea and donuts, talking about other family recipes from the Meyers family. Tiffany felt a little sad that Douglas didn’t have some family culinary story that he could at least take consolation in since the Ingrams had no family recipes passed down. No childhood stories so far. The only thing he remembered about his childhood was the many nannies that spent time with him.

“Maybe we can share in the few Meyers family recipes,” she said and he smiled.

“That would be nice.”

“Yeah, it would but I should probably put it out there that I’m not commercializing my family’s donuts. They’re sacred.”

He put his tea down on the table and raised one hand while he rested the other on his chest.

“I swear never to bring it up again.”

“Good.”

They sat there in awkward silence as the soft music Tiffany had put on played in the background.

“So, are we going to address the elephant in the room or are we just going to sit here in this uncomfortable silence?” she asked and he took a long, deep breath.

“You can see right through me, huh?” he forced out a laugh. “It’s a good thing, I guess.” He reached for a paper towel and wiped the oil off his hands before he crushed it up.

“Douglas, what is it?” Tiffany asked, concerned.

“It’s about us,” he answered.

“What about us?”

He reached for her hand and gently ran his thumb over her knuckles.

“I never thought I was going to meet someone like you,” he started. “Someone who would completely sweep me off my feet and make me believe in love again but here we are. I didn’t just meet someone who gave me a chance to know what true love really feels like, I met someone who made me think of the future.”

“Douglas…” Tiffany started and he shook his head.

“No, please… let me just get this out,” he said as he looked into her eyes. “I love you, Tiffany. I am in love with you and I am willing to do anything to give us a chance. However, I know that it is probably going to be hard with us in the same professional space every single day so, I decided to step back from Entity.”

Tiffany’s eyes grew wide.