Dark Or Cream

Chapter 1 – Gather Your Ingredients

Kaja wrapped up another eight hours at Cooking by Kaj and got home late in the evening. The first thing she needed was a hot bath. She passed through her tidy living room, dropping clothes in her wake. The leather loveseat and sofa stared accusingly. The African American artwork on her walls frowned, but she wasn’t hearing it. She was normally a neat-freak, but she couldn’t wait to get naked and get comfortable. She entered the dining room with the six straight-back chairs and the immaculate white table cloth and went through the kitchen where scarlet appliances gleamed spotlessly, to the narrow hallway that led to her welcoming bedroom. She pulled out a pair of ratty gray lounge pants and a black tank to take with her to bathe, but when she got to her room, she noticed the computer was still powered on from days prior, creating that profile with Ebony. Kaja shook her head at the waste of energy and sat at the desk to turn off her computer. When she pressed the keys and the screen lit up, it was still on her dating profile page, and she had a ton of inbox messages.

Kaja was surprised to see so many interested men. Ebony had told her she should look forward to a lot of prospects, but Kaja hadn’t thought she was serious. Forgetting the lounge pants slung across her shoulder and the bath waiting to be enjoyed, Kaja opened her inbox and took a scroll through the messages. There were a lot of guys who seemed intent on meeting for a hookup, as in a one-night stand. Kaja didn’t bother replying to those. She read a few from some handsome brothers out of state, but she wasn’t looking for anything long distance. She had at least one from someone she suspected was a catfish. His picture boasted chiseled abs and startling gray eyes in a mocha brown face with a five o’clock shadow. He was too good to be true. Kaja made her way through the list, deleting those she wasn’t interested in getting to know. She came to a message from a guy whose name was Eric. What caught her eye was the fact that he was a white guy in this sea of chocolate men in her inbox. The message was short and sweet, indicating, “Your profile appeared in my list of possible good matches, and I was captivated by your smile.”

She humphed to herself. “Let me see who this is,” Kaja muttered, enlarging his picture. His profile pic wasn’t clear enough to see him. It was a distant shot of a man sitting on top of a tractor. A lush green field of waist high grass was in the background, and the sky was a hyper-saturated blue. He wore a cowboy hat that obscured his face. All she could tell from the picture was that he had a decent body in the flannel shirt with cut-off sleeves and dusty pair of jeans he was wearing. Kaja chuckled to herself at this lone ranger trying to connect with her. Impulsively, she went to his page. His name was listed as Eric J. His tagline read simply, “Nothing Too Serious, Nothing Too Casual.” His location was local, she was surprised to see. He lived right in her town. By profession, he listed small engine repairman and said he owned a lawn mower repair and sales shop. Kaja dug deeper, finding his photo album. The link listed only four pictures posted, but she hoped at least one of them was a picture of his face. Now, she was genuinely curious. She had to wonder what algorithm the dating site used to pair her with this honky tonk lover-boy.

“What do you look like, Mr. J?” she said aloud, opening the link to his pictures. The first was the profile pic, nothing to see. There was an image of a horse and dog, and Kaja skipped past it. She got to a picture a classic truck that had been souped up with a chrome grill and a banana yellow paint job. “And, how do you expect to pick up women with a horse, a dog and a pickup truck as your pictures?” She impatiently opened the last image. It took a second to load and Kaja decided it could wait. She collected her clothes and stepped across the hall to her bathroom.

Dumping bath salts and a fizzy bomb beneath the hot running water, she inhaled the aroma of citrus, rosemary and eucalyptus. She tested the temperature of her bath, noting it was perfect. With the soothing scents and the familiar peach and lime green shower curtain and bathroom accessories, Kaja felt like she was in paradise. Stripping down the rest of the way, she preened in the bathroom mirror over the deep basin sink. Her black hair cascaded in wavy ripples over her shoulders, extensions skillfully put in by her friend Isis. She still wore makeup from the workday. She smoothed cold cream on her cinnamon brown face and wiped off the orange-red lipstick. Her long lashes blinked over soulful dark brown eyes. Kaja swiped the cold cream over the bridge of her small wide nose and across her high cheekbones. Turning back to the tub, she shut off the faucet. “Finally time to relax,” she talked to herself. Her alto voice sounded loud in the quiet, empty house. Kaja sank into mountains of bubbles. Her body unkinked and uncoiled, and her feet felt divine.

It wasn’t until later that night she returned to the forgotten computer. Kaja glanced at the screen, discovering the picture of the cowboy had finally loaded. There he was, a close-up of his face, as she had hoped. He stared at her with eyes as green as the first day of summer. His dark hair framed his face in a shaggy riot of loose curls that looked mid-flutter in an invisible breeze. It was his smile that made her raise a brow, intrigued. His straight white teeth dazzled, and his thin lips curved playfully, like whoever had taken the picture had caught him laughing. His cheeks and sharp nose were lightly brushed with freckles. He was down-home country good looking, and she couldn’t believe a guy like him would be interested in any way with a girl like her.

Laughing to herself at the irony, Kaja crafted a response. “I’m surprised the website paired us up. What are your interests, hobbies? I love to cook, read, dance and play with my nieces. Do we have anything in common?”

Kaja closed out the dating website and skipped over to her social network page. She posted a status update about her little brother’s upcoming party, checked her messages there, responded to some old friends, and then logged off. She had to call her sister before it got too late in the evening. Ramses’ twenty-first birthday was in three days, and Kaja was catering. Before she hopped in the bed, Kaja decided to take one last look at her dating profile to see if she had gotten a response from Eric, and she had. He had left damn near his life story.

“I grew up in the country, so I love good cooking. My mama even taught me how to bake biscuits from scratch. We had a farm, and I used to have to collect eggs from the hencoop. I’ve skinned deer and slaughtered hogs. It’s messy, but it’s worth it for a slab of home-smoked bacon. As for reading, I used to read more back in high school, but I pretty much stick to magazines or the internet these days. I run my own shop, so I don’t have time to post up with a book. I hope that doesn’t make you think I’m uneducated. I just prefer hands-on living to experiencing life secondhand through somebody else’s story. I do dance. It’s not true what they say about white boys, we can dance. Do you listen to any country music? I listen to a little bit of everything, but country is preferred. If you’ve never given it a try, check out “Postcard from Paris” by The Band Perry. Just click this link, and it’ll take you to the song on YouTube. You might enjoy it. Anyhow, I don’t have any nieces or nephews, and I don’t have any kids. What about you? I look forward to hearing from you. Good night.”