Dark Or Cream

“Business is booming! I’ve been dying to talk to you about it. We closed out in the black for the second quarter in a row!” Kaja beamed as her sister and family settled into their chairs. Everybody was anxious to dig in. They grabbed hands and said a quick prayer.

Then, Ebony replied, “I knew you could do it, baby girl. You keep this up, and there’ll be Cookin by Kaj restaurants all across the country.” Kaja waved the prediction away with a pleased smile. David was already fixing his plate, and Kaj took Kelly’s plate to serve her. Ebony helped Mishayla heap piles of macaroni on her plate, since that was the only thing she would try. “Now,” said Ebony, “it’s time for us to focus on your love life.”

Kaja looked up from Kelly’s plate in surprise. “What are you talking about, girl?” She handed a grateful Kelly a plate full of everything for the toddler to pick over.

“You know what I’m talking about. You’ve thrown yourself into your work long enough. Things are settled, stable. I think it’s time you got a bae.”

“I wouldn’t mind double dating. It’ll be a great excuse for Ebony and I to get out of the house more,” David added.

“Wait, who’s gonna babysit, then?” Ebony had second thoughts. Kaja giggled. Chuckling, David suggested they enlist the women’s younger brother, Ramses, to handle childcare. Both women shot him a look that said when hell freezes over. “We’ll cross that bridge when we get there. The point is, you need a boyfriend.”

“Ebony Lorraine Crenshaw-Houston, you know dang well I don’t have time for—” Kaja started to say.

Ebony interrupted, “—That you deserve to stop working so hard and have a man that works hard for you. No buts about it, Kaja. When we get finished eating, you and I are going to have a sit down chat about what we can do to keep you from seeing another single year.”

Kaja rolled her eyes dismissively, but as soon as dinner was through, Ebony made good on her plan. She sat the girls down in Kaja’s living room to watch a movie, with David, stuffed like a tick, sprawled out on the couch next to them. Dragging a reluctant Kaja to the bedroom, Ebony plopped comfortably down on her king-sized bed. “See? A good mattress going to waste.”

“I’m big enough to sleep by myself, Ebony.”

“You just fire up that computer and stop sassing me.”

“Girl, I am twenty-seven, not seventeen. You can’t boss me around anymore. Besides, I talk to people on the internet all the time. You’ve seen my social network page.” Kaja resisted, but she turned on her desktop computer and parked her butt in the chair at her desk. The screen illuminated. She navigated to a search page and waited for her big sister to tell her what to do next.

Ebony replied, “Of course, I’ve seen your page, and there’s always a sexy brother or two commenting on your pictures. That’s what gave me the idea. The website, pof.com. Have you heard of it?”

“No, Ebony,” Kaja vehemently declined. She knew plenty about the dating website. She had sworn to herself that no matter how desperate her lonely Friday nights became, she wouldn’t resort to hunting out men on those sad dating sites. “I am not about to go that route. Why can’t you be like women on the movies and just hook me up with a sexy coworker or something? A doctor or a cute male nurse.”

“Kaj, I sit in a cubicle eight hours a day. The only coworkers I see are middle aged white women clacking away at the keys next to me. Now, unless you want one of them, you might want to try to get with the times. Everybody’s doing it! Matter of fact, the old granny at my job found a man online a few months ago.”

“Ugh! I’m willing to try, Ebony. Help me out and don’t let me look desperate on here,” Kaja whined. She keyed in the address to the website and perused the profiles. “He’s kind of nice looking.”

“See what I’m telling you?” Ebony pointed at a picture of a shirtless brother who looked like he could be an underwear model; he was so ripped and muscular that Kaja felt a tingle in her sleeping kitty cat just looking at the screen. “Just watch out for profiles like this. Gotta be a catfish. Ain’t no man that fine hooking up with women on a dating website.”

Annoyed, Kaja fired back, “See what I’m telling you?” Ebony laughed and scooted down the bed to be closer to Kaja at the desk. They explored the website further until Kaja was comfortable with starting her profile. She was glad to see not all the men were obvious catfish or guys looking for a quick lay. Some of the profiles seemed well thought out and informative, describing average, everyday men who were like Kaja. They were busy with life and looking for love utilizing a fast, easy website to cut to the chase.

Ebony helped Kaja take a profile picture and brainstormed with her about the best way to describe herself. “Okay, try this: ‘Sexy chef looking to cook up a recipe for love.’ Or, ‘Spicy hot tamale ready to go from the frying pan to the fire!'”

Kaja swatted at her corny sister and shook her head. “I want to be authentic, not gimmicky. What about: ‘Twenty-seven year-old restauranteur in search of a hot date’?”

Ebony shrugged. “It’s your profile.”

“That’s what I’m going with. Now, they want to know my location, educational background, yearly income—do they need all this? I’m just gonna put the basics. How would you describe my physique, Ebony? They’re asking.”

“Thick as gravy,” Ebony readily supplied.

“I kinda like that,” Kaja said with a smile. She typed the information into the proper fields and finally hit the submit button. When the page refreshed, a pretty close-up of her face was smiling back at her, and her profile was filled with complimentary facts about herself. Despite her shyness about interacting on a dating website, Kaja was happy with the result. “What do I do now?”

Ebony patted her on the back and grinned at her. “You sit back and wait for the dates to pile in so heavy you need a bulldozer to sort through them.”